Daily Current Affairs : 15th & 16th August 2020 | Daily GK update Quiz

Exp. India is working to achieve zero road accident fatalities by 2030, said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on 13th August.

Road Safety Assessment Programme 21,000 km roads have been assessed and about 3,000 km road length is under technological upgradation. He said better road engineering and increased public awareness has brought about improvement.  “Our objective is to set out to achieve zero road fatalities by 2030.

Exp. 74th Independence Day 2020: PM Modi Speech Highlights

• This speech was PM Modi’s seventh consecutive Independence Day speech, and second since his BJP-led NDA swept to a second term in power in Lok Sabha elections last year.
• Modi said in the upcoming 1000 days nearly 6 lakh Indian villages will be connected with optical fibre.
• PM Modi launches Optic Fibre Link connecting Lakshadweep Islands with the mainland.
• PM Modi launches National Digital Health Mission.
• Modi announced India will soon introduce a new cyber security policy.
• Modi announced One India One Market for Farmers.
• Vocal for local & Self Reliance (Atmanirbhar).
• Delimitation exercise underway, committed to holding assembly elections in J&K (Election Soon In J&K).
• Focus on “MAKE IN INDIA” for Defence sector.
• To deploy 1 lac NCC Cadets at Border Area.

Exp. The genesis of the new digital health infrastructure in India came about in the 2017 National Health Policy, which proposed a new National Digital Health Authority. Then, a committee headed by former UIDAI chairman Satyanarayana released the National Digital Health Blueprint in July 2019.

Patients can create a Health ID, allowing them to share their data between hospitals and doctors digitally. They can choose for how long or what specific documents they would like to share with whom. If individuals are looking to benefit from government schemes, then they will be required to connect their ID to their Aadhaar.

Exp. Modi said in the upcoming 1000 days nearly 6 lakh Indian villages will be connected with optical fibre.

Modi government calls it the “world’s largest connectivity project”, but BharatNet — which envisages laying of about 8 lakh kilometre of incremental optical fibre cable (OFC) to all the 2,50,000-plus Gram Panchayats (GP) in the country at an estimated cost of Rs 42,068 crore ($6.2 billion) — has had significant snags in deployment for years now.

Exp. Modi said in the upcoming 1000 days nearly 6 lakh Indian villages will be connected with optical fibre.

Modi government calls it the “world’s largest connectivity project”, but BharatNet — which envisages laying of about 8 lakh kilometre of incremental optical fibre cable (OFC) to all the 2,50,000-plus Gram Panchayats (GP) in the country at an estimated cost of Rs 42,068 crore ($6.2 billion) — has had significant snags in deployment for years now.

Exp. PM Modi announced India will soon introduce a new cyber security policy. The National Cyber Security Strategy 2020 (NCSS 2020), overseen by the National Security Council Secretariat, collected public comments till January this year. These frameworks will have a bearing on incidents similar to the hacking of 121 Indians’ WhatsApps in 2019 by the Isreali cyber firm NSO Group. This existing policy, India’s first, was released in 2013 in the context of leaks by US National Security Advisor whistleblower Edward Snowden that alleged NSA surveillance was also tracking India’s domestic issues.

Exp. Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, which will pave the way for creating ‘One India, One Agriculture Market’.

Briefing the decisions taken in the Cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

it will also promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce outside the physical premises of markets notified under the state Agricultural Produce Marketing legislations, and this is a historic step in unlocking the vastly regulated agriculture markets in the country.

Exp. The Central Water Commission along with Google has launched flood forecasting initiative. Under the initiative, numerous alerts can be sent to the public regarding flood situation in the region.

Also, people can learn about current water level in the flood affected regions in the country.

Exp. HDFC Bank Ltd announced the launch of a 1st-of–its-kind product for the armed forces. Called ‘Shaurya KGC Card’, this product comes with never-seen-before features and eligibility criteria specially crafted for over 45 lakh Indian armed forces personnel.

The product is based on the Kisan Credit Card guidelines by the government.

Benefit: Life cover of Rs 10 lakh as against Rs 2 lakh for an average card.

Exp. Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni announced retirement from international cricket on the same day today (August 15). Both announced their decisions on Instagram.

Raina’s last match for India was in July 2018. He played 18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20Is for India.

Dhoni scored 4,876 Test, 10,773 ODI and 1,617 T20I runs. played in 90 Tests, 350 ODIs and 98 T20I.

Exp. India is celebrating its 74th Independence Day on 15th August. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Rajghat and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi as the celebrations started.

Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August as a national holiday in India commemorating the nation’s independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947, the day when the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947.

Exp. 16th August: Atal Bihari Vajpayee Second death anniversary

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924 in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior. He was the first-ever person from the BJP to become the Prime Minister of India. He served as Prime Minister thrice — briefly in 1996, from 1998 to 1999 and then for a full five-year term between 1999 and 2004.

Exp. Former India opener Chetan Chauhan, who was on life support due to multiple organ failure, passed away on August 16. He was 73. Chauhan had tested positive for Covid-19 in July.

Chauhan represented India in 40 Tests and seven ODIs in an international career that spanned around 12 years (1969-1981).