Current Affairs Today 15th July 2020-Download in PDF

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Current Affairs Today – 15th July 2020

NEWS AT A GLANCE

  1. World Youth Skills Day globally celebrated on 15 July every year by United Nations.
  2. To mark its 39th foundation day of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), it organises ‘Digital Choupal’.
  3. A longer wait for a vaccine against Covid-19 virus may lead to a contraction of up to 7.5 per cent in the Indian GDP in FY21, a foreign brokerage Economists at Bank of America Securities said.
  4. The Iran Government has decided to drop India from the construction of the Chabahar Port-Zahedan Railway Line Project and now will be proceeding with the construction of the Project on its own.
  5. The Union Human Resource and Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ released PRAGYATA guidelines on digital education.
  6. Madhya Pradesh has topped in implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) by sanctioning an interest-free loan of around Rs 15.50 crore to 15,500 street vendors in the state.
  7. Trying to facilitate learning among public school children amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Madhya Pradesh government has started Mera Ghar Mera Vidyalaya Scheme.
  8. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index has ranked Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd(RIL) as the World’s 6th richest man with a worth USD 72.4 billion.
  9. UNICEF INDIA has tied-up with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FICCI), Socio-Economic Development Foundation (SEDF) to jointly develop UNICEF’s #Reimagine Campaign.
  10. The BSE has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing culture for startups and develop a ‘high investor depth’ startups platform.
  11. Hockey legend Gurbux Singh and former first-class cricketer Palash Nandy has been named for the Mohun Bagan Ratna Award 2020 by the football club Mohun Bagan’s executive committee.
  12. Rail Infra and Mobility Business Digital Awards (RIMBDA) has awarded Ved Parkash Dudeja with the coveted ‘Infra Business Leader of the Year’ award for 2020.
  13. Actor Priyanka Chopra has been chosen as the ambassador of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2020, joining the list of 50 celebrated filmmakers and actors who are invited as the ambassadors of the TIFF.
  14. Vikram Doraiswami, Indian Foreign Service officer has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Bangladesh.
  15. Ashok Lavasa was appointed as the vice president of Asian Development Bank.
  16. Former Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak has announced his retirement from the sport. Socceroos is the official nickname of the Australia national soccer team that represents Australia in international men’s soccer.
  17. A new book titled “If It Bleeds”, a collection of four stories, authored by Stephen King has been released.
  18. Renowned ceramic artist, Jyotsna Bhatt passed away.
  19. Dutch Football legend Wim Suurbier passed away.
  20. Hawkins Cookers Chairman, Brahm Vasudeva passed away.

NEWS IN DETAILS

IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES

World Youth Skills Day celebrated on 15 July

  • World Youth Skills Day globally celebrated on 15 July every year by United Nations.
  • The theme of World Youth Skills Day 2020 is “Skills for a Resilient Youth“.

Objective:

  • to provide an opportunity for young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, and public and private sector stakeholders to acknowledge as well as celebrate the importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.

BANKING & FINANCE 

‘Digital Choupal’ organized by NABARD on its 39th foundation day

  • To mark its 39th foundation day of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), it organises ‘Digital Choupal’.
  • It was conducted in the form of a video conference which was attended by participants of different projects initiated by NABARD, to share their experiences about the projects they are involved in.

Highlights:

  • NABARD has launched a refinance scheme for financial institutions and banks. It has allocated Rs 5,000 crores for the scheme.
  • The scheme will mainly focus on watershed development projects.
  • These projects are spread over 2.3 million hectares of watershed, tribal development a nd rainfed areas.
  • Under the scheme, the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies are to be turned into multi-service centres.
  • The fund allocated under the scheme is to be made available to financial institutions and banks to lend to the beneficiaries in 2,150 water shed development projects.

Extra Shots:

NABARD:

  • Founded: 12 July 1982
  • Headquarters: Mumbai
  • Chairman: Govinda Rajulu Chintala
  • Purpose: Development assistance; Poverty Reduction

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

India’s GDP to contract 7.5% if Covid vaccine is delayed, 4% in base case: Bank of America Securities

  • A longer wait for a vaccine against Covid-19 virus may lead to a contraction of up to 7.5 per cent in the Indian GDP in FY21, a foreign brokerage Economists at Bank of America Securities said.
  • It also revised down their base case estimates on the real GDP within a week, and now expect it to contract by 4 per cent because of a drop in economic activity.
  • Many analysts are expecting the Indian economy to contract by 5 per cent in FY21 as a result of the nationwide lockdowns, with some also estimating a contraction of up to 7.2 per cent in the GDP.

Extra Shots:

Bank of America

  • Headquarters: Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
  • CEO: Brian Moynihan

NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

Due to the Delays in Funding, India dropped from Construction of Chabahar-Zahedan Rail Project

  • The Iran Government has decided to drop India from the construction of the Chabahar Port-Zahedan Railway Line Project and now will be proceeding with the construction of the Project on its own.
  • This was informed by the Transport and Urban Development Minister of Iran during the inauguration of the Chabahar Port-Zahedan railway track laying process last week.

Chabahar Port-Zahedan Rail Line Project

  • The agreement for the development of the Chabahar Port and for the construction of a 628 Km railway line from Chabahar port to Zahedan was signed as a part of India’s Commitment in development of Trade with Iran and Afghanistan.
  • This Railway Project if completed by India would have served India an alternative Trade Route with Afghanistan and the Rest of Central Asian Countries
  • For the Railway Line Construction, Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Indian Government’s IRCON International Limited and the Iranian Railways during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Iran back in 2016.

Extra Shots:

Iran (Capital/Currency): Teharan/ Iranian rial

  • President: Hassan Rouhani

Ministry of HRD launched the guidelines for Pragyata

  • The Union Human Resource and Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ released PRAGYATA guidelines on digital education.

Highlights

  • The PRAGYATA guidelines have been developed focusing digital education or online education.
  • It will mainly help students who are presently at home due to lockdown. The guidelines include eight steps of online learning.
  • They are Plan, Review, Guide, Arrange, Talk, Assign, Track and Appreciate.

Extra Shots:

Ministry of HRD:

  • Union Minister: Ramesh Pokhriyal (Constituency – Haridwar, Uttarakhand)
  • Ministry executives: R. Subrahmanyam
  • Founded: 26 September 1985
  • Headquarters: New Delhi
  • Jurisdiction: India
  • Departments: Department of Higher Education, Department of School Education and Literacy

STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS

Madhya Pradesh Tops in the Implementation of PM SVANidhi

  • Madhya Pradesh has topped in implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) by sanctioning an interest-free loan of around Rs 15.50 crore to 15,500 street vendors in the state.

PM SVANidhi

  • PM SVANidhi is a central sector scheme that was launched on 1st June 2020 to help and formalize the street vendors involved in small businesses across the country.
  • The scheme is funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
  • Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs 10,000 is being provided without any interest from Banks for a period of one year to street vendors across the country so that they can resume their businesses in the post nationwide lockdown period.
  • The interest on the loan amount of 7 percent will be borne by the Central Government, while the remaining interest on the loan amount will be borne by the Governments of that respective State in which the street vendor is registered.
  • Further, the Street Vendors who will timely repay the loan amount will be eligible for a loan of Rs 20,000 in the next financial year under the scheme.

MP govt begins ‘Mera Ghar Mera Vidyalaya’ scheme to facilitate students

  • Trying to facilitate learning among public school children amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Madhya Pradesh government has started Mera Ghar Mera Vidyalaya Scheme.
  • The scheme aims to provide students with a school-like atmosphere at home. After the launch of the scheme, several teachers and staffers of the schools were seen delivering books and study material to the children.

Extra Shot:

Madhya Pradesh:

  • Statehood Day:1st November 1956
  • Capital: Bhopal
  • Chief Minister: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
  • Governor: Lalji Tondon (Additional Charge- Anandiben Patel)
  • National Park: Bandhavgarh NP, Fossil NP, Kanha NP, Madhav NP, Panna NP, Pench NP, Sanjay NP, Satpura NP

RANKS AND INDICES

Mukesh Ambani becomes World’s 6th richest man

  • The Bloomberg Billionaires Index has ranked Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd(RIL) as the World’s 6th richest man with a worth USD 72.4 billion.
  • He surpassed Elon Musk, co-founder & CEO of Tesla and Alphabet Inc co founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

Top Three World wise:

  1. Jeff Bezos(US) – USD 184B
  2. Bill Gates(US) – USD 115B
  3. Bernard Arnault(France) – USD 94.5B

From India:

  1. Azim Premji – USD 16.9B
  2. Shiv Nadar – USD15.8B

AGREEMENTS AND MOU SIGNED

UNICEF India tied up with FICCI for its #Reimagine Campaign

  • UNICEF INDIA has tied-up with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FICCI), Socio-Economic Development Foundation (SEDF) to jointly develop UNICEF’s #Reimagine Campaign.
  • The campaign aims to support the most vulnerable populations and children during the COVID-19 response and its after-math in India.
  • It will also help in avoiding the potential long-term damage to business operations as well as employment pipeline.

Extra Shots:

UNICEF

  • Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
  • Head: Henrietta H. Fore
  • Founded: 11 December 1946, New York, New York, United States
  • Founders: United Nations General Assembly, Ludwik Rajchman
  • Parent organizations: United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Economic and Social Council

FICCI

  • Headquarters location: New Delhi
  • Founded: 1927
  • Members: over 250,000 companies
  • Founders: Ghanshyam Das Birla, Purshottamdas Thakurdas
  • Type of business: Trade Association

BSE signs MoU with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing of startups

  • The BSE has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing culture for startups and develop a ‘high investor depth’ startups platform.
  • The newly-formed partnership will ensure a complete end-to-end ecosystem for the proposed social stock exchange.
  • This alliance between BSE and IIT Alumni Council will ensure entity transparency, governance improvement and market discovery of share price, provide liquidity for PE investors and enable retail participation.

Extra Shots:

BSE

  • Location: Mumbai, India
  • Founded: 9 July 1875
  • Chairman: Just. Vikramajit Sen
  • MD & CEO: Ashishkumar Chauhan
  • Indices: BSE SENSEX; S&P BSE SmallCap; S&P BSE MidCap; S&P BSE LargeCap; BSE 500

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

Gurbux Singh and Palash Nandy to be conferred with Mohun Bagan Ratna Award 2020

  • Hockey legend Gurbux Singh and former first-class cricketer Palash Nandy has been named for the Mohun Bagan Ratna Award 2020 by the football club Mohun Bagan’s executive committee.
  • The award is presented every year by Mohun Bagan on the occasion of its foundation day on 29 July.
  • However, due to coronavirus pandemic, the function will not be held this year.
  • The awards will be given personally to all the winners.

List of all the awardees

  • Mohun Bagan Ratna – club’s highest honor
  • Shri Gurbux Singh (Hockey)
  • Shri Palash Nandi (Cricket)

Lifetime Achievement

  • Shri Ashok Kumar (Hockey)
  • Shri Pranab Ganguly (Football)
  • Shri Monoranjan Porel (Athletics)

Best Football Player of the season 2019-20 (Senior): Joseba Beitia (Spain)

Best Youth Player: Sajal Bag (U18 team)

Ved Parkash Dudeja conferred with ‘Infra Business Leader of the Year’

  • Rail Infra and Mobility Business Digital Awards (RIMBDA) has awarded Ved Parkash Dudeja with the coveted ‘Infra Business Leader of the Year’ award for 2020.
  • He is the vice chairman of Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA).
  • He has been awarded for his contribution towards the infrastructure development.
  • Under his leadership, RLDA has launched various commercial projects, multifunctional complex, colony redevelopment and station redevelopment projects.

Priyanka Chopra chosen ambassador for Toronto International Film Festival

  • Actor Priyanka Chopra has been chosen as the ambassador of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2020, joining the list of 50 celebrated filmmakers and actors who are invited as the ambassadors of the TIFF.
  • The film festival — scheduled from September 10 to 19 — will be opting for digital screenings and virtual red carpets in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

APPOINTMENTS IN NEWS

Vikram Doraiswami appointed India’s next Ambassador to Bangladesh

  • Vikram Doraiswami, Indian Foreign Service officer has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Bangladesh.
  • He is currently serving as additional secretary in-charge of international organisations and summits at the headquarters of the external affairs ministry in Delhi.
  • He will succeed Riva Ganguly Das in Dhaka.

Extra Shots:

Bangladesh (Capital/Currency): Dhaka/Taka

  • Prime Minister: Sheikh Hasina
  • Official Language: Bengali

ADB appoints Ashok Lavasa as new Vice President

  • Ashok Lavasa was appointed as the vice president of Asian Development Bank.
  • Ashok Lavasa, a 1980 batch retired IAS officer was serving as the Election Commissioner and is next in line to become Chief Election Commissioner.
  • He has now been appointed as Vice President of ADB for Public-Private Partnerships and Private Sector Operations.

Extra Shots:

ADB:

  • Headquarters: Mandaluyong, Philippines
  • President: Masatsugu Asakawa
  • Founded: 19 December 1966
  • Purpose: Economic development
  • Membership: 68 countries

SPORTS CURRENT AFFAIRS

Former Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak announced his retirement

  • Former Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak has announced his retirement from the sport. Socceroos is the official nickname of the Australia national soccer team that represents Australia in international men’s soccer.
  • He made his national team debut in 2008 and made 79 appearances for Australia.
  • He also won the 2015 Asian Cup title for the team.
  • He has appeared for his national side in three World Cups.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

A book titled “If It Bleeds” authored by Stephen King released

  • A new book titled “If It Bleeds”, a collection of four stories, authored by Stephen King has been released.
  • The book published by Hachette India.
  • The book has the story centres around a bomb at Albert Macready Middle School.
  • It is a sequel to his bestselling work, “The Outsider”.

OBITUARY

Renowned ceramic artist Jyotsna Bhatt passes away

  • Renowned ceramic artist, Jyotsna Bhatt passed away.
  • She was born in Kutch in 1940, and she shifted to Mumbai to join the J.J. School of Arts.
  • She was an Indian ceramist and potter.
  • She as a key contributor to the field of contemporary ceramics in India.

Dutch Football legend Wim Suurbier passes away

  • Dutch Football legend Wim Suurbier passed away.
  • He was a key member of the 1970s squad of Netherlands who played in two World Cup finals. He also achieved the rare feat of playing in consecutive FIFA World Cup Finals in year 1974 and 1978 that his country lost to West Germany and Argentina.
  • He ended his national team career spanning 12 years with 60 caps.

Hawkins Cookers Chairman Brahm Vasudeva passes away