Current Affairs, August 2020

31st August, Current Affairs:

• The former President of India Pranab Mukherjee passes away at the age of 84. He had been in coma after a brain surgery earlier this month and also found Covid positive.
• India's gross domestic product or GDP contracted 23.9 per cent in the April-June period.
• Onam festival being celebrated across country today.
• India and Russia were declared joint winners of the Online Chess Olympiad. This was the first time FIDE, the international chess federation, was holding the Olympiad in an online format, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• High-level delegations flew from Israel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the first-ever commercial flight between the Middle Eastern nations.

29th August, Current Affairs:

• President Ram Nath Kovind today virtually conferred the National Sports and Adventure Award 2020 on the occasion of National Sports Day. Mr Kovind presented Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award, Dhyan Chand Award, Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.
• Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer at the age of 43.

28th August, Current Affairs:

• Shinzo Abe has resigned as the Prime Minister of Japan due to his worsening health condition. He is the longest serving Prime Minister of Japan.
• The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly has passed a resolution to bring the state under the ambit of Sixth Schedule of the Constitution besides amending Article 371(H) being provisions to safeguard tribes of the state.
• The Dutch author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld has become the youngest to win the International Booker Prize. He won the prize for his debut novel “The Discomfort of Evening”.

27th August, Current Affairs:

• Astronaut Jeanette Epps is set to create history by becoming the first black woman to serve as an International Space Station (ISS) crew member. Epss has been selected by NASA for a 2021 mission aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.
• West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo became the first bowler to take 500 T20 wickets. Bravo achieved the feat during the CPL match between Trinbago Knight Riders and St Lucia Zouks.
• Second Phase clinical trials of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine begin in Chennai and Pune.

26th August, Current Affairs:

• England's pacer James Anderson dismissed Azhar Ali to become the first pacer in the history of Test cricket to take 600 wickets. James Anderson took 156 matches to take 600 Test wickets. Muttiah Muralitharan with 800, Shane Warne with 708 and Anil Kumble with 619 wickets are the only other bowlers - all spinners - who remain ahead of Anderson on the all-time list of wicket-takers.
• A student from Mathematics at Delhi's St Stephen's College, Neelkantha Bhanu Prakash holds the world record for being the 'fastest human calculator'. Neelkantha Bhanu Prakash is from Hyderabad has won the first gold medal for India at the Mental Calculation World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad held in London recently.
• India's first multi-wavelength satellite, AstroSat has detected an extreme ultraviolet (UV) light from a galaxy which is 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth.
• World Health Organization has declared Africa free of polio. This was announced by WHO Regional Director of Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti.

25th August, Current Affairs:

• The Republican National Convention (RNC) has formally re-nominated President Donald Trump as the party’s Presidential candidate for the November 3 election.
• The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today filed a charge sheet in the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack case in which it named 19 people who it said carried out the bombing at Pakistan’s behest.

24th August, Current Affairs:

• The International Cricket Council on Sunday announced the latest inductees in ICC's Hall of Fame - Jacques Kallis, Zaheer Abbas and Lisa Sthalekar. The retired legend will form the Class of 2020.
• Bayern Munich won the Champions League title for the sixth time as Kingsley Coman's goal gave them a 1-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in Lisbon.
• India's longest river ropeway on Brahmaputra inaugurated today. The Guwahati-North Guwahati ropeway is 2km long and the distance will be covered in seven minutes.

22nd August, Current Affairs:

• Amid the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions on public movement, the 10-day Ganesh festival started in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra today.
• The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has given an approval to Bharat Biotech International Ltd to conduct a separate trial for administrating ‘Covaxin’, its covid-19 vaccine candidate, through intradermal route, that is just under the skin, as against the intramuscular route in the current trial.
• Government today announced the National Sports Awards 2020. Cricketer Rohit Sharma, Para-Athlete Mariyappan Thangavelu, Table Tennis player Manika Batra, Wrestler Vinesh Phogat and Indian Women's Hockey team captain Rani Rampal will receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. This year 27 sportspersons have been selected for the Arjuna Award for consistent outstanding performance for four years.
• Former Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar has been appointed Election Commissioner and will take charge from August 31.
• Sevilla registered a 3-2 win over Inter Milan to win their sixth Europa League crown.

21st August, Current Affairs:

• The Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) relaxed norms to pay 50 per cent of average wages of three months as unemployment benefit between March 24 and December 31 this year in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• US Democrat Joe Biden has officially accepted the presidential nomination of his party.

20th August, Current Affairs:

• In the Swachh Survekshan Results for 2020, Indore in Madhya Pradesh retained its position as the cleanest city in India for the fourth consecutive year. Gujarat’s Surat bagged the second spot, Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai ranked third. In cities with a population of less than 1 lakh, Karad, Saswad and Lonavla in Maharashtra ranked in the top three positions. The results were announced by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at a ceremony.
• Jamia Millia Islamia has bagged the first spot among all central universities in the country in rankings released by the ministry of education with a score of 90%. Rajiv Gandhi University of Arunachal Pradesh and JNU bagged second and third position respectively.
• U.S. Senator Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for Vice President.

19th August, Current Affairs:

• Union Cabinet approved a proposal to set up National Recruitment Agency that will conduct Common Eligibility Test (CET) for selection to non-gazetted posts in the central government and public sector banks.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for leasing out Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvanathapuram airports of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) through Public-Private Partnership.
• Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has announced his resignation amid a military coup.

18th August, Current Affairs:

• The chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security Rakesh Asthana has been appointed the Director General of Border Security Force.
• Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik has been moved to Meghalaya and Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has been given additional charge of Goa.
• India’s limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma, star wrestler Vinesh Phogat, TT player Manika Batra and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu were picked for this year’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the sports ministry’s selection committee.
• Fantasy sports platform Dream11 signed a ₹222-crore deal with BCCI for title sponsorship rights for the upcoming season of IPL.

17th August, Current Affairs:

• Music legend Pandit Jasraj dies of cardiac arrest in US at the age of 90. Pandit Jasraj was a recipient of several prestigious awards including Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan as well as Padma Vibhushan.
• Former cricketer and UP cabinet minister Chetan Chauhan died on Sunday due to COVID-19 related complications at the age of 73. He played 40 Tests for India.
• 4G services resume in Ganderbal and Udhampur districts - one each in Kashmir and Jammu divisions as a trial, more than a year after it was suspended.
• Lewis Hamilton claimed his 88th Formula One career victory. He breaks Michael Schumacher's record with Spanish Grand Prix win. Hamilton broke Michael Schumacher's record, with his 156th podium finish.
• Simona Halep won the Prague Open after defeating Elise Mertens 6-2, 7-5.
• The 2020-21 season of the Indian Super League will be held behind closed doors in Goa.

15th August, Current Affairs:

• India is celebrating 74th Independence Day today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoisted the national flag at the ramparts of the historic Red Fort in Delhi and addressed the nation
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced an undersea optical fibre cable link to connect Lakshadweep with mainland India.
• President Ram Nath Kovind has approved 84 gallantry awards for defence personnel, including nine Shaurya Chakra. The Kirti Chakra has been posthumously awarded to Abdul Rashid Kalas, Head Constable, Jammu and Kashmir Police.
• A total of 926 Police personnel have been awarded Medals on the occasion of Independence Day. Police Medals for Gallantry have been awarded to 215 police personnel for their conspicuous gallant action.
• The United Nations Security Council has resoundingly rejected a bid by the United States to extend a global arms embargo on Iran.
• MS Dhoni has announced his retirement from international cricket. MS Dhoni had last played international cricket in the 2019 World Cup. Dhoni, who had announced his retirement from Tests in 2014, has played 350 ODIs and 98 T20Is. In 350 ODIs, Dhoni has scored 10773 runs at an average of 50.57. He has 10 centuries and 73 fifties to his name.

14th August, Current Affairs:

• President address Nation on eve of Independence Day. He hailed the efforts of the Centre, State and Union Territories in effective management of the COVID-19.
• A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court found civil rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt by ‘scandalising the court’.
• The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government won the confidence vote in the Rajasthan Assembly.
• Israel and the UAE agreed to full normalization of relations in a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, marking the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country in 25 years.

13th August, Current Affairs:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a platform to honour the honest taxpayers of the country. According to the government, the “Transparent Taxation - Honoring The Honest” platform will initiate major tax reforms aimed at bringing transparency in income tax systems and empowering taxpayers.
• India’s retail inflation accelerated to 6.93% in July from 6.23% in the preceding month.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the longest-serving non-Congress prime minister in India. PM Modi has surpassed BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee who served 2,268 days in Prime Minister's Office.

12th August, Current Affairs:

• World Elephant Day is observed today.
• International Youth Day is celebrated today.
• The festival of Janmashtami, which marks the birth of Lord Krishna, is being celebrated in different parts of the country today.
• Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden today picked Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. It makes her the first Black woman and the first Asian-American woman to be selected as the vice presidential nominee of a major party.

11th August, Current Affairs:

• Russia became the first country in the world to register a COVID-19 vaccine. Russia has developed the first vaccine offering "sustainable immunity" against the coronavirus, President Vladimir Putin announced today. Moscow has dubbed its new coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V.
• Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries has been ranked 96th in 2020 Fortune Global 500 list released today. This is the highest any Indian company has been ranked on the Fortune Global 500 listever.
• Celebrated poet and lyricist Rahat Indori passed away of cardiac arrest after being tested positive for the novel coronavirus. He was 70 years old.

9th August, Current Affairs:

• Mahinda Rajapaksa was administered the oath of office for the ninth Parliament by his younger brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Rajamaha Viharaya in Kelaniya, a north Colombo suburb.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a debt financing facility under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund with a budget of ₹ 1 lakh crore. Prime Minister also electronically transferred ₹ 17,100 crores to the bank accounts of over 8.5 crore farmers as part of the PM-KISAN scheme, aimed at providing direct support of ₹ 6,000 annually to them.
• International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples or World Tribal Day is being observed today.

8th August, Current Affairs:

• Eighteen people, including both pilots, were killed after an Air India Express flight from Dubai carrying 190 people skidded off a table top runway in heavy rain and broke into pieces on Friday evening at Kozhikode airport in Kerala.
• Australia will host this year's postponed Twenty20 World Cup in 2022 with India retaining their tournament next year.
• The ICC also confirmed the women’s 50-over World Cup that was scheduled to be held in New Zealand in February-March next year has been postponed to 2022 following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Mukesh Ambani has surged past Europe’s wealthiest man Bernard Arnault, making him the world’s fourth-richest person. Reliance Industries' chairman is now worth $80.6 bn.
• President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, former two-term President Mahinda Rajapaksa wins a landslide win in Sri Lanka's parliamentary election.

7th August, Current Affairs:

• Former Jammu & Kashmir Governor Girish Chandra Murmu has been appointed the next Comptroller Auditor General. He will succeed Rajiv Mehrishi.
• National Handloom Day is observed today to commemorate the Swadeshi Movement which was launched on this day in 1905 in the Calcutta Town hall to protest against the partition of Bengal by the British Government.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide funding of $150 million to Serum Institute of India (SII) to manufacture 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for India and low-and-middle income countries. Indian drugmaker has earlier joined hands with Astra Zeneca and Novavax to develop their COVID-19 candidates.
• Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today launched its Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy. In a bid to curb the air pollution problem in the national capital, the Delhi government is planning to facilitate faster adoption of EVs along with targeting registering 5 lakh EVs in Delhi by calendar year 2024.
• US President Donald Trump has signed executive orders banning popular Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat, terming them a threat to national security and to the country's economy. The ban comes into effect in 45 days.
• Dr. Pradeep Kumar Joshi took oath as Chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

6th August, Current Affairs:

• Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Manoj Sinha appointed as the new Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir after Girish Chandra Murmu resigned yesterday.
• RBI monetary policy committee has decided to unanimously leave the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent.
• Japan on Thursday marked 75 years since the world's first atomic bomb attack. The bomb attack on Hiroshima killed around 140,000 people, many of them instantly, with others perishing in the weeks and months that followed, suffering radiation sickness, devastating burns and other injuries.

5th August, Current Affairs:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today performed Bhoomi Poojan and laid the foundation stone of Grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya. With this ceremony, the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya starts today.
• About 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were stored in the Beirut port warehouse that exploded, devastating large parts of the Lebanese capital and killed more than 100 people and 4000 others injured.
• Theatre doyen, legendary drama teacher and connoisseur of the arts Ebrahim Alkazi died on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack, his son said. He was 94. He is also known as "Father of Indian Theatre" for his contribution.
• In Sri Lanka, polling is being held for general elections to elect 225 members for its 16th Parliament with strict health guidelines amidst COVID situation.

4th August, Current Affairs:

• VIVO has pulled out as the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for this year's edition amid row in the backdrop of the clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh in June.
• Pradeep Singh has topped the Civil Services Examination, 2019, followed by Jatin Kishore and Pratibha Verma, according to the results declared by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) today.

3rd August, Current Affairs:

• Raksha Bandhan, the festival of special bond between brothers and sisters was celebrated across the country today.
• Mumbai becomes first Indian city to get traffic lights with female figures.
• VIVO IPL 2020 will be played from 19th September and the final will be played on 10th November 2020. IPL GC decided to stage the tournament in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the matches will be played in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi subject to necessary clearances from the Government of India.
• The United Kingdom is considering minting a coin to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi, amid growing interest in recognising the contributions of people from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic (BAME) communities.
• The SpaceX Dragon Capsule carrying Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken came down in the Gulf of Mexico just south of Pensacola on Florida's Gulf coast. The two US astronauts who were sent to the International Space Station two months ago return to the planet Earth safely following a 21-hour overnight journey.

2nd August, Current Affairs:

• Union home minister Amit Shah has tested positive for coronavirus. He has been admitted to Medanta hospital, located in Haryana's Gurugram near Delhi.
• Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari took charge as commander-in-chief of the Indian Air Force's Western Air Command (WAC).
• UP's Cabinet minister for Technical Education Kamal Rani Varun succumbed to Covid-19 on Sunday at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Science in Luchnow.
• UAE becomes first country in Arab World to produce nuclear energy as the Barakah Nuclear Plant's 1st Unit got operational.
• Arsenal skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice to help his side secure a 2-1 win over 10-man Chelsea in the FA Cup final for a record-extending 14th FA Cup Trophy.
• FC Porto defeated Benfica 2-1 to win the Portuguese Cup for the 17th time.

1st August, Current Affairs:

• Eid-ul-Azha or Baqraeed is being celebrated with religious fervour today in India.
• Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has died after battling an illness at the age of 64.
• One Nation One Ration card scheme has been extended to four more states from today. They are Manipur, Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. By 31st March next year, all the states will be covered under One Nation One Ration card so that all 81 crore beneficiaries can avail benefit under this scheme.
• PSG defeated Lyon 6-5 on penalties in the French League Cup final to clinch the French League Cup title.

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