Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda has launched the "GOAL - Going Online As Leaders - a programme of his Ministry in partnership with Facebook in New Delhi. The GOAL programme is designed to provide mentorship to tribal youth through digital mode.
It intends to upskill 5000 tribal youths in the current phase.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan participated in the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) via video conferencing. A session of the WHA, the decision-making body of the WHO, began its first-ever teleconference due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Ms. Keva Bain - President of the World Health Assembly (WHA).
Union Govt has implemented Lt. General D B Shekatkar Committee's recommendations related to creating border infrastructure. These were related to road construction leading to socio-economic development in the border areas along India’s border with China.
The Shekatkar Committee submitted a total of 99 recommendations.
The World Bank approved USD 1 billion 'Accelerating India's COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program' to support the country's efforts for providing social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households, severely impacted by the pandemic.
This takes the total commitment from the Bank in India to $2 bn.
Benjamin Netanyahu has been sworn in as the Prime Minister for the fifth time. Just moments before the ceremony his Coalition Government won a vote of confidence in Parliament by 73 votes to 46. This will be the largest government Israel has ever seen.
Benny Gantz was sworn in as Alternate Prime Minister.
Israel named a street in Tel Aviv after Rabindranath Tagore as a tribute on his 159th birthday. Tagore, who wrote his poetry, novels, stories and plays in Bengali won the prestigious Nobel prize in literature, the only poet from India to have done so.
The poet also composed the national anthem of India.
The Genoa-based Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) has developed iFeel – You, an intelligent bracelet to help with social distancing. It uses a radio signal when another bracelet is approaching and does not use GPS & cannot track the user’s location.
Italy Prime Minister: Giuseppe Conte.
Scientists at International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials, ARCI & Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences developed new generation Iron-Manganese based alloys for biodegradable metal implants for use in humans.
Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute is located in Trivandrum.
Scientists at CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute Durgapur, developed two mobile indoor Disinfection Sprayer units (BPDS & POMID). They can be used to clean & disinfect pathogenic micro-organism effectively, especially in hospitals.
These units can be used to clean frequently touched surfaces.
NABARD has disbursed Rs 20,500 crore to cooperative banks and RRBs for on-lending to farmers. The amount is a part of the Rs 25,000 crore of special refinance facility provided by RBI to NABARD for refinancing RRBs, cooperative banks and MFIs.
NABARD is a development bank focussing on rural sector of India.
Canara Bank, the fourth-largest public sector lender launched a special business vertical dedicated for gold loans. The Bank's gold loan products are aimed at providing a quick, hassle-free experience for customers with low-interest cost till June 30, ’20.
Canara Bank Headquarters: Bengaluru.
Facebook acquired Giphy, a popular website for making and sharing animated images or GIFs. Giphy will now work as part of the Instagram team. Its GIF library will be integrated with the photo-sharing application as well as with Facebook’s other apps.
Giphy was founded by Alex Chung and Jace Coke in Feb ‘13.
Tata Consumer Products Ltd to acquire the stake of PepsiCo in their joint venture NourishCo Beverages. NourishCo, a 50:50 joint venture of TCPL and PepsiCo, operates in the healthy hydration space and has brands like Tata Gluco Plus and Tata Water Plus.
NourishCo formed in 2010 as joint venture between TCPL & PepsiCo
Ircon International (IRCON) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with RZD International LLC to explore opportunities for joint development of railways and infrastructure projects in Asia, Africa and Latin America. IRCON is a Miniratna Schedule A PSE.
S. K. Chaudhary - Chairman & Managing Director, IRCON.
The Chief Minister of West Bengal launched two schemes ‘Sneher Porosh’ to provide support for the migrant workers and ‘Prochesta’ to help the workers of the unorganised sector of Bengal to enable them to earn their living in the lockdown situation.
Prochesta Scheme is to provide wages to all daily wage workers.
Karnataka launched its first cyber security-specific accelerator programme 'H.A.C.K'. The programme is implemented by CySecK, which is state’s Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security meant to create a cyber-safe environment for industry collaboration.
It is housed at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
Acer India announced its Back to School primarily aimed at helping students and parents to easily procure a new Acer laptop. It has partnered with EduThrill that uses gamification to deliver tests and assessment tools to unleash more fun in learning.
Headquarters of Acer: New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Digital learning firm Pearson India introduced an interactive skill on Amazon Alexa for learners of all age groups to learn English. The Pearson MyPedia skill offers a collection of engaging stories coupled with fun facts, trivia, quizzes and rewards.
MyPedia skill enhances the interest of students in the language.
America’s Goldman Sachs expects the Indian economy to contract by 5% in FY21, making it the worst performance by the country ever. Goldman was earlier expecting a 0.4% contraction before revising it down to a level it shares with Japanese brokerage Nomura.
It said that fiscal impact of the stimulus is at 1.3% of GDP.
Bernstein, the US-based investment management firm, has estimated contraction in the Indian economy at 7 per cent during 2020-21. BofA Securities pegged it at 0.1 per cent for FY21 and 12 per cent in the first quarter of the fiscal year.
CARE Ratings has projected growth of 1.1-1.2 per cent.
Kotak Mahindra Bank introduced Video KYC for new customers to open a Savings account. Launched on a pilot basis, it is in line with Kotak’s digital-first strategy and is a start – to- end fully integrated completely digital and paperless account opening.
Kotak is 1st bank to integrate Video KYC in account opening.
UK-based Liberty Steel appointed Paramjit Kahlon, joining from ArcelorMittal as the CEO of its primary steel and integrated mining businesses. Liberty Steel is part of British Indian entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta's diversified business house Liberty Group.
Liberty Steel is the eighth-largest steel group outside China.