Notes:
Pranab Bardhan (60) and Shibnath Sarkar (56) have created history by clinching India’s first-ever gold in bridge at the Asian Games. They finished at the top after scoring 384 points in the final of the men’s bridge pair event at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. The Chinese pair of Lixin Yang and Gang Chen won the silver with a score of 378 and the Indonesian combination of Henky Lasut and Freddy Eddy Manoppo bagged the bronze scoring 374 here. The card game has been featured as a sport at the Asian Games for the first time, in the 2018 edition.

Notes:
Sunil Mehta, the MD &chief executive of Punjab National Bank (PNB), has been elected as the new chairman of the Indian Banks Association (IBA) for 2018-19. Apart from him, Dinabandhu Mohapatra, MD & CEO of Bank of India (BoI), has been elected as IBA’s Deputy Chairman. The IBA is a representative body of management of banking in India and has its headquarters in Mumbai.

Notes:
Binoy Kumar, the 1983 batch IAS officer of the Telengana cadre, has assumed charged as the new Secretary of the Ministry of Steel on September 1, 2018. He had been posted as Officer on Special Duty in the Steel Ministry since May 21, 2018. He succeeded Aruna Sharma, who recently superannuated. Prior to this, Binoy Kumar held the post of Special Secretary, Logistics, in the Department of Commerce, where he continued to hold additional charge till 31st July 2018. He also held the post of Director General (Supplies & Disposals), where he developed the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) as a one-stop online public procurement platform, in line with the digital initiatives of the Government of India (GoI).

Notes:
Two Indians, Dr. Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2018 on August 31. The award, which is regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize, was established in 1957. The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, in its citation, stated that Wangchuk was recognised for his uniquely systematic, collaborative and community-driven reform of learning systems in remote northern India, thus improving the life opportunities of Ladakhi youth. Vatwani was recognised for his tremendous courage and healing compassion in embracing India’s mentally-afflicted destitute. Beside them, Youk Chhang from Cambodia, Maria de Lourdes Martins Cruz from East Timor, Howard Dee from the Philippines and Vo Thi Hoang Yen from Vietnam are the other winners of the 2018 award.

Notes:
The major Indian ocean-wide tsunami mock exercise (drill) “IOWave18” has started from September 4, which is being organized by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The purpose of the 2-day exercise is to increase tsunami preparedness, evaluate response capabilities in each state and improve coordination throughout the region. It will also enhance tsunami preparedness at the community level. The IOWave18 exercise will simulate Indian Ocean countries being put in a tsunami warning situation and require the National Tsunami Warning Centre (NTWC), i.e., INCOIS in case of India, and the National and Local Disaster Management Offices (NDMO/LDMO) to implement their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). India along with 23 other nations is participating in the tsunami mock exercise that would involve evacuation of thousands of people from coastal areas in over half a dozen states.

Notes:
India will host its first-ever official FIBA 3×3 World Tour Masters 2018 in Hyderabad, which is scheduled to be held from September 22. It is one of the most prestigious basketball tournaments in the world. The Hyderabad Masters will see participation from the leading international 3×3 teams and top two Indian 3BL teams – Delhi 3BL & Bangalore 3BL. The qualification for the Indian teams was decided on the basis of the results of the inaugural season of 3×3 Pro Basketball League (3BL) which was held from June 9 to August 26 across six cities in India. Hyderabad Masters is the 7th stage of the FIBA 3×3 World Tour and is the first time an international 3×3 basketball tournament is being played in India. The participating teams will compete for a chance to qualify for the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Bloomage Beijing Final on October 27-28.

Notes:
India and France has recently signed an agreement to collaborate on ISRO’s first human spaceflight programme “Gaganyaan”. It was announcement by French space agency president Jean-Yves Le Gall at the 6th edition of the Bengaluru Space Expo. The first step under the MoU is to exchange specialists to work on (space) medicine. The ambit of the cooperation includes giving ISRO access to space hospital facilities in France and combining expertise of the two space agencies in fields of space medicine, astronaut health monitoring, life support, radiation protection, space debris protection and personal hygiene system. The two space agencies also plan to work on Mars, Venus and asteroids. The aim of the Gaganyaan mission is to send a 3-member crew to space for a period of 5 to 7 days by 2022. Its objectives are to inspire youth, increase science and technology levels in the country, improve industrial growth, develop technology for social benefits, etc.

Notes:
Olympic bronze medalist Mary Kom has been appointed the new Brand Ambassador of state-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) for two years. The two-year contract will see boxer Mary Kom endorse as well as engage in various promotional events organized by BSNL for its different telecom services. Beside this, BSNL has also signed pact with Indian Army to provide various telecom services like PRIs, basic telephone, and leased circuits, among others on a pan India basis for a period of 3 years. Besides these services, BSNL will also provide broadband and mobile services under another existing agreement with the Indian Army.

Notes:
In a landmark judgement on September 6, the Supreme Court of India (SCI) struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and decriminalized homosexuality. The five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra unanimously scrapped a 156-year old colonial-era law banning gay sex that was punishable by a jail sentence of up to 10 years. Thereby, this verdict is the beginning of a journey towards greater dignity, equality and liberty. However, the court held that Section 377 will apply to “unnatural” sexual acts like bestiality. Sexual acts without consent continue to be a crime under the Section. IPC Section 377 came into force in 1861 during the British rule of India (modelled on the Buggery Act of 1533) which criminalised sexual activities “against the order of nature”, including homosexual activities.

Notes:
Burt Reynolds (82), the veteran Hollywood actor, has passed away in Florida, United States on September 6, 2018. Reynolds received an Oscar nomination when he portrayed porn director Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997) and was the No. 1 box-office attraction for a five-year stretch starting in the late 1970s. He was known for his work in 1970-80s films, ‘Deliverance’, ‘The Longest Yard’ and ‘Smokey and the Bandit’.