International News
USIDFC to Invest $350 million in Indian Firms
- The United States International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC) will be investing 350 million in Indian Firms to support multiple projects in India.
- The projects supported by USIDFC will be in fields of finance, health infrastructure, renewable energy, food security, dairy farming.
National News
COVID BEEP App – Launched by Dr Jitendra Singh
- COVID BEEP app is India’s first indigenous wireless physiological parameter monitoring system for coronavirus patients.
- Its acronym is Continuous Oxygenation and Vital Information Detection Biomed ECIL ESIC Pod.
PhonePe Launched Domestic Trip Insurance with ICICI Lombard
- PhonePe in partnership with ICICI Lombard has launched first of its kind travel insurance which is domestic multi-trip insurance for all modes of travel within the country.
- The policy provides affordable annual insurance cover for unlimited trips. At Rs 499, it provides 365-day protection and covers all mode of transport.
GOI Allots Rs 4000 cr to States Under ‘Per Drop More Crop’
- An annual allotment of Rs 4000 crore has been approved by Government of India to State governments under ‘Per drop more crop’ component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC) for FY 2020-21.
Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle Complex
- Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) was inaugurated at Eastern Naval Command (ENC) in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
- The complex is built to accommodate newly designed submarines and its rescue systems and store DSRV assets.
‘Turant Customs’—CBIC Flagship Programme
- The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has launched a flagship programme called ‘Turant Customs’.
- ‘Turant Customs’ is a reformative programme in order to ensure ease of doing business.
TCS iON Partners with NSDC
- TCS iON, which is a unit of TCS has partnered with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
- The partnership will provide access to the TCS iON digital classroom to the NSDC’s training partners.
ePaisa and First Alliance Bank to Promote POS Solutions in Africa
- ePaisa, a Point Of Sale (POS) solution provider in India has entered into a partnership with First Alliance Bank (FAB) Ltd in Zambia to provide POS solutions in Africa.
- This is the first global partnership for ePaisa and thus will provide a POS solution for FAB.
NHAI—First ‘Fully Digital’ Construction Sector Organisation
- National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) which comes under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, has become the first fully digitalized organisation under the construction sector category.
- NHAI has propelled the use of cloud-based technology and AI-powered big data analytics platform, which is powered by Data Lake and project management services.
Ghar Ghar Nigrani App—Punjab
- Punjab Government has launched a mobile app called ‘Ghar Ghar Nigrani’.
- Ghar Ghar Nigrani app is an initiative of the health department, which is comprised of ASHA workers and community volunteers which carry out the testing process for COVID-19.
Aarogyapath Web-Based Solution - By GOI
- Government of India has launched an Aarogyapath which is a web-based solution which provides availability of critical healthcare supply commodities on a real-time basis.
- The web-based solution is made available by GOI on CSIR National Healthcare Supply Chain Portal.
STREE Programme—Hyderabad
- STREE stands for ‘She Triumphs Through Respect, Equality and Empowerment’.
- It is a programme launched to support and empower women who are victims of domestic violence and abuse.
Banking
NABARD Provides Rs 270 Crore to AGVB Bank
- National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has allocated a special liquidity fund of Rs 270 crore to Assam Gramin Vikash Bank (AGVB).
- The fund has been allocated in the view of COVID-19 pandemic in order to support farmers to carry out their agricultural activities.
New Norms for Loan Sales and Securitisations—By RBI
- The Reserve Bank of India has released two draft documents titled as ‘Draft Comprehensive Framework for Sale of Loan Exposures’ and ‘Draft Framework for Securitisation of Standard Assets’.
Indian Economy to Contract by 3.2% in FY 20-21
- The World Bank has released its latest edition of Global Economic Prospects (GEP) for the months of June 2020.
- As per the report, India’s growth to contract by 3.2% for the financial year 2020-21.
West Bengal gets Rs 1950 Crore Loan from World Bank
- World Bank has granted financial support by providing a loan amount of Rs 1950 crore to West Bengal.
- The loan amount will help West Bengal to tackle the pandemic situation of COVID-19 and to carry out development work in the state.
Indian Economy to Contract at 3.7% for FY 21 -- By OECD
- The organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development has projected that Indian Economy to contract at 3.7% for FY 2020-2021.
- This prediction by OECD is released in its economic Outlook.
RBI Restricts People’s Co-operative Bank to Grant Fresh Loans
- The Reserve Bank of India has restricted Kanpur, UP based People’s Co-operative Bank from granting fresh loans and accepting deposits for six months i.e. from 10th June 2020.
- The decision has been taken due to the weak financial status of the bank.
Index and Ranking
Environment Performance Index 2020
- Yale University and Columbia University have jointly released the Environment Performance Index 2020 (EPI 2020).
- India has ranked at 168th position among 180 countries with a score of 27.6 out of 100 in Environment Performance Index 2020.
QS World University Ranking 2021
- Quacquarelli Symonds (QC) World University Ranking for 2021 is released.
- The ranking is topped by Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) followed by Stanford University and Harvard University.
2020 Nature Index
- The Nature Index 2020 highlights the ranking of academic institutions globally. The current released Nature Index 2020 report analyses the institutions in terms of high-quality research in the natural science field based on the research data published by them in top journals from 1st Jan 2019 to 31st Dec 2019.
Reports
26th Annual Cost of Living Survey 2020
- Mercer has released the 26th Annual Cost of Living Survey 2020.
- Mumbai city has received rank at 60th position in the most expensive city globally and in all over Asia, Mumbai is ranked at 19th position.
Appointments
| Name of the Person | Designation |
| Rohit Sharma | First Brand Ambassador of IIFL Finance |
| M. Nethra | Goodwill Ambassador to the Poor by UNADAP (United Nation Association for Development and Peace) |
| Monika Mohta | India’s next ambassador to Switzerland |
| Rajiv Singh | Chairman of Property Firm Delhi Land and Finance Limited (DLF) |
| Brajendra Navnit | India’s New Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) |
| Rahul Shrivastava | India’s Next Ambassador to Romania |
| Javed Iqbal Wani | Judge of Jammu and Kashmir High Court |
| Anil Valluri | Senior Director for Google Cloud India |
Awards and Honours
| Awardee | Award |
| Javed Akhtar | Richard Dawkins Award 2020 |
| Renjith Kumar | ‘NASA Distinguished Service Medal’ |
| Shobha Sekhar | Medal of the order of Australia (OAM) |
| Rattan Lal | World Food Prize 2020 |
Important Days
| Date | Day | Theme |
| 8th June 2020 | World Oceans Day | Theme: Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean |
| 9th June 2020 | World Accreditation Day (WAD) | Theme: Accreditation: Improving Food Safety |
| 12th June 2020 | World Day against Child Labour | -- |
| 13th June 2020 | International Albinism Awareness Day | Theme: Made to Shine |
| 14th June 2020 | World Blood Donor Day | Theme: ‘Safe Blood Save Lives’ |
MoUs Signed
ISRO signs MoU with ARIES for SSA and Astrophysics
- The Indian Space Research Organisation has signed an MoU agreement with ARIES (Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Science) for the co-operation in the field of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Astrophysics.
Indo Denmark Energy Co-operation
- India has signed MoU with Denmark in the field on Energy Co-operation in order to develop the power sector.
- The MoU was signed between Power ministry of India and the ministry for energy utilities and climate of Denmark.
Tech Mahindra signs UNGC Initiative
- The IT giant Tech Mahindra has signed a declaration of United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) initiative to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions and energy conservation using latest technologies like IoT, AI and blockchain.
Government Schemes
Jagananna Chedodu Scheme—Andhra Pradesh
- Andhra Pradesh Government has launched Jagananna Chedodu Scheme to provide financial assistance to tailors, barbers and washermen who have suffered a loss due to coronavirus.
- The scheme will prove beneficial to about 2.47 lakh beneficiaries.
Sahakar Mitra—Scheme on Internship Programme
- Sahakar Mitra is a Scheme on Internship Programme (SIP) of NCDC (National Cooperative Development Corporation).
- It is launched by Union Agricultural and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
Defence
Airborne Rescue Pod for Isolated Transportation (ARPIT)
- The Indian Air Force has designed and inducted Airborne Rescue Pod for Isolated Transportation (ARPIT) for the purpose of the evacuation of critical patients suffering from COVID-19 from high altitude, isolated areas.
Science and Technology
Joint Science Communication Forum—By DST
- Joint Science Communication Forum is constituted by DST (Department of Science and Technology).
- It is constituted to facilitate interaction, co-operation and co-ordination among various public sector science communication institutions and agencies.
AI-Based System to Track Social Distancing
- Researchers at IIT Kharagpur has developed a cyber-physical system which is based on Artificial Intelligence which will perform the monitoring and tracking the record of social distancing in public places and which will prove beneficial in sustaining spread of COVID-19.
Summits and Conferences
95th Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Annual Plenary Session 2020
- PM Narendra Modi addressed 95th Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Annual Plenary session 2020 via Video Conference.
- PM Modi also urged companies to manufacture products that are ‘Made in India’ but are ‘Made for World’.
