The United Nations’ (UN) International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is annually observed on August 23 to remind people of the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade.
This year, the theme is ‘Confronting Slavery’s Legacy of Racism Together’

Rajiv Kumar was on August 21, 2020 appointed as the new Election Commissioner by President Ram Nath Kovind. The former finance secretary has been replaced Ashok Lavasa, who resigned earlier this week.

In Golf, the World number 304 Sophia Popov of Germany defeated Thailand’s Jasmine Suwannapura by two strokes to capture the Women’s British Open 2020 title (rebranded as 2020 AIG Women’s Open) held at Royal Troon in Scotland.

Army Sports Institute, Pune was awarded the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar 2020 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India.

The longest river ropeway of India has been inaugurated in Assam, over the River Brahmaputra, which would connect Guwahati and North Guwahati.

Jeff Wilke, the chief executive of Amazon’s vast consumer business, said Friday that he planned to retire early next year after more than two decades with the company, in a rare changing of the guard at the top of the e-commerce giant.

Nuakhai Juhar was celebrated in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and areas of neighbouring states on August 23. It is one of the most ancient festivals celebrated in Indian. The festival is to welcome the new crop of the season. The festival is celebrated to appreciate and celebrate the hard work of the farmers, with whose effort the country is fed.

State Bank of India (SBI) has partnered with India’s First Real-Time Group Negotiation E-Platform, AddaCorner to launch ‘Online Home Carnival’, which will help in boosting the Real Estate market in Bangalore.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on August 21, 2020 that Turkey has discovered 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas, the biggest-ever natural gas reserve in the Black Sea. The announcement was made during a televised address at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace.

The Government has introduced ‘Open API Service’, a novel feature to help the people, businesses and the economy to return to normalcy. They can use the Open API Service to query the Aarogya Setu Application in real-time.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has announced that the INOX Group will be the official sponsor of the Indian team for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand organized the two-day long 6th Round Table of ASEAN-India Network of Think Tanks (AINTT) through video conference on the theme “ASEAN-India: Strengthening Partnership in the Post COVID Era”. ASEAN is an acronym for Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN 2020 Chairmanship– Vietnam.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is a UNESCO designated day held every year on August 23 to memorialize the transatlantic slave trade.

The book’s titled “One Arranged Murder” and its cover were revealed by bestselling author Chetan Bhagat. The book will be published by publishing house Westland. It will be Bhagat’s ninth novel and 11th book overall.

Reliance Retail  has bought a 60% stake in pharma marketplace Netmeds’ parent firm Vitalic for about $83.2 million, it said today, as India’s largest retail chain looks to expand into new categories and compete more closely with American e-commerce group Amazon.

Reliance Retail said the deal, which grants it a 100% ownership of Vitalic’s subsidiaries (Netmeds,  Tresara, and Dadha Pharma), valued the parent firm at about $134 million. Netmeds, which connects customers to pharmacists and enables door step delivery of medicines, serves 5.7 million customers in more than 670 cities and towns and online

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) and SBI General Insurance Co Ltd have signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) in Dharwad, Karnataka to sell general insurance products through the branches of KVGB. The MoU was signed by BC Ravichandra, General Manager of KVGB, and Mahendra Tripathi, Head (Compliance and Legal), SBI General Insurance Co Ltd.

1. Five sportspersons will be awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2020 this year. These are:

   • Rohit Sharma– Cricketer (4th cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, and Virat Kohli to win this)
   • Vinesh Phogat– Wrestler
   • Manika Batra– Table Tennis player
   • Mariyappan Thangavelu– Para Athlete
   • Rani Rampal– Hockey Player

Indian Golf Player Aditi Ashok will be conferred the Arjuna Award for year 2020.

HSBC India launched its ‘Green Deposit Programme’ for corporate clients. The deposit scheme will come in the form of a term deposit, which typically attracts higher interests as compared to savings deposits.

The tertiary processing centres of “Trifood Project” of TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been virtually launched by the Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda. The Trifood project has been launched in Raigad, Maharashtra and Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh. This project is expected to help in encouraging the tribal entrepreneurship.

Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona has been sworn in as the 54th President of Dominican Republic. Luis Rodolfo Abinader is a businessman who has never held any other elected office. He succeeds Danilo Medina of Liberation Party. The capital and currency of Dominican Republic are Santo Domingo & Dominican Peso respectively.

DBS BANK India announced the appointment of Prashant Joshi as MD and Head of National Distribution.

State Bank of India’s research report Ecowrap expects the country GDP to contract by 16.5% during the first quarter of the current fiscal.

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat has been recommended for India’s highest sporting honour, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2020.

The Swachh Survekshan 2020 results were announced on August 20, 2020 and Indore retained its top spot for the fourth consecutive time. Indore was adjudged as the cleanest Indian city, followed by Surat on the second spot and Navi Mumbai on the third position.

Former British tennis player,two-time Grand Slam doubles champion and equal rights pioneer Angela Buxton has passed away. She was 85.

India is home to 30% of the total organic producers and ranks first in the world in number of organic farmers and ranks ninth in terms of area under organic farming, 2.59% of the total organic cultivation area (57.8 million hectares).

Late Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary was observed on August 20, 2020. He was born on August 20, 1944. Rajiv Gandhi had become the youngest Prime Minister of India when he had assumed office in October 1984. He had served as the Prime Minister of India till December 2, 1989. He was assassinated in May 1991 by an LTTE suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.

Computer scientist Russell Kirsch who invented the “pixel” and scanned the world’s first digital photograph, passed away.

 The President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has announced his resignation on 19 August 2020,  three years before his final term was due to end. The officers of the Malian Armed Forces began a military coup and arrested several government officials including President Keita.