Daily Current Affairs 31st August, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 31 August 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Water Projects Worth Rs 10,000 Crore Sanctioned for Bundelkhand Region

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government is committed to the development of drought-prone Bundelkhand region and around 500 projects worth over Rs 10,000 crore have been sanctioned for improving water availability.

• Both the Centre and the UP government are committed towards development of Bundelkhand region and restore its historic identity and past glory.
• Besides water projects, thousands of crores worth of projects are being implemented in this region, including Bundelkhand Expressway and Defence Corridor, that will create job opportunities.

CM Yediyurappa flags off First RORO Train from Bengaluru to Solapur

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa flagged off the first ever Roll-On/Roll-Off (RO-RO) train between Bengaluru (Nelamangala) to Solapur (Maharashtra) through video conferencing.

• The RORO train will transport goods from the Peenya industrial area. Each truck will be loaded with 30 tonnes of cargo. It will cover a distance of 682 km, via Dharmavaram, Guntakal, Raichur, and Wadi to reach Bale near Solapur in Maharashtra.
• RORO is a concept of carrying road vehicles loaded with various commodities on open flat railway wagons.

India’s first international women’s trade centre to come up in Kerala

Kerala will set up India’s first international women’s trade centre (IWTC), in consonance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at Angamaly.

• This initiative aims to accelerate women entrepreneurship and secure gender parity while providing women with a safe place away from home to start new businesses, set up or expand, and get their products marketed globally.

UP govt launches ‘Major Dhyan Chand Vijaypath Yojana’ to build roads to 19 int’l players houses

Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya launched the Major Dhyan Chand Vijaypath Yojana under which 19 international players from the state will get road connectivity to their houses.

• Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, former pacer Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla and Mohammad Kaif are among the 19 athletes who will be benefited from the scheme.

CISF launches ‘Pension Corner’ app for its retired personnel

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has created an in-house mobile app “Pensioners Corner” on the android platform for its pensioners.

• Apart from an inbuilt grievance redressal mechanism, all important circulars like job opportunities and benefits pertaining to pensioners can also be accessed using this App.
• The new initiative was launched on Friday under the guidance of CISF Director General Rajesh Ranjan by creating the app to get in touch with the pensioners and to bring them on to the digital platform, which will offer ‘a one-stop solution’.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

China launches advanced warship for Pakistan Navy

China has launched first of the four advanced naval warships at the Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai. It is building for Pakistan, amid deepening defence ties between the two all-weather allies.

• The Type-054 class, equipped with the latest surface, subsurface, anti-air weapons, combat management system, and sensors will be one of the technologically advanced surface platforms of the Pakistan Navy fleet.

BANKING & FINANCE

Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance & Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank tie up to offer Life Insurance

Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance, one of the leading private insurers announced its alliance with Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank (APGB). The distribution tie up is for selling Life insurance, health and pension products at all APGB branches.

• Tie up with the bank will provide an opportunity & onus to create awareness in the rural market about the need of having life insurance, health insurance and pension plans in these unprecedented times. The company aims to reach out to the rural areas and help the population to financially secure their future.

State Bank of India gets global recognition for HR initiative ‘Nayi Disha’

The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) said it has got global recognition for its HR initiative ‘Nayi Disha’ which over the course of 1.5 years has touched more than 2.40 lakh employees.

• The bank has won three Brandon Hall Excellence Awards, also known as the Academy Awards of Learning & Development.
• It recognizes the best organizations that have successfully deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools to achieve measurable results.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Amul becomes first Indian dairy company to be in Rabobank’s Global Top 20 list; Nestle leads

Amul, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), has become the first Indian dairy firm to make a place in the global top 20 list released by Rabobank, a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company.

• According to the list, Switzerland’s Nestle topped the list with a turnover of US $22.1 billion, followed by France’s Lactalis with US $ 21 billion turnover.
• Amul has achieved an annual turnover of $5.5 billion. GCMMF (Amul) enters the Rabobank’s Global Top 20 Dairy Companies list for the first time at No.16.

India’s foreign exchange reserves surge by USD 2.296 bn to USD 537.548 bn

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by 2.296 billion US dollar to reach 537.548 billion US dollar in the week to August 21.

• Foreign Currency Assets rose by 2.618 billion dollar to 494.168 billion US dollar in the reporting week.
• The country’s reserve position with the IMF also increased by 6 million to 4.634 billion US dollar during the reporting week.

SPORTS

Para swimmer Satyendra Singh first Divyang sportsperson of country to get prestigious Adventure Award

Para-swimmer Satyendra Singh Lohia of Madhya Pradesh is the first Divyanga Indian sportsperson of the country, who has been awarded with the Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award.

• He is also the first Asian Divyang swimmer to cross the 42-kilometer Catalina Channel in the US in just 11 hours 34 minutes.
• Apart from Mr Lohia, Malkhamb trainer Yogesh Malaviya of MP has been awarded the Dronacharya Award.

India and Russia declared joint winners of the Chess Olympiad

The India team at the FIDE Online Olympiad created history by winning its first ever gold. However, in another first, this was shared with Russia, following an internet failure that affected two games.

• India’s Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh lost connection to their games in the second round of the best-of-three final due to the online glitch, and Koneru Humpy also faced connectivity issues.
• India were represented by Vidit Gujrathi, who was th team captain, former world champion Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Humpy, D Harika, R Praggnanandhaa, Pentala Harikrishna and Divya Deshmukh, who were playing in their first Olympiad final against Russia.

BOOKS

Gurcharan Singh co-authors his memoir, ‘pitching it straight’ at 85

The book titled ”pitching it straight” was released recently,which has been co-authored by Indian Cricket Coach Gurcharan Singh and senior journalist MS Unnikrishnan.

• In 186-page book, renowned coach Gurcharan offers priceless tips to the current generation with anecdotes.

OBITUARIES

Former President Pranab Mukherjee passes away at 84

Former president Pranab Mukherjee, who had recently undergone a surgery for removal of a clot in his brain, has passed away. He was 84.

• Prior to the surgery, the Mukherjee had also tested positive for COVID-19.
• A multidisciplinary team of doctors was constantly monitoring the health of the former president.
• Before serving as the President of India between 2012 and 2017, Mukherjee was a senior union minister in the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
• A quintessential Congressman for five decades, the seven-time parliamentarian had worked as a teacher and journalist before taking his first steps in politics. His first stop in Delhi was the Rajya Sabha in 1969, the House that re-elected him four more times before he won his first Lok Sabha election from Bengal’s Jangipur in 2004. He was re-elected in 2009.

Veteran Bihar MLA Ramdeo Rai passes away

Veteran Congress leader, multiple term Bihar MLA and former Lok Sabha member Ramdeo Rai, who had caused ripples in the 1980s when he defeated socialist heavyweight Karpoori Thakur in an electoral contest, died in Patna. He was 81.

• A die-hard leader, Rai had registered his maiden electoral victory in the 1972 assembly polls and retained the seat five years later despite the massive Janata Party wave.
• In 1984, he was christened as a ‘giant killer’ after he defeated former CM Karpoori Thakur from Samastipur Lok Sabha seat.

K Shankar Bajpai, India’s Former Envoy For US, China and Pakistan Passes Away

Katyayani Shankar Bajpai, a career diplomat who served as India’s ambassador to the US, China, and Pakistan, passed away. He was 92.

• The former diplomat was also the Indian government’s political officer in Sikkim from 1970 to 1974 and was involved in the integration of the state into the Indian Union.
• He become the first professor of Non-Western Studies, Brandeis University, in 1992 and 1993.He served as chairman of the National Security Advisory Board from 2008 to 2010.

Dr S. Padmavati, India’s First Female Cardiologist, Passes Away

Noted cardiologist Dr S Padmavati has died due to COVID-19. She was 103. Recipient of both Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, Dr S Padmavati popularly known as ‘God Mother of Cardiology’.

• In 1962, Dr Padmavati founded the All India Heart Foundation and went on to set up National Heart Institute in 1981 as a tertiary care modern heart hospital in Delhi with first cardiac catheterisation laboratory in the private sector in the Southern Hemisphere.
• For her achievements and contributions to development of cardiology in India, she was awarded Fellowship of the American College of Cardiology and FAMS.

Click here to read Daily Current Affairs