TODAY’S TOP NEWS: 23 AUGUST, 2020

NATIONAL NEWS:

1. *Congress Working Committee to meet on August 24 vis video conference* : The meeting comes amid a churn over the leadership question but the party didn’t announce the formal agenda of the meeting.

2. *Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia requested the Central government to cancel JEE and NEET admission exams* and find an alternative arrangement for admissions due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

3. *Harit Path: Mobile Application to monitor plantation along National Highway launched by NHAI* The application has started creating user IDs for experts. So far 7,800 plants have been geo-tagged using the application.

4. *PM Modi’s latest Atmanirbhar Bharat push involves Indian toys* : on Saturday held a meeting with top functionaries of his government aiming to boost manufacturing and global imprint of Indian toys.

5. *The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court quashed FIRs against foreigners who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin* in Delhi and said “the Maharashtra police acted mechanically.”

6. *Launching a fresh attack on the PM Modi government over the Rafale fighter jet deal* , former Congress president Rahul Gandhi twitted that money was stolen from the Indian exchequer.

7. *Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM president Shibu Soren and his wife Roopi* , along with seven others in their household, have *tested positive for COVID-19,*

8. *The former finance secretary Rajiv Kumar was appointed as the Election Commissioner.* The outgoing Election Commission Ashok Lavasa is to join the Asian Development Bank as its vice president.

9. *The Jammu and Kashmir Police busted a terror module linked to the Islamic State in Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK) and arrested five of its operatives from the Bandipora district.* Incriminating material and a large cache of ammunition has been recovered from their possession.

10. *Part of under-construction flyover collapses in Gurgaon, 2 men injured*
The flyover is part of a 5 km long stretch that is meant to provide connectivity between Subhash Chowk on Sohna road and Badshahpur.

11. Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited *(MEIL) has become the lowest bidder for the Zojila pass tunnel in Jammu, Kashmir-Ladakh* in Himalayan region. The project is of strategic importance because of its ability to provide all-year connectivity between Leh and Srinagar.

12. *65-year-old woman gave birth to 8 girls in 14 months? New scam detected in Bihar* : According to government records, the woman gave birth to eight girls in 14 months and claimed the incentives which is given to women for giving birth to a female child under the National Health Mission scheme. Similarly, another woman in Bihar also gave birth to 5 girls in nine months and claimed the incentive. In both cases, the money was transferred to their bank accounts. It is to be noted that JSY is a centrally sponsored scheme, which integrates cash assistance of Rs 1400 with delivery and post-delivery care.

13. *The Central government has set a deadline for mandatory compliance with hallmarking of precious metals at 1st June next year.* This was announced by Consumer Affairs Minister while launching the online system of Registration and Renewal of Jewellers in New Delhi.

14. *The Supreme Court has extended by a month the deadline for completion of trial in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case involving 32 accused* , including Bharatiya Janata Party veterans L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti, and asked the special Central Bureau of Investigation court to deliver the verdict by September 30.

15. *Political parties in Kashmir on Saturday unanimously resolved to fight for restoration of the special status* of Jammu and Kashmir as it existed pre-August 5, 2019, saying the measures taken were ‘spitefully shortsighted’ and ‘grossly unconstitutional’.

16. *A major terror strike was averted with the arrest of a suspected operative of the Islamic State, armed with two pressure cooker improvised explosive devices (IEDs)* , from central Delhi’s Ridge Road area following a brief exchange of fire, Delhi Police officials said.

17. *Police have arrested controversial Haryana Inspector General (IG) Hemant Kalson* for allegedly assaulting two women after trespassing into their houses at Pinjore in this district on Friday evening.

18. Former president Pranab Mukherjee is deeply comatose though his vital parameters are stable, the Army Research and Referral Hospital has said.

19. *India celebrates Ganesh festival amid pandemic* : The 10-day Ganesh festival began on Saturday under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, with devotees restricting celebrations to their homes and using online platforms to get ‘darshan’ of the Lord at temples, amid strict COVID-19 restrictions imposed by governments.

20. *S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, battling COVID-19, continues to be on ventilator* and ECMO support and was ‘stable’, MGM Healthcare said.

21. *The recovery rate from COVID-19 has improved further and now it has reached 74.69%*. During the last 24 hours, 63,631 COVID patients have recovered. With this, a total of over 22,22,000 people have recovered in the country so far.

22. *Former Punjab CM Parkash Badal’s residence declared micro-containment zone:* As eight security men, including an SP, attached with former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal have tested positive for Covid, the latter’s residence has been declared a micro-containment zone. It means for the time being no one can go to meet the Badals at their residence.

23. *COVID CASES IN INDIA*
CONFIRMED 29,75,701
DEATHS 55,794

*✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS*

1. *Pakistan puts Dawood Ibrahim, Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi on terror list:* The move has been part of Pakistan’s commitment to the Financial Action Task Force, the international terror-financing watchdog, which continues to scrutinise the country’s actions.

2. *US presidential candidate* and former vice president US president nominee Joe Biden and *vice president nominee Kamala Harris extended wishes to people celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi* in the US, India and around the world.

3. *BSF shoots down 5 infiltrators at India-Pakistan border* in Punjab, arms recovered. This was the highest number of intruders killed in a single incident along the 3,300-km-long border with Pakistan in more than a decade.

*WORLD NEWS*

1. *Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the discovery of large natural gas reserves in the Black Sea coast* . According to the announcement made by the President, 320 billion cubic metres of natural gas has been discovered. Turkey is to start using the discovered natural gas by 2023.

2. *Myanmar has pushed back against China after trying to widen its influence through China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC).* The decision was influenced from the experience of Pakistan in China Pakistan Economic Corridor and with Sri Lanka being pushed towards debt trap.

3. *Pakistan to use China-made BeiDou for military, civilian purpose* :. China’s BeiDou navigation system is to be adopted by Pakistan for both military and civilian purpose, ending the country’s dependence on US-based GPS. This is part of Pakistan and China’s defence and strategic cooperation.

4. *The foreign ministers of France, UK and Germany have announced that their troops will stay assigned to UN and French-led missions in Mali,* despite the recent military coup.

5. *Bangladesh floods:* Most of the rivers in the Meghna basin of Bangladesh are rising, though they are below danger level except at one point.

6. *California wild fire torched nearly one million acres*: Thick smoke blanketed large areas of central and northern California on Friday as more people fled some of the biggest fires in the state’s history which have raged largely uncontrolled through the week, California has dry, windy, and often hot weather conditions from spring through late autumn that can produce moderate to devastating wildfires.

7. South Korea, China hold highest-level talks; discuss trade, denuclearisation, coronavirus response

8. *WORLD COVID CASES*
CONFIRMED 2,19,43,183
DEATHS 7,75,439

* SPORTS:*

1. *The national camp for womens wrestlers, that was scheduled to be held at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Lucknow from September 1, has now been postponed.* SAI on Saturday said that new dates for the camp will be “intimated in due course”.

2. *No Arjuna awards for past Khel Ratnas Sakshi and Mirabai* : The Sports Ministry on Friday decided against bestowing the Arjuna award on former Khel Ratna winners Sakshi Malik and Mirabai Chanu, This was due to the fact that they both had already won the Khel Ratna, the country’s highest sporting honour. the awards will be held virtually on August 29, the National Sports Day,

*USD 74.93 GBP 94.16*
_In Panaji_(Goa)
*Gold ₹51,930@10 gm 24 (Krt)*
*Silver ₹73,500@ Kg*
⛽ *Petrol ₹ 78.27*
⛽ *Diesel ₹ 76.92*

* FACTS ABOUT INDIA*

Historical accounts of Panaji date back to Kadamba King Shasthadeva, it refers to Panajim as Pahajani Khali, which mean a boat and a small creek respectively, in Sanskrit.

Another interpretation of the name is that Panji or Ponji is said to mean *the land that never gets flooded* The name was later changed to Panjim by the Portuguese and when Old Goa collapsed in the 19th century, Panjim was elevated to the status of a city on 22 March 1843 . After Liberation in 1961 it was known as Panaji

* THOUGHT OF THE DAY*

Nothing is particularly hard if you break it down into small jobs

*JOKE OF THE DAY*

Ek baar naveen ko koi 8th floor par bulata hai. Jb vo vaha jata hai to flat ke samne likha rehta hai “naveen April Fool” to naveen likhta hai “Mai to yahan pr aya hi nhi tha.’……

* WHY❓❓❓*

*Why holy book of Christians is called Bible and how did it got that Name?* ✝️

It is interesting that the Bible never refers to itself as “the Bible.” the Bible is not really a book, but a collection of books. Yet, even the New Testament writers seemed to understand that the things being written about Jesus were to be considered part of Scripture.

The collection of these writings, including the New Testament, were first called the Bible somewhere around the fourth century in the writings of John Chrysostom. Chrysostom first refers to the Old and New Testament together as ta biblia (the books), the Latin form of biblos. It was also around this time that these collections of writings began to be put together in a certain order, and this collection of letters and writings started shaping into the one-volume book that we are familiar with today.

*_(This info was taken from internet, if anyone know the correct answer apart from this, they can share it…)_*

*LEARN SANSKRIT*

*वृक्क* : Kidney

*HOW IT WORKS* ⁉

*How the Negative Photo Illusion Works. Now a days we can see few negative photos on social media with a point of concentration on its nose or eye part, if we watch it for 30 secs to 1 minute and again start blinking our eyes quickly on any white wall, we can see the colour image of that negative photo, so how this happens, what is the logic behind d this…. ⁉️*

However, you look at a large image, the tiny movements in your eyes aren’t enough to reduce overstimulation. As a result, you experience what is known as a negative afterimage. As you shift your eyes to the white side of the image, the overstimulated cells continue to send out only a weak signal, so the affected colors remain muted. However, the surrounding photoreceptors are still fresh and so they send out strong signals that are the same as if we were looking at the opposite colors. The brain then interprets these signals as the opposite colors, essentially creating a full-color image from a negative photo.

‍♂️ *GK TODAY*

*Limca Book* of Records is an annual reference book published in India documenting human and natural world records. The world records achieved by humans are further categorised in education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, adventure, radio, and cinema with Limca book of Records rules. Limca Book of Records was first published in 1990.

*VEDIK GYAN*

‘ *Tulsi mala’* is seen worn by ‘Vishnu’ and ‘Krishna’ devotees and Buddhists prefer the black ‘Tulsi mala’. It is often used for chanting mantras and even meditating. ‘Tulsi’ beads are not only medicinal but help in cleansing the mind and soul. It is believed that the use of Tulsi beads, purify the mind, body as well as the soul of a person. It radiates positive vibes in the *aura* of a person and helps him get rid of all forms of negative energy. Wearing a Tulsi mala increases the concentration and the wearer gets rid of health problems.

*HEALTH CARE: HOME REMEDIES*
( *Note* : These home tips followed in villages/ancient traditions, it is up to you to use it or not)

*Almonds (Badam);health benefits*

It deliver a Massive Amount of Nutrients

Almonds Are High in Vitamin E, it is a family of fat-soluble antioxidants.

Almonds are one of the best foods for naturally lowering your cholesterol.

Almonds are rich in magnesium which can help lower blood pressure.

Eating a handful of almonds or drinking a glass of almond milk can keep your gastrointestinal tract moving and prevent constipation

PLZ FOLLOW GOVT. NORMS, MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE, KEEP YOURSELF & YOUR FAMILY SAFE ENDS