Daily GK Update: 29th August 2021

Important Dates

National Sports Day is observed every year on August 29 to promote awareness about the importance of sports and being physically active in daily life.
August 29 is chosen as the National Sports Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand.
On the occasion, Sports Minister has launched 'Fit India' app.
Earlier, Govt renamed Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award
Major Dhyan Chand is widely known as Hockey Wizard.

National & International Appointments

Union Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya has been appointed as the Chairperson of Stop TB Partnership Board
He succeeded former Union Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan
India aims to end TB by 2025 while the UN aims to end TB by 2030.
Stop TB Partnership
- It is an UN-hosted partnership program that aims to fight against tuberculosis collectively
- It was founded in 2001
- Aim: to serve every person who is vulnerable to TB, ensuring high-quality diagnosis, treatment and care

Defense

Armed force of China, Pakistan, Mongolia and Thailand will participate in multinational peacekeeping exercise titled as ‘Shared Destiny-2021’.
Shared Destiny-2021 will be held from 6th to 15th September 2021 in central Henan province of China.
It is a joint operations of multinational peacekeeping forces and will be held in a close-to-real battlefield environment set in accordance with the international, professional and realistic combat standards.

Obituaries

Former England and Sussex captain Ted Dexter (86 years) passed away at Wolverhampton.
He was nicknamed as ‘Lord Ted’ and was a middle-order batsman and medium-pace bowler.
He had played 62 Tests between 1958 and 1968, for England in which he was captain in 30 matches.
He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in June 2021.
He scored more than 21000 runs and 419 wickets in his first-class career between 1956 to 1968.

Summits & Conferences

Union Minister of Women & Child Development, Smriti Irani has addressed First-ever G20 Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment.
Conference was held at Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy.
It was held in mixed format (people participated in physical form and via video conference also).
The discussion was based on two specific areas:
- STEM, financial and digital literacy, environment and sustainability
- Labour and economic empowerment and work-life balance.

National & International Appointments

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has extended the tenure of 3 managing directors and chief executive officers (MDs and CEOs):
- MD and CEO of Punjab National Bank: S S Mallikarjuna Rao
- MD and CEO of Bank of Maharashtra: A S Rajeev
- MD and CEO of UCO Bank: Atul Kumar Goel
ACC has also approved two-year extension to Bank of Baroda ED Ajay K Khurana, ED of Canara Bank A Manimekhalai and P R Rajagopal, Bank of India ED.

Summits & Conferences

Election Commission of India (ECI) has organized 2-day Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) Consultation Workshop
Aim: To review State SVEEP Plans, conduct extensive deliberations on the important aspects of SVEEP and formulate a comprehensive strategy for the future elections.
New initiative under which new voters will send a personalized letter from the Commission when sending out their Voter ID Cards is also launched

National & International Organizations

India has won the elections for membership of two key bodies of Universal Postal Union (UPU), during 27th UPU Congress in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
India got elected to Council of Administration (CA) with 134 votes, out of 156 countries.
India has received the highest votes in CA elections from South Asia and Oceania region.
Apart from this, India has also been elected to Postal Operations Council (POC) with 106 votes.

Defense

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh has dedicated to the nation, indigenously built Coast Guard Ship ‘Vigraha’ in Chennai, Tamil Nadu
ICGS Vigraha is the seventh and final ship in the series of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), whose agreement was signed in 2015
It has been designed and built indigenously by Larsen & Toubro Ship Building Ltd
It will be based in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh and operate on the eastern seaboard under Commander, Coast Guard Region (East).

Important Dates

International Day against Nuclear Tests is observed every year on August 29 aims to increase awareness about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions
It was adopted by UN General Assembly on December 2, 2009 and was held for the first time in 2010
Resolution was initiated by Kazakhstan with large number of sponsors and cosponsors to commemorate the closure of Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site on 29 August 1991.