Current Affairs - Aug 31, 2018 - Institute of Advanced Studies

Fourth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit held in Kathmandu on August 30-31.
The two-day summit witness participation from all members states to hold discussions on trade, security and development of the region.
Head of Governments from all member countries viz. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are participating in this summit.
Bimstec came into existence on June 6, 1997, through the Bangkok Declaration.

In Singapore, Trade ministers of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) bloc, including India and China, met in Singapore.
RCEP is a mega trade pact that aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic cooperation and intellectual property rights.
The bloc comprises 10 ASEAN members and their 6 FTA partners- India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Russia is all set to host the largest military exercise Vostok-2018 (East-2018) this September between 11 to 15 September.
Around 3,00,000 units of the Army, Navy, and Airforce will take part in this exercise.
China and Mongolia will also participate in this exercise.
Earlier in 1981, the erstwhile Soviet Union conducted Zapad-81 (West-81) exercise which had seen involvement about 100,000 to 150,000 troops.

Exercise Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Peace Mission 2018, the latest in 'Peace Mission' series formally started on 24 August 2018 at Chebarkul, Russia; has ended now.
The exercise was conducted in Chebarkul, Russia with military contingents of the all eight SCO member nations participating in this exercise including India and Pakistan.
The scope of the exercise includes professional interaction, mutual understanding of drills & procedures, establishment of joint command and control structures and elimination of terrorist threat in urban counter terrorist scenario.

A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events.
These seven events are held in two days, the first day comprises 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m, while day two has long jump, javelin, and 800m.
21-year-old Swapna Barman created history by becoming the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold medal with 6026 points.
China’s Qingling Wang with 5954 points won the silver and Japan’s Yuki Yamasaki won the bronze medal with 5873 points.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual report said that 99.3% of the ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 that were withdrawn from circulation in November 2016 were returned. And it also said that RBI has spent ₹7,965 crore in 2016-17 on printing new ₹500 and ₹2,000 and other denomination notes.

One-Liners:

In Asian Games medal tally India is at 8th position with 13 Gold and overall 60 medals.
SC/STs can get benefit of reservation quota in home state only, Supreme Court clarified
31st August is last day to file Income Tax Returns.
Indian Rupee is all time low against USD; breached record low level of 71.
Real GDP growth for 2018-19 is expected at 7.4% against 6.7% in the previous year: RBI
1st SAARC Agri Cooperative Business Forum was held in Kathmandu, under theme ‘Organizing and Strengthening Family Farmers’ Cooperatives to attain the Sustainable-Development-Goals-1 and 2 in South Asia’.
ADB loan to Indian states: USD 375M to MP for irrigation efficiency development, USD 245 to WB for drinking water.
Arunachal Pradesh created three new districts now the state will have 25 districts.
Article 35(A) validity in J&K: SC adjourns hearing until next January