Top Current Affairs 16th August 2021 at Freshers Wisdom

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AIR launches unique innovative programme

• All India Radio launched a unique innovative programme, ‘Azadi Ka Safar Akashvani Ke Saath’ on national as well as regional channels on 16 August 2021.
• A year-long Amrit Mahotsav Quiz is being organized by the News Services Division of All India Radio as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.
• Every Monday and Tuesday one question each in Hindi and English will be asked.

Mohammad Azam awarded National Youth Award

• Mohammad Azam from Karimnagar district in Telangana has been awarded the National Youth Award by the Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur in Delhi for displaying exemplary leadership qualities.
• He has been providing skills to youth and conducting personality development camps for them from Chintakunta and Rekurthy villages in his district.

India wins 3 gold medals in Archery C’ships

• The Indian contingent won 15 medals at the World Archery Youth Championships.
• The 2021 World Archery Youth Championships was held in Wroclaw in Poland. 
• Of these 15 medals, India won three gold medals in the compound cadet women’s and men’s and mixed team events.
• The women defeated Turkey 228-216 in the final to win a gold medal.

Taliban takes control of Kabul

• Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan’s presidential palace, hours after the insurgents entered the Afghan capital Kabul on 15 August 2021.
• Both President Ashraf Ghani and Vice-President Amarullah Saleh have left Afghanistan for Tajikistan.
• American diplomats were evacuated from their embassy by helicopter to the airport.

Films Division showcases 20 documentary films

• Films Division has joined the nation in celebrating Independence Day-2021 with a 3-day Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Film Festival, showcasing a package of 20 documentary films on freedom struggle and freedom fighters.
• The films will be screened on the Films Division website and YouTube channel from 15-17 August 2021.
• The Film Festival is being organized as a part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Vice Chief of Army Staff on a visit to the US

• Vice Chief of the Army Staff, Lieutenant General CP Mohanty proceeded on a five-day visit to the United States of America in August 2021.
• The Vice Chief will attend the multilateral Chiefs of Defense Conference in Hawaii.
• Later, he will travel to Washington DC and interact with senior military leaders and civilian officials of the Department of Defense of the US.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death anniversary

• 16 August 2021 marked the third death anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The Bharatiya Janata Party leader served as the Prime Minister of India thrice — 1996, 1998-99 and from 1999-2004.
• After Jawahar Lal Nehru, Vajpayee was the second Prime Minister to have become Prime Minister of India with two successive mandates. 

Bari becomes junior recurve world champion

• Komalika Bari became the new under-21 recurve world champion at the World Archery Youth C’Ship in Wroclaw.
• She became the second Indian woman after Deepika Kumari to claim both the U-21 World Championship and the U-18 title.
• In the U21 men’s recurve team final the Indian team of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Aditya Choudhary, and Parth Sushant Salunkhe clinched the gold medal.

Bihar CM announces 11% DA hike

• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on 15 August 2021 announced an 11 percent hike of dearness allowance for state government employees and pensioners.
• With this hike, DA for Bihar state government employees and pensioners would rise to 28 percent from the existing 17 percent.
• The hike in dearness allowance would come into effect retrospectively from July 1, 2021.

Jaishankar begins a 4-day visit to New York

• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would begin a four-day visit to the US from 16 August 2021 to attend a number of UN Security Council events including a briefing on terrorism.
• He would also preside over an open debate on peacekeeping at the UNSC.
• He would also have bilateral meetings with foreign ministers of other member states on the sidelines of the UNSC events.

CU secures 2nd rankings in ARWU rankings

• Calcutta University secured second rankings in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2021.
• The Shanghai Ranking has adjudged Calcutta University as the best among all universities across India.
• Among all the Universities and Institutes in the country, the University of Calcutta is second only to the prestigious Indian Institute of Science.

AIIMS – First hospital to have a fire station

• Delhi Fire Service (DFS) Director Atul Garg announced that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has become the first hospital in the country to house a fire station on its campus.
•  AIIMS has collaborated with the Delhi fire service to open a fire station inside the hospital to meet any emergency.

HCL Foundation launches ‘My e-Haat’ portal

• HCL Foundations, on 15 August 2021 launched an online portal, ‘My e-Haat’.
• HCL Foundations is the corporate social responsibility arm of HCL Technologie.
• It aims to empower artisans and strengthen the value chain of the handicraft sector in the country.
• The portal would offer e-payment options, cash on delivery, and integrated logistic support in addition to real-time product tracking.

Kolkata gets museum on freedom struggle

• A museum on wheels inside the iconic trams of Kolkata, commemorating India’s Independence Day, was inaugurated in West Bengal.
• It has been curated by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust in collaboration with West Bengal Transport Corporation.
• It beautifully depicts the efforts of our freedom fighters and the impact of the division of Bengal and Punjab on the national psyche.

PM Modi’s Independence Day Speech-II

• PM Modi announced that India would launch a 100 trillion rupee national infrastructure plan “Gati Shakti” that will help generate jobs and boost the economy.
• He also set a target of becoming ‘energy independent’ by 2047 through a mix of electric mobility, gas-based economy, doping ethanol in petrol and, hydrogen production.
• All Sainik Schools in the country will now be open for girls also.

PM Modi’s Independence Day Speech-I

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation from the Red Fort in the national capital on India’s 75th Independence Day and made the key announcement.
• He stressed an e-commerce platform for the products made by women self-help groups (SHGs) in villages.
• The government would fortify the rice distributed to the poor via different schemes in a bid to address the problem of malnutrition.

Kovind extends greetings on Parsi new year

• President Ram Nath Kovind on 15 August 2021 extended greetings to the people on the eve of Parsi New Year, Navroz.
• Navroz is celebrated on the first day of the first month of the calendar followed by Zoroastrians.
• It is dedicated to the beginning of spring and the renewal of nature.
• It is also Iranian and Persian New year.

‘Freedom Cyclothon 2021’ flags off

• Border Security Force (BSF) Director General S S Deshwal on 15 August 2021 flagged off a 1,993-km-long cyclothon titled “Freedom Cyclothon 2021”.
• It was flagged off from the Octeroi border outpost in Jammu under the Fit India movement on the 75th Independence Day.
• It will culminate at Dandi (Gujarat) on Oct 2, 2021 (Gandhi Jayanti).
•  A total of 100 BSF athletes participated in the event.

Adani group to build an app

• Adani group is all set for a foray into the digital world.
• The group will soon launch a super app, which will aim to club all consumers of the group companies paving the way for digital transactions in a unified platform.
• This means, while a customer of Adani Port can use it to transact, another one from Adani Green too will be able to engage on the same platform. 

WPI inflation eases in July 2021

• India’s wholesale price inflation eased in July 2021.
• Data released by the government showed that wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation fell to 11.16% in July from 12.07% a month ago, as food inflation eased for the third straight month, falling to 0% in July, while fuel inflation declined to 26%.
• However, inflation for manufactured items rose to 11.2% in July from 10.88% a month ago.

CtrlS NLD to launch interconnection services

• CtrlS NLD is a new entrant in the Indian Interconnection Ecosystem services.
• It has announced the launch of interconnecting services branded as CtrlS Connect.
• With CtrlS Connect, customers will be able to connect their digital infrastructure and services with a wide array of services which includes cloud exchange, data center interconnect and metro connect services.

Surat mill signs MoU with Austrian company

• A textile mill in Surat has partnered with an Austrian company to produce plant-based silk.
• Akash Kirit Marfatia, Managing Partner of GBM fabrics has signed an MoU with an Austrian yarn Lenzing company that has invented lyocell filament yarn which can replace traditional silk yarn.
• This yarn is produced by separating cellulose from wood through closed-loop production that leaves no residue.

Indonesian villagers develop a robot

• A robot designed by Indonesian villagers and scientists has found a new use.
• It brings food to self-isolating residents who have contracted COVID-19. 
• It is named the “Delta robot”, its head is made from a rice cooker, and it is operated by remote control with 12-hour battery life.
• Its speaker emits the message “Assalamu Alaikum”, followed by “A delivery is here. Get well soon.”

Cave paintings found in Spain

• Prehistoric cave paintings have been found in Spain.
• Red ochre pigment discovered on stalagmites in the caves of Ardales, near Malaga in southern Spain, were created by Neanderthals about 65,000 years ago, making them possibly the first artists on earth.
• The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.

India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip launched

• Union Minister of State Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh has released “IndiGau’.
• It is India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds like, Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole, etc.
• This indigenous chip was developed by the concerted efforts of scientists of the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NAIB), Hyderabad.

HSBC to acquire Axa’s insurance assets

• HSBC has agreed to acquire Axa’s insurance assets in Singapore for $575 million as it scales up its insurance and wealth business.
• Axa Singapore had net assets of $474 million, annualized new premiums of $85 million, and gross written premiums of $739 million.
• The combined business would be the seventh-largest life insurer and the fourth-largest retail health insurer.

Tata Motors partners with Bank of Maharashtra

• Tata Motors has partnered with the Bank of Maharashtra to offer retail financing scheme for its passenger vehicles.
• Under the partnership, the bank will provide loans to Tata Motors’ customers at an interest rate starting from as low as 7.15 percent linked with Repo Linked Lending Rate (RLLR).
• Besides, the scheme will offer a maximum of 90 percent financing on the total cost of the vehicle.

SBI launches special deposit scheme

• State Bank of India has launched a special deposit scheme to mark the celebratory occasion of 75 years of Independence.
• The special deposit scheme, SBI Platinum Deposits is a limited period offer and will end on 14 September 2021.
• The period of deposits available is 75 days, 525 days, and 2250 days.

MP’s first Railway coach washing plant

• Indian Railways’ West Central Railway (WCR) zone has installed the first Automatic Coach Washing Plants (ACWP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Habibganj railway station.
• ACWPs are now being installed at major depots for exterior cleaning of trains.
• They not only clean the exterior of coaches more effectively and efficiently but also reduce the direct water requirement by avoiding wastage. 

Alternate Investment Fund launched

• ASK Investment Managers Ltd. has launched digital onboarding for its Alternate Investment Fund (AIF).
• The ASK Emerging Opportunities Fund, a close-ended Category-III, long-only AIF is a Flexi-cap portfolio with a mid-cap bias and will invest in listed Indian equities.
• The term of the scheme is seven years with two years of lock-in.

Video version of “Jana Gana Mana” launched

• In Mizoram, the 3rd Battalion of 23 sector Assam Rifles launched a video version of “Jana Gana Mana” sung by 5 years old prodigy Miss Esther Hnamte of Lunglei.
• The Assam Rifles has taken this effort as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to commemorate India’s Independence.
• The video also depicts the role of security forces and how it has changed the environment in North East India.

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