DAILY UPDATES 24 Aug 2020

DAILY UPDATES 24 Aug 2020

1. INAUGURATION OF LONGEST ROPEWAY OF INDIA: The State Minister of Assam, Siddhartha Bhattacharya is to inaugurate the longest ropeway of India across river Brahmaputra on August 25, 2020. It will cut short the travel time by almost an hour. It is 2 km long and the distance is covered in 7 minutes. A one-way ride is to cost Rs 60.
2. GARIB KALYAN ROZGAR ABHIYAN: The Indian Railways have generated more than 6,40,000-man-days under Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan in six states- Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh.
3. DISABLED PERSONS TO BE INCLUDED UNDER NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT (NFSA): On August 23, 2020, The Central Government wrote to the State governments and the Union Territories that all the disabled persons should be included under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The scheme is to lapse on August 31, 2020. Section 10 of NFSA provides coverage of persons under Antyodaya Anna Yojana.
4. STRICTER NORMS TO ENSURE GREATER SAFETY ON HIGHWAYS: The Government of India has proposed stricter norms to ensure greater safety on highways. which includes features such as machine mounted audible travel alarms, requirements for operator station, non-metallic fuel tank, operator visibility for construction equipment machinery.
   
5. BIS DRAFT STANDARD FOR DRINKING WATER SUPPLY: The Bureau of Indian Standards has prepared a draft standard for the supply of piped drinking water. It has been named “Drinking Water Supply Quality Management System-requirements for piped drinking water supply service”.
6. 412 INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS HIT BY COST RUN: The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation announced that around 412 infrastructure projects each of worth Rs 150 crores have been hit with a cost overrun of Rs 4.11 lakh crores. The average time overrun of these projects is 43.34 months.
7. DRAGONFLY FESTIVAL, 2020: The World Wide Fund along with the Bombay Natural History Society launched the third edition of Dragonfly festival, 2020. The Dragonfly festival was begun in 2018. It aims to educate and inform the public about the integral role of dragonflies.
8. NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TRANSGENDER PERSONS: The Government of India has constituted National Council for Transgender Persons. It will be headed by the Union Social Justice Minister. It comprises of members from 10 central departments, members from the community and central department.
9. The State-Owned Technology Parks in India (STPI) is to have the largest ecosystem to incubate new technologies. This is to be achieved by setting up 21 Centres of Excellence in these parks.
10. CHINA-MYANMAR ECONOMIC CORRIDOR (CMEC): Myanmar has pushed back against China after trying to widen its influence through the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC). Presently, Myanmar buys its arms and ammunition from India, Russia, Ukraine, Israel and other European and Central Asian countries.
11. NORMAL FUNCTIONING OF LOWER COURTS BY VIRTUAL MODE: The Orissa High Court has ordered for the resumption of the functioning of subordinate courts in the State for usual official timings through virtual mode or video conferencing till September 16.
12. 65 SECRETARIAT STAFF DEPLOYS AT BMC FOR COVID-19 DUTY: The Home department has deputed 64 employees of the state Secretariat to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) for COVID-19 duty. [The department has asked 50 Assistant Section Officers (ASO) and 15 data entry operators (DEOs) to join duty at the civic body’s COVID-19 Control Room till September 19, according to a notification issued on Saturday.]
13. FORESTRY PROJECTS: The Odisha government will execute forestry projects worth Rs 602 crore under the MGNREGA scheme in the current fiscal
14. Peter Mackler award 2020: Kashmiri photojournalist has been awarded the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism 2020.
15. POLICE LOCKDOWN RAID AT PERU DISCO ‘13’ DIED: 13 die in Peru disco stampede after a police raid to enforce COVID-19 lockdown. where about 120 people had gathered for a party on Saturday night, Some 23 people were arrested, and 15 of those tested positive for the new coronavirus and will be quarantined, Claudio Ramírez, a Health Ministry official said.
16. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced plans to reserve government jobs only for residents of Madhya Pradesh, colleges offering have also raised the issue of 25 per cent quota to other state students in teacher education programmes.