CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR UPSC & OTHER COMPETITIVE EXAMS
7th SEPTEMBER 2020
International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies
1.1 The first International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies will be celebrated on 7th September 2020
1.2 The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution to hold an International Day of Clean Air for blue skies on December 19, 2019, during its 74th session and invited the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to facilitate the observance of the International Day, in collaboration with other relevant organizations.
1.3 The Day aims to:
Raise public awareness at all levels—individual, community, corporate, and government—that clean air is important for health, productivity, the economy, and the environment.
Demonstrate the close link of air quality to other environmental/developmental challenges such as – most and foremost – climate change and the global Sustainable Development Goals.
Promote and facilitate solutions that improve air quality by sharing actionable knowledge best practices, innovations, and success stories.
Bring together diverse international actors working on this topic to form a strategic alliance to gain momentum for concerted national, regional, and international approaches for effective air quality management.
1.4 On this day the Union Minister for Environment, Prakash Javadekar, will chair a webinar & will review the activities under the National Clean Air Programme.
Govt. expands support to Artisans making Agarbatti
2.1 Government of India expands the support to artisans manifold, for making agarbatti, to make India Aatma- Nirbhar.
2.2 The four main pillars of the new program are-
i) Continuously supporting the artisans through training, raw material, marketing, and financial support;
ii) Working on all aspects of this product, like innovation in the fragrance & packaging, use of new/alternate raw materials like re-usable flowers, coir pith, etc., supply of bamboo sticks by closely working with the Ministry of Agriculture, etc. A ‘Center of Excellence’ for this purpose is being set up in FFDC (Flavour and Fragrance Development Center) Kannauj;
iii) Setting up 10 clusters with proper marketing linkages under SFURTI (Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) scheme of the Ministry of MSME at a total cost of about Rs. 50 Crs, to benefit about 5000 artisans for their sustainable employment and enhanced earnings;
iv) Strengthen the machine manufacturing capability to achieve self-sufficiency in the country and develop various other products by setting up ‘Centers of Excellence’ with IITs/NITs etc. at a cost of Rs. 2.20 crore.
2.3 400 Automatic Agarbatti making machines to be provided as against 200 earlier.
2.4 Artisans developing hand-rolled Agarbatti and ‘Migrant workers’ to be given preference.
2.5 Overall size of the Programme enhanced sharply to Rs 55 crore against Rs 2.66crore earlier.
2.6 Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to implement the programme.
President & PM to address the Governor’s Conference on NEP-2020
3.1 On 7th September, Hon’ble President of India, Ram Nath Kovind & Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, will address the Governor’s Conference on National Education Policy 2020.
3.2 The Conference titled “Role of NEP-2020 in Transforming Higher Education” will be organized by the Ministry of Education, Govt of India.
3.3 NEP-2020 is the first education policy of the twenty-first century which was announced after 34 years of the previous National Policy on Education 1986. NEP-2020 is directed towards major reforms in both school and higher education level.
Third Rashtriya Poshan Maah
4.1 The 3rd Rashtriya Poshan Maah is being celebrated during the month of September 2020.
4.2 Every year the Poshan Maah is celebrated under POSHAN Abhiyaan (PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment), which was launched in 2018.
4.3 Ministry of Women and Child Development, being the nodal Ministry for POSHAN Abhiyaan, is celebrating the Poshan Maah in convergence with partner Ministries and departments, at National, States/UTs, Districts, and grass-root level.
4.4 The objective of the Poshan Maah is to encourage Jan Bhagidaari, in order to create a Jan Andolan, for addressing malnutrition amongst young children, and women and to ensure health and nutrition for everyone.
4.5 Identification of Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) Children and their management and plantation of Poshan Vaatikas- Nutri gardens, will be undertaken as focus activities during Poshan Maah, along with awareness generation regarding the importance of early breastfeeding, Need for good nutrition during the first 1000 days of life, measures for reducing Anaemia in young women and children, etc.
Futuristic Airplane ‘Flying-V’ conducted successful maiden test flight.
5.1 ‘Flying-V’ is a futuristic airplane, developed by researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and partner Dutch airline KLM, to take the highly anticipated aircraft along its next developmental steps.
5.2 The maiden test flight has successfully conducted of the plane which could carry passengers in its wings.
5.3 The aircraft’s design places the passenger cabin, the cargo hold and the fuel tanks in the wings, and experts hope that the plane's aerodynamic shape will cut fuel consumption by 20% compared to today's aircrafts.
First-ever digital India Couture Week to begin on 18 September
6.1 The first-ever digital edition of India Couture Week, organized by the Fashion Design Council of India will be held from 18 September.
Unemployment Rate in India at 8.35% in August 2020: CMIE
7.1 According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. (CMIE), the unemployment rate in India has risen to 8.35% in August 2020.
7.2 The months of April & May had reported the highest unemployment rates at 23.52% & 21.73% respectively.
Chandrayaan-1 orbiter data shows Moon rusting at poles
8.1 ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1 orbiter data shows that the moon is having rust at its poles.
8.2 Scientists suggested Earth’s magnetotail has a mediating effect on the hydrogen, which prevents rust from occurring, being delivered by the solar wind on the Moon.
8.3 The Magnetotail also helps carry Earth’s upper atmosphere oxygen to the Moon that helps the formation of rust.
GREGOR captures the highest resolution pics of the Sun ever by a European Telescope
9.1 GREGOR, the largest solar telescope in Europe, has obtained new images of the Sun that reveals details of sunspot evolution & intricate structures in the solar plasma.
9.2 These are the highest resolution images of the Sun ever taken by a European Telescope.
SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites, claims 100 Mbps speed
10.1 SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space exploration company has launched 60 more satellites under its 12th Starlink mission.
10.2 Starlink in SpaceX’s plan of a satellite internet constellation that will provide satellite Internet access.
10.3 The satellites have shown “super-low latency & download speeds greater than 100 Mbps”.
10.4 The company has launched more than 700 satellites under the mission.
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