Current Affairs August 2020 Date – 5 August 2020 Alternative Academic Calendar for Upper Primary Stage Students

Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs August 2020 Date – 5 August 2020 Alternative Academic Calendar for upper primary stage students

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank released the Alternative Academic Calendar for upper primary stage students. NCERT under the guidance of Education Ministry has developed the alternative academic calendars for students, parents and teachers of primary and upper primary stages with an aim to engage students meaningfully during their stay at home due to COVID-19. The Calendar provides guidelines to teachers on the use of various technological tools and social media tools available for imparting education in fun-filled and interesting ways.

This calendar will cater to the need of all children including Divyang children (Children with Special Need) as link for Audio books, Radio programmes, Video programme will be included.

World Breastfeeding Week 2020

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is a global campaign to raise awareness and galvanise action on themes related to breastfeeding. The 2020 theme is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet.” It is an annual celebration which is held every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 120 countries. Being organized by WABA, WHO and UNICEF, WBW came up with the goal to promote exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life which yields many health benefits, providing critical nutrients, protection from deadly diseases such as pneumonia and fostering growth and development for the first time in 1991.

The correct norms of infant and young child feeding are:

 Initiation of Breastfeeding within an hour of birth.  Exclusive breastfeeding for first six months of life i.e. only breast Milk ‘NO’ other milk, food, drink or water.  Appropriate and adequate complementary feeding from six months of age while continuing breastfeeding.  Continued breastfeeding up to the age of two years or beyond.

UAE becomes first Arab country to produce nuclear energy UAE became the first country in the Arab World to produce nuclear energy as the Barakah Nuclear Plant's 1st Unit got operational. The new plant is part of the UAE's graph to become less reliant on oil and gas, the current source of the vast majority of its energy. UAE is among the world's biggest fossil fuels producers.

Current Affairs 2020

The Barakah nuclear power plant is the United Arab Emirates's first nuclear power station, the first nuclear power station in the Arabian Peninsula, and the first commercial nuclear power station in the Arab World. It is situated in the Al Dhafrah region of Abu Dhabi.

It consists of four APR-1400 nuclear reactors (one operational, three mostly completed). The plant, powered by South Korean technology, hopes to produce 5.6 gigawatts of electricity and supply up to 25% of the UAE's electricity needs.

Union Agriculture Minister launched Sahakar Cooptube NCDC Channel Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched the National Cooperative Development Corporation's YouTube channel, 'Sahakar Cooptube NCDC India', to encourage farmers and the youth to take benefit of cooperatives.

He also released videos on formation and registration of cooperatives for 18 states in Hindi and regional languages. The videos will be aired on the new channel. The guidance videos in different languages covering 18 states would also strengthen and deepen the major initiatives of our government to promote and form 10,000 farmer-producer organisations (FPOs). More states will be added to the collection of guidance videos on Sahakar Cooptube NCDC India channel on YouTube in due course of time.

National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) as an apex-level statutory institution under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare has achieved tremendous success with a cumulative financial assistance to cooperatives to the tune of Rs 1,54,000 crore.

Foundation Stone of Indian Institute of Management, Sirmaur

Recently Union Education Minister has laid the foundation stone of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh through online mode. Union Government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken decision in 2014 to establish seven new IIMs including IIM Sirmaur. On 15th August 2014 it was announced that the IIM for Himachal Pradesh would be set up at Dhaulakuan in the Sirmaur district.

IIM Sirmaur is one of the newest IIMs in the prestigious IIM family established by the Government of India. The Minister informed that IIM Sirmaur was operationalized by IIM Lucknow in August as the mentor Institution with the commencement of the first batch of PGP of 20 students, from its temporary Campus at Paonta Sahib, Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh.

Current Affairs 2020

He further informed that the current academic activity is operationalised from temporary campus which is fully residential for students with all modern facilities. The students are not only pursuing academics but also engaged in various cultural, sporting and CSR and community outreach activities.

Theatre director Ebrahim Alkazi passed away at 94 Recently, Ebrahim Alkazi, a famous theatre director who revolutionised Indian theatre and was the longest-serving director of the National School of Drama, passed away at the age of 94.

Ebrahim Alkazi (1925 – 2020) was an Indian theatre director and drama teacher. He is remembered as the father of Indian theatre. He served as the Director of National School of Drama, New Delhi (1962–1977). He was the first person to bring regional language plays to NSD. He has directed over 50 plays, including Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq and Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug. He was the first recipient of Roopwedh Pratishtan's the Tanvir Award (2004) for lifetime contribution to the theatre.

He received the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan (1991), and Padma Vibhushan in 2010. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Direction in 1962, and later the Akademi's highest award the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime contribution to theatre.

Singapore to have the first right to Arcturus' covid vaccine Singapore has sought out U.S. Covid-19 vaccine developer Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. and is funding its research in order to secure the first doses of any successful final product, in a reflection of the growing urgency in the race for immunization.

As with many vaccine makers seeking a shot to control the pandemic, Arcturus has seen its stock soar. The shares have surged nearly 400% this year. It’s too soon to know if Arcturus’s vaccine will be effective, and Payne didn’t give a time frame for when it could reach the market. The vaccine, known as Lunar-Cov19, is one of approximately 20 candidates globally that have reached the clinical trial phase.

Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority granted approval in July for the vaccine to be tested in a study involving 108 healthy volunteers of varying ages. More than 160 vaccines are currently under development globally. Moderna Inc. and China’s CanSino Biologics Inc. are among the leading candidates with shots in the advanced stages of human testing.

Current Affairs 2020

Thenzawl Golf Resort project in Mizoram under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme

Government of India has inaugurated the “Thenzawl Golf Resort” Project implemented under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India in the presence of Tourism Minister of MizoramShri Robert RomawiaRoyte and Commissioner and Secretary for Tourism Department of Government of MizoramSmt. Esther LalRuatkimi in New Delhi. The Project was sanctioned under the Integrated Development of New Eco Tourism under Swadesh Darshan- North East Circuit at Thenzawl& South Zote, District Serchhip and Reiek, Mizoram. India boasts of more than 230 golf courses in all. The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India endeavours to work as a catalyst and active supporter for the development of Golf Tourism in the country. India has several golf courses of international standards and golf events held in India also attract domestic and international tourists.

In order to tap the growing interest in golf tourism, the Ministry of Tourism is creating a comprehensive and coordinated framework for promoting golf tourism in India as a niche tourism product for attracting both International and domestic tourists. The competitive advantage of Thenzawl Golf Course is that it will provide quality golfing experience and international facilities at a fair price.

Assam got own 24/7 Doordarshan Channel Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting has launched Doordarshan Assam, a 24-hour dedicated channel for the State, via video conferencing from New Delhi. The channel is a gift to people of Assam and this channel will cater to all sections of the population of Assam and will be immensely popular, according to the minister.

DD North East channel was conceived as 24x7 composite channels by PrasarBharati for all 8 States of North East Region, and commissioned on 01.11.1990; launched on 15.08.1994 and was made 24 Hrs channel from 27.12.2000. DD ArunPrabha channel was later introduced for Arunachal Pradesh which is being beamed from Itanagar. DD Arunprabha channel was launched by the Prime Minister on 09.02.2019. Subsequently PrasarBharati decided to put all the other limited hours channels originating from capital of different North-Eastern States on ‘DD Free Dish” to have national connect.

Five channels for states of North-Eastern region namely, DD Meghalaya, DD Mizoram, DD Tripura, DD Manipur and DD Nagaland beamed from Doordarshan Kendra Shillong, Aizawl, Agartala, Imphal, Kohima respectively have been placed on DD FreeDish(DTH) Platform w.e.f. 9th March 2019.

It was subsequently felt appropriate to repurpose DD North East channel into exclusive channel for Assam. This 24X7 channel which is being beamed from Doordarshan Kendra, Guwahati is dedicated to the people and culture of state of Assam and will have around 6 hours fresh Assamese programming with specific slots for languages such as Bodo.

Current Affairs 2020

During the current Covid-19 crisis, as an interim measures, the uplinking is being done on the channels originated from North Eastern states round-the-clock. Efforts are being made to telecast attractive content on DD Assam which will include mega-serials, music programmes, travelogues, reality shows, feature films etc. The content thus will have ethnic touch highlighting cuisine, textiles, folk culture and tribal life of the region.

MoD signed MoU with IIT Kanpur and Deptt of ARPG to conduct predictive analysis

Ministry of Defence signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) and Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) to conduct predictive analysis of public grievances.

The MoU envisages IIT Kanpur to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Techniques to conduct exploratory and predictive analysis of Public Grievances received on the web based Centralized Public Grievances Redress & Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) pertaining to the MoD. The DARPG, the nodal Department of Government of India in respect of policy initiatives on Public Grievances and custodian of data on web based CPGRAMS portal will provide the data dump on the Public Grievances pertaining to MoD to IIT Kanpur to facilitate their analysis. The project is expected to help the MoD to identify the cause and nature of grievances and bring about systemic changes and policy interventions wherever required.

UN Report on the impact of Covid-19 on Children

UN has recently released a report on the Impact of Covid-19 on Children. According to the report almost 24 million children could drop out or not have access to school next year due to the economic impact of Covid-19. About 188 countries have imposed countrywide school closures, affecting more than 1.5 billion children and youth. More than two-thirds of countries have introduced a national distance learning platform, but among low-income countries the share of distance learning is only 30%.

Online learning is not accessible for poor children, children from remote and conflict areas and children with disabilities. A loss of learning by one-third (equivalent to a three-month school closure) during Grade 3 might result in 72% of students falling so far behind that by Grade 10 they will have dropped out or will not be able to learn anything in school. Economic hardship experienced by families as a result of the global economic downturn could result in hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths in 2020. This will reverse the last 2 to 3 years of progress in reducing infant mortality within a single year.

Current Affairs 2020

During the second quarter of 2020, 86% of children at the primary level have been effectively out of school in poor countries, compared to just 20% in highly developed countries. The Covid-19 crisis is likely to increase the financing gap between education budgets and the money available to reach the Sustainable Development Goal of quality education by up to one-third.

Apart from the poor children, other vulnerable groups of children like migrants, the displaced, refugees, minorities, slum-dwellers, children living with disabilities, children living in refugee settlements, and children in institutions are likely to face a more severe impact. The impact of Covid-19 is going to be more damaging for girls than boys, widening gender inequality. Earlier this year, the Global Education Monitoring Report, 2020 was released by UNESCO which highlighted that the Covid-19 had worsened the inequalities in education systems worldwide.

Low Vitamin D Linked to Increased COVID-19 Risk Israeli researchers have found that low levels of Vitamin D in the blood are associated with an increased risk of Covid-19 infection. Vitamin D is a hormone, produced in the skin during exposure to sunlight, and helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, which are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy.

India has a large population suffering from vitamin D deficiency among the public irrespective of their location (urban or rural), age or gender, or whether they are poor or even rich. This is despite India being a tropical nation getting abundant sunshine, which is a precursor to Vitamin D formation in the body. According to an analysis published in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2017, the level of vitamin D in people from different states of India ranged between 3.15 nanogram/millilitre to 52.9 ng/ml, which was considerably lower than the needed level of 30-100 ng/ml. According to data by the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) over the last 50 years, the calcium levels in average Indian populations has plummeted from 700 units per day to 300-400. About Vitamin D Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin which is naturally present in very few foods like fatty fish, and fish liver oils, beef liver, cheese, and egg yolks.

It is also produced endogenously when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin and trigger vitamin D synthesis. Vitamin D maintains adequate calcium and phosphate concentrations in blood. It prevents weakening of bones. Vitamin D has other roles in the body, including cell growth, neuromuscular and immune function, and reduction of inflammation.

Current Affairs 2020

Govt to extend Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme

Government of India has allowed loans for larger MSMEs and professionals for business purposes within the ambit of Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). It has expanded the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to cover loans given to larger firms as well as to self-employed people and professionals who have taken loans for business purposes. ECLGS was rolled out in May 2020 as part of the Centre’s Aatmanirbhar package in response to the Covid-19 crisis. The objective was to support small businesses struggling to meet their operational liabilities due to the imposition of a nationwide lockdown. The ECLGS provides for the Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) facility. The GECL is a loan for which 100% guarantee is provided by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) to Member Lending Institutions (MLIs) - banks, financial institutions and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). The loans are extended in the form of additional working capital term loan facility in case of banks and additional term loan facility in case of NBFCs to eligible Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)/business enterprises and interested Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) borrowers.

The Scheme is applicable to all loans sanctioned under the GECL facility during the period from, 23rd May 2020 to 31st October, 2020, or till an amount of Rs. 3 lakh crore is sanctioned under GECL, whichever is earlier. Till now, a total of around Rs. 1.37 lakh crore has been sanctioned under the scheme by member lending institutions to around 40 lakh accounts, of which around Rs 87,000 crore has been disbursed.

SARS-CoV-2 circulated unnoticed in bats for decades A recent study found that the novel coronavirus appears to have circulated unnoticed in bats for decades. Horseshoe bats are the most plausible origin of the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen, researchers led by Maciej Boni of Pensylvania State University's Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics.

Bats have been the ‘primary reservoirs’ for SARS-CoV-2, which is likely to have diverged from closely related bat viruses called the RaTG13 sarbecovirus, 40-70 years ago. According to that Chinese study, SARS-CoV-2 is most closely related to RaTG13, which was isolated from a horseshoe bat in Yunnan province in 2013. Based on the nearly 96% genome sequence identity between SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13, it was held that an origin in bats is probable for the Covid-19 outbreak. It is a process by which pieces of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are broken and recombined to produce new combinations of alleles (forms of a gene). This recombination process creates genetic diversity at the level of genes that reflects differences in the DNA sequences of different organisms.

The ability of the spike protein in the virus to bind to Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) human receptors had emerged within bats and is an ancestral trait shared with bat viruses and not one acquired recently via recombination.

Current Affairs 2020

The results of the study suggest the presence of a ‘single lineage’ circulating in bats with properties that allowed it to infect human cells. The study challenged the idea of pangolins serving as an intermediate host where the virus would have acquired its ability to infect human cells thus facilitating the jump into humans.

BioNTech and Fosun Pharma to start clinical trial of COVID-19 Vaccine in China

Germany's Biotechnology Company BioNTech and China's Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical have announced the start of another COVID-19 vaccine trial in China. BioNTech and Fosun Pharma are jointly developing the COVID-19 vaccine candidate in China. The randomized, placebo-controlled, observer-blinded Phase 1 clinical trial in China will enroll 144 healthy subjects to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine as well as to confirm dose selection. The trial is part of BioNTech’s global development program aimed at supporting a global supply upon regulatory approval.

The study is designed to support the regulatory approval process for the Chinese market and intends to confirm that the safety and immunogenicity profile observed in participants from the German and US trials is comparable to that of Chinese participants. The ongoing clinical studies conducted in Germany and the United States will continue to support studies in China.