Today Current Affairs - 22 august 2020 Current Affairs
We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs 22 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
5th Swachh Survekshan 2020 Announced by Hardeep Singh Puri; Indore is India’s Cleanest City 4th Time in a Row
i.On August 20, 2020, during a virtual event of Swachh Mahotsav organized by, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (MoS)-Independent Charge (I/C) MoHUA announced the 5th edition of the annual cleanliness urban survey of India i.e.”Swachh Survekshan 2020 (SS2020)” conducted by MoHUA.ii.A total of 129 awards given away by the minister in which Madhya Pradesh’s Indore emerged as India’s cleanest city for the 4th consecutive time while Gujarat’s Surat and Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai grabbed 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
iii.SS2020, the 28 days long completely digitized and paperless nationwide survey is the world’s largest cleanliness survey covering 1.87 crore citizens of 4,242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 92 towns along the Ganga river.
| About Swachh Survekshan: Launched in 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi its objective was to monitor the performance of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which was launched on October 2, 2014, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. | ||
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MoU Signed between Ministry of Shipping and MSDE for Development in Port and Maritime Sector | ||
| On 20th August, 2020, A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship(MSDE) for skilling, re-skilling and upskilling of manpower in Port, Maritime sectors. Objective: The aim of the MoU is to help individuals to build and certify their skills sets, to reap the benefits of vast employment opportunities in the Maritime Sector with focus on youth of coastal areas. | ||
Atal Innovation Mission and India Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre Partners to Boost Startup Ecosystem | ||
| i.On 20th August 2020, Atal
Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog and Business Sweden on behalf of
India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre signed a virtual Statement of
Intent (SoI) to boost the culture of innovation in India. ii.This collaboration aims to promote the innovative potential of Indian Entrepreneurs and to boost the dynamic startup ecosystem across India. iii.India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre is a collaboration of All India Institute of Medical Science(AIIMS) (Delhi, Jodhpur) and Business Sweden. About Atal Innovation Mission (AIM): AIM is a flagship initiative of NITI Aayog. Mission Director– R Ramanan Headquarters– New Delhi About Sweden: Prime Minister– Stefan Löfven Capital- Stockholm Currency– Swedish krona | ||
Arjun Munda Virtually Launched Trifood Project of TRIFED in Raigad, Maharashtra and Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh | ||
| i.On 20th August 2020, Arjun Munda, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs(MoTA) virtually launched the tertiary processing centres of the “Trifood Project” in Raigad, Maharashtra and Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh. ii.The Trifood project was carried by the MoTA in association with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries(MoFPI) and implemented by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED). About Ministry of Tribal Affairs: Union Minister– ArjunMunda Minister of State– Renuka Singh Saruta About TRIFED: Managing Director– Pravir Krishna Head Office– New Delhi, India | ||
IIM Kozhikode signs MoU with Switzerland based HELP Logistics | ||
| i.On 17th August, 2020, Indian
Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K) signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Switzerland based HELP Logistics to engage in a
collaborative partnership to provide consulting services and logistics
training for the humanitarian community in South Asia. ii.HELP Logistics – a registered non-profit organisation and a subsidiary company of the Kühne Foundation, Schindellegi, Switzerland About IIM-K: Director of IIM-K – Professor Debashis Chatterjee Chairman – Arunachalam Vellayan | ||
MoTA and MoRD Signed Joint Communication to Promote Sustainable Livelihood Opportunities Among Tribal Women SHGs | ||
| i.On August 18, 2020, Ministry of
Tribal Affairs (MoTA) and Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) inked a
Joint Communication to promote sustainable livelihood opportunities
among tribal women Self Help Groups (SHGs) under National Rural
Livelihood Mission (NRLM). ii.The joint communication was inked by Deepak Khandekar, Secretary MoTA and Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, MoRD under which A series of activities will be carried out by both the Ministries to improve the economic opportunities available to tribal women. iii.Other Participants during signing: Arjun Munda, Union Minister MoTA, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister MoRD, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Renuka Singh Saruta, Minister of State (MoS) MoTA, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, MoS, MoRD and several senior officers. | ||
Harsh Vardhan Launched FSSAI’s ‘Eat Right India’ Handbook and a Website to Scale Up ‘Eat Right India’ Initiatives
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched FSSAI’s ‘Eat Right India’ Handbook, a referral guide for officials of different jurisdictions to adopt and scale up the ‘Eat Right India’(ERI)
initiatives in their jurisdictions during the online orientation
workshop organised by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as part of its “Eat Right Challenge”.
Key People:
Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State
for Health & Family Welfare along with Rita Teaotia, Chairperson,
FSSAI and ArunSinghal, CEO, FSSAI were present at the online orientation
workshop presided by Harsh Vardhan.
Key Points:
i.Food Safety Commissioners and
district officials such as District Magistrates and Designated Officers
from around 197 cities and districts participated in the workshop.
ii.This movement focuses on prioritising food, nutrition and awareness on eating and dietary habits.
iii.This also focuses on the problems of food wastage and disposal of food.
Importance of Eat Right India:
In India,
196 million are victims of chronic hunger while 180 million suffer from obesity.
47 million children have stunted growth while another 25 million are wasted.
500 million are deficient in micronutrients and 100 million suffer from food-borne diseases.
Other launches:
Harsh Vardhan also launched a website “eatrightindia.gov.in” to support the stakeholders to scale up ‘Eat Right India’ initiatives across India
About Ministry of Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW):
Union Minister– Harsh Vardhan
Minister of State– Ashwini Kumar Choubey
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
LS Speaker Om Birla Attends Inaugural Ceremony of 5th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament
ii.The two-day conference on August 19 & 20 is being organised jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Geneva and the Parliament of Austria with the support of the United Nations (UN).
About Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU):
President – Gabriela Cuevas Barron
Headquarters – Geneva, Switzerland
About Om Birla:
Constituency – Kota-Bundi, Rajasthan
Political Party – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Over 200 Elephants in India Kept in Severely Inadequate Conditions: World Animal Protection
On August 12, 2020, during the observance of World Elephant Day 2020, World Animal Protection released the third edition of the report ‘Elephants. Not commodities’ which highlighted that over 200 Elephants in India are kept in ‘Severely Inadequate Conditions’.
The report comprises research spanning
over a decade in elephant tourism and assessed the entertainment venues
across Thailand, India, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
Highlights of ‘Elephants. Not Commodities’:
i.According to the report, India
is home to the second-highest number of elephants which are used for
tourism in the region of Asia.
ii.In the region Asia, there are
21 venues housing 509 elephants and out of which 45% (225) are kept in
severely inadequate conditions.
iii.According to the report,
across Asia there are over 3, 800 captive elephants in 357 elephant
tourism venues and Thailand is home to three quarters of the captive
elephants.
iv.World Animal Protection India
has been working to phase out elephant rides at the Amer Fort in
Rajasthan’s Jaipur, which has over 100 elephants providing daily rides
to thousands of tourists.
World Animal Protection:
World Animal Protection formerly known
as World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is an
International Non-Profit Animal Welfare Organization.
BANKING & FINANCE
RBI Releases National Strategy for Financial Education 2020-2025; 5C Approach Recommended
HSBC India Becomes 1st Foreign Bank in India to launch a ‘Green Deposit Programme’ for Corporate Clients to Finance Green Initiatives
ii.This will enable companies to support environmentally-beneficial projects.
iii.It is available in Rupees(Rs) as ‘Term Deposit’, which generally attracts higher interests compared to savings deposits.
About HSBC India
HeadQuarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
IBM Collaborates with NSDC to Offer Free Digital Education Platform for Skill Development
ii.IBM will manage an online course from Open P-Tech platform and will offer it to the users through eSkill India Portal of NSCD.
About IBM (International Business Machines Corporation):
Executive Chairman– Virginia M. Rometty
Chief Executive Officer– Arvind Krishna
Headquarters– Armonk, New York, United States of America
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS
CCI Approved 100% Proposed Acquisition of C&S Electric Limited by Siemens Limited
he Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved 100% proposed acquisition of the share capital of the Indian Operations of C&S Electric Limited (C&S) by Siemens Limited (Siemens India). For this purpose, Siemens Ltd has signed an agreement with C&S in January 2020.Proposed Combination
i.At the time of closing the proposed combination, the C&S business scope will include low-voltage (LV) switchgear components and panels, LV and medium voltage (MV) power bus bars as well as protection and metering devices of C&S.
ii.Other businesses of C&S, like MV switchgear and package substation, lighting, diesel generating sets, engineering, procurement and construction business and the “Etacom” bus bars business will be retained by the existing promoters of C&S.
Key Info
i.Siemens India focuses on the following areas, namely, power generation and distribution, intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems among others.
ii.It supplies smart mobility solutions for rail and road transport and infrastructure solutions for Smart Cities.
iii.C&S, manufactures a wide range of electrical switchgear, power protection and electrical distribution products.
iv.It has an electrical contracting business which performs turnkey solutions for industrial and commercial electrification among others. Apart from these, it is also engaged in the design and execution of grid connected solar photo-voltaic power plants.
About Siemens India:
Managing Director(MD) and Chief executive Officer(CEO)– Sunil Mathur
HeadQuarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
About C&S Electric Limited:
HeadQuarters– New Delhi, India
Chairman– Ravinder Nath(R.N) Khanna
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
L&T Built Interceptor Boat ‘ICGS C-454’ of Indian Coast Guard Launched at Surat
On August 19, 2020 The 27-meter-long Interceptor Boat(IB) ‘ICGS C-454’,
built by Larsen and Toubro Ltd(L&T) was launched into the service
of the Indian Coast Guard(ICG) by Dr Hiral Patel, wife of Surat district
Collector, Dhaval Patel during a ceremony in Surat.
Major Highlights of ICGS C-454
i.It has a maximum speed of 45 nautical miles(83 Km/hr- Kilometers per Hour).
ii.It has an excellent seakeeping, maneuverability and endurance range of 500 nautical miles.
Note– Till now, L&T has handed over 51 out of 54 IB’s ordered by the Indian Coast Guard.
Additional Info
L&T-Class Fast Interceptor Craft
i.L&T fast interceptor craft
is a series of high-speed interceptor boats being built by L&T
Shipyard for the Indian Coast Guard.
ii.The ships are designed for patrol and rescue operations in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
ii.L&T Marine & Ship Design Division, an in-house facility of L&T Ltd, designs the IB’s.
Recent Related News:
i.The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has commissioned a 3rd high-speed interceptor boat C-448 in Mangaluru, Karnataka.
ii.6th offshore patrol vessel(OPV) “Yard 45006 VAJRA” was launched to enhance coastal security.
The 6th vessel in the series of 7 OPV is designed & developed by
Larsen & Toubro under the Central government’s initiative ‘Make in
India’.
About ICG:
Headquarters– New Delhi, India
Director General– Krishnaswamy Natarajan
About Larsen & Toubro Limited:
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
MD & CEO– S.N. Subrahmanyan
SPORTS
Ronnie O’Sullivan Wins Sixth World Snooker Championship 2020 at Crucible
On 17th August, 2020, English Professional Snooker Player Ronnie O’Sullivan won the World Snooker Championship for the 6th time by winning the 2020 World Snooker Championship at Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England. He defeated England’s Kyren Wilson 18-8 in the final of the Betfred World Snooker Championship.
i.He draws level with Ray Reardon and boyhood hero Steve Davis on
world crowns, and surpasses Stephen Hendry on the all-time list of
ranking event wins with a record 37 titles.
ii.O’Sullivan, 44, is the oldest
champion since Reardon, who was 45 in 1978 & he is behind Stephen
Hendry’s modern-day record of seven successes in the World Championship.
iii.This was Ronnie O’Sullivan’s first World title since 2013.
World Snooker Championship 2020:
i.The World Snooker Championship took place from 31 July 2020 to 16th August, 2020 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England.
ii.The event was organized by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and World Snooker Tour.
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