Important Current Affairs for Government Jobs

Important Current Affairs for Government Jobs

National news

1) Hubbali railway station in Karnataka will be known as “Sree Siddharoodha Swamiji railway station”.

2) India post has launched a new scheme called ‘five star villages’, to ensure universal coverage of flagship postal schemes in rural areas of the country.

3) Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai has put in place a QR code enabled contactless check-in mechanism for the passengers.

4) The power finance corporation has signed an agreement with IIT kanpur to provide training research and entrepreneurship development in smart grid technology.

5) The central government in collaboration with the World Bank has decided to convert the area of ravines in the region of Gwalior-Chambal belt of Madhya Pradesh into cultivable land.

6) Union minister of state of shipping Mansukh Mandaviya launches SAROD ports virtually for maritime sector disputes. (Society for Affordable Redressal of Disputes – ports). It is a dispute redressal mechanism to facilitate affordable and timely resolution of Disputes for the maritime sector.

7) NITI Ayog’s Atal Innovation Mission has launched Aatmanirbhar Bharat “Arise- Atal New India Challenges” to encourage innovation in Indian MSMEs and startups.

8) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has launched doorstep banking services by public sector banks to provide convenient of banking services to the customers at their doorstep through universal touch points of call centre, web portal, mobile app.

9) Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has inaugurated webinar on “Enhancing Water Use Efficiency and Coverage of Micro Irrigation in Indian Agriculture”.

10) Union Minister of Agriculture flagged off South India’s First and Country’s 2nd Kisan rail between Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh) and New Delhi.
On 7th August, First Kisan rail was flagged off between Devlali in Maharashtra and Danapur in Bihar.

11) The 13th edition of Aero India 2021 will be held from 3-7 February,2021 at Air Force station, Yelahanka, Bengaluru.

12) Indian railways’ North East Frontier railway zone has constructed the world’s tallest pier bridge across river Lajai in Manipur. (Height-141m)

13) Government has constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of former CAG Rajiv Mehrishi to assist in the assessment of relief to bank borrowers.

14) Food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has inaugurated Organic India Pvt. Ltd.’s plant at Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh that has been set up at a cost of 55 crore.

15) Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed and developed P-7 Heavy Drop System which will be able of para dropping military stores up to seven-tonne weight class from IL-76 aircraft. It has been inducted by Indian Army.
DRDO chief – G Satish Reddy

International news

1. India has been ranked 105th (total 162 countries) in the Global Economic Freedom Index 2020 released by the Fraser Institute, Canada. Hong Kong has topped the ranking followed by Singapore at the second spot.
2. MasterCard has launched “Central Bank Digital Currencies” testing platform that will enable central bank to assess and explore national digital currencies.
   MasterCard CEO – Ajay Banga
3. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan attended 73rd session of WHO South East Asia Region virtually. It was held under the chairmanship of Anutin Charnvirakul, deputy prime minister and minister of health, Thailand.
4. India and Japan signed an agreement on Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services between the armed forces of India and the self defence forces of Japan. The agreement was signed by Defence secretary Ajay Kumar and Ambassador of Japan Suzuki Satoshi.
5. First India-France-Australia Trilateral Dialogue was held virtually to enhance cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Sringala represented India.
6. Iran’s army conducted Zolfaghar- 99, an annual three day naval exercise near the strategic strait of Hormuz.
7. American global aerospace and defence technology company,Northrop Grumman, announced to name its next Cygnus capsule after the astronaut Kalpana Chawla.
8. India will receive an Official Development Assistance (ODA)loan of an amount 3,500 crore from the government of Japan to fight against COVID-19.
9. First ever direct flight between Israel and UAE land in Abu Dhabi.
10. European Union has launched the project “Nirmanshree” for enhancing woman skill towards the housing construction sector.
    European Union headquarter – Brussels, Belgium.
11. Minister of state for culture and tourism, Prahlad Singh Patel participated in the 17th Sanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) culture’s minister meeting. Headquarter of SCO- Being,China.
12. India will host the meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Sanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on 29-30 November 2020 in New Delhi.

State news

1. Meghalaya government has launched India’s biggest “piggery mission” with an outlay of Rs. 209 crore.
2. Karnataka CM B.S Yediyurappa has inaugurated India’s first integrated air ambulance service in Bengaluru to transport critical COVID-19 patients.
3. Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar has launched an online registration portal for admission in undergraduate programmes in govt. aided and self financed college for 2020-21.
   Educational WhatsApp chatbot “Apka Mitra” has also been launched to resolve admission related queries.
4. Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched two nutrition scheme “YSR Sampoorna Poshana” and “YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus” to provide nutritious food to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children.
5. Uipath, an enterprise Robotic process Automation software company, has partnered with Andhra Pradesh state skill development corporation (APSSDC), as part of its academic alliance programme.
6. Andhra Pradesh has entered into an MOU with the Indian School of Business for setting up a police lab to spur growth with special focus on economic development and job creation.
7. The UK India Business Council signed an MoU with Gujrat government to speed up the business and industrial development in the state.
8. Madhya Pradesh government has reintroduced the “Deendayal Rasoi Scheme” for meals at Rs. 10
9. Uttarakhand government celebrated “Himalayan Diwas” across the state on 9 September.
10. Chief minister of Karnataka has inaugurated the flyover named after Hindutva Ideologue V.D.Savarkar.

National and International Appointments

1. Paresh Rawal has been appointed as chairperson of National School of Drama (NSD).
2. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) independent panel for pandemic preparedness and response appointed former health secretary, Preeti Sudan as one of its 11 panelists from across the world.
3. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Smriti Mandhana has been appointed as the brand ambassadors of the fantasy sports gaming platform, Playerzpot.
4. Jane Fraser has been appointed as the first woman chief executive officer of the Citigroup.
5. West Indies cricket icon Dwayne Bravo has been appointed as the first cricket ambassador of SBOTOP sportsbook brand.
6. Joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation, Usha Padhee has been given additional charge as Director-general of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
7. The appointments committee of the cabinet has approved the appointment of the current chairman of the railway board VK Yadav as the CEO.
8. Murali Ramakrishnan has been appointed as the managing director and CEO of South Indian Bank for a period of 3 years with effect from October 1, 2020.
9. S. Krishnan has been appointed as the managing director and CEO of Punjab and Sind Bank.
10. Maruti Suzuki MD and CEO, Kenichi Ayukaea has been elected as the new president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) for a term of two years.
11. Anil Jain has been elected as the president of the All India Tennis Association. (AITA).
12. Matthew Hayden and Lisa Singh have been appointed by Government of Australia as trade envoys for advancing business ties with India.
13. Ayushmann Khurana has been appointed UNICEF celebrity advocate for the child rights campaign, “For Every Child”.

Honor and Awards:

1. Sir David Attenborough has been conferred with the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for the year 2019.
2. Ja Morant has won the 2019-20 Kia NBA Rookie of the year award.
3. Ganesh Vilash Lengare has been awarded the Star 2020 certificate by the World Book of Records, London.

Banking news (Domestic and International)

1. With Asian Development Bank India has signed a 500 million US dollar loan for Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System(RRTS) Corridor.
2. RBI has ceased the banking operations by the Aditya Birla Idea Payment bank under Banking Regulation Act 1949 with effect from July 28, 2020
3. ICICI Bank has launched a new product named “iStartup 2.0”, to cater to the banking needs of startups and entrepreneurs.
4. Asian Development Bank and ENGIE group have signed a long term loan of upto Rs. 466 crore for setting up a 200 M-W solar power project in Gujarat.
5. SBI is planning to launch a loan product named “SAFAL” for Organic cotton growers.
6. European Investment Bank will invest €650 million for the first metro line of Kanpur.

Obituaries and Retirement:

1. Telegu actor Jaya Prakash Reddy has passed away recently.
2. Govind Swarup, Father of India’s Radio Astronomy who has passed away recently.
3. British actress Dame Diana Rigg passed away.
4. Renowned social activists Swami Agnivesh passed away.
5. Cricketer Ian Bell from England announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

Sports

1. Martial artist Poonam Khatri, who won a silver medal at the Wushu World Championship, is now being upgraded to a gold medal.
2. Pierre Gasly (from France) has won the Formula One Italian Grand Prix 2020 held at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy.
3. Indian Grandmaster P Iniyan won the prestigious Annual World Open Online Chess tournament.
4. Sumit Nagal has become the first Indian to win a singles main draw match at a Grand Slam in the last 7 years.

Economic affairs

1. Crisil rating agency has predicted India’s Gross Domestic Production to contract 9% in the financial year 2020-21(FY21)
2. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released EASE 2.0 Index results under Ease Agenda. Top-performing banks in EASE 2.0 Index results: Bank of Baroda, SBI and erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce.
3. Rating agency Moody’s projected 11.5% contraction in India’s economic growth in the current fiscal owing to coronavirus pandemic.
4. International day for South Cooperation is observed on 12 September.
5. 11 September is observed as the National Forest Martyrs day.