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Current Affairs 13 August 2021
Daily Current Affairs 13 August 2021: This post contains the latest current affairs for 13 August 2021 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.
National
Indore declared India’s first ‘Water Plus’ certified city
- India’s cleanest city, Indore, in Madhya Pradesh has achieved another feat of being declared as the country’s first ‘water plus’ certified city, under the Swachh Survekshan 2021.
What is ‘Water+’ city certificate
- A Water Plus city certificate is provided to a city which maintains cleanliness in rivers and drains under its administration.
- According to protocol and the toolkit provided by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs, a city can be declared as Water Plus only after all wastewater released from households, commercial establishments, and the like is treated to a satisfactory level before releasing the treated wastewater to the environment.
ISRO Chairman Dr. K. Sivan inaugurates ‘Health QUEST Study’ to upgrade healthcare systems standards in India
- Dr K Sivan, Secretary, DOS and Chairman of ISRO recently inaugurated the ‘Health QUEST study (Health Quality Upgradation Enabled by Space Technology of ISRO)’ through videoconferencing.
- Objective: Reducing human errors and achieve zero defect and quality service in the Emergency and Intensive Care units of hospitals.
- The Health QUEST study will be conducted in 20 private hospitals across India.
- The study is an initiative by ISRO, to upgrade the healthcare systems standards of the country in line with the ISRO quality standards and best practices.
- ISRO will share its procedures and practices of Quality Assurance mechanism with the study team for setting the parameters to establish health care quality standards.
MoS Rajkumar Ranjan Singh Attends 28th ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting Virtually
- The 28th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Foreign Ministers Meeting was held on 06 August 2021, virtually, under the Chairmanship of Brunei Darussalam.
- From India, Minister of State for External Affairs Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh led the delegation.
- The member countries exchanged views on international and regional issues, and future direction of the ARF. This was followed by adopting a Joint Statement on Promoting the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda.
Banking
RBL Bank picks AWS as preferred cloud provider
- Mumbai-based RBL Bank has selected Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its preferred cloud service provider.
- The partnership will enable RBL Bank to strengthen its AI powered banking solutions and drive digital transformation at the Bank
- AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, and provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis.
Ranking
Four Indian airports finds place in Skytrax’s top 100 airport list; Doha’s Hamad International Airport tops
- The Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi has found place among world’s top 50 best airports in 2021 Skytrax World Airport Awards.
- Delhi airport has improved its overall ranking by five places. It is placed at 45th position in 2021. In 2020, it was placed at 50th spot. With this, it has also become the first Indian airport to be placed among top 50 list.
- Meanwhile, the Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, has been named the “Best Airport in the World”.
Other Indian Airports in the list are:
- Hyderabad – 64 (placed at 71 in 2020)
- Mumbai – 65 (placed 52 in 2020)
- Bengaluru – 71 (placed 68 in 2020)
Defence Exercise
India-Saudi Arabia holds first-ever naval exercise “Al-Mohed Al-Hindi 2021”
- India and Saudi Arabia are conducting the first ever joint naval exercises “Al-Mohed Al-Hindi 2021” in the Arabian Gulf.
- The harbour phase of the bilateral exercise began on August 09, 2021 while the sea-based drills started from August 11, 2021.
- The week-long exercise aims to enhance military cooperation in naval operations of the two countries
- From Indian side, the INS Kochi, an indigenously designed, stealth guided-missile destroyer, is taking part in the drill.
Appointments
NPCI appoints Noopur Chaturvedi as CEO of NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd
- The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has appointed Noopur Chaturvedi as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. (NBBL).
- Chaturvedi will work on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) vision to scale up the Bharat Bill Pay System (BBPS) platform and make it the most preferred solution for all bill payments.
- NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. (NBBL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NPCI and came into effect from 1 April 2021.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla gets One-year extension
- Centre has approved the extension of the tenure of Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla for another one-year, beyond the present tenure.
- Bhalla, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was to retire on August 22, 2021.
- This is the second extension given to Mr. Bhalla.
Kamlesh Kumar Pant appointed as new Chairman of NPPA
- Senior bureaucrat Kamlesh Kumar Pant has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)
- Pant, a 1993-batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre, replaces IAS officer Shubhra Singh, who has been the chief of drug price regulator from November, 2018.
- NPPA is the agency which is in-charge of monitoring pharmaceutical pricing.
Sports
Durand Cup makes re-entry with 130th edition to be held at Kolkata from September 2021
- Durand Cup, Asia’s oldest and world’s third oldest football tournament, is all set to make a comeback, after a year’s gap.
- The 130th edition of Durand Cup is scheduled to be held in and around Kolkata between September 05 to October 03, 2021.
- Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the competition was cancelled last season.
Days
World Organ Donation Day: 13 August
- The World Organ Donation Day is celebrated every year on August 13 to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation and motivate people to donate organs after death.
- The day provides an opportunity to all to come ahead and pledge to donate their precious organs, because one organ donor can save up to eight lives.
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.
