DAILY GK 19-20 JULY 2026
1.
PRIME MINISTER OF UK
·
Andy Burnham became the 59th Prime Minister of
the United Kingdom after Keir Starmer resigned
from the post.
·
He
was invited by King Charles III at
Buckingham Palace to form a new government in a traditional ceremony known as “kissing hands.”
·
He secured nearly 55% of
the vote in the leadership election, defeating Reform
UK’s Robert Kenyon by a margin of more than 9,000
votes, with a record turnout of 59%.
·
He
became the first Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017 and launched the Bee
Network, bringing local bus services under public control.
·
He
was recognised as the “King of the North” for advocating Northern England’s
interests.
2.
CHAIRMAN OF ECOWAS
·
Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, President of Senegal, was elected as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
during the 69th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS
Authority of Heads of State and Government held in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
·
He will serve a mandatory one-year term.
·
Senegal assumes the ECOWAS top post for
the first time since the bloc’s establishment in 1975.
3.
NITI AAYOG CEO
·
Government
of India (GoI) appointed Anurag Jain as new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
of (National Institution for Transforming India) NITI Aayog.
·
He succeeds Nidhi Chhibber.
·
He assumes charge immediately for a
tenure of two years or until further orders,
whichever is earlier.
4.
NCM CHAIRMAN
·
Harjit Singh Grewal assumed charge as the Chairman of
the National Commission for Minorities (NCM)
for a three-year tenure.
·
He
succeeded Iqbal Singh Lalpura, whose tenure ended in
April 2025.
·
S. Munawari Begum assumed office as the Vice Chairperson of NCM.
·
Glenn Souza Ticlo joined as a Member
of NCM representing the Christian community.
·
Berjis Desai joined NCM as a Member
representing the Parsi community.
·
NCM is a statutory body established
under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 to safeguard the
interests of minority communities.
·
Constituted
on 17 May 1993, it is mandated to protect and monitor
the safeguards of the six notified
religious minority communities in India: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis (Zoroastrians), and
Jains.
5.
NITI AAYOG’S IFI 2026
·
The
National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) released
its latest report titled “Investment Friendliness
Index (IFI 2026)” which provides a comprehensive and data-driven
framework to assess the capabilities of states and Union Territories in attracting and sustaining investments.
·
Gujarat topped among all large
states as well as in
the overall ranking with a total score of 56.6.
·
It is followed by Maharashtra
(overall score of 53.7) and Tamil Nadu (TN) (overall
score of 53.3) secured 2nd and 3rd positions
in the index.
·
Goa (rank 4th, score of 53.1); Odisha (ranked 5th, score of 52.4)
featured among the top 5 states in the index.
·
These top 5 states account for 85% of
total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows.
·
UT Lakshadweep ranked lowest in the
index, with overall
score of 24.5, followed by UT Ladakh
(ranked 35th, score of 27.0); UT
Andamand & Nicobar (A&N) Islands (ranked 34th, score of 30.2); Manipur (ranked 33rd, score of 32.3)
and Sikkim (ranked 32nd, score of
36.6).
·
15 States/UTs in frontrunners category: Andhra
Pradesh (AP), Assam, UT Chandigarh, UT Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh (HP), among others.
·
8 states/UTs in Emerging category: Bihar,
UT Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Nagaland, UT
Puducherry, Punjab and West Bengal (WB).
6.
VISHWAS- 2026 FOR SETTLEMENT OF PENALTY-RELATED
DISPUTES
·
The
Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) under
the Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoL&E), launched’ VISHWAS 2026’,
a one-time dispute resolution scheme for amicable
settlement of damages and penalty-related disputes.
·
The
scheme covers cases where
penalty/damages orders are under judicial challenge and final orders with
pending or partial recovery, including Revenue Recovery Certificates (RRC) cases.
·
It also covers cases where notices have been issued but final orders are
pending and cases where penalty/damages notices are yet to be issued.
7.
INDIA BECOMES 123RD MEMBER OF WTO FISHERIES SUBSIDIES
AGREEMENT
·
India
became a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement
on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) by depositing its Instrument of
Acceptance, becoming the 123rd WTO member to
join the Agreement.
·
The instrument was handed over by Rajesh
Agrawal (Secretary), Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry Commerce
(MoC&I), to WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
·
The
WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies
aims to promote sustainable fisheries and marine resource conservation by
prohibiting subsidies linked to illegal, unreported and
unregulated (IUU) fishing, overfishing of depleted stocks, and
harmful fishing practices.
·
The
Agreement supports traditional and small-scale fishers by
regulating harmful subsidies to large industrial fishing fleets, safeguarding
their livelihoods and policy space, and enhances India’s credibility as a
responsible seafood exporter.
8.
‘SHABDALOK’, INDIA’S FIRST IMMERSIVE LANGUAGE MUSEUM
·
Union
Minister Amit Shah, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Cooperation, inaugurated the first phase of ‘Shabdalok (The Museum of Word)’,
India’s first immersive language museum,
developed at a cost of Rs 41 crore in the Belvedere House
within the National Library campus, Kolkata, West Bengal (WB).
·
Developed
by the National Library under the Ministry of
Culture, the first phase of ‘Shabdalok’ showcases the diversity of Indian
languages, scripts, and literary traditions.
·
The
museum features nine galleries
showcasing nearly 380 Indian languages, including 121 languages recorded in
the Census 2011 and several historical languages that are no longer spoken.
·
National Library: India’s largest by collection volume, was established
in 1953 under the Change of Name Act, 1948, evolving from the Imperial Library
(1891) and Calcutta Public Library (1836).
9.
FIRST DENGUE VACCINE ‘QDENGA’
·
India approved its first dengue vaccine, QDENGA
(TAK-003), after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI)
granted market authorisation to Takeda Biopharmaceuticals India
Private Limited.
·
QDENGA has been approved for the
prevention of dengue in individuals aged 4 to 60 years.
·
It
is a live-attenuated tetravalent dengue
vaccine designed to provide protection against all four dengue virus
serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4).
10.
INDIA TOPS IN COTTON CULTIVATION
·
The
Government of India (GoI) released a factsheet highlighting Cotton as
India’s “White Gold”, supporting the
livelihoods of around 6 million farmers and 40–50 million people across the
textile value chain.
·
India
ranks 1st globally in cotton cultivation area,
with 114.84 lakh hectares (ha) (38% of the world’s cotton area), and 2nd in
both cotton production and consumption.
·
India’s
cotton production is projected at 290.91 lakh bales or,
4.95 Million Tonnes (MT)for 2025-26 (provisional).
·
India contributes approximately 19% of global fibre production.
·
Data
showed USA emerged as the largest destination for India’s cotton fabrics and made-up exports
(which accounts 26.35% of total exports); followed by Bangladesh (19.81%); Sri
Lanka (5.11%); the United Kingdom (UK) (2.38%) and the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) (2.32%).
