CURRENT AFFAIRS OF 29th AUGUST, 2023

CURRENT AFFAIRS OF 29^th AUGUST, 2023

1. National Sports Day, also known as Rashtriya Khel Divas, is annually celebrated across India on 29 August to give a tribute to the enduring legacy of legendary Indian field hockey player, Major Dhyan Chand and to observe his birth anniversary. The theme of National Sports Day 2023 is “Sports are an enabler to an inclusive and fit society”.
2. United Nations’ International Day against Nuclear Tests is annually observed across the globe on 29 August to create awareness about the harmful effects of nuclear weapon tests or other nuclear explosions. 
3. The 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra made history by becoming the first-ever Indian athlete to win the Gold medal in the men’s javelin throw event with an 88.17 meters throw at the World Athletics Championships 2023 held in Budapest, Hungary.
4. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (ITE&C) Department of the Government of Telangana have forged a pioneering partnership to infuse the Ethics of AI into the very essence of artificial intelligence systems.
5. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing for one more lunar mission, in collaboration with Japanese space agency, The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) named LUPEX, or Lunar Polar Exploration, is slated for 2024-25.
6. Indian Filmmaker Shihan Shoukath wins Best Original Story Award at Cannes World Film Festival for the film ‘Deadline’. 
7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the Grand Cross of the Order of Honour by Greek President Katerina N. Sakellaropoulou in Athens.
8. An autobiography titled ‘Pitchside: My Life in Indian Cricket’ by long-term cricket administrator Amrit Mathur has been released.
9. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has enthusiastically launched a captivating pair of brand mascots, originating from a distant cricket utopia called the ‘Crictoverse’ for the upcoming World Cups at an event in Gurugram, India, in the presence of U19 World Cup Men’s and Women’s champion captains Yash Dhull and Shafali Verma.
10. The India Smart Cities Awards 2022, organized by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, have recognized Indore as the best city and Madhya Pradesh as the best state in the Smart Cities Mission.  
11. Emmerson Mnangagwa, President of Zimbabwe, has been declared the winner of Zimbabwe’s presidential election, securing a second term as the nation’s leader.
12. In a significant step towards fostering innovation in the field of green hydrogen, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has launched strategic partnerships between HSBC India and prominent institutions, namely the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF).
13. Indian shooter Amanpreet Singh clinched a gold medal at the 25m standard pistol shooting event in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship at Baku, Azerbaijan.
14. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on 23 August 2023, released additional textbooks of SCERT (State Council for Educational Research and Training) incorporating the topics that were recently deleted from the NCERT textbooks.
15. In a recent development, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted its approval for the voluntary amalgamation of Twin Cities Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd with Kranti Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd which came into effect from 23 August, 2023.  
16. Jayanta Mahapatra, an eminent Indian English poet and Litterateur, who was the first recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award for English poetry (1981), passed away on 27 August 2023, in Cuttack, Odisha at the age of 95.