Home » Current Affairs Date: 20 August 2020

Current Affairs Date: 20 August 2020

Govt. Announcement:
  • Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare launched an interactive gameThe Corona Fighters” (www.thecoronafighters.in) and IEC content on COVID-19 on 20 Aug 2020. This game “presents a new and extremely creative way to teach people the right tools and behaviours to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.”
  • On 20 Aug 2020, RBI released a national strategy for financial education to be implemented in the next five years. The strategy aims at creating a financially aware and empowered India. It will improve usage of digital financial services in a safe and secure manner.
  • Union Tribal Affairs Minister Shri Arjun Munda e-launched the tertiary processing centres of  “Trifood Project” of TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs in Raigad, Maharashtra and Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh on 20 Aug 2020.
  • Union Minister for Electronics & IT, Communications and Law & Justice Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, announced the results of Grand Challenge for Developing Video Conference Solution on 20 Aug 2020 & the winner of this challenge was Alappuzha Based Techgentsia Software Technologies Private Limited.
  • Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar launched logo of Labour Bureau at Shram Shakti Bhawan on 20 Aug 2020. The new logo represents that Labour Bureau is a data based organization dealing in data related to workers and work. The logo also represents the three goals Accuracy, Validity and Reliability. Some symbol which is placed in logo: Blue wheel is a cog wheel  representing work. Choice of blue colour Sinifies that we deal with blue collar workers.  The graph is not going up words alone as in real world data has ups & downs because it captures ground reality. A tricolored Graph, matching the colors of the National flag, along with wheat ears, signifying the fruit of rural agricultural labour.
  • Published in the journal “ACS Sensors“, Dr. Saurabh Kumar from Centre for Nanoscience and Engineering (CeNSE) at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore & his group has fabricated a skin conformal tattoo sensor about 20 μm thick. The Skin conformal sensor has the ability to perform non-invasive and continuous monitoring of vital health parameters.
  • The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has greeted the people on the  auspicious occasion of the first Parkash Purab of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji on 19 Aug 2020. He said The Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji teaches us service, compassion, furthers harmony and illuminates the entire world with its pure teachings.
  • On 19 Aug 2020, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare presided over an online orientation workshop organised by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as part of its “Eat Right Challenge”. He also launched FSSAI’s “Eat Right India Handbook” and the website eatrightindia.gov.in to help various stakeholders scale up “Eat Right India” initiatives across the country.
  • Union Education Minister “Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank” virtually launched Students’ Learning Enhancement Guidelines in New Delhi. NCERT has prepared Students’ Learning Enhancement Guidelines on the direction of the Ministry of Education for the present situation and also for post pandemic situation. NCERT has prepared Students’ Learning Enhancement Guidelines on the direction of the Ministry of Education for the present situation and also for post pandemic situation. Guidelines suggested for the following three types of situations. Firstly, in which students do not have any digital resources. Secondly, in which students have limited digital resources available. Lastly, in which students have digital resources available for online education.
Swachh Survekshan 2020:

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep S Puri, MoS(I/C),  gave awards for Swachh Survekshan 2020 at a virtual event titled Swachh Mahotsav organized by MoHUA on 20 Aug 2020.

This was the fifth edition of the annual cleanliness urban survey conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

Winners:

In the > 1 lakh population category:

Indore (Rank 1) won the coveted title of the Cleanest City of India, Surat and Navi Mumbai won the second and third position respectively

In the > 100 ULB category:

Chhattisgarh (Rank 1) won the prestigious title of the Cleanest State of India, Maharastra – Rank2

In the <100 ULB category:

Jharkhand (Rank 1) was adjudged the Cleanest State of India, Haryana– Rank 2

Indore, Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai, Surat, Rajkot and Mysuru Rated As 5-Star Cities, 86 Cities As 3-Star and 64 Cities As 1-Star declared.

MoHUA launched the sixth edition of the survey, Swachh Survekshan 2021. Swachh Survekshan 2021 will Focus On Wastewater Treatment And Reuse Along With Faecal Sludge, Legacy Waste Management And Remediation Of Landfills. Swachh Survekshan 2021 introduced a new performance category, the Prerak DAUUR Samman which has a total of five additional sub- categories –Divya (Platinum), Anupam (Gold), Ujjwal (Silver), Udit (Bronze), Aarohi (Aspiring).

Books & Technology:
  • On the 70th birthday of author Sudha Murty, publishing house Penguin Random House India on August 19 announced her latest collection of short stories, “Grandparents’ Bag of Stories”. The book, scheduled to be released in November, is a sequel to Murty’s last release “Grandma’s Bag of Stories”.
  • Instagram has launched a new feature. Users can now generate QR codes on app, which are scannable from any third-party camera app.
National:
  • TiE Hyderabad will host largest virtual summit of global leaders between December 8 and 10.
    TiE Global Summit 2020 is based on the theme “Entrepreneurship 360” and aims at fostering ideas, provide a platform for investors to identify and fund curated start-ups and entrepreneurs.”
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Candian PM Justin Trudeau, UK PM Boris Johnson and Dalai Lama etc are likely to address the summit.
  • On 20 Aug 2020, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary launched the Indira Rasoi scheme that will provide poor and needy people with nutritious and quality food at Rs 8 per plate in urban areas.
International:
  • New session commences, on 20 Aug 2020, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena appointed as Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament.
  • Iran unveiled 2 new missiles on National Defense Industry Day in Iran on 20 Aug 2020. They are named after top Iranian Gen Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who were killed outside Baghdad’s international airport in a US strike.
Death:
  • Former Tamil- Nadu Minister A Rahman Khan died of due to Covid-19 at chennai on 20 Aug 2020. He was 77.
Others:
  • Hindu Makkal Katchi launched “Illamthorum Vinayagar” campaign. Under this campaign started distributing Vinayaka idols made of clay to the families celebrating Vinayaka Chathurthi.