National News
‘Swiggy Money’—By Swiggy and ICICI Bank
- Food Tech giant Swiggy has partnered with private bank ICICI Bank to launch its own digital wallet called as ‘Swiggy Money’.
- ‘Swiggy Money’ is powered by ICICI Bank’s ‘insta wallet service’ which is built on the cloud platform along with API integration.
‘Hamara Ghar Hamara Vidyalaya’—Madhya Pradesh
- Government of Madhya Pradesh has launched ‘Hamara Ghar Hamara Vidyalaya’ campaign in order to maintain academic regularity of the students during the lockdown period arisen due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
‘NADA App’ launched by Sports Minister
- Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has launched the NADA (National Anti-Doping Agency) mobile phone app.
- NADA app will prove to be the one-step guide for all anti-doping and medication-related data.
Asia’s First Continuous Galvanized Rebar Production Facility in Punjab
- Union Minister for Steel & Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan virtually inaugurated Asia’s First Continuous Galvanized Rebar Production Facility in Punjab.
- This facility will produce Continuous Galvanized Rebar (CGR) with annual capacity produce to be 30,000 tonnes.
Dream Kerala Project
- Kerala Government has launched ‘Dream Kerala Project’ to provide job opportunities and rehabilitation opportunities to the migrants who have returned to the state from abroad or from other Indian states.
‘Paudhe Lagao, Paryavaran Bachao’—Delhi
- Delhi Government has launched ‘Paudhe Lagao, Paryavaran Bachao’ campaign.
- It is basically mega tree plantation drive to be conducted by the Delhi Government.
Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020
- The Union Human Resource Development Minister and Union Health and Family Welfare Minister have launched Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020(DDH2020).
GOI and World Bank to Develop Housing Projects in Tamil Nadu
- Government of India has signed an agreement with World Bank to develop Housing Projects and provide affordable housing to the low- income groups in Tamil Nadu.
- The agreement is signed to develop two housing projects in Tamil Nadu. The two projects accumulate with total loan agreement of $250 million.
‘Elyments’—First Indian Social Media Super App
- Vice President of India, Venkiah Naidu has launched ‘Elyments’ app which is the first Indian Social Media Super App.
- The app offers high end to end-users privacy and offers private and group chats along with audio and video calling functions.
NHAI to Setup InvIT Committee for Investment Manager Board
- National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to establish Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT), which will be India’s first government or semi-government trust.
India First Life Insurance Partners Bank of Baroda Financial Services Ltd
- India First Life Insurance partners with Bank of Baroda Financial Services Ltd to offer group insurance cover.
- The partnership will provide financial support to the BOB credit card supporters in order to carry out hospitalization on COVID-19 diagnosis.
‘Mission Vriksharopan 2020’ Drive—Uttar Pradesh
- Uttar Pradesh Government has launched ‘Mission Vriksharopan 2020’ drive.
- Under this campaign, more than 25 crore saplings were planted.
CBSE partners with Facebook
- Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has partnered with tech giant Facebook to launch a training program for teachers and students on digital safety and online well being.
- During the second phase, 30 thousand students will be provided training on digital safety.
E-Portal ‘LEAD’ for Students Launched by Delhi Govt.
- Government of Delhi has launched an e-portal ‘LEAD’ for the students in order to strengthen the online education.
- An e-portal LEAD stands for ‘Learning through E-Resources Made Accessible for Delhi’.
Banking
Fitch Forecasts India’s Growth to 8% for FY 2022
- As per the report, India’s growth forecast for the financial year 2021-22 is marked at 8%. Initially, it was marked at 9.5% by the Fitch. However, it has reduced it to 8%.
Special Liquidity Scheme for NBFCs and HFCs Through SPV
- Government of India approved a special liquidity scheme for Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFC) and Housing Finance Companies (HFC) through Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
Asian Development Bank Joins NGFS
- ADB will fulfil the NGFS goals like tackling climate change, environmental sustainability, fostering regional co-operation and integration, building climate and disaster resilience and strengthening governance.
‘ZipDrive’ Instant Auto Loan Facility—By HDFC Bank
- HDFC Bank has announced to offer instant auto loan named as ‘Zip drive’ to its customers.
- This instant loan facility will be offered to its customers in about 1000 cities i.e. in tier 2 and tier 3 cities of India.
Indian Economy to Contract by 6.4% -- By Care Ratings
- Care (Credit Analysis and Research Limited) Rating has forecasted that Indian Economy to contract 6.4% for the financial year 2020-21.
Reports
‘Towards a Clean Energy Economy Report’
- National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog in collaboration with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has released a report on clean energy transition titled as ‘Towards a Clean Energy Economy: Post COVID-19 Opportunities for India’s Energy and Mobility Sector’.
Appointments
| Name of the Person | Designation |
| KK Venugopal | Attorney General of India |
| Tushar Mehta | Solicitor General |
| Gudni Johannesson | President of Iceland |
| Sanjay Dwivedi | Director-General of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) |
| Shrikant Madhav Vaidya | Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) |
| Ravinder Bhakar | CEO of the Central Board of Film Certifications (CBFC) |
| Indra Mani Pandey | Indian envoy to United Nations bodies and other international organisations in Geneva |
| V Suryanarayan | New MD of Cholamandalam MS General Insurance |
| G Srinivasan | Head of the panel to study the suitability of Surety Bonds issuance by Indian insurers |
| Injeti Srinivas | Chairman of IFSCA (International Financial Services Centers Authority) |
| Rajeeva Swarup | Chief Secretary of Rajasthan |
Awards and Honours
| Award | Awardee |
| P C Mahalanobis Lifetime Achievement Award | C Rangarajan |
| Carnegie Corporation of New York’s 2020 list of ‘Great Immigrants’ | Siddhartha Mukherjee and Raj Chetty |
| 2020 Diana Award | Freya Thakral |
| Overall Winner of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize | Kritika Pandey |
| Virtual Race Across America (VRAAM) 2020 | Lt Col Bharat Pannu |
Important Days
| Date | Day | Theme |
| 1st July 2020 | National Charted Accountants Day | -- |
| 1st July 2020 | National Doctors Day | Theme: Lessen the mortality of COVID-19 |
| 1st July 2020 | National Poster Workers Day | -- |
| 2nd July 2020 | World Sports Journalist Day | -- |
| 4th July 2020 | International Day of Cooperatives | -- |
MoUs Signed
India and Afghanistan sign 5 Agreements
- India has signed 5 MoU with Afghanistan for High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP) programme.
- The MoU signed will help to develop educational infrastructure in four regions of Afghanistan.
Government Schemes
PM Scheme for Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises
- Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal has launched PM Scheme for Formalization of Micro food processing Enterprises (PM FME).
- The PM FME scheme is named as ‘Sapno Ki Udaan’. The scheme will be implemented over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
‘Balaram Yojana’—Odisha
- Government of Odisha has launched ‘Balaram Yojana’ with an aim to provide agricultural credit of Rs 1.40 crore to landless farmers who are facing problems due to COVID-19.
Science and Technology
‘Mobile Masterjee’—IIT Kanpur
- IIT Kanpur has developed a virtual classroom system named as ‘Mobile Masterjee’.
- It will enable students to record teacher’s lectures and other instructions by using smartphones.
‘Accelerate Vigyan’ Scheme and Portal—By SERB
- The Union Government’s Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has launched ‘Accelerate Vigyan’ Scheme and Portal associated with it.
- ‘Accelerate Vigyan’ is a scheme for research internships.
Waste to Energy Pant to be Developed in Delhi
- An MoU has been signed among Indian Oil, NTOC and South Delhi Municipal Corporation to set up A Waste to Energy Plant at Okhala in Delhi.
India’s MOM Mission captured Image of Mars Moon Phobos
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released the images of ‘Phobos’. Phobos is a closet and the biggest Moon of Mars.
- The images were captured by Mars Color Camera (MCC) which is onboarded on India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM).
Indian Railways Sets up a Solar Power Plant in Bina
- Ministry of Railways has decided to set up solar power in Bina, Madhya Pradesh in order to directly power the Railway Overhead line.
- With the help of this initiative, the solar power plant will produce around 25 lakhs unit of energy annually and will save about Rs 1.37 crore for Indian Railways every year.
DRDO to set up Research Cell at IIT Hyderabad
- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has decided to set up a research cell at IIT Hyderabad.
- The research cell will be named as ‘DRDO-IIT-H Research Cell’.
