5th Meeting of India-Nepal Joint Commission to be held in Kathmandu

NATIONAL NEWS

5th Meeting of India-Nepal Joint Commission to be held in Kathmandu

• The 5th Meeting of India-Nepal Joint Commission will be held in Kathmandu on 21- 22 August. Minister for External Affairs of Dr S. Jaishankar and Nepal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali will co-chair the meeting and lead their respective delegations.
• According to Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Joint Commission Meeting will review the overall state of bilateral relations and various areas of cooperation such as connectivity and economic partnership, trade and transit, power and water resources, culture, education and other matters of mutual interest.

President inaugurates bunker museum at Maharashtra Raj Bhavan

• President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated an underground Bunker Museum at Raj Bhavan Mumbai. On the occasion, the president also laid the foundation stone of reconstruction of Governor’s Office-cum-Residence.
• The Bunker Museum has Virtual Reality Booths in which visitors can time-travel to the 19th century when the bunker was constructed to fire cannons at approaching enemy ships. The history of Raj Bhavan has also been depicted in another section.

Manipur CM launches make education better scheme

• Launching the "School Fagadaba" (Make education better) scheme, Singh said the objective was to ensure better infrastructure, quality education and overall improvement of government schools to make them model schools.

Odisha to conserve two of its largest lakes

• The Odisha Wetland Authority has approved implementation of an integrated management plan for Chilika, country’s largest brackish water lagoon, and Ansupa, State’s largest freshwater lake, at an estimated investment of ₹180 crore.
• The five-year management of lakes is intended at strengthening livelihood of thousands of fishermen relying on the two water-bodies. Besides, tourism promotion and conservation of ecology will be taken up.

Child rights body, IIT Kanpur develop kit to spread sexual-abuse awareness

• The apex child rights body in collaboration with the IIT Kanpur has developed a kit to spread awareness about sexual abuse among children by using interactive means to teach them about personal safety, respecting their body and overcoming guilt.
• The kit is a set of cards, posters, short animation clips and games, which can be used by teachers or an NGO to conduct an interactive workshop for children about sexual-abuse awareness, according to the minutes of the 38th statutory meeting of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

HRD Minister inaugurates two-day international conference on teacher education

• Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurated an international conference on teacher education in New Delhi.
• The two-day event is being organized by the National Council of Teacher Education as part of silver jubilee celebration of its establishment in 1995.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Iceland commemorates first glacier lost to climate change

• Iceland unveiled a plaque to its Okjokull ice sheet, the first of the country’s hundreds of glaciers to melt away due to climate change.
• Scientists see the shrinking of glaciers as one of many warning signs that the earth’s climate is lurching toward dangerous tipping points.

OBITUARY

Doordarshan Anchor and Nari Shakti Award Winner Neelum Sharma passes away

• A strong advocate for women empowerment, Neelum Sharma was known was her programmes like ‘Tejaswini’ and ‘Badi Charcha’ and had been awarded the Nari Shakti Puruskar by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2018.
• As part of her ‘Tejasvini’ programme, Sharma highlighted the achievements of woman achievers from the remotest parts of India who went on to become role models for the society.

Former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra passes away

• Former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra passed away at a hospital in New Delhi. He was 82 and unwell for several months.
• Mishra was a three-time Chief Minister of the State. He was also the last Congress Chief Minister of the State. He was a Cabinet Minister at the Centre as well.
• His brother Lalit Narayan Mishra was Railway Minister at the Centre during Indira Gandhi’s regime as Prime Minister.

SPORTS

India win gold at Under- 12 Asian Tennis Team championship in Kazakhstan

• India have won gold at the Under 12 Asian Tennis Team championship held in Kazakhstan. India defeated Chinese Taipei 2-1 in the summit clash to win the title.
• The final was a tie of three matches - 2 singles and one double and India won both the singles matches while lost the doubles encounter.

Hima Das, Mohammad Anas win gold at Athleticky Mitink Reiter event

• Top Indian sprinters Hima Das and Mohammad Anas have won a gold each in 300m races at the Athleticky Mitink Reiter event in Czech Republic.
•  While Hima won the gold in women's event, Mohammad Anas claimed the yellow metal in men's category. This was Hima's sixth gold in 2019 in European races since last month.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Humanitarian Day 2019

• The world humanitarian day 2019 was observed on August 19, 2019. 
• The day is observed annually to pay tribute to the humanitarian aid workers who endanger their lives for humanitarian service as well as to rally support for the people affected by crisis across the world.
• World Humanitarian Day 2019 Campaign: 'Women Humanitarians'