Current Affairs - August 25, 2019 Current Affairs

The Chief Minister of Haryana Shri Manohar Lal Khattar, increased the family income limit of households from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month to qualify as Below Poverty Line (BPL) beneficiary. It was announced at a BPL ration card distribution function in Panchkula, Haryana. Ration cards were distributed to 37 BPL beneficiaries of Panchkula and Kalka in Haryana. A total of 56,315 beneficiaries received ration cards at the special functions organised simultaneously in all 22 districts of the state after a gap of 8 years.

A survey by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Orbital Debris Program Office reported that more than 40 pieces of debris created by India's anti-satellite test. The debris created by the test conducted by ISRO on 27 March is still moving around in space even as the majority of the debris has disintegrated. The survey also said that 101 big pieces have been tracked and 49 continue to be in the orbit as of July 15.

The Sabka Vishwas-Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2019 will be operationalized from 1st September 2019 to 31st December 2019. The scheme was announced by the Hon'ble Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2019-20.

Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' launched the NISHTHA or National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement.

The Telangana Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Google India for 'Digital Telangana'. The MoU will improve and get more local language content online using Google's digital publishing tool "Navlekha". As part of the MoU, Google will work with the state government to help digitize the government's content in Telugu to make it easier for the common man to get access to all the information and services on government sites in their local languages. Apart from this, Google will also collaborate with the government to support its digital literacy vision and aid in the overall digitization agenda of the state.

MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) was signed between the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Nepal's Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) on food safety and standards. A cheque amounting 2.45 billion Nepali Rupees(INR 153 crore) was also handed over to Government of Nepal towards reimbursement for reconstruction of 50,000 houses in Nuwakot and Gorkha districts.

Ajay Kumar has been appointed the new Defence Secretary. He will replace Sanjay Mitra whose term ends on August 23, according to the Prime Minister-headed Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

It runs parallel to the vindhya range which lies to the north and these two east west ranges divide the indo gangetic plain from the deccan plateau located north of river Narmada.

Prof. Meeta Narain of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been conferred the prestigious 'Pushkin Medal - 2019' for her contribution to Russian studies abroad. Narain has contributed towards re-writing of Russian studies textbooks for graduate students after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Her work gave a contemporary flavour to the textbooks, which are now being used in departments of Russian language studies at various universities of India, in many former Soviet nation institutes, Europe, the US and other countries. The Pushkin Medal is the highest honour given to an Indian scholar by the Russian government in recognition of outstanding contributions to the promotion of the Russian language and culture. It was instituted in the name of famous Russian author and poet Alexander S. Pushkin.

A renowned life Insurance company, Bharti AXA Life Insurance on its 13th Foundation Day, has partnered with a non-profit organization in India, Akshaya Patra Foundation to support and contribute to the mid-day meal drive for government-run school children across India.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel by English writer George Orwell published in June 1949, whose themes centre on the risks of government overreach, totalitarianism and repressive regimentation of all persons and behaviours within society.

Indian Army signed an MoU with Tata Realty & Housing on 22 August 2019. It is a historic milestone achieved by the Indian Army. The MoU will empower the Indian Army personnel to take over, with immediate effect, dwelling units in 13 'Ready to Move in' projects of Tata Realty across India. The projects are spread over 10 cities including Gurugram, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune among others at a discount ranging from 11% to 27%. The provision also includes the Army Welfare Housing Organization (AWHO). AWHO has always provided quality housing for Army personnel who are deployed in remote locations across the country. Rather than building houses for the soldiers, the MoU facilitates the Army for the acquisition of homes from reputed private builders.

Oldest Joint Stock bank of India was Bank of Upper India that was established in 1863. But this bank failed in 1913. India's Oldest Joint Stock Bank which is still working is Allahabad Bank.

Discovery India and World Wide Fund (WWF) India have tied up with the Forest Directorate, the government of West Bengal and local communities in the Sundarbans. It is done as a move to protect the Sundarbans- the mangrove forest, habitat of Bengal tigers, to reduce the tiger-human conflict and also as part of a global movement "Project CAT -Conserving Acres for Tigers".

The flagship scheme of Rajasthan government has topped the 16-state chart detailing implementation of the free medicine scheme i.e. run under the National Health Mission (NHM). The NHM assessed the performance of the states on the basis of effective implementation of Drugs and Vaccine Distribution Management System (DVDMS), stock of essential drugs, value of drugs about to expire along with other such parameters. According to an NHM letter, the DVDMSA (coverage in Rajasthan is 77.26% and proportion of online drug distribution counters - 96.03%. The expired quantity proportion viz. breakage, wastage and loss are just 7.43%.

Karur Vysya Bank(KVB), one of the oldest banks in India has signed a bancassurance agreement with General insurance company, Digit Insurance to provide Digit Insurance's suite of products to its SMEs(Small and medium-sized enterprises) customers.

NITI Aayog has released the Round of Composite Water Management Index (CWMI 2.0) in New Delhi. The report was launched by Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog and Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Jal Shakti. NITI Aayog has prepared the report to supplement the efforts of Jal Shakti Ministry. The CWMI 2.0 ranks varied states for the reference year 2017-18 as against 2016-17.

Adam Gilchrisht has written the book "True Colour".

RBI allows recurring transactions up to 2000 on cards from Sep 1.

The two-day National Conference on Varmam Science which is a part of the Siddha system of medicine was inaugurated by ShripadYessoNaik, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) in Chennai,TamilNadu. The conference was organised by the National Institute of Siddha, Chennai. The conference was 22nd & 23rd of August 2019.

Biologist, author and wildlife conservationist, Vivek Menon, head of Delhi-based Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), a leading Indian nature conservation organisation committed to the service of nature, was awarded the prestigious Clark R Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Award for the year 2019 at 18th meeting of Conference of Parties to CITES held in Geneva, Switzerland.