Current Affairs (August – 2020)

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This post contains important current affairs of 8 & 9 August 2020. It includes all Major National, International, Business and Sports related current affairs of 8 & 9 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 8 & 9 August 2020 Current affairs test.

Quit India Movement Day is observed on August 8
All India Congress Committee session in Bombay on 8 August, 1942, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi launched the ‘Quit India Movement’. It is also known as August Movement or August Kranti. President Ram Nath Kovind has honoured and felicitated 202 freedom fighters from across the country on the occasion of 78th anniversary of Quit India Day.

World Tribal Day is observed on August 9
International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples or World Tribal Day is being observed on August 9. The day is aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of the world’s indigenous population. The date recognizes the first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva in 1982.

JK govt plans to build 600 km highway along border to explore tourist sites
A 600 km-long highway will be constructed along the border touching all picturesque tourist spots in the Kashmir Valley, each of which will be “another Gulmarg”. The ₹8,000 crore road project will connect Gulmarg with Kargil and Drass in Ladakh. The chief secretary said there will be 12-13 major tunnels along the road and it will also facilitate connectivity to the forward locations.

West Bengal allows international charter flights to land in Kolkata
Easing restrictions, the West Bengal government decided to allow international charter flights carrying Indian nationals with COVID-negative certificates to land at the airports in the state. The restrictions on Vande Bharat Mission flights will, however, continue. A clearance from the Indian missions in the originating countries or the Ministry of External Affairs will be required.

PM Narendra Modi launches week-long cleanliness drive to free India of garbage
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a week-long campaign to free India of garbage. The campaign will continue till August 15. Each day will have a special swachhata initiatives in urban and rural India. He also stressed that Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has been a great support during fight against coronavirus.

PM Modi to inaugurate and dedicate submarine OFC connecting Chennai and Port Blair to nation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and dedicate the submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai and Port Blair to the nation through video conferencing. The submarine cable will also connect Port Blair to Swaraj Dweep, Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Great Nicobar, Long Island and Rangat. This connectivity will enable delivery of faster and more reliable mobile and landline telecom services to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, at par with other parts of India. At present, Andaman and Nicobar Islands have very weak telecom systems, that hamper communications with mainland and within the islands.

Ayodhya Bhumi Pujan ceremony watched by 160 million people
Over 160 million people watched the live telecast of the Ayodhya Ram Temple Bhumi Pujan ceremony this week, resulting in viewership of more than 7 billion viewing minutes across the TV universe in India, according to state broadcaster Doordarshan.

Air India Express flight from Dubai crashes at Kozhikode
An Air India Express flight from Dubai carrying 191 people skidded off a wet runway while landing at the Kozhikode airport in Kerala on Friday evening and crashed into a ravine, breaking into two and leaving 17 people, including the two pilots, dead and several critically injured. A total of 189 passengers had booked tickets, but only 184 boarded the flight.

ICAI announces computer-based exams for post qualification course diploma in Management & Business Finance
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India on Thursday announced that it would be conducting first computer-based examination for Post Qualification Course Diploma on Management and Business Finance. The examination will be held in three groups: Group I will be held on 24 and 25 August; Group II on 26 and 27 August, and Group III will be held on 28 and and 29 August. ICAI also enlisted 21 places as the examination centers.

Railway to observe cleanliness week from August 10 to mark Independence Day
Railway will observe cleanliness week from August 10 to mark the Independence Day. During the week, a special Cleanliness drive will be launched and special focus will be given to clean the tracks, station offices , colonies, work sites, edge of stations and other areas near railway premises.

UAE waives visa fines of stranded Indians
The UAE has waived thousands of dirhams in fines of Indian expatriates whose visas had expired before March 1, helping them return home without additional expenses amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. Already 145 Indians have availed the benefits of the scheme which was proposed by the Indian missions in the UAE.

India says it would like Sri Lanka to send first flight to newly upgraded Kushinagar airport
India has said it would like Sri Lanka to send the first international flight to the newly upgraded Kushinagar airport in Uttar Pradesh. This was conveyed by Indian High commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay during his meeting with Sri Lankan Prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa today to convey his best wishes following the latter’s victory at this week parliamentary election.

OCI card holders from USA, UK, Germany, France can visit India
Union Home Ministry has permitted Overseas Citizen of India, OCI cardholders to enter India who belong to countries with which air bubble arrangements have been finalised by the Civil Aviation Ministry. Indian citizens have also been allowed to travel to such countries on any type of visa. Ministry of Civil Aviation has worked out air bubble scheme with USA, UK, Germany and France and the countries that may be included under such scheme in future.

₹68K cr of loans released under discoms liquidity package
As much as ₹68,000 crore worth of loans under ₹90,000 liquidity package announced for the stressed power distribution utilities have been sanctioned so far which is expected to create buoyancy in the sector. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in May announced the ₹90,000 crore liquidity infusion into cash-strapped discoms, facing demand slump due to the lockdown to contain COVID-19.

PM Modi launches ₹1 trillion agri infrastructure fund
To improve farm gate prices and grower incomes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a ₹1 trillion agriculture infrastructure fund to give a leg up to post-harvest management and marketing of agricultural produce. The fund was launched with ₹1,128 crore of new loans disbursed to over 2,200 cooperative societies. The prime minister also transferred ₹17,100 crore to farmers under the PM-Kisan direct income assistance scheme.

Zomato introduces ‘period leave’ of up to 10 days per year for employees
Food delivery company Zomato would give female employees, including transgender people, up to 10 days of “period leave” per year, as part of an effort to combat what it said was stigma around the issue.

Mukesh Ambani overtakes wealthiest European to become world’s fourth-richest person
Mukesh Ambani has surged past Europe’s wealthiest man, making him the world’s fourth-richest person. Reliance Industries Ltd.’s chairman is now worth $80.6 billion, after amassing $22 billion this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That gives him a bigger wealth pile than France’s Bernard Arnault, whose LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE has suffered from customers curbing high-end fashion purchases faster than the company can cut costs.

NTPC achieves over 100 billion units of cumulative generation in current financial year
National Thermal Power Corporation, NTPC, Group has achieved over 100 billion units of cumulative generation in the current financial year. Corporation informed about this feat through a statement today. As per the data published by Central Electricity Authority, 2600 Mega Watt NTPC Korba in Chattisgarh has emerged as the top performing thermal power plant in the country with 97.42 percent plant load factor, PLF, between April to July this year.

India to host 2021 T20 World Cup, 2022 edition in Australia: ICC
International Cricket Council has confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 that was postponed due to Covid-19 will be held in Australia in 2022. India will host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 as planned. Cricket’s governing body has also decided to postpone the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand till February – March 2022 because of the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on cricket globally. The format of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will remain as it was for 2020 and all teams that qualified for that event will now participate in India in 2021.

3 male paddlers selected for TOPS from Gujarat
3 out of 4 male paddlers selected for the Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS) are from Gujarat. According to Gujarat State Table Tennis Association, three players Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah are among four male TT players selected in the Sports Ministry’s scheme. Soumyajit Ghosh is the fourth paddler.

Mahinda Rajapaksa to take oath as PM of Sri Lanka
Mahinda Rajapaksa will take oath as the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka after the landslide victory of his party at general elections held on Wednesday. His party and allies have secured two-thirds majority in Parliament. Mahinda Rajapaksa served as the country’s President from 2006 to 2015. He was appointed Prime Minister after Gotabaya’s victory in November Presidential elections though his side did not enjoy a majority in Parliament.

Senior Congress leader Nandi Yellaiah passes away
Senior Congress leader and former Vice President of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Nandi Yellaiah passed away. He was 85. Nandi Yellaiah died while taking treatment at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad. He had tested positive for Corona virus 10 days ago and breathed his last this morning. Yellaiah was a six-time member of Lok Sabha and served as the MP of Nagarkurnool constituency till 2019.