National News
Consumer Protection Act, 2019 Approved and Implemented in India
- The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has successfully approved and implemented in India to protect, conserve and enhance rights of Indian consumers.
‘Manodarpan’ Initiative for Students
- The initiative is launched with an aim to provide psycho-social support to the students, their parents and teachers.
‘Ola Corporate’—Enterprise Mobility Solution
- India’s human mobility service provider company Ola has launched an ‘Ola Corporate’ solution.
- It will roll out the enterprise offering the customers in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
‘UPI Autopay’ Recurring Payment Facility—By NPCI
- National Payment Corporation of India has rolled out a feature for recurring payments. The feature is known as ‘UPI Autopay’.
Amazon Pay partners with Acko General Insurance Ltd
- Amazon Pay (Payment unit of Amazon India) has partnered with Acko General Insurance Ltd to launch vehicle insurance.
- Under this partnership, customers will now be able to purchase two-wheeler and four-wheeler insurance policy in less than 2 minutes with no paperwork.
‘Mausam App’ launched by Dr Harsh Vardhan
- The app will provide data related to the weather forecast, nowcast and warnings on weather disaster if any occurs.
‘BIS-Care’ Mobile App’
- The app is launched by Union Minister of Corporate Affairs, Food, Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan.
- Along with this app, Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Training Portals were launched.
India Handed over 10 Broad-Gauge Railway locus to Bangladesh
- The 10 broad-gauge railway locus was flagged off from the Gede station of the Easter railway in West Bengal’s Naida district and will reach at Darshana on the other side.
‘Co-branded Contactless Credit Card’- By IRCTC and SBI Card
- Indian Railway Catering and Tourism and Corporation (IRCTC) in partnership with SBI Card have launched ‘Co-branded Contactless Credit Card’.
National Education Policy 2020- A New Education Policy
- The union cabinet has approved the new education policy which is named as National Education Policy 2020.
- Under the National Education Policy 2020, major reforms are made especially in the higher education sector.
Banking
Insta Click Savings Account—By Bank of Baroda
- The Bank of Baroda has launched ‘Insta Click Savings Account’.
- The ‘Insta Click Savings Account’ is a paperless digital self-assisted saving account.
RBI Released 21st Issue of Financial Stability Report, July 2020
- The reports draw the study of risks to financial stability, resilience to the financial system in order to develop and regulate the financial sector of the country.
RBI signs Currency Swap Facility with Sri Lanka
- The Reserve Bank of India has signed an agreement of USD 400 million currency swap facility with Sri Lanka.
- The agreement is signed to help Sri Lanka to meet with its short-term international liquidity requirements.
Amendments in Indian Accounting Standards
- During this pandemic situation of Coronavirus, and to support Indian companies, the Government of India has amended certain Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS), including the standards and norms relating to leases.
Bank of Maharashtra partners with Uniken
- The Omnichannel security will be provided to Bank of Maharashtra’s online banking app named as MahaSecure.
BOB Financial Solutions Limited and Fiserv, Inc. to Work for Digital Transformation
- BOB Financial Solutions Limited will use and the Fiserv’s First Vision TM, which is an end to end managed service solution to have digital transformation.
Reports
Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020 Report
- Food and Agriculture (FAO), the United Nations has released the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020 report.
- As per the report, India has received 3rd rank in 10 countries in terms of gaining forest area during 2019-2020.
‘India Report- Digital Education June 2020’—By HRD Ministry
- Union Minister for Human Resource Development has virtually released a report titled ‘India Report- Digital Education June 2020.
- The report is prepared by the digital division of HRD ministry by analyzing the data from educational departments of states and UTs in India.
‘Implications of AI on the Indian Economy’ Report
- National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and Google have together released a report titled as ‘Implications of AI on the Indian Economy’.
Appointments
| Name of the Person | Designation |
| Kulmeet Bawa | President and Managing Director for SAP (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing) |
| Ramesh Boddu | MD and CEO of Karur Vysya Bank |
| Prof. R Narayanaswamy | Head the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) |
| Sumit Deb | MD and CEO of National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) |
| P C Kandpal | MD and CEO of SBI General Insurance Company Limited |
| Sanjiv Bajaj | Chairman of Bajaj Finance |
| Arun Kumar | Vice-Chairman of the UIC (International Union of Railways) |
| Alok Mishra | CEO and Director of Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) |
| Riva Ganguly Das | Secretary East in Ministry of External Affairs |
| Partha Pratim Sengupta | MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) |
| Naveen Tahilyani | MD and CEO of Tata AIA Life Ltd |
| Sahil Seth | Honorary Advisor for BRICS CCI (Chambers of Commerce Industry) |
| Vice Admiral MA Hampiholi | Commandant of Indian Naval Academy (INA) |
| Mahdi Mohammed Gulaid | Interim Prime Minister of Somalia |
| Hichem Mechichi | Prime Minister of Tunisia |
| N. Sivaraman | MD and Group CEO of ICRA Limited |
| Anil Kumar Jha | Head Member of the Expert Appraisal Committee |
| Naveen Tahilyani | MD and CEO of TATA AIA Life Insurance |
| Archana Soreng | Member of Antonio Guterres new Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change |
Awards and Honours
| Awardee | Award |
| Arnab Chaudhuri | ‘Legend of Animation’ |
| Greta Thunberg | Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity |
| Kala Naryanasamy | President’s Award for Nurse in Singapore |
| Aditya | Gustave Trouve Award for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating |
| Jamie Vardy | Premier League Golden Boot Football Award |
| Sunil YDV SS | ‘Karamveer Chakra Award’ |
National Awards for excellence in Earth System Science
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| Category | Winner |
| Lifetime Excellence Award | Prof. Ashok Sahni |
| National Awards for Atmospheric Science and Technology | Dr S Suresh Babu |
| National Award for Geoscience and Technology | N V Chalapathi Rao |
| National Award for Ocean Technology | Dr M A Atmanand |
| Anna Mani Award for Women Scientist | Dr Lidita D S Khandeparker |
| Young Researcher Award | Dr Indra Sekhar Sen |
| National Award for Ocean Science and Technology | Dr V.V. S. S. Sarma |
Important Days
| Date | Day | Theme |
| 23rd July 2020 | National Broadcasting Day | -- |
| 26th July 2020 | Kargil Vijay Diwas | -- |
| 27th July 2020 | Raising Day of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) | -- |
| 28th July 2020 | World Nature Conservation Day | -- |
| 29th July 2020 | International Tiger Day | -- |
| 30th July 2020 | World Day against Trafficking in Persons | Theme: ‘Committed to the Cause-Working on the Frontline to end Human Trafficking’ |
MoU’s Signed
CBIC signs MoU with CBDT for Bilateral Data Exchange
- The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has signed MoU Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
- The two entities have signed MoU to carry out the bilateral data exchange between them.
UBI and LIC signs Corporate Agency Agreement
- The corporate agency agreement will allow UBI to distribute LIC Insurance products to its customers.
Power Finance Corporation signs MoU with IIT Kanpur
- The two entities will be working to provide training, carry out research activities and to generate entrepreneurship development for Smart Grid Technology in India.
India’s MoU with Zimbabwe
- Union Cabinet has approved the MoU of India with Zimbabwe in the field of cooperating in Traditional Systems of Medicines and Homeopathy.
- This MoU will prove beneficial to both the countries in the sector of traditional medicines.
Tripartite MoU Signed Between CSIR, UBA IIT Delhi and Vijnana Bharati
- The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan-IIT Delhi (UBS-IITD) and Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA), New Delhi (It is RSS linked science body) has signed MoU which grant access to CSIR developed technologies to attain the objective of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA).
IIT Delhi Partners with TRIFED for Unnat Bharat Abhiyan
- IIT Delhi has signed MoU with TRIFED (Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India) for Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) which comes under the flagship of HRD Ministry, GOI.
Government Schemes
Government’s Schemes for Promotion of Bulk Drugs and Medical Devices Parks
- Union Minister of Chemical and Fertilizers D V Sadananda Gowda has launched 4 schemes for the promotion of Bulk Drugs and Medical Devices parks.
First UDAN-RCS Heli Service in Uttarakhand
- The UDAN-RCS Heli service in Uttarakhand will provide aerial connectivity and mobility between Dehradun, New Tehri, Srinagar and Gauchar.
Defence
India successfully Test Fired ‘Dhruvastra’ ATGM
- India successfully carried out the firing test of indigenous Anti-tank Guided Missile (ATGM) named as ‘Dhruvastra’.
Science and Technology
India-Russia Joint Technology Assessment & Accelerated Commercialization Programme
- The Department of Science and Technology (DST) in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) launched the India-Russia Joint Technology Assessment & Accelerated Commercialization Programme.
World’s Most Surveilled Cities-Comparitech
- Among the 150 major cities around the world, from India, the list is topped by Hyderabad at 16th rank position having the maximum number of CCTV surveillance.
IIM Kozhikode Develops ‘Veli Band’
- It is wearable hand band developed with an aim to maintain social distancing during this pandemic situation of COVID-19.
‘Implications of AI on the Indian Economy’ Report
- The NASSCOM, ICRIER and Google state that AI intensity which is measured as the ratio of AI to total sales can give 2.5% enhancement to GDP on an immediate basis term.
IIT-Ropar to provide Skill Development in Punjab Colleges & Institutes
- The IIT Ropar will provide technical mentorship to the state’s engineering colleges at Gurdaspur and Ferozepur, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Skill Institute, Chamkaur Sahib, Polytechnics and ITI Institutes.
‘Tianwen-1’—China’s First Independent Mission to Mars
- China has successfully launched its first independent mission to mars named as ‘Tianwen-1’, which means ‘Question to Heaven’.
‘BANDICOOT’, First Manhole Cleaning Robot in Guwahati, Assam
- First manhole cleaning robot or an automatic sewer cleaning device named as ‘BANDICOOT’ is inaugurated at Guwahati, Assam.
Summits and Conferences
G20 Digital Ministers Meeting
- The G20 Digital Ministers Meeting was held on 22nd July 2020 and was addressed by Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad via video conference.
SCO Health Ministers Digital Meet
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Health Ministers Digital Meet was held on 24th July 2020.
- The meeting was attended by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
High Throughput COVID-19 Testing Facilities launched by PM Modi
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched High Throughput COVID-19 Testing Facilities via video conference.
- The facilities will boost and ramp up the testing capacities for COVID-19 in India.
5th Annual Meet of the Board to Governors of AIIB
- Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman attended the virtual 5th Annual Meet of the Board to Governors of AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank).
