02nd Sep Current Affairs Headlines

September 2, 2020
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National Headlines

“MEDBOT” medical trolley developed by Indian Railways

Indian Railways has developed a remote-controlled medical trolley titled MEDBOT to help distribute food and medications to COVID-19 patients. During Corona crisis, Indian Railways has also given facilities like transport and essential items like foodgrains for COVID-19 patients.

Useful Notes for all competitive exams:

  • Union Minister of Railways: Piyush Goyal.

PM Narendra Modi announced September to be observed as “Nutrition month”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said to celebrate September 2020 as “Poshan Maah” or “Nutrition Month” during the monthly radio broadcast programme “Mann ki Baat”. He said that to improve the knowledge of nutrition among the children, the schools must introduce Nutrition Monitor and Nutrition Cards.

During the Nutrition Month, Food and Nutrition Quiz and meme competition will be organised by the MyGov portal. The month will be celebrated across India to educate everyone on the importance of optimum nutrition. The nutrition month was celebrated earlier in September 2018 and 2019.

International News

Ease of Doing Business report suspended by World Bank

World Bank has suspended the publication of its “Doing Business” report to probe data collection irregularities in the annual ranking of countries business and investment climates.

According to World Bank “A number of irregularities have been reported regarding changes to the data in the Doing Business 2018 and Doing Business 2020 reports, published in October 2017 and 2019”.

World Bank would conduct a systematic review of data changes in the last five Doing Business reports, and independent auditors will probe data collection and review processes. The last Doing Business report was published in October 2019 in which India was ranked 63rd while New Zealand was on top.

Useful Notes for all competitive exams:

  • President of World Bank: David Malpass.
  • World Bank Headquarters: Washington D.C., United States.
  • World Bank Founded: July 1944.

Japan commits ODA of Rs 3500 crore to fight COVID-19 in India

India will receive an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan of an amount of JPY50 billion (approx. Rs. 3,500 crores) from the government of Japan. Japan has committed the loan for the COVID-19 Crisis Emergency Response Support in order to fight the COVID-19 crisis.

The ODA loan will support India’s efforts in its fight against COVID-19. It will also assist the country to prepare the health system to handle future epidemics. It will also increase the resilience of India’s health systems against infectious diseases.

The Japanese government has also committed Grant Assistance of an amount of JPY 1 billion (approx. Rs. 70 crores) for offering medical equipment to bolster the public health and medical system in India.

Appointments Headlines

Rajiv Kumar takes charge as new Election Commissioner of India

Rajiv Kumar has been appointed as the new Election Commissioner (EC) of India. He has joined the Election Commission of India with Chief Election Commissioner Shri Sunil Arora and Election Commissioner Shri Sushil Chandra. Rajiv Kumar is a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service Officer, with more than 36 years of Government of India service.

Economy

Indian economy contracted by 23.9% in Q1 of 2020-21

The estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter (April-June) Q1 of 2020-21 has been released by the National Statistical Office(NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

NSSO has released the GDP estimates at both Constant (2011-12) and Current Prices. According to the latest release, the GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in Q1 of 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 26.90 lakh crore. This value was Rs 35.35 lakh crore in Q1 of 2019-20.

Hence, the Indian economy has experienced a contraction of 23.9% as compared to 5.2% growth in Q1 2019-20. While the GDP at Current Prices in the year Q1 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 38.08 lakh crore. This value was Rs 49.18 lakh crore in Q1 2019-20. Hence, it showed a contraction of 22.6% as compared to 8.1% growth in Q1 2019-20.

Useful Notes for all competitive exams:

  • Ministers of State (I/C) for Statistics and Programme Implementation: Rao Inderjit Singh.

Sports News

Lewis Hamilton wins F1 Belgian Grand Prix 2020

Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) has won the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix 2020 at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. This was his 5th win of the season. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes-Finland) came second followed by Max Verstappen (Red Bull – Netherlands) at third place.

Defence

India withdraws from Russia military exercise Kavkaz 2020

India has withdrawn its participation from the multilateral Military Exercise “Kavkaz 2020” to be held in Russia between 15th to 26th September 2020. Russia and India are privileged strategic partners. At Russia’s invitation, India has been participating in many international events.

Due to COVID-19 and consequent difficulties in exercise, India has decided not to send a contingent this year to Kavkaz-2020. Kavkaz 2020 would be held in Astrakhan province of Southern Russia where member countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Central Asian countries would be participating.

Other countries that would participate in this exercise are China, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Belarus, Turkey, Armenia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

Science & Technology

CSIR-CMERI develops World’s Largest Solar Tree

World’s Largest Solar Tree has been developed by the CSIR-CMERI. The solar tree has been installed at the Residential Colony of CSIR-CMERI in Durgapur, West Bengal.

The solar tree has the annual capacity to generate 12,000-14,000 units of Clean and Green Power while its installed capacity is above 11.5 kWp. The Solar Tree has been designed in such a way that it ensures maximum exposure of each Solar PV Panel to Sunlight.

A single solar tree comprises of 35 Solar PV Panels each having a capacity of 330 wp each. The energy generation data of the tree can be monitored either real-time or on daily basis. 

Obituaries News

Former President Pranab Mukherjee passes away

The former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee passed away at the age of 84. He had tested positive for the coronavirus disease before undergoing successful surgery to remove a brain clot.

He was born in the village of Mirati in Birbhum district of West Bengal. He was fondly known as ‘Pranab Da’. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2019. He was the fifth president to receive this Bharat Ratna award. He held the important foreign, defence, commerce and finance portfolios as a Union minister across various Congress-led governments in the past.

Before becoming finance minister for the first time as part of Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet in 1982, Mukherjee had served as a deputy minister for finance in 1973-74.

‘Scooby Doo’ Co-Creator Joe Ruby passes away

The co-creator of the cartoon series Scooby-Doo, Joe Ruby passed away. Ruby, an American animator, television editor, writer, and producer, created the much-loved characters of beloved kids show Scooby-Doo, along with his creative partner Ken Spears.

Congress MP Harikrishnan Vasanthakumar passes away

Congress Member of Parliament, Harikrishnan VasanthaKumar passed away due to COVID-19. He was elected as the Member of Parliament to the 17th Lok Sabha from Kanyakumari constituency, Tamil Nadu in 2019.

Vasantha Kumar was the founder and chairman of Vasanth & Co, one of the largest retail home appliance chains in Tamil Nadu. He was also the founder and MD of the Tamil satellite TV channel Vasanth TV.

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