Daily Current Affairs – 17 July 2020

Current Affairs 17 July 2020

Daily Current Affairs 17 July 2020: We have collected the latest current affairs for 17 July 2020 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. The GK current affairs will help you score more in these competitive exams. Improve your general knowledge with our daily online current affairs. You can also read the daily current affairs on our mobile app.

National News

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Indian Railways first cable-stayed bridge ‘Anji Khad Bridge’ being set up in Jammu & Kashmir

Hyderabad Airport Introduces India’s first Completely Contactless Car Parking facility Amid Pandemic

• The GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) has introduced India’s first fully contact-less airport car parking facility due to the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
• In November 2019, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, had introduced India’s first-ever ”NETC FASTag Car Park” in collaboration with NPCI. But that facility was available only for ICICI Bank holders.
• Now keeping in mind the current situation, GHAIL has scaled up its NETC (National Electronic Toll Collection) FASTag car parking in collaboration with NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) by integrating 10 NETC FASTag issuer banks.
• The NETC FASTag car parking solution is based on a simple to use, reloadable electronic Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) tag which will enable automatic deduction of applicable parking charges, while one drives through the car park without stopping for any cash transaction.
• However, the traditional mode of transaction with digital payment over-the-counter option will also be available.

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ Launches World’s Most Affordable COVID-19 Diagnostic Kit ‘Corosure’ Developed by IIT Delhi

• The Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD), Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal’Nishank’ virtually launched the World’s most affordable RT-PCR based COVID-19 diagnostic kit ‘Corosure’ on 15 July 2020 in New Delhi.
• The low-cost COVID-19 Diagnostic Kit has been developed indigenously by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of becoming a self-reliant India.
• The kit has been approved by the ICMR and DCGI.
• It is much cheaper than other kits. This will make the cost per test considerably cheaper compared to currently available kits in the market.

IIT Kanpur develops UV sanitizing device ‘SHUDH’ to disinfect room in 15 mins

• A team of engineers at IIT Kanpur has developed an Ultraviolet (UV) sanitizing product named SHUDH, which is capable to disinfect a 10 sqft room in about 15 minutes.
• SHUDH stands for Smartphone operated Handy Ultraviolet Disinfection Helper.
• It has been jointly developed by J. Ramkumar, Amandeep Singh and Shivam Sachan.
• SHUDH has six UV lights of 15 Watts each that can be individually monitored from a distance and can be rotated up to 360 degrees. Users can use the number of lights based upon the size of the room.
• Simply by installing an Android application, user can remotely control the on-off, speed and location of the product using the available smartphone. It can also run with Bluetooth technology.
• The device will be useful for disinfecting places like hospitals, hotel, malls, offices, schools, etc. to prevent infection, without the need to touch the device.

IIT Kanpur Incubated Start-ups Develops Smart Water Quality Testing Device “PADMAVATI”

• Two of the IIT Kanpur Incubated Start-ups namely Earthface Analytics Pvt. Ltd. & Kritsnam Technologies Pvt. Ltd. have developed a device, named as ‘PADMAVATI’, to analyse and monitor the quality of water.
• The device will monitor the water quality with the help of easy to use colorimetric test-strip, based on smart-phone technology, that screens multiple important water quality parameters in less than 2 minutes.
• The initiative will enables analysis of multiple water quality parameters in a cost-effective, easy to operate, eco-friendly manner, as well as effectively deal with field-level to household-level water contamination problems.

Conference

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Shripad Naik e-inaugurates 5th Conference on Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Technologies

• The Union Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik inaugurated the 5th edition of the conference on Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Technologies on 15 July 2020 in New Delhi, via video conferencing.
• The theme of the conference was  Empowering India with ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Mission’.
• The Indian Aerospace and Defence Industry has set the target to make India self-reliant in Defence Production and achieve 26 billion US Dollar domestic production by 2025, this is also the stated objective of the Defence Production Policy.

15th edition of India-EU Summit held virtually, with focus on Trade and Investment

• The 15th edition of the India-European Union (EU) Summit was held virtually on 15 July 2020.
• India was represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The EU was represented by Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
• The “annual” summit was held after a gap of more than two years. The Summit was put off due to disagreements over trade and investment.
• The 27-member EU is India’s largest trading partner, with cumulative investment of over $91 billion.

Key Highlights of the Summit includes:

• The main area of discussions in the 15th India-EU Summit was political & security relations, trade & investment and economic cooperation.
• The leaders adopted the “India-EU Strategic Partnership: A Roadmap to 2025” to guide cooperation between India and the EU over the next five years.
• India-EURATOM Agreement was also signed on research and development cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
• They also adopted a Joint Declaration on Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy.
• Renewed the India-EU Science and Technology Agreement for another five years.

Ranking

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India ranks tenth globally in intellectual property filings in 2018, China tops: WIPO Report

• India has emerged as the top tenth nation in the ranking of the total (resident and abroad) Intellectual Property (IP) filing activity, as per World Intellectual Property Indicators-2019 Report.
• The overall ranking has been topped by China, which was the main source of growth in worldwide IP filings in 2018.
• China was followed by United States, Germany, Japan, and Republic of Korea as the top five nations in the list.
• The report released by Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization analyzes IP activity around the globe.
• The 2019 report presents data for 49 countries based on their 2018 filing, registration and renewals statistics, collected from national and regional IP offices and WIPO.
• The Intellectual Property (IP) considered for ranking countries covers patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms, plant variety protection and geographical indications.

Business & Economy

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ICRA Predicts India’s GDP to Contract 9.5% in FY21

• Credit Rating agency ICRA has sharply revised the GDP forecast for India and expects the Indian economy to contract by 9.5% (-9.5%) in 2020-21. Earlier it had projected the GDP at -5% for FY21.
• The increasing Covid-19 infections, leading to localised lockdowns in some states and cities, affecting the economic activities is the main reason for this sharp revision.
• Icra’s projection is the sharpest contraction in the gross domestic product (GDP) for FY21 among all estimations so far.

Google acquires 7.73% stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 33,737 crore

• The global technology giant Google will invest Rs 33,737 crore (US$4.7 billion) to acquire 7.73 percent stake in Jio Platforms, the subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited which houses its telecom and digital operations.
• With this investment, Google becomes the second biggest foreign investor in Jio Platforms after Facebook’s Rs 43,574 crore for a 9.99 percent stake.
• Google is the 13th investor to buy stake in RIL’s telecom and digital business in less than two months.
• With the latest investment, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 1,52,055.45 crore from 14 investments, for a combined stake of 32.97 percent.
• Google’s stake purchase values Jio at Rs 4.36 trillion.

Appointment & Resignation

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Indian-Origin Chandrikapersad ‘Chan’ Santokhi, Takes over as President of ‘Suriname’

• Indian-origin, Chandrikapersad ‘Chan’ Santokhi has been sworn in as the President of South American country “Suriname” on 16 July 2020.
• The 61-year-old former chief commissioner of police, succeeds Desi Bouterse.
• Santokhi is a member of the Progressive Reform Party (PRP) and is appointed as the 9th President of Suriname.
• Suriname capital – Paramaribo, Currency -Surinamese dollar (SRD)

Prime Minister of Tunisia Elyes Fakhfakh resigns

• The Tunisian Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh has resigned from his post, over an alleged conflict of interest with Ennahdha party, the biggest party in parliament.
• The resignation letter was handed over to the Tunisian President Kais Saied
• Fakhfakh served as the Prime Minister of Tunisia from 28 February 2020 to 15 July 2020.

SportsAdda ropes in former Australian pacer and legend Brett Lee as brand ambassador

• SportsAdda, the Indian news and information website for cricket, football, and kabaddi, has signed former Australian fast bowler and cricket legend Brett Lee, as its brand ambassador.
• Lee will be conducting a host of fun activities including contests, quizzes, Q&As, bowling masterclasses, and giveaways that will feature exclusively on the SportsAdda app, website, and social handles.

Obituary

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Maharashtra’s first woman Election Commissioner, Neela Satyanarayan, passes away at 72

• Former 1972 batch IAS officer and Maharashtra’s first woman State Election Commissioner (SEC) Neela Satyanarayan has passed away after she was diagnosed with COVID-19.  She was 72.
• She was made the state election commissioner in 2009, and retired on July 5, 2014.

Important Days

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World Emoji Day: 17 July

• The World Emoji Day is celebrated every year on 17 July since 2014 to promote the use of emojis and spread the enjoyment that they bring to all of those around us.
• The Day was created by London-based founder of Emojipedia, Jeremy Burge.

World Day for International Justice: 17 July

• The World Day for International Justice, (also known as Day of International Criminal Justice or International Justice Day), is celebrated globally on July 17 to support and recognize the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
• The day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute on July 17, 1998, the treaty that created the International Criminal Court.

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