Top Current Affairs 07 September 2020

Top Current Affairs 07 September 2020

Top Current Affairs 07 September 2020: This post contains the latest current affairs for 07 September 2020 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. You can improve your general knowledge with our daily online current affairs. You can also read the daily current affairs on our mobile app.

National News

First-ever cannabis medicine project to come up in Jammu

• Union minister Jitendra Singh announced that the first-ever cannabis medicine project will soon be set up in Jammu.
• The cannabis medicine project will be set up with the collaboration of Canada at the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) in Jammu.
• It is the first major foreign investment in Jammu and Kashmir after it became a Union Territory (UT).

Assam re-launches self-employment scheme SVAYEM worth Rs 1,000 crore

• The state government of Assam re-launched an old scheme titled ‘Swami Vivekananda Assam Youth Empowerment (SVAYEM)’ on 4 September 2020, which aims to provide self-employment to around 2 lakh youths of the state.
• The SVAYEM scheme was launched by the government in 2017-18.
• This is the biggest self-employment programme launched by any government in Assam since Independence.

Key Features of the SVAYEM scheme

• The scheme has been re-launched with a budget of Rs 1000 crore.
• Under the scheme, the state government would provide Rs 50,000 each as seed money to selected youths to start business ventures.
• The government will provide this money in the next three months from its own revenue, without any banking linkage.
• To avail the benefit of the scheme, the 2 lakh beneficiaries would have to be part of self-help groups, joint liability groups, etc. before September 1

Karnataka approves Rs. 600-cr watershed project ‘REWARD’ with World Bank assistance

• The Karnataka Cabinet has approved a project titled ‘Rejuvenating Watersheds for Agriculture Resilience through Innovative Development (REWARD)’.
• The REWARD project is designed to ensure soil and water conservation in 20 taluks with low groundwater levels in Karnataka.
• The total cost of this project is Rs 600 crore.
• The World Bank will fund 70% of the project amount, which amounts to Rs 420 crore, whereas, 30% of the expenses (Rs 180 crore) will be borne by the state government of Karnataka.
• The project will cover 50,000 hectares of parched land with depleted groundwater table for watershed development in each of the 20 taluks to increase the groundwater table.
• The taluks to be covered under the project are Bagepalli, Challakere, Shikaripur, Gundlupet, Harapanahalli, Sira, Arsikere, Kadur, Bailhongal, Athani, Hirekerur, Hungund, Kundgol, Bagewadi, Ron, Jewargi, Basavakalyan, Manvi, Yelburga, and Shahapur.

Conferences

35th FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC) held under the Chairmanship of Bhutan

• The 35th Session of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC 35), was held from 01 – 04 September 2020, in virtual format due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Conference was held under the Chair of the Host Country, Bhutan.
• The Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parshottam Rupala represented India in the conference.
• The conference focused on regional priorities and issues such as COVID 19, the state of agriculture, natural resources management, food security and nutrition.
• Bangladesh will host the 36th Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific of the  in 2022. It will be the first time that the country will host the event, ever since it joined the organisation in 1973.
• The Regional Conference is held once every two years. The first regional conference was held in Bangalore, India, in 1953.

Union Minister Prahlad Patel attends 5th BRICS Culture Ministers’ meeting

• The Union Minister of State (I//C) for Culture and Tourism Shri Prahlad Singh Patel attended the 5th BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting to present India’s perspective to strengthen the cultural cooperation within BRICS.
• The Meeting took place virtually under the Chairpersonship of Russian Federation on 03 September 2020.
• Delegates from the Culture Ministries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) participated in the meeting.

Apps & Services

IIT Delhi incubated startup launches ‘‘Chakr DeCoV’’ to decontaminate N95 masks

• The IIT Delhi incubated startup Chakr Innovation has launched a special decontamination device called ‘Chakr DeCoV’, to decontaminate N95 masks.
• The Chakr DeCoV device is designed in the shape of a cabinet.
• It is built with an innovative decontamination mechanism, which utilises the high penetrability of Ozone gas for cleaning the pores of the N95 mask, ensuring complete decontamination of its intricate layers.

WhatsApp Partners with CyberPeace Foundation  to create awareness on cyber safety among students

• The Facebook-owned WhatsApp has entered into a partnership with the cyber security think tank CyberPeace Foundation to create awareness on cyber safety among students.
• The awareness campaign has been launched under the “e-Raksha” programme and will be implemented in phases.
• In the first phase 15,000 students will be covered in five regions by the end of 2020. They include Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
• The need for this awareness campaign was felt as students spend more time online and so they become more vulnerable to cyber threats such as cyberbullying, stumbling across child abuse material, cybercriminals disrupting online classes, the spread of misinformation, privacy issues etc.

Sports

Pierre Gasly wins F1 Italian Grand Prix 2020

• Pierre Gasly (Scuderia AlphaTauri, France) has won the Formula One Italian Grand Prix 2020 held on September 06, 2020. This is his first Grand Prix win.
• Carlos Sainz Jr. (McLaren, Spain) came second followed by Lance Stroll (Racing Point, Canada) in third place.
• Lewis Hamilton ended at 7th place after he earned a 10-second stop and go penalty. Apart from this, Charles Leclerc crashed out on the exit of Parabolica.

England cricketer Ian Bell announces retirement from professional cricket

• Cricketer Ian Bell from England has announced that he will retire from all forms of cricket at the end of the 2020 domestic season.
• Ian Bell, 38, retired from ODIs in 2015 to focus on Test cricket.
• He is a five-time Ashes winner and has spent his entire career with Warwickshire.

Obituary

Veteran Seer Kesavananda Bharati, whose petition in SC ensured basic structure of Constitution cannot be altered, passes away at 79

• Pujya Kesavananda Bharati Ji, the pontiff of Edneer Mutt in Kasaragod district of Kerala, whose property rights case in the Supreme Court in 1973 helped define basic rights under the Constitution, has passed away. He was 79.
• Bharati had filed a case challenging the Constitution (29th Amendment) Act, 1972, questioning the Kerala government’s move to take over the mutt property.
• Though he lost the case, but it also led to the adoption of the landmark law syllabus ‘Basic Structure Doctrine’ of the Constitution. The apex court ruled that Parliament cannot alter the fundamental structure of the Constitution.