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Important Current Affairs 18th August 2020

National

Ministry of Tribal Affairs launches Tribal Health & Nutrition Portal – ‘Swasthya’

  • Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched the e-portal on tribal health and nutrition named ‘Swasthya’. It is a first of its kind e-portal, providing all health and nutrition-related information of the tribal population of India in a single platform.
  • Apart from this, an e-newsletter on health and nutrition ALEKH was also announced. It is a quarterly newsletter.
  • Opening of National Overseas Portal and National Tribal Fellowship Portal (for inviting online applications for the academic year 2020-21) was another important announcement that was made.

Ministry of AYUSH launches campaign “Ayush for Immunity”

  • The Ministry of AYUSH launched a campaign on “Ayush for Immunity”. It is a three-month campaign and aims to promote Ayush solutions in the entire world for a healthier and happier life.
  • The theme of the event is: accessible and affordable health for all, through Ayush solutions
  • The campaign was rolled out during a webinar that featured the participation of More than 50 thousand people. The webinar was streamed by the Ministry of AYUSH on its new digital communication platform Ayush Virtual Convention Centre (AVCC).

Banking and Economy

MCX to launch India’s first bullion index named “Bulldex”

  • Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), India’s largest commodity derivatives exchange, will launch India’s first bullion index named “Bulldex”, on August 24, 2020. Bullions, viz. gold and silver are already being traded as individual commodities on the country’s premier commodity exchange. 
  • With gold and silver as underlying, Bulldex will have a market lot size of 50 and be a cash-settled futures contract. MCX had tested bullion index futures trade in mock trading exercises in July.

HDFC Bank launches Shaurya KGC Card

  • The largest private sector bank in the country, HDFC Bank, launched ‘Shaurya KGC (Kisan Gold Credit) Card, a loan product for the armed forces.
  • This is the first-of-its-kind scheme meant for the army personnel in the country and is based on the Kisan Credit Card guidelines of the government. This credit card comes with a life cover of Rs 10 lakhs.

Obituary

Renowned classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj passes away

  • Indian classical vocalist, Pandit Jasraj passed away. He was born in Haryana in 1930, his musical career spanned eight decades. His performances of classical and semi-classical vocals have become albums and film soundtracks.
  •  Jasraj has taught music in India, Canada, and the US. Pandit Jasraj was an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the Mewati Gharana. His musical career spanned for more than eight decades. Many of his performances of classical and semi-classical vocals have now become albums and film soundtracks.
  •  Pandit Jasraj was a recipient of India’s fourth-highest civilian award, Padma Shri in 1975; Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987 and Padma Bhushan in 1999. In the year 2000, the government of India conferred him with Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honor in the country. 
  • In 2019, the International Astronomical Union had named a minor planet after Pandit Jasraj. The minor planet is located between Mars and Jupiter.

Filmmaker Nishikant Kamat passes away

  • Director-actor Nishikant Kamat passed away. He made his directorial debut in 2005 with Marathi movie Dombivali Fast, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi. 
  • Nishikant had directed some popular Bollywood movies like Force, Drishyam, and Madaari. He made his silver screen debut in 2004 with the Hindi movie Hava Aney Dey. In 2008, Kamat helmed his first Bollywood film Mumbai Meri Jaan. 
  • As an actor, he was known for his performances in Daddy, Rocky Handsome, Julie 2, and Bhavesh Joshi.

Appointments and Resignations

Rakesh Asthana becomes new DG of BSF

  • The government of India has appointed Rakesh Asthana as the new director-general of the Border Security Force (BSF). Currently, DG Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) chief S S Deswal was holding the additional charge of BSF since March this year.
  • Asthana is currently heading the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) with an additional charge of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

The central bank of India appoints Ashwini Kumar Shukla as Chief Risk Officer

  • The central bank of India has appointed Mr. Ashwini Kumar Shukla as Chief Risk Officer.
  • As part of the reform agenda announced by the Ministry of Finance last year in August 2019, the Central bank of India is the first one to appoint a CRO from the market.

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