Important Current Affairs 9th August

NATIONAL:

ISRO institutes Vikram Sarabhai Journalism Award

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced Vikram Sarabhai Journalism Award in Space Science, Technology and Research as a reward and recognition to journalists.

• Nominations:

All Indian journalists can be nominated and those articles that are published from the year 2019 till 2020 can be submitted. Candidates will be nominated and judged based on the standard criteria set by ISRO. The names of the selected will be declared on August 1, 2020.

Vikram Sarabhai Award:

Vikram Sarabhai is the father of Indian space program. He was an Indian Scientist. Thecentenary year celebrations of the father of Indian space programme announced the award.

ISRO institutes two categories of awards instituted in the field of journalism:

1) An award that includes a cash price of Rs.5,00,000, a medal and citation to two journalists or freelancers of print media.

2) An award that includes 3 cash prizes such as Rs.3,00,000, Rs.2,00,000 and Rs.1,00,000 to the articles or the success stories that are published in Hindi, English, or Regional languages in popular Periodicals, Science magazines, or Journals in India from 2019 to 2020

INTERNATIONAL:

Papua New Guinea has highest number of living indigenous languages

• United Nations report said that the Papua New Guinea has the highest number of living indigenous languages in the world with 840. India stands fourth with 453.

UN's concern:

UN observes the year 2019 as its International Year of Indigenous Languages. UN's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues reported that nearly 40% of the estimated 6,700 languages spoken around the world were in danger of disappearing and endangered.

Totally 7,111 living languages worldwide has been listed so far. The most widely spoken languages worldwide are Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic. These 5 languages covers around 40% of the total worldwide languages.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY:

Indian Bank and Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance ink pact

• Public sector Indian Bank inked a pact with private sector insurer Aditya Birla Sun Life to offer life insurance products to the bank's customers. The partnership would see around 2,900 branches of the bank offering a diverse range of life insurance policies to its customers.

• Aditya Birla Sun Life insurance would work with the city-headquartered bank for sales training, product support and ensuring smooth operational processes. The documents were exchanged between Indian Bank Managing Director and CEO, Padmaja Chunduru, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Company, MD and CEO Ajay Srinivasan.

Indian Bank

Founded: 15 August 1907

Headquarters: Chennai, India

Managing Director and CEO: Ms. Padmaja Chunduru

SBI Life Insurance, Indian Bank ink Bancassurance pact

• SBI Life Insurance and Chennai-headquartered Indian Bank entered into a bancassurance pact to offer holistic financial planning solutions to the latter’s customers. The partnership will see for 2,851 branches of Indian Bank across the country for insurance solutions.SBI Life will work with Indian Bank to ensure sales training, product support and smooth operational processes in order to offer life insurance policies to its customers.

• Indian Bank’s customers have access to an array of life insurance products from SBI Life catering to varied life stage needs of the customer.

Padmaja Chunduru, MD & CEO, Indian Bank.SBI Life Insurance said that Bancassurance as a channel has been a strong differentiator for the life insurer and it continues to explore more opportunities through partnerships with credible organisations.

• The bancassurance agreement was signed in the presence of Padmaja Chunduru and Sanjeev Nautiyal. It comes on the heels of a similar agreement between Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance (ABSLI), the life insurance subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital Ltd (ABCL), and Indian Bank.

SPORTS:

Serena Williams Tops Forbes List Of Highest-Paid Sports Women

• US tennis superstar Serena Williams topped Forbes magazine's list of the highest-paid women in sports for the fourth straight year. The business publication calculated that the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion earned $29.2 million in the 12-month period.

• Japan's Naomi Osaka burst to international stardom with a stunning upset of Williams in the 2018 US Open final and went on to win the Australian Open in January became just the fourth woman to earn more than $20 million in a year. Osaka's earnings at $24.3 million, putting her second on a list dominated by tennis players.

• Former Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber third on the list with earnings of $11.8 million followed by this year's Wimbledon champion Simona Halep. The highest placed athlete from a different sport was US footballer Alex Morgan, who clocked in at 12th. Morgan earned $5.8 million, most of it in endorsements.

• Indian badminton star PV Sindhu and Thai golfer Ariya Jutanugarn were the other non-tennis players in the top 15.