PM Narendra Modi addresses Fit India Dialogue on First Anniversary of Fit India Movement

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Fit India Dialogue on the First Anniversary of Fit India Movement through virtual mode.
• As part of the event, the Prime Minister interacted with Virat Kohli, Milind Soman, Rujuta Diwekar, Devendra Jhajharia, and Afshan Ashiq, who shared their life experiences and fitness mantras.
• Under the Fit India Movement, various events such as Fit India Freedom Run, Plog Run, Cyclothon, Fit India Week, Fit India School Certificate have been organized.
• The Fit India Movement was launched on 29th August, 2019 (National Sports Day).

EAM S. Jaishankar attended in Annual Informal Meeting of SAARC Council of Ministers

• External Affairs Minister (EAM) Jaishankar participated in the Annual Informal Meeting of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Council of Ministers. The Annual Meeting was chaired by Nepal and was held in virtual mode.
• Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nepal, chaired the Informal Meeting, attended by External Affairs Ministers of all the Member States of SAARC.

Indian Railways has extended its MoU with IIT Kanpur

• Indian Railways extended the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the IIT Kanpur for modernization of railway infrastructure.
• The MoU was extended to encourage collaborative research for the effective use of the scientific assets through the Center for Railway Research (CRR) at IIT Kanpur

"Centralized Farm Machinery Performance Testing Portal"

• Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar launched "Centralized Farm Machinery Performance Testing Portal" (https://www.agrimachinery.nic.in/FMTTI/Management) in public domain.
• The portal has been developed by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC & FW), Ministry of Agriculture.
• It has been launched to improve services of farm machinery testing institutions and to bring transparency in the process of testing and evaluation of machines related to farming.

New Evaluation Standards for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

• The Central Government has notified the standards for safety evaluation for hydrogen fuel-cell based vehicles
• Notification was issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and notified that the standards for safety evaluation of vehicles being propelled by the Hydrogen Fuel Cells.
• This has been done by bringing an amendment to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.
• Standards for safety evaluation
• As per the new rules, vehicles under Category M (those running the passengers) and N (those carrying goods) are running on compressed hydrogen gas fuel cell has to be in according with AIS 157: 2020.
• The rule says that the Hydrogen Fuel Cells shall be developed in accordance with ISO 14687.

Actor Aamir Khan became the Brand Ambassador of CEAT

• CEAT Limited (CEAT) signed Indian Actor Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador for 2 years.
• CEAT has been associated with cricket since 1995 with CEAT Cricket Ratings.
• It has also been a partner of many cricketers including Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas iyer, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill and Harmanpreet Kaur.

Aakash Educational Service Ltd appointed Yuvraj Singh as its brand ambassador

• Aakash Educational Services Limited appointed Indian Cricketer Yuvraj Singh as its brand ambassador to promote its brands including Aakash Institute, Aakash IIT-JEE, Aakash Digital and MeritNation.
• As the brand ambassador of AESL, Yuvraj Singh will lead the "Success is Waiting", a multi-channel campaign of Aakash Digital.
• The communication of the campaign is designed around the comeback story of Yuvraj Singh, who had a successful cricketing career, later the battle with cancer and his comeback to the field and his humanitarian initiatives.
• About Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL)
• CMD - J.C. Chaudhry
• HQ-New Delhi

India-Japan Maritime Bilateral Exercise-JIMEX 2020

• Fourth edition of India-Japan Maritime bilateral exercise (JIMEX) began in North Arabian Sea
• It will be conducted for three days. In the light of COVID-19 restrictions, the exercise is being conducted in a 'non-contact at-sea-only format this year.
• JIMEX 2020 will showcase high degree of interoperability and joint operational skills.
• The exercise was commenced in 2012. It is conducted biennially between the Indian Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). It emphasizes on maritime security cooperation. The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in October 2018 along the Visakhapatnam coast.

About Japan

• Capital Tokyo
• PM - Yoshihide Suga
• Currency - Japanese yen

India and Israel to Co-Develop Hi-Tech Weapon Systems

• The strategic partnership of India-Israel is expanding in various sectors whether it's innovation or defense.
• Earlier Israeli companies like Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Elbit and Elta Systems have also formed seven joint ventures with Indian companies.
• In this regard a new sub working group (SWG) to promote such joint projects, under the overarching joint working group on defense cooperation headed by Indian defense secretary Ajay Kumar and his Israeli counterpart, was set up.
• The SWG will be headed by Sanjay Jaju, joint secretary (defense industries production) in the Indian defense ministry and Eyal Calif, director Asia & Pacific from the Israeli one.

World Bank approved 200 million dollar loan for safe water & sanitation in Bangladesh

• The World Bank (WB) has approved a 200 million dollar loan for Bangladesh in order to improve access to safe water and sanitation services in the rural areas of the country.
• The Bangladesh Rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project will help 6 lakh people to get access to clean water through piped water schemes in rural areas.
• The project will provide sanitation services to over 3.6 million rural people in Bangladesh.

ADB approved $ 300 million loan to develop Rajasthan's secondary towns

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 300 million dollar (about Rs 2,200 crore) loan to develop the inclusive water supply, sanitation infrastructure and services in secondary towns of Rajasthan.
• It will enhance sanitation services for about 7.2 lakh people in at least 14 secondary towns. Secondary towns imply the localities have 20,000 to one lakh residents.