Current Affairs 15th August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

Indian Independence Day

• Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August as a national holiday in India commemorating the nation’s independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947.
• On the occasion of India’s 74th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised those who are working relentlessly to defeat the novel coronavirus.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Govt forms 5 members panel to probe into Kozhikode plane crash

• Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has ordered probe into the Air India Express aircraft crash at Kozhikode airport.
• The Investigation of the aircraft crash will be done by a five member team headed by Captain S S Chahar.
• The team will investigate and determine the probable causes and contributory factors leading to the accident.
• It will also make recommendations to avoid such recurrences in the future. Investigator in-charge Captain S S Chahar will submit his report within 5 months.
• An Air India Express flight from Dubai with over 190 people, skidded off the tabletop runway during landing at the Kozhikode airport in heavy rains, killing 18 people on 7th of this month.

National Health Authority board gives nod to integrate central health schemes with Ayushman Bharat

• The governing board of National Health Authority (NHA) approved a proposal to integrate existing health schemes of Central Ministries and public sector undertakings with Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).
• The move is expected to benefit government employees, including contractual employees, Central Armed Police Force personnel and other beneficiary groups such as building and construction workers, manual scavengers, and road accident victims, a statement stated.
• When implemented, the proposal will help integrate existing health schemes run by Central ministries and departments with Ayushman Bharat.
• The meeting chaired by Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan, gave in-principle approval for implementation of any healthcare scheme for employees (including Government employees) and other beneficiaries extended by central ministries, departments and other Central government bodies, based on their request, to be implemented on a common Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY platform. This is expected to seamlessly integrate all stakeholders in the ecosystem leading to enhancement of the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the extension of health services, it stated.
• The governing board also gave a go-ahead to conduct insurance pilots for covering missing middle/non-poor population (comprising varied sections of non-poor population such as informal sector workers, self-employed, professionals, employees in MSMEs etc) spread across occupations, geography and income strata, utilising the PM-JAY framework.

About National Health Authority:

• The National Health Authority or the NHA is the apex body responsible for implementing India’s flagship public health insurance/assurance scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).
• NHA has been set-up to implement the PM-JAY at the national level. In the States, SHAs or State Health Agencies in the form of a society/trust have been set up with full operational autonomy over the implementation of this scheme including extending the coverage to non SECC beneficiaries.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

Donald Trump announces ‘historic’ peace deal between Israel, UAE

• US President Donald Trump announced Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to a “full normalization” of relations, including re—establishing diplomatic ties.
• This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential of the region,” stated a joint statement by the United States, the UAE and Israel released by the White House.
• The leaders referred in the statement are President Trump, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UAE’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed.
• “This is a truly historic moment,,” Trump stated in Oval office. “Not since the Jordan-Israel peace treaty was signed more than than 25 years ago that so much progress has been made towards peace in the Middle East”.
• The UAE and Israel will sign an agreement at the White House some time in the future, and will follow that up with other agreements over the next few weeks setting up embassies reciprocally and on investments, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, technology, healthcare and culture.
• As a result of the the joint statement stated Israel will “suspend declaring sovereignty over areas outlined” in the President’s Vision for Peace unveiled earlier and focus its efforts now on expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world.
• As the US president stated, the joint statement the three countries are “confident that additional diplomatic breakthroughs with other nations are possible, and will work together to achieve this goal.”

About UAE:

• Capital: Abu Dhabi
• Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham
• President: Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

About Israel

• Prime minister: Benjamin Netanyahu
• Capital: Jerusalem
• Currency: Israeli Shekel

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE

Happy Independence Day 2020

 

One of the largest democracies in the world, India will celebrate its 74th Independence Day on 15th of August, 2020.

Happy Independence Day 2020

Current Affairs 14th August 2020| Current Affairs News

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

World Organ Donation Day

• Organ Donation Day is observed every year on13th of August.
• The aim of this day is to motivate normal human beings to pledge to donate organs after death, and to spread awareness about the importance of organ donation.

Youm-e-Azadi (Pakistan Independence Day)

• Youm-e-Azadi or Pakistan Independence Day is observed annually on 14 August.
• On this day Pakistan achieved Independence and was declared a sovereign nation following the end of British rule in

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

India’s Katra-Delhi Express Road to be completed by 2023

• The work has started on the first-of-its-kind Katra-Delhi express road corridor, which will be ready by 2023 and when it becomes functional, the travel time from Katra to Delhi will get reduced to around six and half hours, and from Jammu to Delhi to just about six hours.
• It was announced by Union Minister Jitendra Singh.
• The hallmark of this road corridor is that it will connect the holy cities of Katra and Amritsar, and at the same time offer connectivity for some other major important religious shrines between the two destinations.
• The project is estimated to cost over Rs350bn ($4.6bn). This corridor will pass through Jammu and Kathua in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Jalandhar, Amritsar, Kapurthala and Ludhiana in Punjab.
• The project will also involve simultaneous widening of the National Highway between Pathankot and Jammu. This highway will be upgraded from four lanes to six lanes.

About MoDoNER

• Development of North Eastern Region and Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office: Jitendra Singh
• Constituency: J&K

Rajnath Singh launches Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) through an online webinar. The NIIO puts in place dedicated structures for the end users to interact with academia and industry towards fostering innovation and indigenisation for self-reliance in defence.
• The Draft Defence Acquisition Policy 2020 (DAP 20) rolled out by the Defence Ministry last month envisaged establishment of Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation by the Service Headquarters. Indian Navy already has a functional Directorate of Indigenisation and the new structures created will build upon the ongoing indigenisation initiatives, as well as focus on innovation.
• The Indian Navy signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority, Raksha Shakti University of Gujarat, Maker Village in Kochi and Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers. A compendium of Indian Navy’s Indigenisation perspective plans titled ‘SWAVLAMBAN’ was also released.

About Ministry of defence:

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

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

India extends USD 1 million assistance to Antigua, Barbuda to combat COVID-19

• India has extended an assistance of USD 1 million to Antigua and Barbuda to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.
• This assistance is aimed at improving health infrastructure and capacities in Antigua and Barbuda.
• The same level of assistance, i.e. USD 1 million, has been offered to each Caribbean Community (CARICOM) CARICOM is a group of twenty developing countries in the Caribbean.
• This assistance of USD 1 million from India will be used for improving health infrastructure in Antigua and Barbuda, for procurement of life-saving medical supplies and equipment like ventilators, etc, the Indian High Commission to Guyana stated.
• Under this assistance, ventilators, full cover goggles, disposable impervious gowns, face shields, examination gloves and disposable masks were facilitated and these medical supplies have arrived at St. John’s.
• The Government of Antigua and Barbuda’s proposal for assistance and collaboration named ‘Strengthening national Health capacities and reducing socio-economic and human development negative impacts of COVID19 crisis in Antigua and Barbuda’ was processed under India-UNDP Fund managed by United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and the guidelines of the Sustainable Development Goals, the High Commission stated

About Antigua and Barbuda:

• Prime Minister– Gaston Browne
• Capital– Saint John’s
• Currency– East Caribbean dollar

Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Commits USD 25mn To Expand Unified Champion Schools To 6 Countries Including India

• Special Olympics Bharat announced that Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has committed USD 25 million to expand Unified Champion Schools (UCS) to six countries — India, Argentina, Egypt, Pakistan, Romania and Rwanda.
• The four-year project will play a critical role in making the Indian education system more inclusive by creating 120 Unified Champion Schools across 12 states.
• The initiative that encourages activation and empowerment of the youth resonated with the theme of the International Youth Day 2020, “Youth Engagement for Global Action” by empowering young people with and without intellectual disabilities to create lasting social change through inclusion in education.
• Recently, under the directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the UAE pledged USD 25 million to help fund the global expansion of the inclusive education project; Unified Champion Schools (UCS), an initiative undertaken by the Special Olympics that will root the values of tolerance and inclusion in educational systems around the world, the Ambassador of UAE, stated.

About UAE:

• President: Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
• Capital: Abu Dhabi
• Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham

India Announces $500-Million Package For Connectivity Project, Creation Of Air Travel Bubble With Maldives

• India announced a USD 500 million-package to the Maldives for the largest connectivity project in the island nation to connect Male with three neighbouring islands.
• The interaction which took place through video conference was part of regular high-level exchanges between India and Maldives, according to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
• Jaishankar made the five announcements including a start of a direct cargo ferry service between India and Maldives and India’s decision to support the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) in the Maldives through a financial package consisting of a grant of USD 100 million and a new Line of Credit of USD 400 million.
• Jaishankar noted that this will be the largest civilian infrastructure project in the Maldives, connecting Male with three neighbouring islands – Villingili, Gulhifahu and Thilafushi (new industrial zone) – by the construction of a bridge-and-causeway link spanning 7 km.

Current Affairs 13th August 2020| Current Affairs News

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International Lefthanders Days

• International Left Handers Day is an international day observed annually on August 13 to celebrate the uniqueness and differences of the left handers.
• The day was first observed in 1976 by Dean R. Campbell, founder of the Lefthanders International, Inc.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Centre Forms Committee For Procurement, Administration Of COVID-19 Vaccine

• The Centre constituted a committee to consider the logistics, ethical aspects of procurement, and administration of COVID-19 vaccine.
• The committee titled National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration has been formed under the chairmanship of Dr VK Paul, who is member (health) at the NITI Aayog.
• The committee will also consider other issues related to logistics of the vaccine like cold chain, inventory, how to arrange resources to procure vaccine and how to address the equity issues linked to vaccination. This expert group will together discuss with all state governments and vaccine manufacturers.

About NITI Aayog

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

PM Modi launches ‘Transparent Taxation – Honoring the Honest’ platform

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Transparent Taxation – Honoring the Honest’ He stated it will strengthen the efforts of reforming and simplifying India’s tax system. The Prime Minister also unveiled the next phase of direct tax reforms aimed at easing compliance and rewarding honest taxpayers in a bid to rebuild Indian economy.
• Mr Modi stated, effort is to make the tax system seamless, painless and faceless. The Prime Minister stated, amidst all the reforms introduced by the Centre, the number of people who have filed income tax returns has increased by about two-and-a-half crores in the last 6-7 years. He, however, stated , it is also true that in a country of 130 crores and it is still very less.
• Mr Modi emphasised with faceless assessment, the taxpayer is assured of fair, courteous and rational behavior. He stated,  the income tax department now has to take care of the taxpayer’s dignity sensitively and  the department cannot doubt anyone without any basis.

MoRTH allows sale and registration of electric vehicles without batteries

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has allowed registration of electric vehicles without pre-fitted batteries. In a letter to Transport Secretaries of all the States and UTs, the ministry has clarified that vehicles without batteries can be sold and registered based on the type approval certificate issued by the test agency.
• Further, that there is no need to specify the make/type or any other details of the battery for the purpose of registration. However, the prototype of the electrical vehicle, and the battery (regular battery or the swappable battery) is required to be type approved by the test agencies specified under Rule 126 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.
• The Government is striving to create an ecosystem to accelerate the uptake of electric mobility in the country. It is time to come together to work Jointly to achieve the broader national agenda to reduce vehicular pollution and oil import bill. This will not only protect the environment and reduce the import bill but also provide opportunities to sun rise industry.
• For the promotion of electrical two wheelers and three wheeler vehicles, there are recommendations brought to the notice of the Ministry to delink the cost of battery (which accounts for 30-40% of the total cost) from the vehicle cost. Vehicles could then also be sold in the market without the battery. This will make the upfront cost of the electrical 2 wheeler (2W) and 3 wheelers (3W) to be lower than ICE 2 and 3W. The battery could be provided separately by the OEM or the energy service provider.

About MoRTH:

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

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

Bangladesh to get largest ever dollar 3.1 billion loan package from Japan

• Japan has signed its largest ever loan package worth dollar 1 billion for Bangladesh. The embassy of Japan stated that the loan under its Official Development Assistance (ODA) will be given for seven projects of Bangladesh under concessional terms.
• The loan will cover the construction of Jamuna railway bridge in parallel to the existing Bangabandhu Bridge, expansion of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Projects and Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar Highway improvement project among the seven projects.
• The loan carries an interest rate of 0.65 percent with a repayment period of 30 years including initial 10 years as grace period.
• Japan has been the single largest bilateral donor for Bangladesh since 2012. The total amount of its aid as Yen Loan has reached USD 22 billion (commitment base).

About Bangladesh:

• Capital: Dhaka
• Currency: Bangladeshi taka

About Japan:

• Capital: Tokyo
• Currency: Japanese yen

Current Affairs 12th August 2020| Current Affairs News

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World Lion Day

• World Lion Day is observed across the world on August 10 every year.
• The main purpose of the day is to raise awareness about lions and educate people about issues concerning their protection and conservation.
• The day aims at supporting and promoting charities and foundations that instill awareness of the need for conservation efforts and sustainable solutions for addressing the dwindling lion population.

National Sons and Daughters Day

• National Son’s and Daughter’s Day is celebrated on 11 August every year.
• The history of National Son’s and Daughter’s Day was celebrated for the first time in 1988.
• The day is celebrated to honor the sons & daughters and appreciate all that they do for the family.

International Youth Day

• International Youth Day was designated by the United Nations (UN) in the year 1999, in an attempt to raise awareness regarding the cultural and legal issue concerning youth.
• The first IYD was observed on 12 August 2000 and has been observed annually ever since.
• The theme of International Youth Day 2020, “Youth Engagement for Global Action”

World Elephant Day

• World Elephant Day is an international annual event on August 12, dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world’s elephants.
• On August 12, 2012, the inaugural World Elephant Day was launched to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Narendra Singh Tomar launches ICAR’s data recovery centre ‘Krishi Megh’

• Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched ICAR’s data recovery centre – Krishi Megh. The move is aimed at protecting  the precious data of the government’s premier research body Indian Council of Agricultural Research. It has been set up at National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) in Hyderabad.
• Currently, the main data centre of the ICAR is at the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI) in the national capital. Krishi Megh has been set up under the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), funded by both the government and World Bank.
• Mr Tomar stated NAARM, Hyderabad has been chosen as it lies in a different seismic zone with regard to the Data Centre at ICAR-IASRI in New Delhi. He stated Hyderabad is also suitable as skilled IT manpower is available along with other suitable climatic conditions such as low humidity level which is controllable in the data center environment.
• Mr Tomar stated, the data recovery centre at NAARM is synchronised with the data centre at IASRI. He stated it has been built to mitigate the risk, enhance the quality, availability and accessibility of e-governance, research, extension and education in the field of agriculture in India. Mr Tomar emphasised the need to save and preserve the important research-based data in a prompt digitised form to enable its access anywhere in any corner of the country and the world.

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: Malé
• 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

 

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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