Current Affairs in Short: 12 August 2022

National Award-winning singer Shivamogga Subbanna passes away

• National Award-winning Singer Shivamogga Subbanna passed away on August 11, 2022, at a hospital in Bengaluru following a heart attack.
• Subbanna was the first Kannadiga to win a National Award for playback singing the song ‘Kaadu Kudure Odi Banditta’. He became a household name in Karnataka after he sang ‘Baarisu Kannada Dindimava’.
• Known for his work in the field of ‘Sugama Sangeetha’, a genre in which poetry in Kannada is set to music, Subbanna has worked and sung poetries of famous poets.
• Shivamogga Subbanna was also a singer with Akashvani and Doordarshan and had also worked as an advocate.

Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurates National Conference of Rural Cooperative Banks in New Delhi

• The Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah have stressed the need for a different strategy to take cooperative to every Panchayat of India.
• While inaugurating the day-long National Conference of Rural Cooperative Banks in New Delhi on August 12, the minister said that a five-year strategy is required for Primary Agricultural Credit Societies PACS in each Panchayat as two lakh Panchayats are yet to have PACS.
• He added that the Central Government has given its approval to the Computerization of PACS with the objective of increasing their efficiency and bringing transparency and accountability to their operations.
• As per the Union Minister, rural cooperative banks have played a significant role in connecting rural India with the country’s economy.

Latvia and Estonia withdraw from Cooperation Group between China and Central and Eastern European countries

• Latvia and Estonia have withdrawn from a cooperation group between China and over a dozen Central and Eastern European countries.
• The move has come amid Western Criticism of China over escalating military pressure on Taiwan.
• Both Latvia and Estonia assured that they will continue to work towards constructive and pragmatic relations with China while also respecting the rules-based international order and human rights.
• Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania are among the countries that have remained in the Cooperation format.

Regional Committee Meet on Assam-Arunachal border dispute

• The Government of Assam has been collaborating closely with its counterparts in the neighboring Arunachal Pradesh for a peaceful, comprehensive, and speedy resolution of the border disputes.
• According to the press release, both governments have established 12 regional committees to hasten the process of identifying and quickly resolving the contested territories.
• After a detailed discussion, it was decided that the joint visits by the regional committees of both the states to the areas identified as disputed will be concluded within August 31, 2022.
• Subsequently, by September 15 this year, the Chief Ministers of both Assam and Arunachal Pradesh will receive the reports from the corresponding regional committees.