1) World Chess Day celebrated on 20 July
•United Nations celebrates World Chess Day globally on 20 July every year. The day marks the date of the establishment of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris in 1924. It also provides an important platform to foster, dialogue, solidarity and culture of peace along with recognizing the instrumental role played by the FIDE in supporting international cooperation for chess activity and aiming to improve friendly harmony among all peoples of the world.
•To celebrate the International Chess Day 2020 top chess personalities will participate in a high-level virtual event “Chess for Recovering Better”.
2) ICAT launches an e-portal “ASPIRE”
•An e-Portal named “Automobile Solutions Portal for Industry, Research & Education (ASPIRE)” has been launched by the International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT). The portal has been launched to improve the technological capability of Indian automotive sector with the help of exchange of knowledge & expertise, to make them self reliant and to enable the growth of automobile sector including overall socio-economic progress of the country.
•ASPIRE will act as an one stop solution and will enable the Indian auto industry, R&D institutions and academia to come together for R&D, technology development, expert opinions etc. on issues involving technology advancements. The portal is a part of strategy devised by the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), Government of India, under the leadership of Secretary, Heavy Industries, to promote innovation, R&D and product development in India.
3) UP Govt launches “Navin Rojgar Chhatri Yojana” for SCs
•Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has launched ”Navin Rojgar Chhatri Yojana” for all-round development of the Scheduled Castes. He also transferred financial assistance of 17.42 crore online to 3,484 people under the ‘Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Swarojgar Yojana’ and interacted with some beneficiaries from Rae Bareli, Gorakhpur, Basti, Meerut, Azamgarh and Moradabad districts through video conferencing. The state government is extending financial help to make people self-dependent.
4) Mobile App of “PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi” launched
•The mobile application of PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) has been launched. It aims to offer user friendly digital interface to the Lending Institutions (LIs) as well as to their field functionaries in order to source and process loan applications to the street vendors under the scheme. The launch of the mobile app is a step towards boosting the use of digital technology and will ensure maximum coverage of the scheme.
•The mobile app will promote paper-less digital accessing of micro-credit facilities by the Street Vendors and will give impetus to the implementation strategy of the PM SVANidhi scheme. The application have various features such as vendor search in the survey data, e-KYC of applicants, processing of applications, as well as real time monitoring.
5) United Arab Emirates launches “Hope” mission to “Mars”
•A mission titled as “Hope” has been launched to “Mars” by the United Arab Emirates. With the help of mission, UAE aims to provide a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere for the first time, studying daily and seasonal changes. An unmanned “Hope” Probe blasted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 1:58 a.m. (UAE time) for a seven-month journey to the red planet and is expected to enter Mars orbit by February 2021, which also marks the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE, an alliance of seven emirates. Rest of the journey of “Hope” would be tracked by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai.
•The Hope probe constitutes three different instruments namely an imager and two spectrometers. The “Imager” will facilitate detailed images of the planet’s surface while all three will provide data to the scientists in order to track what ingredients are located where in the atmosphere of Mars. The probe will not land on the Red Planet, but instead orbit it for a whole Martian year i.e. for 687 days.
•The “Hope” mission to “Mars”, also called Emirates Mars Mission costed $200 million and is UAE’s first foray into interplanetary exploration. With the launch, UAE is targeting to build a human settlement on Mars within the next 100 years.
6) Finance Minister attends 3rd G20 FMCBG Meet
•The 3rd G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting was held under the Saudi Arabian Presidency through Video Conferencing. India was represented by Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman in the meeting. During the meet, the participants deliberated on the global economic outlook amid evolving COVID-19 pandemic crisis along with other G20 Finance Track priorities for the year 2020.
•During the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meet, Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the measures taken by India to fight the COVID-19 pandemic such as direct benefit transfers, special support to agriculture and MSME sectors, rural employment guarantee measures etc.
7) Morissana Kouyate and Marianna Vardinoyannis wins 2020 Nelson Mandela Prize
•Guinean doctor Morissana Kouyate and Marianna Vardinoyannis of Greece are the winners of the 2020 Nelson Mandela Prize. The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande has made the announcement of the winners of the award which recognizes persons who dedicate their lives to the service of humanity.
8) A book titled “The Endgame” authored by Hussain Zaidi
•Crime writer, S Hussain Zaidi has penned a new novel “The Endgame” which talks of politics, betrayal, and unimaginable terror. The book has been published by HarperCollins India. “The Endgame” gives the readers a close-up of complex political machinery at work, including state security, defence services, and intelligence agencies like – all building up to an explosive climax.
•Zaidi has also authored “Black Friday”, “Mafia Queens of Mumbai”, “Dongri to Dubai” and “Byculla to Bangkok”. He was the associate producer of an HBO documentary, “Terror in Mumbai”, based on the 26/11 terror attacks.
9) Lewis Hamilton wins 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix
•Lewis Hamilton won the Formula-1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2020 at Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Hungary. Max Verstappen (Dutch-Red Bull) was second, followed by Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes- Finland) at the third spot. Hungarian Grand Prix 2020 was the third race of the 2020 Formula One World Championship.
