August 17 Current Affairs _ Get Update Now

Oscar winner music director  get “TAMIL RATNA AWARD”

Oscar winning music composer AR Rahman was honoured with the Tamil Ratna Award by the New York based Tamil Sangam. He was honoured with this award after his concert at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) chamber to honour M.S. Subbulakshi, the doyen of Carnatic music. The previous recipients of Tamil Ratna Award include Bharatha Natyam exponent Kamala Lakshman, Tamil movie director Bharathi Raja and mathematician Srinivasa Varadhan.

former Union Minister Najma Heptulla as a Governor of Manipur

President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed former Union Minister Najma Heptulla (76) as Governor of Manipur. She had served as Union Minority Affairs Minister in the Union Cabinet of NDA Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But she had resigned in July 2016.

Government has allowed online authentication using Aadhar for new mobile connections.

The Union Government has allowed online authentication using Aadhar for new mobile connections. In this regard Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued guidelines for Aadhaar Electronic-Know Your Customer (e-KYC).

China launches quantum satellite for 'hack-proof' communications

china has successfully launched the world’s first quantum satellite dubbed as Quantum Experiments at Space Scaler (QUESS) satellite. The satellite was launched on board of Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the remote northwestern province of Gansu. 

Main Features 

The QUESS satellite has been nicknamed as Micius after a 5th century BC Chinese philosopher. It will be located in sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 km and will circle the Earth once every 90 minutes. The satellite will help China to establish hack-proof communications system by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground. Applications: Ranges from highly secured military and government communications to online shopping.