1) NASA & ULA launched Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission
•The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has launched “Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission” with United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket to the Red Planet “Mars”. The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission was launched from Space Launch Complex 41, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program which is a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet.
•The ULA Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage will initially place the Mars 2020 spacecraft into a parking orbit around Earth. NASA has launched the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples to send back to Earth.
2) Russia chaired 6th BRICS Environment Ministers’ Meeting
•The 6th BRICS Environment Ministers’ Meeting was held under the presidency of Russia. The Environment Ministers of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa participated in the meeting held via the video conference. The meeting was preceded by the BRICS Working Group meeting. India will host the next meeting in 2021.
•Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar represented India in the BRICS Environment Ministers’ Meet. During the meet, the minister highlighted the efforts made by India in controlling Air pollution such as the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) which was launched in 2019.
3) SIDBI & TransUnion CIBIL launches portal “MSMESaksham”
•The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched one-stop knowledge portal named as “MSMESaksham” in association with TransUnion CIBIL. The platform has been launched for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). MSMESaksham is a comprehensive financial education and knowledge platform for MSMEs and will support them in managing their credit obligations.
•MSMESaksham will provide MSMEs quick access to finance and empower them by making them financially aware and loan-ready so that timely and affordable financial support is realised. It will also guide them across their credit life cycle. It will also comprise a consolidated list of all the schemes launched by the Centre and state governments for MSMEs.
4) Ministry of Tribal Affairs receives SKOCH Gold Award
•SKOCH Gold Award has been awarded to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) for its “Empowerment of Tribals through IT enabled Scholarship Schemes” project. The project was launched to show Government of India’s commitment to realize the dreams of Digital India and bringing transparency as well as ease in the delivery of services. MoTA integrated the 5 Scholarship Schemes with DBT Portal under the guidance of DBT Mission in order to align with the larger vision of ‘Digital India’.
•The 66th SKOCH 2020 Competition was held with name “INDIA RESPONDS TO COVID THROUGH DIGITAL GOVERNANCE”. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) participated in the DIGITAL INDIA & E-GOVERNANCE-2020 Competition.
5) Hamed Bakayoko named as Prime Minister of Ivory Coast
•Ivory Coast‘s Defence Minister, Hamed Bakayoko has been named as the Prime Minister of the country. He was presently serving as the as interim PM of the country since the sudden death of former Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly.
•Hamed Bakayoko was a founding member of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR) party and was also in charge of the party’s daily newspaper, Le Patriote. He also served as the minister of new information and communication technology from 2003 to 2011 in the national unity government. He has also been a mayor of Abobo, one of most populous districts of the country, since 2018.
