Current Affairs Daily Digest – August 01 & 02 2020
1. Russia plans mass vaccination against COVID-19 by October
Russia is planning to launch a mass vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus in October 2020. This was announced by Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko on August 31, 2020.
The Health Minister stated that the doctors and teachers will be the first to get vaccinated. The Minister, however, did not divulge any information regarding the vaccine that will be used.
2. Uttarakhand to set up snow leopard conservation centre
Uttarakhand will soon have a snow leopard conservation centre . The conservation centre will be set up in Uttarkashi forest division area. The snow leopard conservation centre will be set up to promote winter tourism in the state.
3. Rajya Sabha MP & former SP leader Amar Singh passes away
Rajya Sabha MP and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh passed away. He was undergoing treatment in Singapore since past few months. Amar Singh was the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party and was later expelled from the party by chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on February 2, 2010.
4. NASA & ULA launched Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has launched “Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission” with United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket to the Red Planet “Mars”.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission was launched from Space Launch Complex 41, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program which is a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet.
5. Ministry of Tribal Affairs receives SKOCH Gold Award
SKOCH Gold Award has been awarded to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) for its “Empowerment of Tribals through IT enabled Scholarship Schemes” project.
The project was launched to show Government of India’s commitment to realize the dreams of Digital India and bringing transparency as well as ease in the delivery of services. MoTA integrated the 5 Scholarship Schemes with DBT Portal under the guidance of DBT Mission in order to align with the larger vision of ‘Digital India’.
6. Russia chaired 6th BRICS Environment Ministers’ Meeting
The 6th BRICS Environment Ministers’ Meeting was held under the presidency of Russia. The Environment Ministers of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa participated in the meeting held via the video conference.
The meeting was preceded by the BRICS Working Group meeting. India will host the next meeting in 2021.
7. Hamed Bakayoko named as Prime Minister of Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast‘s Defence Minister, Hamed Bakayoko has been named as the Prime Minister of the country. He was presently serving as the as interim PM of the country since the sudden death of former Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly.
8. RPower & JERA inks loan agreement for Bangladesh’s power plant
Reliance Power and Japanese energy major JERA have signed an agreement with a group of banks for their new gas-fired thermal power generation project in Bangladesh.
The signed agreement will provide full finance of about $642 million (approx Rs 4,798 crore) for a new 745 MW natural gas combined-cycle power project in Meghnaghat in Bangladesh. This is one of the largest funding tie-ups for a project in Bangladesh’s power sector.
9. Arab World’s first ever nuclear reactor starts its operation
Oil-rich Gulf state UAE finally starts its first-ever nuclear reactor “Barakah” at Abu Dhabi on the Gulf coast. Barakah was expected to start its operation in 2017. However, due to various safety issue, it kept on getting delayed.
10. Government notification on E-invoicing
The central government comes up with a centralized e-invoicing scheme for business having turnover more than 500 crores.
As per the recent scheme, it will be mandatory for all those businesses with a turnover of more than 500 crores to generate all their B2B invoices on a centralized government portal which will go live from 1st October.
11. Apple becomes world’s most valuable company
After reporting its blockbuster Quarterly result stock of Apple Inc increased 10% to a record high making Apple world’s most valuable publicly listed company. The company has shown a great recovery from its low-point in March during the pandemic.
12. Muslim Womens Rights Day is observed on 1 August
Muslim Women’s Rights Day is observed in India on 1 August 2020. The Day is observed to mark the first anniversary of the law against instant triple talaq.
Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi addressed the Muslim women through the virtual conference on this occasion.
13. Fifth phase of Vande Bharat Mission starts from August 1
The fifth phase of Vande Bharat Mission will start from August 1, 2020. Under this, a total of 792 flights, including 100 domestic flights and 692 international flights have been scheduled.
The fifth phase of Vande Bharat Mission will repatriate Indians from 23 countries. As per the External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson, Anurag Srivastava, the International flights will cater to 21 different airports in India and will bring back 1 lakh 30 thousand Indians from abroad.
14. Ayush Minister Shripad Naik reviews National Ayush Mission, launches a dedicated web-portal
Ayush Minister, Shripad Naik on July 30 chaired a webinar of AYUSH/health ministers of all the states and UTs in order to review the centrally sponsored scheme of National AYUSH Mission and the operationalization of AYUSH Health & Wellness centres.
During the occasion, Shripad Naik also launched a dedicated web-portal for the National AYUSH Mission for submitting Utilization certificates, State Annual Action Plans, information related to DBT, Physical & Financial Progress Report, etc.
