Top Best Current Affairs 2 August 2020

Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, The Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth announced funding and tie up between the United Kingdom(UK) and India for five new medicinal research projects worth 8 million pounds (around Rs.78 crore) to tackle the anti-microbial resistance to support the combat against antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes during his 'virtual visit' to India.

Madhya Pradesh Urban Development and Housing Minister Shri Bhupendra Singh launched a public awareness campaign "Ek Mask-Anek Zindagi" from August 1-15. "Ek Mask-Anek Zindagi" - means one mask, many lives. The Scheme will spread awareness about wearing masks as prevention from Covid-19 infection.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) was awarded the SKOCH Gold Award for its "Empowerment of Tribals through IT-enabled Scholarship Schemes". It is the project of the Scholarship Divison of the Ministry. MoTA chose to participate in Digital India & E-Governance-2020 Competition. The theme of the 66th SKOCH 2020 Competition was "INDIA RESPONDS TO COVID THROUGH DIGITAL GOVERNANCE".

According to a new study, one in three children worldwide are threatened by unacceptably high lead levels in the blood. The study notes that lead recycling is often done haphazardly in poor and middle-income countries where industrial pollution safeguards are poorly enforced or nonexistent.

Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Jairam Gadkari virtually inaugurated an upstream carriageway Mahatma Gandhi bridge in Bihar at a cost of Rs 1,742 crore. During the inauguration ceremony, a new 5 km long, 4-lane Bridge over river Ganga in parallel to MG Setu, was also announced by Nitin Gadkari to facilitate movement of ships under it. With an outlay of Rs 2,926.42 crore, it will get completed by 2024.

Oil-rich Gulf state UAE finally starts its first-ever nuclear reactor "Barakah" at Abu Dhabi on the Gulf coast. Developed in a joint venture with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) Barakah means "blessing" in Arabic.

The Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan extended the One Nation One card scheme to four more states and UT's Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland and Uttarkhand. Formerly integrated 20 States and UTs are: - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh.

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to supply mustard oil on 31st July 2020. The move is in line with "Aatmanirbhar". The MoU was signed by Shri VK Nagar, Director, KVIC and Shri Rama Kant Sharma, DIG, ITBP in presence of KVIC Chairman, Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena. The next products in the pipeline are cotton mats (dari), blankets, bedsheets, pillow covers, pickles, honey, papad, and cosmetics, etc. The total value of oil and dari will be approximately Rs.18 crore.