Daily Current Affairs, 20th June 2019

1) World Refugee Day: 20 June

•World Refugee Day is celebrated around the world on 20th June to raise awareness about the precarious condition of refugees around the world who have been forced to leave their homes due to war, persecution and conflict.

•Theme for 2019: Step With Refugees — Take A Step on World Refugee Day

2) India grants $15mn to Niger for African Union Summit

•India has granted financial support of $15 million to Niger for the African Union Summit. Sub-Saharan Niger is hosting the African Union Summit for the first time.

•India is also building a convention centre in Niger as part of a plan to build chain convention centres across 20 African states as signature infrastructure projects.

3) Himachal Pradesh makes GPS device must for trekkers

•The Himachal Pradesh government makes mandatory for trekkers to carry a GPS device so that they can be provided all possible help in case of any emergency.

•According to the Himachal Pradesh government, as Himachal Pradesh being a disaster prone state, therfore

4) FM chairs the 20th Meeting of the FSDC in New Delhi

•Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs chaired the 20th Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) held in New Delhi. 

•The FSDC Meeting was also attended by senior officers of the Government of India and the Financial Sector Regulators.

•The meeting reviewed the current global and domestic economic situation and financial stability issues including those concerning Banking and NBFCs.

5) WHO offers a new tool for action against antimicrobial resistance

WHO offers a new tool “AWaRe” to contain rising antimicrobial resistance and make antibiotic use safer and more effective.

AWaRe classifies antibiotics into three groups:

•“Access” specifies which antibiotics to use for the most common and serious infections.

•“Watch” specifies which ones should be available at all times in the healthcare system.

•“Reserve” are those that must be used sparingly or preserved and used only as a last resort.

6) ICANN partners NASSCOM to develop tech, standards for IoT devices

•Global internet body Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Indian IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) collaborated to develop identifier technology to manage devices and infrastructure using internet.

•Under the collaboration, both the bodies will first focus on updating Internet of Things(IoT) devices using domain name system (DNS).

•The project team under the collaboration includes ICANN technical experts, NASSCOM’s Centre of Excellence IOT team, IIT Hyderabad team and participants from India’s Education and Research Network (ERNET).

7) Indian engineer wins Innovation Award in UK

•Nitesh Kumar Jangir, an Indian engineer has won the 2019 Commonwealth Secretary General’s Innovation for Sustainable Development Award in the “People” categoryin London.

•Nitesh Kumar Jangir created Saans, a breathing support device to tackle avoidable deaths of premature babies from respiratory distress syndrome.

8) QS World University rankings for 2020

•In the recently released QS World University rankings for 2020, IIT-Bombay which is ranked 152 is India’s best university for the second year in a row.

•The next two Indian Universities in the top 200 are IIT Delhi (182) and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (184).

•There are a total of 23 Indian institutions in the top 1,000.

9) NCERT organises National Yoga Olympiad of school children

•National Council of Educational Research and Training organised 4th edition of National Yoga Olympiad of school children in New Delhi.

•The Olympiad was inaugurated by the Director and UNESCO Representative for India, Mr. Eric Falt. This year 567 students from 33 States/UTs participated in the Olympiad.

•The purpose of olympiad was to create positive attitude among all human beings and promote peaceful living together in the society.