National
Customized Crash Course programme for Covid 19 Frontline workers
⇒ The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi launched ‘Customized Crash Course programme for Covid 19 Frontline workers’ on 18 June 2021.
The training programme would be conducted in 111 training centres spread over 26 states. In this initiative, about one lakh frontline workers will be trained.
The Prime Minister informed that:
» The top experts of the country have designed these six courses as per demands of the states and union territories.
» The training will be imparted to Covid warriors in six customised job roles namely Home Care Support, Basic Care Support, Advanced Care Support, Emergency Care Support, Sample Collection Support, and Medical Equipment Support.
» This will include fresh skilling as well as upskilling of those who have some training in this type of work.
Amendment of the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994
⇒The Central Government amended the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, thereby providing a statutory mechanism for redressal of grievances/complaints of citizens relating to content broadcast by television channels in accordance with the provisions of the Cable Television Network Act, 1995.
The Central Government had issued a notification in this regard on 17 June 2021.
Why were the CTN rules amended?
At present, there is an institutional mechanism by way of an Inter-Ministerial Committee to address grievances of citizens relating to violation of the Programme/Advertising Codes under the Rules. However, a need was felt to lay down a statutory mechanism for strengthening the grievance redressal structure.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court in its order in WP(C) No.387 of 2000 in the matter of “Common Cause Vs Union of India & Others” while expressing satisfaction over the existing mechanism of grievance redressal set up by the Central Government, had advised to frame appropriate rules to formalize the complaint redressal mechanism.
In view of the above background:
The Cable Television Network Rules have been amended to provide for this statutory mechanism, which would be transparent and benefit the citizens. At the same time, self-regulating bodies of broadcasters would be registered with the Central Government.
At present there are over 900 television channels which have been granted permission by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Tamil Nadu Economic Advisory Committee
⇒ The Government of Tamil Nadu is constituting an Economic Advisory Council for the chief minister.
This was announced by the Governor, Banwarilal Purohit while addressing the first day of the newly constituted 16th Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He also said, the government will revitalize the state’s economy and ensure that the benefits of economic development reach all segments of the society after the recommendations of the Economic advisory committee.
The members of the advisory committee are:
- Noble Laureate Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Former Reserve Bank of India Governor, Raghuram Rajan
- Former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, Aravind Subramanian
- Development Economist Jean Dreze
- Former union finance secretary S Narayan
Chairman of Andhra Pradesh State Police Complaints Authority
⇒ The Andhra Pradesh state government appointed retired High Court judge Justice V. Kanagaraj as chairman of Andhra Pradesh State Police Complaints Authority. The orders were issued by the Principal Secretary to the Government, Kumar Viswajeet on 20 June 2021.
Computer operator holds nine Guinness World Records
⇒ Vinod Kumar Chaudhary, a computer operator at JNU’s School of Environmental Sciences (SES) has nine Guinness World Records. Eight of the Guinness Records he obtained for typing and one in sports.
Chaudhary has records for typing with his nose, with blindfolds and with a mouth stick. He has other records like typing blindfolded, typing with one hand, typing with one finger and typing with a mouth stick.
His last record is for maximum touching of hand by a tennis ball within one minute. He did it 205 times.
International
Nikol Pashinyan, the newly elected Prime Minister of Armenia
⇒ Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has won the snap elections. The vote was called after Armenia’s defeat in a war with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
According to preliminary results on 21 June 2021:
» Nikol’s Civil Contract party won 53.92% of votes cast in snap election.
» The opposition Armenia alliance led by ex-President Robert Kocharyan, came second with 21.04%.
World Investment Report 2021
⇒ The World Investment Report 2021 by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was released on 21 June 2021.
According to report, global FDI flows have been severely hit by the pandemic. Global FDI flows plunged by 35 per cent in 2020 to USD 1 trillion from USD 1.5 trillion the previous year.
Read More About World Investment Report 2021
Sports
2021 Pohjanmaa Ralli
⇒ Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hamalainen won the 2021 Pohjanmaa Ralli for Team MRF Racing, with a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo on 19 June 2021. Team MRF Tyres secured its first win at the Finnish Rally Championship.