20 July

International News Affairs

• Uruguay has become the 1st country in the world to allow the sale of marijuana for recreational use.
  • The move comes four years after a law was passed under which cannabis trade was fully legalised.
• The United States has ended a four-month ban on flyers carrying laptops on US-bound flights from airports in North Africa and the Middle East.
  • Note : The UK continues to enforce a similar electronics ban on flights from several Middle Eastern airports.

New Appointments

• NDA’s presidential candidate and former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind was today elected as the 14th President of India.

National News Affairs

• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDA) has launched ‘mAadhaar‘, a new app for syncing Aadhaar data on mobile phones.
  • This app allows users to carry their Aadhaar information including name, date of birth, gender, address, and the linked photograph, on their smart phones.
  • This app also allows users to lock or unlock biometrics data.
• The Maharashtra government is going to purchase a chopper for the VIPs of the state after private agencies were suspended from flying them.
• To develop Bengaluru as the international hub of computer graphics technology, the Cabinet today approved the Karnataka Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics Policy, 2017-22.
  • The city will also have a centre for animation in collaboration with Gobelins, which is among the world’s best animation schools.
• The Kerala government today approved the construction of a Greenfield airport near pilgrim site Sabarimala.
  • The 2,263-acre airport, which will be situated 48 kilometres from the Sabarimala Sree Ayyappa Temple, will be the fifth in Kerala.

People in News

• Arpan Doshi, an Indian-origin man, who studied in Gujarat until he was 13, has becomeUK’s youngest ever doctor.
  • Doshi, who is due to start work next month, beat the previous record by 17 days.

Science & Technology

• Over 3 billion tonnes of plastic, enough to cover the entire country of Argentina, has been generated by humans since the material’s mass production started in 1950s, a US-based research has revealed.
  • It also said that around 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic was produced by 2015, of which 79% resides in landfills or natural environment, while only 9% was recycled.

Banking, Business & Economic News

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is going to issue a new batch of ₹20 notes under the Mahatma Gandhi series-2005
  • The notes will have the inset letter ‘S’ and RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s signature.
• Union Cabinet today gave its in-principle approval for sale of the government’s 51.11% stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL)to India’s largest oil producer ONGC for ₹30,000 crore.
  • Note: After this, the HPCL will become a subsidiary of ONGC and will remain a listed company.

Current Sports Affairs

• India’s top-ranked female shot putter Manpreet Kaur has been suspended by the Athletics Federation after she failed dope test.
  • He is also set to lose her gold medal which she won at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships.