Daily Current Affairs, 13th August 2020

1) Jal Shakti Minister launches Swachh Bharat Mission Academy

•The Swachh Bharat Mission Academy has been launched by the Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The SBM academy was launched during the current week-long behaviour change campaign ‘GandagiMukt Bharat’. The launch of SBM academy is a crucial part of the phase 2 of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen). It will ensure behaviour change and promote the capacity building of the key stakeholders such as Swachhagrahis, PRIs members, community-based organizations, NGOs, SHGs etc.

2) Atal Innovation Mission & Dell Technologies launches “SEP 2.0”

•The second edition of Student Entrepreneurship Programme (SEP 2.0) has been rolled out by the Niti Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in collaboration with Dell Technologies. The Student Entrepreneurship Programme has been launched for the young innovators of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) as it will enable them to work closely with Dell volunteers.

•The young innovators who are part of SEP 2.0 will get mentor support, prototyping and testing support, end-user feedback, intellectual property registration along with patenting of ideas, processes, and products.

3) Reliance Foundation launches “W-GDP Women Connect Challenge”

•Reliance Foundation has launched the “W-GDP Women Connect Challenge” across India in association with US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP). The “W-GDP Women Connect Challenge” has been launched to bridge the gender divide as well as the digital divide in India.

•The recently launched W-GDP Women’s Connect Challenge (WCC) will assist the private sector-led approaches that close the gender digital divide and expands business opportunities, as well as empowering women. W-GDP will create an India-specific expression of the WCC in association with the Reliance Foundation. With this, it will incorporate the lessons of previous W-GDP WCC Rounds.

4) LIC starts ‘Special Revival Campaign’ to revive lapsed policies

•Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has announced a special scheme to revive lapsed policies named ‘Special Revival Campaign’. This campaign is open from 10 August to 9 October during which customers can revive their individual lapsed policies.

Under this scheme:

•The policies of specific eligible plans can be revived within five years from the date of the first unpaid premium subject to certain terms and conditions.

•Though it is not offering any concessions in medical requirements, some concessions may be allowed in late fee under plans other than term assurance and other high-risk plans.

•Those policies that have lapsed during the premium- paying term and not completed policy term as on the date of revival, are eligible to be revived during the campaign.

•The campaign is launched to benefit those policyholders who were not able to pay the premium due to unavoidable circumstances and their policy lapsed. It always makes better sense to revive an old policy to restore cover.

5) Dr V K Paul chairs Expert Committee meet on Vaccine Administration

•Dr V K Paul, Member Niti Aayog has chaired the meeting of National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19. The committee held a meeting to deliberate on measures to ensure availability of vaccines as well as its delivery mechanism. It also discussed the mechanisms for the establishment of a digital infrastructure for inventory management.

•The V K Paul led committee also deliberated on delivery mechanism of the vaccine including tracking of vaccination process while focusing particularly on last mile delivery. Broad parameters guiding the selection of COVID-19 vaccine candidates, was also a key subject of discussion during the meet. Other key subjects were procurement mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccine, guiding principles for prioritization of population groups for vaccination, financial resources required for procurement of COVID-19 vaccine and various options of financing the vaccine.




6) PESB selects Soma Mondal as next chairman of SAIL

•Soma Mondal has been selected by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) as the next chairman of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). She will be taking charge when the present Chairman Anil Chaudhary.

•Mondal had taken over as Director (Commercial) of SAIL in September 2018. Prior to this, she was Director (Commercial), NALCO, Bhubaneswar which was history in making as was NALCO’s first-ever female director.

7) Pramod Bhasin becomes new Chairman of ICRIER

•Pramod Bhasin has been appointed as a new Chairman of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He is currently the vice-chair of the board of governors at ICRIER. He will replace Isher Judge Ahluwalia, who has stepped down due to health reasons. Isher had been in this position for 15 years. She will continue as chairperson emeritus, a position specially created to honour her exceptional contributions to the Council.

8) CII organised “India@75 Summit – Mission 2022”

•Union Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME), Nitin Gadkari has addressed the “India@75 Summit – Mission 2022” organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) via video-conferencing. The summit was focused on ‘reinventing technology in India’. The MSME Ministry and Industries should be made import substitutes, cost-effective, pollution-free and indigenous.

9) RBI announces ‘positive pay’ feature to help avert cheque frauds

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced to introduce a mechanism of ‘Positive Pay’ feature for all cheques of value Rs 50,000 and above. This feature helps to avert cheque frauds. The limit of Rs 50,000 will cover approximately 20 per cent of transactions by volume and 80 per cent by value.

10) CCI approves formation of joint venture between HAMCL & HL

•The proposed combination filed by Keihin Corporation, Nissin Kogyo Co., Ltd., Showa Corporation and Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd has received the approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The two companies have filed for the formation of a Joint Venture between Honda Motor Co. Limited (HAMCL) and Hitachi Limited (HL).

•Honda Motor Co. Limited (HAMCL) is a limited liability, joint stock corporation incorporated in Japan. It is engaged in developing, manufacturing and marketing motorcycles, scooters, automobiles and power products globally. Keihin Corporation (KC), which is engaged in developing as well as manufacturing automobile components and systems globally, is incorporated in Japan. Nissin Kogyo Co., Ltd. (NKCL) makes vehicle brake parts and is incorporated in Japan.

•The Showa Aircraft Precision Works, Ltd. is segmented into motorcycle and hydraulic components, automotive components, drivetrain components, and steering systems components. Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. (HIAMS) develops, manufactures, sells and service the powertrain systems, chassis systems and advanced driver assistance systems, etc.