Daily Current Affairs and GK | 20 and 21 June 2021

Topic: Important Days

1. International Day of Yoga: 21 June

• International Day of Yoga is celebrated every year on 21^st June since 2015.
• It is observed at the national and international level to spread awareness about the benefits of yoga.
• In 2014, United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted 21 June as the International Day of Yoga.
• International Day of Yoga was proposed by India and endorsed by 175 member countries.
• In 2016, Yoga was listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.
• The theme for this year’s yoga day is “Yoga for Wellbeing”.
• The word ‘yoga’ derives from Sanskrit and means to join or to unite. It played a crucial role in keeping people healthy during the lockdown.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

2. Indian climate activist Shyam Sundar Jyani won UN Land Conservation Award 2021.

• Familial Forestry, an environmental conservation project by Rajasthan's Shyam Sunder Jyani, won United Nations' Land for Life Award 2021.
• He relates a tree with a family, making it a green family member. He was campaigning for Familial Forestry in Rajasthan for over 15 years.
• The ‘Familial Forestry’ conservation concept revolves around community participation in protecting and conserving the trees.
• Under this project, more than 2.5 million saplings have been planted in desert-prone areas of Rajasthan.
• United Nations' Land for Life Award is the highest award given for land conservation and restoration.
• United Nations' Land for Life Award is given by UNCCD for efforts towards restoration of degraded landscapes.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

3. Two day summit on Green Hydrogen Initiatives involving BRICS nations to be hosted by India.

• Two day summit on Green Hydrogen Initiatives involving BRICS nations will be hosted by India.
• The summit will start on 22^nd June. It will conclude on 23^rd June. India’s largest power producer, NTPC Ltd, will anchor the event.
• The summit provides a platform to share Green Hydrogen initiatives.
• Green Hydrogen is the Hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water using renewable energy. It has no carbon footprint.
• It is different from grey Hydrogen. Grey Hydrogen is produced from methane. Its production releases greenhouse gases.
• Green Hydrogen has many applications. It can be blended up to 10% in City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks.  

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: State News/Odisha

4. A special scheme to provide financial support to the orphans announced by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

• A special scheme to provide financial support to the orphans has been announced by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
• The scheme is named "Aashirbad". It will offer financial support to the orphan children who have lost both their parents, or either of the earning parents or the single parent.
• Under the scheme, different slabs of financial support have been kept. The maximum slab is Rs 2500 per month for children in distress who has been orphaned on or after the 1 April 2020.
• Odisha:
  • It is a state on the Bay of Bengal in the east of India.
  • Its capital is Bhubaneswar.
  • The Chief Minister is Naveen Patnaik and Governor is Ganeshi Lal.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: International Days

5. World Refugee Day: 20 June

• World Refugee Day is observed every year on 20 June.
• It is celebrated to provide strength and courage to people who have left their homes and countries due to war or persecution.
• This year the theme for World Refugee Day is 'Together we heal, learn and shine'.
• Apart from this, it provides an opportunity to draw the attention of the world towards the rights, needs, and dreams of refugees.
• The United Nations General Assembly officially designated June 20 as World Refugee Day in December 2000.
• According to the United Nations, around 6 million people are living in refugee camps worldwide. Turkey has the highest number of refugees in the world, it is followed by Columbia.
• According to the UNHCR report, two-thirds of the refugees are from Syria, Venezuela, South Sudan, and Myanmar.
• A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: National News

6. Ministry of Tribal Affairs and NCERT collaborated for capacity building of EMRS Teachers and Principals.

• Ministry of Tribal Affairs and NCERT have collaborated for improving the quality of education in Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs).
• Around 120 EMRS teachers and principals completed a 40 days’ NISHTHA-National initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement Program. It is a capacity-building program for improving the competencies of teachers and school principals.
• The main objective of this collaboration is to conduct such programs across 350 functional EMRS schools in the country.
• The participants in the NISHTHA were trained on various aspects of education such as Learning Outcomes, Assessment Practices, learner-centered pedagogy, Art-Integrated Learning, Gender Equality, etc.
• ATL Teacher Training Program was also organized for capacity building from 25^th May to 5^th June.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

7. Ministry of Tourism organized a webinar titled “Yoga for Immunity and Respiratory Health”

• Ministry of Tourism organized a webinar titled “Yoga for Immunity and Respiratory Health” on 19^th June 2021.
• It has been organized as part of the celebration of International Yoga Day in association with the Isha Foundation.
• The Ministry of Tourism organized one more webinar titled “Yoga: The way of life” on 21^st June.
• Ministry of Ayush is also organizing series of five webinars under the broad theme of “Be with Yoga, Be at Home”.
• International Yoga Day is celebrated every year on 21 June to spread awareness about the benefits of Yoga.
• Ministry of Tourism:
  • It is the apex body for the development and promotion of tourism in India.
  • It is currently headed by Prahlad Singh Patel.

Topic: Report and Indices

8. UNHCR Global Report 2020 released.

• The Global Report 2020 has been released by UNHCR. It is a compilation of the achievements and efforts of UNHCR and its partners.
• It shows that the number of people fleeing wars, violence, persecution, and human rights violations in 2020 rose to nearly 82.4 million people.
• According to this report, by the end of 2020, there are 20.7 million refugees. Around 48 million people were internally displaced (IDPs) in their own countries. Between 2018 to 2020 around one million children were born as refugees.
• For the seventh consecutive year, Turkey has the largest refugee population worldwide. Nearly nine in 10 refugees are from low- and middle-income countries.
• The 1951 Refugee Convention provides the legal framework for the protection of refugees.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:
  • It was formed on 14 December 1950.
  • It is dedicated to the protection of refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people.
  • It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Topic: International News

9. Ebrahim Raisi wins presidential election of Iran.

• Ebrahim Raisi won the presidential election of Iran. He secured 62% of the votes (17.8 million out of 28.6 million votes).
• This year’s voting sees the lowest turnout in the history of Iran. The coronavirus pandemic and U.S. sanctions were the main cause of low turnout.
• Ebrahim Raisi was sanctioned by the U.S due to his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. He will be the first serving Iranian president sanctioned by the U.S. government.
• He will take the place of Hassan Rouhani, who was elected as President in 2013.
• It was the thirteenth presidential election in Iran. The President of Iran is elected for a four-year term.
• Iran does not allow international election observers to monitor its polls.

Topic: Important Days

10. NIXI celebrated its 18^th Foundation Day on 19 June 2021.

• India’s first Internet Exchange, the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) celebrated its 18th Foundation Day on 19 June.
• On 18th Foundation Day, NIXI hosted a webinar on “Digital Economy – expanding footprints”.
• Mr Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary of Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) chaired the webinar. Mr Anil Kumar Jain, CEO of NIXI moderated the webinar.
• NIXI facilitates the peering of ISPs among themselves for the purpose of routing the domestic traffic within the country.
• It is also the .IN Registry managing India’s country code top level domain (ccTLD) - .IN.
• India surpassed 2.7 million registrations of .in domain. It became the third-largest nation in Asia in the country-centric, top-level domain growth.
• Mr Ajay Prakash Sawhney announced that NIXI will provide a personalized e-mail with 10GB space to every .IN user.
• National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI):
  • It was established in 2003.
  • It is a non-profit company providing internet services in the country.
  • It manages Internet Exchanges, IDN domain, and Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers.

Topic: Committees/ Commissions/Taskforces

11. US-India hydrogen taskforce launched under aegis of Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP).

• US-India hydrogen taskforce has been launched under the aegis of Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP).
• United States Department of Energy (DOE), the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, along with the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) has launched the taskforce.
• Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) was launched by India and US in April 2018.
• India is the world’s third-largest oil importer. It imports 85% of its oil demand and 53% of its gas demand.

Topic: Appointments

12. Antonio Guterres appointed as UN Secretary-General for a second term.

• Antonio Guterres has been appointed by UN General Assembly as UN Secretary-General for a second term.
• His second term will begin on January 1, 2022 and will end on December 31, 2026.
• Earlier, UN Security Council had unanimously recommended Guterres’s name for reelection. 
• Antonio Guterres (Portugal) is the 9^th Secretary-General of the UN. He took office on 1^st January 2017. His current term ends on 31^st December 2021.
• Trygve Lie was the first Secretary-General.
• UN General Assembly appoints Secretary-General, on the recommendation of the Security Council.