Current Affairs - August 22, 2020 Current Affairs

The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) will establish an innovation-cum-incubation centre with external private funding to promote startups in the emerging area of aerospace technologies, a statement said on Wednesday.

On 19th August, 2020 Former India Goalkeeper turned Coach, Bhaskar Maity passed away at the age of 67 due to massive stroke at a hospital in Navi Mumbai. Maity represented India against Iraq at the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok. At the domestic level, he represented Maharashtra in Santosh Trophy from 1975-1979.

Unitus Ventures has received an investment of Rs 75 crore (USD 10 million) under Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)'s Fund of Funds for Start-ups initiative enabled by the Government of India.

Francisco Pascual Eyegue Obama Asue was reappointed as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and He was sworn in at the People's Palace in Malabo before President Teodoro Obiang on 18th August 2020.

In a major boost for Make in India, the first ever Pinaka rockets fully manufactured by the private sector company "Economic Explosives Ltd (EEL)" have been successfully test fired by the army at a firing range in Pokhran, Rajasthan. Six Pinaka rockets were test fired as part of the final developmental trials and are the first munition of its kind made by the private sector in India.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched a wholly-owned subsidiary, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) to internationalize (or export to foreign markets ) NPCI's indigenously developed offerings and technological acumen, i.e. real-time payment system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and card payment network, RuPay along with a few more offerings of NPCI. It is also responsible to co-create payment technologies with other countries. NPCI has appointed Ritesh Shukla as Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of NIPL.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank(LVB) has launched 'LAKSHMI digiGO', a contactless digital initiative that will enable customers to open a savings account instantly. This initiative will help people to avail the most required banking services instantly through the website on account of COVID-19 pandemic.

Iran(officially the Islamic Republic of Iran) has inaugurated a locally made surface-to-surface ballistic missile, called Martyr Qassem Soleimani, which has a range of 1,400 kilometers-km (870-mile) and a new cruise missile, called Martyr Abu Mahdi which has a range of over 1000 km(620-mile).

On 20th August 2020 India signed a cultural agreement with Israel, which outlines a three year programme of cooperation for 2020 to 2023, to strengthen the strategic bilateral relations through promoting the people to people exchange.

On 19th August, 2020 National Seeds Corporation (NSC) and Jute Corporation of India (JCI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to improve the production and productivity of raw Jute in the country. The MoU was signed virtually in the presence of Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister for Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani.

The World Mosquito Day is observed on 20th August every year to raise awareness about the Causes and Prevention of Malaria and to commemorate the discovery made by British Doctor Sir Ronald Ross in 1897 that female Anopheles mosquitoes transmit Malaria between humans.

Air Unique-quality Monitoring(AUM), an indigenous photonic system for real-time remote monitoring of air quality parameters has been developed. It was developed by Prof. Rao Tatavarti, Director of Gayatri Vidya Parishad-Scientific and Industrial Research Centre (GVP-SIRC) & GVP College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam with the support from Department of Science and Technology's Clean Air Research Initiative. The system had CATS Eco-Systems, Nashik as the technology transfer partner for commercialization.

NASA observes the South Atlantic Anomaly(SAA), a strange dent in Earth's magnetic field over South America and the nearby Atlantic Ocean which was there for more than 10 years is growing and splitting this change in the magnetic field will affect the earth. The scientists of NASA in geomagnetic, geophysics, and heliophysics research groups observe and model the SAA to monitor and predict its future changes to help with the challenges in satellite missions and humans in space.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee and Bureau of India Standards (BIS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for collaboration in areas of Standardisation and Conformity Assessment based on equality and reciprocity.

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal to set up the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) that will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for non-gazetted posts (Group B and C) of Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and the Institute of Banking Service Personnel (IBPS). Candidates who qualify CET can apply to any recruitment agencies for higher level of examination. Therefore CET will be a first level test (preliminary) to shortlist candidates which will be held twice a year with score validity of three years.

Every year 20th August is celebrated as the Sadbhavana Diwas which is also known as Communal Harmony Day, to commemorate the Birth Anniversary of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. 20th August 2020, marks the 76th Birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi.

Former Cricketer, Administrator and Pitch Curator Gopalaswamy Iyenger Kasturirangan passed away at the age 89 due to heart attack at his Bangalore Residence.He was born on 12th October 1930 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA), a governing body for the Olympic Movement in India and INOX Group has signed a sponsorship agreement to support Team India for Tokyo Olympics, which was rescheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.

In accordance with the 2nd edition of global research "Digital Quality of Life (DQL) Index 2020" released by online privacy solutions provider SurfShark, India ranked 57th out of 85 countries in terms of overall category "Digital Quality of Life 2020" with 0.5 index points which has been topped by Denmark with 0.79 points.

On August 19, 2020 Keith Rowley(Full name- Keith Christopher Rowley) sworn in as Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for a 2nd consecutive 5 year term at the President's House, following victory in general elections held on August 10, 2020. In addition to him, his new cabinet ministers were also sworn in. He is from the ruling People's National Movement (PNM).