21 January 2020 - Daily Current Affairs
1. NIC TechConclave-20 to be inaugurated today
- The 2nd edition of NIC Tech Conclave-2020 will be inaugurated by the Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today.
- The conclave is being organized by National Informatics Centre at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi.
- This Conclave will contribute immensely to the capacity building of Government officers across the country.
- This year’s theme is Technologies for Next-Gen Governance.
International Affairs
2. India Ranks 76th in the 1st Social Mobility Index of WEF
- The World Economic Forum (WEF) released the 1st edition of its Social Mobility Index on January 20, 2020, ahead of its 50th Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
- The titled of the report is “The Global Social Mobility Report 2020: Equality, Opportunity and a New Economic Imperative”
- India has been ranked very low at 76th place out of 82 countries while Denmark has topped the charts.
Honours & Awards
3. Australia’s highest civilian honour to Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
- Australia conferred its highest civilian honour, the Order of Australia honour, on Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for her contribution towards advancing the country's relationship with India.
- An alumnus of Federation University Australia, Mazumdar-Shaw is the founder of Biocon, a biopharma company.
- Honorary appointments in the Order of Australia are made to foreigners who have made an outstanding contribution to Australia or humanity.
Sports
4. 1st woman 3rd umpire in men’s internationals
- Jacqueline Williams of the West Indies will become the first woman to officiate as the third umpire in a men’s international.
- She will be an umpire for the first of three T20Is against the visiting Ireland team.
- The 43-year-old Williams oversaw all 3 matches of the Twenty20 International (T20I) series in Grenada, West Indies between West Indies and Ireland.
Banking & Finance
5. Zomato acquires Uber Eats in an all-stock transaction
- Food delivery startup and restaurant aggregator “Zomato” has announced the acquisition of Uber Eats business in India in an all-stock deal.
- The deals provide Uber with a 9.99% ownership in Zomato after the acquisition.
- The deal is estimated to be pegged at $300-350 million. Uber Eats, having about 26,000 restaurant partners entered the food delivery business in 2017 in India.
Sports
6. ‘Fit India Cyclothon’ Flagged off in Panaji, Goa
- On January 21st, 2020, the Fit India Mission under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports organized the inaugural event of ‘Fit India Cyclothon’.
- The Cyclothon was flagged off by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant from the Campal Parade Ground in Panaji, Goa.
- The event witnessed participation by over 500 cyclists who cycle through a five-kilometer stretch within the Panaji city.
Sports
7. India wins Diplomat Cup Cricket Championship 2020
- The team of the Indian Consulate in Dubai has won the Diplomat Cup Cricket Championship of 2020 by defeating the team of the Pakistan Consulate in Sharjah, UAE.
- The event was organized by Skyline University College in Sharjah to unite the officials and employees of different Consulates based in UAE.
- The Consulate team of India, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, South Africa, Pakistan, and the US participated.
Honours & Awards
8. Deepika Padukone received the Crystal Award 2020
- The26th Annual Crystal Award for the year 2020 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been awarded to Deepika Padukone.
- Deepika Padukone was honored for her contribution to the field of mental health.
- The award was organized ate World Economic Forum in Davos.
- The Crystal Awards recognizes as well as celebrates the achievements of leading artists and cultural figures whose leadership inspires inclusive and sustainable change.
Banking & Finance
9. IMF cuts India’s growth forecast the most, to 4.8%
- The IMF slashed India's GDP growth estimate to 4.8% for 2019-20 from its October projection of 6.1%.
- As per IMF global growth is projected to rise from an estimated 2.9% in 2019 to 3.3% in 2020 and 3.4% for 2021.
- Projected to improve to 5.8% in 2020 and 6.5% in 2021
- The growth will improve in 2020 owing to monetary and fiscal stimulus
- The reasons cited behind this is stress in the non-bank financial sector and weak rural income.
