Current Affairs - July 5, 2020 Current Affairs

Veteran Bollywood Choreographer, Saroj Khan (71) died of Cardiac arrest at Gurunanak Hospital, Bandra, Maharashtra where she was admitted before one week with complaint of breathing issues.She was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Reserve Bank of India conducted the simultaneous purchase of Government Securities, maturing between 2027 and 2033, and sale of 182 day and 364 day treasury bills (DTBs) under Open Market Operations for Rs 10,000 crore each. This OMO is a part of "Operation Twist" to ease pressure evolving liquidity and market conditions. The main purpose of the OMO is to bring down the yields at the longer end.

US based Electronic chip maker Intel's investment arm, Intel Capital to buy 0.39% stake in Reliance Industries Limited(RIL)'s Jio Platforms for Rs 1,894.50 crore. This is the 12th deal of Jio Platforms. With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 1,17,588.45 crore from global investors since April 22.

The commonwealth writers announced Kritika Pandey, the winner of asian region prize as the overall winner of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story, "The Great Indian Tee and Snakes". The award was presented to her by Ghanaian writer and editor, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, the chair of the 2020 Judge panel in the online award ceremony.

The Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Kanpur has developed a virtual classroom aid, 'Mobile Masterjee'. It is a classroom-to-home teaching setup, which enables students to record teachers' lectures/instructions while using smartphones. It is developed by the Imagineering Lab of IIT Kanpur.

French Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe resigned during the expected government reshuffle. The French President Emmanuel Macron has planned to open a new chapter for the two remaining years to focus on efforts to relaunch the French economy deeply hit by the coronavirus crisis.

Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) and Innoviti Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd. announced that they have collaborated to provide Equated Monthly Installments(EMI) billing options on Kotak Debit Cards which are swiped on Innoviti Point of Sale(POS) terminals.

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA),has launched the toolkit for sixth edition of the annual cleanliness survey of urban India 'Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2021'conducted by MoHUA that mainly focuses on utilizing the capacity of wet waste processing facilities, Cleaning and reusing dirty water & Separately collect garbage and maintain it till the processing site.

CARE Ratings Limited ( formerly Credit Analysis and Research Limited) in its report, 'Revised GDP growth projections for FY21' has projected a 6.4 % contraction (or -6.4%) in India's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth for the current financial year FY 21 (2020-21) due to the continuous lockdown imposed for prevention of coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic. Earlier in May 2020, the agency had predicted a 1.5 to 1.6 % decline in GDP for 2020-21.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai informed that a 17 day campaign "Podhe Lagao, Paryavaran Bachao" (Plant Trees, Save Environment) will be launched from July 10 to July 26 from the National Highway(NH) 20 near ITO to reduce air pollution. During the campaign 31 lakh saplings will be planted.

The 77.9% Russian electorate have voted in favour of constitutional amendments that will allow 67 years old President Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036 i.e. until the age of 83. His current term of 6 years will end in 2024. Means now, he will be re-elected twice under the constitutional amendments. He is already the longest-serving leader in modern Russian history.

HDFC Bank announced that it will offer 'ZipDrive', an online instant auto loan to its customers in 1,000 cities. The auto loan disbursal product is only for customers with pre-approved offers. It is a technology-enabled loan product where credit assessment is done by banking software.

Lt Col Bharat Pannu, Indian Army officer, secured the 3rd position on the leaderboard at the first edition of the Virtual Race Across America(VRAAM) 2020 held from 16th June to 28th June 2020 and became the first ever Indian to secure a podium position in the international ultracycling race.

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has given its consent for the capital acquisition of various platforms and equipment required by the Indian Armed Forces, Army, Navy and the Air Force, worth Rs 38,900 crore. This decision was taken during the DAC meet held on July 2, 2020 under the chairmanship of Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) Rajnath Singh. Notably, these approvals include acquisitions of Rs 31,130 crore from Indian industry signifying Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi's clarion call for 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' focused on indigenous design and development.

The Government of Maharashtra announced that Marathi writer and playwright Ratnakar Matkari will be posthumously honoured with the Natvarya Prabhakar Panshikar award for his lifetime contribution to the theaters and arts.

Freya Thakral, a 13 year old student of the British School New Delhi received the 2020 Diana Award for her Recycler App, which she developed to connect users with waste-handlers as a measure to help the ragpickers of Delhi .The award is presented annually on the birth anniversary of Princess Diana.

Asian Development Bank (ADB), a regional development bank, has joined the Paris (France)-based Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) as an observer. The NGFS is a global forum that brings together central banks and supervisors committed to understanding and managing the financial risks and opportunities associated with climate change.

Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', the Union Minister of HRD (Human Resource Development) and Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and minister of Science and Technology launched the Drug Discovery Hackathon (DDH2020) through an online platform in the presence of Shri Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State(HRD). It is a first of its kind national initiative supporting the Drug Discovery Process.

In accordance with the Reserve Bank of India data, India's external debt stood at $558.5 billion in March 2020, an increase of $15.4 billion or 2.8% as compared to the March 2019. The largest component of the external debt is Commercial borrowings with a share of 39.4%, followed by non-resident deposits at 23.4% and short-term trade credit at 18.2%.

Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, the Chairman of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) gets a 6 months extension in his tenure as Chairman of NHAI. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the extension in central deputation tenure of Sandhu as Chairman of NHAI beyond 21st July 2020, till mid-January 2021.