10 JULY 2020

10JULY 2020

CURRENT AFFAIRS

NATIONAL NEWS

 

 

World’s second-largest data centre inaugurated near Mumbai

1.    

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray e-inaugurated Asia’s largest certified tier IV data centre near Mumbai. Located in Panvel, the Yotta NM1 data centre building, is the largest of its kind in India, as well as the second largest in the world

2.    This world class infrastructure has been developed by the Hiranandani Group via its fully owned subsidiary, the Yotta Infrastructure Group. The Yotta data centre is aimed at catering for engineering and real estate businesses.

 

Assam govt decides to upgrade Dehing Patkai wildlife sanctuary to a national park

1.    

Assam government decided to upgrade the Dehing Patkai wildlife sanctuary into a national park amid an ongoing row over allowing coal mining within its jurisdiction.

2.    While a limited number of human activities are allowed in wildlife sanctuaries, national parks are strictly off-limits.

3.    Assam has five national parks and Dehing Patkai, if upgraded, will increase the tally to 6.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

 

India funded new school infrastructure inaugurated in Nepal

1.      

A new four-storey school building built with Indian assistance of Rs 1.94 crore for students pursuing both vedic and modern education was inaugurated in Nepal’s Ilam district. 

2. The  new building of Shri Saptmai Gurukul Sanskrit Vidyalaya was set up in 2009 and has the unique qualification of imparting Vedic as well as modern education including Sanskrit.

India ranks 34th in JLL’s Global Realty Transparency Index

1.    

India’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index ranking has improved by one notch to 34 on the back of regulatory reforms, better market data and green initiatives, according to property consultant JLL.

2.    The country’s real estate market is currently placed in the ‘semi-transparent’ zone.

3.    The United Kingdom (UK) ranks first in the list of 99 countries, followed by the United States, Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden and Germany.

4.    Mainland China is at 32nd position, Chinese Taipei at 23rd, Sri Lanka is at 65th position while Pakistan is at 73rd

India ranked 117th in SDG Index 2020, Sweden tops

1.      

India has been ranked at 117th position in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Index 2020. The Sustainable Development Goals and Covid-19”, comprising of SDG index 2020, there will be severe negative impacts on most of the United Nations (UN)-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to COVID-19 pandemic.

2. The index has been topped by Sweden, Denmark followed by Finland.
3. The 2020 report has reviewed the performance of 193 UN Member States out of which 166 were ranked under SDG index 2020

India Ranked 31st in INFORM Risk Index 2020

1.    

India has ranked at 31st place with an inform risk of 5.4, means risk of humanitarian crises and disasters at the “INFORM Report 2020: Shared evidence for managing crises and disasters” released by research centre INFORM, operating under the European Commission (EU).

2.    North Korea ranks among the most dangerous places to live as its people are exposed to high risks of natural disaster, poverty and social injustice. North Korea was rated as the 39th most dangerous place.

USAID, MNRE announce new partnership to expand clean energy development

1.    

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and India’s ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) have announced the launch of a new partnership to increase India- US collaboration for clean energy development. 

2.    Under the partnership, SAGE will provide advanced technical knowledge on clean energy development embedded in the US Department of Energy’s National Laboratories to the MNRE’s National Technical Institutions and other public institutes.

3.   

BANKING & FINANCE

Deutsche Bank and Google to form strategic global partnership to drive a fundamental transformation of banking

1.    

Deutsche Bank and Google Cloud have agreed to join forces and form a strategic partnership that aims to redefine how the bank develops and offers its financial services.

2.    The partnership is unique in that it will not only deliver cutting edge cloud services to Deutsche Bank, but also enable co-innovation between the two companies to create the next generation of technology-based financial products for clients.

3.    Both parties have signed a Letter of Intent and plan to sign a multi-year contract within the next few months.

L&T Infra Finance gets USD 50 mn from AIIB for renewable energy funding

1.    

L&T Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (LTIF), a wholly owned subsidiary of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd., has received the first tranche of $50 million of the total $100 million ECB loan from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

2.    This development marks AIIB’s first loan to a non-banking financial company (NBFC) in India.

3.    The loan proceeds will be used to on-lend to large and mid-scale wind and solar power infrastructure projects in India.

Aditya Birla Mutual Fund launches voice-based services with Google Assistant

1.    

Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC has launched voice-based services for its investors with Google Assistant.

2.    The voice assistant acts as a 24X7 interface for investors to interact with the fund house, to address their various service requests such as portfolio valuations, account statement, capital gains statement etc.

3.    The Google voice assistant uses the latest in AI and NLP to provide a simple conversational experience and provide the relevant solution.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Global economy to contract by 5.2 per cent[KK1]  in 2020: Report

 

1.      The global economy is likely to contract by 5.2 per cent in 2020 with the coronanvirus still spreading and the economic prospects of countries across the world looking muted, says a report.

2.  According to Dun and Bradstreet’s Country Risk and Global Outlook Report, that covered 132 countries, the wider global context remains sombre and the global economy will not reach pre-pandemic levels of activity again before 2022.
3. This is the biggest decline since the Second World War and a far stronger contraction than the 1.7 per cent recorded in 2009 during the global financial crisis.

 

BDL signs licence agreement with DRDO for Akash Missile Weapon System

1.    

Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has signed License Agreement and Transfer of Technology with DRDO (DRDL) for Akash Missile Weapon System (Indian Army Variant).

2.    Akash Missile is the first medium-range Surface to Air missile produced in India which can engage multiple targets from multiple directions.The missile flies at a speed of nearly 860 meters per second at a maximum altitude of 18 km.

SPORTS

 

Amit Panghal, Manju Rani and Mary Kom take top spot at latest AIBA rankings

 

1.    

Indian boxer and World Championship silver medallist Amit Panghal has climbed up the leaderboard to the first spot in the rankings released by Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA), after a gap of almost 18 months.He competed in the 52 kg categories and one of the finest boxers in the Indian contingent.

2.    Asian championship silver-medallist Kavinder Bisht ranked fourth in the 63 kg category. Deepak (49kg) and Worlds bronze medal winner Manish Kaushik (63kg) were placed ranked sixth in their respective category.

3.    In the rankings, Mary Kom is world no.3, behind North Korean Pang Chol-mi (1st) and Turkey’s Busenaz Cakiroglu (2nd).

4.    Also, World silver medallist Manju Rani (48kg) is at second spot.

IOA adopts new identity on its 100-year milestone at Olympic Games

1.    

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) adopted a new branding and visual identity, including an institutional and a commercial logo, to celebrate a century of participation of the country’s athletes at the Summer Olympics.

2.    The IOA said the decision to adopt a new identity was taken “on the occasion marking 100 years of participation of Indian athletes at the Olympic Games, the new identity celebrates a century of passionate work, and contribution of the athletes and officials from across the nation in building Team India.

3.    The new logos have been approved by the International Olympic Committee and the IOA is planning to have a special launch event of the logo on this year’s Independence Day on August 15.

AWARDS

Elton John becomes second artist to be honoured with commemorative coin by Royal Mint

1.      

Elton John became the second artist to be honoured by Britain’s Royal Mint with a commemorative coin paying tribute to the decorated British singer-songwriter.

2. The coin, designed by artist Bradley Morgan Johnson, depicts John’s distinctive straw boater’s hat, and fashions his trademark glasses out of a pair of musical notes.
3. John, who was knighted in 1998, is the second artist to be commemorated under the Royal Mint’s Music Legends series after rock band Queen.

OBITUARIES

Vasudeva Maiya, former CEO of Guru Raghavendra Bank passes away

1.      

Vasudeva Maiya, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sri Guru Raghavendra Cooperative Bank Ltd., which has been in the spotlight over alleged irregularities, was found dead in his car. He was 70.

2. Maiya was accused of misappropriation of funds of Rs 1,400 crore in Guru Raghavendra Cooperative Bank in Basavanagudi.

·          

Goa’s former health minister Dr Suresh Amonkar passes away

1.    

Former Goa health minister Suresh Amonkar died of COVID-19 infection. He was 68.

2.    Dr Amonkar was a two-term MLA, being elected to the Goa Assembly in 1999 and 2002, as well as served as minister in the first Manohar Parrikar cabinet in 2000 as a minister of health.

3.    He was also the ex-president of the Goa unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

BOOKS & AUTHORS

A Book Titled ‘Mahaveer:The Soldier Who Never Died’ Authored by A.K. Srikumar & Rupa Srikumar

1.    

Amid the rising tensions between India and China, the award winning author A.K. Srikumar along with his wife, Rupa Srikumar, has come up with a novel titled ‘Mahaveer: The Soldier who never died’ that tells the tale of the Indo-Chinese battle of Nuranang in 1962.

2.    It is a patriotic story of courage and selfless love of the Jaswant Singh Rawat, one of India’s legendary Garhwali soldiers from the war.

3.    The novel is published by highly noted Indian publishing house Rupa Publications.

IMPORTANT DAYS

Andhra Pradesh celebrates Farmers’ Day as tribute to YSR Reddy on his birth anniversary.

1.    

The state of Andhra Pradesh is celebrating July 8 as Rythu Dinotsavam (Farmers’ Day) as it marks the birth anniversary of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the 14th chief minister of Andhra Pradesh who served from 2004 to 2009.

2.    This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the celebrations will be low key. CM Jagan Mohan Reddy laying the foundation stone for various projects and announcing slew of welfare measures and he has recently launched the YSR Zero Interest Loan Scheme under which Rs 1,400 crore was credited to the bank accounts of 8.78 lakh Self Help Groups.

 

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