Top Current Affairs 09 September 2020

Top Current Affairs 09 September 2020

Top Current Affairs 09 September 2020: This post contains the latest current affairs for 07 September 2020 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. You can improve your general knowledge with our daily online current affairs. You can also read the daily current affairs on our mobile app.

National News

Prime Minister virtually inaugurates Patrika Gate in Jaipur

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Patrika Gate in Jaipur, Rajasthan through video conference on 8th September 2020.
• The Iconic Gate is built by the Rajasthan-based Patrika Group of Newspapers on the Jawaharlal Nehru Marg in Jaipur, to bring together the art, craft, and cultural heritage of all the regions of Rajasthan at one place.
• Similar to Mumbai’s Gateway of India and Delhi’s India Gate, the Jaipur’s Patrika Gate will enhance the pride of the state and will also be a Gateway of Rajasthan, besides marking the beginning of a new tourist destination.
• During the launch ceremony, Prime Minister Shri Modi also released two books written by the Patrika Group Chairman, Shri Gulab Kothari, which included  ‘Sanvad Upanishad’ and ‘Akshar Yatra’.

Summit

First World Solar Technology Summit of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) held

• The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the first edition of the World Solar Technology Summit (WSTS) of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), on 8th September 2020, with focus on new Technologies and Innovations in the field of Solar..
• The World Solar Technology Summit (WSTS) was organised by ISA and FICCI
• More than 26000 participants from 149 countries joined the virtual Summit.
• The Summit aimed at accelerating affordable and sustainable clean green energy by showcasing and deliberating on innovative state of the art next generation technologies in solar power.
• WSTS assumes importance as its will enable:
  • India to achieve its ambitious target of having 100 GW of solar energy by 2022.
  • ISA to achieve its aim of creating a World Solar Bank with authorised capital of $15 billion to fund projects
• The Summit included signing of four agreements between
  • ISA and International Institute of Refrigeration,
  • ISA and Global Green Growth Institute.
  • ISA and National Thermal Power Corporation,
  • A tripartite agreement between India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the World Bank and the International Solar Alliance.
• ISA also launched a Journal on Solar Energy (I JOSE) that would help authors from across the globe to publish their articles on solar energy.

Partnership

AIM partners with Freshworks to provide robust support to innovators and entrepreneurs in India

• The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of the NITI Aayog has partnered with a customer-engagement software company Freshworks Inc. to provide support to incubators and the startup ecosystem in India to get further empowered in their innovation journey.
• Under the partnership, Freshworks will provide credits for its suite of products to AIM and its beneficiaries, which will empower startups to function efficiently while keeping a tab on costs in related activities.
• The collaboration will increase the efficacy of the institutions and startups in the AIM portfolio and foster innovation and entrepreneurship among startup innovators.
• Freshworks is a cloud-based SaaS (software as a service) company, which provides innovative customer-engagement software for businesses of all sizes.

Business

Apple’s first ‘floating’ store to be launched in Singapore

• Technology giant Apple Inc. has announced that it is going to open its first ever “floating” store, in Singapore on 10th September 2020.
• The floating Apple Store, will be located at Singapore’s posh Marina Bay Sands resort. It will be the third retail store of Apple in Singapore.
• The first-of-its-kind store has a sphere-shaped all-glass dome structure that is fully self-supported and made up of 114 pieces of glass, held together by only 10 narrow vertical mullions for structural connection.

Banking / Economy

Fitch Ratings Projects Indian economy to contract 10.5% in FY21

• In its September update of Global Economic Outlook (GEO), the US-based Fitch Ratings has sharply lowered the forecast for the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of India for the current fiscal 2020-21 (FY21) and now expects the GDP to contract 10.5 percent.
• Earlier in June Global Economic Outlook, the rating agency has estimated 5 percent contraction for FY21.
• The downward revision comes after India’s GDP shrank by 23.9% year-on-year in the April-June quarter, the worst performance in nearly four decades.
• The rating agency has also revised its forecast for global GDP and expects it to fall by 4.4 percent in 2020, which is a modest upward revision from the 4.6 percent contraction expected earlier.

ADB inks $500 Million Loan agreement with India for Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India has signed a $500 million loan pact on 8th September 2020 to build a modern, high-speed 82-kilometer Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor.
• This loan amount is the first tranche of a total $1 billion loan approved by ADB for the venture in August 2020.
• The RRTS corridor will connect Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut. It will have a total of 24 stations of which 21 will be in Uttar Pradesh and the rest in Delhi.
•  The project will improve regional connectivity and mobility in India’s national capital region (NCR).

World Bank approves USD82 million loan for implementation of Himachal Pradesh State Roads Transformation Project

• The World Bank has approved loan amount worth $82 million for the implementation of Himachal Pradesh State Roads Transformation Project which will strengthen transport and road safety institutions of Himachal Pradesh by improving the condition, safety, resilience, and engineering standards of state road network.
• The loan agreement for this purpose was signed on 7 September 2020 by the World Bank with the Government of India and the Government of Himachal Pradesh.

Obituary

Prof. Govind Swarup, Pioneer of Radio Astronomy in India, passes away at 91

• Renowned scientist and radio astronomer, Professor Govind Swarup, has passed away due to illness. He was 91.
• Prof Swarup was known as Father of Indian Radio Astronomy, for his notable contributions to the field of radio astronomy in the country
• He was the founding director of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
• Swarup was the key scientist behind concept, design and installation of the Ooty Radio Telescope and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (world’s largest telescope operating at meter wavelengths ) near Pune.
• He was awarded with various prestigious honors such as the Padma Shri in 1973, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize in 1972, the Khwarizmi International Award in 1999, and the Grote Reber Medal in 2007.

Veteran Telugu actor Jaya Prakash Reddy passes away at 74

• Jaya Prakash Reddy, Telugu film industry’s one of the most versatile actors, has passed away following Cardiac arrest. He was 74.
• The renowned cinema and theater actor was known for his villainous and comedy roles.

Oscar winning Czech director Jiri Menzel passes away at 82

• Oscar-winning Czech director Jiri Menzel has passed away after battling serious health issues. He was 82.
• Menzel won the Academy Award for his 1966 movie “Closely Watched Trains” in the best foreign-language film category.
• Apart from this, the influential filmamker was also conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 44th International film festival (IFFI) held in India in 2013.