1.WHO chief announces creation of foundation to tap new funding sources
News:World Health Organization(WHO) has announced the creation of the ‘WHO Foundation’.
Facts:
- WHO Foundation: It is an independent grant-making entity that will support the WHO’s efforts to address the most pressing global health challenges and to deliver on the organization’s triple billion goals.
- Contributions: It will be legally separate from WHO and will facilitate contributions from the general public, individual major donors and corporate partners to WHO.
- Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Additional Facts:
- Triple Billion Goals: These goals featured in WHO’s five-year strategic plan which aims to:
- protect 1 billion people from health emergencies
- extend universal health coverage to 1 billion people and
- assure healthy lives and wellbeing to 1 billion people by 2023.
2.22nd Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC)
News:Union Minister for Finance has chaired the 22nd Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council(FSDC).
Facts:
- Financial Stability and Development Council(FSDC): It is a non-statutory apex level body setup in 2010 on the recommendations of Raghuram Rajan committee(2008).
- Objectives: To strengthen and institutionalize the mechanism for maintaining financial stability, enhancing inter-regulatory coordination and promoting financial sector development.
- Functions: It is charged with financial literacy, financial inclusion and macro prudential supervision of the economy, including the functioning of large financial conglomerates.
- Chairman: Union Finance minister
- Members: a) Heads of Financial Sector Regulators (RBI, SEBI, PFRDA & IRDA) b) Secretaries of various Departments c) Chief Economic Adviser d) Minister of state responsible for the Department of Economic Affairs(DEA) e) Chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) among others.
3.World Dugong Day 2020: Marine mammal fighting for survival in Indian waters
News: On World Dugong Day, experts have said that dugong could one day become extinct in Indian waters unless conserved.
Facts:
- Dugongs commonly called sea cow is an herbivorous marine mammal found throughout the warm latitudes of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.
- They are largely dependent on seagrass communities for subsistence and are thus restricted to the coastal habitats which support seagrass meadows.
- According to a 2013 Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) report, there were only about 200 dugongs in the Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat.
- Significance: Dugongs are an important part of the marine ecosystem and their depletion will have effects all the way up the food chain.
- IUCN Status: Vulnerable
- Wild Life Protection Act,1972: Schedule I
- Threats: Human activities such as the destruction and modification of habitat, pollution, rampant illegal fishing activities, vessel strikes, unsustainable hunting or poaching and unplanned tourism.
4.NPCI launches AI virtual assistant PAi
News: National Payment Corporation of India(NPCI) has launched an artificial intelligence(AI) based chatbot named PAi.
Facts:
- Purpose: To create awareness and solve the queries around NPCI’s products like FASTag, RuPay, UPI, AePS on a real time basis which will in turn help in improving the digital financial inclusion in India.
Additional Facts:
- NPCI: It is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
- It is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
- It has been incorporated as a Not for Profit Company under the provisions of Section 25 of Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act 2013).
5.Lok Sabha Speaker nominates 15 MPs to the Delimitation Commission
News: Lok Sabha Speaker has nominated 15 MPs as associate members to assist the Delimitation Commission in redrawing the Lok Sabha and the Assembly constituencies of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and the J&K Union Territory.
Facts:
- Delimitation: It refers to the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body.
- Process of Delimitation: Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.Once the Act is in force,the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission.
- In India, Delimitation Commissions have been constituted 4 times – in 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act,1952, in 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act,1962, in 1973 under Delimitation Act,1972 and in 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002.
- Delimitation Commission: It is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
- Composition: Retired Supreme Court judge, Chief Election Commissioner and Respective State Election Commissioners.
- Associate members: Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies of states for which the Delimitation Commission is set up, are nominated as associate members to help the commission in its task.
- Powers: The Delimitation Commission is a high power body whose orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.
