Daily Current Affairs and GK | 12 August 2020

1. World Elephant Day: 12 August.

• World Elephant Day is celebrated every year on 12 August.
• It is an international annual event dedicated to the conservation of elephants in the world.
• World Elephant Day was launched on 12 August 2012 to bring attention to the immediate plight of Asian and African elephants.
• World Elephant Day was conceived in 2011 by the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation and two Canadian filmmakers Patricia Sims and Michael Clarke.
• The Red List of IUCN lists African elephants as vulnerable and Asian elephants as Endangered.
• Each African and Asian elephant faces extinction within twelve years.
• The current dwindling habitat and increasing human elephant conflict have severely affected their numbers. Recently, the Government of India started a portal in view of the human elephant conflict.
• It is important to strengthen human-elephant coexistence in order to reduce the confrontation between both human and elephant and save the valuable life of both.
• According to an estimate, there are about 50,000-60,000 Asian elephants in the world. More than 60% of those elephants live in India.
• Indian elephants are also listed in Appendix I of the Convention of Migratory Species at the recently concluded CMS-13 Conference of Parties in Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat in February 2020.

2. Israel gave India state-of-the-art artificial intelligence-based technology and high-end equipment.

• Recently Israel has provided AIIMS Delhi with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence-based technology and high-end equipment to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
• These include the following equipment -
  • There is a 12-hour disinfection product called CPD that prevents new cases of contamination from spreading.
  • A non-invasive remote patient monitoring system that assists as an initial screening tool for respiratory indicators of suspected Covid-19 patients.
  • Artificial intelligence-based software for ultrasound use of patients specifically designed to fight Covid-19.
  • Israel has also dispatched robotic teleconfiguration and telemonitoring equipment.
• Israel:
  • It is a Middle Eastern country on the Mediterranean Sea.
  • Its capital is Jerusalem and the currency is the Israeli shekel.
  • The Prime Minister of the country is Benjamin Netanyahu.

(Source: News on AIR)

3. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched ICAR Data Recovery Center ‘Krishi Megh’.

• Recently Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched ICAR Data Recovery Center Krishi Megh.
• Krishi Megh is a step towards digital agriculture of New India.
• The move aims to protect the precious data of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the premier research body of the government.
• It is established at the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) in Hyderabad.
• Currently ICAR's main data center is at the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute in the national capital.
• Krishi Megh has been established under the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), funded by both the government and the World Bank.
• The NAHEP was created with the objective of strengthening the national agricultural education system in India, to provide more relevant and high-quality education to agricultural university students, in line with the New Education Policy 2020.

(Source: News on AIR)

Attempt Quiz of Independence Day

 

4. Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank launched the minimum standards of Architectural Education Regulation 2020.

• Recently Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank launched the minimum standards of Architectural Education Regulation 2020 through virtual medium.
• These regulations are designed with a student-centered approach, which will help students learn and develop their skills in a better way.
• It will also enable them to face the challenges of the 21^st century.
• Architectural education regulations have come into existence after a long wait from the old regulations enacted in 1983.
• Since then, a huge change has taken place in the education scenario all over the world.
• Architectural crafts of modern India have the ability to compete with the best crafts in the world.

(Source: News on AIR)

5. Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum will be developed by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs will develop a museum of tribal freedom fighters dedicated to the tribal people who have contributed to the freedom struggle of India.
• On 15 August 2016, the Prime Minister announced the establishment of a museum of tribal freedom fighters on the occasion of Independence Day.
• These museums will display the methods of struggle undertaken to protect the biological and cultural diversity of tribal people, etc., as they have helped in building the nation.
• Presently, it has been approved to build museums in the states of Gujarat, Jharkhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram.
• Out of the 9 freedom fighters’ museums sanctioned, the construction work of 2 museums is nearing completion and remaining 7 museums are in various stages of progress.
• It is estimated that by the end of 2022 all museums will come into existence.
• Apart from this, new museums will also be approved in the coming days with the cooperation of the states.

(Source: News on AIR)

6. Central Board of Direct Taxes disclosed money laundering of more than Rs 1,000 crore.

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes has revealed money laundering of over Rs 1,000 crore involving Chinese and Indian citizens.
• The CBDT said that some Chinese individuals and their Indian partners were involved in money laundering and hawala transactions, through a series of shell entities.
• Money laundering is the hiding of illegally received income and displaying it as income from legitimate sources.
• A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but can have a bank account. It is often used for money laundering.
• Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT):
  • It is a statutory body under the Central Revenue Act, 1963.
  • It deals with matters related to levy and collection of direct taxes like personal income tax, corporate tax, etc.
  • Current Chairman: Mr. Pramod Chandra Modi

7. Eminent Urdu poet and lyricist Rahat Indori died in Indore due to cardiac arrest.

• Recently, famous Urdu poet and lyricist Rahat Indori died in Indore due to cardiac arrest.
• He was 70.
• Rahat Indauri wrote lyrics for hit films like Munnabhai MBBS, Ghatak, Kareeb, and Ishq.
• He received his PhD in Urdu literature from Bhoj University in 1985.
• अजीब लोग हैं मेरी तलाश में मुझ को वहाँ पे ढूँढ रहे हैं, जहाँ नहीं हूँ मैं....................। It was a very famous line said by him.

(Source: News on AIR)

8. Russia has developed first vaccine to protect against the coronavirus.

• Recently Russia has announced to develop the first vaccine to protect against coronavirus.
• Currently, more than 160 companies are making efforts to develop the vaccine, which is in various stages. Vaccines of 27 of these companies are in the phase of experimentation on humans.
• Oxford University and drug manufacturer AstraZeneca is a pioneer in the development of the Coronavirus vaccine.
• Russia became the first country in the world to have launched its own vaccine for the coronavirus.
• Russia:
  • Russia is an intercontinental country located in Eastern Europe and North Asia.
  • Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of area, with a total area of ​​about 17 million square kilometers.
  • The capital of Russia is Moscow and the currency is the Russian ruble.

(Source: News on AIR)

9. Union Jal Shakti Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched the Swachh Bharat Mission Academy.

• Recently, Union Jal Shakti Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched the Swachh Bharat Mission Academy.
• It is an IVR based free mobile online learning course, which can prove to be very important towards achieving the goals set in the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin.
• Swachh Bharat Mission Academy has been launched under the week-long Gandagi Mukt Bharat Abhiyan.
• The objective of the Gandagi Mukt Bharat Abhiyan is to make people aware of cleanliness and change their behavior.

10. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel announced the launch of Indira Van Mitan Yojana.

• Recently Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has announced the launch of Indira Van Mitan Yojana on the occasion of World Tribal Day on August 9, 2020.
• The objective of this scheme is to make the forest dwellers self-reliant.
• Under this scheme, youth groups will be formed in 10,000 villages in the tribal area of ​​the state and all forest-based economic activities will be conducted through these groups.
• Through this scheme, groups will be empowered to manage trees, so that they can collect forest produce from trees in forest areas and derive economic benefits.
• The purchase of forest produce will be arranged through grouping, so that the true value of the forest produce can be obtained.
• A target has been set to connect 19 lakh families of scheduled areas with Indira Van Mitan Yojana.

11. Explosion in Mount Sinabung Volcano of Indonesia.

• Recently Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano was erupted.
• This caused a column of ash of more than 16,000 feet to spread in the air.
• Located in North Sumatra, the volcano became active in 2010, after nearly 400 years of inactivity.
• Indonesia is home to many active volcanoes, being located on the Ring of Fire or the Circum-Pacific Belt.
• The Ring of Fire is home to about 75% volcanoes and about 90% of earthquakes in the world.
• A volcano can be active, dormant or extinct. When the mantle of the Earth melts, it comes to the surface in the form of lava.
  • When magma, which is a concentric substance, is formed, an explosion occurs. Because magma is lighter than solid rock, it is able to come out through cracks on the Earth's surface. After it comes to the surface it is called lava.

(Source: Indian Express)

12. The geothermal springs of the Himalayas release a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

• According to a recent study done by scientists at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, the Himalayan geothermal springs release a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
• The scientists studied geothermal springs, which are spread over an area of ​​about 10,000 square kilometers in the Garhwal region of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand.
• The study has been published in the scientific journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research.
• This research states that these thermal springs derive carbon dioxide, from magnetism, and oxidation of graphite as well as metamorphic DE carbonization of carbonate rocks present in the Himalayan core.
• Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) :
  • It is an autonomous research institute for the study of the geology of the Himalayas under the Department of Science and Technology.
  • It is located in Dehradun Uttarakhand.
  • It was founded in the year 1968.

(Source: Business Standard)

13. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has launched Kisan Sahay Yojana.

• Recently, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has launched Kisan Sahay Yojana in the state.
• This scheme has been introduced in the state in lieu of PM Fasal Beema scheme for 1 year only.
• Under this, farmers facing crop loss due to drought, excess or unseasonal rains will get compensation without paying any premium.
• This year neither the state nor the farmers will have to pay any premium.
• Unlike the PM Fasal Bima Scheme, which protects only those farmers who pay the premium, the scheme will cover all farmers, that too with zero premium.
• Under this, compensation will be given only if the crop loss due to either drought, excess rainfall or unseasonal rainfall is more than 33%.
• Also, a farmer is eligible for compensation for a maximum of four hectares of land.
• For crop losses between 33% and 66%, a farmer will get a compensation of Rs 20,000 per hectare for a maximum of four hectares.
• For crop loss of more than 60%, a farmer will be compensated Rs 25,000 per hectare for a maximum of four hectares.
• Apart from the compensation paid under this scheme, farmers are also eligible to get additional compensation under the State Disaster Response Fund in case of crop loss due to natural calamities.
• This new scheme will benefit all 56 lakh farmers of the state.
• Tribal farmers registered under the Forest Rights Act are also eligible for this scheme.

(Source: News on AIR)