DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS: 06.07.2020 TO 08.07.2020
NATIONAL Vice President Venkahiah Naidu Launched India’s First Social Media Super App ‘Elyments’ Honorable Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu, launched an indigenous social media app ‘Elyments’through video conferencing. Elyments is a first Made-in-India social media super-app, developed by Bengaluru-based software company, Sumeru Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, in close competition with similar platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram. India has more than 500 million social media users, but most of these social media platforms are owned by companies outside India, which creates doubt regarding the privacy of data and data ownership. The initiative is a step forward towards becoming AatmaNirbhar Bharat and also boosting the economy of the country. Key Features of Elyments The app combine the features of popular social media apps and present it on a single unified app. Social media Terms such as – contacts, friends, followers – have all been brought together in Elyments. With end-to-end encryption, Elyments ensures that users data remains safe from prying eyes. All the servers are hosted in India, thus providing a fast and breezy experience. It will provide basic facilities like Audio/Video conference calls Private/ Group chats Secure payments via Elyments Pay Public profiles that users can Follow/Subscribe Curated commerce platform to promote Indian brands Regional voice commands Elyments is available in more than eight Indian languages. It can be downloaded from all app stores and Google Play Stores across the world. India’s Largest COVID-19 facility ‘Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID19 Hospital in Delhi become operational Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal inaugurated the 1000-bedded Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre and Hospital (SPCCCH) at RadhaSoami Satsang Beas in Chhatarpur area, located at Air Force land near airport in Delhi. It is the largest COVID-19 facility in India and has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in a record time of 12 days. The hospital will operated by medical team of doctors, nurses and support staff from Armed Forces Medical Services. The facility has 250 intensive care units (ICU) beds and the capacity to house and treat 10,000 coronavirus patients at the same time. Delhi Government launched LEAD portal for easy access to school study material The government of Delhi has launched an online education portal named LEAD (Learning through E-Resources Made Accessible for Delhi) which will provide over 10,000 instructional material and course content for the students of classes 1 to 12. Through the LEAD portal, students would easily be able to access study material, textbooks, and course content as per the syllabus of the CBSE, NCERT and Delhi government’s curriculum online. It will include digital QR coded textbooks, explanatory videos, practice questions and evaluation. The LEAD portal has been developed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). CBSE partnered with Facebook to launch free virtual training program for teachers and students The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has partnered with social media giant Facebook to launch free and comprehensive training program in virtual mode for teachers and students of its affiliated schools.
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The first phase of the training program is scheduled from August 2020 to November 2020. The registration process for the first phase of the training program will be held from 6th to 20th July 2020. Schools have to online nominate their teachers and students for the training programs. Kolkata Port Started new Shipping service from Kolkata to Bangladesh’s Chattogram port The Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Trust (SMPT), Kolkata, has introduced a new service between Kolkata Dock System (KDS) and Chattogram (Chittagong) Port, Bangladesh through Indo- Bangladesh Protocol Route, to transport containers to Chittagong by ship. This move will not only save transportation costs for importers but also help avoid congestion along roads and hence ease trade between India and Bangladesh. The vessel used for this new service will be Singapore flag carrier MV Asiatic Moon. This is the biggest vessel by size to ply between Kolkata and Chattogram till date. It can carry upto 600 containers in a single voyage to Chattogram. The vessel ‘M.V Asiatic Moon’ is expected to carry 300 containers of Indian exports to Bangladesh in its maiden voyage. Odisha launched Balaram scheme provide Rs 1,040 crore credit to 7 lakh landless farmers over two years The Odisha government, under Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has launched a scheme named ‘Balaram’ to provide agricultural credit to landless farmers who are facing hardships due to the coronavirus outbreak. This is a first-of-its type scheme in India, targeting landless farmers of the country. The scheme will provide agriculture credit worth Rs 1,040 crore to landless farmers of the state in the next two years. Around 7 lakh landless cultivators will be benefited from the programme. The loan facility will be provided through joint liability groups in every district, which will be formed based on their collateral. For the first year, each group on an average will get a maximum Rs 1.60 lakh loan. The scheme has been designed in collaboration with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) The state-run organisations namely ‘Institute on Management of Agricultural Extension’ and the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) will be the nodal agencies at the state and district levels respectively for implementation of the scheme. Himachal Pradesh become first state of India where every household has LPG gas connections Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has announced that each and every household in the state has got access to LPG connection. With this, Himachal Pradesh has become the first state in India where 100 percent households have LPG connections. Around 1.36 lakh families of the state were benefited under the central government’s ”Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana” where gas connections were provided free of cost to women of rural areas. INTERNATIONAL India Ranked 117th in 2020 SDG Index, Sweden Tops India has been ranked at 117th position in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Index 2020, released on 30 June 2020. The overall score of India in SDG Index 2020 is 61.9.Sweden has topped the 2020 SDG Index with a score of 84.7. The 2020 SDG Index covers 166 countries, compared with 162 countries in 2019. SDG Index The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Bertelsmann Stiftung publishes the global SDG Index and Dashboards every year since 2016.
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The SDG Index tracks the performance of a country on the 17 SDGs and equal weight is given to all 17 goals. The score gained by each country signifies their position between the worst (0) and the best or target (100) outcomes. Israel successfully launched new spy satellite ‘Ofek 16’ Israel Space Agency successfully launched a new spy satellite called ”Ofek 16”, that would help the country in keeping tabs on its many threats across the region. Ofek is an electro-optical reconnaissance satellite with advanced capabilities. The satellite has been developed by the Ministry of Defence, along with the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries. US formally notified UN of its Decision to Withdraw from WHO; Serves Notice Period till July 6, 2021 The United States of America (USA), as a depositary of the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO), has formally notified the United Nations (UN) of its decision of withdrawal from the global health body, WHO . The US, which has been a party to the WHO Constitution since June 21, 1948 is the largest funder to the WHO, contributing more than USD 450 million per annum. The US has to serve a 12-month notice period i.e. till July 6, 2021 and also needs to clear the current and past dues which currently owe the WHO around $200 million. BANKING AND ECONOMY Yes Bank Launched instant loan disbursement facility ‘Loan in Seconds’ for retail customers The private sector lender Yes Bank has launched an instant personal loan disbursal facility called ‘Loan in Seconds’ for its retail customers. The bank’s account holders pre-identified by the bank can avail this facility digital loan disbursal facility in a completely paperless and hassle-free way, without going to the bank branch and without submitting any type of documents. Fino Payments Bank launched ‘Bhavishya’ Savings Account for minor children Fino Payments Bank Limited (FPBL) has launched a savings bank account ‘Bhavishya’ for minor children aged between 10 and 18 years to make children banking ready from early age and inculcate a savings habit among them. Bhavishya is an annual subscription-based savings account, which can be opened with just Rs. 349 (inclusive of GST). Initially, the bank is introducing the Bhavishya Savings Account in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and gradually it will launch in other states. PERSON IN NEWS Luxury Ride has signed singer Sukhbir Singh as its brand ambassador. SijoKuruvilla George, the CEO of startup village and founder of Re-think Foundation has been selected as a member of Central Government’s Expert Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP 2020). Government appointed former corporate affairs secretary and IAS officer, Injeti Srinivas as the 1st chairman of the International Financial Services Centre Authority(IFSCA) for a 3 years term. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs(MCA) has extended the term of Justice(Retd.) Bansi Lal Bhat, as the acting chairperson of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT) . UK India Business Council(UKIBC) announced that Jayant Krishna has accepted the Invitation of UKIBC to become the Group’s new Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and became the first India based CEO of UKIBC. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has set up an 11-member expert committee headed by Dr K S Reddy, president of Public Health Foundation of India to study impact of coronavirus (Covid-19) on human rights of individuals, particularly marginalized and vulnerable
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sections of the society, together with migrant labourers& will also study the future response of the government. OBITUARY Two times Oscar winner, Ennio Morricone, Italian Composer passed away. SPORTS AND GAMES Finland driver ValtteriBottas of Mercedes won the Formula One (F1) season-opening Austrian Grand Prix (GP), surpassing his Mercedes team mate and defending Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton. The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has released the world rankings 2020 for women’s and men’s boxing, as per which Indian amateur boxer & World championships silver medallist Amit Panghal has been ranked first in the world ranking of main elites of 52 kg weight category with a total of 1300 points. Indian Olympic Association Adopted New Visual Identity to Celebrate 100 Years of Participation in Olympic Games. G. Akash from Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN) become the country’s 66th Grandmaster with rating of 2495. IMPORTANT DAY AND DATE World Zoonoses Day is observed annually on July 6 to raise awareness of the risk of zoonotic diseases among people. World Chocolate Day (also known as International Chocolate Day) is an annual observance taking place globally on 7th July. ONELINERS Former RBI Governor, Urjit Patel, has written a book titled ‘Overdraft: Saving the Indian Saver’ which focuses on the non-performing assets (NPAs) issue that has afflicted Indian banking in recent years, its causes and Patel’s efforts as the RBI Governor in dealing with it. Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava has written a book titled “Getting Competitive: A Practitioner’s Guide for India”. The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee(IIT-R) announced that the IIT-R researchers team led by Prof. SoumitraSatapathi, Laboratory of Integrated Nanophotonics and Biomaterials, have developed the disinfection box – “Unisaviour” box, which can be used to sterilise various personal belongings to minimise the COVID-19 transmission. India’s First No-Permission No-Takeoff (NPNT) compliant drone flight on the A200 Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) has been completed successfully by Quidich Innovation Labs and Asteria Aerospace in the green zone identified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), near Tumkur in Karnataka. For the 1st time in the world, Indian Railways will directly supply power to Overhead Traction System of train.To achieve this feat, Indian Railways has recently set up 1.7 MWp (mega watt power) at Bina (Madhya Pradesh) which shall be connected directly to Overhead Traction System. “IntzaarAapKa” campaign is started by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board(MPTB), over the social media platform in Madhya Pradesh to attract tourists with taglines and the description of the tourism destinations of the State. The book, titled ‘Mahaveer: The Soldier who never died’ is authored by award winning author A.K. Srikumar and his wife, RupaSrikumar. The images of the comet Neowise(C/2020 F3), were captured by NASA astronaut Bob Behnken from International Space Station (ISS) camera, which was discovered by the Neowise space telescope, short for the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.
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