Current Affairs, September 2020

• Union Cabinet has approved the launch of a “Mission Karmayogi” National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB). Mission Karmayogi has been launched to prepare the Indian Civil Servant for the future by making him more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled.
• India has joined the group of top 50 countries in the global innovation index for the first time, moving up four places to the 48th rank.
• India has been elected as a member of the United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women, a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). India will be a member of United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women for four years, 2021 to ‘25.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will implement the “Technology Vision for Cyber Security’ for Urban Co-operative Banks (2020-2023) to enhance the IT security system of Urban Co-operative banking to prevent, detect, respond to and recover from cyber-attacks.

The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2020 was announced by the Union science and technology minister Dr Harsh Vardhan at the Foundation Day celebration of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on 26th September.

• Here is the list of 14 Fourteen scientists awardees:
• Biological Sciences:
• • Dr Subhadeep Chatterjee,
• • Dr Vatsala Thirumalai
• Chemical Sciences
• • Dr Jyotirmayee Dash,
• • Dr Subi Jacob George
• Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences
• • Dr Abhijit Mukherjee
• • Dr Suryendu Dutta
• Engineering Sciences
• • Dr Amol Arvindrao Kulkarni
• • Dr Kinshuk Dasgupta
• Mathematics Sciences
• • Dr UK Anandavardhanan,
• • Dr Rajat Subhra Hazra
• Medicine Sciences
• • Dr Bushra Ateeq,
• • Dr Ritesh Agarwal
• Physics Sciences
• • Dr Rajesh Ganapathy
• • Dr Surajit Dhara
• The 51st Edition of the International Film Festival of India, IFFI will be held from 16th to 24th January, next year in Goa.
• Rajiv Kumar has taken the charge as the new Election Commissioner (EC) of India.
• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of the current chairman of the Railway Board VK Yadav as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• Former Lok Sabha MP and Bollywood actor, Paresh Rawal have been appointed as the new chief of National School of Drama by President Ram Nath Kovind.
• A 1988 batch IAS officer, Rajesh Khullar has been appointed as Executive Director at World Bank in Washington DC.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed Takeo Konishi as its new Country Director for India. Konishi will replace Kenichi Yokoyama who has taken over as Director-General of ADB’s South Asia Department.
• The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved the proposal to appoint Simanchala Dash as an advisor to Executive Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.
• ITBP Director General, S S Deswal has been given the additional charge of counter-terrorism force National Security Guard (NSG) as its incumbent chief A K Singh is going to retire on September 30.
• India has been ranked 105th position “Global Economic Freedom Index 2020 Annual Report” by Canada’s Fraser Institute, which has been released in India in conjunction with Center for Civil Society, New Delhi-based think tank. This is the 24th edition of Economic Freedom of the World. Hong Kong topped the Index.
• Indian Grandmaster P Iniyan has won the 48th Annual World Open online chess tournament.
• Pierre Gasly (Scuderia AlphaTauri, France) has won the Formula One Italian Grand Prix 2020 held at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy.
• Japan’s Naomi Osaka defeated Victoria Azarenka of Belarus to clinch the Women’s Singles title in the 2020 US Open Tennis tournament.
• Austria’s Dominic Thiem defeated Alexander Zverev to win the men’s singles title at the 2020 US Open tournament.
  
• Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-Great Britain) has won the Formula One Tuscan Grand Prix 2020 held at Mugello Circuit, Italy.
• Novak Djokovic has defeated Argentine Diego Schwartzman, 7-6, 5-3, to win 2020 Men’s Single Italian Open title and his fifth overall Rome title. In Women’s single, Simona Halep defeated champion Karolina Pliskova, 6-0, 2-1, to win her first Italian Open title.
• Saudi Arabia chaired the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Extraordinary Meeting. During the meeting, India proposed the setting up of voluntary ‘G20 Principles on Coordinated Cross-Border Movement of People’.
• The 5th BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting was held under the chairpersonship of Russian Federation.
• The 35th Session of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC 35) was held virtual format due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Conference was held under the Chair of the Host Country, Bhutan.
• The Environment Ministerial Meeting (EMM) of the G20 countries was held through video conferencing under the Presidency of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Sir David Attenborough was conferred with the prestigious Indira Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2019.
• International Day of Democracy is observed globally on 15th September every year.
• International Literacy Day is observed globally on 8th September every year. The day spread awareness about the importance of literacy for individuals, communities, and societies and the need for intensified efforts towards more literate societies. International Literacy Day 2020 focuses on “Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond,” especially on the role of educators and changing pedagogies.
• Hindi Diwas or Hindi Day is observed every year on 14 September to mark the popularity of Hindi as an official language of India.
• World Rhino Day is observed globally on 22 September every year.
• India has withdrawn its participation from the multilateral Military Exercise “Kavkaz 2020” to be held in Russia.
• The first batch of five Rafale fighter jets was formally inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) on 10 September 2020 at the Air Force Station in Ambala.
• BrahMos surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile featuring indigenous Booster and Airframe Section along with many other ‘Made in India’ sub-systems was successfully flight tested from ITR, Balasore in Odisha.
• World’s largest Solar Tree has been developed by the CSIR-CMERI and has been installed at the Residential Colony of CSIR-CMERI in Durgapur, West Bengal.
• Union Cabinet has approved J&K official languages Bill 2020. According to the J&K official languages Bill 2020, Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi along with Urdu and English, will be the official languages in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
 

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Current Affairs, August 2020

The Swachh Bharat Mission Academy has been launched by the Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. It has been launched as a crucial part of the phase 2 of Swachh Bharat Mission. 

Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) has been launched by the Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh. NIIO is a three-tiered organisation and it will enable its end users to interact with academia as well as industry for the promotion of innovation and indigenisation for self-reliance in defence, with the help of its dedicated structures.

The establishment of “National Recruitment Agency” has received the Union Cabinet‘s approval. The National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will result in transformational reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs. The National Recruitment Agency (NRA) would be a multi-agency body which be responsible to conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET).

Swachh Survekshan 2020 awards have been announced and Indore became India’s cleanest city for the fourth year in a row. Swachh Survekshan was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016. Mysuru won the award for the cleanest city of India in 2016, Indore retained the top spot for three consecutive years in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

National Sports Awards are conferred every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. Honourable President of India will confer the awards to the awardees at a specially organized function through virtual mode from Rashtrapati Bhawan on 29th August, 2020.                                                                                                                                                                                                 RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD:                                                                 No.   Name                                Discipline            1     Shri Rohit Sharma             Cricket            2  Shri Mariyappan T.          Para Athletics    3    Ms. Manika Batra             Table Tennis    4  Ms. Vinesh Phogat                wrestling        5  Ms. Rani Rampal                   Hockey                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ARJUNA AWARD:                                                                                                                                                S.No.         Name of the Sportsperson           Discipline                                                                                 1                     Shri Atanu Das                    Archery                                                                                   2                     Ms. Dutee Chand                 Athletics                                                                                 3              Satwik SairajRankireddy         Badminton                                                                               4        Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty       Badminton                                                                               5            Shri Vishesh Bhriguvanshi         Basketball                                                                                 6            Subedar Manish Kaushik              Boxing                                                                                   7              Ms. Lovlina Borgohain                Boxing                                                                                   8                   Shri Ishant Sharma                 Cricket                                                                                   9                   Ms. Deepti Sharma                 Cricket                                                                                  10              Shri Sawant Ajay Anant         Equestrian                                                                              11              Shri Sandesh Jhingan               Football                                                                                  12                  Ms. Aditi Ashok                         Golf                                                                                    13               Shri Akashdeep Singh                Hockey                                                                                14                     Ms. Deepika                           Hockey                                                                                15                    Shri Deepak                            Kabaddi                                                                              16            Shri Kale Sarika Sudhakar          Kho Kho                                                                              17           Shri Dattu Baban Bhokanal            Rowing                                                                              18                  Ms. Manu Bhaker                   Shooting                                                                                19             Shri Saurabh Chaudhary             Shooting                                                                              20         Ms. Madhurika Suhas Patkar         Table Tennis                                                                        21                   Shri Divij Sharan                     Tennis                                                                                  22                 Shri Shiva Keshavan               Winter Sports                                                                      23                   Ms. Divya Kakran                  Wrestling                                                                              24                    Shri Rahul Aware                  Wrestling                                                                              25               Suyash Narayan Jadhav            Para Swimming                                                                  26                    Shri Sandeep                           Para Athletics                                                                    27                 Shri Manish Narwal                  Para Shooting                                                      DRONACHARYA AWARD:                                                                                                                      Life- Time Category                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          S.No.      Name of the Coach                Discipline                                                                                         1           Dharmendra Tiwary             Archery                                                                                           2         Shri Purushotham Rai            Athletics                                                                                         3              Shri Shiv Singh                   Boxing                                                                                             4          Shri Romesh Pathania           Hockey                                                                                             5          Krishan KumarHooda          Kabaddi                                                                                           6  Vijay BhalchandraMunishwar       Para Powerlifting                                                                         7       Shri Naresh Kumar                   Tennis                                                                                             8       Shri Om Parkash Dahiya         Wrestling                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Regular Category                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     S.No.             Name of the Coach           Discipline                                                                                       1          Shri Jude Felix Sebastian         Hockey                                                                                         2                Shri Yogesh Malviya        Mallakhamb                                                                                   3                Shri Jaspal Rana                  Shooting                                                                                       4          Kuldeep Kumar Handoo             Wushu                                                                                       5            Shri Gaurav Khanna         Para Badminton                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              DHYAN CHAND AWARD:                                                                                                                            S.No.          Name of the Sportsperson         Discipline                                                                                1              Shri Kuldip Singh Bhullar          Athletics                                                                                2                     Ms. Jincy Philips                   Athletics                                                                                3          Pradeep Shrikrishna  Gandhe         Badminton                                                                            4               Ms. Trupti Murgunde                Badminton                                                                              5                     Ms. N. Usha                              Boxing                                                                                6                    Shri Lakha Singh                     Boxing                                                                                  7               Sukhvinder SinghSandhu            Football                                                                                8                     Shri Ajit Singh                         Hockey                                                                                9                Shri Manpreet Singh                   Kabaddi                                                                             10                Shri J. Ranjith Kumar             Para Athletics                                                                       11             Shri Satyaprakash Tiwari        Para Badminton                                                                     12                   Shri Manjeet Singh                     Rowing                                                                             13                       Late sachin                       Nag Swimming                                                                       14                Shri Nandan P Bal                         Tennis                                                                               15               Shri Netarpal Hooda                     Wrestling

• The Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (IC), Shri Prahlad Singh Patel has announced 7 new circles of Archaeological Survey of India. Here is the list of all 7 new circles:                                            

          Trichy in Tamil Nadu

           Raiganj in West Bengal

           Rajkot in Gujarat

           Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh

           Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh

           Meerut in Uttar Pradesh

           Hampi in Karnataka

• The United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country to open a nuclear power plant.
• Russia has become the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine “Sputnik V” registered for use.
• China has successfully launched 5th Earth observation satellite, Gaofen-9 (05), from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
• The longest river ropeway of India has been inaugurated in Assam. It is 1.8 Km long and connects Guwahati and North Guwahati over Brahmaputra river.
• Assam government would provide Rs 830 per month each to 17 lakh poor families under the ambitious “Orunodoi” scheme, to financially empower women.
• Kerala will establish the first international women’s trade centre (IWTC) of India at Angamaly.
• The first-ever “seaplane services in Gujarat” will be commenced from 31 October 2020. The seaplane service will offer seamless and affordable air connectivity from Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad to Statue of Unity in Kevadia in Gujarat.
• President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed former Union minister Manoj Sinha as the next Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Former Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu has been appointed as the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
• Pradeep Kumar Joshi has appointed as the chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
• Odisha cadre IPS officer, P S Ranipse has been appointed as Inspector General (IG), in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
• Government of India has appointed Rakesh Asthana as the new director-general of the Border Security Force (BSF).
• Ashok Lavasa has stepped down as the Election Commissioner of India. He has submitted his resignation to President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.
• President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Satya Pal Malik as the Governor of Meghalaya.
• The Government of India has appointed Rajiv Kumar as the new Election Commissioner of India.
• Government of India has appointed Ashwani Bhatia as the managing director (MD) of the State Bank of India (SBI).
• India has been ranked 57th in Digital Quality of Life Index 2020 with overall score of 0.5. Denmark has topped the index and was followed by Sweden.
• Lewis Hamilton has won the Formula One British Grand Prix 2020 held at the Silverstone Circuit, United Kingdom.
• The International Cricket Council has confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 that was postponed due to Covid-19 will be held in Australia in 2022. India will host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 as planned.
• Former Indian Captain and the World Cup winner, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has announced his retirement from the International Cricket. He represented India in 350 ODI’s, 98 T20 Internationals (T20Is) and 90 test matches.
• Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-Great Britain) has won the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix 2020 held at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain.
• German Golfer Sophia Popov has won the Women’s British Open 2020 title.
• India will host the BRICS Games 2021, which will be aligned with the Khelo India Games scheduled for next year.
• Dutch Author, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld has won the International Booker Prize 2020 for her debut novel ‘The Discomfort of Evening’.
• India observes 29th August every year as National Sports Day. The day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand, who was the star of Indian hockey team.
• India will take part in the multilateral military "Russian Kavkaz 2020" strategic command-post exercise to be held in Astrakhan, Russia.
• Chetan Bhagat has authored a book titled ‘One Arranged Murder’.
• 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be held in Goa, from November 20th to 28th.

                                         

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Current Affairs, July 2020

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the National Education Policy 2020. The National Education Policy 2020 will replace the thirty-four year old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.
• A fleet of five French-manufactured Rafale multi-role combat jets arrived in India. Rafale Jets landed at the Ambala Air Force. The fleet, which comprises three single seater and two twin seater aircraft, would be inducted into the IAF as part of its Ambala-based No 17 Squadron, also known as the ‘Golden Arrows’.
• India and Bangladesh has signed an agreement for the formation of a 50:50 Joint Venture Company (JVC). This 50:50 Joint Venture Company has been formed for LPG business in Bangladesh.
• The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has been implemented in India since 20th July 2020. It has replaced Consumer Protection Act, 1986.The new act has been introduced to offer protection to buyers from traditional sellers as well as from the new e-commerce retailers/platforms. It will protect the consumer rights through its various notified Rules and provisions and will empower consumers and hence help them in protecting their rights.
• India has successfully conducted flight tests of its indigenously developed anti-tank guided missile ‘Dhruvastra’. The flight tests were conducted from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha. ‘Dhruvastra’ is an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) which has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It is a helicopter version of ‘Nag Helina’.
• A mission titled as “Hope” has been launched to “Mars” by the United Arab Emirates. It will provide a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere for the first time, studying daily and seasonal changes. China has successfully launched “Tianwen-1” its first independent mission to Mars. A Long March 5 rocket carrying the spacecraft was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s tropical Hainan province.
• Boeing India has delivered the last of the five AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to the Indian Air Force (IAF) at the Hindan Air Force Station. With this, Boeing has completed delivery of all 22 new AH-64E Apache to the IAF.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the change in the name of "Ministry of Human Resource Development" to "Ministry of Education".
• Government of India has declared the entire Nagaland as “disturbed area” for a further period of six months i.e. till the end of December.
• Guwahati Development Department Ministry has inaugurated 1st manhole cleaning robot ‘BANDICOOT’ to ensure minimal human involvement to clean the sewers.
• IAS Vini Mahajan has become the 1st woman chief secretary of Punjab.
• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the reappointment of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for a period of 3 years.
• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the extension of KK Venugopal’s term as the Attorney General of India for a period of one year.
• Injeti Srinivas has been appointed as 1st chairman of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) for a period of three years.
  
• Ashok Lavasa has been appointed the vice-president of Asian Development Bank.
• India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been named as India’s most valuable Test player in the 21st century by the Wisden magazine.
• Lewis Hamilton has won the Styrian Grand Prix 2020 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.
• Real Madrid has been crowned La Liga Champions for the 34th time.
• Lewis Hamilton won the Formula-1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2020 at Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Hungary.
• International Cricket Council(ICC)has announced that the T20 Men’s World Cup, scheduled to be played in Australia in October-November 2020.
• Haryana will host the 4th edition of the Khelo India Youth Gamesin 2021.
• The 36th edition of the biannual ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit 2020 was held via video conferencing in Hanoi, Vietnam. The theme of the Summit was “Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN”.
• Kerala Health Minister K.K Shailaja was honoured by the United Nations for her efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic in her state.
• International Olympic Committee has announced that its new headquarters in Lausanne has been awarded the European 2020 US Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership Award.
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief, Kailasavadivoo Sivan has been named for Von Karman Award 2020 by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
• World Population Day is observed globally on 11th July every year. This year theme of World Population Day 2020: Putting the brakes on COVID-19: Safeguarding the health and rights of women and girls.
• India celebrates the Kargil Vijay Diwas on 26th July every year to remember the extreme valour, sacrifice and exemplary courage of Indian soldiers during the 1999 Kargil war.
• World Health Organization observes 28th July every year as “World Hepatitis Day”. This year’s theme is “Hepatitis-free future”.
• World Nature Conservation Day is observed on 28th July every year.
• Former RBI governor, Urjit Patel has written a book titled ‘Overdraft: Saving the Indian Saver’.
• The book titled ‘A Song of India’ has been authored by Ruskin Bond.
• Himalayan Golden Birdwing butterfly named as India’s largest butterfly.
• Assam Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal has announced, Poba Reserve Forest in Dhemaji district would be upgraded to a wildlife sanctuary.
 

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Current Affairs, June 2020

• “Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2020” has been released by the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Yale University, and Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University. The Environmental Performance Index 2020 was topped by Denmark with an EPI score of 82.5. India was ranked 168th in the 2020 Environmental Performance Index.

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Current Affairs, May 2020

• An IIT Madras Professor Thalappil Pradeep has been selected for the Nikkei Asia Prize 2020 in the category of 'Science and Technology' for his pioneering work in nanotechnology-based water purification. The Nikkei Asia Prizes recognizes those individuals who have contributed to the region’s sustainable development and to a creation of a better future of Asia. The prize is conferred annually in three areas i.e. “Economic and Business Innovation“, “Science and Technology”, and “Culture and Community”.

              Complete list of winners of the prize is as follows:

               • Science and Technology: Professor Thalappil Pradeep (India)

               • Culture and Community: Ram Prasad Kadel (Nepal)

               • Economic and Business Innovation: Anthony Tan (Malaysia) & Tan Hooi Ling (Malaysia)

• A scheme has been launched by the central governemnt for complete solarization of Konark Sun Temple and Konark town in Odisha to develop the historical Sun Temple town of Konark as Surya Nagri.
• The Maharashtra government has announced the inclusion of state’s whole population under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Aarogya Yojana. According to the announcement, state will provide free health treatment to cent per cent population of the state. With this inclusion, Maharashtra has become India’s first state to provide free and cashless insurance premium to the people of the state.
• Indian journalists namely Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand have been honoured with the 2020 Pulitzer Prize. These journalists have won the award in the field of feature photography. All the three journalists belongs to Associated Press. They have been awarded for the lockdown coverage.
• Assam has noted the first instance of African swine fever in the country. The outbreak of African Swine Fever(AFS) amid the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 2900 domestic pigs across 306 villages of the state.
• According to the report, the growth rate of India has been projected to grow at 1.2% in fiscal year 2020. While the report has also indicated a slight recovery in the growth rate of India for fiscal year 2021 and stated that it would clock a 5.5% growth rate in 2021.As the COVID-19 pandemic has paralysed the world, the UN has projected that the global economy will contract sharply by 3.2% in fiscal year 2020, with only a gradual recovery of lost output projected for fiscal year 2021.
• Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) has been recently approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The scheme has been stated to be implemented from FY 2020-21 to FY 2024-25 i.e. for a period of 5-years in all States/Union Territories. As the name suggests, PMMSY is a fisher centric umbrella scheme in which the key stakeholders would be fishers, fish farmers, fish workers and fish vendors.
• SBI General Insurance has launched the standard health insurance policy “Aarogya Sanjeevani Health Insurance Policy” which provides hospitalisation cover anywhere in India with sums insured ranging from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakhs.
• Russia has planned to launch the 1st satellite named Arktika-M to monitor the Arctic climate and environment by the end of 2020. The launch will take place on Soyuz -2,1b carrier rocket with frigate booster.
• China has successfully launched a new rocket named “Long March 5B” into space as it steps up Moon landing plans. This rocket is launched in Wenchang launch site that is located on the island of Hainan, china.
• Government of Iran recently took a decision of changing the name of its currency to a “Toman”. Under the bill, Iran national currency is going to be changed from the rial to the Toman.
• National Council for Science & Technology Communication and Department of Science & Technology has launched a programme on health and risk communication ‘Year of Awareness on Science & Health (YASH)’ with focus on COVID-19.
• Nation celebrates 480th birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap on 9 May. He was Born on 9 May, 1540.
• Supreme Court of India's bench of 5-judge, headed by Justice Arun Mishra has ruled that the provisions of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002, will now be applicable to state and multi-state cooperative banks.
• Chhattisgarh has topped the list of states in terms of providing jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) after providing employment to 18.52 lakh labourers amid the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.
• United States President, Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American lawyer Ashok Michael Pinto as US representative to World Bank’s lending arm International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
• Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been reappointed as chairperson of the Parliament’s public accounts committee (PAC). He was reappointed the chairman of the committee by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
• IAS officer V. Vidyavathi has been appointed as the new Director-General of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan will take charge as the chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) 34-member Executive Board. He will replace Dr Hiroki Nakatani of Japan.
• Marcos Troyjo has been elected as next President of New Development Bank (NDB). He will replace K. V Kamath.
• India has been ranked at 74th position on the Global ‘Energy Transition Index’ by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Sweden has topped the index.
• The badminton World Championships 2020 has been postponed to November 2021. World Championships will be held at the Carolina Marin Stadium in Huelva, Spain.
• 36th National Games, planned for October-November in Goa, has been deferred indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Indian tennis player Sania Mirza becomes 1st Indian to win Fed Cup Heart Award 2020 for Asia/Oceania zone.
• International Labour Day 2020 observed globally on 1st May every year. It is also known as International Worker’s Day and May Day.
• Anti Terrorism Day 2020 is observed on 21st May every year in India. The day marks the death anniversary of India’s seventh Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on 21 May 1991.
• Black rice of Manipur, also called the Chak-Hao has bagged the Geographical Indication tag.
• Kashmir saffron gets Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Geographical Indications Registry.
• Cyclone Amphan intensified into a super cyclone with wind speed above 200 kmph moved further North-Northeastwards over West Central Bay. Amphan is the first super cyclone to hit the region in the last two decades since a super cyclone-hit Odisha in 1999 causing widespread damage and loss of life.

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Current Affairs, April 2020

•  Forbes has launched the 34th annual world’s billionaires list named as “The Richest in 2020”. The list titled “The Richest in 2020” has been topped by the Amazon Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos.
• The 2020 World Press Freedom Index has been released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The Reporters Without Borders has evaluated the situation for journalists in 180 countries and territories and indicated the results in 2020 World Press Freedom Index. India was ranked 142nd in the index.
• UN ‘Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2020 forecast India’s GDP for FY21 at 4.8%.
• Utkal Divas (Odisha Day) is celebrated every year on 1st April all over Odisha.
• The 2021 World Athletics Championships which was originally scheduled to held in Eugene, Oregon from August 6-15, 2021 has been shifted to 2022.
• Olympic Council of Asia has announced the official mascots of the 19th Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou in 2022. The 3 robots: Congcong, Lianlian and Chenchen which are collectively known as “The Smart Triplets” will be the official mascots of the 19th Asian Games.
• National Sports Federation of India has announced that India will host the Asian Boxing Championships for men and women in November-December 2020.
• World Badminton Champion, P V Sindhu has been selected as one of the ambassadors for Badminton World Federation (BWF)’s “I am badminton” awareness campaign.
• The 11th edition of World Games which is to be held in Birmingham, Alabama, US (United States) has unveiled an updated logo and title after being delayed a year because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
• Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik has been conferred with ‘Hero to Animals Award’ by animal rights body PETA India for allocating funds to feed community animals in Odisha during the lockdown over the novel coronavirus pandemic.
• The World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated on 7 April every year. The Theme of World Health Day 2020: Support Nurses And Midwives.

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Current Affairs, March 2020

• President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the 61st annual awards of the National Lalit Kala Akademi to 15 artists at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. 

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