NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurates
world’s second-largest refurbished gene bank:
The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar
has inaugurated the world’s second-largest National Gene Bank at the National
Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), Pusa, New Delhi. The refurbished
state-of-the-art National Gene Bank provides the facility for germplasm, to
secure the heritage of seeds for years in minus 20 degrees Celsius temperature.
The new facility will help in the conservation of the diversity of indigenous
crops in the country, as well as benefit the farmers by making them
self-reliant and providing a source of increasing their income. A National Gene
Bank is a facility to preserve the seeds of Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) for
future generations.
2. Rajasthan govt to provide
interest-free loan to street vendors: The
Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan said it has introduced a scheme to provide
interest-free loan up to ₹50,000 to street vendors, people in the age group of
18-40 years working in the service sector and unemployed of urban areas hit by
Covid-19-induced financial crisis. The scheme is aimed at financially
supporting and encouraging street vendors, youths providing services in
informal sector such as hairdressers, rickshaw pullers, potters, carpenters,
cobblers, masons, tailors, painters, plumbers, electricians etc. for self
employment. Five lakh beneficiaries will be given loans under the scheme on the
first come first serve basis. They will get interest free loan up to ₹50,000
without guarantee in one year, the government said. The state government
further said the scheme will be applicable for one year and loans can be sanctioned
till March 31, 2022. The loan moratorium period will be three months and loan
repayment period will be 12 months.
3. Single-use Plastic Items Like
Candy Sticks, Plates, Cups to Be Banned from July 1, 2022: Govt: The Centre has notified the Plastic Waste Management
Amendment Rules, 2021, prohibiting manufacture, import, stocking, distribution,
sale and use of identified single-use plastic (SUP) items, including candy
sticks, plates, cups and cutlery, from July 1, 2022. The thickness of plastic
carry bags will be increased from 50 microns to 75 microns from September 30,
2021, and to 120 microns from December 31, 2022, according to the notification
dated August 12. This will also allow the plastic carry bags to be reused. Non-woven plastic carry bags should not be
less than 60 gram per square metre (GSM) with effect from September 30, 2021,
the notification said.
4. PM Modi announces national
infrastructure plan worth Rs 100 lakh crore: Prime
Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 100 lakh crore Gati Shakti National
infrastructure master plan aimed at bringing employment opportunities to the
youth and helping develop new economic zones across the country. Modi also did
not disclose the time span in which the Gati Shakti plan will be implemented nor
the funding sources. However, he said the contours of the scheme will be
announced in the coming days. This will also develop possibilities of new
future economic zones, he said, adding that the focus will be on holistic
development of infrastructure and transport.
5. Hockey star Vandana Katariya made
U’khand Women & Child Development ambassador: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced
that Indian women’s hockey team player Vandana Katariya will be the brand
ambassador of the state’s Department of Women Empowerment and Child
Development. The announcement came at a program organized to felicitate the
recipients of awardees of the Tilu Rauteli Award and the Anganwadi Workers
Award. Earlier, Dhami had announced a cash reward of Rs 25 lakh to Indian
women’s hockey team player Vandana Katariya for her brilliant performance at
the Tokyo Olympics.
6. Sadbhavana Diwas: 20th August: Every year India observes Sadbhavana Diwas on August 20 to
commemorate the birth anniversary of late erstwhile Prime Minister, Rajiv
Gandhi. This year on 20th August 2021, we are going to celebrate the 77th birth
anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Indian National Congress
instituted Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award in 1992, a year after his death. Every
year this day is celebrated in the memory of the late Rajiv Gandhi who was the
youngest Prime Minister of India at the age of 40 years. In lieu of paying
tribute to his vision for India, on this occasion contributions to society
betterments are made.
7. Akshay Urja Diwas: 20 August: Akshay Urja Diwas (Renewable Energy Day) is observed every
year on 20 August to raise awareness about the developments and adoption of
renewable energy in India. The Akshay Urja Day was initiated by the Indian
Ministry for New & Renewable Energy Sources in 2004. Energy such as Biogas,
Solar Energy, Wind energy, hydroelectrical power is a few examples of Akshay
Urja. The main motive of Akshya urja Diwas is to make people aware that they
have to think about renewable energy (Akshya Urja) apart from traditional
energy.
History
of Indian Akshay Urja Day: Indian
Akshay Urja Day was established in 2004 to support renewable energy development
programs and promote its use instead of traditional sources of energy. The very
first event relating to Akshay Urja Diwas was organized in New Delhi. In 2004,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has
released a commemorative stamp, and 12,000 schoolchildren formed a human chain
to promote renewable energy. The 20th of August wasn’t chosen at random to be
the date of the observance. This day marks the birthday anniversary of Rajiv
Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India.
INTERNATIONALUPDATES:
1. Ghaziabad is world’s second most
polluted city of 2020: Uttar
Pradesh’s Ghaziabad was adjudged the second most polluted city out of the 50
‘most polluted cities’ in the world in 2020 by a report prepared by British
company HouseFresh. Ghaziabad reported an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of
2.5 particulate matter (PM) in 106.6µg/m3. Preceding Ghaziabad, the Chinese
city of Hotan in Xinjiang province has been named the most polluted city with a
PM2.5 of 110.2µg/m3. The report attributed the air pollution in Hotan to
sandstorms resulting from its closeness to the Taklimakan Desert, which is the
largest shifting sand desert in the world.
Bangladesh,
China, India and Pakistan contribute to 49 out of the 50 most polluted cities
worldwide. According to the report, Bangladesh was the most polluted country
across the world in 2020, followed by Pakistan, India and Mongolia. Meanwhile,
Judbury in Australia bagged the top position in the list of cities with the
cleanest air with a PM2.5 level of 2.4µg/m3. Kailua Kona in America’s Hawaii
and Muonio in Finland with PM2.5 concentrations of 2.6µg/m3 and 2.8µg/m3
respectively were the next top cities of 2020 with clean air.
2. World Mosquito Day: 20th August: World Mosquito Day is observed on 20 August annually to
raise awareness about the causes of malaria and how it can be prevented. This
day is observed to highlight the efforts of healthcare officials, NGOs, and
others in fighting diseases caused by malaria. On World Mosquito Day every
year, awareness is created around diseases caused by mosquitoes. This year amid
the coronavirus pandemic, the theme of World Mosquito Day 2021 is “Reaching the
zero-malaria target”. There are several different mosquitoes that act as
vectors for different diseases. Aedes mosquitoes cause chikungunya, dengue
fever, lymphatic filariasis, rift valley fever, yellow fever, and zika.
Anopheles cause malaria, lymphatic filariasis (in Africa).
History
of the day: The day also commemorates the
discovery made by British doctor Sir Ronald Ross in 1897 that female mosquitoes
transmit malaria between humans. In 1902, Ross won Nobel Prize for Medicine
becoming the first British person to receive the award.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1. World Athletics U20 Championships
begins in Nairobi: The 2021 edition of the World
Athletics U20 Championships has been started in Nairobi, Kenya. The impact of
Covid on teams travelling and logistics of moving vital equipment around the
world have proven to be a challenge, the governing body said in a release. The
event was originally scheduled for 2020. The World U20 Championships were held
from 17 to 22 August, 2021.
2. Odisha to sponsor Indian Hockey
teams for 10 more years: The Odisha
government will sponsor the Indian Hockey teams for 10 more years after the
current sponsorship ends in 2023, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced. The
state government started sponsoring the national hockey teams in 2018. The
teams have scripted history with their brilliant performance at the Tokyo
Olympics,” the chief minister said, handing over a cash award of Rs 10 lakh to
each player. However, the exact amount of sponsorship deals are yet to be
revealed. In 2018, Odisha had signed a Rs 100 crore deal with Hockey India for
sponsoring the men’s and women’s teams for 5 years after Sahara India withdrew
after getting entangled in legal issues.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. RBI to introduce ‘Regulatory
GAAR’ for round tripping: The Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) has come up with a draft rule with modifications in the
existing regulation related to foreign investment to discourage round-tripping.
The central bank is looking to tweak the existing regulations and has come up
with draft rules around round-tripping. Some of the largest Indian companies,
startups and multinationals with an India presence have put their outbound
investment, fundraising and restructuring plans on hold as the RBI looks to
introduce fresh regulations around “round-tripping.” According to the draft
rule, any investment made outside India is an entity, in turn, invests in India
will be treated as round-tripping if the purpose is to escape tax. This is as
the same definition and rationale used by the tax department under General Anti
Avoidance Rule (GAAR) which companies have been complaining is quite broad in
its scope.
2. RBI to put in place a “PRISM” to
strengthen compliance by lenders: The
Reserve Bank of India is putting in place a Platform for Regulated Entities for
Integrated Supervision and Monitoring (PRISM), a web-based end-to-end workflow
automation system, to strengthen compliance by supervised entities (SEs). This
is aimed at helping supervised entities to strengthen their internal defences
and resilience and bringing focus on root cause analysis (RCA).
PRISM: PRISM will have various functionalities (inspection;
compliance; incident functionality for cybersecurity; complaints; and returns
functionalities), with built-in remediation workflows, time tracking,
notifications and alerts, management information system (MIS) reports and
dashboards.
Note:
RBI 25th Governor: Shaktikant Das; Headquarters: Mumbai; Founded: 1 April 1935,
Kolkata.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1.
Ind-Ra revises GDP growth projection to 9.4% in FY22: India Ratings
(Ind-Ra) has projected the GDP growth rate for India for FY22 at 9.4%. Earlier
Indi-Ra had projected the rate at between 9.1-9.6%. It would be 15.3 per cent
in the first quarter, 8.3 per cent in the second quarter and 7.8 per cent in
each of the remaining two quarters of the year. The agency’s estimate suggests
that 5.2 million daily doses would have to be administered from now on to fully
vaccinate more than 88 per cent of the adult population as well as to
administer single doses to the rest by March in the current financial year.
DEFENCE
1. INS Tabar Participates in
Exercise Konkan 2021: The Indian
Naval Ship Tabar arrived at Portsmouth in England, to undertake the annual
bilateral drill ‘Exercise Konkan 2021’ between the Indian Navy and Britain’s
Royal Navy. The bilateral naval exercise Konkan is being held every year since
2004, to enhance the interoperability, synergy and cooperation between both navies.
HMS Westminster of the Royal Navy took part from Britain’s side.
OBITUARIES
1. Tamil actor Anandha Kannan passes away: Tamil star and popular TV host Anandha Kannan passed away. He started his career with Vasantham TV in Singapore before moving to Chennai where he worked with Sun Music as a video jockey. He made a guest appearance in Venkat Prabhu’s Saroja (2008). Anandha Kannan later did a full-fledged role in the science fiction Tamil film Adisaya Ulagam (2012).
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