Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 JULY 2020

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

NITI Aayog’sAtal Innovation Mission has launched the ATL App Development Module for school children across the country. The ATL App is an online course, which is completely free.
Through six project-based learning modules and online mentoring sessions, young innovators can learn to build mobile apps in various Indian languages and showcase their talent. Additionally, to build capacities and acumen for app development within school teachers, periodic Teacher Training sessions will be conducted on the AIM App Development course.
NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant has said that COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a big disruption, which is being tackled through the use of technology to aid everyday lives.
He said, the Prime Minister has been encouraging the citizens to use technology and innovate for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Speaking on the occasion, Mission Director of Atal Innovation Mission R Ramanan said, the launch of Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge has been inspiring to the young students uniformly at school, university and industry level.
He said, NITI Aayog is now bringing the skills of app development to the young tinkerers of Atal Tinkering Labs across the country so that they can integrate their Tinkering Lab innovations with mobile apps enhancing the usability and reach of their innovations.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified a draft notification proposing amendment to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 for inclusion of the standards for the safety evaluation of the vehicles being propelled through hydrogen fuel cells.
It is proposed to include motor vehicles of Categories M and N, running on compressed gaseous hydrogen fuel cell, to be in accordance with AIS 157:2020, as amended from time to time, till the corresponding BIS specification is notified under the Bureau of Indian Standard Act, 2016.
The Ministry has invited suggestions and comments from all stake holders including general public on the proposed amendment, which can be sent to the Joint Secretary (MVL), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Transport Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001 (email: jspb-morth@gov.in) upto 9th of next month.

Railway Minister PiyushGoyal has said that Indian Railways will be the largest Railway in the world to have 100 per cent electrification replacing diesel. He expressed hope that it will be the world's first Green Railways running on 100 per cent clean energy by 2030.
Addressing the India Global Week-2020, he said, the government has opened up for bidding for additional 151 trains inviting private participation so the passengers can enjoy world-class facilities and high speed journeys.
He said when Prime Minister NarendraModi talks about AatmanirbharBharat, he is talking about India engaging with the rest of the world from a position of strength and confidence. India wants to develop Indian industry so that the country is able to work with the world on fair terms.
The Minister said, India very strongly believes in free trade and multilateral engagements. The country believes in free trade on the basis of reciprocity. He added that Mr Modi has announced a package of nearly 20 lakh crore rupees in which a number of measures for sustainable economic development and sectoral reforms in a number of sensitive sectors had been announced.

The government can turn the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity by investing in healthcare, and it should also pursue making all the cities slum-free by 2023, economists observed.
At the seventh economic conclave organised by State Bank of India on Saturday, there was unanimity among the economists on laying greater thrust on decentralisation in policy making in the future, as a one size fits all approach may not work always.
“It’s very concerning that a lot of this discussion of the Aatmanirbhar (Bharat) package or other packages are not talking at all about what investments are taking place in the health sector,” said RohiniPande, who is associated with Yale University. “How much are we spending on testing, basic information campaigns. This is a health induced crisis, you got to respond to that in order to respond to the economy,” she added.

The World Health Organization, WHO praised Mumbai's efforts to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 in India’s largest slum area Dharavi. WHO chief TedrosAdhanomGhebreyesus said, only aggressive action combined with national unity and global solidarity can turn this pandemic around. He said, there are several examples from around the world that have shown that even if the outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought back under control.
He said, some of these examples are Italy, Spain, South Korea and densely packed area of Dharavi in the megacity of Mumbai.
In some relief to the people of Mumbai, the cases of COVID-19 in the metropolis has gone below 1.50 per cent. There are as many as 22,738 active cases of Covid-19 in the city. The doubling rate too has slowed down to near 50 days.
AIR correspondent reports that it is perhaps for the first time that Mumbai, the hotspot of novel coronavirus has seen the dip in the cases which has now gone below 1.50 per cent. The doubling rate slowed down to 47 days.

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) rescued six Sri Lankan fishermen from Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in Andaman Sea. During the EEZ surveillance of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the ICG Dornier located a boat adrift at approximately 190 Nautical Miles North-West of Port Blair.
Acting over the situation, a rescue mission was launched from Port Blair. ICG Ship RAJKAMAL rescued the six Sri Lankan fishermen along with the boat on the early morning of 11th July.

The Assam keelback snake has been sighted by a team from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, for the first time since 1869. This snake was spotted in 2018 by zoologist Abhijit Das when he, along with a team, was retracing the Abor expedition – an iconic expedition that took place from 1911-1912 that had yielded a rich list of flora and fauna of the Assam region.
First known as Hebiuspealii this snake was named after Edward Peal, a British tea planter who first collected two specimens of this snake from upper Assam, 129 years ago. Of the two collected specimens, one was preserved in the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, and the other was kept in the Natural History Museum in London.
The Assam keelback is so far known only to inhabit Sivasagar in Upper Assam and Poba in Assam-Arunachal border. So, as far as present knowledge goes, it is an endemic snake of Upper Assam.
Through a molecular study, the team has shown that this snake belongs to the genus Herpetoreas, which has only three other known members, and not Hebius. This is also the first description of a live snake and its colouration.

World champion Lewis Hamilton showed he’s still the best driver in wet conditions, keeping his composure on a rain-drenched track to take pole position for the Styrian Grand Prix.
It was the Mercedes driver’s record-extending 89th career pole and particularly impressive as he first beat Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s mark and then his own leading mark on his final lap.