Current Affairs August 2020 Date – 25 August 2020 National Food Security Act 2013

Current Affairs 2020

The Department of Food and Public Distribution under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has sent letters to States Governments/UTs to include all eligible disabled persons under the National Food Security Act 2013. Section 38 of the Act mandates that the Central Government may from time to time give directions to the State Governments for effective implementation if the provisions of the Act. The Department advised all States/UTs to ensure that all disabled persons, who are eligible as per identification criteria of beneficiaries under NFSA, are covered under the National Food Security Act 2013 and they get their entitled quota of food grains under NFSA & PMGKAY as per provisions of the Act. The Section 10 of the National Food Security Act, 2013 provides for coverage of persons under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana.

The Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package of the Government of India is for the persons, who are not covered either under NFSA or any States Scheme PDS Cards. Hence, the disabled persons without ration cards are also eligible for getting benefits under Atma Nirbhar Bharat package.

National movement to empower women

The Vice President Venkaiah Naidu has called for a national movement for women’s empowerment and to ensure that no girl child is left out of school. The report mentioned that there has not been any change in the sex ratio at birth in India from 2001- 2017--the number of girl children born is much less than what is the general or natural norm.

It was brought out by the Indian Association of Parliamentarians for Population and Development (IAPPD). It stressed the need for rigorous implementation of Pre-conception & Pre-natal Diagnostics Techniques law to bring about a balance in the sex ratio.

Nithyananda Plans to Set up Hindu Parliament of Kailaasa Nithyananda is planning to set up a Hindu parliament in the next six months. Nithyananda launched the ‘Reserve Bank of Kailasa’ and presented its official currency, called ‘Kailashian dollars’. An announcement on Kailasa’s website states that the launch marked a “milestone and historical moment for the SHRIKAILASA Nation, the only Hindu Nation existing today and all the practicing Hindus around the world”.

Current Affairs 2020

He also claimed that his country had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with another nation to host his bank. Kailasa’s official website claims that it is a “nation without borders created by dispossessed Hindus from around the world who lost the right to practice Hinduism authentically in their own countries”.

However, several news reports have suggested that the ‘nation’ is located in a small private island near Trinidad and Tobago, that Nithyananda allegedly purchased from Ecuador. Ancient 56 nations are the most favoured for bilateral and trade relations with Kailasa. The 56 Hindu Nations repeatedly referred to in the press release include Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan.

Telangana Srisailam power plant fire Nine people killed in a massive fire swept through the Srisailam hydroelectric plant on the Telangana- Andhra Pradesh border in the early hours on 21 August. The Srisailam Dam is constructed across the Krishna River in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh near Srisailam temple town.

It is the 2nd largest capacity working hydroelectric station in the country. The dam was constructed in a deep gorge in the Nallamala Hills in between Kurnool and Mahabubnagar districts.

Nuakhai Juhar 2020 Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi has greeted the people on the auspicious occasion of Nuakhai Juhar. It an important social festival of Western Odisha and adjoining areas of Simdega in Jharkhand.

It is an agricultural festival which is observed to welcome the new rice of the season. The word nua means new and khai means food. It is observed on the fifth day of the lunar fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada or Bhaadra (August– September), the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. Nuakhai is understood to have nine colours and as a consequence nine sets of rituals are followed as a prelude to the actual day of celebration.

People offer the newly harvested crop called Nabanha to their respective presiding deities. After offering the Nabanha, people relish different types of delicacies prepared from the newly harvested crop. The Nuakhai Juhar is a major ritual of the festival. It is an exchange of greetings with friend relative and well-wishers.

Current Affairs 2020

Thumbimahotsavam 2020

World Wide Fund-India State unit has joined hands with the Society for Odonate Studies (SOS) and Thumbipuranam for the first-ever State Dragonfly Festival in Kerala, christened Thumbimahotsavam 2020. A dragonfly is an insect belonging to the order Odonata. Adult dragonflies are characterized by large, multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, sometimes with coloured patches, and an elongated body.

Dragonflies can be mistaken for the related group, damselflies (Zygoptera), which are similar in structure, though usually lighter in build; however, the wings of most dragonflies are held flat and away from the body, while damselflies hold the wings folded at rest, along or above the abdomen.

Dragonflies are agile fliers, while damselflies have a weaker, fluttery flight.

Turkey to convert another former church to mosque

Turkish President ordered another ancient Orthodox church that became a mosque and then a popular Istanbul museum to be turned back into a place of Muslim worship. The decision to transform the Kariye Museum into a mosque came just a month after a similarly controversial conversion for the UNESCO World Heritage-recognised Hagia Sophia.

The Holy Saviour in Chora was a medieval Byzantine church decorated with 14th-century frescoes of the Last Judgment that remain treasured in the Christian world. It was originally converted into the Kariye Mosque half a century after the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks. It became the Kariye Museum after Second World War as Turkey pushed ahead with the creation of a more secular new republic out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.

The 1,000-year-old building’s history closely mirrors that of the Hagia Sophia — its bigger neighbour on the historic western bank of the Golden Horn estuary on the European side of Istanbul. But they have added to Turkey’s tensions with Greece and its Orthodox Church.

Private firms employ more women in R&D

According to data in the Science and Technology Indicators (STI), 2018, a periodic compendium of the state of scientific research in India, the private sector research companies of India appear to employ a larger proportion of women in core research and development activities than government- funded major scientific agencies do. Of the 20,351 women employed in private R&D companies, 15,011 — or about three in four — were involved in “R&D activities” and the rest in “auxiliary or administrative activities”.

Current Affairs 2020

However, of the 23,008 women in “major scientific agencies”, fewer than half — or 10,138 — were in the same ‘R&D activities’ category. The 2018 indicators reiterate the historic trend of India’s scientists being overwhelmingly men. For every one of the 15,011 women counted earlier, there are six male scientists in private sector R&D establishments, or about 92,000.

The STI is prepared by a division of the Department of Science Technology, the National Science and Technology Management Information System, and is based on data provided by a range of scientific establishments across the country.

National Strategy for Financial Education 2020-2025

The Reserve Bank of India has released a national strategy for financial education to be implemented in the period of 2020-2025. The multi-stakeholder led approach is aimed at creating a financially aware and empowered India. It has been prepared by the National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE) in consultation with all the Financial Sector Regulators (RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA), DFS and other Ministries of Govt. of India and other stakeholders under the aegis of the Technical Group on Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy under the Chairmanship of Deputy Governor, RBI. The objectives include managing risk at various life stages through relevant and suitable insurance cover besides planning for old age and retirement through coverage of suitable pension products.

The strategy seeks to develop credit discipline and encourage availing of credit from formal financial institutions as per requirement. The document wants management of risk at various life stages through relevant and suitable insurance cover and plan for old age and retirement through coverage of suitable pension products. It has recommended a ‘5 C’ approach for dissemination of financial education in the country. These include-

 Emphasis on development of relevant content in curriculum in schools, colleges and training establishments.  Developing capacity among intermediaries involved in providing financial services.  Leveraging the positive effect of community-led model for financial literacy through appropriate communication strategy.  Enhancing collaboration among various stakeholders.

Navy reviewed operational situation at commanders’ conference

The Indian Navy has effectively carried out Mission Based Deployments (MBD) to protect maritime interests by deploying naval ships and aircraft at major and sensitive locations.

Current Affairs 2020

The geo-strategic importance of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has seen a gradual increase in the recent past. Indian Navy regularly deploys ships for Presence and Surveillance Missions (PSM), off critical choke points / sea lanes in the IOR. Since August 2017, Indian Navy deployments in the IOR have been further structured under the Mission Based Deployment (MBD) concept.

Under MBD concept, In addition to the anti-piracy deployment, IN ships were also Mission Deployed for-

 Operation ‘GULFDEP’ in the Persian Gulf,  Operation ‘CENTDEP’ in the central Indian Ocean Region,  Operation ‘NORDEP’ in the northern Bay of Bengal and  Operation ‘MALDEP’ in the Andaman Sea and approaches to the Malacca Strait.

UAE connected first Arab nuclear plant to power grid The oil-rich United Arab Emirates has connected its Barakah nuclear power plant to the national grid in a first for the Arab world. The milestone follows the successful start-up of the plant's first reactor at the end of last month and launches the UAE on the road to meeting 25 percent of its electricity needs from nuclear power.

The plant on the Gulf coast west of Abu Dhabi had been due to go online in late 2017 but faced a number of delays that officials attributed to safety and regulatory requirements.

The UAE has substantial oil and gas reserves, but with a power-hungry population of 10 million it has made huge investments in developing clean alternatives, including solar energy. Barakah was built by a consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation at a cost of some $24.4 billion. More than 950 kilometres (nearly 600 miles) of 400 kV overhead power lines had to be built to link the plant to the grid.

Construction work has already been completed on Unit 2, and Units 3 and 4 are respectively 93 percent and 86 percent complete. The UAE lies just across the Gulf from Iran which has a nuclear power plant of its own outside the coastal city of Bushehr, as well as a controversial uranium enrichment programme.

AHSEC to reduce 30 per cent syllabus for current academic year Assam Higher Secondary Education Council has decided to reduce of Class 11 and 12 syllabus by 30 percent for this academic year due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision was taken in a recent meeting of the Council's academic committee. This decision will be implemented for the students of 11th and 12th classes in all arts, commerce and science streams with certain conditions.

Current Affairs 2020

The Education Department has set up a task force which will decide on reopening of educational institutes. The Assam government is mulling to resume classes from 1st of next month subject to the approval of the Centre.

India and AIIB signed agreement for Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III

Centre, Maharashtra Government, Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) have signed a loan agreement for a USD 500 million Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III. This will improve the network capacity, service quality and safety of the suburban railway system in Mumbai. The Project is expected to increase network capacity in the region with the reduction in journey time and fatal accidents of commuters. It is estimated that among primary beneficiaries of the project, 22 per cent are female passengers who will benefit from improved safety and quality of service.

DRDO apprised Defence Ministry about systems to be developed by Indian Industry

A delegation from Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO met with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to apprise him about 108 systems and subsystems which have been identified for designing and development by the Indian Industry only. DRDO will provide support to industries for design, development and testing of these systems on requirement basis. All the requirements of these systems by Research and Development establishments, Armed Forces, and other Security Agencies can be met through development contracts or production orders on suitable Indian industry.

This will allow DRDO to focus on design and development of critical and advanced technologies and systems. DRDO has been partnering with industry for realization of its systems. Collaborating with DRDO in the development of major weapon systems the Indian industry has matured to a stage where they can develop systems on their own. Indian industry has progressed from a ‘build to print’ partner to build to specification partner. The present industry base for DRDO consists of 1800 MSMEs along with DPSUs, Ordnance Factories and large scale industries.

Current Affairs 2020

India-Russia summit to strengthen defence cooperation

The defence industry cooperation will be one of the key areas of collaboration between India and Russia and it will be addressed at the upcoming India-Russia bilateral summit, as reported by Indian Envoy to Russia Venkatesh Varma. Defence cooperation is an important pillar of the India-Russia strategic partnership. It is guided by the Programme for Military Technical Cooperation signed between the two countries which is valid, at present till 2020. It enshrines the interest of the two governments to further develop and strengthen the military and technical cooperation in the sphere of research and development, production and after sales support of armament systems and various military equipment. The two sides also have periodic exchanges of armed forces personnel and military exercises.

India and Russia have an institutionalized structure to oversee the complete range of issues of military technical cooperation. The India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC), set up in 2000, is at the apex of this structure.