Former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has been titled as the Most Valuable Test Player of the 21st Century by the Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine. Data concerning the performance of players had been gathered from 2000 to 2020.

India’s Nitin Menon on 29th June became the youngest ever to be involved in the International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel of Umpires for the forthcoming 2020-21 season, substituting England’s Nigel Llong.

June 26 is observed as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The day is commemorated every year to speak out against the crime of torture and to honor and help victims and survivors throughout the world.

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has exacted an interim fine of Rs 25 crore on PSU major Oil India over its failure to control fire in Assam’s Baghjan oil well resulting in harm to the atmosphere. Well, number 5 at Baghjan in Tinsukia district, has been spreading gas uncontrollably for the last 27 days and it caught fire on June 9, killing two of OIL’s firefighters at the site.

India has turned up as the 12th largest holder of US government securities at the end of April, keeping worth 157.4 billion dollars. While the holding reached a record high of 177.5 billion dollars in February, the same was highly decreased in March.

The UN General Assembly, seeing the necessity to enhance small business development, planned to designate 27 June as Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day. The goal is to promote member states to facilitate observance of the day by growing awareness and actions to support small businesses.

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on 25th June started ‘YSR Kapu Nestham’ at his camp office for the welfare of the women from Kapu community. The government will give Rs 15,000 per year for all the eligible women aged between 45 and 60 years for a period of five years.

Delhi government on 29th June planned for introducing up of a plasma bank for the treatment of COVID-19 sufferers. Delhi was one of the first states to have provided a go-ahead for plasma therapy in April.

Yes Bank Limited, an Indian public bank, has tied hands with Delhi-based fintech startup Affordplan, to start a first of its kind co-branded healthcare card called ‘Swasth Card’ under Swasth program with the plan to allow families plan and manage their finances for their healthcare needs.

• Former England women’s captain Clare Connor is to be appointed as the first female president of Marylebone Cricket Club in its 233-year history.
• Connor, now the England and Wales Cricket Board’s head of women’s cricket, is prepared to take up her new post on October 1, 2021, subject to the membership’s approval.

Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport receives Aviation Weather Monitoring System. For the first time in India, an Aviation Weather Monitoring System has been established at the Bangalore airport at both edges of the runway.

The Central Government has invested special financial powers of Rs 500 crore as emergency funds to armed forces for war preparation between ongoing border tensions with China.

The Day of the Seafarer is observed each year on June 25. On this day, people pay honor to Seafarers and sailors who support the whole world’s function by conducting sea transport. Even now, global trade still depends on ocean transport, which is why Seafarers and sailors are vital to the functioning of the world.

• International Day Against Drug Abuse And Illicit Trafficking is observed on June 26 every year. The day is committed to abolishing drug abuse and neutralize the systemic challenges which sustain the illegal drug issues.
• Theme 2020: “better knowledge for better care.”

Raja Parba festival observed in Odisha. It is a 3-days different festival in which the onset of monsoon and the earth’s womanhood is observed by the state. It is considered that during this time the Mother Earth or Bhudevi undergoes menstruation. The fourth day is the day of the ‘purification bath’.

• Tripura government has planned to initiate a scheme called ‘Ektu Khelo, Ektu Padho’ which means ‘Play little, Study little’, from June 25.
• As per the scheme, the students would be receiving audio and video content on learning activities projects along with entertainment and gaming activities through SMS or WhatsApp services.

India and Bhutan inked a pact for the construction of the 600 MW Kholongchhu project, their first hydropower joint venture project in Bhutan’s less advanced eastern region of Trashiyangtse. The project’s “Concession agreement,” which was inked in the presence through video-conference.

Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on 25th June 2020, Liverpool won the 2019-20 English Premier League season with 7 games still left in the season.  This is the first time that Liverpool has grabbed the English Premier League title.

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) announced the Indian economy could be developing at 1.3% in FY21 as a base case scenario. This prediction is based on the incorporation of the monetary and fiscal stimulus measures undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the central government.

The Union Cabinet permitted the inclusion of co-operative banks under supervisory controls of the Reserve Bank of India while declaring a Rs 1,542 crore year-long interest subvention scheme for microloan borrowers.

Australia and New Zealand were given the liberty to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup football tournament by a satisfactory margin after a vote by the FIFA Council on 25th June.

Bengaluru-based IT major Infosys Ltd has linked The Climate Pledge, an initiative co-founded by e-commerce firm Amazon and environment firm Global Optimism, to make a commitment to push the Paris Agreement 10 years early.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Madhya Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Company has begun the Nishtha Vidyut Mitra Scheme for women empowerment in one of its variety of initiatives. In this scheme, women Self-Help Groups at Gram Panchayat level will serve as Nishtha Vidyut Mitra.

The new President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera. He defeated incumbent Peter Mutharika with 58.57% of votes.

Reliance Foundation chairperson Nita Ambani to be the only Indian to highlight in Town & Country magazine’s top global philanthropists of 2020 list including Tim Cook, Oprah Winfrey, Laurene Powell Jobs, the Lauder Family, Donatella Versace, Michael Bloomberg and Leonardo Di Caprio among others.

Actor Priyanka Chopra and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap are amongst the 50 celebrated filmmakers and actors welcomed as the ambassadors of a slimmed-down Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this year.

China has decided to accompany a global pact on regulations of arms sales displaying its eagerness to approach the poorly regulated international arms trade after the United States pulled out last year.

6th International Yoga Day celebrations, the world’s first yoga university outside India has been originated in Los Angeles, offering programmes that blend scientific principles and modern research approaches to the ancient Indian tradition of yoga.

On June 26, 2020, the 36th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit was carried out by video conference on the theme “Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN”. The summit was led by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as Vietnam is ASEAN’s chair in 2020.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has started a new platform, named Yukti 2.0, which is an online depository for innovative concepts aimed at fostering and promoting innovation among students and teachers. The portal, named Yukti 2.0, was originally promoted with the name Massive Indian Novelty Depository (MIND).

Madhya Pradesh’s government will start a ‘Kill Corona campaign’ from July 1 to screen the whole population of the state in a fortnight. This was planned at a meeting led by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on 22nd June declared that his government will soon start the “Indira Rasoi Yojna” for the poor to make sure that ‘‘no one sleeps hungry’‘ in the state.

NASA declared that its headquarters will be entitled after one of its history-making engineers. In a news release, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told that the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters building will be named after Mary W. Jackson, its first African American female engineer.

THE HIMACHAL Pradesh Panchayati raj department has got first prize under the e-Panchayat Puraskars-2020, to be presented by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced on 24th June.

• India has rolled down three spots to 77th rank in terms of money deposited by its citizens and enterprises with Swiss banks at the end of 2019, while the UK has maintained its top position, as per the recent data from Switzerland’s central bank. India was placed 74th in the previous year.

Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced the Trust has planned to allot Rs 3,100 core for the fight against COVID-19. 50,000 ‘Made-in-India’ ventilators will be bought from the PM CARES Fund which will be provided to government run COVID hospitals in all States/UTs for better treatment of the critical COVID-19 cases.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh initiated Devika and Puneja bridges in Udhampur and Doda districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Micheál Martin has been appointed as Ireland’s new prime minister nearly five months after an indecisive election that smashed the twin pillars of Irish politics and pushed them to finally govern together.

• Hyundai Motor India has declared a tie-up with HDFC Bank to offer online auto retail financing solutions to the customers on its Click to Buy digital car-buying. A buyer can purchase any Hyundai vehicle, viz. 2020 Creta, 2020 Verna, Venue, Elite i20, Grand i10 Nios and Santro, through the Click to Buy platform.

After Nepal’s parliament supported the political map that displays the disputed areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as a portion of its territory earlier this month, some Nepalese FM radio stations close to India-Nepal border in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh have begun giving weather bulletins of these three areas.

Tripura govt on 24th June declared Mukhyamantri Matru Pushti Uphaar, an aspiring scheme to give nutrition kits to pregnant and lactating women. Pregnant women would be examined four times in nearby Primary Health Centers.

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) on 20th June stated it has stretched a line of credit (LOC) of USD 20.10 million to the Government of Nicaragua for reconstruction of Aldo Chavarria Hospital.

Flipkart-owned PhonePe it has tied-up with ICICI Bank on UPI multi-bank model, providing its customers the option to make and utilize multiple UPI IDs with ICICI and Yes Bank”s handles.

• Moody’s Investor Service further lowered its growth forecast for India to -3.1% this calendar year correlated to 0.2% in April.
• The June 2020 update of its Global Macro Outlook, published on 22nd June, expected a marginally greater rebound at 6.9% in 2021, as opposed to 6.2% in the April update.

Famous wrestler Mark William Calaway, usually known as by his ring name The Undertaker, on 22nd June declared that he is bidding adieu to WWE.

Every year the United Nations Public Service Day is celebrated on June 23 as a sign of honor and gratitude to people in public service, sometimes endangering their lives, in countries across the world.

Jharkhand is ready to become the first state to start an employment guarantee scheme for urban poor on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act to give an unemployment allowance if the state fails to give 100 days of work.

Haryana government and Reliance Jio TV have started an agreement that is expected to serve around 52 lakh school children in rural areas. This new agreement is made under the Chief Minister’s Distance Education Programme in order to extend education in rural areas without jeopardizing social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Karnataka Bank has started a new item KBL Micro Mitra, wherein financial support up to Rs.10 lakhs can be given to the Micromanufacturing and service enterprises either for functioning capital or for investment purposes.

The Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani started the online support initiative ‘At One Click’ with Rs 1,369 crore for almost 13000 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) (i.e. MSMEs and textile industries) in Gujarat.