Top Current Affairs 23rd August 2021 at Freshers Wisdom

Top Current Affairs of the day: Instantly obtain Latest Top Current Affairs with all essential info, Be the first to know all the Today Top Current affairs 23rd August 2021 top news, Major Issues, Current News, Important events in National Current News as well as International level with clear explanation. For all competitive exams and Interviews, equip yourself with the Latest Top Current Affairs on 23rd August 2021 granted here.

Top Current Affairs

Foreign investors pump in over Rs. 7,200 crore

• Foreign investors have pumped in over 7,200 crore rupees into the Indian capital markets so far in August 2021.
• Foreign portfolio investors or FPIs pumped in 5,001 crore rupees into the Indian equity markets during the third week of August.
• The investors also pumped in 2,244 crore rupees into the debt markets in the same period.
• This resulted in a total net investment of 7,245 crores.

Ganga Expressway project receives the loan

• A loan of Rs 5100 c sanctioned by Punjab National Bank was transferred for Ganga Expressway construction in Uttar Pradesh on 21 August 2021.
• The Ganga Expressway will connect Meerut in west UP to Prayagraj in the eastern part of the state.
• The proposed Ganga Expressway will be around 594 km long, a 6-lane wide (expandable to eight lanes) greenfield expressway. 

Assam rolls out benefits under ONORC scheme

• Assam has started rolling out benefits under the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme from 23 August 2021.
• Over 2 crore 50 lakh families would be benefited under this scheme.
• The ONORC is a flagship scheme of the Central government that allows eligible beneficiaries to avail food grains they are entitled to under the National Food Security Act from any fair price shop in India.

GHMC launches ’10 mins at 10 am’ campaign

• The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation -GHMC has taken up a novel initiative to get rid of diseases like malaria and dengue.
• It has launched ‘Every Sunday at 10 minutes 10 AM’ campaign.
• The campaign will continue for ten weeks.
• Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi has urged people to spare 10 mins every Sunday to destroy the mosquito breeding sources to get rid of these diseases.

Manipur CM launches livelihood scheme

• In Manipur, the Chief Minister’s COVID-19 Affected Livelihood Support Scheme was launched on 22 August 2021.
• It will provide assistance to those who have been severely affected the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The scheme was launched by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh in Imphal.
• Financial assistance under the scheme was distributed to some selected beneficiaries during the event.

MP launches Talent Search Campaign

• The Madhya Pradesh govt has launched a comprehensive Talent Search Campaign in the field of sports.
• It has decided to search for new talented players and train them in 18 sports academies of state.
• On the basis of physical strength and proficiency in sports, promising sportspersons will be groomed through coaching and training in 18 academies equipped with world-class sports facilities. 

Indian Railways to train youths under PMKVY

• Indian Railways will train 3,500 unemployed youths from Sept 2021 under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).
• The employment training of these 3,500 individuals will be organized by the Northern Railway and will take place over the next three years.
• The PMKVY scheme was started in 2015 and its phase three was launched in Jan 2015.
• Northern Railway zone will train 2,500 people.

CBDT issued refunds of over Rs 49,696 crore

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued income tax refunds to the tune of over ₹49,696 crores to more than 22.75 lakh taxpayers during the current fiscal year (2021-22) so far.
• Income tax refunds of ₹14,608 crore issued in 21,50,668 cases and corporate tax refunds of ₹35,088 crore issued in 1,24,732 cases.
• CBDT formulates tax policies for the Income Tax Department.

Defence Minister to felicitate Olympians

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will felicitate the Olympians from the Services at the Army Sports Institute (ASI), Pune on 24 August 2021.
• All the Armed Forces personnel, who represented India in the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics, including Gold medalist Javelin Thrower Subedar Neeraj Chopra will be present on the occasion.
• He will visit the Headquarters of Southern Command also.

Storm Henri makes landfall in Rhode Island

• Tropical Storm Henri hit the coast of Rhode Island on 22 August 2021, packing high winds and bands of rain that led to flash flooding from New Jersey to Massachusetts.
• The storm was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm.
• The term “hurricane” is usually used for the large storms that are formed over the Atlantic Ocean or the eastern Pacific Ocean.​

La Ganesan appointed as new Manipur Governor

• President Ram Nath Kovind on 22 August 2021 appointed La. Ganesan as the new governor of Manipur.
• The post of governor had fallen vacant after the retirement of Najma Heptulla earlier August 2021.
• The Governor of Sikkim Ganga Prasad was performing function of the Governor of Manipur.​
• Heptulla has been holding the post since first coming into the seat in 2016.

Shaili Singh clinches silver in U20 C’ships

• 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 with a best attempt of 6.59m on 22 August 2021.
• Sweden’s Maja Askag won gold with a jump of 6.60m while Ukraine’s Mariia Horielova managed to settle with bronze by recording 6.50m.
• This was India’s third medal in the U20 Championships.​

NABARD’s loans reach Rs 6 lakh crore in FY21

• The total loans and advances extended by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) during 2020-21 registered a growth of 25.2 per cent year-on-year to reach Rs 6 lakh crore.
• A credit guarantee fund of Rs 1,000 crore with equal share from the central government and NABARD was set up under NABSanrakshan, a NABARD subsidiary, to incentivize banks to finance FPOs.​

Britain calls G7 meeting for Afghan crisis

• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had called a G7 leaders’ meeting on 24 August 2021 to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan and urged the international community to find ways to prevent it from escalating.
• The Group of 7 (G7) is an informal group of seven countries — the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.​

India’s exposure to USS jumps over $20bn

• India’s holding of US securities (USS) surged by more than USD 20 billion in just three months ended June 2021 to USD 220.2 billion.
• India is the 11th largest holder of these securities while Japan has the most exposure at little over USD 1.277 trillion.
• Compared to June 2020 last year, the exposure of India to the US Treasury securities jumped by nearly USD 40 billion.​

USD 17.2bn infused in startup by VC firms

• Venture capital firms infused a total of USD 17.2 billion investment into the Indian startup ecosystem during January-July 2021.
• This data has been released by the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA) and Venture Intelligence (VI).
• This is much higher than the USD 11.1 billion and USD 13 billion investments made by VCs in 2020 and 2019, respectively.​

FM to launch National Monetisation Pipeline

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 23 August 2021 would launch the National Monetisation pipeline.
• The NMP comprises a four-year pipeline of the central government’s brownfield infrastructure assets.
• It would serve as a medium-term roadmap for the asset monetization initiative of the government.
• An asset monetization dashboard would also be created to provide visibility to investors.​

Ladakh gets its first roving cinema

• Ladakh got its first roving cinema on 22 August 2021 with a private company installing an inflatable theatre in the union territory.
• The company PictureTime Digiplex claimed it to be the highest altitude theatre in the world, installed at a height of 11,562 feet.
• Critically acclaimed short film ‘Sekool’ on the Changpa Nomads of Ladakh, was screened at the launch of the theatre.​

I&B ministry to launch programs under ‘AAM’

• The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) would be launching a gamut of activities to celebrate the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'(AAM) from August 23-29, 2021.
• The activities would be launched under the ministry’s ‘Iconic Week’ celebrations.
• A series of special programs to be launched by AIR Network include ‘Dharohar’, ‘Nishaan’, and ‘Aparajita’ (women leaders).​

Sowing area of Kharif 1.55% lower than 2020-21

• Area sown to Kharif crops like paddy was lagging behind by 1.55 per cent at 1,043.87 lakh hectare so far in the ongoing Kharif season of the crop year 2021-22 (July-June), according to data released by the agriculture ministry.
• Farmers had planted summer crops in 1,060.37 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.
• The sowing of Kharif crops begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June.​

Karnataka forms panel to pick 75 players

• Karnataka government has formed a committee to identify 75 promising athletes from Karnataka for the Paris Olympics 2024. 
• Former India hockey player VR Raghunath, swimming coach Nihar Ameen and ace shuttler Anup Sridhar have been drafted into a high-level committee.
• Each of the 75 sportspersons selected will receive Rs 5 lakh from the government for training, supplements, sports kit, etc.

India pitches fighter aircraft at ‘ARMY- 2021’

• India has pitched its indigenously built fighter aircraft LCA Tejas, Anti Tank Guided Missiles, Arjun Main Battle Tank (MK1A) at the International Military-Technical Forum “ARMY-2021” in the Moscow region.
• DRDO, the R&D Arm of the Ministry of Defence, is participating in the International Military-Technical Forum “ARMY-2021” at Kubinka, Moscow from August 22-28, 2021.

Medanta to set up Covid care centre

• The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has signed an MoU with Medanta hospital to set up a COVID-19 care centre at the Delhi airport for its employees and their family members.
• It is being established at Terminal 2 of the airport.
• It is expected to be operational early September 2021.
• A total of 15 paediatric high dependency unit (HDU) beds have been allotted at this centre.

Thumbs Up: Official partner of Paralympic Games

• Coca-Cola owned homegrown beverage brand Thums Up has become the official partner with the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games set to take place from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
• This is the brand’s first partnership with Paralympic Games.
• Through an eight-decade association, Coca-Cola is the longest continuous corporate partner of the Olympic Games. 

Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade

• August 23 is marked as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
• During the imperialist regimes run by the colonial powers of Europe, slave trade was a cruel yet common practice.
• The day is intended to remember and honour the tragedy of Remove featured imagehe slave trade in the memory of all peoples who were dehumanised by the cruel practice or systemic racism. 

Road in Ayodhya to be named after Kalyan Singh

• Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has that the road leading to the Ram Janmbhoomi in Ayodhya will be named after the former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh.
• Besides Ayodhya, one road each in Lucknow, Prayagraj, Bulandshahr, and Aligarh will also be named after him.
• A two-time UP CM, Singh also served as Governor of Rajasthan from 2014-2019.

OneWeb launches 34 satellites

• OneWeb, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications company has confirmed the launch of 34 satellites by Arianespace from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
• The launch follows the successful completion of OneWeb’s ‘Five to 50’ mission.
• This launch brings OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation to 288 satellites.
• These will form part of OneWeb’s 648 LEO satellite fleet.

ICICI Bank Germany launches Blocked Account

• ICICI Bank Germany has announced the launch of a digital and instant Blocked Account for students aspiring to study in Germany.
• A Blocked Account is a special type of account wherein students are required to keep a certain amount of money in order to get a Balance Confirmation Certificate (BCC).
• This is a mandatory requirement for a student Visa in Germany.

QubeHealth to launch a healthcare credit card

• QubeHealth has partnered with OboPay, a global mobile payment solutions company, to launch a 0% interest, collateral-free, pre-approved healthcare credit card for employed Indians and their families.
• QubeHealth is a health tech company focused on mitigating Out-of-Pocket-Expenditure (OoPE).
• It covers OPD expenses, elective procedures, as well as pharmacy.

World Sanskrit Day: 22 August

• World Sanskrit Day is observed on 22 August every year.
• It is also known as Vishva-samskrita-dinam.
• This is an annual event focused around the ancient language Sanskrit and is aimed to promote its revival and maintenance.
• It is celebrated on the full moon day of the Shraavana month in the Hindu calendar.
• The Sanskrit organisation Samskrita Bharati is involved in promoting the day.

Films Division organises the week-long programme

• Films Division is organising a week-long programme, ‘Salute to the Nation’ from 23-29 August 2021.
• Film festivals and a seminar will be organized on virtual platforms.
• The online film festivals, A Voyage of Progress and Ratnas of India will be followed by a webinar on technological advancements in film making over the years.
• The films will be streamed free of charge.

#Top Current Affairs

Important Link :-

• Join Telegram Group: Click Here
• Latest Government Job Notification