Current Affairs Daily Digest – June 22 2020
1. Tripura Government to start ‘Play Little, Study Little’ Scheme from 25th June
The state government of Tripura has decided to start a scheme for school students from 25th June 2020. The scheme is named ‘Ektu Khelo, Ektu Padho’ –meaning ‘Play Little, Study Little’. The scheme will be implemented via SMS or WhatsApp. For students, those who have access to smartphones of their parents will be able to access the scheme through WhatsApp. For students having feature phones, they will be able to access through SMS.
2. India’s First Oral Vaccine for Moderate COVID-19 Cases gets Approval
For the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 positive patients across the country, on 19th June 2020, for manufacturing and marketing of oral antiviiral drug ‘Favipiravir (Fabiflu)’ was approved by the National Regulatory Authority for Indian pharmaceuticals -Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to Mumbai based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.
3. Jharkhand govt to launch MGNREGA like scheme for urban poor
The Urban Development and Housing Department on June 21 announced that the Jharkhand government is all set to launch an employment guarantee scheme for the urban unskilled workers. The scheme will be on similar lines of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
4. BMW Group India’s new president will be Vikram Pawah
BMW Group India has announced the appointment of Vikram Pawah as the President of BMW Group India. The new appointment, which will become effective from 1 August, 2020, comes after the sudden demise of the company’s former President and Chief Executive Officer Rudratej Singh. In addition to serving as the BMW Group India’s new President, Pawah will also retain his role as the Chief Executive Officer of BMW Group Australia as well as New Zealand.
5. Jaideep Nandi appointed as new MD of Bajaj Consumer Care
Bajaj Consumer Care Limited has appointed Jaideep Nandi as its new Managing Director.
Nandi is currently the company’s Chief Executive Officer, and will take over as the managing director effective 1 July. He takes over from Sumit Malhotra, who will step down as the managing director with effect from 30 June, 2020.
6. NPCI’s UPI head Anubhav Sharma set to join Paytm Payments Bank
Paytm Payments Bank has roped in Anubhav Sharma who was heading Unified Payments Interface and Immediate Payment Service at the National Payments Corporations of India for a top role at the bank, said two sources aware of the development.
7. World Rainforest Day is observed on June 22
World Rainforest Day launched in 2017 by Rainforest Partnership is a collaborative effort to raise awareness and encourage action to save one of Earth’s most precious resources, our rainforests. The first ever world rainforest day was observed on June 22 2017.
8. France commits 200 million Euros for India’s Covid response
France and India signed an agreement with Paris committing 200 million euros to support Delhi’s Covid response.
The credit financing agreement was signed by Dr C.S. Mohapatra, Additional Secretary – DEA, and Bruno Bosle, Director – AFD (French Development Agency) in India in the virtual presence of Emmanuel Lenain, Ambassador of France to India.
9. India becomes 12th largest holder of US govt securities
India became the 12th largest holder of US government securities at the end of April, with holding worth $157.4 billion, according to official data.
After significantly reducing the exposure in March to $156.5 billion, Indian marginally hiked the holding by $0.9 billion to $157.4 billion the next month, the data from the US Treasury Department showed.
