Current Affairs - Aug 31, 2018

4th BIMSTEC Summit in Nepal

• 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. 

RCEP meeting in Singapore

• 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.

Vostok-2018, Russia to conduct the largest military exercise

• 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.

5th SCO Peace Mission Exercise 2018 Ends

• 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.

Swapna won 1st Gold in Heptathlon at Asian games

• 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.

99.3% of demonetized notes back to banks: RBI

• 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