Current Affairs 07 August 2020

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Current Affairs 07 August 2020

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1. Rajapaksa brothers win by landslide victory in Sri Lanka's election
  • Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) registered a landslide victory in the Sri Lankan Parliamentary Elections on August 5, 2020. The party and its allies secured two-thirds of the seats at the elections.
  • Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) won 145 seats in the 225-member parliament, while the allies managed to clinch more than five seats. Out of the total vote percentage, SLPP got around 59 percent of the popular vote, while SJB (Samagi Jana Balawegaya) garnered around 23 percent of votes. The SJB is an offshoot of UNP, which was formed earlier this year. 
Foot Notes:
About SriLanka:
Prime minister: Mahinda Rajapaksa
President: Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Capitals: Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Currency: Sri Lankan rupee
 
2. National Handloom Day celebrated on 07 August
  • National Handloom Day is being organised on 07 August by the Ministry of Textiles.7th August was chosen as the National Handloom Day to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on the same date in the year 1905.
  • The objective is to generate awareness about the Handloom Industry among the public and its contribution to socio-economic development.
  • To mark the occasion and to instil pride in the workmanship of handloom weaving amongst citizens, a social media campaign is planned for the handloom weaving community.
Foot Notes:
Minister of Textiles: Smriti Irani
 
3. Ex-Lieutenant Governor of J&K G.C. Murmu appointed as the new CAG of India
  • Former Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu has been appointed as the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. G.C. Murmu had resigned as J&K Lt Governor on August 5, 2020.
  • An official notification released by the Department of Economic Affairs read that the President by virtue of the power vested in him by clause (1) of Article 148 of the Indian Constitution appointed Girish Chandra Murmu to the post of Comptroller and Auditor General of India with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.
Foot Notes:
Capitals: Jammu (Winter), Srinagar (Summer)
Lt. Governor: Manoj Sinha
 
4. Harmanpreet Kaur and Suresh Raina appointed as Brand Ambassadors for Gaming Platform of  WTF
  • Indian middle-order batsman Suresh Raina & Indian women’s team captain(T20) Harmanpreet Kaur were appointed as Global brand ambassadors of World Trade Fantasy (WTF) Sports . In addition to this, Suresh Raina has also joined the brand as Strategic Partner.
  • World Trade Fantasy (WTF) Sports is a fantasy sports gaming platform, which was formally launched in India and other parts of the world on 6th August, 2020.Users can create their own team made up of real-life players from upcoming matches, score points based on their on-field performance and compete with other fans.
  • The app at present hosts Fantasy Cricket, Football and Basketball. It lets users strategize and use their sports knowledge to get rewards.The announcement was made through a web conference by co-founders of WTF India and Global Vinit Bhatia, Manit Parikh and YashKadakia.
5. India's first Kisan Special Parcel Train or Kisan Rail started from 07 August 2020.
  • The train will transport material between Maharashtra's Devlali and Bihar's Danapur Railway station.
  • The Kisan Rail will carry fruits and vegetables and will make stoppages at several stations and pick-up and deliver them. With the launch of Kisan Rail, the Railways aims to help double farmers’ income.
  • This will help in bringing perishable agricultural products like vegetables, fruits to the market in a short period of time.
  • The Kisan Rail train with frozen containers is expected to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of fish, meat and milk.
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced to start 'Kisan Rail' in the current year's Budget, for providing a seamless supply chain of perishable produce.
Foot Notes:
Minister of Railways: Piyush Goyal
 
About Maharashtra: 
Chief Minister: Uddhav Thackeray
Capital: Mumbai
Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari
 
About Bihar:
Chief Minister: Nitish Kumar 
Governor: Phagu Chauhan
Capital: Patna
 
 
6. Malyalam movie ‘Moothon’ and documentry ‘Son Rise’ win awards at 20th New York Indian Film Festival
  • Malayalam film ‘Moothon’ and National Award winning documentary ‘Son Rise’ won awards at the 20th edition of New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) of Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) which was conducted as a virtual event with the celebrities of the film industries and award winners participating from all across India and the United States.
  • More than 45 feature length narratives, short and documentaries of India were showcased in the virtual edition of 20th NYIFF held from 24th July 2020 to 2nd August 2020.The films showcased in the event were in multiple languages including Assamese, Bengali, Haryanvi, Hindi, English, Ladakhi, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali and Tamil.
Foot Notes:
About IAAC:
Chairman: Dr.Nirmal K. Mattoo
Brand Ambassador: Vikas Khanna
Headquarters: New York, United States of America
 
7. RBI's monetary policy committee decides to leave policy repo rate unchanged at 4 percent
  • The RBI's monetary policy committee has decided to unanimously leave the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 percent. RBI will continue with the accommodative stance of monetary policy as long as necessary to revive growth, mitigate the impact of COVID-19, while ensuring that inflation remains within the target going forward.
  • The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank rate remain unchanged at 4.25 per cent.
  • The reverse repo rate stands unchanged at 3.35 per cent.
  • The Consumer Price Index inflation, which was at 5.8 per cent in March 2020, was placed at 6.1 per cent in the provisional estimates for June 2020.
Foot Notes:
About RBI:
Governor: Shaktikanta Das 
Headquarters: Mumbai
 
8. DIAT bags 1st prize in Smart India Hackathon 2020
  • Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, DIAT, has bagged 1st prize in Smart India Hackathon, SIH, 2020. It was held from 1st to 3rd of this month at Noida Institute of Engineering and Technology, Uttar Pradesh. 
  • This 36-hour non-stop digital product building competition was a national level competition for software edition, which was organized jointly by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and All India Council for Technical Education.
  • During the competition, Prime Minister Narendra  Modi interacted with the participants in a live event. Six- member team of the institute received one lakh rupees as prize money for solving a technical problem using artificial intelligence.
Foot notes:
About DIAT:
Headquarters: Pune, 
Chancellor: Rajnath Singh(Defence Minister)
Vice Chancellor: Dr. C P Ramanarayanan
 
9. Renowned TV actor Sameer Sharma passes away
  • Sameer Sharma, a 44-year-old television actor, was found dead in his Malad apartment. Malad police officials said that the actor died by suicide. The actor had also appeared in the shows Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki and Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Jyoti, Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Du, and Left Right Left, among others.
  • He is also listed as a cast member in films such as Hasee Toh Phasee and Ittefaq.
10. ‘RAW: A History of India’s Covert Operations’ authored by Yatish Yadav launched
  • The new book, titled “RAW: A History of India’s Covert Operations”, has been launched.The book gives a peep into the heroic covert operations carried by India’s external spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
  • The book has been written by investigative journalist and author Yatish Yadav. It has been published by Westland.
  • The book provides a deeper insight and understanding of how covert operations are carried out in the uncharted territory.
Foot Notes:
About RAW (Research and Analysis Wing):
Wing executive: Samant Goel, Secretary
Headquarters: New Delhi
Founded: 21 September 1968
Motto: धर्मो रक्षति रक्षित ; 'Justice, when protected, protects'

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