Current Affairs Today 28th and 29th June 2020-Download in PDF

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Current Affairs Today – 28th and 29th June 2020

NEWS AT A GLANCE

  1. In India, the Ministry of External Affairs observes the Passport Seva Divas on 24 June every year.
  2. The World Vitiligo Day is observed on June 25 to build global awareness about vitiligo.
  3. The Government of India celebrates Statistics Day on June 29 every year since 2007 to popularize the use of Statistics in everyday life and sensitize the public as to how Statistics helps in shaping and framing policies.
  4. In March 2020, the Reserve Bank of India had increased the borrowing limit of scheduled banks under the marginal standing facility (MSF) scheme from 2 percent to 3 percent of their Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) as a temporary measure to deal with cash crunch caused by coronavirus pandemic.
  5. Flipkart-owned PhonePe has partnered with ICICI Bank on UPI multi-bank model giving its users the option to create and use multiple UPI IDs with ICICI and Yes Bank”s handles.
  6. The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has set up ‘Swavalamban Crisis Responsive Fund’ to support free onboarding for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on trade receivables discounting system (TReDS).
  7. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan today paid tributes to Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis on National Statistics Day.
  8. The government has again extended the deadline to bid for Air India by two months till 31st August.
  9. Under the fourth phase of ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ scheduled to commence from 3rd July, Air India will operate 170 flights and bring back Indian Nationals from 17 countries.
  10. The government has allowed Indian airlines to increase their number of domestic passenger flights from 33 percent to 45 percent of their pre-COVID capacity.
  11. The National Research Development Cooperation (NRDC) has signed a technology licensing agreement with an Agra-based apparel manufacturing entity, the Indian Garment Company.
  12. Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has unveiled a scheme titled ‘YSR Kapu Nestham’ for the welfare of the women from Kapu community.
  13. The Chhattisgarh government, led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has launched ‘Godhan Nyay Yojana’ in the state to make animal husbandry commercially profitable, prevent open grazing by cattle, and solve the problem of stray animals on roads and for environment conservation.
  14. Arunachal Pradesh state government is to implement Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in the State.
  15. Madhya Pradesh government will launch a ‘Kill Corona’ campaign from July 1 to control the spread of coronavirus in the state.
  16. In Jammu & Kashmir, a massive search operation was launched in several villages near the Line of Control in Kalsiyan area of Nowshera today after reports of some suspicious movement.
  17. Bhupesh Baghel, Chief Minister of 7 announced the launch of “Godhan Nyay Yojana” through an online press conference to promote animal husbandry and make it a commercially profitable practice and to procure the cow dung from the farmers at a fixed rate.
  18. The World Bank has approved loan worth $500 million (about Rs 3,700 crore) for Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS) on June 24, 2020, to improve quality and governance of school education in six Indian states.
  19. Russia’s Energia space corporation has announced that it is to take the first tourist on a spacewalk in 2023, under the terms of a new contract with a US partner.
  20. Micheal Martin has been elected as new Prime Minister of Ireland by the lower house of the Irish parliament.
  21. Shri Piyush Goyal, Commerce & Industry Minister and President of NPC Governing Council chaired the 49th Governing Council Meeting of National Productivity Council (NPC).
  22. SOLV, a B2B (business to business) digital platform for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), has launched a tailor-made credit card in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, India.
  23. Indian umpire Nitin Menon has been inducted into International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel of Umpires.
  24. Researchers at IIT-Bombay have developed a homegrown receiver chip named Dhruva that can be used in smartphones and navigation devices to find locations and routes within the country.
  25. The web portal of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan has been launched by the Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar.
  26. The Union Shri Arjun Munda launched the Trifed Digital Platforms, through Video Conference.

NEWS IN DETAILS

IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES

Passport Seva Divas observed on 24 June

  • In India, the Ministry of External Affairs observes the Passport Seva Divas on 24 June every year.
  • It was on this day in 1967 that the Passports Act, 1967 had come into effect.

World Vitiligo Day 2020 observed on 25 June

  • The World Vitiligo Day is observed on June 25 to build global awareness about vitiligo.
  • Vitiligo is a skin disorder leading to loss of color in the skin creating a variety of patterns on the skin from loss of pigment.
  • Vitiligo is often c7alled a disease instead of a disorder and that can have a significantly negative social or psychological impact on patients.
  • The first World Vitiligo Day was observed on June 25, 2011.

National Statistics Day observed on 29 June

  • The Government of India celebrates Statistics Day on June 29 every year since 2007 to popularize the use of Statistics in everyday life and sensitize the public as to how Statistics helps in shaping and framing policies.
  • The day marks the birth anniversary of Father of Indian Statistics, Prof. P C Mahalanobis, in recognition of his invaluable contribution in establishing the National Statistical System.
  • The theme of Statistics Day, 2020 is SDG- 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) & SDG- 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls).

BANKING & FINANCE 

RBI extends enhanced borrowing limit under MSF till 30 September

  • In March 2020, the Reserve Bank of India had increased the borrowing limit of scheduled banks under the marginal standing facility (MSF) scheme from 2 percent to 3 percent of their Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) as a temporary measure to deal with cash crunch caused by coronavirus pandemic.
  • This relaxation was effective from March 27, 2020 and was granted till June 30, 2020.
  • Now, RBI has decided to extend this enhanced borrowing facility provided to the banks to meet their liquidity shortages till September 30, 2020.
  • Apart from this, the Central Bank has also extended the relaxation on the minimum daily maintenance of the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 80 percent for a further period of three months till September 25, 2020.
  • On March 27, the minimum daily maintenance of the CRR was reduced from 90 percent of the prescribed CRR to 80 percent till June 26, 2020 due to the hardships faced by banks in terms of social distancing of staff and consequent strains on reporting requirements.

PhonePe partners with ICICI Bank on UPI multi-bank model

  • Flipkart-owned PhonePe has partnered with ICICI Bank on UPI multi-bank model giving its users the option to create and use multiple UPI IDs with ICICI and Yes Bank”s handles.
  • The ‘@ibl’ handles for ICICI Bank users and ‘@ybl’ handles for YES Bank users will enable easy, quick and contactless payment services to over 200 million registered PhonePe users.
  • The PhonePe customers will now be able to choose between multiple handles for their UPI IDs, thus making payments easy, secure and accessible to all.

Extra Shots:

PhonPe:

  • Parent organization: Flipkart
  • Founded: December 2015
  • CEO: Sameer Nigam
  • Headquarters location: Bengaluru
  • Founders: Sameer Nigam, Burzin Engineer, Rahul Chari

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Sidbi sets up Swavalamban Crisis Responsive Fund to facilitate free onboarding of MSMEs on TReDS platform

  • The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has set up ‘Swavalamban Crisis Responsive Fund’ to support free onboarding for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on trade receivables discounting system (TReDS).
  • The initiative aims to offer relief to the MSMEs from severely crunched cash flow, during these challenging times.
  • The free onboarding of MSMEs would be available till September 2000.
  • It is an open-ended fund with the target to onboard 10,000 MSMEs during this period.
  • Usually, an MSME has to pay a fee of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for getting registered on a TReDS platform.
  • Three TReDS platforms namely Receivables Exchange of India Ltd (RXIL), M1xchange and Invoice art will help MSMEs to gain access to working capital through invoice discounting via multiple financiers.

Extra Shots:

SIDBI:

  • Headquarters location: Lucknow
  • Founded: 2 April 1990
  • Agency executive: Mohammad Mustafa, (Chairman and Managing Director);

NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

Union Ministers pay tribute to Professor PC Mahalanobis on National Statistics Day

  • Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan today paid tributes to Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis on National Statistics Day.
  • This day is being celebrated as the birth anniversary of Prof. Mahalanobis.
  • He said, statistics plays an important role in formulation of policies and plans needed for the development of the country.

Govt extends deadline to bid for Air India till August 31

  • The government has again extended the deadline to bid for Air India by two months till 31st August.
  • This is the third time the deadline has been extended.
  • The divestment process for the national carrier was initiated on 27th of January this year. Issuing a corrigendum to the Expression of Interest (EoI) for sale of Air India, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management said the deadline has been extended in view of the request received from the interested bidders due to the prevailing situation arising out of COVID-19.
  • While issuing the EoI in January, the last date for bids was kept at 17th of March which was later extended till 30th April and further extended to 30th of this month.

Fourth phase of ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ to commence from 3rd July

  • Under the fourth phase of ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ scheduled to commence from 3rd July, Air India will operate 170 flights and bring back Indian Nationals from 17 countries.
  • World’s largest repatriation programme, ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ initiated by the Central Government has brought back nearly 1,50,000 Indian nationals till date through nearly 7700 flight operations from foreign countries, amid the global pandemic.
  • Foreign Ministry has said that over 5 lakh people had registered to return via sea, land and air and 3, 60,000 people have already returned under this programme.
  • Starting from 3rd of next month till 15th, within a span of 13 days, passengers from United States, UK, Canada and Gulf countries will be brought back under the fourth phase of ‘Vande Bharat Mission’.
  • In addition to these Air India has also scheduled flights from Kenya, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Myanmar, Japan, Ukraine and Vietnam. With 38 flights scheduled to the United States, 32 for the UK, a remarkable number of flight operations have been scheduled for the gulf countries as well.
  • Keeping in view the large number of Indian citizens living in Gulf countries, 26 Air India flights have been scheduled for Saudi Arabia.
  • In addition to these 136 Air India Express flights, 41 Go Air flights will also be operating, taking the total number of flight operations to 347 under the fourth phase.
  • The number of flights in this phase is likely to increase with more additions of the private airlines.
  • The government started the special repatriation mission on the 7th of last month to help stranded people reach their destinations in light of the suspension of international flights due to the Corona pandemic.

Govt allows Indian Airlines to increase domestic passenger flights from 33 to 45 per cent of their pre-COVID capacity

  • The government has allowed Indian airlines to increase their number of domestic passenger flights from 33 percent to 45 percent of their pre-COVID capacity.
  • The Ministry of Civil Aviation had restarted domestic passenger services from 25th of May after a gap of two months due to lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.
  • The Civil Aviation Ministry modified its previous order of May 21 where it had restricted capacity utilisation of domestic flights to one – third of the approved summer schedule.
  • In the revised order, the Ministry has increased the capacity limit to 45 per cent.
  • The decision was taken after review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations in comparison to passenger demand for air travel.
  • The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has been asked to prepare the schedule of the airlines.

Extra Shots:

The Ministry of Civil Aviation of Government of India is the nodal Ministry responsible for the formulation of national policies and programmes for development and regulation of Civil Aviation and for devising and implementing schemes for the orderly growth and expansion of civil air transport.

  • Officeholder: Hardeep Singh Puri (Union Minister)
  • Jurisdiction: India
  • Headquarters: Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, New Delhi
  • Founded: 21 October 2016
  • Annual budget: 6,602.86 crores INR (US$930 million, 2018–19 est.)

Indian Garment Company bagged NRDC license for manufacturing NavRakshak PPEs

  • The National Research Development Cooperation (NRDC) has signed a technology licensing agreement with an Agra-based apparel manufacturing entity, the Indian Garment Company.
  • The agreement aims to manufacture know-how of Personal protective equipment (PPE) Suit named NavRakshak.

Highlights:

  • NavRakshak PPE was principally developed by Dr. Arnab Ghosh, a Naval Doctor.
  • The PPEs were made considering the comfort and protection of the doctors.
  • The PPE is incorporated with superior quality breathable fabric to make the PPE suit and the design innovation eliminates the need for costly taping and sealing of the seam which is otherwise needed in other PPEs available in the market.
  • The fabric, suit, and seam have been found to meet the synthetic blood penetration resistance criteria comfortably.
  • The prototype development took place earlier at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai.
  • It was tested and certified at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which is an accredited lab authorized by the Ministry of Textile for PPE prototype sample testing as per the prevailing ISO standards and guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Textile.

Indian Garment Company:

  • Indian Garment Company is a registered micro-enterprise under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Act. Indian Garment Company is already manufacturing PPE kits in and around Agra and supplying to various hospitals and has now proposed an annual production target of over one million PPE kits using the licensed know-how of NavRakshak to meet the increased requirement of PPEs enforced by COVID crisis.

 STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS

Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy Launches YSR Kapu Nestham Scheme for Women of Kapu

  • Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has unveiled a scheme titled ‘YSR Kapu Nestham’ for the welfare of the women from Kapu community.
  • Under the scheme, the government will provide financial assistance of Rs 15,000 per year for all the eligible women of the community aged between 45 and 60 years for a period of five years.
  • In five years, the beneficiaries will be getting a total of Rs 75,000.

Extra Shots:

Andhra Pradesh:

  • Capital: Amravati
  • Chief Minister: Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy
  • Governor: Biswabhusan Harichandan
  • Literacy rate: 67.4%
  • National Park: Sri Venkateswara National Park, Sri Venkateswara National Park, Papikonda National Park

Chhattisgarh announces Godhan Nyay Yojana to procure cow dung at fixed rate from farmers

  • The Chhattisgarh government, led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has launched ‘Godhan Nyay Yojana’ in the state to make animal husbandry commercially profitable, prevent open grazing by cattle, and solve the problem of stray animals on roads and for environment conservation.
  • Under the scheme, the state government will procure cow dung from Livestock owners on fixed rate.
  • The cow dung will be used for the production of vermi-compost, which would then be sold through cooperative societies, to meet the fertilizer requirement of farmers.
  • It is an effective initiative for cow dung management as well as to make animal husbandry more profitable.
  • The scheme will be implemented in the state from Hareli Festival.
  • It is an important festival of Chhattisgarh’s ‘Gond’ Tribe and is celebrated in the new moon day of Srawan (Sawan Amavsya) month of the Hindu calendar between July and August in rainy season.

Arunachal Pradesh to provide 100 percent tap connections in the State by 2023 March

  • Arunachal Pradesh state government is to implement Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in the State.
  • The mission aims to improve the lives of rural people by providing safe drinking water to every rural household through household tap connections.

Highlights:

  • Arunachal Pradesh aims to provide 100% Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) to all the households of the State by March 2023.
  • Government of India has allocated Rs.255 crore for the State under JJM in 2020-21. The state will be given additional funds in the form of performance grants based on their achievement in terms of tangible outputs that is the household tap connections and commensurate financial progress.
  • As per the state’s official data, 2.18 lakh total rural households, 37,000 households have been already provided with tap connections.
  • The State is planning to provide 77,000 tap connections in 2020-21.
  • The state government is to focus on retrofitting and augmentation of piped water supply schemes already existing in the villages/ habitations so that the remaining household could be provided with tap connections easily in the least possible time in campaign mode.

Extra Shots:

Arunachal Pradesh:

  • Statehood day: 20 February 1987
  • Governor: Brig. (Dr.) B.D. Mishra (Retd.)
  • Chief Minister: Pema Khandu
  • Capital: Itanagar
  • Districts: 25
  • Official languages: English
  • Literacy: 66.95%

MP govt to launch ‘Kill Corona’ campaign from July 1

  • Madhya Pradesh government will launch a ‘Kill Corona’ campaign from July 1 to control the spread of coronavirus in the state.
  • Under the campaign, a door-to-door survey will be conducted and tests would also be done on citizens for other diseases.
  • Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is monitoring the preparations for this campaign during daily review meetings on the corona pandemic.
  • During the 15-day ‘Kill Corona’ campaign in MP, 2.5 lakh tests will be carried out and 15,000 to 20,000 samples would be collected daily.
  • Health department officials informed that the testing capacity in the state will be doubled from 4,000 per 10 lakh people to 8,000 per 10 lakh people.

Extra Shots:

Madhya Pradesh:

  • Capital: Bhopal
  • Chief Minister: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
  • Governor: Lalji Tandon
  • National Park: Bandhavgarh NP, Fossil NP, Kanha NP, Madhav NP, Panna NP, Pench NP, Sanjay NP, Satpura NP

Massive search operation launched in several villages near LoC in J&K

  • In Jammu & Kashmir, a massive search operation was launched in several villages near the Line of Control in Kalsiyan area of Nowshera today after reports of some suspicious movement.
  • Massive searches are being carried out in the forests and human habitations in Kalsiyan, Bhawani, Ganya and other adjoining villages after reports of presence of suspected persons.
  • An infiltration bid was foiled by the army on May 28 in this area during which the Army had claimed killing three terrorists.

Extra Shots:

Jammu & Kashmir:

  • Capitals- Jammu (Winter), Srinagar (Summer)
  • Lt Governor- Girish Chandra Murmu
  • National Parks: City Forest (Salim Ali) National Park, Dachigam National Park, Hemis National Park, Kishtwar National Park
  • Wildlife Sanctuaries: Baltal-Thajwas WLS, Changthang Cold Desert WLS, Gulmarg WLS, Jasrota WLS, Karakoram (Nubra Shyok) WLS etc

Chhattisgarh becomes the 1st state to launch “Godhan Nyay Yojana” , to Procure Cow Dung From Livestock Owners

  • Bhupesh Baghel, Chief Minister of 7 announced the launch of “Godhan Nyay Yojana” through an online press conference to promote animal husbandry and make it a commercially profitable practice and to procure the cow dung from the farmers at a fixed rate.
  • AIM: To prevent the cattles from open grazing and solve the problems due to stray animals. The scheme will commence from the Hareli Festival on 20th July 2020.
  • Under this scheme the government will collect the cow dung from the farmers for a fixed price and convert it into vermicompost fertilizers which will be sold through the cooperative societies to meet the fertilizer requirement of farmers, Forest Department, Agriculture, Horticulture and Urban Administration Department for plantation campaigns.

Extra Shots:

Chhattisgarh:

  • Established on: 1 November 2000
  • Governor: Anusuiya Uikey
  • Chief Minister: Bhupesh Baghel
  • Literacy: 70.01%
  • Official language: Hindi

INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

World Bank Approves USD 500 mn loan to improve quality of education system in 6 Indian States

  • The World Bank has approved loan worth $500 million (about Rs 3,700 crore) for Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS) on June 24, 2020, to improve quality and governance of school education in six Indian states.
  • The STARS program builds on the long partnership between India and the World Bank (since 1994), for strengthening public school education and to support the country’s goal of providing Education for All.
  • The six states are Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan.

Extra Shots:

World Bank:

  • Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
  • Parent organization: World Bank Group
  • Membership: 189 countries (IBRD); 173 countries (IDA)
  • Founded: July 1944
  • Founders: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White

Russia announces to take first tourist on space walk in 2023 yr

  • Russia’s Energia space corporation has announced that it is to take the first tourist on a spacewalk in 2023, under the terms of a new contract with a US partner.
  • Energia has signed a contract with Space Adventures. Under this, two space tourists to the International Space Station (ISS).

Highlights:

  • Energia announced after NASA signed a deal with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company. The deal is to promote private missions to the station after a special training program in the US.
  • The programme is introduced after the first successful mission by Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the month of May 2020 to bring astronauts to the station on a reusable Crew Dragon spacecraft. This has ended nearly a decade of Russia holding a monopoly on shuttling humans to orbit.
  • SpaceX in March announced its own space tourism trip for three people in the year 2020, on board of the Crew Dragon.
  • SpaceX together with the Russian agency previously took 8 tourists to the ISS between 2001 and 2009.

Extra Shots:

Energia: PAO S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, also known as RSC Energia, is a Russian manufacturer of ballistic missile, spacecraft and space station components. The company is the prime developer and contractor of the Russian manned spaceflight program; it also owns a majority of Sea Launch.

  • Founder: Sergei Korolev
  • Founded: 26 August 1946
  • Headquarters: Korolyov, Russia
  • Formerly: OKB-1
  • Parent organization: United Rocket and Space Corporation

Micheal Martin becomes new PM of Ireland

  • Micheal Martin has been elected as new Prime Minister of Ireland by the lower house of the Irish parliament.
  • There are altogether 160 seats within the current lower house of Irish parliament with one seat getting to the speaker of the house who wasn’t involved within the vote.
  • Micheal Martin has won the election by receiving 93 votes in favour, 63 votes against and 3 votes in abstention. He has been the leader of the Fianna Fáil party since 2011.

Extra Shots:

Ireland (Capital/Currency): Dublin/Euro

  • Prime Minister: Micheal Martin

SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES

Piyush Goyal chairs 49th Governing Council Meeting of NPC

  • Shri Piyush Goyal, Commerce & Industry Minister and President of NPC Governing Council chaired the 49th Governing Council Meeting of National Productivity Council (NPC).
  • NPC is an autonomous body which comes under the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and Government of India. The meeting witnessed the participation of Government Officers, Leaders of Industry Associations, Industry captains, Trade Union leaders, Productivity Councils of States and other eminent personalities.
  • The participants in the meeting deliberated on increasing the productivity levels of the India in various sectors.
  • These participants put forward various suggestions such as interlinking of academia and industry for creation of a highly skilled labor force, identification of Champion sectors which has the potential to drive the economy, sector formulation of specific action plans by NPC especially in agriculture and logistics sectors, adoption of technology to increase the productivity and delivering cost-effective solutions for marginalized sector etc.

Extra Shots:

NCP:

  • Founded: 12 February 1958
  • Headquarters location: New Delhi

AGREEMENTS AND MOU SIGNED

SOLV partnered with Standard Chartered Bank to Launch Credit Card for MSMEs

  • SOLV, a B2B (business to business) digital platform for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), has launched a tailor-made credit card in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, India.
  • SOLV MSME Credit Card provides MSME clients with a ready means to meet ongoing business expenses including supplier payments, fuel, logistics, and purchase of raw material, utile payments and working capital outlays.
  • Importantly, SOLV, registered as Standard Chartered Research & Technology India Pvt. Ltd., is a fully-owned entity of the London-headquartered Standard Chartered Group.

Extra Shots:

Standard Chartered Bank

  • Headquarters location: London, United Kingdom
  • CEO: Bill Winters
  • Founded: 1969, London, United Kingdom
  • Founders: Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, Standard Bank

SPORTS CURRENT AFFAIRS

Indian umpire Nitin Menon inducted in ICC Elite Panel

  • Indian umpire Nitin Menon has been inducted into International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel of Umpires.
  • He has been inducted into the Elite Panel for the upcoming 2020-21 season. He has replaced England’s umpire Nigel Llong. Nitin Menon was earlier a part of the Emirates ICC International Panel of Umpires.
  • He has an experience of officiating in three Tests, 24 One Day Internationals and 16 T20 Internationals.
  • Nitin Menon is the third Indian to make it to the prestigious panel after former captain Srinivas Venkatraghavan and Sundaram Ravi.
  • Nitin Menon has been inducted by the selection panel comprising of ICC General Manager (Cricket) Geoff Allardice (Chairman), Indian commentator Sanjay Manjrekar, and match referees Ranjan Madugalle and David Boon.

Extra Shots:

ICC:

  • Chairperson: Shashank Manohar
  • CEO: Manu Sawhney
  • Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  • Founded: 15 June 1909
  • Membership: 104 members

 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CURRENT AFFAIRS

IIT-Bombay develops receiver chip ‘Dhruva’ to find accurate locations in all weather conditions

  • Researchers at IIT-Bombay have developed a homegrown receiver chip named Dhruva that can be used in smartphones and navigation devices to find locations and routes within the country.
  • Dhruva will receive signals from India’s NAVIC group of navigation satellites (built by ISRO) as well as the US Global Positioning System-based satellites to determine these accurately under all weather conditions.
  • Dhruva is a radio frequency receiver chip designed in 18 months by students and researchers at IIT Bombay.
  • The Dhruva project was funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
  • SAMEER (Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research) is the nodal agency.
  • It can receive signals in multiple frequency bands and handle weak signals.

WEBPORTALS & APP  IN NEWS

Narendra Tomar laun77ches “Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan” web portal

  • The web portal of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan has been launched by the Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar.
  • The web portal has been set up to provide information to the public regarding the various district-wise and scheme-wise components of the Abhiyaan.
  • It will also help in monitoring the progress of completion of the works being undertaken in 116 districts of 6 states, with more than 25000 returnee migrant workers per district.
  • The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan is an employment generation-cum-rural infrastructure creation programme launched by the Government of India to offer employment opportunities to returnee migrant workers at their native places for next four months.
  • Ministry of Rural Development is the nodal Ministry of the programme launched with a funding of Rs 50,000 crore.

Extra Shots:

The Ministry of Rural Development, a branch of the Government of India, is entrusted with the task of accelerating the socio-economic development of rural India. Its focus is on health, education, drinking water, housing and roads.

  • Founded: June 2011
  • Jurisdiction: India
  • Headquarters: New Delhi
  • Annual budget: 1.22 lakh crores INR (US$17 billion, 2020-21 est.)
  • Departments: Department of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources
  • Officeholders: Narendra Singh Tomar (Minister), Ram Kripal Yadav (Minister of State)

Arjun Munda launched Tribes India products on GEM and new website of TRIFED

  • The Union Shri Arjun Munda launched the Trifed Digital Platforms, through Video Conference.
  • He launched the TRIBES India products on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) with a diverse range on display and TRIFED’s new website, https://trifed.tribal.gov.in.
  • The launch comes due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has affected the country.
  • The Ministry aims to helo the livelihoods of the poor and marginalized communities have been seriously impacted due to the pandemic.
  • The move aims to ease the burden of the tribal artisans during such troubled times.

Highlights:

  • Under this, the Team of “Trifed Warriors” will take Tribal Commerce based on forest produce, handlooms & handicrafts to a new high for transforming tribal lives and livelihoods. The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) team is represented by all the heads of departments and senior officials.
  • The key focus of the webinar was “TRIFED Goes Digital’ and “Be Vocal for Local’ #GoTribal”.
  • It was organized by TRIFED and was attended by over 200 participants.
  • TRIFED plays a major role in connecting the tribals to the mainstream.
  • The TRIFED warriors will focus on extracting and utilizing the wealth of information and knowledge that the tribal communities have, especially with regard to the jungle, and how that can be used to not just benefit their community but also be of greater help to the country and people amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Extra Shots:

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, a branch of Government of India, looks after the affairs of the tribal communities in India.