Germany’s publishers and booksellers association—has declared on June 17 that Indian economist, philosopher, and Nobel (1998) laureate Amartya Sen is the winner of the 2020 Peace Prize of the German book trade.

• India has placed on 12^th position, globally in science research output as per the newly-released Nature Index table 2020.
• Globally the top-rated Indian institutions in this table are CSIR, a group of 39 institutions at the 160th position and IISc Bangalore at the 184th.

National Nature Photography Day 2020 will be observed on June 15. Nature is so inspirational and novel, it makes people want to click every moment, as we might not be able to see or experience it again.

India, which has been selected as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, will appoint as the president of the powerful 15-nation UN body for the month of August 2021.

National Institute of Public Finance and Policy(NIPFP) has appointed as Dr. Urjit Patel, former Reserve Bank Governor, as its Chairperson for a four-year term starting June 22, 2020.

• Airtel Payments Bank started a salary account for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).
• Through the ‘Suraksha Salary’ account, MSMEs and other organizations will allow them to make cashless payments and also give financial security blanket to their employees.

• The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is celebrated every year to uplift public awareness of international efforts to combat desertification.
• 2020 Theme: Food.Feed.Fibre.– the links between consumption and land.

International Picnic Day is celebrated on June 18, every year. It is a day to inspire people to go outdoors and relish a hearty meal in nature, with other people’s company. In the early days, people used to go on a picnic as a break from their daily lives.

India retains to place 43rd on an annual World Competitiveness Index arranged by Institute for Management Development (IMD) with some traditional weaknesses like bad infrastructure and inadequate education investment keeping its ranking low.

India secured major diplomatic supremacy to enter the non-permanent category of the UN Security Council when polls were held for the five non-permanent members on 17th June. India won 184 votes out of 192 valid votes cast.

• Every year, June 21 is observed as World Music Day. The day is observed to admire the amateur as well as professional singers around the world.
• Theme 2020: “Music at the intersections”.

The market valuation of Reliance Industries Ltd crossed Rs 11 lakh crore on after chairman Mukesh Ambani declared that his oil-to-telecom conglomerate had grown net debt-free. Reliance Industries is also the first Indian company to cross the Rs 11 lakh crore market valuation mark.

The central government digitally started AarogyaPath on June 12, 2020. It is a web-based solution for the healthcare supply chain portal. It will give real-time availability of significant healthcare supplies for manufacturers, customers, and suppliers.

• The UN General Assembly on 17th June selected Turkish diplomat Volkan Bozkir to be its president for the 75th General Debate in September.
• In a secret ballot vote Bozkir, who was unanimous for the post, got 178 ballots in support as 11 nations abstained, Anadolu Agency reported.

• World Refugee Day is celebrated every year on June 20 to spread awareness about the plight of refugees around the world.
• Theme 2020: Step with Refugee

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan started the Indian Gas Exchange (IGX), first nationwide online delivery-based gas trading platform. IGX will be a delivery-based trading platform for the delivery of Natural Gas. The trade on the platform began in his auspicious presence.

Kyrgyzstan’s ruling coalition selected Kubatbek Boronov for prime minister on 16th June, implicitly ensuring he would get the post after his predecessor resigned because of a corruption inquiry against former Cabinet officials.

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is a methodology defined by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, to rank Indian institutes of higher education in the nation. The NIRF Pharmacy Colleges Ranking 2020 has been declared by the HRD Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal on June 11, 2020. Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi has topped the list with 80.5 score out of 100.

Imtaiyazur Rahman was selected as the temporary CEO two years ago. The Board of UTI Mutual Fund has approved him as Chief Executive Officer of UTI Asset Management Committee.

World Wind Day, also known as Global Wind Day, is celebrated every year on June 15. The event is observed to create awareness about wind energy, the multiple uses of wind energy, and the ways and possibilities as to how wind energy can assist change the world.

The Kerala film industry fell into sadness when the news came of sick famous film director and scriptwriter KR Sachidanandan passed away at a hospital in Thrissur on 20th June.

• Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on 16th June declared it has partnership with Karur Vysya Bank to extend simpler and flexible financing schemes for new customers.

• France and India on 18th June inked an agreement with Paris committing 200 million euros to aid Delhi’s COVID-19 response.
• Through this loan, France will work with India to uplift the state and central governments’ capacities to promote the country’s most vulnerable people in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

• Napoli defeated Juventus 4-2 on penalties to win the Italian Cup for the sixth time after the score was 0-0 after 90 minutes in an empty Stadio Olimpco in Rome.
• Napoli is sixth in the league table as they plan a return to the Champions League.

Karnataka celebrates on 18th June as ‘Mask Day’ to spread awareness in the masses about the value of wearing one amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) on 17th June declared that Bahrain will host the fourth edition of the Asian Youth Para Games from December 1 to 10 next year.

It’s a gloomy day for the cricketing world as it lost its oldest living first-class cricketer, Vasant Raiji. Raiji made a century in his real life as he passed away at the age of 100.

Indian intelligence agencies have urged the government to block or advise people to discontinue the usage of 52 mobile applications linked to China over concerns that these aren’t safe and ended up extracting a vast amount of data outside India, people familiar with the development.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will start ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’ on June 20 to upgrade livelihood opportunities in rural India. “Government of India has planned to start a massive rural public works scheme ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’ to empower and give livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens.

The West Bengal government on 16th June started a job portal for IT professionals who have come back to the state amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced.

• World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is celebrated on June 15. The main goal of this day is to give our communities around the globe an opportunity to get a better understanding of abuse and neglect of elder people.
• Theme 2020: “Lifting Up Voices”

Facebook joined Google, Microsoft and 15 other tech companies to declare the formation of “Project Protect”: A plan to fight online child sexual abuse – a renewed commitment and investment from the Technology Coalition growing its scope and impact to defend kids online and guide its work for the next 15 years.

Maharashtra inked 12 Memorandum of Understanding(MoUs) with 12 domestic and international companies for Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) worth over Rs 16,000 crores. It is a part of the Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0 initiative

India’s economy will shrink by 4% in the financial year 2020 as against an increment of 4% projected in its April outlook, the Asian Development Banks stated in its supplement report on 18th June while also cutting the growth forecast for India for 2021 to 5% compared to 6.2% projected in April.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 18th June started the auction coal mines for commercial mining through video conference.
• Addressing the occasion, PM Modi told India has taken the significant decision to fully open the coal and mining sector for competition, capital, participation, and technology.

Harikrishna was set joint second at the end of the opening day of the Sharjah World Stars online chess tournament. He totaled four points from five rounds to share the second place along with Rustam Kasmidzhanov of Uzbekistan.

India joined international and multi-stakeholder initiative Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) as its founding member on June 15, 2020. By becoming the founding member of the action, India has joined the leading nations of the world along with the UK, EU, US, Australia among others.

• The word ‘saunter’ indicates to walk slowly in a relaxed manner and every year on June 19, the day is celebrated so that we slow down from our tumultuous schedule and smell the proverbial roses as we walk along.

Anmol Narang has created history by becoming the first observant Sikh to graduate from the esteemed United States Military Academy at West Point, and the Second Lieutenant is confident that her efforts to represent her religion and community will inspire Americans to learn more about Sikhism.

India and China have raised their nuclear arsenal over the last year, as per to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The Swedish think-tank that researches on conflict, armaments and arms charge also aimed out on Monday that China is significantly modernizing its nuclear arsenal.

• The International Day of Yoga has been observed annually on 21 June since 2015, following its initiation in the United Nations General Assembly in 2014.
• Theme 2020: “Yoga for Health – Yoga at Home”.

Martyapura Re Jamaraj (‘Yamaraj on earth’), a short film released by a group from the Ankushpur village of Odisha’s Ganjam district has honored with a special jury award at the COVID-19 International Film Festival 2020.

JSW Cement, part of USD 14 billion JSW Group, has chosen former Indian cricket captain and current president of Board of Control for Cricket in India, Sourav Ganguly and captain of India’s National Football Team and Bengaluru FC captain, Sunil Chhetri as its brand ambassadors.