1) India organises the IBSA Tourism Ministers’ Meet Virtually
•India organized the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) Tourism Ministers’ meeting through the virtual platform. The Union Minister of Tourism of India, Shri G. Kishan Reddy, chaired the meeting. The Minister of Tourism of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Gilson Machado Neto and the Deputy Minister of Tourism of the Republic of South Africa, Fish Amos Mahlalela, attended videoconferencing under India’s IBSA Chairship.
2) Narendra Singh Tomar addresses 6th SCO Meet of Agriculture Ministers
•The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar has addressed the 6th meeting of Agriculture Ministers of the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), through videoconferencing. The meeting was organized under the chairmanship of Tajikistan in Dushanbe.
3) Chandrayaan-2 orbiter detects water molecules on lunar surface
•India’s Chandrayaan-2 moon mission may have made a hard landing on the lunar surface in 2019, but the orbiter accompanying it has been providing useful information to scientists back on Earth. A research paper revealed that the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter confirmed the presence of water molecules (H2o) and hydroxyl (OH) on the surface of the moon. The findings were published in the journal Current Science.
•“The initial data analysis from IIRS clearly demonstrates the presence of widespread lunar hydration and unambiguous detection of OH and H2O signatures between 29 degrees north and 62 degrees north latitude. The discovery was made by the orbiter’s imaging infrared spectrometer (IIRS).
4) Indian Navy takes part in US Navy-led multinational SEACAT exercises
•The Indian Navy participated in the U.S. Navy-led Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) military exercise in Singapore, to demonstrate its maritime manoeuvres. The main objective of SEACAT 2021 was to enhance the interoperability and shared maritime security concerns and preserve rules-based international order. The exercise comprised approximately 400 personnel and 10 ships.
•The 20th edition of the exercise was organised by the U.S. Navy, in Hybrid format, and included 20 other partner nations from the Indo-Pacific region, including India. Other countries participating in the exercise include Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom and Vietnam.
5) Pakistan successfully test-fires nuclear-capable ballistic missile Ghaznavi
•The Pakistan Army successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile Ghaznavi. The Ghaznavi missile can strike targets up to 290 kilometres and is capable of carrying both nuclear as well as conventional warheads. The training launch was aimed at ensuring the operational readiness of Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) and re-validating technical parameters of the weapon system.
6) Vice President releases book ‘Accelerating India: 7 Years of Modi Government’
•The Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu has released a book ‘Accelerating India: 7 Years of Modi Government’ at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas. The book commemorates the achievement and evaluation of two elected terms of PM Modi as the Head of Parliamentary. Releasing the book, VP Naidu said that as India will celebrate 75 years of independence, it was time to study the progress of the constitutional promise of a ‘dignified life to the common man.
7) Indian Navy, IDFC FIRST bank bring ‘Honour FIRST’ banking solutions
•The Indian Navy has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) First Bank to initiate ‘Honour FIRST’. ‘Honour FIRST’ is a premium banking solution for serving personnel and veterans of the Indian Navy. Designed especially keeping in mind the needs of the Armed Forces and its veterans, the Honour FIRST Defence Account is supported by a dedicated team of defence veterans.
•The MoU for Honour FIRST was signed at the Naval Headquarters in New Delhi between Commodore Neeraj Malhotra, Commodore – Pay and Allowances, Indian Navy and IDFC FIRST Bank’s senior officials.
8) Indian Bank signs MoU with Paralympic Committee
•Public sector Indian Bank has signed an MoU with the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) as one of the banking partners of the Paralympic Games scheduled to commence from August 24 in Tokyo, Japan. The bank, through its year-long association with PCI, will provide financial assistance to paralympic athletes. The President of the Paralympic Committee of India is Deepa Malik.
•In a year-long association, the bank will provide financial assistance to Paralympic athletes to prepare for the coveted sporting events in the domestic arena as well as global platforms. Timely financial aid provided to these sportspersons will encourage them to focus their efforts on the game and win laurels for the country.
9) India sends largest ever contingent for Tokyo Paralympic Games
•The upcoming Tokyo Paralympics will witness the largest ever Indian contingent being send, with 54 para-sportspersons participating across 9 sports disciplines. The 54-member Indian contingents were given a formal and virtual send-off on August 12, 2021, by Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag. The 2020 Summer Paralympics Games are scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan from August 24 to September 05, 2021.
