30TH JUNE
Contents
PHILIPPINES INCLUDED IN FATF’S ‘GREY LIST’
ANDHRA PRADESH INTRODUCES ‘SALT PROGRAMME’
RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD LAUNCHED ITAT-E-DWAR
WORLD’S FIRST PHYSICALLY DISABLED ASTRONAUT
ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP TO BE HELD IN UAE
P SAINATH AWARDED WITH FUKUOKA GRAND PRIZE
INTERNATIONAL ASTEROID SAY: 30TH JUNE
PHILIPPINES INCLUDED IN FATF’S ‘GREY LIST’
- Philippines has been included in the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). FATF has released its grey list of jurisdictions that will be subjected to increased monitoring.
- In addition to the Philippines, Haiti, Malta, and South Sudan have also been added to the grey list. Now, these jurisdictions will be required to submit progress reports to the FATF thrice a year.
- The Philippines was removed from the blacklist of FATF in 2005. It was previously included in FATF’s blacklist in 2000.
- FATF grey list is the list in which jurisdictions under increased monitoring are placed. If a jurisdiction is placed under increased monitoring, this means that jurisdiction is committed to resolving strategic decencies within agreed timeframes.
- Jurisdictions under the FATF grey list actively work with FATF to address strategic decencies in their regime to fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
- FATF blacklist is the list of countries judged by FATF as non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
- Philippines President: Rodrigo Duterte.
- Philippines Capital: Manila.
- Philippines Currency: Philippine peso.
(SOURCE: LIVE MINT)
ANDHRA PRADESH INTRODUCES ‘SALT PROGRAMME’
- Andhra Pradesh has started a Supporting Andhra’s Learning Transformation (SALT) programme to transform foundational learning in government schools for which the World Bank has approved a loan of 250 million dollars.
- The main objectives of the programme are strengthening foundation schools and providing training and skill development to teachers. Andhra Pradesh’s public school education system has more than 40 lakh children and nearly 2 lakh teachers.
- About the programme: The five-year programme is result-oriented with the WB releasing funds after key goals are achieved. The government has converted all Anganwadis into pre-primary schools and attached them to the nearest schools.
- The government’s document on SALT documents several challenges to improving the learning outcomes.
- These include inadequate facilities in schools and a need for increased focus on foundational learning, the need for upgrading teaching skills of teachers, improving teacher-student interactions in classes, and capacity development of state-level institutions such as the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), State Institute of Education Management and Training (SIEMAT) and District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs).
- The government is also setting up new administrative structures which will monitor the working of schools, like the AP School Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission.
- Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy
- Governor: Biswa Bhusan Harichandan.
(SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS)
RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD LAUNCHED ITAT-E-DWAR
- Union Minister for Law & Justice, Communications and Electronics & IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad has formally launched the e-filing portal of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), ‘itat e-dwar’, in New Delhi.
- The newly developed e-Filing Portal would enable the parties to file their Appeals, Miscellaneous Applications, documents, paper books, etc., electronically. The portal will enable the online filing of appeals, applications and documents by various parties.
- According to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the launch of the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), should be seen as a larger narrative of transformation the country is undergoing through the digital medium.
- The ‘ITAT e-dwar’ portal aims to enhance accessibility, accountability and transparency in the day-to-day working of the ITAT.
- It would not only result in economization of the use of paper and cost savings but also rationalization of the fixation of cases leading to quicker disposal of cases.
- The e-Filing Portal will enable the parties to electronically file their Appeals, Miscellaneous Applications, documents and paper books.
- All the communication regarding their appeals, like filing of appeal or hearing date, adjournments, pronouncements and disposals will be sent to the appellant’s Mobile and E-Mail Id.
- The tribunal orders will also be sent on the given E-Mail Id. The ITAT in its next phase aims to designate specific benches as Paperless Benches and touch screens will be provided in these Paperless Benches to enable members to access their e-Appeals.
(SOURCE: JAGRAN JOSH)
WORLD’S FIRST PHYSICALLY DISABLED ASTRONAUT
- The European Space Agency will hire and launch the world’s first physically disabled astronaut.
- It received 22000 applicants for this recruitment call. ESA is developing technologies for para-astronaut. It will give a message to the world that ‘Space is for everyone’.
- European Space Agency is facing tough competition from private players and other space agencies for launching commercial satellites.
- Amazon founder Bezos will become the first man to go into space on his own rocket in July 2021.
- European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organization of 22 member states
- European Space Agency was established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris.
(SOURCE: JAGRAN JOSH)
ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP TO BE HELD IN UAE
- ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, originally slated to be held in India, will now be shifted to the UAE.
- The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which holds the hosting rights of this year’s event, will inform the International Cricket Council (ICC) in this regard. The T20 World Cup was postponed last year due to the pandemic.
- The BCCI will remain the hosts of the event, which will now be held in Dubai International Stadium, the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Sharjah Stadium, and the Oman Cricket Academy Ground, from 17 October to 14 November 2021.
- Secretary of BCCI: Jay Shah.
- President of BCCI: Sourav Ganguly.
- Headquarters of BCCI: Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Founded: December 1928
(SOURCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES)
P SAINATH AWARDED WITH FUKUOKA GRAND PRIZE
- Journalist Palagummi Sainath has been awarded the Fukuoka Grand Prize for 2021. He is a committed journalist who has continued to investigate impoverished farming villages in India and captured the reality of the lifestyle of the residents in such areas.
- The award, established by Japan’s Fukuoka city and the Fukuoka City International Foundation, is given to individuals and organisations for their work in preserving Asian culture.
- Besides the Grand Prize, there are two more award categories, academics and culture.
- The Academics Prize was given to Professor Kishimoto Mio, a historian from Japan who specialises in the socio-economic history of China in the Ming-Qing period. Thailand-based writer and filmmaker Prabda Yoon received the Arts and Culture Award.
- About the Sainath: Sainath was born in Chennai and has served as the editor of The Hindu and as the vice-editor of political magazine Blitz.
- The journalist was awarded the European Commission’s Lorenzo Natali Prize for journalism in 1995 and the Amnesty International Global Human Rights Journalism Prize in 2000.
- He received the United Nation’s Food & Agriculture Organization’s Boerma Prize in 2001 and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for outstanding contribution to Asian journalism in 2007.
- His major publications include Everybody loves a good drought, which is a collection of 85 articles published in The Times of India, under the series “The face of poor India”.
(SOURCE: THE HINDU)
INTERNATIONAL ASTEROID DAY: 30TH JUNE
- International Asteroid Day is observed globally on 30th June every year.
- International Asteroid Day aims to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard and to inform the public about the crisis communication actions to be taken at the global level in case of a credible near-Earth object threat.
- International Asteroid Day: In December 2016 the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/71/90, declaring 30 June International Asteroid Day in order to “observe each year at the international level the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on 30 June 1908, and to boost public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard.”
- Asteroids are the small rocky body that orbits around the sun. Mostly, they are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter but some have more eccentric orbits.
- So, we will say that asteroids are rocky-metallic objects which range in size from about the dimensions of pebbles to around 600 miles across.
- They are so small that aren’t considered as planets but they orbit Sun. They are known as the leftover material of the Solar System.
(SOURCE: MONEY CONTROL)