Daily Current Affairs, 22nd May 2020

1) International Day for Biological Diversity celebrated on 22 May

•The United Nations celebrates International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May every year to raise awareness about the issue of significant reduction in biological diversity due to certain human activities. Biological Diversity comprises of wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms including genetic differences within each species, for example, between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock.

•The day call upon the global community to re-valuate our relationship to the natural world as we are completely dependent on healthy and vibrant ecosystems for our medicines, clothes, water, food, fuel, shelter and energy.

•Theme for International Day for Biological Diversity 2020 is “Our solutions are in nature”.

•This year the theme emphasizes hope, solidarity and the importance of working together at all levels to build a future of life in harmony with nature.

2) “Rajiv Gandhi Kisaan Nyay Yojana” launched in Chhattisgarh

•Chhattisgarh government has launched “Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana” on the occasion of death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The farmer centered scheme aims to stimulate the rural economy in the state, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The provision of the scheme was made in the Budget 2020-21. The scheme is expected to benefit over 1.87 million farmers.

Features of “Rajiv Gandhi Kisaan Nyay Yojana”:

•Under the “Rajiv Gandhi Kisaan Nyay Yojana”, Chhattisgarh government will inject Rs 5100 crore into the state’s rural economy. This will be done by directly transferring the grant amount into the farmers’ accounts via Direct Benefit Transfer. Amount of Rs 10,000 per acre would be paid to the farmers for paddy, corn and sugarcane crops, based on the registered and procured area for the kharif season. The state government also seeks to offer a fixed amount per acre on the basis of registered and notified areas for pulses and oilseed crops.

3) Uttar Pradesh governement launches ‘UP Start-up Fund’

•Uttar Pradesh government has set up ‘UP Start-up Fund’ under the UP Information Technology and Start-up Policy 2017. An MoU has been signed between the Uttar Pradesh government and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and the fund will be managed by SIDBI. Initial contribution of Rs 15 crore has been made to the fund. The fund aims to support the registered start-up ventures present across different verticals in Uttar Pradesh.

4) HRD Minister launches IGNOU’s “Online Master’s Programme in Hindi”

•IGNOU’s Online Master’s Programme in Hindi has been launched by the Union HRD Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ via Facebook Live session. During the launch session, the minister stated that this programme will strengthen “Padhe India Online” initiative and also commended the role played by IGNOU in promoting online education.

•Along with MA in Hindi, the university has also launched programmes namely: MA in Gandhi and Peace Studies, BA in Tourism Studies, certificate course in Arabic, certificate in information technology, certificate programme in Library and Information Science. The online programme will constitute video as well as audio lectures, tutorials etc. that would be available to students at a click on the IGNOU’s website.

5) Airtel Africa & UNICEF to support children & families affected by COVID-19

•UNICEF and Airtel Africa has partnered to support children & families affected by COVID-19. The partnership between the two aims to provide children with access to remote learning and enable access to cash assistance for their families through mobile cash transfers. Mobile technology will be used by the UNICEF and Airtel Africa to benefit around 133 million school age children who are currently affected by school closures in 13 countries across sub-Saharan Africa due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

•Airtel Africa will zero-rate the selected websites which are hosting educational content and will provide children with remote access to digital content at no cost. The partnership will also enable UNICEF to offer vital cash assistance to remove financial obstacles for some of the most vulnerable families across the region. Hence it will ensure that families have additional resources to tackle with the proceeding health and economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

•The partnership will benefit the children and families in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa namely: Zambia, Congo, Nigeria, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Chad.

6) Centre launches scheme to solarise Konark sun temple & Konark town

•A scheme has been launched by the central government for complete solarization of Konark Sun Temple and Konark town in Odisha. This scheme has been launched to develop the historical Sun Temple town of Konark as Surya Nagri. As a part of scheme, 10 Mega Watt grid connected solar project along with various solar off-grid applications such as solar trees and solar drinking water kiosks would be set up in the area.

•Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency would be responsible for the implementation of this project. This scheme will ensure meeting all the energy requirements of Konark town with solar energy. For the execution of project, Government of India will provide a 100% Central Financial Assistance (CFA) support of around Rs 25 Crores through Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.

7) NTPC & ONGC to set up JVC for Renewable Energy Business

•A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by NTPC Limited, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) to set up a Joint Venture Company for Renewable Energy business. This partnership will enable both the companies to accelerate their mark in the field of Renewable Energy.

•With this tie-up, the two companies will explore the setting up of offshore wind and other Renewable Energy Projects in India as well as overseas. They will also seek opportunities in the area of sustainability, storage, E-mobility, and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliant projects.

•This tie-up will enhance NTPC’s Renewable Energy capacity addition program and also the presence of ONGC in the Renewable Power business. It will also help ONGC in achieving its ambition of adding 10 GW of renewable power to its portfolio by 2040.

8) Intellect Design Arena launches “iTurmeric Fincloud” platform

•“iTurmeric FinCloud” is a cloud-ready, API-first, microservices-based platform which has been launched by the Intellect Design Arena Ltd, a full spectrum banking and insurance products company. This platform has been launched through IBM public cloud. This platform will enable the new digital banks’ systems to be tested and run in isolation or in parallel with core legacy systems. The platform comprises of various facilities such as retail banking, lending, origination, and corporate banking API.

•As most of the banks worldwide are burdened with legacy platforms and hampering them from taking part in the experience economy. For these banks the “iTurmeric FinCloud” platform will be very beneficial as it will provide banks a very unique way of progressive modernisation, using Turmeric tools without the risk of rip and replacement. Hence with the help of this platform, these banks will continue to run without interruption or compromise.