Current Affairs (August – 2020)

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This post contains important current affairs of 24 & 25 August 2020. It includes all Major National, International, Business and Sports related current affairs of 24 & 25 August 2020. We have collected the latest current affairs and compiled them date wise. These current affairs 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. A brief explanation of every current affair is provided to further enhance your general knowledge. Once you have gone through these current affairs we would recommend to you to try 24  & 25 August 2020 Current affairs test.

Assam Higher Secondary Education Council decided to reduce syllabus by 30 per cent for this year
Assam Higher Secondary Education Council has decided to reduce 30 per cent of syllabus for this academic year due to CPVID-19 pandemic. Education Department has set up a task force which will decide on reopening of educational institutes. The Assam government is mulling to resume classes from 1st of next month subject to the approval of the Centre.

Handicraft production centre inaugurated in Guwahati, Assam
In Assam, in a bid to give a boost to the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Mission, a handicraft production centre is inaugurated in Guwahati today by Assam Apex Weavers and Artisans Cooperative Federation Limited- ARTFED.

CM Yogi Adityanath launches NRI unified portal in UP
In Uttar Pradesh, the State Government will prepare a database of the migrant workers of the state working in different countries of the world. It will help in providing them assistance during any emergency. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched an ambitious NRI unified portal. Speaking at the launch, Yogi Adityanath said that this portal would not only help in investment in the state, but also provide an opportunity for those who want to go abroad.

Centre constitutes National Council for Transgender Persons
The Centre has constituted a National Council for Transgender Persons through a notification. The Social Justice and Empowerment Minister will be the ex-officio Chairperson and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment will be ex-officio Vice-Chairperson. The National Council will advise the Centre on the formulation of policies, programmes, legislation and projects with respect to transgender persons. It will monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and programmes designed for achieving equality and full participation of transgender persons.

PM Modi pays tributes to Narmadashankar Dave ‘Narmad’ on his 187th birth anniversary
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tributes to Gujarati poet, playwright and social reformer Narmadashankar Dave ‘Narmad’ on his 187th birth anniversary.

India’s longest river ropeway connecting Guwahati and North Guwahati over Brahmaputra river inaugurated
In Assam, the longest river ropeway of the country is inaugurated connecting Guwahati and North Guwahati. Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Guwahati Development Department Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya inaugurated the 1.8- kilometre long ropeway service. The ropeway has been operated from Kachari Ghat in Guwahati to Dol Govinda temple in North Guwahati.

KVIC creates local employment for migrant workers through its flagship Honey Mission programme
Khadi and Village Industries Commission, KVIC has taken a big leap towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat by creating local employment for migrant workers through its flagship Honey Mission programme. Minister of State for MSME, Pratap Chandra Sarangi today distributed 700 bee boxes to 70 migrant workers of Saharanpur and Bulandshahr districts of Uttar Pradesh. They had returned to their hometown from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat due to COVID-19 lockdown. KVIC has imparted them training on bee-keeping and provided the necessary tool kit and bee boxes for them to carry out bee-keeping activities.

Govt extends validity of Motor Vehicle documents till Dec 31
The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has decided to extend the validity of Motor Vehicle documents till the 31st of December. The Ministry had earlier issued advisories on 30th March and 9th June this year regarding extension of validity of the documents related to Motor Vehicles Act and Central Motor Vehicle Rules. It was advised that the validity of Fitness, Permit, License, Registration or any other concerned documents may be treated to be valid till 30th of September.

INS Viraat to be dismantled at Alang in Gujarat
INS Viraat, the aircraft carrier that served the Indian Navy for 30 years before being decommissioned three years ago, is likely to be towed from Mumbai to Alang in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district next month to be dismantled and sold as scrap.

Govt makes FASTag mandatory for availing discount on toll
In order to further promote digital payments on the fee plazas on the national highways, it is decided that discount for users who make return journey within 24 hours and all other local exemptions shall be provided only if the vehicle carries a valid functional FASTag.

India and Uzbekistan hold virtual meeting to monitor implementation of mutually agreed projects
Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan co-chaired the first India-Uzbekistan National Coordination Committee meeting virtually with Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Investments and Foreign Economic Relations Sardor Umurzakov. The meeting was held for monitoring implementation of mutually agreed projects between India and Uzbekistan, constituted under the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Africa to be declared polio-free
The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to certify that the African continent is free from wild polio, four years after the last cases appeared in northeastern Nigeria.

RBI projects country’s growth rate at (-) 4.5 per cent for 2020-21
The Reserve Bank has projected India’s growth rate at (-) 4.5 percent for 2020-21. In its annual report released today, RBI projected global growth rate between (-) 6.0 per cent and (-) 7.6 per cent. The report says that expected headline inflation will remain elevated in the current quarter, but likely to ease in the second half of the fiscal.

RBI announces OMO of govt securities worth ₹20,000 crore
The Reserve Bank of India announced that it will conduct open market operations or OMO of government t securities worth ₹20,000 crore in two tranches. The auctions would be conducted on August 27, 2020 and September 03, 2020.

₹2,000 notes were not printed in 2019-20: RBI annual report
Currency notes of ₹2,000 denomination were not printed in 2019-20 and the circulation of these notes have declined over the years, according to RBI’s annual report. The supply of banknotes during 2019-20 was also lower by 23.3 % than in the previous year mainly due to the disruptions caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown.

APEDA signs MoUs with AFC India Ltd and NCUI, Delhi to utilise their expertise in agri sector
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is engaged with State governments for the implementation of agri export policy. Several States, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala have also finalised the action plan for the implementation of policy. APEDA signed MoUs with AFC India Ltd, and National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), Delhi to utilise their expertise in the agri sector. The agriculture export policy was framed with a focus on agriculture export oriented production, promotion of outbound shipments, better price realisation to farmers and synchronisation within policies and programmes of the central government.

Govt, AIIB ink pact for $500 million loan to improve network capacity of Mumbai suburban rail
The Centre, Maharashtra government, Mumbai Railway Vikas Corp.Ltd and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) signed a $500 million loan agreement to improve the network capacity, service quality and safety of the suburban railway system in Mumbai. The total estimated cost of the project is ₹10,947 crore, out of which ₹3500 crore will be financed by the AIIB.

Apple iPhone SE 2020 manufactured in India now
The 2020 version of the iPhone SE is now being manufactured in India, Apple confirmed today. iPhone SE packs our most powerful chip into our most popular size at our most affordable price and we’re excited to be making it in India for our local customers. Apple currently makes the iPhone XR and iPhone 11 in Foxconn’s factory in Chennai.

Flipkart to move to 100% EV usage by 2030, joins Climate Group’s EV100 initiative
Walmart-owned Flipkart said it will transition completely to the usage of electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030 as part of its sustainability efforts, and has joined the Climate Group’s global electric mobility initiative, EV100. EV100 brings together companies committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and making electric transport the new normal by 2030.

MakeMyTrip launches myPartner platform for travel agents
Leading online travel firm MakeMyTrip announced the launch of a platform to assist travel agents in offering enhanced travel booking experience to travellers. The platform, myPartner, has been designed to provide local travel agents access to one of the widest selections of online travel inventory. The myPartner platform will enable them to offer a variety of travel choices.

Cognizant to acquire Tin Roof Software to expand digital engineering services
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. has entered into an agreement to acquire Tin Roof Software, an Atlanta-based custom software and digital product development services company, to expand its digital engineering services capabilities. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2020. Financial details were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to expand Cognizant’s software product engineering footprint in the U.S. and connect Tin Roof’s experts with Cognizant’s broader global software development capabilities.

Microsoft introduces Hindi, Indian English to Neural Text-to- Speech service
Microsoft India has announced the addition of English (India) and Hindi to its Neural Text to Speech (Neural TTS) service language set, featuring the two languages among the 15 new dialects added to the service enabled with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) audio quality.

First female golfer from Germany Sophia Popov wins Women’s British Open
World number 304 Sophia Popov became the first female golfer from Germany to capture a major title after winning the Women’s British Open by two strokes at Royal Troon in Scotland.

Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain to win UEFA Champions League
In Football, German giants Bayern Munich have won the European Champions League for the sixth time after beating French side Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at the final in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.