Every year, August 7th is observed as the National Handloom Day in India to highlight the contribution of the handloom industry in the socio-economic development and create awareness about the sector. The handloom sector is one of the largest economic sectors in the country.

 

The products manufactured by the weaving community of the sector are popular across the world. The National Handloom Day is celebrated across the country under the aegis of the Ministry of Textiles.

 

Apart from being a significant employment source in rural areas, the handloom sector is also a key player in the field of women empowerment as roughly 70 percent of all weavers and allied workers are women.

 

History : The handloom sector played an important role during the Swadeshi Movement, which was launched as part of the Indian independence movement, on August 7, 1905. The movement was started to curb dependency on foreign goods and to boost domestic production.

 

The movement started production of khadi in almost every household. When “at the stroke of the midnight hour” India got independence, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the Indian flag made of khadi at Princess Park near India Gate.

 

The National Handloom Day is celebrated on August 7 as it was the same day the Swadeshi Movement was birthed. The government of India, on August 7, 2015, inaugurated and celebrated the National Handloom Day for the first time in Chennai..

Source : CNBC TV18

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will celebrate August 7 as National Javelin Day across the country to commemorate one of the greatest moments in the country's sporting history, Neeraj Chopra's Olympic gold medal.

 

It was on August 7 last year that Neeraj produced the 87.58m effort in Tokyo to secure India's first track and field medal in the Olympic Games.

 

The decision to celebrate August 7 as the National Javelin Day was made by AFI upon Neeraj's return from Tokyo.

 

He has now added a World Championships silver medal to his kitty last month.

 

"Apart from celebrating Neeraj's feat, AFI will also promote the sport at the grassroots level through this initiative," AFI President Adille J Sumariwalla said in a statement.

 

The 24-year-old Neeraj said he felt honoured that AFI has taken this initiative.

 

"I request young athletes from all over India to take up the sport of javelin throw so we can have more champions in future," he said.

 

As many as 32 states and Union Territories units affiliated to AFI will organise javelin competitions on August 7..

Source : Times of india

Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand was on August 7, 2022 elected deputy president of FIDE, the sport's world governing body, while incumbent president Arkady Dvorkovich was re-elected for a second term.

 

Five-time world champion Anand was part of Dvorkovich's team.

 

Dvorkovich received 157 votes as against 16 by his rival Andrii Baryshpolets while the number of invalid votes was 1 and abstentions stood at 5.

 

The elections to the world chess body were held during the FIDE Congress which is being conducted here alongside the 44th Chess Olympiad.

 

After an illustrious career during which he won numerous titles and honours, the Chennai-based Anand has in recent times cut down on his tournament play and focussed on coaching.

 

He shot to prominence as a teenager and became India's first ever Grandmaster after winning the world junior title and have since led the country at the global level in chess.

 

He also won five world titles with the last being the world rapid title in 2017.

 

He is not part of the playing team for the Olympiad but is mentoring the Indian squads..

Source : Thehindu

Chennai-based Dr Agarwals Eye Hospitals has strengthened its presence in Maharashtra by acquiring five eye hospitals in Pune.

The leading eye care chain on Friday(5th Aug 2022) announced it has acquired Prabhudesai Eye Clinic (Kothrud); Global Eye Care Clinic (Pimpri Chinchwad and Sangvi); Om Eye Care (Viman Nagar and Vishrantwadi), all of which have been eyecare centres of repute in Pune for many years.

 

With the latest acquisition, the eyecare major’s in Pune has increased to seven and its total network globally increased to 118 eye hospitals..

Source : The Hindu Businessline

Catamaran, an investment firm, has appointed M.D. Ranganath as chairman. He had been the president of the firm for the last three years.

 

The firm also appointed Deepak Padaki as its new president. He would be responsible for driving the firm’s investment management strategy in its mission to nurture ideas from entrepreneurs into impactful business outcomes, Catamaran said in a release.

 

“Ranganath has helped the firm grow faster and emerge stronger as a key player in the market over the last few years,” said N.R. Narayana Murthy, founder and chairman Emeritus. “Catamaran will benefit from Deepak’s experience and leadership as it prepares to scale in this next phase of its journey,” he added..

Source : The Hindu

Jagdeep Dhankhar elected 14th Vice President of India

NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar was declared elected as the Vice President of India on Saturday(6th Aug 2022) after he bagged 528 votes against his rival candidate Margaret Alva’s 182.

 

* Dhankhar, 71, will succeed M Venkaiah Naidu who demits office August 10, 2022.

 

* The returning officer of the vice presidential election said of the total 780 electors, 725 cast their ballots but 15 votes were found to be invalid.

 

* The turnout was 92.94 per cent, he said, adding that a candidate needed 356 votes to get elected.

 

* Of all the valid votes, Dhankhar secured 74.36 per cent. He has the highest winning margin in the last six vice presidential elections held since 1997..


Source : The Print

Uttarakhand government has decided to develop one Sanskrit-speaking village in each of the 13 districts in the state. Citizens of these villages will be trained by experts to use the ancient Indian language as a medium of daily communication, Uttarakhand’s Minister for Sanskrit Education.

 

Sanskrit is the second official language of Uttarakhand. The first language is Hindi.

 

Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to launch an initiative on this scale to promote Sanskrit. There is only one Sanskrit-speaking village in the state of Karnataka.

Sanskrit teachers will be sent to the selected villages to teach locals how to communicate in the language. They will also be taught the Vedas and the Puranas to help them acquire proficiency in Sanskrit. To be called ”Sanskrit Gram”, each of these villages will be a centre of ancient Indian culture

“The younger generation should be able to speak the language of its ancestors. Besides taking the younger generation closer to its roots, these villages will give visitors from across the country and abroad a glimpse of India’s ancient culture,” the minister said..

Source : The Print

Hiroshima Day is observed on August 6 every year. It aims to promote peace politics against war. This day is a reminder of the bombing attack on Hiroshima by the United States during World War II.

 

Hiroshima Day 2022 marks the 77th anniversary of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing. Hiroshima Day is observed every year in commemoration of the tragedy and serves as a day of remembrance and as a focus for peace politics, anti-war and anti-nuclear discussions, and demonstrations.

 

Hiroshima Day History : On this day in 1945, the American bomber B-29 dropped a five-ton atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima city was named 'Little Boy’.

 

The bomb destroyed about four square miles of the city and killed 80,000 people. In the weeks following, thousands more died from wounds and radiation.

 

But Japan did not surrender in World War II. After three days, on August 9, the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. As a result, Emperor of Japan Hirohito announced unconditional surrender in World War II on August 15..

Source : India Today

Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC) and the ICT Academy of Kerala (ICTAK) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with "LinkedIn" as a part of the Connect Career to Campus (CCC) campaign under the Kerala Knowledge Economy Mission (KKEM) initiative. 

 

According to the Kerala government, this partnership aims to reinforce the employability skill among the youth of Kerala and create job opportunities  for them using LinkedIn talent insights and learning tools.

 

As per an official statement, the agreement was signed on Thursday(4th Aug 2022) in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Minister for Labour and General Education V Sivankutty, Minister for Higher Education R Bindu, Minister for LSGD M V Govindan and MLA Kadakampally Surendran, as part of the inaugural event of the CCC campaign..

Source : Financial Express

The world's largest floating solar project is set to be built on river "Narmada" as the Madhya Pradesh government signed a contract for the first phase of the project on Thursday(4th August 2022). 

 

Floating Solar Project on Narmada, which is to be built on the backwaters of the Omkareshwar Dam, will be one of only 10 floating solar plants in the world. The 600 MW-capacity infrastructure will be the world's largest solar project to be built on water. 

 

 

"The state government is on the path of making Madhya Pradesh the lungs of India along with the heart of India. Madhya Pradesh will make every possible contribution towards fulfilling all the commitments of India and the Panchamrit Mantra given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Glasgow Conference for Climate Change," Shivraj Singh Chouhan said..

Source : NDTV