Daily Current Affairs 16 June 2020 With Video Lecture

India’s Foreign Trade For May 2020 India’s overall exports (Merchandise and Services combined) in April-May2020-21* are estimated to be $ 61.57 billion, exhibiting a negative growth of (-) 33.66 per...

Chetan Apurav
June 16, 2020
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India’s Foreign Trade For May 2020

India’s overall exports (Merchandise and Services combined) in April-May2020-21* are estimated to be $ 61.57 billion, exhibiting a negative growth of (-) 33.66 per cent over the same period last year.
Overall imports in April-May 2020-21* are estimated to be $ 57.19 billion, exhibiting a negative growth of (-) 48.31 per cent over the same period last year.
Merchandise Sector:
- Exports: Exports in May 2020 were $ 19.05 billion, as compared to $ 29.99 billion in May 2019, exhibiting a –ve growth of (-)36.47 %.
- Iron ore, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, Spices and Rice which registered a +ve growth.
- Imports: Imports in May 2020 were $ 22.20 billion, which was 51.05 per cent lower.
- Oil imports in May 2020 were $ 3.49, which was 71.98 % lower.
Trade In Services:
Exports: As per the press release by RBI on 15^th June 2020, exports in April2020 were $ 16.45 billion registering a –ve growth of (-) 8.92 %.
Imports: Imports in April 2020 were $ 9.30 billion registering a –ve growth of (-)18.43 %.
Overall Trade Balance: Taking merchandise and services together, overall trade surplus for April-May 2020-21* is estimated at $ 4.37 billion as compared to the deficit of $ 17.84 billion in April-May 2019-20.

Index Numbers of Wholesale Price in India for the Month of May 2020

The Office of the Economic Adviser, DPIIT has released index nos. of wholesale price in India.
Provisional figures of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) are released on 14^th of every month.
The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at (-3.21%) (provisional) for May 2020 as compared to 2.79% during the corresponding month of the previous year.

India joins Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence

Joined the leading economies like USA, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore to launch the Global Partnership on AI.
GPAI is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the responsible development & use of AI, grounded in Human Rights, Inclusion, Diversity, Innovation, & Economic Growth.
This is also a first initiative of its type for evolving better understanding of the challenges and opportunities around AI using the experience and diversity of participating countries.
The initiative will look to bridge the gap between theory and practice on AI by supporting cutting-edge research and applied activities on AI-related priorities.

Indian Gas Exchange, First Nationwide Online Delivery-based Gas Trading Platform Launched

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched the Indian Gas Exchange.
The platform is fully automated with web-based interface to provide seamless trading experience.
There will be a market driven pricing mechanism, IGX will play a bigger role towards realizing a free market for gas.
This will be the biggest indicator of the center’s progressive policy as it completes the entire energy value chain from gas production from multiple sources and imports of LNG from different parts of globe to having a transparent price mechanism.
PM’s vision: To provide energy justice to the people of India.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Released Stages Of Vaccine Development

Exploratory: This research-intensive phase of the vaccine development process is designed to identify “natural or synthetic antigens that might help prevent or treat a disease.”
Pre-clinical: During this phase, researchers use tissue-culture or cell-culture systems and animal testing to determine whether the candidate vaccine will produce immunity.
Clinical development: It is a three-phase process.
- Phase I, small groups of people receive the trial vaccine.
- Phase II, the clinical study is expanded, and vaccine is given to people who have characteristics like those for whom the new vaccine is intended.
- Phase III, the vaccine is given to thousands of people and tested for efficacy and safety.
Regulatory review and approval: If a vaccine passes through all three phases of clinical development, the vaccine developer submits a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the FDA.
Manufacturing: Major drug manufacturers provide the infrastructure, personnel and equipment necessary to create mass quantities of vaccines.
Quality control: Stakeholders must adhere to procedures that allow them to track whether a vaccine is performing as anticipated.