20 September 2020: Today’s News Headlines

INDIA

• Rajya Sabha passes Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to punish those attacking healthcare workers
• Covid-19: Commercial launch of Tata CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) test approved by DGCI (Drug Controller General of India); developed by CSIR-IGIB (Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology)
• NITI Aayog, ISPP (Indian School of Public Policy) join hands for capacity building of government officials
• Tamil Nadu becomes first state with AI, blockchain, cybersecurity policies
• Veteran Rabindra Sangeet exponent Purba Dam dies at 85 in Kolkata

ECONOMY & CORPORATE

• Lok Sabha passes Bill to amend Companies Act to decriminalise and reduce/remove penalties of various offences, promote ease of doing business
• Rajya Sabha passes bill to ensure that fresh insolvency proceedings will not be initiated for at least six months starting March 25 under IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code)
• Lok Sabha gives nod to Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020
• India’s total external debt increased by 2.8% to USD 558.5 billion at the end of March 2020
• Bills on occupational safety, social security and industrial relations introduced in Lok Sabha; to allow companies with less than 300 workers to terminate employment without prior approval
• KVIC gets Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal to remove 160 fake Khadi products online

WORLD

• Konkan Railway delivers two DMUC (Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit) trains to the Nepal Railway for Jaynagar (Bihar)-Kurtha (Nepal) broad gauge line; built by Integrated Coach Factory, Chennai
• Nepal introduces new text books with revised map incorporating Indian territory of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura
• 50th meeting of India’s BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh concludes in Dhaka
• US bans Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat citing threat to national security
• Ruth Ginsburg, former US Supreme Court judge and women’s rights champion, dies at 87
• Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney quits as UK’s special envoy on media freedom

SPORTS

• Sports activities resume at SAI training centres under “Khelo India-Firr Se” drive: Kiren Rijiju
• IPL: Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in first match played in Abu Dhabi