Current Affairs 11th August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar launches portal on Human Elephant Conflict on World Elephant Day

  • The Minister for Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar released document on Best Practices and launched a portal on Human Elephant Conflict on the eve of World Elephant Day, 2020.
  • Mr Javadekar stated, efforts are in full swing to provide food and water to the animals in the forests itself to deal with the growing human-animal conflict cases.
  • He stated, India is committed to the cause of saving elephants and other animals and is working towards robust, practical and cost effective solutions to end the human animal conflict.
  • He stated, Government has taken initiative of fodder and water augmentation in forest areas so that animals will get food and water in forest area and will not come outside. He added that LiDAR technology is being used for it.
  • Minister of State for Environment and Forest Babul Supriyo stated, it is a moment of pride that India is having 60 percent of Global population of Asian Elephants.  The World Elephant Day is observed every year on 12th August to spread awareness about the animal. It was launched in 2012 to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.
  • Poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and mistreatment in captivity are some of the threats to both African and Asian elephants.
  • Indian Elephant has also been listed in the Appendix I of the Convention of the Migratory species in the recently concluded 13th  Conference of Parties on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)  at Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat in February this year.
About Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change:          
  • Prakash Javadekar, Cabinet Minister
  • Constituency:Madhya Pradesh
  • Babul Supriyo, Minister of State

FM Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurates NIP Online Dashboard

  • Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the National Infrastructure Pipeline, NIP, Online Dashboard in New Delhi through video conferencing.
  • The online dashboard is envisaged as a one stop solution for all stakeholders looking for information on infrastructure projects in New India.
  • The dashboard is being hosted on the India Investment Grid, IIG indiainvestmentgrid.gov.in. IIG is an interactive and dynamic online platform that showcases d and real-time investment opportunities in the country.
  • She stated, the availability of NIP projects on IIG will ensure easy accessibility to project information and attract investors for PPP projects.
  • The Minister has asked all concerned Department and Ministries to immediately the status of projects on NIP portal and keep it in real time.

Govt aims to develop 10 Craft and Handloom Villages in India: Smriti Irani

  • Union Minister Smriti Irani stated the government is aiming to develop ten Craft and Handloom Villages in the country so that tourists from across the globe can visit them and learn the rich legacy of Indian weavers and lend support to the Make in India initiative.
  • Almost 95% of the handwoven fabrics used globally are produced in India.
  • The minister stated the National Handloom Awards, which are presented on the occasion of the Handloom Day, are being deferred upon the request of weavers who wish to celebrate the honour instead of receiving it digitally due to the prevailing circumstances posed by COVID-19.
  • Irani shared that students from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) are contributing to the upgradation of 9 out of 28 Weavers’ Service Centres across the country in terms of design, marketing and research.
  • These centres are located in Delhi, Srinagar, Jaipur, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Guwahati, Kanchipuram and Bhubaneswar.
About Ministry of Textiles:
  • Minister of Textiles and Minister of Women and Child development: Smriti Irani
  • Constituency: Amethi

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

India, Maldives ink contract for development of five eco-tourism zones in Addu atoll of island nation

  • India and Maldives signed a contract for development of five eco-tourism zones in Addu atoll of the island nation.
  • Maldives foreign secretary Abdul Ghafoor, MPs representing Addu city and Indian high commissioner Sunjay Sudhir participated in the ceremony.
  • These eco tourism zones are part of grant projects being implemented under the High-Impact Community Development project (HICDP) scheme which involves a total grant assistance of  5 million US dollars to the Maldives. Currently, there are 9 such high-impact projects being implemented in the Maldives.
  • High Commissioner Sunjay Sudhir, in his remarks, highlighted that developing high-impact assets, building capacities within the local councils and supporting of the local island economy are most important objectives of these projects.
  • He recalled that contracts for the other three HICDP projects in Addu, relating to setting up of fish-processing plants, were awarded last month.
About Maldives :
  • Capital: MalĂ©
  • Currency: Maldivian rufiyaa

Russian President Vladimir Putin announces world’s first COVID-19 vaccine

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the country’s first coronavirus vaccine, touted as the first in the world News agency Reuters reported that Putin’s daughter received a shot of the vaccine. Earlier, it was reported that the country would register its vaccine candidate on , August 12.
  • The country has registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine, amid widespread concerns about the rapidly developed vaccine’s safety.
  • The Health Ministry announced that it plans to begin mass production in September and launch a mass vaccination drive in October. The vaccine developed by the state-run Gamaleya research institute entered phase 3 clinical trials.

Current Affairs 09th & 10th August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

  • The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is observed on 9 August each year to raise awareness and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population.
  • This event also recognizes the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection.
  • This day is also known as World Tribal Day.
  • Theme: COVID-19 and indigenous people resilience.

Nagasaki Day

  • Nagasaki day is on August 9, which is observed as the day to remember the people and innocent children who were killed by the atomic bombs dropped by the United States in 1945.
  • It commemorates the day when the atomic bomb named “Fat Man” killed more than eighty thousand people in Nagasaki, leaving a great mass of destruction and havoc behind for generations to come.

World Bio-Fuel Day

  • Every year 10th August is observed as World Bio-Fuel Day in a bid to create awareness about non fossil-fuels (Green Fuels).
  • Ministry of Petroleum & Natural gas has started observing the World Bio fuel Day since 2015 in India.
  • The theme for 2020 World Biofuel Day is ‘Biofuels Towards Atmanirbhar Bharat’

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

PM Modi launches week long campaign ‘Gandagi, Bharat Chorho’

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a week long cleanliness campaign ‘Gandagi, Bharat Chorho’ till August 15.
  • Every day till August 15 there will be a special swachhata initiatives in urban and rural India to re-enforce the jan andolan for swachhata.
  • The Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra will be open to the public from 9th August from 8 AM to 5 PM, in accordance with the prescribed guidelines for social distancing and hygiene.
  • No tours will be organised for students in the short term. However, virtual tours of the Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra will also be organised till such time as physical tours are possible.

PM Modi Launches Rs 1 Lakh Crore Finance Facility For Agri-Infrastructure

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a debt financing facility under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund with a budget of Rs 1 lakh crore.
  • Under this, Farmer Producer Organisation Schemes, self-help groups and agri-entrepreneurs can take loans to build infrastructure for post-harvest management and community farming assets, like cold storage, collection centres and processing units.
  • The scheme, already cleared by the cabinet, will be implemented from this month.
  • Rs 1,000 crore has already been sanctioned to over 2,280 farmer societies. The assets will help them get more value for their produce, as a proper post-harvest infrastructure will help them reduce wastage and store and sell crops at higher prices.
  • The government has also released the next instalment of Rs 2,000 each to 8.5 crore farmers under the PM-Kisan scheme.
  • This was the sixth instalment of the scheme, which,  launched in 2018, promised to provide direct cash benefit of Rs 6,000 per year to to more than 10 crore farmers. Rs 17,100 crore has been spent on the scheme this time.

Indian Railways committed to integrate with GeM portal

  • Indian Railways is committed to integrate with the government e-marketplace (GeM) portal to move all its procurement to the platform.
  • Railways buys more than 98 percent of its goods and services in India and moving this purchase to the GeM platform in the next “probably 8-12 months” will help in making the procurement process more transparent, seamless, efficient, and faster.
  • The railways’ direct procurement of goods for its operations or its public sector undertakings or production units stood at about Rs 70,000 crore-Rs 75,000 crore.
  • The Commerce Ministry launched GeM for public procurement in August 2016 with the objective of creating an open and transparent procurement platform for the government.
  • If any supplier or vendor provides bad quality goods, it will be black listed not only on GeM, but throughout the government system.

About Indian Railways

  • Headquarters: New Delhi
  • Chairman: V K Yadhav
  • Minister: Piyush Goyal

Current Affairs 08th August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

Quit India Movement Day

  • All India Congress Committee session in Bombay on 8 August, 1942, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi launched the ‘Quit India Movement’.
  • It is also known as August Movement or August Kranti.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Ministry of Jal Shakti launches new version of India Water Resources Information System

  • The Ministry of Jal Shakti has launched a new version of the India Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS) with new functionalities and features.
  • The web portal indiawris.gov.in, this portal contains information related to Water Resources through dashboards for rainfall, water levels & discharge of rivers, water bodies, ground water levels, reservoir storages, evapotranspiration and soil moisture, as well as modules on water resources projects, water bodies, hydro-met data availability and tools for GIS layer editing.
  • Through this portal, any stakeholder can visualize the information in a user friendly manner, as well download the information in the form of excel reports and graphs.
  • The key features of the system are Water information easily made available to users and general public, for decision makers, water managers, farmers & experts, Direct access to hydro-met information from Central and State agencies, Real-time data available with one click, Variety of modules for different needs, Latest technologies, continuous development and improvement.

About Ministry of Jal Shakti

  • Minister of Jal Shakti: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
  • Constituency: Jodhpur, Rajasthan

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

UNESCO recognises two Odisha villages as Tsunami Ready

  • In a first two coastal villages of Odisha have been recognised as being “Tsunami Ready” by UNESCO for their overall preparedness to face the calamity.
  • Odisha became the first state in the country to have such villages and the country the first in the Indian Ocean region to achieve the honour from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.
  • The two coastal are Venkatraipur (Boxipalli) village of Rangeilunda block in Ganjam district and Noliasahi village of Ersama block in Jagatsinghpur district.
  • The certificate of recognition will be handed over to the communities of Venkatraipur and Noliasahi in a virtual event.
  • Jena, who is also the managing director of Odisha State Disaster management Authority, will receive the certificate from UNESCO.
  • It will make Odisha a role model for tsunami preparedness. With this award, the state is motivated to make the 326 villages and urban local bodies tsunami ready in one year’s time.

About IOC-UNESCO

  • The Indian Ocean Tsunami Ready Programme of IOC-UNESCO is a community performance-based programme that facilitates tsunami preparedness as an active collaboration of the community, community leaders, and national and local emergency management agencies

About Odisha

  • Capital: Bhubaneswar
  • Governor: Ganeshi Lal
  • Chief minister: Naveen Patnaik

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATES

BHEL begins civil works at 660-MW Sagardighi power plant in West Bengal

  • State-owned engineering firm BHEL has commenced civil works at 660-MW Sagardighi supercritical thermal power project in West Bengal.
  • The Sagardighi thermal power station is already equipped with two sets of 500 MW installed by BHEL in 2016. BHEL has so far contributed over 80 per cent of the total coal-based generating capacity of WBPDCL.

About West Bengal

  • Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar
  • Capital: Kolkata
  • CM: Mamta Banerjee

Delhi government launches electric vehicle policy, announces incentives of up to ₹1.5 lakh

  • The Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi launched the Electric Vehicle Policy for the national capital under which the AAP government will waive registration fee, road tax, and provide an incentive of up to₹5 lakh for new cars.
  • The government also aims to generate employment to give a boost to Delhi’s economy and reduce pollution levels in the national capital.
  • This policy also aims to constitute 25% electric vehicles by 2024.
  • Under the policy, they will give incentive of up to₹30,000 for two-wheelers, autos, e-rickshaws and freight vehicles while for cars incentive of up to ₹5 lakh.

About New Delhi

  • CM: Arvind Kejriwal
  • Governor: Shri Anil Baijal

Current Affairs 07th August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

National Handloom Day

  • The National Handloom Day is observed annually on 7th of August to honour the handloom weavers in the country and also highlight the handloom industry.
  • The Union government had declared 7 the August as the National Handloom Day in July 2015 with the objective to generate awareness about the importance of handloom industry.
  • August 7 was chosen as the National Handloom Day to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on this day in 1905 in the Calcutta Town hall to protest against partition of Bengal by the British Government. The movement had aimed at reviving domestic products and production processes.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Indian Railways to run first Kisan Rail special service between Maharashtra-Bihar

  • Indian Railways is all set to run its first timetabled “Kisan Rail” special parcel service.
  • Piyush Goyal chaired Railway Ministry is introducing the first Kisan Rail service from Devlali in the state of Maharashtra to Danapur in the state of Bihar.
  • The Kisan Rail, which comprises 10 parcel vans and one luggage cum brake van, will run on a weekly basis.
  • The city of Nasik in Maharashtra and its surrounding region produces a huge quantity of fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, onions, other perishables, as well as other agro products.
  • Mainly, these perishable items are transported to areas around Allahabad, Patna, Satna, Katni, etc. The Kisan Rail special parcel service has been provided scheduled halts at Nasik Road, Jalgaon, Manmad, Bhusaval, Burhanpur, Itarsi, Khandwa, Jabalpur, Satna, Katni, Prayagraj Chheoki, Manikpur, Buxar and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar.

About Ministry of Railways

  • Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce and Industry: Piyush Vedprakash Goyal
  • Constituency: Maharashtra

Govt to launch National Clinical Registry for COVID-19

  • The Government is set to launch a National Clinical Registry for COVID-19. The main objective of this registry is to collect real time clinical data which will help in evidence based clinical practice, research, formulation of guidelines and policy making.
  • The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences have proposed to establish a COVID-19 clinical registry for data collection from 100 hospitals across the country. The duration of the study will be one year and any COVID-19 lab confirmed and hospitalized patient will be enrolled.
  • ICMR invited a letter of intent from institutions, hospitals identified as dedicated COVID Hospitals and COVID Health Centres to establish this registry.
  • This study is aimed at collecting data regarding clinical and laboratory features, treatments and outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in India.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE

South India Bank gets RBI nod for setting up non-financial subsidiary

  • Private sector lender South Indian Bank (SIB) said the RBI has given an in-principle approval for setting up a wholly owned non-financial subsidiary.
  • SIB, which has been struggling to come out of its large bad loans trap, seems to be preparing the ground to set up subsidiaries or associate companies in order to try its hand at other areas including retail financing, insurance, reinsurance etc.
  • However, the bank has not given additional details on the new entity or what the activity of the new non-financial subsidiary will be except that it will be a wholly-owned subsidiary.

About SIB

  • CEO: V. G. Mathew
  • Headquarters: Thrissur

RBI permits banks to invest in debt instruments through mutual funds

  • RBI has permitted banks to invest in debt instruments through mutual funds or exchange traded funds without allocating additional charges.
  • As per RBI’s extant Basel III guidelines, if a bank holds a debt instrument directly, it would have to allocate lower capital as compared to holding the same debt instrument through a mutual fund- or exchange traded fund.
  • While unveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy review, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das stated it has been decided to harmonise the differential treatment existing currently.
  • He stated, this will result in substantial capital savings for banks and is expected to give a boost to the corporate bond market.
  • The RBI Governor stated the general market risk charge of 9 per cent will apply on both direct holdings, as well as through mutual funds or ETFs.

NPCI launches loyalty platform ‘nth Rewards’

  • NPCI has launched a business intelligence and analytics enabled omni-channel multi-branded loyalty platform, nth Rewards. It will allow users to earn points through various bank transactions and redeem them on various products, such as e-vouchers, donations, hotel and flight bookings.
  • NPCI has created a comprehensive platform for the banks, which will enable them to retain and grow their customer base. This integration with the banking system will be secured with PCI-DSS compliance and APIs, with an onboarding time of 4 to 6 weeks. The platform can then be integrated in any existing website or app which will reduce the market time without changing customer’s experience.
  • It will consist of four platforms, starting with a loyalty engine that will allow consumers to earn points from various digital transactions, the analytics and business intelligence will provide access to the product portfolio, the offers and rewards platform will curate customer-specific offers and the campaign manager will enable communication with consumers through emails and messages.

About NPCI:

  • Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
  • Non-Exe Chairman: Biswamohan Mahapatra
  • MD & CEO: Dilip Asbe

SBM Bank collaborates with InstaReM to enhance outbound remittance

  • SBM Bank India has partnered with InstaReM to improve existing outbound remittance service offerings from India. The users of both SBM Bank and InstaReM will be able to remit money to more markets and send funds overseas in real-time.
  • SBM Bank India has partnered with InstaReM, the consumer and SME brand under global fintech platform Nium, to improve existing outbound remittance service offerings from India, including introduction of new remittance corridors, increased frequency of transactions for outbound transactions and enhanced delivery timings for transfers.
  • The lender will be utilising InstaReM’s payment rails to facilitate last mile outbound transfer deliveries for the users in India. Meanwhile, the customers will be able to remit money to over 100 corridors that InstaReM is present in, 65 of which are in real-time.
  • SBM Bank will become the licensed banking partner for InstaReM and gain access to the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong and users of both SBM Bank and InstaReM will be able to remit money to more markets and send funds overseas in real-time.

About SBM Bank:

  • Headquarters: Port Louis, Mauritius
  • Chairman: Mr. Kee Chong LI KWONG WING

IBBI amends Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India, Liquidation Process, Third Amendment, Regulations, 2020

  • The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, Liquidation Process, Third Amendment, Regulations, 2020.
  • The Regulations require the committee of creditors to fix the fee payable to the liquidator.  Where the fee has not been fixed by the committee of creditors, the Regulations provide for a fee as a percentage of the amount realised and of the amount distributed by the liquidator.
  • There  have been instances where a liquidator realises the amount while another liquidator distributes the same to stakeholders. The amendment made to the Regulations clarifies that where a  liquidator realises any amount, but does not distribute the same, he shall be entitled to a fee  corresponding to the amount realised by him. These are available at mca.gov.in  and www.ibbi.gov.in.

About Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India:

  • Chairperson: M. S. Sahoo,
  • Founded: 1 October 2016
  • Headquarters: New Delhi

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATES

Foundation stone laid for Indian Institute of Management in Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh

  • Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal along with Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jai Ram Thakur; Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur and Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre laid the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh
  • The IIM Sirmaur was operationalised by IIM Lucknow as the mentor institution with the commencement of the first batch of PGP of 20 students, from its temporary campus at Paonta Sahib, Sirmaur and over a period of less than five years, it has a student strength of over 300.
  • The Centre has sanctioned an amount of Rs 531.75 crore out of which Rs 392.51 crore is for construction works covering the area of 60,384 sq mtr in Phase-I which caters to 600 students.

About Himachal Pradesh

  • Capitals: Shimla (Summer), Dharamshala (Winter)
  • Chief minister: Jai Ram Thakur
  • Governor: Bandaru Dattatreya

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: MalĂ©
  • 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