Current Affairs - August 27, 2020 Current Affairs

The final report of the NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog Task Force headed by Ramesh Chand, Niti Aayog Member(Agriculture), "Sugarcane and Sugar Industry" recommended linking of Sugarcane prices to sugar rate to maintain the financial state and stability of the industry and to clear the arrears of the sugarcane farmers.

On August 24, 2020, IT (Information Technology) services major Tech Mahindra has joined hands with NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog's Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) to support Indian women entrepreneurs.

On August 24, 2020 Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), India's first listed, national-level, electronic exchange, launched futures trading on the country's first tradeable real-time bullion index, MCX iCOMDEX Bullion , or Bulldex. The index will track the real-time performance of the gold (1kg) and silver (30kg) futures contracts, the flagship future products on the Exchange.

ICICI Bank uses satellite data(imagery from Earth observation satellites) to assess credit worthiness of farmers. ICICI Bank has become the 1st bank in India to use such a technique to measure an array of parameters related to the land, irrigation and crop patterns and use it in combination with demographic and financial parameters to make quick lending decisions for farmers.

On 24th August 2020, Indian Air Force(IAF) Chief of the Air Staff(CAS) Air Chief Marshal (ACM)Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, launched the mobile application "My IAF", to provide career related information and details in IAF to the aspirants. The application was launched as a part of the 'Digital India Initiative'. It was developed in association with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

Mastercard has entered into an alliance with Goals101.ai, the leading bank-tech and Artificial Intelligence(AI) company. Through this alliance, Goals101.ai connects merchants and issuers using big data, AI and automation to create targeted and personalized offers for Bank cardholders. This helps banks to improve their communications performance and makes the banking experience more personalized, real-time and relevant for their customers.

Twenty-Year old Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash Jonnalagadda of Hyderabad has bagged the first ever Gold Medal for India in Mental Calculations (MC) World Cup (MCWC) held on August 15, 2020 by Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO).

SBI General Insurance Co Ltd launched a 1st of its kind offering, 'Shagun - Gift an Insurance', a unique gift of Personal Accident policy which provides complete financial protection to the insured person against uncertainties such as accidental death and partial or total disabilities, and permanent & temporary disabilities resulting from an accident.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has introduced, 'Structured Finance and Partial Guarantee Program for Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFC)-Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs)', a dedicated debt and credit guarantee product.

On 25th August 2020, Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 45 highway projects in Madhya Pradesh (MP) during a virtual event. He also announced that Rs.700 crore from the Central Road Fund (CRF) will be utilised for the road sector of Madhya Pradesh.

On 25th August, 2020 Ahmedabad Railway Division launched the Baggage Sanitization and Wrapping Machine at the Ahmedabad Railway station to ensure safe travel for the passengers during the Pandemic. The Ahmedabad Railway Division has introduced the machine after considering the increase in transport and travel services after Unlock-1 Phase.

On 25th August, 2020 the book 'Running Toward Mystery: The Adventure of an Unconventional Life' authored by Tenzin Priyadarshi and co-written by Zara Houshmand released. The book provides an account of how the Dalai Lama traced his Spiritual Teacher Khunu Lama in India.

World Gujarati Day 2020 is celebrated on 24th August 2020 to commemorate the birth anniversary of the famous Gujarati poet and social reformer, Narmadashankar Dave popularly known as Veer Narmad. The world Gujarati day is dedicated to the Gujarati language and literature.

Axis Bank Ltd(Axis Bank) to acquire 17%(17.002%) of the equity share capital in Max Life Insurance(Max Life), instead of 29%. After the transaction, the total ownership of Axis bank in Max Life will be 18%. The parties have executed definitive agreements.

On August 24, 2020, a quartet loan agreement was inked between Government of India, the Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III. The agreement aims to improve the network capacity, reduction in journey time and fatal accidents of commuters, service quality and safety of the suburban railway system in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

On August 25, 2020, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has signed two MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) one each with AFC ((formerly Agricultural Finance Corporation Ltd) India Limited, and National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), Delhi for working together in the interest of agriculture and allied sectors.

The Government of Himachal Pradesh (HP) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worth Rs110 Crores with Micro Tek New Technologies Private Ltd for setting up an Electronics Manufacturing Unit at Baddi, Solan District, Himachal Pradesh. The MoU was signed by Director of Industries, Himachal Pradesh, Hans Raj Sharma and Subodh Gupta,Chairman of MicroTek New Technologies Private Ltd.

On August 24, 2020, in accordance with the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune, Maharashtra, India's first multi- wavelength satellite observatory, ASTROSAT, has detected an extreme ultraviolet (UV) light from a galaxy called "AUDFs01" which is 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth. The galaxy is located in the Hubble Extreme Deep field (XDF).

On August 25, 2020, the World Health Organisation declared Africa polio-free. The disease is now found only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Highlights Nigeria is the last African country to be declared free from wild polio. More than 95% of Africa population have now been immunised. This was the major condition set by the Regional Certification.

On 24th August 2020, Pascal Lissouba, former President of Republic of Congo, which is also known as Congo-Brazzaville passed away at the age of 88 in Southern France due to illness. He was born in Tsinguidi, Republic of Congo.He belonged to the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UADS) party.