DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 10 JULY 2020

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 10 JULY 2020

1. SPACE TECHNOLOGY & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO MONITOR GOVERNMENT LANDS

·        The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, launched the Bhubaneswar Land Use Intelligence System (BLUIS), a flagship development of the General Administration and Public grievances departments.

·        Odisha becomes the first state in India to use high resolution satellite imagery utilising space technology and artificial intelligence to monitor government lands.

·        Bhubaneswar Land Use Intelligence System (BLUIS) is a web and mobile based solution to monitor the unauthorised change of land use and to prevent the encroachment of government lands.

·        The GPS of the system will provide the exact location to the enforcement authorities.

2. RESEARCH ON COVID-19 & PATIENT DATA ANALYSIS

·        The Alumni Council of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Alumni Council) signed an agreement for joint research on COVID-19 and patient data analysis with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB).

·        The IIT Alumni Council is setting up the “MegaLab” in Mumbai, the world’s largest molecular diagnostic lab and “MegaTx” antibody facility for treatment based biologics as a part of this partnership.

·        This is the largest body of Alumni, students and faculty of all the 23 IITs and other partnering technical institutes.

3.CABINET APPROVED RS.12,450 CRORE CAPITAL INFUSION FOR 3 PSGIC

·        The Union Cabinet has approved the capital infusion for an overall value of Rs.12,450 crore; (including Rs. 2,500 crore infused in FY 2019-20) in the three Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) namely Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OlCL), National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) and United India Insurance Company Limited (UIICL). Of this, Rs.3,475 crore will be released immediately; while the balance Rs,6475 crore will be infused later. 

·        In this regard, the authorized capital of these 3 GICs is also increased to Rs.7,500 crore for NICL, and Rs Rs 5,000 crore for both UIICL and OlCL.

4. AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING COMPLEXES FOR URBAN MIGRANTS / POOR

·        Union Cabinet has given its approval for developing of Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (AHRCs) for urban migrants  / poor as a sub-scheme under Pradhan MantriAwasYojana – Urban (PMAY – U).

·        The outlay of the scheme is estimated at Rs 600 crore in the form of Technology Innovation Grant and will initially cover three lakh beneficiaries.

·        Firstly, Vacant government housing complexes will be converted into ARHCs under a concession agreement for 25 years.

·        Secondly, special incentives like use permission, 50% additional Floor Area Ratio or Floor Space Index, concessional loans at priority sector lending rates and tax reliefs, to companies to develop ARHCs on their own vacant land for 25 years, offered by the government.

5. INDIA GLOBAL WEEK 2020 ORGANIZED IN UK

·        PM Narendra Modi has addressed the inaugural session of 3-day virtual India Global week 2020 based on the theme ‘Be The Revival: India and a Better New World’ organized in UK (United Kingdom) by India Inc. Group, the UK-headquartered media house with the aim to connect global leaders and captains of industry to discuss aspects relating to opportunities in India as well as the global economic revival post-coronavirus (COVID-19).

6. CANCER PREPAREDNESS AMONG 10 ASIA-PACIFIC COUNTRIES

·        In accordance with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report on “Cancer preparedness in Asia-Pacific: Progress towards universal cancer control”, India has been ranked eighth with an overall score of 51.6 for cancer preparedness among 10 Asia-Pacific countries.

·        The 10 Asia-Pacific countries included in this report were — Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

·         

Rank	Country	Score (out of 100)
1	Australia	92.4
2	South Korea	83.4
3	Malaysia	80.3

7. MARKET BORROWINGS AMONG STATES IN INDIA

·        According to data from the RBI,Tamil Nadu (TN) has topped market borrowings among States in India with a collection of Rs.30,500 crore in the fiscal 2020-21(FY 21).

·        TN, which has accounted for 17% of the borrowings done through the issue of bonds (known as state development loans), has been followed by Maharashtra ₹25,500 crore (14%), Andhra Pradesh ₹17,000 crore (9%), Rajasthan ₹17,000 crore (9%).

·        The GST (Goods and Services Tax) collection of TN has sharply reduced by 15% in June 2020, higher than the 3% fall in national GST collections due to the continuous lockdown.

8. WORKING GROUP TO LOOK INTO THE POSSIBILITY OF ‘PANDEMIC RISK POOL’

·        With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causing massive disruption across various sectors, the IRDAI has formed a 9- member working group under the chairmanship of Suresh Mathur, Executive Director of  Irdai to look into the possibility of setting up ‘Pandemic Risk Pool’ to deal with the various risks arising out of a pandemic -like health emergencies & recommend the structure and operating model for the Pool within 8 weeks.

·        India has formed risk pools for nuclear disaster (Rs 1,500 crore) and terrorism (Rs 1,200 crore) so far.

9. COMEDIAN JAGDEEP PASSED AWAY AT 81 

·        Veteran Bollywood actor-comedian Jagdeep passed away at 81 in his Bandra residence, Mumbai.

·        His real name is Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jafri.

·        He is recognised for his role as Soorma Bhopali in the film “Sholay” and for his expression ‘khambha ukhadke’.