Current Affairs 06th August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

Hiroshima Day

• Hiroshima Day is observed annually on 6 August. Hiroshima Day 2020 marks the 75th year of walking the path of the atomic bomb.
• Hiroshima Day commemorates the remembrance of the bombing attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States during World War II in 1945.
• This day aims to raise awareness about the threat of nuclear weapons and the dangers of nuclear energy.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

India contributes over $15 million to India-UN Development Partnership Fund 

• India has contributed $15.46 million to the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, underscoring the country’s commitment to supporting developing nations in their developmental priorities across all the Sustainable Development Goals.
• India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti handed over a cheque of $15.46 million to the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) Director Jorge Chediek at a low-key ceremony held within social distancing guidelines at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.
• The tranche of $15.46 million includes $6 million to the overall fund, in which all the developing countries are eligible for partnership, and $9.46 million dedicated to the Commonwealth countries.
• The India-UN Development Partnership Fund is managed by the UNOSSC and implemented under the leadership of partner developing countries leveraging the strengths of United Nations Agencies, Funds and Programmes.
  The Indian government has renewed its commitment to supporting fellow developing countries in their national developmental priorities across all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

About UNOSSC

• Director: Jorge Chediek
• Headquarter– New York, United States (US)

NIDM in collaboration with IMD organises webinar series on “Hydro-Meteorological Hazards Risk Reduction”

• National Institute of Disaster Management in collaboration with India Meteorological Department organised a webinar series on “Hydro-Meteorological Hazards Risk Reduction”. The webinar series include four webinars focusing on Thunderstorms and Lightning, Cloudburst and Floods, Cyclones and Storm Surges and Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events.
• The webinar series exhorted on enhancing human capacity in terms of better understanding of Hydro-Meteorological Hazards Risk and effective collaborative actions.
• Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai inaugurated the first webinar on “Thunderstorms and Lightning”. He highlighted the major interventions carried out by the Government departments and agencies for reducing the adverse risks of Hydro-Meteorological disasters.
• He also emphasised on focusing on collaborative short and long term mitigation and reduction measures to diminish the adverse impacts of these disasters.

About National Institute of Disaster Management:

• Executive Director: Major General Manoj Kumar Bindal
• Location: New Delhi

About India Meteorological Department:

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Agency executive: Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

India extends Line of Credit worth 18 million US dollars to Maldives for expansion of fishing facilities at MIFCO

• India has extended Line of Credit worth 18 million US dollars to the Government of Maldives for the expansion of fishing facilities at Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO).
• The project envisages investment in fish collection and storage facilities and the setting up of a tuna cooked plant and fishmeal plant.  It is part of the 800 million US dollars line of credit offered by India with repayment tenor of 20 years and a 5-year moratorium.
• This project will benefit the Maldives in accessing new markets, increasing fish collection and storage capacity, along with creating greater value addition and additional sources of income.

About Maldives:

• Capital: Malé
• Currency: Maldivian rufiyaa

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE

Reserve Bank of India keeps repo rate unchanged at 4 percent

• RBI governor Shaktikanta Das stated that the apex bank’s monetary policy committee has decided to unanimously leave the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent.  He added that  RBI  will continue with the accommodative stance of monetary policy as long as necessary to revive growth, mitigate the impact of COVID-19, while ensuring that inflation remains within the target going  forward.
• He stated, the reverse repo rate stands unchanged at 35 per cent. He stated the MPC’s assessment is that the global economic activity has remained fragile and in retrenchment in the first half of 2020.
• The RBI Governor stated the headline CPI inflation, which was at 5.8 per cent in March 2020, was placed at 1 per cent in the provisional estimates for June 2020.
• He stated given the uncertainty surrounding the inflation outlook and extremely weak state of the economy in the midst of an unprecedented shock from the ongoing pandemic, the MPC decided to keep the policy rate on hold, while remaining watchful for a durable reduction in inflation to use available space to support the revival of the economy.

About RBI:

• Governor: Shaktikanta Das
• Headquarters: Mumbai

BOB Financial Solutions Limited partners Fiserv Technology for Digital Transformation

• BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda, has selected Fiserv, Inc., to enable the digitization of their end-to-end card issuance and processing cycle and support the unveiling of several new and high-tech products namely contactless credit cards, tokenisation and integration with branded wallets, and virtual credit cards.
• BFSL is one of India’s earliest issuers of credit cards in India and has been delivering card products and services to its customers. To speed-up their digital strategy and keep pace with rapidly changing consumer expectations, BFSL will be deploying FirstVisionTM from Fiserv, an end-to-end managed services solution that enables card issuing and processing with global economies of scale and integrated capabilities that span the card lifecycle.

PayU introduces payouts solutions to scale up financial operations for merchant

Current Affairs 05th August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

24 states in the country get linked to ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ 

• Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan, reviewed the progress of ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ plan implementation throughout the country.
• As four new states complete technical requirements, they have also been linked to the scheme. These four states are UT of Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland and Uttarakhand.
• With the addition of these four states, now 24 states across the country are connected with the One Nation One Ration Card Scheme.
• The plan aims to ensure the delivery of food security entitlements to all beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA), irrespective of their physical location anywhere in the country.
• The government had first implemented the scheme as a pilot project in four states in
• The timely implementation of the scheme helped the government to effectively deliver food grains under PM Garib Kalyan Yojna announced till November 2020.

About MoFPD

• Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution: Ram Vilas Paswan
• Constituency: Hajipur, Bihar

India’s tourism ministry inaugurates Thenzawl Golf Resort project in Mizoram

• Ministry of Tourism, Government of India virtually inaugurated the state-of-the-art Thenzawl Golf Resort project in Mizoram.
• The project is developed under Swadesh Darshan scheme’s ‘Integrated Development of New Eco-Tourism’ with a sanctioned amount of 92.25 crore out of which Rs.64.48 crore has been allocated for various components including the golf course at Thenzawl in Mizoram.
• The golf course is designed by Canada based-Graham Cooke and Associates.
• Currently, India boasts over 220 golf courses. With this new project, the tourism ministry of India aims to promote golf tourism as a niche product for attracting both international and domestic tourists.

About Ministry of Tourism

• Minister of Tourism: Prahlad Singh Patel
• Constituency: Damoh Loksabha Constituency in Madhya Pradesh

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launches the Sahakar Cooptube NCDC Channel

• Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched the National Cooperative Development Corporation’s YouTube channel, ‘Sahakar Cooptube NCDC India’, to encourage farmers and the youth to take benefit of cooperatives.
• Shri Tomar also launched guidance videos produced by NCDC on ‘Formation and Registration of a Cooperative’ for eighteen different states in Hindi and regional languages.
• The initiatives are steps towards One Nation One Market with the objective for India to become food factory of the world.
• This intended to strengthen all activities and services in agriculture, horticulture and allied sectors through creation and development of agriculture infrastructure, micro food enterprises, value chains and logistics for fishery and animal husbandry, medicinal and herbal plants, bee keeping and Operation Green.

About MoAFW

• Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Minister of Rural Development: Narendra Singh Tomar
• Constituency: Morena, MP

HRD minister releases 8-week alternative academic calendar for classes 6 to 8

• Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank released an eight-week alternative academic calendar, developed by NCERT, for classes 6 to 8. The alternative calendar maps the themes with learning outcomes to facilitate the assessment of progress in the learning of children.
• The Education minister while tweeting about alternative academic calendar wrote, ‘Alternative Academic Calendar for upper primary stage (Classes VI to VIII) for four weeks was released earlier.
• The academic calendar contains week-wise plans consisting of interesting and challenging activities, with reference to theme/chapter taken from syllabus or textbook. Most importantly, it maps the themes with the learning outcomes.

About Ministry of Education:

• Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Cabinet Minister
• Constituency: Haridwar
• Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, Minister of State

FAO claims new platform to help fight food loss, wastage

• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has unveiled a new platform to help accelerate global reduction in food loss and waste. The platform will contain information on measurement, reduction policies, alliances, actions and examples of successful models applied to reduce food loss and waste.
• Wasting food means wasting scarce natural resources, increasing climate change impacts and missing the opportunity to feed a growing population in the future, stated FAO Director-General QU Dongyu.
• The platform will be officially launched on the first International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on 29 September, 2020.
• At least 14 per cent of food is lost (food wastage and food loss together), valued at $400 billion annually. In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the food that is lost is associated with around 1.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
• Major losses are seen in roots tubers and oil-bearing crops (25 per cent), fruits and vegetables (22 per cent), and meat and animal products (12 per cent).
• The platform is as a gateway to information on food loss and waste from various resources, including the largest online collection of data on what food is lost and wasted; examples of successful initiatives as well as food waste and losses a policy brief in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic; and few tips on what everyone can do to reduce food waste. Links to related portals from development partners are also provided.
• The FAO chief urged public and the private sectors and individuals to promote, harness and scale-up policies, innovation and technologies to reduce food loss and waste.

About FAO:

• Headquarters: Rome, Italy
• Head: Qu Dongyu

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

National Bank of Bahrain selects Infosys Finacle for transformation of transaction banking business

• National Bank of Bahrain and Infosys Finacle announced the bank’s decision to adopt the Finacle Cash Management Suite to digitally transform its transaction banking business.
• NBB will be implementing the Finacle Liquidity Management Platform, and upgrading its existing Finacle Corporate Online Banking platform to a full-fledged Digital Engagement Suite – with the latest versions of the Finacle Corporate Online and Mobile Banking solutions, along with the Finacle Digital Engagement Hub.

About NBB

• Chief executive officer– Jean-Christophe Durand
• Headquarters– Manama, Bahrain

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE

Current Affairs 04th August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Shri Sanjay Dhotre inaugurates BHARAT AIRFIBER , a last mile telecom connectivity solution based on Radio Network

• Sanjay Dhotre, Union Minister of State for HRD, Electronics, Communication, and IT, Govt Of India, inaugurated “Bharat Air Fibre Services” at Akola in Maharashtra. With inauguration of Bharat Air Fibre services, residents of Akola & Washim district will get Wireless Internet Connections on demand.
• The Bharat Air Fibre services are introduced by BSNL as part of digital India initiates by the Government of India and it aims of providing Wireless Connectivity in the range of 20 KMs from the BSNL Locations and thus customers at remote places also will be benefitted as BSNL comes with cheapest services with support of Telecom Infrastructure Partners (TIPs).
• BSNL is providing the “Bharat Air Fibre Services” through local business partners of BSNL from Akola & Washim District and these services will give fastest internet connectivity in quick time. These services are special and different from other operators as BSNL is providing unlimited free voice calling.
• These Bharat Air Fibre services opens new way of fastest Wireless internet connectivity as well Voice services in reasonable cost. BSNL provides Bharat Air Fibre connectivity upto 100 Mbps speed. BSNL is offering attractive Broadband plans in Wireline & Wireless segments and during lockdown BSNL has come up as most reliable brand for Internet connectivity there by successfully implementing the Work From Home started by Government as well as many private firms.

About BSNL:

• CEO: Pravin Kumar Purwar
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Govt formulates draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020

• Defence Ministry has formulated a draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 (DPEPP-2020).
• The policy aims to provide impetus to self-reliance in defence manufacturing under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Scheme.
• The DPEPP-2020 is envisaged as overarching guiding document of Defence Ministry to provide a focused, structured and significant thrust to defence production capabilities of the country for self-reliance and exports.
• Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 has marked out clear goals and objectives to be undertaken by the Defence Ministry.
• First and foremost amongst all is to achieve a turnover of Rs. 1 lakh 75 thousand Crore including an export of Rs. 35 thousand Crore in the Aerospace and Defence goods and services by the year 2025.
• Developing a dynamic, robust and competitive Defence industry, including Aerospace and Naval Shipbuilding industry to cater to the needs of Armed forces with quality products has also been clearly laid out in the new draft policy.
• The ministry has also laid emphasis on reducing dependence on imports and taking forward the Make in India initiatives through domestic designs.
• Efforts will be made to create an environment that encourages Research and Development, rewards innovation, creates Indian IP ownership and promotes a robust and self-reliant defence industry.
• Defence Ministry has solicited comments on the draft DPEPP-2020 policy from all stakeholders latest by 17th of August this year.

About Ministry of defence:

• Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence
• Constituency: Lucknow
• Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for Defence

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

Global Economy Could Lose $108 Billion In Remittances: ADB

• Global remittances will fall by 6 billion dollars if the Covid-19 economic impact persists throughout the year, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) stated.
• This is equivalent to 18.3 per cent decline from what would have been expected without the impact of Covid-19, wrote economists James Villafuerte and Aiko Kikkawa Takenaka in a blogpost.
• Remittance receipts in Asia and the Pacific will fall by 54.3 billion dollars, equivalent to 19.8 per cent of remittances in 2018.
• By sub-region, remittances in South Asia are expected to fall furthest by 28.6 billion dollars (24.7 per cent of 2018 receipts) followed by remittances to Central Asia (3.4 billion dollars, 23.8 per cent), southeast Asia (11.7 billion dollars, 18.6 per cent) and east Asia ex-China and Japan (1.7 billion dollars, 16.2 per cent).
• Remittances to the Pacific will also fall (267 million dollars, 13.2 per cent), stated the ADB economists.
• The majority of the decline in remittance flows to the region is explained by a 22.5 billion dollars fall in remittances from the Middle East which accounts for 41.4 per cent of total remittance loss in Asia. This is followed by a 20.5 billion dollars slump in remittances from the United States (37.9 per cent of total).
• The fall in remittances from the European Union and the United Kingdom accounts for 6.3 per cent of the total or 3.4 billion dollars. The decline from Russian Federation amounts to 2.1 billion dollars of which 2 billion dollars reflects the decline in remittances going to Central Asia.
• By percentage, the Middle East and the Russian Federation experienced the sharpest decline — over a third — primarily reflecting the effects of low demand and oil prices on remittances.

About ADB:

• Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Philippines
• President: Masatsugu Asakawa

U.K. to issue coin to honour Gandhiji

• Chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak’s office confirmed that Mahatma Gandhi’s image on a coin is being considered as part of efforts to celebrate achievements of non-white individuals such as Indian-origin British spy Noor Inayat Khan and Jamaican British nurse Mary Seacole.
• Sunak has written to the Royal Mint Advisory Committee (RMAC) that recommends themes and designs of coins, supporting a campaign called “We Too Built Britain,” which seeks representation of non-white icons on British currency.
• The proposal to put Gandhi’s image on a British coin was made by former chancellor Sajid Javid in October 2019. If the proposal now becomes reality, it would make the Indian independence hero the first non-White person to feature on a British coin.
• The chancellor’s office confirmed that the RMAC is currently considering a coin to commemorate Gandhi, adding that Sunak is keen that British coins commemorate the work of the previous generations who have served the UK and nations that form the Commonwealth.
• Campaigners previously sought Noor Inayat Khan’s image on a new £50 note, but the Bank of England announced that the new series to enter circulation in 2021 will have the image of computer pioneer and code-breaker Alan Turing.

Current Affairs 02nd & 03rd August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

World Lung Cancer Day

• World Lung Cancer Day is observed on August 1 to raise awareness about the causes and treatment of lung cancer and to highlight the issues that a lack of sufficient research funding can create.
• The campaign was first organised in 2012 by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies, in collaboration with the International Association for the study of Lung Cancer and also the American College of Chest Physicians.

World Sanskrit Day

• The World Sanskrit Day is being celebrated on Aug 3rd .
• Sanskrit is the ancient language of India. It has a documented history of nearly 3,500 years, is stated to be the primary liturgical language of the Hindu culture. World Sanskrit Day is celebrated on Shravana poornima which is Poornima day of Shravana month as per the Hindu calendar. This year, Sanskrit Day falls on August 3.
• This Indo-Aryan language has been declared as a classical language that’s identified for its scientific construction and is in excessive demand throughout the world.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Housing minister Hardeep Puri launches digital platforms to market residential properties

• Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched digital platforms of real estate bodies CREDAI and NAREDCO to market residential properties, besides releasing a guide book for affordable rental housing scheme for migrants.
• The minister launched ‘CREDAI Awaas App’ and NAREDCO’s onlineportal ‘HousingforAll.com’ through a video conference.
• Puri released the knowledge pack of the government’s ‘Affordable Rental Housing Complexes’ (ARHCs) programme, which has been recently launched to provide rental accommodations to migrant and urban poor.
• The ARHCs scheme, which has been launched under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, will help in providing dignified and affordable living spaces for urban migrants/ poor in need.
• CREDAI Awaas App is a residential project discovery online platform through which buyers will be able to virtually explore and experience the projects from 220 cities across the country. The app aims to facilitate transparent home buying in India of RERA approved projects by CREDAI developers.

About MoHUA

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairsand Civil Aviation: Hardeep Singh Puri
• Constituency: Uttar Pradesh

Narendra Singh Tomar releases booklet on Best Practices in Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme

• Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Narendra Singh Tomar released a booklet on “Best Practices in Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP)” of Department of Land Resources (DoLR), Ministry of Rural Development based on the presentations made by the States during Regional and National workshops since inception of the programme.
• This publication lists various ‘good practices’ followed in land records modernisation across national policy framework and in nine study states namely Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.
• It also covers the gaps in implementation of different processes (such as registration, mutation, survey, settlement, land acquisition), technological initiatives and legal and institutional aspects.Substantial progress has been achieved under the Digital India Land Record Modernization Programme (DILRMP) since its inception.
• Computerization of Land Records has been completed (more than 90%) in 23 States/ UTs and substantial progress has been achieved in 11 States/ UTs.
• Digitization of Cadastral Maps has been completed (more than 90%) in 19 States/ UTs and substantial progress has been achieved in 9 States/ UTs.
• Computerization of Registration (SRO) has been completed (more than 90%) in 22 States/ UTs and substantial progress has been achieved in 8 States/ UTs.
• Integration of SRO with Revenue Office has been completed (more than 90%) in 16 States/ UTs and substantial progress has been achieved in 8 States/ UTs.

About MoRD

• Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Minister of Rural Development: Narendra Singh Tomar
• Constituency: Morena,MP

Nitin Gadkari inaugurates upstream carriageway of Mahatma Gandhi bridge over river Ganga in Bihar

• Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the upstream carriageway of Mahatma Gandhi bridge over river Ganga in Bihar through video conference.
• Over 5 kilometres long, the four lane bridge lies on NH-19 between Patna and Hajipur.
• It is being constructed at a cost of one thousand 742 crore rupees.
• It involves replacement of the existing concrete superstructure of old bridge by new steel deck superstructure. The work on the bridge was started in June 2017.
• A new 5 km long, 4-lane Bridge over river Ganga in parallel to MG Setu, was also announced by Nitin Gadkari to facilitate movement of ships under it.
• It will cost about three thousand crore rupees.

About MoRTH

• Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Minister of Shipping and MSME: Nitin Jairam Gadkari
• Constituency: Nagpur, Maharashtra

About Bihar

• Capital: Patna
• Governor: Phagu Chauhan
• Chief Minister: Nitish Kumar

Government launches programme for artisans involved in manufacturing of agarbatti

• The government (MSME Ministry) has approved a programme for the benefit of artisans involved in manufacturing of agarbatti and to develop village industry under the ‘Gramodyog Vikas Yojana’.
• Initially four pilot projects will be started as part of the programme, including one in the North East.
• This decision will help to boost the indigenous production of agarbatti and will pave way to generate rural employment.
• This will also start the process of mitigating the gap between the indigenous production and demand and will reduce import of agarbatti in the country.
• Each targeted cluster of artisans will be supported with about 50 automatic agarbatti making machines and 10 mixing machines. Accordingly, a total of 200 automatic agarbatti making machines and 40 mixing machines will be provided to the artisans.
• The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), a statutory organisation under the Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), will provide training, and assist artisans working in this area, with Agarbatti manufacturing machines.
• KVIC will tie up with khadi institutions and agarbatti manufacturers in the country, having good track record, to provide work and raw material to agarbatti making artisans.

About KVIC

• Chairman: Vinai Kumar Saxena
• Headquarter: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Amit Shah inaugurates international webinar on 'Lokmanya Tilak - Swaraj to Self-reliant India' organized by ICCR

• Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated a two-day international webinar on the theme of ‘Lokmanya Tilak – Swaraj to Self-reliant India’ organized by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations on the 100th death anniversary of the great freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
• In his address, Mr Shah stated that Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak played a key role in the making of the Indian Independence movement complete in letter and spirit. The Home Minister stated that the slogan of ‘Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it’ given by Lokmanya Tilak, will always be written in golden letters in the history of the Indian Independence Movement.
• Mr Shah stated that this slogan may seem natural to utter in our times, but in the 19th century very few people could have dared of uttering it and sacrificing their life and working for it to make it turn into reality. Mr Shah further stated that Tilak’s idea of India as a nation, Indian culture and Indian customs are equally relevant.

Current Affairs 1st August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

Muslim Women Rights Day

• The Modi government is observing July 31 as Muslim Women Rights Day, marking the first anniversary of the passage of the anti-triple talaq law in Parliament.
• The law, formally called the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, was passed in last year after intense debates in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, with opposition parties stating it targeted the Muslim community even as the Centre asserted that it would help achieve gender justice for Muslim women.

World Ranger Day

• World Ranger Day is celebrated on 31 July to commemorate Rangers killed or injured in the line of duty and to celebrate the work Rangers do to protect the world’s natural and cultural heritage.
• It is promoted by the 54-member association of the International Ranger Federation(IRF).

National Mountain Climbing Day

• National Mountain Climbing Day is celebrated on August 1 every year.
• The adventurous day was established in honor of Bobby Matthews and his friend Josh Madigan, who successfully climbed the 46 high peaks of New York State’s Adirondack Mountains.

World Breastfeeding Week

• World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world.
• World Breastfeeding Week first time was celebrated in 1992.
• The theme of World Breastfeeding Week 2020 is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Atal Innovation Mission launches ‘AIM-iCREST’, in partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation

• In a major initiative to encourage and enable holistic progress in the incubator ecosystem across the country, NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), has launched AIM iCREST – an Incubator Capabilities enhancement program for a Robust Ecosystem focused on creating high performing Startups. This is a first of its kind initiative for advancing innovation at scale in India.
• AIM has joined hands with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation – organizations that can lend credible support and expertise in the entrepreneurship and innovation space. These partnerships will provide global expertise and showcase proven best practices to the AIM’s incubator network.
• AIM iCREST, as the name suggests, has been designed to enable the incubation ecosystem and act as a growth hack for AIM’s Atal and Established incubators across the country. Under the initiative, the AIM’s incubators are set to be upscaled and provided requisite support to foster the incubation enterprise economy, that will help them to significantly enhance their performance. This will be complemented by providing training to entrepreneurs, through technology driven processes and platforms.
• The program aims at going beyond incubator capacity building. Given the current pandemic crisis, the effort will focus on supporting start-up entrepreneurs in knowledge creation and dissemination as well as in developing robust and active networks.

About NITI Aayog:

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)– Amitabh Kant
• Headquarters– New Delhi

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

ADB signs Dollar 200 million financing deal with Reliance for power plant in Bangladesh

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a dollar 200 million financing deal with the Reliance Bangladesh LNG and Power Limited (RBLPL) to build and operate a 718 megawatt combined-cycle gas-fired power plant in Bangladesh.
• A combined-cycle power plant is a relatively more efficient way of producing electricity. It uses both a gas and a steam turbine together to produce up to 50 percent more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant.
• The financing deal has two components of dollar 100 million each. While ADB will provide dollar 100 million, it will also administer the other part worth dollar 100 million from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP).
• LEAP was set up in 2016 with a dollar 1.5 billion capital commitment for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
• The plant is proposed to be located on land allotted by Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), in Meghnaghat, Narayanganj District near Dhaka.

Current Affairs 31st July 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

World day against trafficking in persons

• The world day against trafficking in persons is marked on July 30 every year to raise awareness about the menace of human trafficking and to protect the human rights of the victims.
• It was the first time in 2013 when the United Nations General Assembly designated 30 July as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. And the same year, the UN General Assembly held a high-level meeting to form a global plan of action to tackle Trafficking in persons.
• The theme of this year’s World Day Against Trafficking focuses on first responders to human trafficking.“Committed To The Cause -Working On The Frontline To End Human Trafficking”.

International Day of Friendship

• International Day of Friendshipis observed annually on July 30 to cherish the bond of friendship which will ultimately help to develop love and peace among human beings.
• Friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

HRD Ministry renamed as Ministry of Education

• Ministry of Human Resource Development has been renamed as Ministry of Education.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the change in the name of the ministry. The HRD Ministry is currently headed by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the draft New Education Policy (NEP 2020), which aims to revamp of all aspects of Indian education structure.
• The education policy was released in the year 1986, as for 34 years there were no changes in the education policy.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reviewed the NEP- 2020, for which draft was prepared by a panel of experts led by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Kasturirangan.
• Under the new system, flexibility will be given to students both in choosing the subjects for education as well as in the entry and exit in college degree
• Any student can exit a degree programme from the first year onwards if he/she wants only a certificate. Once two years are completed, a diploma will be awarded and post the completion of the three-year or four-year curriculum, the degree will be awarded.
• The National Education Policy will put a thrust on use of mother tongue as medium of instruction till the fifth grade. Further, subjects wouldn’t be restricted to students purely based on their educational background.
• Further, Phil programme will be discontinued. Students can also do a four-year degree programme, one-year Masters and then directly go to the doctoral programme.
• School students will also get an opportunity to do vocational education programmes under the new policy from the sixth grade.
• Instead of having different regulatory bodies like All India Council for Technical Education, University Grants Commission and other local niche entities, there will be one single higher education regulator.
• Use of schools/ school complexes beyond school hours and public library spaces for adult education courses which will be ICT-equipped when possible and for other community engagement and enrichment activities.
• NIOS will develop high-quality modules to teach Indian Sign Language, and to teach other basic subjects using Indian Sign Language.
• Pre-school sections covering at least one year of early childhood care and education will be added to Kendriya Vidyalayas and other primary schools around the nation, particularly in disadvantaged areas.
• NCC wings in secondary and higher secondary schools under Ministry of Defence
• Free boarding facilities will be built – matching the standard of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas particularly for students who from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds
• National Scholarship portal for SC, ST, OBC, SEDGs students to be expanded.
• By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree.
• Education sector to get 6% of GDP, earlier it was 1.7%
• Bagless days will be encouraged throughout the year for various types of enrichment activities involving arts, quizzes, sports, and vocational crafts.
• The three-language learned by children will be the choices of States, regions, and of the students, so long as at least two of the three languages are native to India.
• Nutrition and health cards, regular health check-ups for school students.
• National Mission on Foundation Literacy and Numeracy to be set up by MHRD.
• Tech- based option for adult learning through apps, TV channels etc.
• The National Testing Agency (NTA) will offer a high-quality common aptitude test, as well as specialized common subject exams in the sciences, humanities, languages, arts, and vocational subjects, at least twice every year for university entrance exams.
• Students will get 360 degree holistic report card, which will not only inform about the marks obtained by them in subjects, but also their skills and other important points.
• Coding to be taught from class 6 onwards.
• National Curricular and pedagogical framework to be developed by NCERT.
• Financial Autonomy to be given to 45K affiliated colleges
• An Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) shall be established which would digitally store the academic credits earned.
• NEP aims at setting up at least one large multidisciplinary institution in or near every district by the year 2030.
• IITs to become multidisciplinary institution, opening doors for humanities students.
• International Students Office at each institution hosting foreign students
• National Research Foundation (NRF) to be established.
• The new academic session will begin in September-October – the delay is due to the unprecedented coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak – and the government aims to introduce the policy before the new session begins.
• This includes legal education and medical education as well. There will be an independent board of governors and a graded autonomy system will be launched.

About Ministry of Education (MoE)

• Union Minister– Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
• Constituency: Haridwar, Uttarakhand

Ayush Minister launches dedicated Web-Portal for National AYUSH Mission

• Ayush Minister  Shripad Yesso Naik reviewed the centrally- sponsored scheme of National Ayush Mission and operationalization of AYUSH Health and Wellness Centers during a webinar of Health and Ayush Ministers of all states.
• Mr Naik requested Health and Ayush Ministers to give due focus to the early establishment and operationalization of AYUSH Health and Wellness Centers to strengthen the primary Healthcare delivery system in real-terms and to extend the AYUSH health care to the needy. He emphasized the need to speed up the pace of work sanctioned under National AYUSH Mission and AYUSH Health and Wellness Centers, so that the benefit may reach to the common people.
• On this occasion, Mr Naik launched a dedicated Web-Portal for National AYUSH Mission for submission of  State Annual Action Plans, Utilization Certificates, Physical and Financial Progress report, and other informations related to the Ministry. The Minister also released 4 publications including Operational Guidelines for establishment of AYUSH Health and Wellness Centers.

About Ayush Ministry:             

• Shripad Naik, Minister of State (Independent charge)
• Constituency: North Goa