27th August 2023 Daily Current Affairs

Science & Technology

NASA and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft has blasted off carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Dragon spacecraft carried by a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Four astronauts from four countries, including the US, Denmark, Japan, and Russia.
The agency’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission is the seventh commercial crew rotation mission for NASA.

State Affairs

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chaired the 26th Western Zonal Council (WZC) meeting at Gandhinagar.
Aim: To enhance cooperation between the states through regular dialogue and discussion.
The meeting is being organized by the Inter-State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat.
The WZC comprises the states of Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu

Banking & Finance

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the merger of The Jalgaon Peoples Co-operative Bank and Akola Merchant Co-operative Bank.
Aim: To streamline operations and services for customers under a unified entity.
The Akola Merchant Co-operative Bank branches would operate as branches of The Jalgaon Peoples Co-operative Bank.
The merger of Twin Cities Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd and Kranti Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd was also given the go-ahead by the central bank

Sports

Neeraj Chopra made history by winning the gold medal in the men’s javelin throw (88.17 meters) event at the World Athletics Championships 2023 held in Budapest, Hungary.
He became the first-ever Indian athlete to achieve this feat, marking a significant milestone for Indian athletics.
Neeraj faced tough competition, notably from Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who secured the silver medal with a commendable throw of 87.82 meters.

India in partnership with the Asian Development Bank is set to open a climate change and health hub in the national capital Delhi
Objective: To facilitate knowledge sharing, promote partnerships and innovations, and also help countries beyond the G-20, especially developing countries.
Climate change affects all of us and this centre will give us the opportunity to have different partners discussing this important issue and learning from each other.

National Affairs

The Ministry of Education and the All India Council of Technical Education have launched the sixth edition of the Smart India Hackathon 2023.
Aim: To showcase the growing culture of innovation in India’s education sector.
Objective: To bring together the creativity of India’s young minds with real-world challenges faced by various government departments.
It has become a global model for hackathons and innovation frameworks, reflecting its dynamic evolution over time.

Defense

Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent participated for the first time in Exercise BRIGHT STAR-23, a biennial multilateral tri-service exercise
It is being held at Cairo Air Base, Egypt, from August 27 to September 16, 2023
Aim: To strengthen strategic partnerships and enhance joint operational capabilities.
Objective: To practice planning and execution of joint operations
The IAF contingent will consist of five MiG-29, two IL-78, two C-130 and two C-17 aircraft.

Banking & Finance

Airtel Payments Bank, Frontier Markets, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth have announced the launch of ‘She Leads Bharat: Udyam’, a first-of-its-kind initiative
Aim: To elevate women-owned small businesses(WOSB) with resources, tools, and opportunities to grow and diversify their incomes.
Objective: To bring together the private sector, and social enterprise, to demonstrate a digital-first model designed to unlock ways for WOSB to increase their incomes.

Banking & Finance

RBI has announced to enhance transaction limits for small value digital payments in offline mode to ₹500 from the earlier cap of ₹200.
Aim: To enable faster, more reliable, and contactless payments for everyday small value purchases, transit payments, and so on by eliminating the need for two-factor verification for small value transactions.
This effectively means that transacting parties can carry out digital transactions amounting to ₹500 each in the offline mode.

Sports

The Indian men’s 4×400 metres relay team comprising of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal and Rajesh Ramesh ended in the fifth position in the 4×400 metres relay race final at the World Athletics Championships 2023.
The USA relay team of Quincy Hall, Vernon Norwood, Justin Robinson, and Rai Benjamin won finished first and won the gold.
France clocked bagged silver while Great Britain claimed bronze.