World Mosquito Day: Malaria causes four lakh deaths in 2018
- World Mosquito Day is celebrated every year on 20 August. The British doctor Sir Ronald Ross discovered at the Presidency General Hospital in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on the same day in 1897 that malaria was caused by female anopheles. The mosquito causes not only malaria, but also many diseases including dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever.
- According to the World Malaria Report released in December 2019, 23.1 crore people had malaria in 2017 while 22.8 crore people in 2018. Malaria led to 4.05 lakh deaths in 2018 as compared to 4.16 lakh in 2017.
Indian Renewable Energy Day: 83.39 GW of renewable renewable sources
- In 2004, the Government of India had decided that 20 August would be celebrated as Renewable Energy Day. So that awareness of renewable energy, also called renewable energy, can be increased.
- In India, 6 thousand MW renewable power capacity has been added in 2019-20. With this, India’s renewable energy capacity has increased to 84.39 GW by November 2019. The maximum power generated by this is 37.28 GW. Currently, 31.68 GW capacity projects are at different stages of development.
Vinesh Phogat became the first woman to win wrestling gold in Asian Games
- In 2018, Vinesh Phogat won a gold medal in the 50 kg category of the Jakarta Asian Games women’s wrestling competition. She became the first woman wrestler in the country to achieve this feat.
- Vinesh is the only Indian woman wrestler to qualify for next year’s Tokyo Olympics. For the time being, considering the risk of coronavirus, we have decided not to participate in the national camp starting from September 1.
A horrific rail accident occurred in 1995
There was a collision between Purushottam Express and Kalindi Express in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh. More than 250 people were killed in this accident and around the same number were injured.
Apart from this, other important events were as follows –
1648: Battle of Lens: French Duc d’Enghien defeats Spaniards
1741: Alaska first sighted by Danish explorer Vitus Bering at head of Russian expedition
1828: The first session of Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s Brahmo Samaj was held in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
1896: Dial telephone patented
1913: Adolf Pagod of France became the first pilot to land by plane via parachute.
1914: Battle at Gumbinnen, East-Prussia: Russians beat Germans
1914: Battle at Morhange: German troops chase French, killing thousands
1921: Mopala Rebellion begins in Malabar, Kerala.
1930: Australian cricket’s batting genius Don Bradman scores 232 in 5th Test win over England at The Oval
1944: Rajiv Gandhi was born in Mumbai on 20 August 1944.
1950: 11th Venice Film Festival: “Justice est faite” directed by Andre Cayatte wins the Golden Lion
1955: Anti-French riots in Morocco and Algeria kill hundreds of people.
1977: NASA launches Voyager 2 towards Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune
1979: The then Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh resigned 23 days after taking oath as Prime Minister.
1988: Pakistan President General Zia-ul-Haq dies in an air crash and Senate Chairman Ghulam Ishaq Khan becomes President.
1988: A magnitude 6.5 earthquake in India and Nepal killed a thousand people.
1991: The northern European country Estonia declared its separation from the then Soviet Union.
2008: Usain Bolt of Jamaica wraps up the 100/200m double in style with a new 200m world record 19.30 at the Beijing Olympics
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