Daily Current Affairs - 15-08-2021

GALLANTRY AWARDS

– President approves 144 Gallantry Awards to Armed Forces, police & paramilitary personnel
– Awardees comprise one Ashok Chakra, one Kirti Chakra, 15 Shaurya Chakras, four Bar to Sena Medals (Gallantry), 116 Sena Medals (Gallantry), five Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry) and two Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry)
– Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Babu Ram and Constable Altaf Hussain Bhat of Jammu and Kashmir Police posthumously awarded Ashoka Chakra and Kirti Chakra respectively.

INDIA

– Four more wetlands from India get recognition from the Ramsar Secretariat as Ramsar sites: Thol Lake Wildlife Sanctuary and Wadhvana Wetland from Gujarat and Sultanpur National Park and Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary from Haryana
– 1,380 Police personnel awarded Medals on Independence Day, 2021 by the Ministry of Home Affairs
– PM declares August 14 to be observed as ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’
– Tamil Nadu government appoints trained aspirants of all castes as priests in temples
– Tamil Nadu: Separate budget for agriculture presented for the first time in the state
– Tamil Nadu becomes first state to cut petrol price in 2021-22; by Rs. 3/litre
– Assam passes Cattle Preservation Bill; beef consumption banned in areas predominantly inhabited by the Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and other non-beef eating communities, or within a radius of 5 km of a temple or a monastery
– Assam: Kaziranga becomes country’s first national park to give satellite phones to forest guards

ECONOMY & CORPORATE

– Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher House in Mumbai sold for Rs 52.25 crore
– Bharat Petroleum launches door-to-door delivery of ‘High-Speed Diesel’

WORLD

– Meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Agriculture held

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on August 14, 2021 that, August 14 would now be observed as “Partition Horrors Remembrance Day”.

Key Points

Significance

This move by Prime Minister becomes significant in the backdrop of situation in Afghanistan and advance of the Taliban raising old spectres in the region.

Partition Horrors Remembrance Day

This day is a national Memorial Day in India, that was announced to be observed on August 14. The day commemorates the victims and sufferings of people during Partition of India. It remembers the sufferings of Indians during partition. The day was announced with the aim of reminding Indians the need of removing social divisions and disharmony. It seeks to further strengthen the spirit of oneness, social harmony and human empowerment.

About Partition

Partition was the division of British India into two independent dominions namely India and Pakistan. These two dominions have gone through further reorganisation. Dominion of India is called as Republic of India. The Dominion of Pakistan was composed of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Partition basically divided two provinces, Bengal and Punjab on the basis of district-wide non-Muslim or Muslim majorities. Partition also led to the division of British Indian Army, Royal Indian Navy, Indian Civil Service, central treasury and railways. The partition was done in accordance to the Indian Independence Act 1947. The act also dissolved the British Raj in India. Dominions of India and Pakistan legally came into existence on 15 August 1947.

Why partition is a horror?

Partition led to the displacement of some 10 and 20 million people on the religious lines, creating a refugee crisis in India and Pakistan. It is marked with large-scale violence that ultimately created an everlasting atmosphere of hostility and suspicion between India and Pakistan.