- Which Indian player has won the women’s singles title of the U-15 Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2024?
(A) Abhilasha Bhatt
(B) Panda Sayani
(C) Tanvi Patri
(D) Anand Aashini
(E) Manivannan Pranavi
Solution: Option C.)
Ans (C)
Tanvi Patri of Odisha won the women’s singles title in the Asian U-15 Junior Championships 2024.
Tanvi Patri is the third Indian to win this title, following Samiaya Imad Farooqui (2017) and Tasnim Mir (2019).
The championships were held in Chengdu, China from 20-25 August 2024.
Tanvi Patri defeated Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen in the final with scores of 22-20, 21-11.
Gnana Dattu won the bronze medal in the men’s singles of the Badminton Asia U-17 Championships.
In the U-17 competition, Indonesia won the men’s singles and doubles titles, and China won the women’s singles and doubles titles.
Chinese Taipei won the mixed doubles title in the U-17 tournament.
In the U-15 competition, South Korea won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles.
India, China, and Chinese Taipei each won one title in the U-15 championships.
A 39-member team represented India in the Badminton Asia U-17 & U-15 Junior Championships 2024.
- Who chaired the review meeting of the Left Wing Extremism-affected states held in August 2024?
(A) Narendra Modi
(B) Amit Shah
(C) Droupadi Murmu
(D) Om Brila
(E) Jagdeep Dhankar
Solution: Option B .)
Ans (B)
Amit Shah, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, chaired the meeting on Left-Wing Extremism in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on 24 August 2024.
The central government is committed to eradicating Left-Wing Extremism (Naxalism) from the country before March 2026.
Seven states attended the meeting: Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Telangana.
Participants included:
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai
Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai
Govind Mohan, Union Home Secretary
Tapan Deka, Director Intelligence Bureau
Sadanand Date, Director National Investigation Agency (NIA)
Anish Dayal Singh, Director General CRPF
Daljit Singh, Director General of BSF and SSB
Rahul Rasgotra, Director General of ITBP
Left-Wing Extremism (Naxalism) seeks to replace India’s constitutional system with a communist government inspired by Mao Zedong’s ideology.
Naxal-affected districts in 2024:
Chhattisgarh: 15 districts
Odisha: 7 districts
Jharkhand: 5 districts
Madhya Pradesh: 3 districts
Maharashtra, Telangana, and Kerala: 2 districts each
Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal: 1 district each
- Where has the 3rd Asian Surfing Championship 2024 held in the month of August?
(A) Thulusdhoo, Maldives
(B) Bali, Indonesia
(C) Phuket, Thailand
(D) Colombo, Sri Lanka
(E) Dhaka, Bangladesh
Solution: Option A .)
Ans (A)
Indian men’s surfing team won a historic silver medal at the 3rd Asian Surfing Championships 2024.
The championships were held in Thulusdhoo, Maldives from 17-27 August 2024.
The 3rd Asian Surfing Championships is a qualifying event for the 2026 Asian Games, where surfing will be introduced for the first time.
Over 100 athletes from 20 countries participated in five events, including the men’s and women’s open division, a junior category, and the ASF Maruhaba Cup.
Japan won the gold medal and the Maruhaba Cup with 58.40 points.
The Indian men’s team, consisting of Kamali P, Ajeesh Ali, Srikanth D, and Sanjay Selvamani, won silver with 24.13 points.
Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) won bronze with 23.93 points.
The first Asian Surfing Championship was held in China in 2019.
The second Asian Surfing Championship was held in Thulusdhoo, Maldives, in 2023.
- Recently, where has the 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) meeting held?
(A) Hong Kong
(B) Malaysia
(C) Taiwan
(D) Singapore
(E) Macao
Solution: Option D .)
Ans (D)
The 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) meeting was held in Singapore on 26 August 2024.
The first ISMR took place in New Delhi on 17 September 2022.
The ISMR is a high-level platform for discussing and setting future agendas for bilateral relationships.
India’s delegation included:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal
Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
The 2nd ISMR focused on enhancing cooperation in digitalisation, skill development, sustainability, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing.
Singapore was India’s largest foreign direct investment (FDI) source in fiscal year 2023-24, with USD 11.77 billion in FDI.
Bilateral trade between India and Singapore in 2023-24 was USD 35.61 billion, with India having a trade deficit of USD 6.79 billion.
- Which state became the first to approve the central government’s Unified Pension Scheme (UPS)?
(A) Gujarat
(B) Maharashtra
(C) Tamil Nadu
(D) Karnataka
(E) Uttar Pradesh
Solution: Option B .)
Ans (B)
The Maharashtra Cabinet approved the central government’s Unified Pension Scheme (UPS).
Maharashtra is the first state to approve the UPS, doing so within 24 hours of the Modi government’s announcement.
The UPS will take effect from April 1, 2025.
The UPS guarantees a pension of 50% of the basic salary for those who joined service after January 1, 2004, under the National Pension System (NPS).
The UPS offers a minimum pension of â‚ą10,000 a month and is inflation-adjusted.
- How many new districts will be created in Ladakh, as announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah?
(A) Three
(B) Four
(C) Five
(D) Six
(E) Seven
Solution: Option C .)
Ans (C)
Five new districts will be created in Ladakh, increasing the total number of districts to seven.
Ladakh currently has two districts: Leh and Kargil.
The erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir was bifurcated into Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on August 5, 2019, following the abrogation of Article 370.
Ladakh is under the direct administrative control of the Home Ministry.
Assembly elections for Jammu & Kashmir will be held in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1.
There have been protests in Ladakh seeking restoration of statehood, recognition as a tribal area under the Sixth Schedule, and job reservations for local residents.
Ladakh serves as a geopolitical and strategic buffer zone between India, China, and Pakistan.
The Indian Army has maintained a strong presence in Ladakh following the 2020 Galwan clashes, where 20 soldiers were killed.
- What is the total value of the contract signed between Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Adani Power Limited (APL) for the Supercritical Thermal Power projects?
(A) â‚ą5,000 crore
(B) â‚ą7,500 crore
(C) â‚ą10,000 crore
(D) â‚ą11,000 crore
(E) â‚ą15,000 crore
Solution: Option D .)
Ans (D)
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) secured a contract with Adani Power Ltd and its subsidiary Mahan Energen Ltd.
The contract is valued at more than â‚ą11,000 crore.
The contract is for developing three Supercritical Thermal Power projects.
The projects will be set up in Kawai, Rajasthan and Mahan, Madhya Pradesh.
Each project will have a 2×800 megawatt (MW) rating.
The cumulative value of the three projects is over â‚ą11,000 crore, excluding GST.
The entities issuing the contract are domestic companies.
- What is the name of the ambitious scheme that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch in Odisha on September 17?
(A) Shakti Yojana
(B) Suvidha Yojana
(C) Sakhi Yojana
(D) Subhadra Yojana
(E) Sampada Yojana
Solution: Option D .)
Ans (D)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will to visit Odisha on September 17 to launch the ‘Subhadra Yojana’.
The ‘Subhadra Yojana’ is an ambitious scheme of the BJP government in Odisha for women.
The visit is confirmed based on an invitation from Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and two deputy CMs.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan made the announcement after visiting Jagannath temple in Puri.
A high-level team of ASI will soon inspect the Ratna Bhandar of the Jagannath temple in Puri.
The inspection of Ratna Bhandar, the treasury of the 12th-century shrine, is on request from the state government.
- Who has been appointed as the new chairperson of NASSCOM in August 2024?
(A) Sindhu Gangadharan
(B) Rajesh Nambiar
(C) Arundhati Bhattacharya
(D) N. Chandrasekaran
(E) Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Solution: Option A .)
Ans (A)
IT industry body nasscom announced the appointment of SAP Labs India Managing Director Sindhu Gangadharan as its chairperson with immediate effect.
Gangadharan takes the chair from Rajesh Nambiar, who has been appointed president-designate for nasscom (National Association of Software and Service Companies).
The first woman to lead SAP Labs India, Gangadharan was appointed as the Chair for nasscom GCC Council last year.
Last week, Nambiar stepped down from IT firm Cognizant as its India MD and chairman.
- Which former Lebanese Prime Minister was described as Lebanon’s conscience by Mikati, who passed away recently?
(A) Salim al-Hoss
(B) Rafik Hariri
(C) Fouad Siniora
(D) Najib Mikati
(E) Amin Gemayel
Solution: Option A .)
Ans (A)
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss has died at the age of 94 after a prolonged illness.
Al-Hoss, who served as Prime Minister four times, was remembered by Mikati as Lebanon’s conscience.
Republic of Lebanon is a country in the Levant region of West Asia.
It is bordered by Syria, Israel, and Mediterranean Sea.
Capital: Beirut
Currency: Lebanese pound
Official language: Arabic
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