Current Affairs - July 2, 2020 Current Affairs

Nitin Menon(36 years old) from India became the youngest member of the International Cricket Council's(ICC) Elite Panel of Umpires. He replaces Nigel Llong(England) for the upcoming 2020-21 season. He becomes the 3rd Indian umpire to be included in the ICC's after former captain Srinivas Venkatraghavan and Sundaram Ravi.

The Government of Goa allotted land to a consortium of 49 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) units to set up India's first Maritime Cluster, Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister of Goa provided 14,380 square Metres of land to set up the Common Facility centre.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), invoking its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 has decided to ban 59 apps due to their activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order. It should be noted that all of the blocked apps are Chinese including popular ones such as TikTok, Helo, WeChat, UC Browser, Shareit and CamScanner.

According to the report, "State of World Population 2020: Against my will - Defying the practices that harm women and girls and undermine equality" released by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),the world organisation's sexual and reproductive health agency, India accounts for 45.8 million of the world's 142.6 million "missing females" over the past 50 years & it has the highest number of missing women after China (72.3 million).

Gudni Johannesson, president of Iceland was re-elected by winning above 92% of votes in the Presidential election.He defeated Gudmundur Franklin Jonsson who secured only 6.5% of the vote. Each Presidential term in Iceland is four years & there is no term limit.(i.e. A Person can be a President for n number of times)

Principal Secretary Rashmi Arun Shami of Madhya Pradesh (MP) launched "Hamara Ghar-Hamara Vidyalaya" scheme over a virtual platform to maintain academic regularity of the students during the Lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme will start from 6th July 2020.

United Nations International Asteroid Day is observed annually on 30th June of every year to create awareness about asteroids and the hazards of asteroid impacts and to organise events around the world to educate about the Near Earth Objects (NEO) and Asteroids. The First International Asteroid Day was observed on 30th June 2017.

Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary of Housing & Urban Affairs has rolled out the Beta version webportal for street vendors loan scheme Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors' AtmaNirbhar Nidhi -PMSVANidhi (http://pmsvanidhi.mohua.gov.in/) developed by SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) to provide end-to-end solutions for scheme management.

International Day of Parliamentarism is observed on 30th June every year. The day is aimed to honour the Parliamentarian for their service amid the pandemic. During the COVID-19 crisis, Parliaments and other government institutions are subject to the same social distancing measures as other public and private organizations. But the parliament plays a more vital role than ever to pass emergency laws, allocate resources, and scrutinize government action.

Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Steel & Petroleum and Natural Gas virtually inaugurated the Asia's first Continuous Galvanized Rebar (CGR) Production Facility near Gobindgarh, Punjab launched by Madhav KRD Group in association with International Zinc Association(IZA) with the support of Hindustan Zinc Limited.

The Government has added three more states Odisha, Mizoram, and Sikkim under the One nation, one ration card scheme. The announcement was made by Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Consumer Affairs Minister. With this, the scheme now covers a total of 20 states & UTs.

In the research of The RedDots team of Astronomers led by the University of Gottingen (Master - Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen), Germany detected two super Earths Gliese 887b and Gliese 887c orbiting around the Gliese 887, the brightest red dwarf star in the sky. The results of the research are published in the journal Science.

Liverpool won its 19th top-flight title in the 28th edition of Premier League Championship 2020 football tournament after waiting for 30 years by defeating Manchester City by 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh launches a online Portal for issue of No Objection Certificate(NOC) for power projects and research, survey, exploration and Exploitation(RSEE) and activities in the Indian Territorial Waters (TW) and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), in the presence of Minister of State for Defence Shri Shripad Yesso Naik.

Swiggy has launched its own digital wallet, 'Swiggy Money' in partnership with ICICI Bank to enable a 'single-click checkout experience' on its platform. It is an industry- first instant digital wallet. The Swiggy Money is powered by ICICI Bank's 'insta wallet service' which is built on a cloud platform with Application Programming Interface (API)integration.

The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet has approved the re-appointment of senior advocate K.K. Venugopal as Attorney General of India for a year, whose 3 year tenure ends on June 30, 2020 and senior advocate Tushar Mehta as Solicitor General for a period of three years. K.K. Venugopal succeeded Mukul Rohatgi on June 30, 2017. He is the 15th Attorney General of India.

On 30 June,2020 the first mobile app of National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), "NADA INDIA" was released by Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju. The initiative is an important step towards dope free sports, providing updates & information about the banned substances and their use to aware the athletes & Coaches.

On June 29, 2020 Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa launched a portal, 'Skill Connect Forum' to connect job seekers(skilled workers) and employers(private entrepreneurs) on a common platform. The portal provides information on available jobs and those who need job.

On account of National Statistics Day The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) presented the first Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis National Award in Official Statistics'2020 to Dr. Chakravarthi Rangarajan, Former Governor, Reserve Bank of India for his contribution to the National Statistical System (NSS) in India.

In a big boost to Aatma Nirbhar Assam, Council of Ministers of Assam has passed the MSME(micro, small and medium enterprises) Ordinance during the meeting held in presence of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Guwahati. The Ordinance gives provision to put an end to the process of taking multiple permissions for setting up MSME in the state for next 3 years.