Daily Current Affairs 25th August, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 25 August 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Govt announces Tax exemptions for businesses with annual turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh

The Ministry of Finance said that businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh are GST exempt. Initially, this limit was Rs 20 lakh.

• The Finance Ministry said, additionally those with a turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore can opt for the Composition Scheme and pay only 1 per cent tax.
• As of now, the 28 per cent rate is almost solely restricted to sin and luxury items. Out of a total of about 230 items in the 28 per cent slab, about 200 items have been shifted to lower slabs.
• The Ministry also informed that significant reliefs have been extended to the construction sector, particularly the housing sector which has been placed at the 5 per cent tax rate. GST on affordable housing has been reduced to 1 per cent.

Centre constitutes National Council for Transgender Persons

The Centre has constituted a National Council for Transgender Persons through a notification. Thawar Chand Gehlot, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister will be the ex-officio Chairperson and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment will be ex-officio Vice-Chairperson.

• The National Council will advise the Centre on the formulation of policies, programmes, legislation and projects with respect to transgender persons.
• It will monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and programmes designed for achieving equality and full participation of transgender persons.

Tourism Ministry partners with TAAI & FICCI’s FLO to promote tourism

Ministry of Tourism has signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) with primary objective of women empowerment.

• The partnership between the three aims to increase the participation of women in the tourism sector and enable them to become an integral part of the tourism workforce of India.
• This will be achieved by creating awareness among state tourism departments and state tourism corporations, to highlight the contribution tourism industry can make for sustainable livelihood for women and ensure their economic upliftment.

Delhi govt launches Niraman Mazdoor Registration Abhiyan for construction workers

The Delhi government launched Niraman Mazdoor Registration Abhiyan, under which a mega registration campaign will be held for construction workers from August 24 to September 11.)

• The state government will set up camps at 70 schools for registration of construction labourers at all the 70 assembly constituencies.
• Carpenters, worker grinders, construction site guards, the people who work in concrete mixers, crane operator, electrician, comp operator, Mason (Raj Mistry), tiles stone fitters, welders, coolies, and others can apply for respective jobs.

CM Rupani inaugurates FABEXA 2020, nation’s first and longest virtual exhibition

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani inaugurated FABEXA 2020- India’s First and Longest Virtual Exhibition organized by one of the oldest cloth markets in the country, Maskati Mahajan.

• A 90-day long virtual exhibition is showcasing the thousands of textile products online.
• The exhibition is organized every year in a large exhibition centre, but this year, due to Covid19 pandemic, it is being organized in virtual mode. More than 100 exhibitors have participated in this exhibition.

Kerala hosts dragonfly festival

WWF-India State unit has joined hands with the Society for Odonate Studies (SOS) and Thumbipuranam for the first-ever State Dragonfly Festival in Kerala, christened Thumbimahotsavam 2020.

• This is part of a national dragonfly festival being organised by the WWF India, Bombay Natural History Society & Indian Dragonfly Society in association with the National Biodiversity Board, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Development Programme and IUCN – Centre for Environment Conservation.
• ‘Pantalu’ is the official mascot of the festival. As part of the festival, various programmes will be rolled out in the coming months to reach out to various sections of society.

IAF launches mobile app ‘MY IAF’ to provide career-related information to aspirants

Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria launched a mobile application ‘MY IAF’ at IAF Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan) to provide career-related information to aspirants as a part of Digital India initiative.

• The application developed in association with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) provides career related information and details for those desirous of joining the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• The app provides glimpses into the history and stories of valour in the IAF.

Tata to launch ‘super app’ with a range of digital services

Tata Group will launch a “super app” with an aim to offer its disparate consumer services on a common platform.

• The app should be ready to launch in December or January, and will offer users to use a range of services offered by the Tata Group, including food and grocery ordering, fashion and lifestyle, consumer electronics and consumer durables, insurance and financial services, education, healthcare and bill payments.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WHO urges nations to join its global COVID-19 vaccine plan

The World Health Organisation has urged wealthier member states to join its Covid-19 vaccine facility by the end of the month, amid fears it may not raise enough money to fund the global inoculation programme.

• The mechanism, known as Covax, aims to ensure the equitable global distribution of 2bn doses of effective vaccines by the end of 2021 but the initiative has so far failed to build momentum.
• Under the current plan, high-income countries pay to buy vaccines from the facility, while 92 so-called “funded” countries receive financial assistance.

Google launches ‘The Anywhere School’ with over 50 new features

As millions of students navigate learning from home, Google has announced a new initiative called The Anywhere School, bringing over 50 new features across Meet, Classroom, G Suite and other products to hundreds of thousands of viewers in more than 250 countries around the world.

• It will also release new controls so moderators can choose to always join first, end meetings for all participants, disable in-meeting chat, and much more.

China launches fifth Gaofen-9 series Earth observation satellite

China launched its fifth Gaofen-9 Earth observation satellite and two smaller payloads from the Jiuquan launch center in the Gobi Desert.

• The new satellite designated Gaofen 9 will be mainly used for land surveys, city planning, land right confirmation, road network design, crop yield estimation and disaster prevention and mitigation.
• The satellite will test and verify technologies such as communication, navigation and remote sensing in orbit.

BANKING & FINANCE

Paytm Payments Bank enables banking services through Aadhaar cards

Home-grown Paytm Payments Bank has integrated Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS) on its platform.

• The integration will allow customers to access basic banking services like cash withdrawal, balance enquiry and draw mini statement using their Aadhaar card.
• Features like cash deposit and interbank fund transfer will also be made live soon that will benefit people in rural and semi-urban areas who have limited access to the physical bank branch and ATM.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

India and AIIB sign USD 500 million loan agreement for Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III

Maharashtra Government, Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) signed a loan agreement for a USD 500 million Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III.

• This will improve the network capacity, service quality and safety of the suburban railway system in Mumbai.
• The Project is expected to increase network capacity in the region with the reduction in journey time and fatal accidents of commuters.

SPORTS

Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain to win UEFA Champions League

In Football, German giants Bayern Munich have won the European Champions League for the sixth time after beating French side Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at the final in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.

• It was Bayern”s 43rd goal of a perfect European campaign that has seen Bayern become the first team to win all 11 Champions League matches.

First female golfer from Germany Sophia Popov wins Women’s British Open

World number 304 Sophia Popov became the first female golfer from Germany to capture a major title after winning the Women’s British Open by two strokes at Royal Troon in Scotland.

• Thailand’s Jasmine Suwannapura was the runner-up after shooting 67. It completed one of the most unlikely wins in the tournament’s history.

BOOKS

Who painted my lust red?’ book authored by Sree Iyer released

A book titled “Who painted my lust red?” has been authored by Sree Iyer has been released recently .The book is something about when Bollywood meets Cricket meets Politicians.

• This is the second book in this series of Sree Iyer’s Money Trilogy series. The first book was “Who painted my money white?”.

Book titled “Delhi Riots 2020: the Untold Story” set to release

The book titled ‘Delhi Riots 2020-The Untold Story’ is co-authored by advocate Monika Arora and Delhi University professors Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra. The book was scheduled for release in September.

• Garuda Prakashan said it will publish “Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story”, a day after Bloomsbury India announced withdrawing the upcoming book following outrage over a virtual pre-publication launch event featuring BJP leader Kapil Mishra.

OBITUARIES

Noted Malayalam Filmmaker AB Raj passes away

Noted Malayalam filmmaker AB Raj, also known as A Bhaskar Raj, who had been active in the world of movies for over three decades since 1951, died at his residence in Chennai. He was 95.

• Raj started his film career in the late 1940s under the guidance of TR Sundaram. He went to Sri Lanka in 1951 and during his 10-year-long stay in the island nation, directed 11 Sinhalese movies.
• Kaliyalla Kalyanam’ was his first Malayalam movie. ‘Sasthram Jayichu Manushyan Thottu’, ‘Pachanottukal’, ‘Kazhukan’, ‘Irumbazhikal’, ‘Light House’ and ‘Thaalam Thettiya Tharattu’ are the other popular Malayalam movies directed by Raj.

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