Current Affairs - October 1, 2020 Current Affairs

International Translation Day is observed on 30th September every year. The day aims to celebrate the work of language translation professionals which facilitates dialogue, understanding and cooperation, contributing to the development and strengthening world peace and security. The day also marks the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered the patron saint of translators. International Translation Day 2020 theme: "Finding the words for a world in crisis".

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, thousands of migrant workers across the country were left unemployed. The state of Nagaland registered 15,019 of such migrant workers who returned back to the state out of a total of around 27,000 returnees. To address the issue, the department of Industries and commerce launched the portal of the Livelihood generation programme for returned migrant workers due to COVID-19 pandemic. Initiated by the department of industries and commerce and funded by the North Eastern Council (NEC) Shillong, the programme aims to support 100 new enterprises by year end.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik Monday launched the next stage of JAGA Mission - the slum upgradation and de-listing initiative. This slum upgradation and de-listing initiative, aims to improve the living conditions of 18 Lakh slum dwellers by providing them with piped water supply, paved roads, storm water drains, street lights, sanitation, household electricity, community spaces and recreational areas. But more importantly, it encourages the participation of the slum dwellers themselves in the upgradation process.

The Prime Minister inaugurated nation's first museum on Ganga on Sept 29. It has been dedicated to put light on the biodiversity, rejuvenation and culture in Ganga river. The museum is located at Chandi Ghat, Haridwar. The river is significant in regard of Indian history and culture. After the drying of river Saraswati and later migrating away from the Indus Valley civilization, we have seen Indian culture nourish in the Gangetic valley.

BrahMos surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile featuring indigenous Booster and Airframe Section along with many other 'Made in India' sub-systems was successfully flight tested from ITR, Balasore in Odisha. It is one more major step in enhancing the indigenous content. The BrahMos Land-Attack Cruise Missile (LACM) was cruising at a top speed of Mach 2.8.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh unveiled on Monday a new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) that features steps to turn India into a global manufacturing hub of military platforms, reduce timelines for procurement of defence equipment and allow purchase of essential items by the three services through capital budget under a simplified mechanism.

To benefit the small and medium farmers who have no open water source for irrigation, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will launch YSR Jala Kala on Monday. Under the scheme, borewells will be dug free of cost to the needy farmers. The scheme is estimated to bring in five lakh acres under cultivation through groundwater irrigation.

CRIF High Mark, a leading Indian credit bureau owned by CRIF has partnered with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the nation's apex financial institution for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), for the launch of sector-based insight reports called 'Industry Spotlight'. It will be a series of quarterly reports providing data and trends on key industry sectors in each edition. The first edition of the report will present a deep-dive analysis into the Indian drugs & pharmaceutical industry. The MSME sector plays a critical role in the economic growth of our nation. In India, more than 6 crore MSMEs contribute around 29.7% of the GDP and employ more than 11 crore persons. It is a vibrant sector and holds the promise of taking the GDP growth of the nation to the next level. Given the global trade tensions and the slowdown in demand affecting the large corporates, it becomes critical for policymakers to frame policies based on real-time data tracking.

Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) become the first to implement the new feature of document embedding facility with Letter of Credit (LC) / Bank Guarantee (BG) messages over SFMS (Structured Financial Messaging System) platform of Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services (IFTAS). The process would be conducted via a middleware application "i@Connect-SFMS (CSFMS) developed by IDBI Intech.

Ed-tech start-up Vedantu, that offers live online tutoring has appointed actor Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador. As part of its association, the platform has also launched ad films with the actor, that highlights the pros of the platforms. The film will be released on television across 46 channels, digital and OTT platforms, the company said.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has announced Shekhar Kapur as the new President of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Society and Chairman of FTII Governing Council. His tenure will be till March 3, 2023 Kapur, known for films like Masoom (1983), Mr India (1987), Elizabeth (1998) and Bandit Queen (1994), will replace television producer BP Singh. Singh's tenure had ended in March 2020 but he was given an extension owing to the coronavirus situation.

The government has constituted five task forces to make India's micro, small and medium enterprises future-ready and formulate a concrete strategy towards making the country a leading exporter, a top government official said on Thursday.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development will begin a Sanitation Literacy Campaign (SLC) in Karnataka to promote literacy on 'WASH' (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) in 2,000 villages covering one lakh rural population. The objective of the campaign is to focus on inculcating significant behavioural changes towards adapting good hygiene and sanitation practices.

The BSE has signed an MoU with YES BANK to empower the SME segment through awareness and knowledge-sharing programmes by the two entities. BSE and YES BANK will conduct knowledge events for SMEs, export promotion of SME scale companies, in addition to providing banking and financial solutions. This MoU shall further entail services pertaining to development and imparting industry-specific and related knowledge-based information, while the bank will also offer customised services and products to the listed SME members of the platform and advisory solutions to EXIM potential listed SMEs.

NITI Aayog and Embassy of the Netherlands, New Delhi, has signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) to support the decarbonization and energy transition agenda for accommodating cleaner and more energy. The focus of the partnership is on co-creating innovative technological solutions by leveraging the expertise of the two entities.

Veteran writer and critic Dr G S Amur passed away. He was proficient in Kannada and English languages. He had won many awards including Sahitya Akademi Award, Rajyotsava Award and Bharatiya Bhasha Award.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has launched a book titled 'A bouquet of flowers' written by Dr Krishna Saksena. Dr Krishna Saksena is the first lady to get a PhD, in 1955 from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The book has been designed to allow the readers to travel their own journey and arrive at their own very personal realization and be inspired by it.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed P.D. Vaghela as the chairman of the Telecom Regulatory of India (TRAI). He will succeed RS Sharma, who was at the helm of the sector regulator for five years. He is currently in the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, where he was appointed as the secretary for a year till 30 September.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen will hold a virtual summit on Monday to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Bollywood actor, Sonu Sood has been conferred the prestigious SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 28 September 2020 during a virtual ceremony. He has received the award for selflessly extending a helping hand and sending lakhs of migrants, stranded students across geographies abroad, back to their homes. Besides that, he has also been providing free education and medical facilities to young children and has been creating free employment opportunities to the needy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.