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Swachh Survekshan

National

Swachh Survekshan 2020

Indore in Madhya Pradesh retained the first rank as cleanest city having population above one million in the Swachh Survekshan 2020. 
The survey every year conducted by the ministry of housing and urban affairs. Surat in Gujarat and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra were ranked the second and third cleanest cities, respectively. Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh got 4th rank. 
In the segment of smaller cities and towns having populations of less than one lakh residents, Karad won the first position followed by Saswad and Lonavala-all there in Maharashtra.
Chhattisgarh was ranked the cleanest state of India in the category of states with fewer than 100 urban local bodies (ULBs) category. Jharkhand was adjudged the cleanest state of India in the above 100-ULBs category. 

 Gandagi Mukt Bharat

On 8 August 2020, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched "Gandagi Mukt Bharat", a week-long campaign for 'swachhata' in the run-up to Independence Day. Each day will have special 'swachhata' initiatives in urban and rural India to re-enforce the 'jan andolan' for 'swachhata'. 
Gandagi Mukt Bharat was launched while inaugurating the Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra (RSK) which is an interactive experience centre on the Swachh Bharat Mission at the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti at Rajghat in New Delhi.  

National Recruitment Agency (NRA)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired Union Cabinet approved for creation of National Recruitment Agency (NRA), paving the way for a transformational reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs.
It will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) to screen/shortlist candidates for the Group B and C (non-technical) posts. 
NRA will conduct a separate CET each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary (12th pass) and the matriculate (10th pass) candidates for those non-technical posts to which recruitment is presently carried out by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS). 
Based on the screening done at the CET score level, final selection for recruitment shall be made through separate specialized Tiers (II, III etc) of examination which shall be conducted by the respective recruitment agencies. 
CET score of the candidate shall be valid for three years from the date of declaration of the result. The Government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. 1517.57 crore for the National Recruitment Agency (NRA). The expenditure will be undertaken over three years.  

ARIIA Rankings

Vice-President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu released the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2020 virtually. The rankings based on 9 parameters– Budget, Facilities, Awareness, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Commercialization, Learning Methods, Governance, and Angel and Venture Capital Funding/Investor Linkage.
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras topped the category of Institute of National Importance, Central Universities and Centrally Funded Technical Institutes category. India moved up from 57th position in 2018 to 52nd  position in 2019 in Global Innovation Index (GII) ranking.

India Healthcare Week 

The Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences launched “India Healthcare Week” with the theme “Redefining Healthcare Ecosystem” from 17th – 21st August 2020 at the inaugural session of the CII Public Health Conference. The Healthcare Week has brought together experts from the Government and Industry to help re-strategize the restoration of the nation’s healthcare infrastructure, and research and development facilities.

Swasthya e-portal

Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda inaugurated the first of its kind e-portal “Swasthya”, a tribal health and nutrition portal. It provides all health and nutrition- related information of the tribal population of India in a single platform. The portal also curates innovative practices, research briefs, case studies, and best practices collected from different parts of India to facilitate the exchange of evidence, expertise and experiences. The Ministry also in partnership with Facebook though the ‘Going Online as Leaders (GOAL)’ Programme. It aims to mentor 5000 Tribal Youth across India and enable them to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities.

International

Kamala Harris in US elections

Indian origin senator Kamala Harris has been nominated as Democratic vice- presidential candidate for the USA at the Democratic National Convention held recently.  By this, she became the first Black American and also first Indian-American to fight for the vice-presidential post from a major party. If elected in the November 3 presidential elections, Harris whose mother is from India and father from Jamaica, would be the first-ever women vice president of the USA.

Sputnik V vaccine 

Russia rolled out COVID-19 vaccine and became the first country to approve a vaccine for the corona virus pandemic for civilian use, nearly nine months after the disease caused a global outbreak. Named as Sputnik V after the Soviet satellite, though the World Health Organisation (WHO) cautioned Russia against rushing its vaccine. The vaccine was developed at the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute jointly with the country’s defence ministry.


 India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting 

The 13th session of the India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation was held virtually on 17 August 2020. 
The key agenda of the meeting is to expand the economic partnership. In the meeting, India invited further investments from UAE in key sectors of the economy including infrastructure, logistics, food parks, highways, ports, airports, renewable energy and defence. 
Both nations discussed a joint strategy to offset the economic and social impact of the pandemic on both countries.

 

'Abraham Accord' peace deal

On 13 August 2020, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reached a historic peace deal that will lead to full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two nations.  
The agreement is known as the ‘Abraham Accord’, whereas the international community mostly welcomed the move, although Palestinians, Iran and Turkey have denounced it. The deal was brokered by the USA.
Luis Rodolfo Abinader  
On 17 August 2020, Luis Rodolfo Abinader was sworn in as the President of the Dominican Republic. The businessman who has never held elected office ended a 16-year run in power by a centre-left party.

 

Others

Sports Awards

Famous cricketer Rohit Sharma is one among the five recipients who will be awarded India’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for 2020.
The table tennis champion Manika Batra, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, women hockey team captain Rani Rampal, and para-athlete Mariyappan Thangavelu are the other recipients of Khel Ratna. 
Based on the recommendations of the Selection Committee headed by Justice Mukundakam Sharma, former Judge of Supreme Court of India, the government of India announced the awards. 
Dronacharya Awards will be given to coaches in the Lifetime category and Regular category. This year the award is given to 13 best coaches including Purushotham Rai (Athletics) and Jaspal Rana (Shooting).
Arjuna Award is given for consistently outstanding performance and this year was given to 27 sportspersons.
Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (Badminton), Ishant Sharma and Deepti Sharma (both from cricket), Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary (both from shooting) are among them.
Overall top performing university in inter-university tournaments is given Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy conferred on Panjab University, Chandigarh.
Dhyan Chand Award is for lifetime contribution to sports development and this year the award given to 15 sportspersons.
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award conferred on eight sportspersons, whereas Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar four to the corporate entities (both in the private and public sector) and individuals who have played a visible role in the area of sports promotion and development. The award function will be held virtually on August 29, the National Sports Day, instead of the Rashtrapati Bhavan this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Model Questions

1. The list of newly elected/appointed persons given. The correct combination is..
    1) Meghalaya Governor-Satya Pal Malik        2) Prime Minister of Peru - Walter Martos             3) Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Mauritania - Mohamed Ould Bilal  
    4) Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea - Francisco Asue 
    5) All of above

2. Rakesh Asthana was appointed as the new Director-General of ...

    1) CISF    2) Indian Coast Guard   3) BSF      4) CRPF   5) Territorial Army
3. Jharkhand launched a new state emblem. Who is the chief minister of Jharkhand?

    1) Bhupesh Baghel    
    2) Trivendra Singh   3) Jai Ram Thakur   
   4) N. Biren Singh      5) Hemant Soren 

4. List of Important Days given. The wrong option is..

    1) World Lion Day - 10 Aug   
    2) International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples - 9 Aug  
    3) World Humanitarian day - 19 Aug  
    4) World Mosquito Day - 20 Aug   
    5) All of above correct 

KEY:  1-5   2-3   3-5   4-5 

Writer: Amara Veeraswamy 

26-8-2020

Posted Date : 07-02-2021

గమనిక : ప్రతిభ.ఈనాడు.నెట్‌లో కనిపించే వ్యాపార ప్రకటనలు వివిధ దేశాల్లోని వ్యాపారులు, సంస్థల నుంచి వస్తాయి. మరి కొన్ని ప్రకటనలు పాఠకుల అభిరుచి మేరకు కృత్రిమ మేధస్సు సాంకేతికత సాయంతో ప్రదర్శితమవుతుంటాయి. ఆ ప్రకటనల్లోని ఉత్పత్తులను లేదా సేవలను పాఠకులు స్వయంగా విచారించుకొని, జాగ్రత్తగా పరిశీలించి కొనుక్కోవాలి లేదా వినియోగించుకోవాలి. వాటి నాణ్యత లేదా లోపాలతో ఈనాడు యాజమాన్యానికి ఎలాంటి సంబంధం లేదు. ఈ విషయంలో ఉత్తర ప్రత్యుత్తరాలకు, ఈ-మెయిల్స్ కి, ఇంకా ఇతర రూపాల్లో సమాచార మార్పిడికి తావు లేదు. ఫిర్యాదులు స్వీకరించడం కుదరదు. పాఠకులు గమనించి, సహకరించాలని మనవి.

 

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