Daily Current Affairs 16th July, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 16 July 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

PRAGYATA: Guidelines on digital education announced by HRD Ministry  
Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank virtually released the PRAGYATA guidelines on digital education in New Delhi.

• The guidelines recommend a cap on the screen time for students. The HRD Ministry has suggested that the online classes for pre-primary students should not be for more than 30 minutes a day. The PRAGYATA guidelines include eight steps of online education that is, Plan, Review, Arrange, Guide, Yak(talk), Assign, Track, and Appreciate.
• For Classes 1st to 8th, it has suggested that not more than two online sessions of upto 45 minutes each should be conducted in a day.
• For the senior students, from class 9th to 12th, the Ministry has suggested to limit the online classes to a maximum of four sessions of upto 45 minutes each.

Cabinet approves 2% Interest Subvention on prompt repayment of Shishu Loans 
Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a scheme for interest subvention of 2% for a period of 12 months, to all Shishu loan accounts under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) to eligible borrowers.

•  The scheme will be extended to loans which meet the following criteria – outstanding as on 31st March, 2020; and not in Non-Performing Asset (NPA) category, as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, on 31st March 2020 and during the period of operation of the Scheme.
• The interest subvention would be payable for the months in which the accounts are not in NPA category including for the months that the account becomes a performing asset again, after turning NPA.
• The estimated cost of the Scheme would be approximately Rs. 1,542 crore which would be provided by the Government of India.

Shashi Tharoor-led Parliamentary Panel Holds Deliberations on Banning of Chinese Apps
A parliamentary committee headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor held deliberations on banning of Chinese apps.

• The government has banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, SHAREiT and WeChat, terming them prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and national security.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India’s Number of Undernourished People Declines by 60 Million to Reach 14%: UN
The UN’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report says the number of undernourished people in India has declined by 60 million, from 21.7 per cent of the population in 2004-06 to 14 per cent in 2017-19.

• The report considered the most authoritative global study tracking progress towards ending hunger and malnutrition -said that the number of undernourished people in India declined from 249.4 million in 2004-06 to 189.2 million in 2017-19.
• Also said that there were less stunted children but more obese adults in India. The number of adults (18 years and older) who are obese grew from 25.2 million in 2012 to 34.3 million in 2016, from 3.1 per cent to 3.9 per cent.
• The number of women of reproductive age (15-49) affected by anaemia grew from 165.6 million in 2012 to 175.6 million in 2016. The number of infants 0-5 months of age exclusively breastfed grew from 11.2 million in 2012 to 13.9 million in 2019.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

UNICEF India Partners with FICCI to launch #Reimagine Campaign
The UNICEF INDIA has entered into partnership with the Socio Economic Development Foundation (SEDF) of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI),  to co-develop #Reimagine Campaign.

• The #Reimagine Campaign of UNICEF aims to support the most vulnerable populations and children during the COVID-19 response and its after-math in India.
• The FICCI SEDF will reach out to its membership base to garner support for the campaign and leverage its resources like cash and core assets to mobilize funds that can be utilized to help generate support for the most vulnerable population affected due to COVID disruption.

SPORTS

Former Australia skipper Mile Jedinak announces retirement from Football
Former Australia skipper and Crystal Palace midfielder Mile Jedinak announced his retirement from football at the age of 35.

• Jedinak who earned 79 caps for the Socceroos and led them to the 2015 Asian Cup title, had said he hoped to continue playing after being released by Aston Villa last year.

APPOINTMENTS

Ashok Lavasa to quit Election Commission, appointed ADB vice president
Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa is set to leave the poll panel to join the Asian Development Bank (ADB), more than a year after he had a run-in with Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora during the Lok Sabha polls over enforcing the Model Code Conduct.

• Lavasa will succeed Diwakar Gupta who will on August 31 next complete a five-year-term as the ADB vice-president for Private Sector Operations and Public-Private Partnerships,  as ADB vice-president.
• Lavasa would have succeeded Arora as the Chief Election Commissioner in April 2021 and would have continued till October 2022.

Suriname elects Indian-origin ‘Chan’ Santokhi as President
South American country Suriname brought an end to dictatorial rule by electing a new President Chan Santokhi.

• Santokhi is an Indian-origin former police chief, who won a landslide victory in the election that took place in May this year.
• Chandrikapersad ‘Chan’ Santokhi replaced dictator Desi Bouterse, who is facing murder charges along with smuggling of drugs, in the country which has a sizeable Hindu population.

AWARDS

Mukesh Ambani is world’s 6th richest, surpasses Elon Musk, Google founders
Mukesh Ambani surged past Silicon Valley tech titan Elon Musk as well as Alphabet co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to become the world’s sixth-richest person. 

• The chairman of Reliance Industries, whose wealth surpassed Warren Buffett’s last week, is now worth $72.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• Shares of the conglomerate have more than doubled from a low in March as its digital unit got billions in investments from companies including Facebook, Silver Lake and, most recently, Qualcomm.

Gurbux Singh, Palash Nandi to be conferred with prestigious Mohun Bagan Ratna
Indian hockey great Gurbux Singh and former Bengal cricketer and coach Palash Nandi will be conferred with prestigious Mohun Bagan Ratna this year.

• The award is presented every year by Mohun Bagan on the occasion of its foundation day on 29 July.

List of all award winner
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, vice chairman, RLDA awarded ‘Infra Business Leader of the Year’
Ved Parkash Dudeja, vice chairman, Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) was recently awarded the coveted ‘Infra Business Leader of the Year’ award for 2020 by the Rail Infra and Mobility Business Digital Awards (RIMBDA).

• RLDA is a statutory authority under the Ministry of Railways, responsible for development of vacant railway land for commercial use for the purpose of generating revenue by non-tariff measures and creating assets for Indian Railways.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

HRD minister launches ‘world’s most affordable’ Covid-19 test kit developed by IIT Delhi
Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Minister of State for HRD Sanjay Dhotre have launched the most affordable COVID-19 test Kit.

• It has been produced by IIT Delhi and manufactured by New Tech Medical Devices.
• COROSURE is one of the companies which has received the non exclusive license from IIT Delhi for the probe free RT-PCR based COVID-19 test kit.

China successfully launches APSTAR-6D telecommunication satellite
China successfully sent a commercial telecommunication satellite, known as APSTAR-6D, into a planned orbit from the southwestern Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

• The APSTAR-6D telecommunication satellite was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. It was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
• The geostationary satellite, APSTAR-6D is the first satellite of China’s global, high-throughput broadband satellite communication system that will form a space-wide Internet communication network covering the whole world, similar to GPS.

OBITUARIES

Wim Suurbier, Dutch Football legend, passes away
Netherlands football legend and Ajax defender Wim Suurbier has passed away. He was 75.

• Wim played for Ajax from 1964 to 1977, during which he won three European Cups and seven national titles
• Suurbier was also a key member of the 1970s Dutch squad to play in 1974 and 1978 World Cups final, where the Dutch finished second.

Renowned ceramic artist Jyotsna Bhatt passes away
One of India’s best-known ceramic and pottery artists, Jyotsna Bhatt has passed away after suffering a stroke. She was 80.

• The Baroda-based artist has been associated with ceramic work for over five decades and her works are in prominent collections all over the world.
• Apart from ceramics, she also experimented with stoneware and terracotta. In her ceramics, she preferred matte and satin matte glazes as well as teal blue to moss green and other earth tones.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Stephen King’s new book ‘If It Bleeds’ released in India
Stephen King is back with his new book titled, If It Bleeds which is published by Hachette India, the story centers around a bomb at Albert Macready Middle School.

• It is a sequel to his bestselling work, The Outsider, which featured Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency on her first solo case.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Youth Skills Day
Every year World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) is celebrated on 15 July to recognise the strategic importance of equipping young people with the skills of employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship.

• The theme for World Youth Skills Day 2020 is Skills for a Resilient Youth. This year’s event features a series of talks, presentations and discussions on how the pandemic has impacted different sectors.

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