1) World Youth Skills Day celebrated on 15 July
•United Nations celebrates World Youth Skills Day globally on 15 July every year. The day is celebrated as an opportunity for young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, and public and private sector stakeholders to acknowledge as well as celebrate the importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.
•The theme of World Youth Skills Day 2020 is “Skills for a Resilient Youth“.
2) Indian Railways creates ‘Post-Covid Coach’ to ensure safer journey
•The Indian Railways has launched a new state-of-the-art, ‘Post COVID Coach’ in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus infection. The Indian Railways’ production unit, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, has developed this new Post COVID Coach.
•The salient features of the Post COVID Coach are handsfree amenities, copper-coated handrails & latches, plasma air purification and titanium di-oxide coating for COVID free passenger journey.
3) Indian Railways on mission to become ‘Green Railway’ by 2030
•The Ministry of Railways is on a mission mode with the goal of transforming Indian Railways into Green Railways by 2030. The Ministry of Railways has taken a number of major initiatives towards mitigation of global warming and combating climate change.
4) HRD Minister releases ‘Pragyata’ guidelines for online education
•Union Human Resource Development Ministry has released ‘Pragyata’ guidelines for Digital Education. As per the guidelines, online classes for pre-primary students should not be for more than 30 minutes. It further mentions that two online sessions of up to 30-45 minutes each should be conducted for classes 1 to 8 and four sessions for classes 9 to 12.
•The PRAGYATA guidelines include eight steps of online education that is, Plan, Review, Arrange, Guide, Yak(talk), Assign, Track, and Appreciate.
5) Madhya Pradesh tops in implementing PM Svanidhi scheme
•Madhya Pradesh has topped among the other states in the implementation of PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi). The scheme is presently benefiting the beneficiaries of 378 urban bodies of the state. Till now 8,70,330 street vendors have registered under the scheme, out of which 1,76,000 street vendors have been issued the identity cards and vending certificates. Part from this, 15,500 cases have been approved in the state along with interest free loan of around 15 crore 50 lakh.
6) China successfully launched “APSTAR-6D” telecommunication satellite
•China successfully launched “APSTAR-6D” telecommunication satellite via a Long March 3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center. China Academy of Space Technology has developed the commercial satellite ‘APSTAR-6D’. APSTAR-6D marked the 18th Rocket Launched by China in the year 2020.
7) UNICEF INDIA partners with FICCI for #Reimagine Campaign
•UNICEF INDIA has tied-up with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FICCI), Socio-Economic Development Foundation (SEDF) to jointly develop UNICEF’s #Reimagine Campaign. The campaign aims to support the most vulnerable populations and children during the COVID-19 response and its after-math in India. It will also help in avoiding the potential long-term damage to business operations as well as employment pipeline.
•To support the UNICEF INDIA campaign, FICCI SEDF will leverage its resources such as cash and core assets to mobilize funds in order to generate support for the most vulnerable population affected due to COVID disruption. It will also reach out to its membership base to garner support for the campaign.
8) Vidhu Nair appointed as Ambassador of India to Turkmenistan
•Government of India has appointed Dr. Vidhu P. Nair as the next Ambassador of India to Turkmenistan. He is presently serving as the Director in the Ministry of External Affairs. He is a Foreign Service Officer of 2002 batch.
9) NABARD organised ‘Digital Choupal’ to mark its 39th foundation day
•National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) organised its first ‘Digital Choupal’ to mark its 39th foundation day. “Digital Choupal” was conducted in the form of a video conference which was attended by participants of different projects initiated by NABARD, to share their experiences about the projects they are involved in.
•During the ‘Digital Choupal’ session, NABARD also announced Rs 5,000 crore of refinance scheme for banks and financial institutions. With this refinance scheme, the development finance institution aims to offer finance to the beneficiaries of its 2,150 watershed development projects. It also assigned another Rs 5,000 crore to transform Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) into multi service centres. This concessional line of assistance will be available for a period of three years from 2020-21 to 2022-23. NABARD has planned to upgrade 5,000 PACS in the fiscal year 2021, followed by 15,000 PACS in fiscal year 2022 and 15,000 PACS in fiscal year 2023.
10) A book titled “If It Bleeds” authored by Stephen King released
•A new book titled “If It Bleeds”, a collection of four stories, authored by Stephen King has been released. The book published by Hachette India. The book has the story centres around a bomb at Albert Macready Middle School. It is a sequel to his bestselling work, “The Outsider”.
11) Sachin Awasthi honoured with Global Humanitarian Award 2020
•Sachin Awasthi has been honoured with the “Top Publicist” award in the Global Humanitarian Awards 2020, through webinar took place in London. Sachin Awasthi is a person who organised a 5-day long clean Ganga awareness journey which was begun from Haridwar to Varanasi, it’s also called as Vande Gange Swachhata Jan Jagran Yatra.
12) Ved Parkash Dudeja conferred with ‘Infra Business Leader of the Year’
•Rail Infra and Mobility Business Digital Awards (RIMBDA) has awarded Ved Parkash Dudeja with the coveted ‘Infra Business Leader of the Year’ award for 2020. He is the vice chairman of Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA). He has been awarded for his contribution towards the infrastructure development. Under his leadership, RLDA has launched various commercial projects, multifunctional complex, colony redevelopment and station redevelopment projects.
•Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) is a statutory authority under the Ministry of Railways. The statutory body is responsible for the development of vacant railway land for commercial use in order to generate revenue with the help of non-tariff measures and creating assets for Indian Railways.
