Current Affairs :- 21st August, 2020

♦️Cabinet Approvals on August 19, 2020

♦️NSC, JCI Sign MoU for Supply of Certified Jute Seeds to Farmers in 2021-22

♦️Report of NCRP 2020: Cancer in India may rise from 13.9 Lakh in 2020 to 15.7 lakh in 2025

♦️IIT Roorkee, BIS Sign MoU to Cooperate in Standardisation and Conformity Assessment

♦️L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Signed MoU with NTPC Ltd for CO2 to Methanol Demonstration Plant

♦️NRDC and NAL Partners to Establish Incubation Centre for Startup in Aerospace Technologies

♦️India Ranked 57th in Digital Quality of Life 2020, Denmark tops: DQL Index 2020 by SurfShark

♦️India and Israel Signed Cultural Agreement to Strengthen Bilateral Relations through People to People Exchange

♦️The ILO’s “Youth and COVID-19: Impacts on Jobs, Education, Rights and Mental Well-being”: 50% of World’s Youth Are Under Anxiety or Depression

♦️NPCI Launched its Subsidiary Firm, ‘NPCI International Payments Limited’; Appointed Ritesh Shukla as its CEO

♦️Lakshmi Vilas Bank Launched ‘LAKSHMI digiGO’, a Contactless Online Instant Savings Account Opening Facility

♦️Unitus Ventures Received Rs 75 Crore from SIDBI; will Strengthen the Deployment of its Fund II

♦️Keith Rowley Becomes Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago for a 2nd Consecutive Term

♦️Francisco Asue is Reappointed as the Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea

♦️First Rockets Produced by Private Sector Successfully Test Fired: Economic Explosives Ltd (EEL)

♦️Dwarf Planet Ceres is now an ‘Ocean World’

♦️Iran Unveiled Locally Made Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile, Martyr Qassem Soleimani & Cruise Missile, Martyr Abu Mahdi

♦️Air Unique-quality Monitoring, an Indigenous Photonic System Developed for Real-Time Remote Monitoring of Air Quality Parameters

♦️NASA observes the Slowly Splitting South Atlantic Anomaly, a dent in Earth’s Magnetic Field

♦️Former India Goalkeeper Bhaskar Maity passed away at 67

♦️Former Cricketer Gopalaswamy Kasturirangan dies of heart attack at 89

♦️Book titled “India Tomorrow: Conversations with the Next Generation of Political Leaders” released on August, 2020

♦️Sadbhavan Diwas 2020 – August 20

♦️World Mosquito Day 2020: August 20

♦️INOX Group to sponsor Team India for Tokyo Olympics: IOA

The Hindu Editorials :- 21st August, 2020

♣️Less taxing: On National Recruitment Agency

♣️A losing proposition: On sons of the soil and jobs

The Hindu Editorial VOCAB :- 21st August, 2020

▪️COLLABORATION (NOUN): alliance : (सहकार्यता)

Synonyms: association, partnership 

Antonyms: disunion, separation

Example: With the collaboration, he undertook the preparation of an inventory.

▪️VITAL(ADJECTIVE): essential : (महत्वपूर्ण)

Synonyms: crucial, necessary

Antonyms: optional, secondary  

Example: States are a vital part of the grand coalition between the two countries.

▪️GRAVITATE (VERB): drift : (केंद्र की ओर झुकना)

Synonyms: incline, tend

Antonyms:  ascend, increase

Example: They gravitate to these areas.

▪️STAGGER(VERB): move unsteadily : (लड़खड़ाकर चलना)

Synonyms: careen, lurch

Antonyms: continue, stay  

Example: These numbers are staggering but they are only the tip of the iceberg.

▪️THRIVE (VERB): prosper: (कामयाब होना)

Synonyms: flourish, bloom

Antonyms: cease, decrease  

 Example: It appears to believe that English can’t thrive as long as French survives.

▪️PALPABLE (ADJECTIVE): visible: (स्पष्ट)

Synonyms: noticeable, credible  

Antonyms: ambiguous, doubtful

Example: The committee’s fervour is palpable in every recommendation.

▪️CONFLUENCE (NOUN): (संगम): convergence

Synonyms: junction, concurrence

Antonyms: division, separation

Example:  The confluence of warm and cold temperatures is going to create a powerful storm. 

▪️CONGEAL (VERB): (जमाना): to solidify 

Synonyms: coagulate, curdle

Antonyms: melt, soften

Example: She wanted to wash the frying pan before the bacon fat had a chance to congeal.

▪️NEFARIOUS (ADJECTIVE): (कुटिल):bad

Synonyms: horrible, odious

Antonyms: delightful, gentle

Example:  One man employed his nefarious scheme to hack into people’s computers and steal bank account’s information.

▪️JITTERY (ADJECTIVE): (परेशान):nervous

Synonyms: restless, anxious

Antonyms: calm, composed

Example: She felt jittery before her stage performance.