We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs 9 & 10 August 2020, which have unique updates of Latest Current Affairs 2020 events from all newspapers such as The Hindu, The Economic Times, PIB, Times of India, PTI, Indian Express, Business Standard and all Government official websites.

National Affairs

PM Modi launches financing facility worth Rs. 1 Lakh Crore under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched a new Central Sector Scheme of financing facility under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund worth Rs 1 lakh crore,  during an event conducted through video conference on 9 August 2020.
• To begin with, PM Modi made the first sanction of over Rs. 1000 Crore to over 2,280 farmer societies under the new facility.
• The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund was approved by the cabinet on 8 July 2020.
• Read more about the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
• PM also released the 6th installment under the PM-KISAN scheme of Rs. 17,000 Crore to nearly 8.5 Crore farmers directly to their Aadhaar verified bank accounts. With this transfer, the scheme has provided over 90,000 Crore to more than 10 Crore farmers since the launch of PM_KISAN on 01 December 2018.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announces import ban on 101 defence items

• The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has announced that the Department of Military Affairs (DMA), Ministry of Defence (MoD) has prepared a list of 101 defence items for which there would be restriction on the import, beyond the timeline indicated against them.
• This step has been taken to boost indigenisation of defence production in India and push the country towards becoming Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
• The embargo on imports is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 and 2024.
  • View the 101 list of items here
• In addition to this, the defence ministry has also bifurcated the capital procurement budget for the financial year 2020-21 between domestic and foreign capital procurement routes.
• For the current fiscal, a separate budget head has been created for domestic capital procurement, with an outlay of nearly Rs 52,000 crore.

Delhi Airport Launches Online Portal ‘AIR SUVIDHA’ for India-bound International Passengers

• The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a GMR Group-led consortium, has developed a first-of-its-kind web portal named ‘AIR SUVIDHA’.
• This portal is meant for India-bound international arriving flyers, to enable them to fill the mandatory self- declaration form. Eligible passengers can also apply online for exemption from mandatory institution quarantine process. This facility is going to help hundreds of AP bound passengers.
• The AIR SUVIDHA portal will make traveling contactless as the passengers won’t have to fill physical copies of self declaration and quarantine exemption forms when they arrive in India.

International Affairs

Indian Armed Forces contingent heads to Russia for Russian Kavkaz 2020 Exercise

• India is all set to participate in the Russian Kavkaz 2020 (Caucasus-2020) strategic command-post exercise to be held in September 2020.
• A tri-service Indian contingent comprising 150 personnel from Army, Air Force and Navy will head to Astrakhan in Southern Russia for the exercise.
• The exercise is scheduled to be held in September 15-26.
• Around 18 countries are supposed to take part in KavKaz 2020, including countries from Central Asian Republics who are part of SCO as well as China, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.
• The main objective of the exercises is development of techniques and systems for opposing cruise missiles and the general use of low-speed and small-sized UAVs.

 BANKING & FINANCE

SEBI revised IFSC guidelines, 2015’ eligibility, shareholding limit for clearing corp at IFSC

 i.On August 7, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) amended the clause 4 (2) of SEBI international financial services centre (IFSC) guidelines, 2015 pertaining to eligibility criteria and shareholding limit for clearing corporations that wish to operate in such centres.
ii.Under the norms, any Indian recognised stock exchange or clearing corporation, or, any recognised stock exchange or clearing corporation of a foreign jurisdiction, will form a subsidiary to provide the services of clearing corporation in IFSC wherein at least 51% stake is held by such exchange or clearing corporation.
About SEBI:
Chairman– Ajay Tyagi
Headquarter– Mumbai, Maharashtra

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Irani launches Mobile App & Backend Website for Handloom Mark Scheme

 i.The Union Minister of Textiles and Women & Child Development, Smt Smriti Zubin Irani, launched the Mobile App & Backend Website for Handloom Mark Scheme (HLM) for the weavers on the occasion of 6th National Handloom Day held virtually on 7th August, 2020, organized by the Ministry of Textiles, GoI (Government of India). 
ii.A website portal, ‘My Handloom’ for the individual weavers and organization was launched by Smt Smriti Zubin Irani, on the same occasion. 
About the Ministry of Textiles: 
Headquarters – Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi
Union Minister – Smriti Zubin Irani

Delhi Airport develops ‘Air Suvidha’ portal for all international arriving passengers across India

i.Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) a GMR Group-led consortium, has developed AIR SUVIDHA, a first-of-its-kind portal allowing international arriving passengers to fill a mandatory self-declaration form and eligible passengers to apply for exemption from compulsory institutional quarantine for coronavirus. 
ii.It will make passengers’ journey more convenient and comfortable in a contactless way as they won’t have to fill the physical copies of the forms on arrival.
iii.The online forms have been developed in collaboration with various state governments, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
About Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW):
Cabinet Minister– Dr Harsh Vardhan
Minister of State (MoS)– Ashwini Kumar Choubey
About Ministry of External Affairs (MEA):
Union Minister– Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
Minister of State (MoS)– Vellamvelly Muraleedharan

IIT Guwahati, in collaboration with Imperial College London, develops nanoparticle ‘meta-grid’

 i.The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, India, and Imperial College London, United Kingdom, have developed nanoparticles the ‘meta-grid’ or ‘metamaterial grid’ that makes the light-emitting diodes (LED) brighter, energy-efficient and durable.
ii.Meta-grid is a specifically patterned array of nanoparticles acting as metamaterials and it is capable of exhibiting extraordinary optical properties.
iii.It was jointly developed by Dr. Debabrata Sikdar, assistant professor at IIT Guwahati, Prof. Sir John B. Pendry and Prof. Alexei, A. Kornyshev from Imperial College, London. 
About Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwaha
Headquarters – Guwahati, Assam, India
Chairman – T.G Sitharam
Motto – Knowledge is Power
About Imperial College London
President – Alice Gast
Headquarters – London, United Kingdom
Motto – Scientific knowledge, the crowning glory and the safeguard of the empire

SII Partnered with Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate the manufacture & Delivery of COVID-19 vaccines for India

 i.Serum Institute of India(SII) Private Limited has entered into a new partnership with Gavi, the International Vaccine Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to accelerate the process of manufacture and delivery of up to 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for India and other low and middle income countries(LMICs) by 2021 as part of the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a mechanism within the COVAX Facility.
ii.The vaccines will be made available to the 92 countries included in Gavi’s COVAX AMC. SII has set a ceiling price of USD 3 per dose
About SII:
Headquarters– Pune 
Chairman and Managing Director–  Cyrus S. Poonawalla
CEO– Adar C. Poonawalla

SPORTS

ICC Retains India as the Host of 2021 Cricket World Cup & Australia to Host 2020 World Cup in 2022

i.On 7th August 2020, International Cricket Council(ICC) confirmed that India will host the T20 Cricket World Cup 2021 in October – November 2021 as the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) retained the hosting rights and Australia will host the 2020 World Cup edition, which was postponed due to the global pandemic in 2022.
ii.ICC also confirmed that the 2021 Women’s One Day International (ODI) World cup in New Zealand scheduled for 6th February – 7th March 2021 has been postponed until February- March 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
About International Cricket Council(ICC):
Chairman– Imran Khwaja (interim)
CEO– Manu Sawhney
Headquarters– Dubai, UAE