Important Current Affairs 23rd August 2021

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INTERNATIONAL

Ismail Sabri Yaakob is the new Prime Minister of Malaysia

• Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of Malaysia. Before this, he was the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

• He will succeed Muhyiddin Yassin as the PM, who resigned from the post after losing majority support in the lower house of parliament. The appointment of Yaakob was done by Malaysia’s King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.

NATIONAL

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd launched AI-enabled chatbot ‘URJA’

• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) launched (after pilot test) an AI-enabled chatbot, named Urja to provide its customers with a platform for seamless self-service experience and faster resolution of queries/issues. URJA is the first such chatbot in the oil and gas industry in India. URJA has been launched under the Project Anubhav of BPCL and it currently supports 13 languages.

• With the objective of making BPCL’s customer interface comprehensive and integrated digitally, Urja, the chatbot is now available on the company website for any queries for both B2B & B2C. Under Project Anubhav, Urja represents an integrated communication platform that connects all BPCL communication to any channel, unifying all customer touchpoints with a single and cohesive voice.

SPORTS

India's ace long jumper Shaili Singh won silver medal

• India's ace long jumper Shaili Singh clinched a silver medal in the women's long jump event at the ongoing World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi on August 22.

• Shaili jumped 6.59m in the third attempt registering her best show in the event to bag the silver while Sweden's Maja Askag won gold with a jump of 6.60m.

APPOINTMENT & RESIGNATION

La Ganesan appointed as the new Governor of Manipur

• Senior BJP leader from Tamil Nadu La. Ganesan was on Sunday appointed as the new governor of Manipur.

• Ganesan became the 17th Governor of the state as he replaced the incumbent Governor Najma Heptulla.

• A communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said Ganesan will be the new “Governor of Manipur with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office”.

• Heptulla had demitted office on August 10 and on the same day the charge was given to Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad.

Central Vigilance Commission re-appointed T M Bhasin as Chairman of Advisory Board

• The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has announced the re-appointment of T M Bhasin as chairman of the Advisory Board for Banking and Financial Frauds (ABBFF).

• The panel was constituted to examine bank frauds of over Rs 50 crore and recommend action. The former vigilance commissioner, CVC, Mr Bhasin will now continue to head the board for a further period of two years, with effect from August 21, 2021.

OBITUARY

Former CM of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh passed away

• Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyan Singh passed away. He had served as the CM of Uttar Pradesh twice — June 1991 to December 1992 and September 1997 to November 1999 and was the CM of UP during the demolition of the Babri Masjid. He’s a two-time Member of Parliament and a former governor of Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

IMPORTANT DAYS

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition 2021 :23rd August

• United Nations observes 23 August every year as “International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition”. The Day is observed to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples. It is a day to honour the memory of the men and women who, in Saint-Domingue in 1791, revolted and paved the way for the end of slavery and dehumanization.

• The day was designated by UNESCO to memorialize the transatlantic slave trade. It is a day to honour the memory of the men and women who, in Saint-Domingue in 1791, revolted and paved the way for the end of slavery and dehumanization.

• It was on the night of 22 and 23 August 1791, in Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) that saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

World Sanskrit Day 2021: 22nd August

• World Sanskrit Day, (also known as Sanskrit Diwas), is celebrated every year on Shraavanapoornima, which is the Poornima day of the Shraavana month in the Hindu calendar, which is also marked as Raksha Bandhan. In 2021, this day is being observed on August 22, 2021.

• The day commemorates the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit and aims to promote its revival and maintenance. The Government of India decided to celebrate World Sanskrit Day in 1969, on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan that falls on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Shravana.

International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief 2021 : 22nd August

• The International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief is observed on August 22 every year since 2019. The day aims to remember the victims and survivors of evil acts on the basis of or in the name of religion or belief.

• The day was adopted at the 73rd UN General Assembly on 28 May 2019 as proposed by Poland. It spreads awareness that international communities must work together to achieve justice for the survivors of past abuses by holding perpetrators accountable and demonstrating to governments that action must be taken to ‘never again’ tolerate genocide or other atrocities.