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Revised implementation strategy of BharatNet
- The Cabinet has accorded approval for the revised implementation strategy of BharatNet through the Public-Private Partnership model in 16 states of the country with optical fibre connectivity to all inhabited villages.
- Cabinet has also given its approval for availing the benefit under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana for another nine months from 30th June 2020 to 31st March 2022.
Rajendra bags Kuvempu Rashtriya Puraskar
- The Kuvempu Rashtriya Puraskar, the national award instituted in memory of late poet laureate Kuvempu, has been awarded to renowned Odia poet Dr Rajendra Kishore Panda for the year 2020.
- The prestigious award carries a cash award of Rs 5 lakh, a silver medal, and a citation.
- He was also awarded the Gangadhar National Award in 2010, and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985.
National CA Day: 1 July
- 1 July is observed as the National Chartered Accountant’s Day every year.
- It is observed to mark the foundation day of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), a statutory body established in 1949 under an act of Parliament.
- ICAI has launched a mobile app for students of Foundation, Intermediate and Final course students today, on the occasion of CA Day.
GST system completes 4 years
- The Goods and Services Tax (GST) system, the country’s biggest tax reform, completed four years on 1 July 2021.
- During these years, several key policy initiatives were taken by the government to make the GST system and compliance mechanism simple, transparent, and technology-driven.
- The government has decided to honour the taxpayers who have been a part of its success story.
IIM-Kozhikode partners with Coursera
- IIM Kozhikode, in collaboration with Coursera, has announced the launch of four certificate programmes in the fields of business, strategy, marketing, and product management.
- Each programme has been designed as a six-to-eight-month-long graduate-level offering, which would comprise interactive learning.
- Coursera is one of the largest online learning platforms in the world.
Construction of Nuclear Power Plant in TN
- The construction work for unit 5 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) commenced on 29 June 2201 with the first concrete pouring into the foundation plate of the reactor building,
- Rosatom, a Russian company, has been tasked with building the atomic reactor.
- The General Framework Agreement (GFA) between India and Russia was signed on April 10 2014, on the construction of Units 3 and 4.
International Asteroid Day: 30 June
- International Asteroid Day takes place on June 30 every year.
- In December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution declaring June 30 as International Asteroid Day.
- International Asteroid Day 2021 marks the 113th anniversary of the largest recorded asteroid impact that took place near the Tunguska River in Russia’s Siberia.
India in top 10 in Global Cybersecurity Index
- India has made it to the top 10 in Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020 by ITU.
- It moved up 37 places to rank as the tenth best country in the world on key cybersafety parameters.
- The US topped the chart, followed by the UK and Saudi Arabia tied on the second position, while Estonia was ranked third in the index.
Bharti Group to invest $500 million in OneWeb
- Bharti Group would invest $500 million to become the largest shareholder in the satellite communications company OneWeb.
- On completing the transaction and with Eutelsat’s $550-million investment, Bharti will hold 38.6 percent.
- The British government, Eutelsat, and SoftBank will each own 19.3 percent.
- OneWeb is the global low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications company.
New spider species named after Tukaram Omble
- Scientists have discovered two new species of spiders in Maharashtra.
- They have named one of them after Tukaram Omble, the Mumbai Police Assistant Sub-Inspector who was killed during the 26/11 terror attacks in the city.
- They have named the new species ‘Icius Tukarami’, which first appeared in a research paper.
- He was killed while he tried to capture terrorist Ajmal Kasab.
Amitabh Kant gets another one-year extension
- The central government has extended for another year the tenure of Amitabh Kant, the CEO of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) till June 2022.
- This will be his third extension since he took charge of the public policy think tank in 2016.
- On February 17, 2016, the govt had approved Kant’s appointment for a fixed two-year term as the CEO of the NITI Aayog.
US announces additional assistance to India
- The US has announced an additional USD 41 million assistance to help India respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and strengthen the country’s preparedness for future health emergencies.
- This takes the total aid to more than USD 200 million.
- USAID’s assistance will support access to Covid-19 testing, pandemic-related mental health services, timely referrals to medical services, etc.
Atul Keshap: Interim envoy to India
- The US has appointed Indian-American career diplomat Atul Keshap as the country’s Charge d’Affaires in Delhi.
- Keshap, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, has been appointed at the place of Daniel Smith.
- He most recently served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and as the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Aditi: 1st golfer to qualify for Olympics
- Aditi Ashok has become the first female Indian golfer to qualify for Tokyo Olympics.
- She qualified in 45th place and will now play in her second Olympics.
- Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23 and the Games will run up to August 8, 2021.
- The event was slated to be held in 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ADNOC and Reliance sign strategic partnership
- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has entered into a strategic partnership with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to join a new world-scale chlor-alkali, ethylene dichloride, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production facility at TA’ZIZ in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi.
- TA’ZIZ and Reliance will construct an integrated plant, with a capacity to produce 940 thousand tonnes of chlor-alkali.
NXP, Jio Platforms announce collaboration
- NXP Semiconductors N.V. and Jio Platforms Ltd. (JPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), have announced a collaboration to implement a 5G NR O-RAN small cell solution.
- It incorporates NXP’s Layerscape® family of multicore processors.
- The combined solution will power new RAN networks that will deliver high performance, enabling a wide range of 5G use cases for broadband access.
‘Financial Literacy Workbook’ launched
- Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has launched the ‘Financial Literacy Workbook’ for Class 6 students.
- It has been prepared by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
- The book has been divided into four units and covers topics with regards to financial awareness: starting from concepts like currency, UPI, etc.
AstraZeneca partners with Docon
- AstraZeneca India has signed an MoU with Bengaluru-based health startup, Docon Technologies, for digitising 1,000 clinics across India.
- Under the partnership, Docon will equip the identified clinics with customised Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems enabling clinicians to access complete patient history.
- Till now, as a part of the pilot phase, around 200 clinics have been upgraded.
Chief Justice of India releases a book
- Chief Justice of India N V Ramana has released a book — “Anomalies in Law and Justice” by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (retd) R V Raveendran.
- It explains in simple terms various deficiencies in the law which needs to be overcome.
- The book is an attempt to explain to a common man that the law and the legal system are still evolving and require more critical thinking.
EIL CMD honored with Order of Polar Star
- RK Sabharwal, CMD EIL has been honoured with the highest civilian award of Mongolia “The Order of Polar Star” by the President of Mongolia.
- He has been honored in recognition of his outstanding contribution towards the establishment of the first-ever oil refinery in Mongolia.
- Engineers India Limited (EIL) was set up in 1965 to provide engineering services for petroleum refineries.
‘Decoding Shankar’ wins several awards
- Deepti Pillay Sivan’s documentary ‘Decoding Shankar’ has won prestigious laurels.
- The work, a biography of legendary singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan, has won Best Biographical Film Award at the Toronto International Women Film Festival, 2021.
- It has also won a Special Jury Award at the Indo French International Film Festival.
Mona Biswarupa Mohanty gets UAE’s golden visa
- Mona Biswarupa Mohanty, an artist from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, has received the UAE’s coveted ‘golden visa’ or long-term residence visa for 10 years.
- The long-term cultural visa is granted to talents in the fields of arts, creative industries, literature and culture, heritage history, and cognitive studies.
- It enables foreigners to live, work and study in the West Asian country.
National Doctors’ Day: 1 July
- India celebrates National Doctors’ Day on July 1 every year to honour the birth and death anniversary of the great physician and second CM of West Bengal, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy.
- The Government of India established Doctors’ Day in 1991.
- Dr BC Roy played an important role in the establishment of the Medical Council of India and the Indian Medical Association.
Obituaries- I
- Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time US Defense Secretary and one-time presidential candidate, passed away in June 2021. Rumsfeld is the only person to serve twice as Pentagon chief. The first time, in 1975-77, he was the youngest ever.
- Jack Downing, the only American spymaster to run agents in both of the hottest Cold War capitals, Moscow and Beijing, passed away in June 2021.
Obituaries-II
- Former BJP MP Sharad Tripathi passed away in June 2021. He won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Sant Kabir Nagar parliamentary constituency.
- K V Sampath Kumar, the editor of ‘Sudharma’, the world’s only Sanskrit daily newspaper, passed away in June 2021. The Union government had announced the Padma Shri award to Sampath Kumar and his wife K S Jayalakshmi in 2020.
International Fruit Day: 30 June
- International Fruit Day is observed on 30 June every year.
- It was first commemorated on July 1st 2007 at the Mauerpark in Berlin, Germany.
- United Nations has also announced 2021 as ‘International Year of Fruits and Vegetables’ to increase more awareness on the nutritional and health benefits as well as lessening losses and wastes in food systems across the globe.
Centre reduces duty on crude palm oil by 5%
- Center has reduced the duty on crude palm oil by 5 percent, with a view to reduce the edible oil prices and to provide relief to consumers.
- The reduction will bring down the effective tax rate on crude palm oil to 30.25 percent from the earlier 35.75 percent inclusive of additional agri-cess of 17.5 percent and 10 percent social welfare cess.
SBI celebrates 66th Foundation Day
- The oldest commercial bank in the country, State Bank of India, SBI, celebrated its 66th year on 1 July 2021.
- SBI descends from the Bank of Calcutta founded in 1806 through the Imperial Bank of India.
- The Bank of Madras merged into the other two presidency banks, the Bank of Calcutta and the Bank of Bombay to form the Imperial Bank of India which in turn became the SBI on this day in 1955.
West Bengal launches ‘Students Credit Card’
- West Bengal govt has launched an education loan scheme for students aiming for higher studies.
- The scheme, titled ‘Students Credit Card’ was launched by CM Mamata Banerjee on 30 June 2021.
- The scheme will provide soft loans up to Rs. 10 lakh with simple annual interest.
- Students residing in the state for at least 10 yrs will be eligible for the scheme and can repay the loan in 15 yrs.
J&K LG launches SASCM
- In J&K, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha rolled out the ‘Special Assistance Scheme for COVID Mortalities – SASCM’, on 30 June 2021.
- He handed over the grant of scholarship and pension certificates to the children and the members of the families affected due to COVID-19.
- Under the scheme, cash assistance of Rs 1000 per month shall be provided to the spouse and the eldest member of the family.
Nagaland declared disturbed area for 6 months
- The Centre has increased the operation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Nagaland for six more months.
- It also declared the state as a ‘disturbed area’.
- The AFSPA was introduced in the north-eastern states to curb insurgency.
- It allows armed forces the power to maintain public order in ‘disturbed areas’.
- They can also restrict gathering of five or more persons in an area.
Abhimanyu: Youngest Grandmaster in Chess
- Indian-American Abhimanyu Mishra has become the youngest-ever chess Grandmaster in the world.
- At 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days, he has broken the long-standing record held by Sergey Karjakin, who was 12 years and 7 months old when he attained the title in 2002.
- He scored his third GM norm in Budapest, having already crossed the required 2500 ELO rating barrier.
Dutee Chand qualifies for Tokyo Olympics
- Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in both 100m and 200m races via the World Rankings quota.
- 22 spots were available in 100m and 15 spots in 200m via the World Rankings route.
- Chand’s overall position was world no. 44 in 100m and world no. 51 in 200m.
- She has also recently scripted a new national record in the women’s 100m with a time of 11.17 seconds.
COVID tourism impact could top $4 trillion
- The economic impact from the plunge in tourism since the pandemic emerged in 2020 could top $4 trillion, according to a UN report.
- The joint report was released by the UN’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
- The 63-75 percent drop in international tourism is expected to cause between $1.7 and $2.4 trillion euros in lost economic activity.
Ministry of Defence initiates a project
- The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has initiated a project to create an interactive virtual museum of the country’s Gallantry award winners.
- MoD will implement the project in partnership with the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
- The virtual museum will be hosted by the Gallantry awards portal (https://www.gallantryawards.gov.in/).
N Venudhar Reddy: Director General of AIR
- N Venudhar Reddy, an Indian Information service, IIS Officer of 1988 batch has taken charge as Director General of All India Radio.
- He is currently working as Principal DG of News Services Division, All India Radio.
- Mr Reddy earlier served as Joint Secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management under the Finance Ministry.
Cabinet approves MoU between India, Gambia
- The cabinet has approved the signing of MoU between the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, and the Public Service Commission of Gambia.
- It has been signed for refurbishing personnel administration and governance reforms.
- The MoU will help in understanding the personnel administration of both the countries and enable in improving the system of governance.
Revamped Distribution Sector scheme approved
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a reforms-based and Results-linked, Revamped Distribution Sector scheme.
- The objective of it is to bring down the reduction of aggregate technical and commercial losses AT and C losses to pan-India levels of 12 to 15% by 2024-25.
- It also aims at improving the quality, reliability, and affordability of power supply to consumers.
Digital India completes six years
- The government’s flagship program- Digital India completed six years on 1 July 2021.
- The vision of Digital India programme is to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched this ambitious program on 1st July 2015.
- Through Aadhaar, the government has provided digital identity to 129 crore residents.
Small Savings Schemes interest rate unchanged
- The government has decided to keep the interest rates on Small Savings Schemes, including National Savings Certificate, NSC and Public Provident Fund, PPF unchanged for the second quarter of the Financial Year 2021-22.
- The second quarter starts on 1st July and ends on 30 September 2021.
- PPF will continue to earn 7.1 per cent interest rate and NSC will offer an interest rate of 6.8 per cent.