Current Affairs 23 August 2020

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Current Affairs 23 August 2020

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1. Axis Bank launches hiring initiative named ‘Gig-a-Opportunities’
  • Axis Bank has launched an initiative named ‘Gig-a-Opportunities’. The initiative aims to attract skilled talent that can work with the bank remotely, from anywhere in the country.
  • This hiring model comprises two working patterns. One is the full-time permanent job and the second is based on the duration of a project and is temporary in nature.
  • Axis Bank aims to employ 800-1000 people over the next under this initiative.
Foot Notes:
About Axis Bank:
CEO: Amitabh Chaudhry
Headquarters: Mumbai
Founded: 1993, Ahmedabad
 
2. I&B Ministry Releases SOP for resuming of media production Industry Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Ministry of Information & Broadcasting released a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for resuming the work in the media production industry on August 23, 2020.
  • The guidelines ensure adequate distancing at the shoot locations and other workplaces and also contains measures including crowd management, proper sanitization, and provision for the protective equipment.
  • The SOP and the guiding principle by the government may be used by all the states and other stakeholders and state governments while resuming the work in media production. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar also informed that the SOP has been issued in the consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Foot Notes:
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting:Shri Prakash Javadekar

3. Mahindra group Chairman Anand Mahindra and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to receive 2020 Leadership Awards from USISPF
  • Mahindra Group Chairman, Anand Mahindra and Adobe Chairman and CEO, Shantanu Narayen will be conferred with 2020 Leadership Awards by a top US-based India centric business advocacy group for their remarkable ambition in strengthening the US-India bilateral economic partnership.
  • US-India Strategic Partnership Forum announced that the award will be presented during the 3rd Annual Leadership Summit, titled “US-India Week: Navigating New Challenges”, which is scheduled to be held in the last week of August.
  • It is U.S.-India summit which is going to be organized by USISPF to discuss the matter of lending more weight to US-India bilateral relationship in the future. Discussion on trade and investment, energy ties, global supply chains, healthcare collaboration will also be held.
Foot Notes:
About Mahindra:
CEO: Anand Mahindra 
Founded: 2 October 1945, Ludhiana
Founders: Malik Ghulam Muhammad, Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, Kailash Chandra Mahindra
 
About Adobe:
CEO: Shantanu Narayen
Founded: December 1982, California, United States
Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States
Founders: John Warnock, Charles Geschke

4. SBI Mutual Fund CEO Ashwani Bhatia appointed as SBI’s Managing Director
  • Ashwani Bhatia has been appointed as the managing director of State Bank of India by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister of India. He will be appointed in the place of  P K Gupta.
  • Mr. Bhatia has been serving as the deputy MD and CEO of SBI Mutual Fund. He also served as the Chief General Manager of SBI and a full-time director of SBI Capital Markets. Earlier the Banks Board Bureau recommended his name for the appointment in the post of MD.
  • The committee is associated with appointing various top posts under the Government of India. The Prime Minister of India is the Chairman of the committee.
Foot Notes:
About SBI:
Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar
Headquarters: Mumbai
Founded: 1 July 1955
 
5. Turkey discovers large Natural Gas Reserve in Black Sea
  • Turkey had discovered its largest-ever deposit of natural gas in the Black Sea. This could help the country reduce its dependence on energy imports from other countries, including Russia.
  • According to the announcement made by the President, 320 billion cubic metres of natural gas has been discovered.
  • The discovery has come up in the middle of tensions between NATO allies Greece and Turkey are running high in disputed waters in eastern Mediterranean. Turkey is highly dependent on Russia, Iran and Iraq for its energy resources.
Foot Notes:
About Turkey:
President: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Capital: Ankara
Currency: Turkish lira
 
 
6. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu remembers great freedom fighter Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu on his birth anniversary
  • Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu remembered Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, a great freedom fighter and statesman on his birth anniversary.
  • Pantulu served as the Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency, and subsequently became the first Chief Minister of Andhra State.
  • He displayed exemplary courage during the anti-Simon commission agitation that earned him the title of ‘Andhra Kesari’-the lion of Andhra.
7. UP inks pact with Israel to end water crisis in Bundelkhand
  • The Uttar Pradesh and Israel governments signed a ‘plan of cooperation’ to resolve the water crisis in Bundelkhand region. The India –Israel – Bundelkhand Water Project comprises three key components including water conservation, water efficient transportation and advanced water practices for agriculture.
  • The project aims to address the water crisis in drought-hit regions of Bundelkhand.
  • It will help farmers of the region with the latest farming technologies, including drip irrigation, meant for water-deficient regions like Bundelkhand said the report.25 villages in the Babina block of the Jhansi district had been selected in the first phase.
Foot Notes:
About UP:
Capital: Lucknow
Governor: Anandiben Patel
Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
 
About Israel:
Capital: Jerusalem
Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu
Currency: Israeli Shekel
 
8. Indian Railways tender for manufacturing 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express trains cancelled
  • The Indian Railways has cancelled its tender for manufacturing 44 sets of semi high-speed Vande Bharat Express trains. A fresh tender will be floated within a week as per the revised public procurement (with a preference to Make in India) order.
  • The Railways, however, did not specify the reason as to why the tender was cancelled.
  • However, according to reports, the decision was taken months after a Chinese joint venture company had emerged as the only foreign bidder for the global tender floated for manufacturing 44 rakes of Vande Bharat trains in July.
  • The Railways' Integral Coach Factory, based in Chennai, had floated a tender for manufacturing 44 train sets of semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains on July 10.
Foot Notes:
Railway Minister: Piyush Goyal
Chairman: Vinod Kumar Yadav
 
9. Mahatma Gandhi’s gold-plated spectacles break all records for UK auction house
  • A pair of gold-plated spectacles believed to have been worn by Mahatma Gandhi and presented as a gift in the 1900s have broken all records for a United Kingdom auction house by selling for Rs 2,55,000,00 or GBP 2,60,000.
  • The glasses, which were dropped through the letterbox of East Bristol Auctions in Hanham, south-west England, four weeks ago were estimated to fetch between GBP 10,000 and GBP 15,000.
  • But, the online bids for the lot kept multiplying to finally go under the hammer of the six-figure sum.
Foot Notes:
About UK:
Capital: London
Prime Minister: Boris Johnson
Currency: Pound sterling
 
10. Kerala to host First ever dragonfly festival
  • WWF-India Kerala State Office joined hands with the Society for Odonate Studies (SOS) and Thumbipuranam for the first-ever state Dragonfly Festival in Kerala.
  • The festival has been named as the ‘Thumbi Maholsavam 2020’.
  • As part of the Dragonfly Festival, a series of events will be rolled out in the coming months to reach out to various sections of the society.
  • The Dragonfly festival was begun in 2018. It aims to educate and inform the public about the integral role of dragonflies.
  • Dragon Flies are used as indicators of aquatic ecosystem quality and biodiversity.
  • The dragonflies require clean water to thrive and their survival also requires healthy vegetation to provide them with oxygen. This makes them the best indicator of oxygen levels in the aquatic environment.
Foot Notes:
About Kerala:
Capital: Thiruvananthapuram
Chief Minister: Pinarayi Vijayan
Governor: Arif Mohammad Khan

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