Current Affairs Today 08th May 2020| Current Affairs News

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day

• World Red Cross Day and Red Crescent Day is observed every year on 8 May to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder of the Red Cross.
• The founder of Red Cross was Henry Dunant as well as the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He was born in Geneva in 1828. He became the first recipient of the 1st Nobel Peace prize.
• The day focuses on the need for protecting the lives as well as the dignity of victims of any armed conflicts and all situations of violence.

World Thalassaemia Day

• International Thalassaemia Day celebrated on the 8th of Mayis devoted to raising awareness amongst the general public and decision-makers about thalassaemia, promoting and strengthening the lifelong and difficult struggle of patients against this severe blood disease, and commemorating all the people who are no longer with us, while renewing our promise to keep fighting until the final cure for thalassaemia is found.
• Every year since 1994, the Thalassaemia International Federation (TIF) is organising many diverse activities for the International Thalassaemia Day, with the objective to draw the attention of general public, patient associations, public authorities, healthcare professionals, and industry representatives, to fuel discussions and promote actions on a particular theme related to the prevention, management or treatment of the disease in a patient-centre.
• Theme 2020 “The dawning of a new era for thalassaemia: Time for a global effort to make novel therapies accessible and affordable to patients”.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Vande Bharat Mission begins to bring back stranded Indians from abroad

• In one of the largest evacuation exercises named the Vande Bharat Mission, the government is operating 64 flights till 13th May to bring home nearly 14,800 Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus lockdown.
• Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar urged the stranded individuals to stay in touch with the Indian embassies in their countries.
• The 64 flights will include 10 flights from the UAE, 2 from Qatar, 5 from Saudi Arabia, 7 from UK, 5 from Singapore, 7 from the United States, 5 from the Philippines, 7 from Bangladesh, 2 from Bahrain, 7 from Malaysia, 5 from Kuwait and 2 flights from Oman. Out of the total, fifteen flights will bring back people to Kerala followed by eleven flights each to Tamil Nadu and Delhi. Seven flights will be flying back people to Maharashtra and Telangana whereas five flights are slated for Gujarat.
• The Maximum number of flights in the first week of repatriation will bring back citizens from the Gulf countries. More than 350 Indians from UAE are flying back home.

About Ministry of External Affairs:

• Union  Minister:  Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
• Constituency : Gujarat, Rajya Sabha
• Minister of State:   Muraleedharan

Govt sets target of constructing roads worth Rs 15 lakh cr in next two years

• Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari stated, his ministry has set a target of constructing roads worth 15 lakh crore rupees in the next two years.
• He stated, the ministry is working overtime to clear all arbitration cases with concessionaires. Mr Gadkari was holding a meeting via video conferencing with the members of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers on impact of COVID-19 on auto sector. Mr Gadkari suggested that the focus should be on enhancing liquidity in business, as ups and downs are common.
• The Minister informed that the officials have been asked to finalize the auto scrapping policy quickly and stated, it will go a long way in cost reduction. He also suggested exploring cheaper credits including foreign capital for enhancing liquidity in the  automobile manufacturing sector.

About Ministry Of Road Transport And Highways:

• Minister for Road Transport & Highways of India and Shipping, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises: Nitin Gadkari
• Constituency : Nagpur

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

Iran’s currency is set to get a new name — and lose four zeros

• The head of Iran’s Central Bank announced the nation’s currency was set to be re-named and re-valued.
• Iran’s money rial will soon likely be called the Toman, and an impressive four zeros will be shaved off all denominations.
• The 10,000 rials will become one Toman.
• The bill to remove four zeros from the national currency was approved by lawmakers. The bill needs to be approved by the clerical body that vets legislation before it takes effect.
• The idea of removing four zeros has been floated since 2008, but gained strength after 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions, as the rial lost more than 60% of its value.
• The Iranian currency was trading at about 156,000 rials per dollar on the unofficial market.
• Iran’s weak currency and high inflation have led to street protests since late 2017.

About Iran

• Capital– Tehran
• President– Hassan Rouhani

UN launches USD 6.7 bn global appeal to fight COVID-19

• The United Nations and partner agencies have launched a 7 billion US dollar global appeal to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, more than trebling an earlier appeal made by the UN chief, with special focus on more vulnerable countries and combating food insecurity and gender-based violence.
• The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock launched the appeal and a global plan to fight the COVID-19 in fragile countries.
• Lowcock stated that while the virus has now affected every country and almost every person on the planet, the most devastating and destabilizing impacts will be felt in the world’s poorest countries.
• The COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan was launched on March 25th, but with humanitarian needs rising, the plan is calling for an injection of 6.7 billion US dollars for the remainder of 2020.
• The plan includes nine more vulnerable countries, beyond the 54 covered in the original appeal and plans to respond to the growth in food insecurity.

About United Nations:

• Secretary General : António Guterres
• General Assembly President : Tijjani Muhammad-Bande
• Head quarters : New York City

ADB approves $500 million for Bangladesh’s COVID-19 response

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved an additional 500 million dollar loan to bolster the efforts of Bangladesh government to manage the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy and public health.
• This package will build on ADB’s ongoing collaboration with Bangladesh on structural reforms by supporting government efforts to speed up the country’s social and economic recovery, stated ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.
• The loan is expected to benefit over 15 million poor and vulnerable people in Bangladesh. Around 1.5 million workers, mostly women, in export-oriented industries will receive extended salary support while doctors, nurses and medical workers fighting COVID-19 in government-run hospitals will receive special honorarium.
• The government’s social protection programmes for people of old-age and women in distress will be expanded to cover all eligible senior citizens and women in the 100 poorest local government units in the country.
• On April 30, ADB approved a 100 million dollar concessional loan to support Bangladesh in its efforts to address the immediate public health requirements of combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
• ADB also released a 350,000 dollar emergency grant for the procurement of medical supplies and equipment, and 1.3 million dollars from an existing project to provide one-time cash support to 22,619 trainees to enable them to continue their ongoing skills training programme.

About Bangladesh :

• Capital: Dhaka
• Currency: Bangladeshi taka
• Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE

SBI cuts benchmark lending rate by 15 basis points

• The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India slashed benchmark lending rate by 15 basis points and introduced Special Deposit Scheme for senior citizens with higher interest rate. With that, the marginal cost of funds based lending rate comes down to 25 per cent, from 7.40 per cent with effect from 10th of May.
• But, to safeguard the interests of senior citizens, the bank has introduced a new product ‘SBI Wecare Deposit‘ in the retail term deposit
• Under this new product, an additional 30 basis points premium will be payable for senior citizen’s retail term deposits with Five Years and above tenure only. This scheme would be open until 30th of September.
• But, SBI slashed its interest rates on retail term deposits by 20 basis points for up to 3 Years tenure, effective from 12th of May.

About SBI:

• Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar
• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Tagline :Pure banking, nothing else” “With you- all the way” “A bank of the common man” “The banker to every indian”

IMF Approves $18 Billion Emergency Financing For 50 Countries During COVID-19

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already authorised financial assistance for 50 member countries during the coronavirus pandemic, stated IMF Spokesperson Gerry Rice.
• The IMF’s Executive Board has approved financing under the emergency facilities at record speed for 50 countries, totalling about 18 billion dollars at this point. It is an IMF moving at an unprecedented speed in an unprecedented way to meet this unprecedented challenge, he stated. Rice stated the emergency assistance for COVID-19 is not comparable with normal IMF programmes since the funds are not tied to certain conditions.
• Importantly, these facilities allow the IMF to provide emergency assistance without the need to have a full-fledged programme. So, they do not entail the usual IMF conditionality, he stated.
• In order to ensure full transparency and prevent any misuse of funds, the IMF asked member countries who apply for financing to commit that it is only used for urgent purposes related to COVID-19.
• All member governments who receive emergency financing from the IMF to commit in their letters of intent to ensure that this assistance is used for the urgent purposes agreed under the emergency financing. These letters of intent are important and they are published by member countries and they are available for anyone to review on the IMF website.
• The IMF called for the suspension of debt service payments for the poorest countries from bilateral creditors.

About IMF:

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C. U.S.
• Managing Director: Kristalina Georgieva
• Chief Economist : Gita Gopinath

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to offer loan of $500 million to aid efforts

• Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will offer a $500 million loan to aid India’s Covid-19 efforts. The financing will enable the Government of India to scale up efforts to limit the transmission of cases, strengthen the health system to expand its response capacity and enhance preparedness to manage future outbreaks, AIIB stated in a statement.
• The project is funded by AIIB’s Covid-19 Crisis Recovery Facility created to adapt to urgent financing needs of the Bank’s members impacted by the pandemic.
• It was created as part of the coordinated international response to counter the Covid-19 crisis, has an initial size of $5-10 billion to support AIIB members’ urgent economic, financial and public health pressures and quick recovery from the crisis, the company stated.
• The project also supports the purchase of medical equipment, enhanced disease detection capabilities and strengthened research. It is expected to address the needs of infected people, at-risk populations, medical and emergency personnel and service providers at medical and testing facilities as well as national and animal health agencies.
• Another multilateral bank. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is putting together a $2.2 billion package to support India’s Covid-19

About Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank:

• Headquarters: Beijing, China
• President :Jin Liqun 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Moody’s Investors Service sees India’s economic growth at ‘zero’ in FY21

• Moody’s Investors Service stated it estimates India’s GDP growth to hit ‘zero’ in FY21 and pointed to a wide fiscal deficit, high government debt, weak social and physical infrastructure, and a fragile financial sector.
• The quality of India’s economic growth has declined in recent years, demonstrated by financial stress among rural households, relatively low productivity and weak job creation, the agency stated.
• In its forecast for FY21, the agency estimated India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth at zero, meaning the country’s economic growth will remain flat this financial year, and the same is seen accelerating to 6 per cent in FY22.
• In its credit opinion which comes following the change in the forecast, Moody’s warned that the Covid-19 “shock will exacerbate an already material slowdown in economic growth, which has significantly reduced prospects for durable fiscal consolidation“.
• Analysts across the board have been certain about the heavy economic toll that the pandemic will take on the country.
• Moody’s local arm Icra has pegged for a contraction of up to 2 per cent in the growth as a result of the crisis, which has seen the country being put under a lockdown for nearly two months to arrest the spread of infections.
• Late last month, Moody’s had slashed its calendar year 2020 GDP growth forecast to 2 per cent

About Moody’s Investors Service:

• Headquarters: New York, United States
• CEO: Raymond W. McDaniel Jr.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATES

Unique vehicle “Sanjeevani” developed at local level in Madhya Pradesh

• In Madhya Pradesh, in a first of its kind initiative, a unique vehicle has been developed at the local level. With the help of this vehicle, health workers can investigate any suspected patients without coming in to the contact of him. This vehicle has been named
• This unique vehicle designed at the initiative of Rajnagar administration of Chhatarpur district, is highly useful for health workers.
• Health workers will be able to go inside any area by Sanjeevani vehicle and they can investigate any suspect without getting out of the vehicle.
• Health workers have been infected extensively by Corona virus in Madhya Pradesh.
• Sanjeevani vehicle is also very useful in these situations. PPE kit also won’t be required in this vehicle.

About Madhya Pradesh

• Capital– Bhopal
• Chief Minister- Shivraj Singh Chouhan
• Governor– LaljiTandon

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPS AND PORTALS

Dr. Harsh Vardhan launches the ‘AYUSH Sanjivani ’ App and inter-disciplinary studies involving AYUSH interventions for COVID 19

• Harsh Vardhan, Union Health & Family Welfare Minister launched the ‘AYUSH Sanjivani’ App and two AYUSH based studies related to COVID-19 situation in the presence of Shri Shripad Yesso Naik, MoS (I/c), AYUSH who participated through Video Conferencing from Goa.
• The ‘AYUSH Sanjivani ’ mobile app, which has been launched will help to generate data on acceptance and usage of AYUSH advocacies and measures among the population and its impact in prevention of COVID 19. It is developed by Ministry of AYUSH and MEITY.
• Dr Harsh Vardhan also launched two more scientific studies. One is the collaborative clinical research study on Ayurveda interventions as prophylaxis and as an add-on to standard care to COVID 19, which shall be a joint initiative of Ministry of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Ministry of Science & Technology through Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) with technical support of
• The Interdisciplinary Ayush R&D Task Force headed by Dr Bhushan Patvardhan, Vice Chairman, University Grant Commission (UGC), has formulated and designed clinical research protocols for prophylactic studies and add-on interventions in COVID-19 positive cases through thorough review and consultative process of experts of high repute from different organisations across the country for studying four different interventions viz. Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu, Guduchi +Pippali and a poly herbal formulation (AYUSH-64).
• Ashwagandha for the Prophylaxis Against SARS-COV-2 in subjects with increased risk during the COVID 19 Pandemic: A comparison with Hydroxychloroquine in the health care providers.
• Effectiveness of Ayurveda Formulation as an adjunct to ‘Standard of Care’ for the Treatment of Mild to Moderate COVID-19: A Randomized, Open Label, Parallel Efficacy, Active Control, Multi-Centre Exploratory Drug Trial.

 About MoHFW

• Union Minister– Harsh Vardhan
• Constituency- Chandni Chowk, New Delhi
• Minister of State– Ashwini Kumar Choubey

About AYUSH Ministry

• Minister of State (Independent Charge)– Shripad Yesso Naik
• Constituency- North Goa

About MeitY

• Union Minister– Ravi Shankar Prasad
• Constituency- Patna Sahib
• Minister of State– Sanjay Dhotre

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION

Dia Mirza’s tenure as UNEP Goodwill Ambassador extended till 2022

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) extended environmentalist and actor-producer Dia Mirza’s term as its National Goodwill Ambassador for another two years till the end of
• Dia, who is also a United Nations Sustainability Development Goals Advocate.
• One of Dia’s big campaigns during her first tenure as the ambassador was #BeatPlasticPollution that helped in highlighting the issue at the highest levels and led to a clarion call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India Single Use Plastics free by 2022.
• Dia Mirza has been constantly spreading awareness by asking her fans to follow health guideline regarding COVID-19 and also voicing her opinion regarding nature

About United Nations Environment Programme

• Headquarters– Nairobi, Kenya
• Executive Director– Inger Andersen

Danseuse Leela Samson to head JCB Prize for Literature 2020 jury

• Leela Samson will head the five-member jury that also includes Aruni Kashyap, Tejaswini Niranjana, Ramu Ramanathan and Deepika Sorabjee
• Noted Bharatanatyam dancer, former chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi and author Leela Samson will head the five-member jury for the 25 lakh JCB Prize for Literature 2020. Writer and translator Aruni Kashyap, cultural theorist and author Tejaswini Niranjana, playwright and director Ramu Ramanathan and Deepika Sorabjee, head of the arts and culture portfolio at Tata Trusts, are the other members of the jury.
• The jury represents a diverse range of influential thinkers from a broad spectrum of creative fields to select the best offering of fiction from India in this year,” a JCB Foundation statement stated.
• The jury will announce the longlist of 10 titles on September 1, followed by the shortlist of five titles on September 25. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony on November 7. If the winning work is a translation, the translator will be awarded an additional Rs.10 lakh. Each of the five shortlisted authors will receive Rs.1 lakh; if a shortlisted work is a translation, the translator will receive Rs.50,000.

About JCB Prize:

• JCB Prize for Literature is an Indian literary award established in 2018. It is awarded annually with 25 lakh INR (38400 USD) prize to a distinguished work of fiction by an Indian writer working in English or translated fiction by an Indian writer.
• The Literary Director is Rana Dasgupta. The winners will be announced each November with shortlists in October and longlists in September. It has been called “India’s most valuable literature prize

Indian Cricketer Ajinkya Rahane becomes brand ambassador for edtech company ELSA Corp

• ELSA Corp (English Language Speech Assistant Corporation), India a global Edu-tech company has announced the appointment of Ajinkya Rahane, the Vice-Captain of the Indian Cricket Test Team, as its brand ambassador for India, Middle East, ANZ & SAARC. ELSA Speak is a Mobile App, which uses speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence (A.I.) to help language learners improve their English pronunciation.
• The announcement was made through a web conference in the presence of Ajinkya Rahane along with Manit Parikh, Country Head – India, ELSA Corp.
• Ajinkya Rahane will be endorsing the brand’s mobile application. This association aims to popularize ELSA Speak amongst Indian individuals who want to better their English pronunciation.
• ELSA Speak is an A.I. powered app aimed at estimated 1.5 billion language learners in the world to learn to speak English more fluently, thereby changing their careers and lives. ELSA uses proprietary speech technology with deep learning and A.I. to detect people’s pronunciation mistakes with 95%+ accuracy.
• The app listens to the way language learners pronounce words, sentences or conversations to pinpoint exact errors and provide real-time feedback on pronunciation mistakes with specific suggestions on how to improve.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING

IAMAI’s latest report states India has more internet users in rural areas than urban

• Internet users in rural areas surpassed those in urban areas for the first time, according to the ‘Digital in India’ report by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
• As of last November, there were 227 million active internet users in rural areas which is 10% more than around 205 million in urban areas. In total, India had 504 million active internet users.
• In rural India, the number of people actively accessing the internet on a daily basis increased by 30 million since March last year. However, the time spent on the internet is higher in urban India compared to the rural areas.
• Almost 70% of the active internet users in India are daily users where nine out of 10 in urban India access it at least once a week.
• India has second largest number of internet users in the Globe. Topped by China which has 850 million users.
• Accessibility to affordable devices and cheap data plans were a major boost behind the growth of India’s internet users. Also, the preferred device for accessing the internet was mobile in both urban and rural areas.
• Around one-third of the users access the internet for over an hour during Sundays and holidays as compared to a normal week day.

About IAMAI

• Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Chairman– Amit Agarwal
• President– Subho Ray

Delhi ranks top in Internet penetration, Kerala comes second

• Delhi has registered the highest Internet penetration, while Kerala ranks second, according to a study by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
• While Delhi retains top spot in terms of penetration, at a city level, Mumbai has highest number of Internet users at estimated 13 million, with Delhi coming is second with 11.3 million.
• Bengaluru comes a distant third with an estimated 6.6 million users, while Kolkata (6.3 million) and Chennai (6 million) complete the top 5 cities in terms or number of users.
• Significantly, eastern states together have seen a 24 per cent increase in the Internet population in November 2019 compared with March 2019.
• Jharkhand and Bihar witnessed 48 per cent and 36 per cent increase in internet population respectively, which is higher compared to any other Indian states.
• In terms of age-wise demographics, two-third of Internet users in India are in the age group of 12-29 years and this age group corresponds to more than 70 per cent of Internet users in the
• The proportion of 12-29 years and 30 years is about 50:50 in Mumbai and Chennai.

Unemployment rate soars to 27.11% amid COVID-19 pandemic: CMIE

• India’s unemployment rate surged to 11 per cent for the week ended May 3 from the level of 6.74 per cent in the week ended March 15.
• The data is from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
• Unemployment rate had moderated to 21.05 per cent in the previous week (which ended April 26) from 26.19 per cent in the week before.
• Employment in MSMEs and unorganised sector is expected to be hit sharply.
• The Mumbai-based think tank stated the rate of unemployment was the highest in the urban areas, which include the majority of the red zones due to the COVID-19 cases, at 29.22 per cent, as against 26.16 per cent for the rural areas. In the previous week ended April 26, the urban unemployment rate had stood at 21.45 per cent and the rural unemployment rate at 20.88 per cent.
• State-wise data shows that as of April-end, Puducherry had the highest number of unemployment at 8 per cent, followed by neighbouring Tamil Nadu 49.8 per cent, Jharkhand 47.1 per cent and Bihar 46.6 per cent. Maharashtra’s unemployment rate was recorded at 20.9 per cent, while the same for Haryana stood at 43.2 per cent, Uttar Pradesh at 21.5 per cent and Karnataka at 29.8 per cent
• Hilly states had the lowest incidence of unemployment as of April-end, with the unemployment rate in Himachal Pradesh at 2.2 per cent, Sikkim at 2.3 per cent and Uttarakhand at 6.5 per cent, the data showed.

About CMIE

• Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Chairman– S A Dave
• Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer – Mahesh Vyas

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

IIT Delhi start-up develops mask that can be reused upto 50 times

• Nanosafe Solutions have developed ‘NSafe masks’ that can be re-used for upto 50 times.
• Nanosafe Solutions is a startup of FITT (Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer) at IIT Delhi
• The NSafe mask is 99.2 per cent efficient for bacterial filtration and it complies with ASTM standards for breathability, Dr Anasuya Roy, Founder and CEO of Nanosafe Solutions.
• It has three layers. Inner layer which is in contact with the wearer is made of a hydrophilic cotton layer. The middle layer is made anti-microbial and it is also the filtration layer. The outer layer is made of oil and water repellant to repel the virus.

DAILY CA 7th MAY

• World Hand Hygiene Day – 5th may 
• International No Diet Day- 6th may
• World Athletics Day- 7th may
• Vesak Day 2020 observed globally on 7 May
• Niti Aayog starts campaign to ‘protect’ senior citizens during COVID-19
• Govt extends time limit for annual GST returns for financial year 2018-19 till 30 September
• KVGB launches emergency loan facility for farmers
• PNB opens emergency credit line for MSMEs to enhance liquidity
• E-commerce platform launches QR-based contactless payments solution
• Tripura CM launches online portal scholarships.gov.in
• IIT launches a Covid-19 Test Bus in Mumbai — capable of conducting 5 million tests per month
• TN state government employees retirement age increased
• Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury reappointed PAC chairperson
• DPS Negi takes over as Director General Labour Bureau
• Iraqi Parliament choses Mustafa Al Kadhimi as new Prime Minister
• IIT Bombay Professor Lodha Receives Young Career Award In Nano Science And Technology
• IIT- Kanpur joins hands with Bharat Dynamics Ltd for development of affordable ventilators for Covid-19 treatment
• Union Minister Jitendra Singh Addresses Bamboo Conclave via Video-conference
• Biography of Captain Vijyant Thapar “Vijyant at Kargil: The Life of a Kargil Hero”
• Ex-Union min Dalit Ezhilmalai passes away

DAILY CA 8th MAY

• World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day- 8th may
• World Thalassaemia Day- 8th may
• Vande Bharat Mission begins to bring back stranded Indians from abroad
• Govt sets target of constructing roads worth Rs 15 lakh cr in next two years
• Iran’s currency is set to get a new name — and lose four zeros
• UN launches USD 6.7 bn global appeal to fight COVID-19
• ADB approves $500 million for Bangladesh’s COVID-19 response
• SBI cuts benchmark lending rate by 15 basis points
• IMF Approves $18 Billion Emergency Financing For 50 Countries During COVID-19
• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to offer loan of $500 million to aid efforts
• Moody’s Investors Service sees India’s economic growth at ‘zero’ in FY21
• Unique vehicle “Sanjeevani” developed at local level in Madhya Pradesh
• Harsh Vardhan launches the ‘AYUSH Sanjivani ’ App and inter-disciplinary studies involving AYUSH interventions for COVID 19
• Dia Mirza’s tenure as UNEP Goodwill Ambassador extended till 2022
• Danseuse Leela Samson to head JCB Prize for Literature 2020 jury
• Indian Cricketer Ajinkya Rahane becomes brand ambassador for edtech company ELSA Corp
• IAMAI’s latest report states India has more internet users in rural areas than urban
• Delhi ranks top in Internet penetration, Kerala comes second
• Unemployment rate soars to 11% amid COVID-19 pandemic: CMIE
• IIT Delhi start-up develops mask that can be reused upto 50 times