CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR UPSC & OTHER COMPETITIVE EXAMS
10th SEPTEMBER 2020
World Suicide Prevention Day
1.1 World Suicide Prevention Day is observed annually on 10 September to raise awareness regarding the subject of suicide and the actions that can be taken to prevent these tragedies on a global scale.
1.2 In 2003, the first-ever World Suicide Prevention Day was observed by the International Association for Suicide Prevention in collaboration with the World Health Organisation & the World Federal for Mental Health.
1.3 According to WHO data, 8 lakh people die each year due to suicide or 1 death in every 40 seconds. 20 million suicide attempts are made by people every year.
1.4 Theme for 2020 - ‘Working together to prevent suicide’.
PM held ‘Svanidhi Samvad’ with Street Vendors from Madhya Pradesh
2.1 Hon’ble Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has held ‘Svanidhi Samvad’ with street vendors from Madhya Pradesh.
2.2 Notably, M.P is the state in which maximum number of street vendors registered themselves with the PM Svanidhi Scheme.
2.3 PM Svanidhi Scheme was launched on 1 June 2020, to help poor street vendors, who were badly affected by the Covid-19 crisis and to resume their livelihood activities.
2.4 Almost 4.5 lakh street vendors registered themselves with the scheme in M.P out of which acceptance has been granted to around 1.4 lakh street vendors of amount worth Rs 140 crore.
2.5 The Prime Minister said the aim of the Svanidhi yojana is to provide Swarozgar, Svavlamban, and Swabhimaan (Self Employment, Self-Sustenance, and Self-Confidence) to the Street Vendors.
2.6 Under the scheme, one can get registered with the scheme through the common service center or in the municipality office by uploading the application & not only this Business Correspondent from the bank and municipal staff can also come and take the application from the street vendors.
2.7 This scheme gives up to 7 percent rebate on the interest and if one repays the money taken from the bank within 1 year, then one will get an interest rebate. In digital transactions, there is a cashback also.
2.8 PM also said that the Government is now going to bring an Online platform so that all the Street Vendors can conduct their business transactions digitally and the scheme beneficiaries will also get access to the Ujjwala gas scheme, Ayushman Bharat scheme, etc on a priority basis.
PM to launch several initiatives in the Fisheries & Animal Husbandry Sector
3.1 Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will digitally launch the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) on 10th September.
The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) is a flagship scheme for focused and sustainable development of fisheries sector in the country with an estimated investment of Rs. 20,050 crores for its implementation during a period of 5 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 in all States/UTs, as a part of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Package.
The aim is to enhance fish production by an additional 70 lakh tonne by 2024-25, increasing fisheries export earnings to Rs.1,00,000 crore by 2024-25, doubling of incomes of fishers and fish farmers, reducing post-harvest losses from 20-25% to about 10%, and generation of additional 55 lakhs direct and indirect gainful employment opportunities in fisheries sector and allied activities.
3.2 The establishment of Fish Brood Bank at Sitamarhi, and of Aquatic Disease Referral Laboratory at Kishanganj, will be announced by PM.
3.3 He will inaugurate one-unit fish feed mill at Madhepura and two units of ‘Fish on Wheels’ assisted at Patna under Blue Revolution.
3.4 Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Comprehensive Fish Production Technology Centre at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar.
3.5 He will launch e-Gopala App: a comprehensive breed improvement marketplace and information portal for the direct use of farmers.
3.6 He will also inaugurate Semen Station with state of the art facilities, which has been established under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission in Purnea, Bihar, IVF lab established at Animal Sciences University, Patna under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission.
2nd Kisan Rail flagged off
4.1 The Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar has flagged off the 2nd Kisan Rail between Anantpur (A.P) to New Delhi.
4.2 AP has 1st rank in the country in the production of tomatoes, coconut, papaya and chillies and is the biggest fruit producing state in South India & Anantpur is becoming the ‘Fruit Bowl’ of Andhra Pradesh.
4.3 More than 80% of the 58 lakh MT of fruits & vegetables in the district is marketed out of the state, particularly to the north Indian States of Delhi, UP, Punjab, and Haryana among others.
4.4 Kisan Rail and Kisan Udaan had been announced in this year’s budget so that farm produce is able to be transported all over the country in less time. The first Kisan Rail was flagged off between Devlali in Maharashtra and Danapur in Bihar as a weekly service, which was later made bi-weekly due to increasing demand.
ARISE-ANIC Initiative launched by Atal Innovation Mission
5.1 The Atal Innovation Mission, Niti Ayog, has launched the Aatmnirbhar Bharat ARISE- Atal New India Challenges to boost applied research & innovation in Indian MSMEs & Startups.
5.2 Three challenges will be given each by ISRO, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Food Processing Industry, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, & Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs. There will be two winners in each challenge.
5.3 The programme will provide funding of up to Rs, 50 lakhs for speedy development of the proposed technology solution and/or product.
Fit India Freedom Run Event flags off in Kolkata
6.1 The Sports Authority of India regional center in Kolkata organized a Fit India Freedom Run event at the Netaji Subhash Eastern Centre.
6.2 The event was flagged off by Bula Choudhury, an Arjuna Awardee, Padmashree Awardee, and former national women’s swimming champion who became the first woman to swim across five sea channels.
IAF to induct Rafale jets on 10 September.
7.1 IAF will induct the first batch of five Rafale fighter jets into the Indian Air Force on September 10.
7.2 These five jets arrived in India on 29th July 2020.
7.3 French Defence Minister will also attend the event besides the Union Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh in Ambala.
US defense firm names its new spacecraft after Kalpana Chawla
8.1 US defense contractor Northrop Grumman has named its NG-14 Cygnus spacecraft upon late astronaut, S.S Kalpana Chawla.
8.2 Chawla is the pride for India as she was the first woman of Indian descent to go to space.
‘Clone Train’ scheme announced by Railways for waitlisted passengers
9.1 The Indian Railways has announced a ‘Clone Train’ scheme for waitlisted passengers.
9.2 Under this scheme, a clone train will be run as an alternative to the actual one where the waitlist is long.
School disruption could have decades-long economic impact: OECD
10.1 According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development , the disruption in schooling due to the pandemic will cause skill loss that will lead to a 1.5 % drop in global economic output for the rest of this century.
10.2 According to UN, around 1.5 billion children were affected by school closures globally.
Covid-19 drug Remdesivir, has launched as ‘Redyx’ in India
11.1 Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has launched Remdesivir under the brand name ‘Redyx’ in India for the treatment of Covid-19 patients with severe symptoms.
11.2 The Drug Controller General of India had approved Remdesivir for restricted emergency use.
13 million year old fossil of newly discovered ape species found in Uttarakhand
12.1 The species is the earliest known ancestor of the modern day gibbon.
12.2 The fossil belongs to a previously unknown genus & species, Kapi Ramnagarensis.
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