DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 4 JULY 2020
1. 33 FIGHTER
JETS TO BE PROCURED
·
Defence
Acquisition Council (DAC) has given its consent for the capital acquisition of
various platforms and equipment required by the Indian Armed Forces, Army, Navy
and the Air Force, worth Rs 38,900 crore.
·
Pinaka
ammunition: Acquisition
of Pinaka missile systems will enable raising additional regiments over and
above the ones already inducted. It is all-weather, indirect fire, free flight
artillery rocket system.
·
Long
Range Land Attack Cruise Missile (LRLACM): Having a firing range of 1,000
kilometres to the existing arsenal, LRLACM addition will bolster
the attack capabilities of the Navy and the Air Force.
·
Astra
Missiles: Induction of Air-to-Air Missile
(AAM) Astra, having Beyond Visual Range (BVR) capability, will serve as a force
multiplier to the strike capability of the Navy and Air Force.
·
DAC
approved procurement of 33 fighter aircrafts & upgradation of existing 59
Mig-29 aircraft
·
DAC
also approved the proposal for procurement of 33 fighter jets including 21
MIG-29 ((Mikoyan-Gurevich) and 12 Su-30 MKI (Modernizirovannyi,
Kommercheskiy, Indiski where ‘Su’ is Sukhoi) aircraft along with upgradation of
existing 59 MIG-29 aircraft.
2. RUSSIANS
GRANT PUTIN RIGHT TO EXTEND HIS RULE UNTIL 2036
·
The
77.9% Russian electorate have voted in favour of constitutional amendments that
will allow 67 years old President Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036 i.e.
until the age of 83.
·
His
current term of 6 years will end in 2024.
·
Means
now, he will be re-elected twice under the constitutional amendments. He
is already the longest-serving leader in modern Russian history.
3. INDIA’S
EXTERNAL DEBT INCREASED BY 2.8%
·
In
accordance with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, India’s external debt
stood at $558.5 billion in March 2020, an increase of $15.4 billion or 2.8% as
compared to the March 2019.
·
The
largest component of the external debt is Commercial borrowings with
a share of 39.4%, followed by non-resident deposits at 23.4% and short-term
trade credit at 18.2%.
·
In
terms of currency, United States (US) dollar-denominated debt continued to be
the largest component of India’s external debt, with a share of 53.7% at
end-March 2020, followed by the Indian rupee (31.9%), yen (5.6%), SDR (4.5%)
and the euro (3.5%).
4. 2020’S
DIANA AWARD ROLL OF HONOURS
·
Freya
Thakral, a 13 year old student of the British School New Delhi received the
2020 Diana Award for her humanitarian work towards the ragpickers of Delhi.
·
The
award is presented annually on the birth anniversary of Princess Diana.
·
The
Diana award was established in 1999 in memory of Princess Diana, to recognise
the social works and humanitarian efforts of youngsters across the United
Kingdom(UK) and around the world.
5. 2020
COMMONWEALTH SHORT STORY PRIZE
·
The
commonwealth writers announced Kritika Pandey, the winner of asian
region prize as the overall winner of the 2020 Commonwealth
Short Story Prize for her story, “The Great Indian Tee and
Snakes”.
·
The
award was presented to her by Ghanaian writer and editor, Nii Ayikwei
Parkes, the chair of the 2020 Judge panel in the online award ceremony.
·
Kritika
is the second Indian to win the overall prize after Parashar Kulkarni in 2016.
6. FRENCH PM
EDOUARD PHILIPPE RESIGNS
·
French
Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe resigned during the expected government
reshuffle.
·
The
French President Emmanuel Macron has planned to open a new chapter for the two
remaining years to focus on efforts to relaunch the French economy deeply hit
by the coronavirus crisis.
7. INTEL
CAPITAL TO BUY 0.39% STAKE IN JIO PLATFORMS
·
US
based Electronic chip maker Intel’s investment arm, Intel Capital to
buy 0.39% stake in Reliance Industries Limited(RIL)’s Jio
Platforms for Rs 1,894.50 crore.
·
This
is the 12th deal of Jio Platforms. With this investment, Jio
Platforms has raised Rs 1,17,588.45 crore from global
investors since April 22.
·
With
this investment, RIL holds 74.91% stake in Jio and 25.09% by the
investors.
8. DELHI GOVT
TO LAUNCH ‘PODHE LAGAO PRAYAVARAN BACHAO’
·
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai informed
that a 17 day campaign ”Podhe Lagao, Paryavaran Bachao” (Plant
Trees, Save Environment) will be launched from July 10 to July 26 from
the National Highway(NH) 20 near ITO to reduce air pollution.
·
During
the campaign 31 lakh saplings will be planted.
