1) National Nutrition Week 2020
•National Nutrition Week is observed every year from 1st September to 7th September since 1982 and can be considered a significant period to raise awareness on the therapeutic effects of foods.
•The events of NNW are organised by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Ministry of Women and Child Development(WCD), Government of India to educate the importance and role of nutrition in the human body.
2) Madhya Pradesh govt launches ‘Gandagi Bharat Chhodo’ campaign
•Madhya Pradesh government has launched a 15-day campaign named ‘Gandagi Bharat Chhodo’. Under the campaign awareness programmes were organized in seven thousand 178 settlements. About 35 lakh people from 378 urban bodies in Madhya Pradesh took part in the campaign.
The campaign was divided into five themes:
•Cleanliness Oath
•Continuous reduction in urban waste emissions
•Cleanliness in COVID conditions
•Separation of waste from sources of houses
•Launching a special cleanliness campaign for public places
3) Ladakh, Lakshadweep joins ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ scheme
•The Union Territories(UTs) Ladakh & Lakshadweep have been included in the ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ scheme on ‘Integrated Management of Public Distribution System’(IM-PDS). After the integration of these two UTs, a total of 26 States /UTs Connected with the Scheme and will benefit about 65 crore people.
•Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan has recently approved the integration of Ladakh and Lakshadweep with the scheme in a review meeting chaired by him. Ladakh and Lakshadweep have completed the trial and testing of national portability transactions with other states/UTs in the national cluster. The remaining states will be integrated into the scheme by March 2021.
4) Union Power Minister RK Singh launches “Green Term Ahead Market”
•Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Raj Kumar Singh launched the Pan-India Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) in New Delhi virtually, for electricity. GTAM is the World’s First Exclusive Product Market for the renewable energy sector.
•GTAM will lead to an increase in the number of participants in the Renewable Energy Sector. It will benefit buyers of Renewable Energy (RE) by providing them competitive prices, and transparent, flexible procurement.
5) Jal Shakti Ministry launched ‘Water Heroes’ Contest
•The Jal Shakti ministry has launched a ”Water Heroes – Share Your Stories” contest with an aim to reach out to people with the important message of water conservation and management. The primary objectives of the Ministry of Jal Shakti are to make water conservation a people”s movement and strengthen the water consciousness in the country.
6) Usha Padhee becomes 1st woman DG of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security
•Joint secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Usha Padhee has been given additional charge as Director-General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). She is the first woman and third IAS officer to have been appointed to the post. The central deputation tenure of Usha is scheduled to end on 16th July 2022. She succeeds Rakesh Asthana (IPS) who was appointed as the Director-General of Border Security Force(BSF) on 17th August 2020.
7) India ranks 48th in Global Innovation Index 2020
•India has joined the group of top 50 countries in the global innovation index for the first time, moving up four places to the 48th rank and keeping the top position among the nations in central and southern Asia. India ranks in the top 15 in indicators such as ICT (Information and Communication Technology) services exports, government online services, graduates in science and engineering, and R&D-intensive global companies.
•Switzerland, Sweden, the US, the UK and the Netherlands lead the innovation ranking, and the top 5 positions are dominated by high-income countries. The 13th edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 has jointly released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD Business School.
8) ACC approves appointment of V K Yadav as CEO of Railway Board
•The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of the current chairman of the Railway Board VK Yadav as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The chairman and CEO will be the cadre controlling officer responsible for human resources (HR) with assistance from a DG (HR).
