Current Affairs 13 August 2020

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Current Affairs 13 August 2020

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1. Russia, Brazil agree to cooperate in production of world’s first coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V
  • Russia and Brazil have agreed to cooperate in the production and marketing of the world’s first registered coronavirus vaccine ‘Sputnik V’. The Russian Direct Investment Fund said that the cooperation agreement was signed with the Brazilian State of Parana on August 12, 2020.
  • Under the strategic agreement, the Russian Direct Investment Fund together with pharmaceutical companies in the state of Parana will organise the production of the Sputnik V vaccine and its distribution in Brazil and other Latin American countries.
  • The Russian Health Ministry registered the world's first COVID-19 vaccine- Sputnik V on August 11, 2020.
Foot Notes:
About Russia:
President: Vladimir Putin
Capital: Moscow
Prime Minister: Mikhail Mishustin
 
About Brazil:
President: Jair Bolsonaro
Capital: Brasilia

2. Sri Lanka, UAE kept as India's back up for 2021 T20 World Cup
  • As per the latest report, Sri Lanka and the UAE have been kept as backup venues for the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup in case India is unable to host the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
  • The ICC had recently confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held in India as scheduled earlier, while this year’s postponed T20 World Cup edition will be held in Australia in 2022. 
  • However, the ICC has identified Sri Lanka and UAE as backup venues for the 2021 edition in case Covid-19 makes India an untenable host. India is currently the third-worst-hit country in the world after the US and Brazil with over 2 million coronavirus cases.
Foot Notes:
About Sri Lanka:
Capitals: Colombo, Sri JayawardenepuraKotte
Currency: Sri Lankan rupee
Prime Minister: Mahinda Rajapaksa
 
About UAE:
Capital: Abu Dhabi
Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham
President: Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
 
About ICC:
CEO: Manu Sawhney
Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Chairman: Imran Khwaja
 
3. Mukesh Ambani climbs billionaire rankings; fourth richest in the world 
  • Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director MukeshAmbani has surpassed Bernard Arnault, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton to become the world’s fourth-richest person.
  • As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ambani’s net worth is now at $80.2 billion (approxRs 6 lakh crore) after adding $22 billion to his wealth in 2020.Mr Ambani was behind Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos (net worth $187 billion), Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ($121 billion) and Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($102 billion)
  • Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian in the list of Top Ten Billionaires across the world.
Foot Notes:
About RIL:
CEO: Mukesh Ambani 
Owner: Mukesh Ambani 
Founder: Dhirubhai Ambani
Founded: 8 May 1973, Maharashtra
 
4. Skyroot Aerospace becomes first Indian startup to test upper-stage rocket engine
  • Skyroot Aerospace, Indian aerospace startup successfully test fired an upper stage rocket engine “Raman”, India’s first 100% 3D printed bi-propellant liquid rocket engine injector named after the Nobel laureate Sir CV Raman and became the first private aerospace company in India to test a rocket engine developed in India.
  • Raman is a lightweight 3D printed rocket engine featuring a fewer number of moving parts.
  • Raman can hurl a satellite of 250 to 700 kilograms into the lower orbits.
Foot Notes:
About Skyroot Aerospace:
Co-Founders, CEO & CTO: Pawan Kumar Chandana
Co-Founder & COO: Naga BharathDaka
Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana
 
5. Ahead Of Assembly Polls, Assam Launches Largest Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme Arunodoi
  • The Assam Government is set to roll out the Arunodoi Scheme from October 02, 2020, to provide financial assistance to around 17 lakh families in the state. This is the largest direct benefit transfer scheme till date in the state.
  • Under this scheme, an amount of Rs 830 will be provided to the eligible families to buy food grains and essential food items. Around 15000-17000 families will be provided with this facility per assembly constituency. The government will have to bear Rs 210 crores per month for this scheme.
  • The main aim of the scheme is to take care of the financial problems of the poor and BPL families in the state with substantial financial support. As it is a DBT scheme, there is no chance of any kind of misappropriation of funds and the end beneficiary is expected to get the support as mandated in the scheme.
Foot Notes:
About Assam:
Capital: Dispur
Chief Minister: Sarbananda Sonowal
Governor: Jagdish Mukhi
 
 
6. PM Modi launches 'Transparent Taxation - Honouring the Honest' for Honest Taxpayers
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a platform in order to honour and appreciate the honest taxpayers in the country. The ‘Transparent Taxation – Honouring the Honest’ platform has been launched by the PM through video-conferencing. The government aims to change the way in which taxes are being paid in India now, through this platform.
  • The platform will introduce reforms such as faceless assessment, faceless appeals and taxpayers’ charter. Faceless assessment and taxpayers’ charter will be made live from the inception whereas the feature of faceless appeal will be made available on the platform from September 25, 2020.
7. HAL’s Light Combat Helicopters deployed for operations at Leh
  • In the prevailing tension situation in Ladakh with China over repeated incursions by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the country, the government has decided to deploy two Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) in the region. 
  • These helicopters have been developed by the public sector defence undertaking, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
  • These two helicopters are going to support the initiatives of the Indian Air Force in the region in the high altitude areas of the region. These helicopters have been deployed for operations at a very short notice. This is the lightest such helicopters in the world in order to meet the specific demands of the IAF.
Foot Notes:
Chief of Air Staff: Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria
About HAL:
Headquarters: Bengaluru
Founder: Walchand Hirachand
Founded: 23 December 1940, Bengaluru
 
8. Akshay Kumar, Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds feature in Forbes’ highest-paid actors of 2020 list
  • Forbes magazine has released “The Highest-Paid Actors Of 2020” list. Bollywood actor, Akshay Kumar is the only Indian star to be listed among the top 10 world’s highest-paid actors of 2020 with total earnings of $48.5 million.
  • Akshay is placed at sixth place in the list.
  • Most of his income came from product endorsements.
  • The list has been topped by Wrestler-turned-movie star Dwayne Johnson, for a second straight year, with the total earning of $87.5 million.
Foot Notes:
About Forbes:
Editor-in-chief: Steve Forbes
Editor: Randall Lane
First issue: September 15, 1917
Based in: Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S

9. RBI governor announces 'positive pay' feature to help avert cheque frauds
  • RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the banking system will move to a positive pay practice in cheque transactions to curb frauds.
  • Under the 'positive pay' system, a customer who issues the cheque clicks a picture of the cheque before handing it over to the beneficiary and uploads the same on the bank's mobile application.
  • The limit of Rs 50,000 will cover approximately 20 per cent of transactions by volume and 80 per cent by value.
  • Since 2016, the second largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has such a facility for all cheques irrespective of the amount.
  • By following such a system, a bank knows of a cheque being drawn by the customer even before it is deposited by the beneficiary into her account.
Foot Notes:
About RBI:
Bank rate: 4.00%
Headquarters: Mumbai
Governor: Shaktikanta Das
 
10. Veteran sports journalist G.K.Menon passes away
  • Veteran sports journalist GK Menon died in Mumbai. He was 93 and. He worked with the Indian Express and The Times of India and ended his freelance career in the early 1990s.
  • Menon played cricket at the club level and also was an active member of the Shivaji Park Gymkhana in Dadar, central Mumbai.
  • He was manager of the 1952-53 Bombay University team which won the Rohinton Baria Trophy by beating Delhi in the final at Bengaluru.
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