Current Affairs 24th August 2018

Current Affairs 24th August 2018 - Important Points

• India declined UAE’s Rs 700 crore offer for Kerala floods on - 21st August 2018
• Arun Jaitley resumes charge as Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs on - 23rd August 2018
• 15-year-old Shardul Vihan clinches silver in - Asian Games 2018
• IMD to set up cyclone warning centre in Thiruvananthapuram by - October

 Current Affairs 24th August 2018 - Details

India declined UAE’s Rs 700 crore offer for Kerala floods on - 21st August 2018

Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that the United Arab Emirates has promised assistance worth Rs 700 crore for the state’s reconstruction on August 21st.  The Union Government has decided to decline all offers of financial help from foreign countries.

The state has reportedly suffered damages worth more than Rs 20,000 crore including damaged highways to cover about 10,000 km, damaged buildings, crops lost and shutdown of one of the state’s three international airports - Cochin International Airport after the heavy flooding.

The state government has demanded a minimum of Rs 2000 crore to help with reconstruction and rehabilitation work.

Arun Jaitley resumes charge as Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs on - 23rd August 2018

President Ram Nath Kovind reassigned the Finance and Corporate Affairs portfolios to Union Minister Arun Jaitley on 23rd August, 2018.

After this, Jaitley will now be resuming the charge of Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The temporary charge of both the ministries was given to Union Minister Piyush Goyal as Jaitley had undergone a kidney transplant at AIIMS on May 14, 2018 and was recovering from it.

However, Arun continued in the Cabinet as a Minister without a portfolio.
He was active on social media, and wrote blogs on various issues like NRC (National Register for Citizens) in Assam, the no-confidence motion in Parliament, and  on the controversy over the Rafale fighter jet deal.

He first interacted with the public in two months on 1st July, 2018 through video conferencing when he addressed the first anniversary of the implementation of the GST regime. Recently, he made his first public appearance on 9th August 2018 when he attended the Parliament to vote in the elections for the Rajya Sabha's Deputy Chairman.

More about Arun Jaitley

• At present, he is serving as a Rajya Sabha Member from Uttar Pradesh.
• Before joining politics, Jaitley was a practicing lawyer and had worked on the Bofors scandal.
• Jaitley joined the politics in 1991 officially when he became the National Executive Member of the BJP and later became the party's spokesperson in 1999.
• For 2000, he became the Rajya Sabha member for the first time in 2000 from Gujarat.
• Jaitley was the Vice President of the BCCI from north zone before prior taking on the finance ministerial post.
• He had briefly served as Union Minister of Defence between 2014 to 2017 and as the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting between 2014 to 2016 in the current NDA Government.

15-year-old Shardul Vihan clinches silver in - Asian Games 2018

Young Indian shooter Shardul Vihan won India’s 17th Asiad medal on 5th Day of Asian Games 2018.
The 15-year-old won silver in the men’s double trap finals event.
Ankita Raina won bronze in tennis women’s singles event earlier in the day, but after she lost to 4-6, 7-6 against China’s Zhang Shuai in the semifinals.
The win takes India's medal tally to a total of 17 medals including 4 gold, 4 silver and 9 bronze.

 IMD to set up cyclone warning centre in Thiruvananthapuram by - October

A set up a Cyclone Warning Centre in Thiruvananthapuram has been proposed by The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences until October.

The decision has been taken after the several incidents of tropical cyclones and severe weather events striking in Kerala and Karnataka coasts in the recent times.
The IMD has cyclone warning centers already at Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Vishakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Mumbai at present.
The centre will be catering to the needs of Kerala and Karnataka.
It will also be equipped with all state-of-the-art infrastructure including tools to forecast to issue weather warnings and coastal bulletins, which can be useful for fishermen.
It will be further strengthening the present forecasting activity in Indian Meteorological Department’s existing office in Kerala.