August 1st Week 2020 Current Affairs Online Test

The India–Indonesia Defence Ministers’ Dialogue was held in New Delhi. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh led the Indian delegation while Indonesia’s Defence Minister General Prabowo Subianto led their delegation. Both the countries affirmed to further expand defence and military ties between the countries in areas including technology sharing. The countries had signed a new defence cooperation agreement in 2018 for a comprehensive strategic partnership.

At the 2016 high–level meeting at the UN General Assembly, India pledged to fast track efforts towards ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat in the next five years, and to end the epidemic by 2030. Recently, a study published by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) stated that India may miss the national target to end AIDS by 2030. The decline in annual new HIV infections is only 27% from 2020 to 2017 against the national target of 75% by 2020.

During the Saint Petersburg declaration on tiger conservation that was signed by Tiger range countries in 2010, it was decided to celebrate 29th July as Global Tiger Day across the world. The countries had pledged to double the tiger population by the year 2022. Global Tiger Day aims to create awareness on tiger conservation. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has released the All India Tiger Estimation Report–2018 and said that India has nearly 70 per cent of the global tiger population.

State Bank of India (SBI) has provided a liquidity support of USD 16.20 million for local businesses in Maldives. SBI has also deferred loan repayment for over 200 retail accounts. On the occasion of Independence Day of the Maldives on July 26, SBI’s Covid relief measures have been announced. India had earlier made an assistance of USD 400 million to Maldives through extended currency swap arrangement.

Pune based Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) has developed a Medical Bed Isolation System named Aashray, to fight COVID–19. The system has individual envelopes made up of specialized material that stops the virus spread from patient to others. It consists of negative pressure suction near exhale and tools to filter and disinfect aerosol. The portable and reusable system can be used in quarantine facilities.

The Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar released an updated report on India’s Tiger Survey from 2018. As per the updated report, India’s tiger population stood at 2967, the same number given by the Government last year. India has 70% of the world’s total tiger population. Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of tigers at 526, followed by Karnataka and Uttarakhand.

One of the oldest flying clubs in India, the Bombay Flying Club has become the first drone training school approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). DGCA has approved the application of the club for conducting remote pilot training for remotely piloted aircraft systems. All drones should be registered with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and should receive Drone acknowledgement numbers (DANs).

India is collaborating with the United Kingdom for five new projects worth eight million pounds, to tackle anti–microbial resistance (AMR). All the five projects are planned for September this year, after they receive clearances. The United Kingdom is to contribute four million pounds from the UK Research and Innovation Fund for the partnership. The UK has also partnered with India’s Serum Institute to manufacture the vaccine for COVID–19.

The Chairman of Tata Sons N Chandra Sekaran announced that Thierry Bollore would be appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tata’s British luxury arm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). Thierry Bollore, who was previously working with the Renault, will assume office with effective from September 10. He is to succeed Professor Sir Ralf Speth, who would take up the position of Non–Executive Vice Chairman of Jaguar Land Rover.

Thudiyurulippara hill in the Pramadom grama panchayat of Kerala has been announced as a biodiversity heritage site. The Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) has formally announced the ecologically sensitive hill as a biodiversity heritage site on the recommendations of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB). This has been announced on the occasion of World Nature Conservation Day.________________________________________

 Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has recently announced the National Awards for excellence in Earth System Science. The Life Time Excellence Award is being awarded to Professor Ashok Sahni for his contribution in the field of Geology and Biostratigraphy. The National Award for Ocean Science and technology is being awarded to Dr. V. V. S. S. Sarma and Dr. M. Ravichandran.

 Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) elected Jin Liqun for a second term as President, during the annual meeting. His second five-year term will begin from January 2021. The board of governors of AIIB also approved the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to host the 2021 AIIB Annual Meeting, from October 27-28, 2021, in Dubai.

 Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has released e-book on Standard Treatment Guidelines for the Management of Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and Behavioural Addictions. The Minister cautioned that the World Drug Report 2020 suggests that COVID-19 will induce disorders in the country. The substance use is associated with non-communicable disorders like cardiovascular, cancer and mental health. He also highlighted that smoking increases the risk for COVID-19.

 The first batch of five Rafale fighter jets have landed at the Ambala Air Force Base, located in the state of Haryana. The Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria received the fighter jets, which will be inducted in the No. 17 Squadron ‘Golden Arrows’. The jets were flown by Indian Air Force pilots for seven hours with the help of the mid-air refuellers.

 A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan-Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (UBA-IITD) and Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA), New Delhi. The objective of the MoU is to provide joint action in the area of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) for rural development of India. UBA is a flagship program of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) by connecting academic institutions with local communities.

 Sembcorp Energy India Limited (SEIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries, announced the completion of its latest 800MW wind power projects. It has become the first independent power producer to commission the projects awarded in the wind auctions conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). Union Power Minister R K Singh has dedicated Sembcorp’s SECI 1, 2 and 3 wind projects to the nation.

 The Union Ministry of Home Affairs presents the ‘Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar’ award. The award recognises individuals as well as institutions for their contributions in the field of disaster management. The Government of India has recently invited the nominations for the award, which is presented on the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, on January 23.

Major technology company Microsoft has unveiled the latest edition of its Security Endpoint Threat Report 2019. As per the report, India has been placed among the countries with the highest cryptocurrency mining encounters in the last year. India registered the seventh highest malware encounter rate in the past year and the third highest ransomware encounter rate across the Asia–Pacific region.

In the month of May, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had reduced EPF contribution by 4% for three months of May, June and July. 2% of employer’s contribution and 2% of employee’s contribution were reduced. This step was taken as a part of relief measures announced by the Government during the Covid–19 pandemic. From the month of August, the effective contribution will come back to the old deduction rate of 24%.

The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched a knowledge portal named ‘MSME Saksham’, in association with TransUnion CIBIL.
The comprehensive financial education and knowledge platform will provide financial awareness to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and assist them in getting quick access to formal and affordable credit facilities.

‘World Day against Trafficking in Persons’ is observed every year on July 30 across the world, to raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for protection of their rights. In the year 2013, the United Nations General Assembly held a high–level meeting to review the Global Plan of Action and designated July 30 as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) assists member countries in their efforts.

The Parliament of Turkey approved a new legislation that gives its authorities more power to regulate social media content. As per the law, major social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter will have to keep representative offices and also would store user data in Turkey. The government said this law will combat cyber–crime and protect users and Authorities can remove cyber bullying posts.

Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) organised the “National Digital conference on Ease of Doing Business for Atmanirbhar Bharat”. Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the conference and said that the country is heading towards a complete digital eco–system. He also said that the govt is aiming to cover the entire nation through optic fibres in the next two years.

India has recently imposed restrictions on the import of Colour Television sets, in an effort to promote its domestic production. The import of the TV sets was freed from previous restrictions two decades ago and since then there has been no amendments in the import policy. Now the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) notified to change the policy from free to ‘restricted’. However, there is no restriction on importing monochrome TVs.

The Directorate of Cashew Research (DCR) located in the state of Karnataka has developed the ‘Cashew India’ application for farmers of cashew in India. The app gives information on cashew grafts, cultivation, post–harvest processing, and market information to stakeholders such as farmers, researchers and processors. The app is available in 11 languages and funded by the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture.

The Indo–Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) signed a deal with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to procure products for its personnel. ITBP became the first Central Armed Police Force to sign such an agreement with KVIC to procure a rande of khadi goods for around 10 lakh personnel. Earlier, the Home Ministry announced that CAPF canteens will only sell local–made products.

The Sports Ministry has constituted a 12 member committee to select this year’s National Sports Awards winners. The committee is to be headed by retired Supreme Court Justice, Mukundakam Sharma. It will select the award winners among both athletes and coaches. The members include Former India Cricketer Virender Sehwag, Hockey star Sardar Singh and Paralympic silver–medallist Deepa Malik.

 India’s solar–powered ferry Aditya has won the prestigious Gustave Trouve Award for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating. It has been named the best electric boat in the category of ferries designed for paid passenger service. Aditya was the first solar–powered ferry of the country when it began its operations in 2017 in Kerala. The ferry built by NavAlt Boats belongs to the Kerala State Water Transport Department.

 Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the upstream lane of Mahatma Gandhi bridge, through video conference. The 5.5 km four lane bridge is built over river Ganga connecting Patna and Hajipur of Bihar. The reconstruction work of this bridge started in the year 2017 and the cost outlay is Rs 1742 crore. The downstream lane of the bridge is to be completed by 2021. The concrete structure of the old bridge will be replaced by new steel deck.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has received SKOCH Gold Award for its “Empowerment of Tribals through IT enabled Scholarship Schemes”. The 66th SKOCH award ceremony was organised on the title “India responds to Covid through Digital Governance”. The Tribal affairs won the award in ‘Digital India & E–Governance’ competition. The Ministry had integrated its 5 Scholarship Schemes with Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Portal.

The 15th Finance Commission had set up an eight–member High–Level Group on Agricultural Exports headed by the Chairman of ITC, Sanjiv Puri. It was set up to recommend performance incentives for States to encourage agricultural exports. The group has recently submitted the report that recommended a State–led Export Plan for a crop Value chain cluster (VCC). It also suggested to focus on 22 crop value chains.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a USD 200 million deal with the Reliance Bangladesh LNG and Power Limited (RBLPL). Under the deal, Reliance power would build and operate a 718–megawatt combined–cycle power plant in Bangladesh. USD 100 million would be provided by the ADB while the other 100 million would be sourced from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP) of Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Apple surpassed multinational petroleum company Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company. The market capitalisation of the technology company surged to USD 1.82 trillion, as per the regulatory filing of the company. Whereas, the market capitalisation of Aramco stood at USD 1.760 trillion.

The 100th death anniversary of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak is being observed on 1st August, across the country. Tilak was a prominent extremist leader in the Indian National Congress. Being an integral part of the Lal–Bal–Pal trio, he proclaimed “Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it”. Tilak was born on July 23, 1856 in Maharashtra and passed away on August 1 in the year 1920.

The United Arab Emirates has successfully commenced operation of the Arab world’s first commercial nuclear power plant. The Barakah reactor is located in the oil–rich city of the UAE, Abu Dhabi. With the commission, the UAE joins the group of 30 countries that can generate nuclear energy. It is built and run by a joint venture with Korea Electric Power Corporation.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has integrated four additional states Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland and Uttarakhand to the One Nation One Ration Card scheme. With this, the scheme has been enabled in a total of 24 States/UTs across the country. Around 80 percent of the beneficiaries of National Food Security Act (NFSA) have been covered. The Ministry aims to integrate all states/UTs to the scheme by March 2021.

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated during the first week of August (August 1–7) across the world in many countries. The campaign was initially organised by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) in association with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF in 1992. The week also marks the signing of the Innocenti Declaration. The theme of this year is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”.

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has recently launched an Incubator Capabilities enhancement program named ‘AIM iCREST’. AIM has collaborated with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation for support and expertise in entrepreneurship and innovation. The program aims to support start–ups in knowledge transfer and reaching global markets.

The All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) is an apex Ayurveda medicine and research institution located in New Delhi. It was seen in news as the institute has started providing free testing and treatment to patients in its COVID 19 Health Centre (CHC). AYUSH Minister Shri Naik inaugurated the ventilator-equipped Intensive Care Unit of the centre as well as a COVID Call Centre at AIIA.

Indian journalist and Special Correspondent of the Indian Express Dipankar Ghose has won the Prem Bhatia Award for political reporting. He covered various issues related to the COVID–19 pandemic including the migrant labour crisis. People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), a journalism website has been selected for the award for the reporting on environmental and development issues.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan launched a national– level programme named ‘Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan’ 2020–21. This initiative aims to promote scientific temper among school students of Class 6 to 11. It is jointly organised by Vijnana Bharati, in collaboration with Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous organisation under Science and Technology Ministry and NCERT of Education Ministry. It identifies and trains bright students with interest in Science.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy launched a cybercrime awareness programme e–Rakshabandhan. It is a first virtual programme of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the State Police. The one–month–long programme aims to create awareness among the public, especially women, youth and children in cyberspace.

The United Kingdom is set to imprint the image of Mahatma Gandhi in a new set of coins, as a part of efforts to celebrate the contributions of non–white individuals. Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has sent the recommendation to the Royal Mint Advisory Committee (RMAC). It is conducting a campaign called “We Too Built Britain”. If the coins are minted with Gandhi’s image, he would be the first non–White person to feature on a British coin.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India head–quartered in New Delhi. It promotes India’s external cultural relations by cultural exchange. The council was founded by the first Education Minister of independent India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in the year 1950. ICCR recently organised a two–day international webinar on the theme of ‘Lokmanya Tilak – Swaraj to Self–reliant India’.

Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has recently approved a programme for artisans who make Agarbatti. The programme aims to develop village industry under ‘Gramodyog Vikas Yojana’. Under the programme, four pilot projects will be started that includes one in the North Eastern part of the country. Each cluster of artisans will be provided with automatic Agarbatti making machines.

Northern Railway operated the first–ever Vyapar Mala Express train from Delhi to Jirania in Tripura. It has 46 wagons and 34 of them were loaded with wheat and the remaining with rice and pulses. Railways is said to have earned more than 94 lakh rupees from this Vyapar Mala Express train. This is an express service which aims to reach its destination in a shorter time, as the train will be monitored on a real–time basis.

As per the National Hurricane Center of the United States, North Carolina has recently witnessed a Hurricane Isaias. The hurricane has made a landfall near Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina. More than a dozen tornadoes have been reported in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. At least 2 people is said to have been killed in the hurricane.

Sanskrit Diwas also known as ‘Vishva samskrita dinam’ is celebrated on the full moon of the ‘Shravana’ month of Hindu calendar. This year, Sanskrit Day that promotes the revival of the language is celebrated on August 3. All India Radio broadcasted the first special program in Sanskrit titled ‘Bahujan Bhasha – Sanskrit Bhasha’ to mark the occasion.

State–owned oil and gas company and the largest commercial oil company in the country, Indian Oil has partnered with France’s Total. The Joint Venture has been formed to make Superior Quality Bitumen derivatives and specialty products for India’s road construction industry. The Joint Venture would initially take over the existing plant of Total at Jodhpur, Rajasthan and then invest Rs 226 crore to set up six new plants across India.

The United States astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who flew to the International Space Station in SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon, landed back on the Earth. The astronauts splashed down aboard Crew Dragon ‘Endeavor’ in the Gulf of Mexico after a 64–day voyage in space. This is NASA’s first crewed mission from American soil in nine years. This splash down is the first of its kind by NASA in 45 years.

Ciro Immobile is an Italian professional footballer who plays for the football club Lazio and the national team of Italy. Ciro Immobile was seen in news, as he has won the domestic Golden Boot and the European Golden Shoe award. In a recent match, he matched Gonzalo Higuain’s record of 36 goals in a single season. The striker had a record 14 penalties out of the total goals.

Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and Union Minister of Textiles and Women & Child Development Smriti Irani officially launched the book with essays on the journey of Swachh Bharat Mission. Named the ‘Swachh Bharat Kranti’ (Swachh Bharat Revolution), it has been edited by the Secretary of the Department of Water and Sanitation and has been translated to Hindi. The book has as many as 35 essays by several stake holders involved in the mission.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has recently launched the official YouTube channel of the National Cooperative Development Corporation. It is called the ‘Sahakar Cooptube NCDC Channel and is a new initiative by NCDC, a statutory Corporation under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The Union Minister also launched instruction videos produced by NCDC on ‘Formation and Registration of a Cooperative’.

Nokia is set to establish a robotics lab at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru to study about 5G technology. Nokia Center of Excellence (CoE) for networked robotics lab will be deployed to research on socially–relevant use cases based on 5G and emerging technologies. This will promote cooperation between colleges and industries.

PTC India Limited, previously called as Power Trading Corporation of India has been approved to set up the third Power exchange of India. At present, India has two power exchanges namely Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange India (PXIL), to enable over–the–counter sale and purchase of power. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved the proposal of PTC India made along with BSE Investments and ICICI Bank.

Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar has virtually launched ‘DD Assam’ channel, jointly with the Chief Minister of Assam. The 24×7 channel will showcase the rich history of the state with programs like music programmes, travelogues, reality shows and feature films focussing on folk culture and tribal life. Door Darshan has already been running channels in several north eastern states.

Union Ministry of Defence, IIT Kanpur and the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding. The MoU is for developing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques to analyse public grievances. The grievances received on the web–based Centralised Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System of the Ministry would be subjected to predictive analysis.