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Current Affairs 13 August 2020
Daily Current Affairs 13 August 2020: We have collected the latest current affairs for 13 August 2020 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. The GK current affairs will help you score more in these competitive exams. Improve your general knowledge with our daily online current affairs. You can also read the daily current affairs on our mobile app.
National News
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari Addresses ‘India@75 Summit: Mission 2022’ for upliftment of MSME
- The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari addressed the ‘India@75 Summit: Mission 2022’ on 8 August in New Delhi, via video-conferencing.
- The event was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) to look towards improving presence of MSME industry in the 115 identified aspirational districts of the country.
Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launches Krishi Megh
- The Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar virtually launched a data recovery centre ‘Krishi Megh’ (National Agricultural Research & Education System -Cloud Infrastructure and Services) of the government’s premier research body Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
- Krishi Megha aims at protecting the precious data of ICAR and meet the services and infrastructure needs of Digital Agriculture of National Agricultural Research and Education System (NARES) using cloud computing infrastructure.
- The centre has been set up at National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) in Hyderabad, under the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), which is funded by both the Government of India and World Bank.
- Currently, the main data centre of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is located at the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI) in New Delhi.
- Krishi Megha will integrate the data centre of ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi with the Disaster Recovery Centre at the ICAR-NAARM, Hyderabad.
- The minister also launched KVC ALUNET (Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Chhatr Alumni Network) and Online Accreditation System for Higher Agricultural Educational Institutions (HEI).
Mumbai becomes first Indian city to get female symbol on traffic signage
- Mumbai has become the first city in India to have women symbols on traffic signals and signage, as a symbolic gesture towards gender equality in public spaces..
- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has installed female traffic signals, that display female icons sporting triangular frock, a shift from the default representation of men.
- The symbols have been changed in 240 signals on 120 posts situated in 12 different road crossings near Mumbai’s Dadar area.
Gujarat CM announces Mukhya Mantri Kisan Sahay Yojana for current Kharif season, replacing PMFBY
- The Gujarat government under Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has announced a new scheme called Mukhya Mantri Kisan Sahay Yojana, which will replace the Central governments’s Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for this fiscal year (2020-21) only.
- Under this new scheme, farmers facing crop losses due to drought, excess rain or unseasonal rain will get compensation.
- Also, the best thing about this scheme is that no premium will be collected from the farmers, as was needed in PMFBY.
- It will cover all the 56 lakh farmers of the state, unlike the PMFBY, where on an average, 15-17 lakh farmers who applied for crop insurance, used to be covered.
- However, the new insurance scheme will be restricted to crop losses happening during the ongoing Kharif season only and the insurance coverage will be up to a maximum of four hectares of land.
- Note: The decision to launch the new scheme was taken as the insurance companies have quoted very high premium rates for this year under the PMFBY, which will entail a burden of Rs 5,700 crore on both the state and the Centre. Earlier the state and central government used to pay premiums between Rs 1,700 and 1,800 crore. Due to this, the state has decided to scrap the PMFBY for this year.
121 Police personnel honored with Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation for 2020
- The Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation for 2020 has been awarded to 121 Police personnel.
- The medal is being given since 2018 with the objective to promote high professional standards of investigation of crime and to recognize such Excellence in Investigation by investigating officers.
- Of the total 121 awardees, 21 are women police officers.
Partnership
Reliance Foundation partners with W-GDP & USAID to bridge gender digital divide in India
- Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Ltd, has entered into partnership with US Agency for International Development (USAID) to bridge the gender digital divide in India.
- The partnership will enable Reliance Foundation to join forces with Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative.
- Under this, various W-GDP Women Connect Challenge would be organised across India in 2020, with the shared goal to help bridge both the gender divide and the digital divide in India.
- The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative was launched in 2019 by President Donald Trump to advance global women’s economic empowerment. It is led by Ivanka Trump.
Ranking
Akshay Kumar only Bollywood star to feature in Forbes’ highest-paid actors of 2020, Dwayne Johnson tops
- Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, is the only Indian star to be listed among the top 10 world’s highest paid actors of 2020, released by Forbes magazine on 11 August 2020.
- With total earnings of $48.5 million, Akshay is placed at sixth place in the list. Most of his income came from product endorsements.
- The list takes in account the earnings between June 1, 2019 and June 1, 2020.
- The list has been topped by Wrestler-turned-movie star Dwayne Johnson, for a second straight year, with the total earning of $87.5 million. Johnson is also known by his ring name The Rock.
Important Days
International Lefthanders Day: 13 August
- The International Left Handers Day is observed on August 13 every year to celebrate the uniqueness and differences of the left handers and raise awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of being left-handed in a predominantly right-handed world.
- The day was first observed in 1976 and was officially declared in 1997.