16-07.2020 Daily UKPSC Current Affairs

UTTARAKHAND
Girls outperform boys
The girls in Uttarakhand again outshined the boys as their pass percentage was 93.42% while 89.94% boys could clear the CBSE Class Xth exams.
total passing percentage for the Himalayan state was recorded at 91.36%.
A total of 44,436 students had appeared for exams this year in the state. Of these, 26,295 were boys and 18,141 were girls.

International

World Youth Skills Day-15 July

The United Nations, at its General Assembly in November 2014, declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day.
Prime Minister, on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day, exhorts Youth to Skill, Reskill and Upskill
Skill India Mission has enhanced opportunities to access employment both locally and globally: PM
Referring to the portal launched recently to map skilled workers, PM states it would help the workers, including the migrant workers who have returned to their homes, access jobs easily
PM highlights the vast potential of the country to capitalize on skilling opportunities and supplement global demand

Digital Indo- Italian Business Mission on Food Processing

Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal addressed the opening session of Digital Indo- Italian Business Mission on Food Processing’ held virtually today. Under the two-day event, digital conferences, trade fair and B2B meetings are being held.
Italian Food and Equipment related companies therefore have much to look forward to the Indian markets in order to expand their global outreach.
Meetings and the webinars would be spread across the key areas – Fruits & Vegetables, Cereals, Milk & Dairy processing, Packaging & Bottling and also there would be opportunities for technical collaborations with the units located in the Mega Food Parks.

Ashok Lavasa appointed ADB vice-president

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it had appointed Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, who was next in line to become the Chief Election Commissioner in 2021, as its vice-president (V-P) for private sector operations and public-private partnerships.
It is expected that Mr. Lavasa will assume office in September 2020. The appointment term is three years

Tunisian PM resigns

Tunisian Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh stepped down plunging the country into a political crisis as it tries to weather the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister resigned over an alleged conflict of interest.

National

World’s Most Affordable COVID-19 Diagnostic Kit

Union Human Resource Development Minister, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal’Nishank’ e-launched the World’s most affordable RT-PCR based COVID-19 diagnostic kit developed by IIT Delhi and approved by the ICMR and DCGI
The Corosure Kit has been developed indigenously and is much cheaper than other kits.
The base price of the RT-PCR assay is Rs 399. Even after adding the RNA isolation and laboratory charges, the cost per test will be considerably cheaper compared to currently available kits in the market.

India Records all time high Export of Coir and Coir Products

The export, of coir and coir products from India worth Rs. 2757.90 crore for the year 2019-20, registers an all-time high record, which is around Rs. 30 crore higher than that of the last year i.e. 2018-19 which stood at Rs. 2728.04 crore. 9,88,996 MT of coir and coir products were exported during the year 2019-20 from the country as against 964046 MT exported during the preceding year.

India’s first trans-shipment hub

India’s first trans-shipment hub – Vallarpadam Terminal of Cochin Port,Kerala
It is best positioned Indian port with regard to proximity to International sea routes;
It is located at least average nautical distance from all Indian feeder ports;
It entails a connectivity which has multiple weekly feeder connections to all ports on West & East Coast of India, From Mundra to Kolkata;
It has proximity to key hinterland markets of India;
It has the infrastructure to manage large ships and capacity to scale it up as per requirement.

₹300 crore emergency defence procurement approved

The Defence Ministry gave emergency powers to the armed forces to procure weapons systems upto ₹300 crore on an urgent basis, without any further clearances, to cut short the procurement cycle
The Army has already taken a decision to place repeat orders for 72,400 SIG-716 assault rifles from Sig Sauer of the U.S. and 12 launchers and around 250 missiles of Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) from Israel.

Public Distribution System (PDS) to be location-independent

India is set to make the Public Distribution System (PDS) location-independent to ensure that no one, especially the inter-State migrants, is left behind, NITI Aayog CEO has said, citing the ‘One Nation, One Card’ initiative being implemented by the government as a transformative solution in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Under the ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ initiative, eligible beneficiaries would be able to avail their entitled foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from any Fair Price Shop in the country using the same ration card. The Food Ministry aims to implement this facility across the country by March 2021.

Zonal master plan for Bhagirathi ESZ approved

Environment ministry approves zonal master plan for Bhagirathi ESZ, paves the way for Char Dham project
Approval to the ZMP, based on managing forest and wildlife, watershed, irrigation, energy, tourism, public health, sanitation and road infrastructure, is prerequisite for environment, forests and land acquisition related clearances.
The Char Dham project proposes to connect Yamnotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath which host Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand. The all-weather Char Dham road has a total 53 projects of 826 km length, involving an investment of Rs 12,000 crore.

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