Daily Current Affairs, 05th June 2020

1) World Environment Day 2020: 5th June

•World Environment Day is observed globally on 5th June every year. This day is observed to raise awareness about protecting the environment and to remind people not to take nature granted. The day provides an opportunity to broaden the “basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct by individuals, enterprises, and communities in preserving and enhancing the environment.”

•World Environment Day 2020 will be celebrated with the theme Biodiversity. This theme will show a concern that is both urgent and existential. World Environment Day is promoted by the United Nation and for 2020 Colombia will host the World Environment Day. In 2019, China was the host country.

World Environment Day: History

•The first time World Environment Day was celebrated in 1974 with the slogan “Only one Earth”. In 1972 the conference was held on Human Environment which began from 5th to 16th June at United Nations.

2) GoI launches “The Urban Learning Internship Program (TULIP)”

•Government of India has launched “The Urban Learning Internship Program (TULIP)”. This programme is an initiative of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of HRD, and Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. TULIP programme aims to provide internship opportunities to fresh graduates in all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) as well as Smart Cities across the nation. The programme would also facilitate practical experience to the students of India and hence help in infusing fresh ideas and innovative thinking into the working of Urban Local Bodies and smart cities.

•An opportunity will be provided to the youth of India via TULIP programme in order to generate news ideas to reform Urban local bodies with the help of modern techniques and innovative methods. Hence, it will help in improving the value-to-market of Indian graduates and help in the creation of a potential talent pool in diverse fields such as transport engineering, environment, urban planning, municipal finance etc.

3) United Kingdom hosts virtual Global Vaccine Summit 2020

•Virtual Global Vaccine Summit 2020 was hosted by the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. India was represented by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the summit. The virtual Global Vaccine Summit 2020 featured the participation of over 50 countries including the business leaders, civil society, government ministers, UN agencies, Heads of State and country leaders.

•During the virtual summit, India pledged a contribution of 15 Million US Dollars to Gavi, the international vaccine alliance.

4) Chhattisgarh govt starts a campaign “Spandan” for police

•Chhattisgarh Police have launched a special campaign “Spandan” to check mental stress and depression among their personnel by conducting interactive programmes and arranging counselling sessions, music and yoga therapies for them. The motive of the campaign is to prevent the force from depression and stress pushing them to take extreme steps.

•The move comes after the state reported over 50 cases of suicide by police personnel and a number of incidents of policemen attacking their colleagues in the last two years. As part of the campaign ”Spandan”, senior police officers will visit police lines, police stations and armed forces companies to interact with the personnel to know about problems being faced by them.

5) Government of India launches “Nagar Van” programme

•Government of India has launched the “Nagar Van (Urban Forests)” programme with an objective of increasing the forest cover in urban areas. The “Nagar Van (Urban Forests)” programme has been launched with 200 corporations and cities across India. During the launch of the programme, the Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar urged people to actively participate and increase the tree cover in their areas.

•The “Nagar Van” programme aims to develop 200 Urban Forests across India in next five years with the help of people’s participation and collaboration between Forest Department, Municipal bodies, NGOs, Corporates and local citizens.

6) J&K Lt Governor launches salary tracker mobile app “MeraVetan”

•Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu has launched a salary tracker mobile app MeraVetan (Version-1) for government employees. The newly launched application is aimed to provide Salary Related information to Employees.

•With the launch of MeraVetan App (V-1), the employees especially posted in remote & rural areas who don’t have access to the DDO will easily access their salary and other details anytime. This application developed by the National Informatics Centre(NIC) – J&K State Centre on the Android Platform to provide end to end computerization of JK Payment System(JKPaySys) application.




7) Kerala becomes 1st state to provide free internet for the poor

•The state govt of Kerala has declared that their ambitious broadband project: Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) project. This project is for all the citizens below poverty live in Kerala will get free high-speed Internet. Kerala will be the first state to provide free high-speed broadband to poor people.

•Rs 1500 crore K-FON project will kickstart from December 2020. Last year, Kerala had become the 1st state to declare that the Internet is a fundamental right of all citizens, and just like education and health, the Internet too should be provided by the concerned governments.

8) Kritika Pandey wins Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asia Region

•Indian writer, Kritika Pandey has been honoured with Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2020 for the Asia region. She won the prize for her story “The Great Indian Tee and Snakes”. The story is about a Hindu girl falling in love with a Muslim man and how these two young people are trying to navigate the idea of love in an era of hatred and prejudice.

9) Rajeev Topno appointed as Senior Advisor to ED of World Bank

•Senior bureaucrat Rajeev Topno has been appointed as the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director (ED) of World Bank, in Washington DC. He was presently serving as the Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014. He is a 1996 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre. He has been appointed as the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director (ED) of World Bank for a period of three years.

•Brajendra Navnit has been appointed as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Geneva, Switzerland. He has been appointed for a period of three years. He served in the PMO as Joint Secretary from July 2014 to September 2019. He is a 1999 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer.

10) Brajendra Navnit becomes India’s new ambassador to WTO

•India has appointed Brajendra Navnit as India’s new ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO). He is a 1999 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre. He will be posted at the Permanent Mission of India (PMI) to the WTO in Geneva. Navnit, who recently completed his tenure as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office. He replaces JS Deepak at the PMI, whose two-year extended term ended on May 31.

•The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which approved Navnit’s foreign post, also gave a nod to the appointment of Anwar Hussain Shaik for the post of Counsellor, at the PMI to WTO, Geneva. He is a 2000 batch IRTS officer.

11) RBI launches “Payments Infrastructure Development Fund”

•Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) has been created by the Reserve Bank of India. The fund has been created to encourage acquirers to deploy Points of Sale (PoS) infrastructure, both physical as well as digital modes, in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and in north eastern states. With this fund, RBI is aiming to provide impetus to acceptance infrastructure across India especially in underserved areas in order to stimulate the digitisation of payment systems. RBI will be responsible for managing and administering the PIDF, while it would be governed through an Advisory Council.

•In the newly launched Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), an initial contribution of Rs 250 crores will be made by the Reserve Bank of India i.e. covering half the fund, while the remaining contribution will be from card issuing banks and card networks operating in the country. The fund will also get recurring contributions from card issuing banks and card networks in order to cover operational expenses.

12) CCI approves merger of Peugeot S.A & Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V.

•The merger of Peugeot S.A (PSA) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) has been approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Peugeot S.A (PSA) is a publicly listed limited liability company incorporated in France. PSA is an original equipment manufacturer and dealer of motor vehicles, passenger cars as well as light commercial vehicles under the brands Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Vauxhall and DS.

•Headquartered in London, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) is a public company with limited liability. FCA is a global automotive group. Its works include manufacturing, designing, engineering, distributing and selling vehicles, components as well as production systems worldwide.

13) World Economic Forum to host Unique Twin Summit in 2021

•The World Economic Forum will host a Unique Twin Summit in January, 2021. The twin summit will be both in-person as well as virtual, hence connecting key global governmental and business leaders in Davos. The theme of the summit will be “The Great Reset”. The summit will bring together the key global government and business leaders in Davos and the Great Reset dialogue will push beyond the boundaries of traditional thinking. “The Great Reset” is a joint initiative of the World Economic Forum and HRH The Prince of Wales.

•As a part of “The Great Reset” dailogue, the World Economic Forum’s digital platform “UpLink” will contribute by crowdsourcing innovations for the Sustainable Development Goals. WEF will also draw on thousands of young people from more than 400 cities worldwide, who will be interconnected with a powerful virtual hub network in order to interact with the leaders in Davos.