August 4th Week 2020 Current Affairs Online Test English

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has built an infrastructure at Rihand project in Uttar Pradesh. The project has been designed to transport fly ash in bulk at affordable rates to cement plants. NTPC has committed to utilise the fly ash completely from power plants. The power plants will upgrade their infrastructure for utilising the fly ash using the loading facilities of the Indian Railways.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) recently collaborated with NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) based module for Indian school students. The AI–Base Module is to be implemented in nearly 5,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and is expected to reach as many as 2.5 million students. The module with activities and videos on AI concepts is to be introduced from 27 February.

The Government of Jharkhand has unveiled a new logo for the state. It was unveiled at Ranchi by the Chief Minister Hemant Soren. It is a circular logo with the National Emblem of India placed at its center, between concentric circles.

Research team from Indian Institute of Science, IISc and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have developed a process for making “Brick like structure” on lunar surface. The researchers suggest that these bricks could be used for assembling structures in lunar surface. The raw material used is urea and lunar soil. It is developed by using bacteria and guar beans to consolidate the land into load bearing brick like structures.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has stated that the Terrain Mapping Camera–2 (TMC–2) on board the Chandrayaan–2 orbiter has recently captured the images of the “Sarabhai Crater” on the lunar surface. The crater is located at north eastern quadrant of Moon on the “Mare Serenitatis”, which is a vast flat region due to larva deposition. The crater has an average depth of 1.7 km and its walls seem to have an average slope between 25 to 30 degrees.

The “Konkurs Missile Test Equipment” and “Konkurs Launcher Test Equipment” indigenously developed by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has been launched by the Defence Minister. Launched as a part of the “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Week” celebrations, the two equipment have been designed by BDL to check the serviceability of Konkurs–M anti–tank guided missiles and Konkurs–M missile launchers. These products were earlier imported from Russia.

The strategic tunnel under the Rohtang Pass was named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in December last year. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has recently announced that the ‘Atal Tunnel’ in Rohtang would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by September 2020. The 8.8–km long tunnel will be the longest tunnel among those in the world above an altitude of 3000 metres.

Considered as extinct over seventy years back, the Woolly flying squirrel was spotted at Gangotri National Park in Uttarakhand. As per the Forest Research Institute, the flying squirrel was added in the IUCN Red List. It was spotted during the survey conducted in the national park. The animal uses its wool–like furry claws like a parachute and fly.

Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar has directed that 80% of the CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) funds have to mandatorily be used for plantation drives and afforestation. The rest of the funds are to be used capacity building, as per the separate budget of the state. The recent Finance Commission has increased the devolution to 10% for the forest cover.

IPS officer Rakesh Asthana has been appointed as the Director General of Border Security Force (BSF). The incumbent head RK Shukla is set to retire in February 2020. Prior to this appointment, he was the head of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security since January 2019. SS Deswal is set to replace him in the said post. Asthana was a 1984–batch IPS Officer and a former official of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda has recently launched a new e–portal named ‘Swasthya’ and a e–newsletter named ALEKH. The portal aims to consolidate all health and nutrition related information of the tribal population of India. It also provides best practices collected from different parts of India and enables an effective decision making related to the nutrition of tribal population.

The International Solar Alliance, ISA is set to organise its first World Solar Technology Summit virtually on September 8, 2020. ISA is an alliance of 121 countries, initiated by India headquartered at Gurugram. The inaugural address of the summit will be delivered by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ISA President and Minister of New and Renewable Energy R. K. Singh. The event will focus on using technology to effectively utilise the solar energy.

The Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu has announced the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2020. It is an initiative of Education Ministry.The Indian Institute of Technology Madras bagged the first place under the ‘Best centrally funded institution’ category, while IIT Mumbai and IIT Delhi bagged the second and third place respectively.

The Government of United Kingdom (UK) has launched a £3 million Innovation challenge fund in India. The fund is aimed at supporting scientists in industry and academia to cope with acute global challenges like COVID–19 and other environment threats. The fund aims to bring together best minds under “UK India Tech Partnership”. The fund has specifically invited innovators associated with “AI–Data cluster” in Karnataka and “Future Mobility cluster” in Maharashtra to submit research proposals.

The World’s tallest Pier bridge is being constructed by Indian Railways in Manipur across the river “Ijai”. The height of its tallest pier is 141m. The bridge is a part of Jiribam–Tupul–Imphal railway line project. The existing record for the tallest pier bridge is 139m at Montenegro in Europe.

The bridge is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs.280 crore and the construction work is expected to be completed by March 2020. The total length of the bridge is estimated to be 703 mtrs.

A Quality control laboratory for seafood processors and exporters has been opened by Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) at Porbandar, Gujarat.

The lab helps the exporters in testing of seafood to ensure safety as per international regulatory standards. The lab is equipped with advanced instruments to test and analyse antibiotic residues and heavy–metals like arsenic, mercury in seafood.

A 180–feet Bailey bridge in Jauljibi sector of Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand has been constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), amidst frequent landslides and heavy rains. The 50–metre span concrete bridge was damaged in the month of July as the area was hit by a cloud burst. The bridge construction by BRO will help around 15,000 people in 20 villages of the district.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released the framework for setting up of a new umbrella entity for retail payments. It will operate as a ‘for–profit’ company that will have minimum paid–up capital of Rs 500 crore. It will set up and operate the payment systems such as ATMs, white–label PoS and Aadhaar–based payments. The company will also manage clearing and settlement systems of banks/ non–banks.

The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan has recently announced that all of the state government jobs will be reserved to the people belonging to its state. This is the first country in the state to reserve all its jobs to the people of the state.

The state government is set to form legal provisions in this regard. During his Independence Day address, the CM announced that the state will give preference to youths in government jobs.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recently released ‘National Cancer Registry Programme Report 2020’. As per the report, the number of people affected by cancer could increase by 12% in the next five years. By 2025, around 1.5 million people are estimated to suffer from the disease, increased from 1.39 million in 2020. Tobacco–related cancers find the major portion in the list. Aizawl district, the capital of Mizoram state, has the highest number of cancer patients in the country.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has recently approved to rename the Manduadih railway station in Uttar Pradesh as ‘Banaras’. The state government of Uttar Pradesh had earlier sent a request to the Home Ministry for renaming the railway station in its Varanasi district. The Home Ministry issued a no–objection certificate after consulting with the Ministry of Railways, Department of Posts and Survey of India.

People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has acquired a small equity stake in the leading Indian private sector bank, ICICI Bank. It is one among the 357 institutional investors which had subscribed to the issue of the Qualified institutional investors (QIP) placement, of Rs 15,000 crore. PBOC has invested Rs 15 crore in the issue. It had earlier bought a stake in leading institution, HDFC.

Indian Railways have announced that it has procured ‘Ninja Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’ (UAV) for surveillance operations. The Railway Protection Force is deploying the Ninja UAVs to improve monitoring and provide safety to railway assets and passengers. RPF has recently procured nine drones worth over Rs 30 lakh. It is to procure more drones shortly, which are capable of for real–time tracking and video streaming.

The Mysuru Zoo in Karnataka is the second Indian zoo to have African hunting cheetahs after the Hyderabad zoo. Under the Animal Exchange Programme, the zoo has acquired one male and two female African hunting Cheetah from Ann Van Dyke Cheetah Centre at Johannesburg, South Africa. One female Cheetah of age 15 months and two male Cheetahs of age 14 and 16 months are brought by air.

The Union Cabinet has recently approved to set up a new entity named ‘National Recruitment Agency (NRA)’ to carry out a national Common Entrance Test (CET). This exam would be a common screening test for non–gazetted vacancies in both departments of Central government and public sector organisations. It is to conduct first level tests currently conducted by agencies like SSC, RRB and IBPS among others. Related Questions

The Death Valley is a desert valley which is located in Eastern California, USA. Recently, the temperature at the Death Valley’s Furnace Creek is recorded at 54.4°C. This would be hottest temperature officially verified since 1913, as per World Meteorological Organization. According to the WMO, Death Valley’s all–time record high is 56.7°C that was recorded in the year 1913.It still stands as the hottest ever temperature recorded on the surface of the earth.

“Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge” has been launched by the Government of India to promote indigenous microprocessor manufacturing and designing. 100 shortlisted companies will be given grant to build their prototype. 25 finalists will win Rs.1 crore each.

The top ten teams will get a fund of total Rs.2.30 crore with 12–month incubation support, from the Ministry of Information Technology.

The High Court of Madras has rejected reopening of “Sterlite Copper” smelting plant in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. Sterlite Copper, a unit of Vedanta Ltd had been catering to nearly 40 % of India’s copper demand from its smelting plant at Tuticorin.

The High Court’s order dismissed all 10 petitions filed by Vedanta to reopen the plant. The Court upheld the orders issued to close the plant by the Tamil Nadu Government and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.

The Union Government has announced the results of annual survey of cleanliness, the ‘Swachh Survekshan 2020’. Indore of Madhya Pradesh bagged the top spot in the list, for four years consecutively. Gujarat’s Surat was ranked at the second place while Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai on third place. This is the fifth edition of the survey, that ranks states based on their performance in Swachh Bharat Mission.

In Tamil Nadu, Trichy Corporation (in the category of corporations with a population range of 1–10 lakhs) has topped the list for the 5^th consecutive year (102^nd nationally). Madurai is ranked 42^nd, Covai – 40^th and Chennai – 45^th in the category of municipalities with a population of over 1M.

The Government launched ‘Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme’(ECLGS), as a part of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package. The allocation made for the ECLGS scheme was Rs 3 lakh crore for five months till October 31^st. As per the recent news, public and private sector banks have sanctioned loans worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore, as of August 18, 2020 and more than Rs 1 lakh crore was already disbursed.

Iran has displayed a surface–to–surface ballistic missile, that has a range of 1,400 kilometres, named martyr Qassem Soleimani. The country also displayed a new cruise missile called martyr Abu Mahdi, with a range of over 1,000 km, amidst the demand from the United States to stop its missile programme. The head of Iran’s Quds Force, Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al–Muhandis were killed in a U.S. strike.

Union Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has recently released the new logo of the Labour Bureau. Labour Bureau is an apex national–level organization under the Labour Ministry, that is involved in labour statistics, research and training. The new logo represents the statistical nature and its three goals of accuracy, validity and reliability.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently released a National strategy for Financial Education’, which is to be implemented in the next five years. The strategy aims to inculcate financial literacy among all the people of our country. It will also encourage the common people to participate in the financial markets for achieving their financial goals. It will encourage people to use formal banking and safe digital financial services.

Veteran Indian author Sudha Murty’s latest collection of short stories, ‘Grandparents’ Bag of Stories’ is to be released in the month of November. The Penguin Random House India announced the collection which is a sequel of her recent release ‘Grandma’s Bag of Stories’ and will have 20 stories. Sudha Murty has authored several books in English and Kannada especially for children.

Union External Affairs Minister S Jai Shankar has represented India in the roundtable of ASEAN–India Network of Think Tanks (AINTT) held recently. The 6^th Roundtable of AINTT was held through a webinar and its theme was “ASEAN–India: Strengthening Partnership in the Post–COVID Era”. As per the Minister, the global loss due to Covid–19 is in the range of USD 5.8 to 8.8 trillion or 6.5 to 9.7 per cent of the global GDP.

The Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot has launched a subsidised meal scheme named ‘Indira Rasoi Yojana’. It aims to provide subsidised meals to the poor and needy in the state at Rs 8 per plate with dignity. Earlier, the state was implementing a similar scheme named Annapurna Rasoi Yojana from 2016. The scheme was launched on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the ‘Sadbhavana Diwas’.

A proposal for leasing out Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports through public–private partnership (PPP) has been cleared by the Union Cabinet. The rights to run these airports in addition to Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Mangaluru airports have been awarded to Adani Enterprises by way of competitive bidding. Presently, these six airports are owned by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved an increase in Fair and Remunerative Prices (FRP) of sugarcane by Rs.10 per quintal from the existing Rs 275 to Rs.285 per quintal. The new FRP would come into force from October 2020. This is in line with the recommendations of the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

In order to reduce the dependency of China, three countries namely India, Japan and Australia have begun discussions to launch a trilateral “Supply Chain Resilience Initiative” (SCRI).

The initiative was originally proposed by Japan, which had approached India to take forward the initiative. The first meeting of the commerce and trade ministers of the three countries will be held next week.

The state Government of Maharashtra, has decided to exempt all serving and retired soldiers from the Gram Panchayat property tax. A Government resolution has been passed in this regard. Earlier, the exemption was applicable only to Defence Gallantry Awardees or their dependents. The present decision has included all the serving and retired soldiers.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has attended the inaugural ceremony of the 5^th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (5WCSP). It is a two–day virtual Conference organized jointly by Inter–Parliamentary Union (IPU), Geneva and Parliament of Austria. The programme is supported by United Nations (UN). The theme of the Conference is “Parliamentary leadership for more effective multilateralism that delivers peace and sustainable development for the people and planet.”

Chandrayaan–2 is India’s first mission to make a soft–landing of a rover on the South pole of the moon. It is also India’s second lunar mission, which has recently completed one full year around the moon. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that all of its instruments are performing well and there is adequate fuel to keep it functional for about seven more years.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda has virtually launched the tertiary processing centres of ‘Trifood Project’. It is an initiative of TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, in association with Ministry of Food Processing (MoFPI). The Minister launched the project in Raigad of Maharashtra and Jagdalpur of Chhattisgarh. It aims to enhance the income of tribal population by making value addition in the Minor Forest Produces.

Leading multi–national company IBM India, has collaborated with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to offer a free digital education platform. The training focuses on recent technologies like cybersecurity, blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning and professional development skills. The online courses developed by IBM will be offered through NSDC’s eSkill India portal to the learners between 18 to 22 years.

India is set to launch a new direct cargo ferry service to the Maldives, in the third week of September, as per the Indian high commission in the Maldives. The service will link Kochi and Tuticorin with Male and will boost bilateral trade relations.

Government owned power major NTPC Limited has recently announced that it is to establish a wholly–owned subsidiary for its renewable energy business. The company has recently obtained the approval from the Niti Aayog and Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Ministry of Finance for formation of a wholly–owned subsidiary.

A massive fire outbreak has recently occurred in the Srisailam hydroelectric power plant located in the state of Telangana. Nine people including five engineers of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation were killed in the massive fire. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed to launch an investigation into the incident. He also announced compensation to the families of the deceased and the injured.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched its wholly–owned subsidiary, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL).

The company aims to popularise NPCI’s domestic payments technologies such as UPI and RuPay in other countries and co–create payment technologies with them. NPCI has appointed Ritesh Shukla as the Chief Executive Officer of NIPL

The island nation of Sri Lanka has proposed to draft a new Constitution. It will also discard the 19^th Constitutional Amendment passed in 2015 which imposes restriction on presidential powers. It sets a limit of 2 years for the President to be in power. The new President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stated that new constitution would prioritize the concept of ‘One country, One law for all the people.’

A first–of–its–kind interactive game on COVID–19 named the “Corona Fighters” has been launched by the Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

ESIC is implementing the Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyna Yojna under which unemployment benefit is paid to the workers covered under ESI Scheme. The ESI Corporation has decided to extend the scheme for one more year upto 30^th June 2021.

It has been decided to relax the existing conditions and the amount of relief for workers who have lost employment during the COVID–19 pandemic period. The enhanced relief under the relaxed conditions will be payable during the period of 24.03.2020 to 31^st December 2020. Thereafter the scheme will be available with original eligibility condition during the period 01.01.2021 to 30.06.2021. Review of these conditions will be done after 31.12.2020 depending upon the need and demand for such relaxed condition.

Madhya Pradesh is set to be the first state in the country to recruit candidates to government jobs on the basis of National Recruitment Agency (NRA) test. This decision has been informed by the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, a day after the Union cabinet approved setting up of NRA to conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET), for conducting examinations which are presently conducted by IBPS, RRB, SSC among others

India has signed a cultural agreement with Israel for a three–year programme of cooperation and strengthening of bilateral ties between the two countries. This cooperation is expected to raise awareness on the history and culture of both countries. This cooperation programme India & Israel for the years 2020–23 is based on the cultural agreement signed between them on May 18, 1993.

The name of the “Religare Health Insurance Company Ltd” which is a subsidiary of Religare Enterprises has been changed to “Care Health Insurance Ltd”. The change of name is effective from 19^th August 2020. Religare Health Insurance was establishedby Religare enterprise limited, Union Bank of India and Corporation Bank in the year 2012. The company is headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana.

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 August as the International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. The day is observed to honour and support the victims and survivors of terrorism.

It also strives to promote and protect their human and fundamental rights. This year, the UN held a virtual commemoration of the 3^rd International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism.

Ashwani Bhatia has been appointed as the managing director of State Bank of India by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister of India. He will be appointed in the place of P K Gupta. Ashwani has been serving as the deputy MD and CEO of SBI Mutual Fund. He also served as the Chief General Manager of SBI and a fulltime director of SBI Capital Markets.

Five sportspersons were named as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardees and 27 sportspersons as Arjuna awardees.

Rohit Sharma (Cricket), Rani Rampal (Hockey), para athlete Mariyappan Thangavelu, Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling) and Manika Batra (Table Tennis) were selected for the prestigious Khel ratna award. They will be virtually conferred with the award on August 29 on the National Sports Day.

The President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently announced that the country has discovered a large natural gas reserve along the Black Sea coast. Around 302 billion cubic meters area of natural gas reserve has been discovered that will reduce the import dependency of the country. As per the country, it will start extracting and using the gas by 2023, when Turkey marks the centenary of the founding of Republic.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for Zojila tunnel project in 2018, as the Asia’s longest bi–directional tunnel. The project with estimated cost of Rs 4,509 crore, aims to provide all–year connectivity between Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh region. Recently, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure is set to construct the Zojila pass tunnel. The project is expected to completed in six years.

Spain has recently reported an outbreak of West Nile Virus spread by mosquitos. It spreads due to mosquitoes and causes West Nile Fever. It has claimed the lives of two people in Spain and several people were admitted in hospital. It was originally discovered in Uganda in 1937. It was indigenous to Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia. This RNA virus belongs to the Flaviviridae family, which also has Zika virus, yellow fever virus and Dengue virus.

Interceptor Boat ‘ICGS C–454’, that has been built by Larsen and Toubro, was recently launched into the service of the Coast Guard. The newly–built boat of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) was launched in Surat, as per the recent notification from the Defence Ministry. It has a length of 27 meters and a maximum speed of 45 nautical miles or 83 kilometers per hour.

Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Ministry of Rural Development has recently signed a Joint Communication to promote sustainable livelihood opportunities Among Tribal Women SHGs in rural areas. Rural Development Ministry will identify and map tribal women SHG members while Ministry of Tribal Affairs will promote livelihood opportunities among women identified by State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM) through several arenas.

The Myanmar government has signed an agreement for implementing “National Ceasefire Agreement” (NCA) with 10 armed ethnic groups. The peace accord is called Union Peace Accord III contains 15 provisions to implement the NCA. The agreement was entered into by the parties at Nay Pyi Taw during the 4^th session of the Union Peace Conference named – 21^st Century Panglong.

YES Bank has executed an agreement with GPL Finance and Investments Limited for the complete sale of equity shareholding of YES Asset Management Limited “YESAMC” and YES Trustee Limited “YTL”. Both these firms are wholly owned subsidiaries of YES Bank Limited. It is expected that the sale would be completed in the next 8 to 12 months. After completion of the sale, the two firms Yes Bank will completely exit from its mutual fund business.

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is set to have the largest ecosystem of incubation ecosystem in the country, in a year by setting up 21 centres of excellence. The proposed 21 centres of excellence (CoEs) will incubate new technologies in various sectors. Out of the 21 CoEs, 12 of them are already operational. Three centres are related to Agriculture and one more is proposed to be launched.

The United Nations General Assembly designated 22 August as the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. It comes a day after the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. The UN asks its members to ensure the upholding of human rights of persons belonging to religious minorities, including their right to exercise their religion or belief freely.

The Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance has notified the ‘Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020’. The norms for enforcing the ‘rules of origin’ provisions has been released by the Government recently. These rules will come into effect from September 21, 2020 and will apply where preferential rate of duty is claimed by importer. The “Rules of origin” provision mandates minimal processing in the FTA country.

The Union Government has recently constituted the National Council for Transgender Persons’ under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. This is the first–of–its–kind council and will be headed by the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment. The council includes representatives from 10 central departments, five states and members of the trans–gender community. It advises the Government on the related policies.

The Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs has advised State Governments and UTs to include all eligible disabled persons under the National Food Security Act, NFSA 2013. As per the direction of the Ministry, those not covered under the scheme should be covered with fresh ration cards. After registration, they will get the entitled quota of food grains under NFSA and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana as per provisions of the Act.

Karnataka has announced that it would be the first state to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka participated in the ‘Highlights of the National Education policy and its implementation’ workshop. He announced that the state has started to launch administrative reforms and amendments to implement the policy.

The Union External Affairs Ministry has recently organised the first India–Uzbekistan National Coordination Committee. The virtual meeting was held to monitor the implementation of mutually agreed projects between India and Uzbekistan. They also reviewed implementation of identified projects under India’s LoC, cooperation between the Gujarat state and Andijan region among others.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is to finance the USD 500 million Mumbai Urban Transport Project–III. The Government of India, state Government of Maharashtra and Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation signed a loan agreement with AIIB for this project. It will improve the network capacity and safety of the suburban railway system in Mumbai.

Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIM–K) has signed a MoU with Switzerland based HELP Logistics. This partnership is aimed to develop humanitarian logistics in India through consulting services and logistics training to United Nations bodies, Government Institutions and Non–Governmental Organizations. The MoU will be in force of a period of 1 year.

Researchers at IIT – Bombay and Shiv Nadar University have claimed that they have developed a technology to produce environment friendly Lithium–Sulfur (Li–S) batteries. The Li–S batteries would be three times more energy efficient and cost effective than conventional Lithium–ion batteries. The production of Li–S batteries uses products from the petroleum industry and agro–waste along with co polymers, and thus has a positive impact on environment.

The water technology company “Va Tech Wabag” has been conferred with the Global Water Award. This award has been given to the company for setting up a tertiary treatment reverse osmosis plant (TTRO) with a capacity of 45 million litres a day, at Chennai. The award has been given under ‘wastewater project of the year’ category. With this project, Chennai is the first Indian city to reuse more than 20 % of its treated wastewater.

The UEFA Champions League 2020 has been won by the Germany–based football club, the Bayern Munich. The team won 1–0 against the Paris Saint Germain (PSG) at the final match held at Estadio da Luz, Lisbon. Kingsley Coman scored the only goal of the match during the 59th minute. Bayern Muncih has won the league after 7 years.

In order to enhance the ease of doing business, the Aadhaar authentication has been activated by the Government for registration to GST. The Aadhaar based GST registration of an entity would be completed in 3 working days and there is no requirement for physical verification. Those not opting for Aadhaar based registration will be subjected to physical verification of place of business activity and other related documentary verification. The time required for non–Aadhaar registration would be up to 21 days.

As per the recent notification from the Personnel Ministry, over 700 districts have participated in the Prime minister’s awards for excellence in public administration. The awards will be conferred on October 31, the Ekta Diwas (Unity Day), at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The award is to recognise the performance of District Collectors towards economic development of their regions.

As per the recent data given by the Ministry of Finance to the Rajya Sabha, over 15 crore loans worth Rs 4.78 lakh crore have been disbursed to women borrowers since the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) was launched. Among the states, Tamil Nadu topped the list of women beneficiaries with loans amounting Rs 58227 crores. It is followed by the women in West Bengal (Rs 55,232 crore) and Karnataka (Rs 47,714 crore).