Daily Current Affairs 15th July, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 15 July 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

NITI Aayog presents India’s second Voluntary National Review at UN
NITI Aayog presented India’s 2nd Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, 2020.

• The India VNR 2020 report titled Decade of Action: Taking SDGs from Global to Local was released by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Dr V.K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, and Smt. Sanyukta Samaddar, Adviser (SDGs).
• India presented its VNR along with other second time presenters like Bangladesh, Georgia, Kenya, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria and Uganda. The presentation also included a short film which encapsulated the processual aspects of the second VNR and captured some of India’s major progress areas on the SDGs.

Govt aims to increase public health expenditure to 2.5% of GDP by 2025
In a meeting with the 15th Finance Commission, the Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, highlighted that the government aims at gradually increasing the public health expenditure to 2.5 per cent of the nation’s GDP by the year 2025.

• The Minister asserted that the outlay for primary health expenditure will also be made nearly two third of the total public health expenditure in the country.
• The Health Ministry has also revised its requirement of around 4.9 lakh crores to 6.04 lakh crores in view of the COVID pandemic.

Nitin Gadkari inaugurates new economic corridor projects worth Rs 20,000 cr in Haryana
Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone and inaugurated highway projects worth over 20,000 crore rupees in Haryana.

• 3 projects worth over 2,240 crore rupees were inaugurated and foundation stones for 8 projects worth over 17,000 crore rupees were laid.
• The projects are part of new economic corridors in the state and were unveiled through a web based program presided over by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal.

Govt approves Rs 107 cr for firefighting facilities at Haldia Dock
Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has approved 107 Crore rupees for augmentation of firefighting facilities on five jetties of Haldia Dock Complex at Kolkata Port.

• The modern firefighting facility will enable the Haldia Dock Complex in safe handling of the movement of petro-chemical products.
• The existing fire fighting facility does not support the handling of the LPG and other petroleum products as per the guideline of Oil Industry Safety Directorate of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Madhya Pradesh emerges on top in implementing PM Svanidhi scheme
Madhya Pradesh has emerged on top in implementing the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atma Nirbhar Nidhi-PM Swa Nidhi scheme. The scheme is being implemented in the state to help the street vendors to continue their business.

• Apart from urban street vendors, a scheme to provide interest free assistance of Rs. 10,000 is being implemented also for the street vendors of rural areas in the state.
• The Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Nidhi Yojana has been launched to provide benefit to beneficiaries of 378 urban bodies of the state. So far, 15,500 cases have been approved in the state and interest free loan of around 15 crore 50 lakh has been approved.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Iran drops India from Chabahar rail project
Iran dropped India from the Chabahar rail project to Zahedan without any assistance from India due to delay in funding. India has been dropped four years after the project was finalised as part of a broader trilateral agreement.

• Iran remains open to all including India for collaboration and investment but Tehran expects future projects should be safeguarded from third party unilateral sanctions.

BANKING & FINANCE

NABARD Credit Support of Rs1,607 Crore to Bengal in Coronavirus Crisis
National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has provided credit support of Rs 1,607 crore to West Bengal during the COVID-19 pandemic so far.

• Besides the bank’s normal refinance schemes, this is a special liquidity support measure as the pandemic and the lockdown have severely affected the rural economy.
• The help was provided through state cooperative banks, regional rural banks and micro-finance institutions.

NABARD extends grant assistance of Rs 221.89 cr to support 298 watershed projects in Karnataka 
In Karnataka, NABARD has extended a grant assistance of 221.89 crore rupees to support 298 watershed projects in over three lakh hectares benefitting 66,500 families. The State has about 75 percent of rainfed area.

• The projects have resulted in improving the crop productivity, diversification, soil and water conservation and socio-economic condition of the beneficiaries.

Nabard announces Rs 5,000-crore concessional refinance facility
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), announced a concessional refinance facility to the tune of ₹5,000 crore for banks and financial institutions for on-lending to beneficiaries in its 2,150 watershed development projects.

• NABARD made the announcement in its first ‘Digital Choupal’ which was organised to mark its 39th Foundation day.
• The rural development financial institutions also announced earmarking of ₹5,000 crore during FY21 for turning Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) into multi-service centres (one-stop shops for meeting the varied needs of the farmers).

NHB provides Rs 25,000 crore to housing fin cos as refinance assistance in last 4 months
The National Housing Bank (NHB) has in the last four months (March to June 30, 2020) provided a total refinance assistance of over ₹25,000 crore to the housing finance companies (HFCs) alone.

• Total refinance disbursements during July-June 2020 grew 24 per cent year -on-year to touch ₹31,250 crore under its various refinance schemes.
• Under the Aatmanirbhar Package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the NHB was provided a Special Liquidity Facility of ₹10,000 crore by the Reserve Bank of India to address the pandemic related liquidity issues of housing finance sector

HSBC to set up IFSC Banking Unit at GIFT city in Gandhinagar
HSBC- the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited is to set up the IFSC Banking Unit at Gujarat International Finance Tec City, GIFT city in Gandhinagar Gujarat.

• The world’s largest financial services organization HSBC has got in-principle approval from the GIFT SEZ Authority to set up an IFSC Banking Unit -IBU at GIFT City, subject to other Regulatory approvals.
• This development marks a major milestone for HSBC in India, which has been present in the country for more than 160 years.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Google’s Sundar Pichai announces $10 billion investment in India
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a $10 billion investment in India at the Google for India virtual live-stream event.

•  The event focused on contributing to accelerate India’s digital economy with this investment over the next five to seven years.
• Firstly, the Rs 75,000 crore investment will focus on help in enabling affordable access and information to every Indian irrespective of the language. Secondly, India’s unique needs to be met by products and services.

Google partners with CBSE to help 1 mn teachers run online classes
Google has announced its partnership with CBSE to help 1 million teachers conduct classes online by the end of the year.

• Google will help teachers from 22,000 schools across India to run classes via YouTube, Google Classrooms, and GSuite.
• G Suite for Education includes Google’s usual tools, like Google Docs, Sheets and more. It also includes ways for teachers to give assignments to students and use Google Forms

SPORTS

Asia Cup cricket tournament postponed till June 2021: ACC
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced that Asia Cup cricket tournament, which was supposed to be held in September this year, has been postponed until June 2021 owing to Covid-19 pandemic.

• Pakistan was to originally host the Asia Cup this time but due to security reasons, the tournament was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka after the country’s board expressed its willingness to organise the same.

APPOINTMENTS

Andrzej Duda wins re-election as Polish president
Poland’s presidential election has been won by the incumbent Andrzej Duda after beating his liberal europhile rival Rafal Trzaskowski. Duda is backed by the right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS).

• Mr Duda had won 51.2 per cent of the vote with results from more than 99.97 per cent of polling stations counted, and that tallying up the final votes would not change the outcome.

Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl to lead CII’s e-commerce committee
Confederation of Indian Industry said Snapdeal’s Co-founder & CEO Kunal Bahl has taken over as the Chairman of its e-commerce committee for the year 2020-21.

• The upcoming e-commerce policy, the consumer protection rules and a consistent interpretation of the intermediary status of e-commerce platforms figure high on the immediate agenda of the committee.
• The committee will focus on resolving policy issues that will help accelerate the growth of exports through e-commerce platforms.

Hemang Amin appointed BCCI’s interim CEO
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have appointed Hemang Amin as the interim chief executive officer (CEO) after relieving Rahul Johri last week but the Indian Premier League (IPL) chief operating officer may soon emerge as a serious candidate for the CEO’s position.

• Amin’s elevation was informed to the BCCI affiliates in an internal communication by BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

AWARDS

Hockey Legend Ashok Kumar to be Conferred with Mohun Bagan Lifetime Achievement Award
Ashok Kumar, a key member of India’s 1975 World Cup-winning hockey team, will be conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award by city’s iconic club Mohun Bagan on the occasion of its foundation day in a virtual ceremony in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Besides the 1975 gold, the 70-year-old Kumar had also won bronze (1971) and silver (1973) medals in World Cups, besides a bronze medal in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

IIT Kanpur develops UV sanitizing device ‘SHUDDH’ to make your room COVID free
 Imagineering Laboratory department of IIT Kanpur has developed an Ultraviolet (UV) sanitizing product named SHUDH.

• Smartphone operated Handy Ultraviolet Disinfection Helper that is SHUDH has six UV lights of 15 Watts each that can be individually monitored from a distance.
• Initial testing has proved that the device at its full operation can disinfect a 10×10 squared feet room in about 15 minutes. 

Tamil Nadu launches television-based learning programme for 10th standard students
TN Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy has launched a television-based learning programme for the Tenth standard students.

• The state run Kalvi television channel will initially air two-and-a-half hours of teaching programmes for the students during the week days.
• The move is aimed at helping students to continue their studies through the alternative method until the schools reopen.

OBITUARIES

Actress Divya Chouksey passes away
Actress Divvya Chouksey, who made her Bollywood debut with the 2016 film Hai Apna Dil Toh Awara, breathed her last after a long battle with cancer. She was 28.

• After her debut in films, Divvya also turned singer with the single Patiyaale Di Queen in 2018.

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