Current Affairs Daily Digest – August 08 2019
1. SpaceX Falcon launched Israels Amos telecommunications satellite
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Israeli telecommunications satellite called Amos-17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellite was launched successfully into the geosynchronous transfer orbit .
The launch was a makeup launch for Spacecom when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad in 2016. Amos-17 has been designed to provide enhanced voice, video and data services to customers in Africa and parts of Europe, the Middle East, India and China.
2. Delhi govt unveiled the Citywide WiFi project
Delhi government has announced that 11,000 hotspots will be installed to provide Wi-Fi before the end of 2019. The announcement was made by CM Arvind Kejriwal. It also announced that 4,000 hotspots will be installed at bus stops. The State govt. has planned to install 1,40,000 more CCTVs in the State.
3. India observes 77th anniversary of Quit India movement
The 77th anniversary of the August Kranti Din is considered as one of the important milestones in the history of freedom struggle of our country, is being observed. Mahatma Gandhi gave a clarion call to end the British rule and launched the Quit India Movement at the session of the All-India Congress Committee in Mumbai.
The Cripps Mission failed, and on 8 August 1942, Gandhiji gave the call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech delivered at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai.
4. Former President Pranab Mukherjee receives Bharat Ratna
Former President Pranab Mukherjee was presented the country’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The 83-year-old former President also served as India’s Defence Minister, Finance Minister and External Affairs Minister in the past. Social activist Nanaji Deshmukh was honoured by Bharat Ratna posthumously.
5. Papua New Guinea has highest number of ‘living’ indigenous languages in world
Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea, Country in Oceania has highest number of ‘living’ indigenous languages in world (840). Living languages in world (840). Living languages stands for languages that are still being used and spoken by people. India stands fourth in list with 453 languages.
In 2016, United Nation’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) highlighted that 40% of estimated 6,700 languages spoken around world were in danger of disappearing.
6. 33% of India’s skilled youth jobless: official survey
An analysis of the unit-level data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2017-18 however suggests that the reality is far more grim. Only a small section of the youth reported receiving any vocational training, and a large share of them were either unemployed or out of the labour force, the data shows.
Nationally, only 1.8% of the population reported receiving formal vocational/technical training in 2017-18. 5.6% reported receiving informal vocational training (such as hereditary, self-learning, and on the job training). This means 93% of the population did not receive any vocational/technical training from either formal or informal sources.
7. Amit Shah flags off first international meeting with Bangladesh
In his first international outreach as India’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, met Home Minister of Bangladesh Asaduzzaman Khan, a Union home ministry spokesperson said.
The two sides have embarked on “high-level delegation talks”, with matters of internal security on both ends dominating discussions.
8. Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve now worth ₹162 billion: report
The annual economic flow benefits of the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) are worth a staggering ₹162.02 billion, says a report titled Economic Valuation of Tiger Reserves In India, brought out by the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NCTA).
The NSTR is one of the largest tiger reserves in the country and is spread over 3,800 sq.km. covering Guntur, Prakasam, and Kurnool districts in Andhra Pradesh and Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar in Telangana.
9. Toni Morrison, first African-American Nobel literary laureate, dead at 88
Toni Morrison, the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and one of America’s best loved writers, has died following a brief illness, her family said in a statement. She was 88.
Barack Obama — who awarded Morrison the Presidential Medal of Freedom — led the tributes, describing her as “a national treasure, as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page.”
10. UP extends bilateral cooperation MoU with Netherlands in several fields
Uttar Pradesh government and Netherlands have extended the existing bilateral agreement of cooperation in several fields by another five years.
A memorandum of understanding in this regard was signed by officials in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Netherlands ambassador to India, Marten van den Berg extending the cooperation between two countries till 2024.
11. SBI Life Insurance, Indian Bank ink Bancassurance pact
SBI Life Insurance and Chennai-headquartered Indian Bank have entered into a bancassurance pact to offer holistic financial planning solutions to the latter’s customers. The partnership will see over 2,851 branches of Indian Bank spread across the country offer SBI Life’s diverse range of individual and group insurance solutions.
