Home » Current Affairs Date: 19 August 2020

Current Affairs Date: 19 August 2020

Govt. Announcement:

  • Digital India initiative of the Prime Minister, the eSanjeevani  platform has proved its usefulness. The ‘eSanjeevani’ digital platform of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has completed 2 lakh tele-consultations in a short time period of ten days only since the 9th of August . eSanjeevani platform has enabled two types of telemedicine services viz Doctor-to-Doctor (eSanjeevani) and Patient-to-Doctor (eSanjeevani OPD) Tele-consultations.
  • Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda flagged off “Tribes India On WheelsMobile Vans via Video Conference in 31 cities across the country on 19 Aug 2020. To begin, 57 mobile vans were flagged off in the cities like Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Ranchi etc. With this initiative of Mobile Vans, TRIFED is now started  shop for organic, essential natural immunity-boosting products directly to the customer in various localities. Tribes India on Wheels is another creative effort by the team of TRIFED Warriors to strive towards tribal upliftment.
  • Prime Minister Street Vendors AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme which has been launched to provide credit for working capital to street vendors to resume their business. A mobile application, “PM SVANidhi” was launched in New Delhi to bring micro-credit facility for street vendors. “PM SVANidhi” Mobile App aims to provide user-friendly digital interface for lending institutions and their field functionaries for sourcing and processing loan applications of street vendors under the scheme.
  • The Union Cabinet accorded its approval for leasing of three AAI airports namely Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram for Operation, Management and Development to M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd for a period of fifty yearsThe Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for leasing out these three airports through Public Private Partnership (PPP).
  • The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for creation of National Recruitment Agency (NRA)National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen/shortlist candidates for the Group B and C (non-technical) posts.
Technology:
  • SCTIMST & IIT Madras start-up set up portable hospital infrastructure for COVID -19. Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in collaboration with Modulus Housing a start-up incubated by IIT Madras has come up with a solution using decentralised approach to detect, manage and treat COVID-19 patients in local communities through portable microstructures. Modulus Housing & its associates have developed the portable microstructure named as “MediCAB”.
  • Indian Railways has start deployment of “Ninja UAVs” (unmanned aerial vehicles) for establishing a drone-based surveillance system in a bid to intensify its security mechanism across its network.
  • On 18 Aug 2020, Apple music streaming service, Apple Music introduced two new radio stations, Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country will be available worldwide. Apple has also renamed its popular Beats 1 radio station to Apple Music 1.
  • Google Chrome’s upcoming version M86 will display a warning message to users before they complete forms on secured websites that submit insecurely & it will disable autofill in mixed form to enhance safety.
  • On 17 August 2020, Facebook launched the Educator Hub to help teachers find or build their online community and discover resources for the classroom. The Educator Hub offers self care strategies, mental health tips and other resources from experts.
Sports:
  • Captain Virat Kohli remained at the second position in the batting chart in the latest ICC Test player rankings issued on 18 Aug 2020.
International:
  • Ex-Journalist Chrystia Freeland, who helped negotiate Canada’s free trade deal with the United States and Mexico, became Canada’s first female finance minister on 18 Aug 2020.
Collaboration:
  • IIT Patna and Flipkart have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) over create industry-focused applied research in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP).
  • On 19 Aug 2020, Homegrown short video-sharing platform Chingari said it has raised funding from Chief Product Officer of Tinder Brian Norgard and OLX Co-Founder Fabrice Grinda. Company did not disclose the amount.
  • Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has acquired a majority equity stake in “Netmeds” a subsidiary of Vitalic Health Pvt Ltd for a cash consideration of approximately ₹620 crore.