Daily Current Affairs and GK | 26 August 2021

Topic: Appointments

1. Abhay Kumar Singh appointed as joint secretary in newly created Ministry of Cooperation.

• Abhay Kumar Singh has been appointed as joint secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation. The government has created Ministry of Co-operation to strengthen cooperative movement in India.
• He is a 2004-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Bihar cadre. His appointment has been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
• Vijaya Lakshmi Nadendla and Priya Ranjan have been appointed as joint secretaries in the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Pramod Kumar Meherda has been appointed as Managing Director in National Food Security Mission (NFSM).
• Kavita Garg has been named as joint secretary in the Ministry of AYUSH. Vibhu Nayar has been appointed as Executive Director of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO).
• Sreekanth T has been appointed as Deputy Election Commissioner.

Topic: Report and Indices

2. Copenhagen is the safest city in the world.

• According to this year’s EIU’s Safe Cities Index, Copenhagen is the safest city in the world. It is the fourth edition of EIU’s Safe Cities Index.
• Copenhagen topped the Index with 82.4 points. Toronto and Singapore have been placed on the second and third positions respectively.
• EIU’s Safe Cities Index this year ranked 60 cities across 76 indicators of security grouped under 5 domains. For the First time, environmental security metric has been included in this index.
• Toronto and Copenhagen have performed better in the environmental security pillar.
• Lagos, Cairo, Caracas, Karachi, and Yangon are one of the least safe cities in the world.
• Digital security has become a high priority area for all countries after all things have gone online.
• The Index was released by for the first time in 2015 with 44 indicators and 50 cities. Tokyo topped the index in 2015, 2017 and 2019. 
• Indian Cities, New Delhi and Mumbai were ranked 48th and 50th in the 2021 index respectively.
• World’s top 5 safest cities are:

Topic: Personality in News

3. Former Indian footballer O Chandrasekharan dies.

• Former Indian footballer O Chandrasekharan has died at the age of 86 in Kochi.
• He played as a defender. He was a member of Indian football team in the 1960 Rome Olympics. This was last time India participated in football at the Olympic Games.
• Syed Shahid Hakim (SS Hakim), another player from that Olympics team, passed away recently just a few days ago.
• SS Hakim was a Dronacharya Awardee. He was also conferred with Dhyan Chand Award.
• O Chandrasekharan captained the Indian football team in some matches in the 1960s.
• O Chandrasekharan is popularly known as Olympian Chandrasekharan in his home state Kerala.
• He was also a member of Indian teams that won gold in the 1962 Asian Games, silver in the 1964 AFC Asian Cup, silver in the Merdeka Tournament (1959 and 1964).
• He was also captain of Maharashtra team that won the Santosh Trophy national championship in 1963.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

4. The signing of MoU between ICAI and Institute of Professional Accountants of Russia (IPAR) approved by Union Cabinet.

• The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and IPAR has been approved by Union Cabinet.
• The proposed MoU aims to strengthen cooperation in matters of the accountancy profession.
• It is also intended to promote mutual cooperation through seminars, conferences and joint activities mutually beneficial to both parties.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

5. Government to launch special incentive scheme to support 75 start-ups.

• The government is planning to launch a special incentive scheme to support 75 start-ups in areas of telemedicine, digital health, and artificial intelligence.
• The scheme will be launched by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
• The scheme will be launched as part of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' initiative. The main challenge of the scheme is to identify the topmost 75 innovative startups.
• The scheme will promote research and development in the health sector.

Topic: Defence

6. Indo-Kazakhstan joint training exercise ‘KAZIND-21’ to commence from 30 August.

• The Indo- Kazakhstan Joint Training Exercise, KAZIND-21 will be conducted from 30 August to September 11. It will be the fifth edition of this joint training exercise.
• It will be conducted at Aisha Bibi in Kazakhstan between both countries’ armies.
• It will provide an opportunity for both armed forces to enhance their skills in Counter Insurgency and Counter-Terrorism operations in mountainous and rural regions.
• The exercise will strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices between both countries’ armed forces. 
• The exercise is part of efforts for strengthening the bilateral relations between India and Kazakhstan.
• The Indian Army contingent will be represented by a battalion of The Bihar Regiment. The Kazakhstan Army will be represented by a company group.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

7. AICTE and BPR&D to launch MANTHAN-2021 for addressing the security challenges of the 21^st century.

• All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) will launch MANTHAN-2021.
• MANTHAN 2021 is a Hackathon to identify innovative concepts and technology solutions for the security challenges of the 21^st century faced by our intelligence agencies.
• It will be organized from 28^th November to 1^st December 2021. It is a platform for youths to show their technical expertise and innovative skills.
• The participants will develop digital solutions under 6 themes for 20 different challenge statements by using Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Augmented reality, Machine Learning, etc.

Topic: Agriculture

8. Government approves sugarcane FRP at Rs 290 per quintal for 2021-22.

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the fair and remunerative price (FRP) at Rs 290 per quintal of sugarcane for the 2021-22 marketing year.
• The government had fixed sugarcane FRP at Rs 285 per quintal for the current 2020-21 marketing year.
• Now, FRP has been increased to Rs 290 per quintal for a basic recovery rate of 10 percent. A premium of Rs 2.90/quintal will be provided for each 0.1 percent increase in recovery over and above 10%.
• The FRP of Rs 290 per quintal is 87 percent higher than the production cost. The cost of production of sugarcane for the sugar season 2021-22 is Rs 155 per quintal. The government decision will benefit around 5 crore sugarcane farmers.
• FRP is the minimum price that sugar mills have to pay to the sugarcane farmers. The FRP of sugarcane is prescribed under the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966.
• The FRP is determined on the basis of recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and after consultation with State Governments and other stakeholders.

Topic: Sports

9. Tek Chand named as new flag bearer of India for opening ceremony at Tokyo Paralympics.

• Javelin Thrower Tek Chand carried India's flag at the Tokyo Paralympics opening ceremony.
• Tek Chand has been named as India's flag-bearer after Thangavelu Mariyappan was quarantined.
• The Tokyo Paralympics 2020 is scheduled to be organized from 24 August to 5 September.
• Tek Chand had won a bronze medal at the Para Asian games in 2018. He started the javelin throw game in 2016 and he was coached by Satbir Singh.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

10. NSA Ajit Doval hosted IBSA National Security Advisers meeting.

• National Security Adviser Ajit Doval hosted the inaugural meeting of the IBSA National Security Advisers.
• The meeting was organized as part of the preparations for the next IBSA Summit. India is the current chair of the IBSA.
• The IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) has emerged as an important group for the promotion of cooperation in a range of areas.
• Participating leaders agreed upon that cross-border terrorism is the most important threat to global peace.
• ‘IBSAMAR’ maritime exercise will be also organized soon to strengthen mechanisms against piracy and drug and human trafficking.
• Recently, India hosted the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) Tourism Ministers’ virtual meeting.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

11. Yashodhara Mishra and Omcherry N.N. Pillai will be conferred Sahitya Akademi awards.

• Yashodhara Mishra and Omcherry N.N. Pillai will be conferred Sahitya Akademi awards for their outstanding work in Odia and Malayalam respectively.
• Yashodhara Mishra has been selected for her work Samudrakula Ghara and Omcherry N.N. Pillai has been awarded for his work Akasmikam Omcheriyute Ormmakkurippukal.
• Earlier, Tamil writer Imayam has won the Sahitya Akademi Award for 2020 for his novel Sellatha Panam.