Current Affairs - June 19, 2020 Current Affairs

China's Great Wall Motor Company signs MoU with Maharashtra govt. to invest $1 billion in the state.

Nobel Prize winner(2017) Kazuo Ishiguro(Japan born british author) will release his new novel 'Klara and the Sun' & will be published by Faber & Faber in the United Kingdom, Alfred A. Knopf in the United States and Knopf in Canada on March 2, 2021.

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) launched a unique project at Dahanu in Palghar district of Maharashtra, a state with more than 50 lakh palm trees. Under the project, Neera and Palmgur will be produced in India. The project aims to promote Neera as a substitute to soft drinks. It is aimed to generate self-employment to Adivasis and traditional trappers. Headquarters of KVIC is in Mumbai.

The central government in an attempt to make menstrual hygiene accessible to women across the country especially in rural areas started a social drive Jan Aushadhi Suvidha under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras.

According to the report titled "Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Food Security and Nutrition" released by Italy based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 45 million people fell into acute food insecurity since February 2020 due to of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, of which a majority of 33 million people reside in South and Southeast Asia, and most of the remainder in Sub-Saharan Africa.

India was second biggest growth driver of primary energy consumption in the world, behind China, in 2019 even though it witnessed fall in demand in oil and coal, according to BP Statistical Review.

The Sports Ministry prepared to establish Khelo India State Centres of Excellence(KISCE) under the Khelo India Scheme and identified 8 state owned sports facilities to upgrade as KISCE. The Centres are established to enhance the performance of India in Olympic games. The Centres are aimed to transform the facilities across the nation into academies of world class standard.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) recommended former Indian football team captain IM Vijayan for Padma Shri, which is India's fourth-highest civilian award.

The tenure of former supreme court judge DK Jain as the ethics officer and ombudsman of Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) got a 1year extension in June 2020 due to the current covid-19 situation. He was the first-ever ombudsman of BCCI appointed by the supreme court in February 2019.

Indian Railways' Central Railway zone has installed an Automated Ticket Checking & Managing Access machine, 1st of its kind at Nagpur station. The machine has been introduced at the station under the New, Innovative Non Fare Revenue Ideas Scheme(NINFRIS) policy to prevent transmission of COVID-19.

Sustainable Gastronomy Day is observed on 18 June. The day focuses on the world's attention on the role that sustainable gastronomy can play. The day also aims to reaffirm that all cultures and civilizations are contributors and crucial enablers of sustainable development.

June 17th of every year since 1995 is observed as the World day to combat desertification and drought to educate the general public on the international efforts to fight against desertification and to promote the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification's (UNCCDs) motto "Healthy land = Healthy people". The theme of World day to combat desertification and drought 2020 is "Food. Feed. Fibre. - the link between consumption and land" aimed to educate the public about desertification, land degradation and drought issues, and how to tackle it.

Infosys partnered with Amazon and Global Optimism and signed the Climate Pledge, an initiative by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Christiana Figueres, founder of Global Optimism and former United Nations Climate chief to become net-zero carbon by 2040, ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement.

According to the 32nd edition of World Competitiveness Index 2020, which ranked performance of 63 economies across the globe, prepared by Switzerland-based International Institute for Management and Development (IMD)'s World Competitiveness Center (WCC), the Indian economy remained at 43rd position this year. While Singapore continues to occupy the first place in the list due to its strong economic performance comes from robust international trade and investment, employment and labor market measures.

HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, the country's third-largest non-life insurance provider has joined hands with UK based tech firm TropoGo Limited to launch India's 1st 'Pay as you Fly' insurance for drone-owners in India.

In order to strengthen the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBIs) enforcement mechanism and also to improve its system of recovery of siphoned off money, the SEBI committee headed by former Supreme Court Judge Anil Dave has proposed a method of quantification of profit made by the defaulter and loss caused to investors in a 424-page exhaustive report.

Serum Institute of India(SII), leading manufacturer of immunobiological drugs and vaccines signs a new supply agreement with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Vaccine alliance Gavi's procurement partner to supply Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine(PCV) to low income countries all over the world.

Two Indian startups Stellapps and Zestmoney were featured in the List of Technology Pioneers of 2020, released by the World Economic Forum(WEF) which consist of pioneers addressing the global issues with advanced technologies.

Finance Minister of Andhra Pradesh Buggana Rajendranath presented the AP state budget for Rs 2.24 lakh crore for the FY20-21. With this, AP became the first Indian state to convene its Legislative Assembly and Council which will adopt a budget for FY21 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Apart from this, AP Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan addressed the Assembly through video conference, which is also another first for the country.

The Asian Paralympic Committee announced that the 4th Asian Youth Para Games will take place in Bahrain from December(1-10) 2021. The event will be organised in partnership with the National Paralympic Committee(NPC) of Bahrain with the support of the local government.