29th June, 2022

1. Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), has launched the Revised Swachh Certification Protocols for ODF, ODF+, ODF++, and Water+ certifications.
2. PM Narendra Modi has met with Argentina President Alberto Fernandez on the side lines of the G7 Summit in Munich.
3. Himachal Pradesh has launched the “Single-Use Plastic Buy Back Scheme” to inculcate a habit among the youngsters towards environment conservation.
4. Odisha is experimenting with a siren system, which would go off automatically sensing elephant herds crossing National Highway to reduce human-elephant encounters.
5. Huge reserves of uranium have been found at Rohil (Khandela Tehsil) in Sikar district, over 120 km from Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur.
6. Gabon and Togo has joined the Commonwealth Group as its 55^th and 56^th members.
7. Beijing Declaration was adopted at the 14th BRICS Summit, which was convened under Chairmanship of Chinese President Xi Jinping in a virtual format.
8. USA and its allies — Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United Kingdom — have launched ‘Partners in the Blue Pacific’ initiative for “effective and efficient cooperation” with the region’s small island nations to increase its Pacific sphere of influence.
9. According to a report by Microsoft, consultancy firm Bain & Company, and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), India has turned into one of the world’s largest pools for artificial intelligence talent, even as adoption of AI grows at a slow pace in the country.
10. NITI Aayog has released the ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ report.
11. Ministry of Education has released the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2019.
12. Bajaj Finance Limited, the lending arm of Bajaj Finserv Limited, has partnered with Worldline, a global firm in payment services, to develop point-of-sales (POS) solutions for its merchants.
13. State Bank of India has received in-principle approval from the RBI for its proposed operations support subsidiary aimed at bringing down the cost-to-income ratio.
14. SEBI has allowed retail investors to apply for investing in public issue of REITs and InvITs through UPI for a value up to Rs 5 lakh.
15. World Bank has approved the financing of $250 million to support the India’s Program for Strengthening Road Safety.
16. World Bank has approved a $250 million loan to support the Government of India’s road safety programme for seven States under which a single accident reporting number will be set up to better manage post-crash events.
17. Shanghai-headquartered New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS countries has appointed former bureaucrat Dr D J Pandian as the Director-General of its India Regional Office in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).
18. IRS officer Nitin Gupta has been appointed as the new chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes.
19. Tapan Deka has been appointed the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
20. Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran has been appointed as new president of the India International Centre.
21. Mohammed Jalood (from Iraq) has been elected as the new President of International Weightlifting Federation (HQ – Lausanne).
22. June 26 – International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
23. June 27 – Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day; Focus – Resilience and Rebuilding: MSMEs for sustainable development at the forefront of building back better and stronger from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis and conflicts
24. Khushi Patel has been won the Miss India Worldwide 2022, the longest-running Indian pageant outside of India.
25. Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has been conferred with the prestigious King Abdulaziz Medal by Saudi Arabia for his contributions to defence cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
26. Sydney McLaughlin (American olympic athlete) has broken her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles at the US outdoor track and field championships at Eugene (USA).
27. In Kerala, noted lyricist, author and journalist, Chowalloor Krishnankutty passed away.
28. Krishnamurthy (former chairman of public sector majors including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Gas Authority of India Ltd and Steel Authority of India Limited) has passed away.

National News

1. Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), has launched the Revised Swachh Certification Protocols for ODF, ODF+, ODF++, and Water+ certifications.
   • The certifications will be granted on specific conditions, as mentioned below –
     • Water+ – The focus is on collection, transportation, treatment, and reuse of both used water and faecal sludge to prevent environmental pollution.
   • For towns having population more than 20,000, a minimum of 25% households to be connected to sewerage network.
   • Striving to achieve sustainability.
   • No untreated used water is let out in the environment
   • The launch event was followed by the third episode of SwachhTalks, the Mission’s flagship initiative to promote peer learning of Cities and States.
   • ‘Loo Café’ model, a sustainable public-private-partnership based model, was also launched for charging a user fee for upkeep and maintenance of public toilets.
2. PM Narendra Modi has met with Argentina President Alberto Fernandez on the side lines of the G7 Summit in Munich.
   • India was ranked as the 4^th largest trading partner of Argentina in 2021 worth USD 5.7 billion.

State News

1. Himachal Pradesh has launched the “Single-Use Plastic Buy Back Scheme” to inculcate a habit among the youngsters towards environment conservation.
   • Under the scheme, the students would be encouraged to bring single-use plastic items from their home and deposit it with the school, for which they will be paid ₹75 a kg by the government.
2. Odisha is experimenting with a siren system, which would go off automatically sensing elephant herds crossing National Highway to reduce human-elephant encounters.
3. Huge reserves of uranium have been found at Rohil (Khandela Tehsil) in Sikar district, over 120 km from Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur.
   • After Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan is the third state where uranium — which is considered one of the rare minerals in the world — has been found.
   • Rajasthan government has signed a letter of intent to Uranium Corporation of India for the excavation of this ore in the state.
   • Uranium is mainly used for generating electricity and also for nuclear energy, medicines, defence equipment and photography, among others.
   • The largest producers of uranium in the world are Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia, while this mineral has also been found in Niger, Russia, Namibia, Uzbekistan, the US and Ukraine.

International News

1. Gabon and Togo has joined the Commonwealth Group as its 55th and 56th members.
   • These countries have become the latest nations with no historic ties to Britain to enter the English-speaking club headed by Queen Elizabeth II.
   • The decision was taken at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda.
2. Beijing Declaration was adopted at the 14th BRICS Summit, which was convened under Chairmanship of Chinese President Xi Jinping in a virtual format.
   • Key highlights of the declaration –
     • Promotion of talks between Russia and Ukraine
     • Terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilisation or ethnic group
     • Adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism within the UN framework
3. USA and its allies — Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United Kingdom — have launched ‘Partners in the Blue Pacific’ initiative for “effective and efficient cooperation” with the region’s small island nations to increase its Pacific sphere of influence.
   • The Partners in the Blue Pacific Initiative is a 5-nation “informal mechanism” for supporting Pacific islands and for boosting economic and diplomatic ties in the region.

Reports and Indices

1. According to a report by Microsoft, consultancy firm Bain & Company, and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), India has turned into one of the world’s largest pools for artificial intelligence talent, even as adoption of AI grows at a slow pace in the country.
   • India accounts for a meagre 1% of the global AI market, the country produces 16% of the world’s AI talent pool—the third highest in the world.
2. NITI Aayog has released the ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ report.
   • According to the report, 7 million workers were engaged in the gig economy, 1.5% of India’s total workforce in 2020–21.
   • The gig workforce is expected to expand to 5 million workers and make up 4.1% of all workers in India by 2029–30.
   • According to the report, at present about 47% of the gig work is in medium skilled jobs, about 22% in high-skilled, and 31% in low-skilled jobs.
   • The report offers social security policy for the gig workers. It has also recommended introducing a ‘Platform India initiative’ on the lines of the ‘Startup India initiative’.
3. Ministry of Education has released the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2019.
   • Parameters – 83 indicators grouped in six categories –
     • outcomes, effective classroom transaction, infrastructure facilities and student’s entitlements, school safety and child protection, digital learning and governance process
   • Top – Sikar District, followed by Jhunjhunu and Jaipur (all in Rajasthan)
   • The three districts have figured in the ‘Utkarsh’ category (scoring 81-90% on a scale of 100) with Jhunjhunu scoring the maximum (236 out of 290) in learning outcomes.
   • Category of States –
     • Daksh (more than 90% score)
     • ‘Utkarsh’ (81-90%)
     • ‘Ati-Uttam’ (71-80%)
     • ‘Uttam’ (61-70%)
     • ‘Prachesta-I’ (51-60%)
     • ‘Prachesta-II’ (41-50%)
     • ‘Pracheshta III’ (31-40%)
   • The lowest grade in PGI-D is called ‘Akanshi-3’ which is for scores up to 10% of the total points.
   • Overall, 8 districts improved their PGI score by more than 20% and 14 districts improved their PGI score by more than 10%.

Banking and Economy

1. Bajaj Finance Limited, the lending arm of Bajaj Finserv Limited, has partnered with Worldline, a global firm in payment services, to develop point-of-sales (POS) solutions for its merchants.
2. State Bank of India has received in-principle approval from the RBI for its proposed operations support subsidiary aimed at bringing down the cost-to-income ratio.
3. SEBI has allowed retail investors to apply for investing in public issue of REITs and InvITs through UPI for a value up to Rs 5 lakh.
   • Separately, SEBI has decided to reduce the time taken for allotment and listing of units of privately placed InvIT after the closure of the issue to 6 working days as against the present requirement of 30 working days.
   • The regulator has asked all the entities involved in the process to coordinate with one another to ensure completion of the listing of securities and commencement of trading by T+ 6 (trading plus six) working days.
4. World Bank has approved the financing of $250 million to support the India’s Program for Strengthening Road Safety.
   • Purpose – to help participating states reduce road crash fatalities and injuries through improved road safety management and institutional reform, and results-based interventions on high-risk roads.
   • With only 1% of the world’s vehicles, India accounts for almost 10% of all crash related deaths.
   • According to a World Bank study, road crashes are estimated to cost the Indian economy between 5 to 7% of GDP a year.
5. World Bank has approved a $250 million loan to support the Government of India’s road safety programme for seven States under which a single accident reporting number will be set up to better manage post-crash events.
   • The India State Support Programme for Road Safety, financed by the World Bank, will be implemented in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

Appointments

1. Shanghai-headquartered New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS countries has appointed former bureaucrat Dr D J Pandian as the Director-General of its India Regional Office in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).
2. IRS officer Nitin Gupta has been appointed as the new chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes.
3. Tapan Deka has been appointed the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
   • Deka was prior the Special Director of IB.
4. Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran has been appointed as new president of the India International Centre.
5. Mohammed Jalood (from Iraq) has been elected as the new President of International Weightlifting Federation (HQ – Lausanne).

Important Days

1. June 26 – International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
2. June 27 – Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day; Focus – Resilience and Rebuilding: MSMEs for sustainable development at the forefront of building back better and stronger from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis and conflicts
   • Himachal Pradesh launched ‘Nasha Nahin, Zindagi Chunne’ campaign in Shimla.

Awards

1. Khushi Patel has been won the Miss India Worldwide 2022, the longest-running Indian pageant outside of India.
   • Patel is a biomedical student from the United Kingdom.
2. Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has been conferred with the prestigious King Abdulaziz Medal by Saudi Arabia for his contributions to defence cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Sports

1. Sydney McLaughlin (American olympic athlete) has broken her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles at the US outdoor track and field championships at Eugene (USA).

Miscellaneous

1. In Kerala, noted lyricist, author and journalist, Chowalloor Krishnankutty passed away.
   • Krishnankutty was a former Staff Artist with AIR.
2. Krishnamurthy (former chairman of public sector majors including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Gas Authority of India Ltd and Steel Authority of India Limited) has passed away.
   • He is also known as the “PSUs’ turnaround man”.

Start Quiz of 29th June 2022 on Mobile

Start Quiz of 29th June 2022 on Desktop