1) PM Modi inaugurates country's biggest dam, Sardar Sarovar Dam, Called 'Gujarat's Lifeline'
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the Sardar Sarovar Dam - the world's second biggest - on the river Narmada in Gujarat.
•The 1.2-km-long dam, which is 163 metres deep, will irrigate over 18 lakh hectares in the state, according to officials; the water from Narmada will flow into over 9,000 villages through a canal network, Sardar Sarovar Nigam Limited (SSNL).
•After inaugurating the dam, PM Modi will head to Sadhu Bet, an island in the river Narmada where a 182-metre-tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel - called the 'Statue of Unity'.
2) Only Marshal of IAF, hero of 1965, Arjan Singh Passed Away
•THE sole Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh, passed away at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital on Saturday. He was 98 years old.
•Arjan Singh had the honour of leading the fly-past of more than a hundred IAF aircraft over the Red Fort on India’s first Independence Day, August 15, 1947. In 2002, on the occasion of Republic Day, he was granted the honorary rank of Marshal, the highest military rank attainable, which before him only two Army chiefs, K M Carriappa and Sam Manekshaw, had achieved.
•For his meritorious services during the 1965 Indo-Pak War, Arjan Singh was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan. He became the first officer of the IAF to be promoted to the rank of Air Chief Marshal, at par with a General. He also served as a member of the Minorities Commission and as the Lt Governor of Delhi.
3) India, Japan sign Open Sky Agreement
•India and Japan today signed an agreement that will allow their airlines to operate unlimited number of flights between the two countries.
•It opens skies between India and Japan ie. Indian and Japanese carriers can mount now unlimited number of flights to the selected cities of each other's countries. The National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016, allows the government to enter into an 'open sky' air services agreement on a reciprocal basis with SAARC nations as well as countries beyond a 5,000 kilometre radius from New Delhi.
4) IAF Completes Development Trials of Astra air-to-air Missile
•Final development trials of indigenous beyond visual range air-to-air missile Astra were successfully concluded into the Indian Air Force. The trials were conducted over the Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast at Chandipur, with the missile being test-fired from a Su-30 fighter aircraft.
•The missile has been designed to be capable of engaging high-speed targets at short range, up to 20 km in tail-chase mode and long range, up to 80 km in head-on chase mode.
5) Amazon Ties up With Bank of Baroda To Offer Micro-Loans To Sellers
•Amazon has tied up with Bank of Baroda for the loans, which can go up to Rs. 25 lakh.
•The Indian arm of the US e-commerce giant, Amazon plans to provide unsecured micro-loans, as low as 1 lakh, at interest rates as low as 10.45-11 per cent at a short span of 3-5 days. With the Bank of Baroda tie-up, the company wants to cater to every strata of sellers.
6) PV Sindhu wins gold!
•PV Sindhu becomes the first Indian to win the Korea Open Superseries with an outstanding 22-20, 11-21, 21-18 win over Nozomi Okuhara in the much-talked-about women's singles final in Seoul.
•Olympic silver medallist shuttler P V Sindhu beat world champion Nozomi Okuhara in a thrilling final to clinch the women's singles title at the Korea Open Super Series today.
