DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : August 20, 2019

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NATIONAL NEWS

Karnataka CM inducts 17 new ministers in his Cabinet

Karnataka Chief Minister B.S.Yediyurappa expanded his Cabinet with the induction of 17 new Ministers.
Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new Ministers in a function held in Raj Bhavan.
Prominent leaders including Govind Karajol, C N Ashwath Narayan, Laxman Savadi, K S Eeshwarappa, R Ashok, Jagadish Shetter and B Sreeramulu are among those who sworn.
The lone Independent MLA H Nagesh has also been inducted into the cabinet.
Among the 17 Cabinet Ministers, Jolle Shashikala Annasaheb is the only woman minister.
This is the first expansion of the Council of Ministers after he assumed office on 26th July.
Proved his government’s majority on the floor of the Assembly on 29th of July after the previous coalition government collapsed due to the resignation of their 17 MLAs.

Govt directs all CAPFs to adopt uniform retirement age of 60 years

All personnel working in the Central Armed Police Forces, CAPFs will now retire at a uniform age of 60 years.
A Home Ministry order issued has corrected the anomaly where personnel between the ranks of Constable to Commandant in four forces -Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police force and Sashastra Seema Bal –superannuated at the age of 57, instead of 60.
Officers from the rank of Deputy Inspector General upto the top-most rank of Director General in these four forces retired after attaining the age of 60.

However, in two other forces of the Central Industrial Security Force and the Assam Rifles, all personnel retired at the age of 60.

PARLIAMENT NEWS

Manmohan Singh, Neeraj Shekhar elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
The Returning Officer and Assembly Secretary Pramil Kumar Mathur made the announcement to this effect after the end of the deadline for withdrawal of nominations for the same.
The Chief Whip, Dr. Mahesh Joshi, received the election certificate on behalf of Dr. Singh.
In Uttar Pradesh, BJP candidate Neeraj Shekhar, was declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.
No other nomination had been filed for the seat. He is the son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar.
The by-poll was necessitated due to Shekhar’s resignation from the Rajya Sabha.
After resigning from Samajwadi Party, he joined the ruling BJP recently. The term of the seat is up to 25th November 2020.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Pak Army chief General Bajwa gets a three-years extension

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan extended the term of the Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for another three years.
Citing the decision made by Pak- Prime Minister, the Dawn reported that the decision has been taken in view of the regional security environment.

The 58-year-old general was expected to retire this year.

Bangladesh presents model relationship in India’s neighbourhood first policy: EAM S Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has announced that Bangladesh presents the model relationship in India’s neighbourhood first policy.
The purpose of this visit is to affirm the strong relationship between the two countries and also to prepare for the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India.
Dr Jaishankar expressed that the partnership between the two countries will benefit by controlling terror, crime and extremism.

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI Governor Shaktikant Das rules out asset quality review of large NBFCs

After over a dozen public sector banks, including State Bank of India, have voluntarily linked their loans and deposits pricing to the repo rate.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das stressed on the need for the entire system switching to this model.
At an annual banking conference organized by the industry lobby FICCI in Mumbai, the RBI Governor announced such a move can speed up the monetary transmission process.
While the SBI was to first one to link its loans and deposits to the repo rate from May and home loans from July.
Six other peer banks like Bank of Baroda, Union Bank and Canara Bank among others also announced the same last week.
Earlier this month, in last monetary policy, RBI lowered the repo rates by 35 basis points to a nine-year low of 5.4 percent.

COMMITTEES & RECOMMENDATIONS

Task force on new direct tax law submits report to Nirmala Sitharaman

A Task Force appointed by the Central Government to draft New Direct Tax law submitted its report to Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The report was submitted by Convenor of the Task force Akhilesh Ranjan.

The Task Force was constituted by the Government in November 2017 to review the existing Income Tax Act, 1961 and to draft a new direct tax law in consonance with economic needs of the country.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Prasar Bharati to soon introduce two awards – Neelum Sharma Tejaswini award & Achyutananda Sahoo Award

Prasar Bharti Head has announced that Prasar Bharati would soon be introducing two awards – the Neelum Sharma Tejaswini award and the Achyutananda Sahoo Award.
At a solemn condolence meet at DD News in New Delhi to remember Senior DD News anchor Neelum Sharma who passed away on the 17th of August.
Information and Broadcasting Secretary – Amit Khare.
Prasar Bharti Chairman – A Suryapakash
CEO Prasar Bharati – Shashi Shekhar Vempatti

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ISRO successfully manoeuvres Chandrayaan-2 satellite into lunar orbit

The Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, has successfully manoeuvred Chandrayaan-2 satellite into lunar orbit today at 0902 hours using the on-board propulsion system.
The satellite is placed in 114 Kilometres-by-18072 Kilometres orbit and the duration of manoeuvre was 1738 seconds.
Following this a series of four-orbit manoeuvres will be performed, including the one tomorrow, to reach an orbit of 100 Kilometres over the surface of the moon.
The lander and rover within it will separate from the Orbiter at this stage and soft-land on the South Pole of the moon on 7th of September.
ISRO has achieved a milestone today by precisely placing the spacecraft around moon by maintaining precise altitude, velocity and time of the burn.

Moon is 3.84 lakh Kilometres away from Earth. Success in soft landing the lander Vikram on the lunar surface will make India the fourth country after Russia, US and China to land on moon.

SPORTS NEWS

India’s junior women boxers win 4 gold medals at Serbian tourney

India’s junior women boxers clinched 12 medals at the third Nation’s Cup in Vrbas, Serbia.
The team won four gold, four silver and four bronze medals and claimed the runners-up trophy.
Tamanna clinched gold in 48 Kilogram category along with Ambeshori Devi in 57 Kilogram, Preeti Dahiya in 60 Kilogram and Priyanka in 66 Kilogram category.
In 50 Kilogram, Karnataka’s Anju Devi settled for silver along with Maharashtra’s Simran Verma in 52Kilogram, Haryana’s Manshi Dalal in 75 Kilogram and Punjab’s Tanishbir Kaur Sandhu in 80 Kilogram category.
In addition, Goa’s Aashreya Naik picked up a bronze medal in 63 Kilogram category along with Neha in 54 Kilogram category, Khushi in 70 and Alfiya Akram Khan Pathan in plus-80 Kilogram category.

Over 160 boxers from 20 countries participated in this tournament, for which India sent a 13-member squad.

Indian team retain top-spot in ICC test rankings

Indian skipper Virat Kohli retained the top spot in the latest Test batsmen’s rankings released by the International Cricket Council in Dubai.
Australia’s Steve Smith moved to the second position.
Smith overtook New Zealand Captain Kane Williamson to reach the second spot.
Smith is now just nine points behind Kohli. Kohli has 922 points whereas Smith has 913 points.

In the bowlers’ rankings, Australia’s Pat Cummins retained the top spot.

India are on top of the team table with 113 points followed by New Zealand 111 points and South Africa 108 points.

BWF Badminton: Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, H S Prannoy advance to 2nd round

Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth and H S Prannoy have advanced to the second round of men’s singles in BWF Badminton World Championships at Basel, Switzerland.

Former World No 1 Srikanth, who has not won a title at the BWF World Tour in the last 22 months, stave off a spirited a challenge from Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen 17-21 21-16 21-6 to join Praneeth and Prannoy in the second round.

Praneeth, ranked 19th, who has been conferred with the Arjuna Award, defeated 66th-ranked Jason Anthony Ho-Shue of Canada 21-17, 21-16 in a first round clash.

In another men’s singles first round match, world number 30 Prannoy, who is on a comeback trial after recovering from a stomach problem, fought back to beat 93rd-ranked Eetu Heino of Finland 17-21, 21-10, 21-11.

India also got a favourable result in the women’s doubles with Meghana Jakkampudi and S Poorvisha Ram getting past the Guatemala pairing of Diana Corleto Soto and Nikte Alejandra Sotomayor 21-10, 21-18 to enter the second round.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Mosquito Day: August 20th

World Mosquito Day is observed on 20 August every year to raise awareness about the diseases caused by the ‘female mosquitoes Anopheles’.

World Mosquito Day was first established in 1897, when the link between mosquitos and malaria transmission was discovered by Sir Ronald Ross.
It aims to raise awareness about the causes of malaria and how it can be prevented, as well as fundraising for research into the cure of malaria.
It is also a salute to the ground breaking work of Sir Ross and scientists who have followed him.
Mosquito name comes from Spanish word meaning “little fly”.

Sadbhavana Diwas: August 20th

Sadbhavana Diwas is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on 20 August every year.
In 2019, 75th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi will be celebrated.
This day is observed to encourage the national integration, peace, affection and communal harmony among the Indian people of all religions.
‘Sadbhavana’ in English language means goodwill and bonafide. Being as the youngest Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi’s thought process was modern and different from others.
He had the vision of a developed nation via many national as well as international projects that he pioneered.
The main theme of Sadbhavana Diwas is to promote national integration and communal harmony among people of all religion and languages.

Indian Akshay Urja Day: August 20th

Akshay Urja diwas is an awareness campaign about the developments of renewable energy in India, celebrated on August 20 every year since 2004.
The Indian Ministry for New & Renewable Energy Sources initiated Akshay Urja Day (Diwas) in 2004.
The first function was organised at New Delhi in 2004 and 2005 followed repeated in Nagpur in 2006 and at Hyderabad in 2007 and Panchkula, Haryana in 2008.
The day commemorates the birthday of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The Ministry for New & Renewable Energy Sources, Govt. of India promotes innovation to adopt renewable energy sources to produce power for the electricity grid and for several standalone applications and decentralised power production.
The energy such as Solar Energy, Wind energy, hydroelectrical power is few example of Akshay Urja.
It is essential to develop way to use akshay urja or renewable energy more efficiently.
The main motive of Akshya urja Diwas is to make people aware that they have to think about the renewable energy (Akshya Urja) apart from tradition energy.
The energy which we are getting naturally doesn’t have any side effect on environment, and by using this energy we can use the traditional energy for more long time.

OBITUARIES

Former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra Passes Away Aged 82

Former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra passed away in a hospital in Delhi.
He was 82. He had been unwell for the last several months.
Dr. Mishra was Chief Minister of the State in 1975, 1980 and in 1989-90.
He was the State’s last Congress Chief Minister.
He was Agriculture Minister in Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao government at the Center in 1995.
Dr. Mishra, who was affectionately called Doctor Sahib, later joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and then moved on to JD (U).
Dr. Mishra, before he joined politics, was an economics professor at Bihar University. He has authored several research papers and books.