DAILY Current Affairs 7 JULY 2020

DAILY Current Affairs 7 JULY 2020

1. INDIAN RAILWAYS SETS UP SOLAR PLANT IN BINA

·        For the 1^st time in the world, Indian Railways will directly supply power to Overhead Traction System of train.

·        To achieve this feat, Indian Railways has recently set up 1.7 MWp (mega watt power) at Bina (Madhya Pradesh) which shall be connected directly to Overhead Traction System.

·        Indian Railways has partnered with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme for this first of its kind project in the world.

·        Indian Railways will transform itself as ‘Net Zero’ Carbon Emission Mass Transportation Network by 2030.

2. CBSE PARTNERS WITH FACEBOOK FOR CURRICULUM ON DIGITAL SAFETY

·        The Union Minister for HRD Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ made an announcement on the partnership of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Facebook to launch a curriculum on Digital Safety and Online well-being and Augmented Reality (AR) for students and educators.

·        To ensure online well being of students and prepare them for the future of work.

3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2020

·        In accordance with the “Sustainable Development Report 2020- The Sustainable Development Goals and Covid-19”, comprising of SDG index 2020, there will be severe negative impacts on most of the United Nations (UN)-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to COVID-19 pandemic.

·        India, which has ranked at 117th position with a score of 61.92 is also facing major challenges in 10 of the 17 SDGs including zero hunger, good health, gender inequality among others.

·        The index has been topped by Sweden.

4. INFORM RISK INDEX 2020

·        In accordance with the “INFORM Report 2020:Shared evidence for managing crises and disasters” released by research centre INFORM, operating under European Commission (EU), India has ranked at 31st  place with an inform risk of 5.4, means risk of humanitarian crises and disasters .

·        The report ranked the countries based on “INFORM Risk Index” which has been topped by Somalia with an inform risk of 8.9.

·        The report has analyzed 191 countries.

·        It is the first global, objective and transparent tool for understanding the risk of regions based upon crises and disasters.

·        A higher figure means more exposure to risks.

5. NHRC CONSTITUTES COMMITTEE TO ASSESS COVID-19 IMPACT

·        The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has set up an 11-member expert committee headed by Dr K S Reddy, president of Public Health Foundation of India to study impact of coronavirus (Covid-19) on human rights of individuals, particularly marginalised and vulnerable sections of the society, together with migrant labourers & will also study the future response of the government.

6. ELYMENTS – INDIA’S FIRST SOCIAL MEDIA SUPER APP

·        Vice President of India Shri Venkiah Naidu launched India’s first social media super application: Elyments virtually.

·        The app provides free audio/video calls, and private/ group chats through vibrant feed.

·        Around 1,000 IT professionals worked to create a homegrown application, which is a massive boost to ‘Make in India’ initiative.

7. ISRAEL SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES NEW SPY SATELLITE

·        The Space Administration in the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), of the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMoD), and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), have successfully launched a new spy satellite “Ofek 16” into orbit by using a locally-developed Shavit rocket from a launchpad at Palmachim airbase in central Israel.

8. BOOK -‘OVERDRAFT: SAVING THE INDIAN SAVER’

·        Former RBI governor Urjit Patel has authored a book titled ‘Overdraft: Saving the Indian Saver’, which focuses on the issue of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) that has affected  Indian banking in recent years and also its causes.

·        The book will be published by HarperCollins India and will be released by the end of July.

·        He was born in Nairobi, Kennya on 28 October 1963 

9. WORLD ZOONOSES DAY 2020: JULY 6

·        World Zoonoses Day is observed annually on July 6 to raise awareness of the risk of zoonotic diseases among people.

·        The day commemorates French Biologist, Louis Pasteur who administered the first successful vaccine against the Rabies virus in July 6, 1885.