Current Affairs in Short: 1 September 2020

India’s GDP growth contracts by 23.9 percent in Q1 of FY21

• The Indian economy contracted by 23.9 percent in the first quarter (April-June) of the Fiscal year 2020-21 as the COVID-19 pandemic compressed consumer demand and private investments, as per government data released on August 31, 2020.
• The GDP at constant (2011-12) prices in Q1 of 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 26.9 lakh crore in comparison to Rs 35.35 lakh crore in Q1 of 2019-20, showing a contraction of 23.9 percent. In the last fiscal, India’s GDP had shown 5.2 percent growth during the same quarter, as per the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• Besides this, the quarterly gross value added at basic price at constant (2011-12) prices for Q1 of 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 25.53 lakh crore. In the first quarter of the 2019-20 fiscal year, the same was Rs 33.08 lakh crore, which shows a contraction of 22.8 percent.

In a first, female IPS officer appointed CRPF Inspector General in terror-hit Srinagar

• Charu Sinha has become the first female IPS officer to get appointed as the Inspector General (IG) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the terrorist-hit Srinagar sector. 
• Charu Sinha is a 1996-batch IPS officer from Telangana cadre. She will now be heading the Srinagar sector for CRPF as the Inspector General. 
• However, this is not the first time that Sinha has been assigned such a tough task. Earlier as well, she has worked as Inspector General of CRPF in the Bihar sector and has dealt with Naxals. Under her leadership, several anti-Naxal operations were carried out. 
• She was later transferred to IG Jammu in CRPF where she spent a long and successful tenure. Now she has been appointed as the IG Srinagar sector. The Srinagar sector has never had a female officer at IG level. 
• The sector closely works with the Indian Army and the Jammu and Kashmir police and is often involved in anti-terror operations. 

EIB to invest EUR650 million in Kanpur metro rail project

• The European Investment Bank (EIB) is set to invest EUR650 million for the construction of Kanpur's first city metro line. 
• The new metro rail system in Kanpur will help reduce commuting time and provide fast and affordable public transport to almost 3 million people in the city. 
• The metro line will open up new employment and education opportunities in Kanpur, which is known as the industrial capital of Uttar Pradesh.
• Kanpur Metro is the fifth Indian metro rail project to receive funds from the European Investment Bank. It is also the biggest investment made by the Bank outside the European Union.

Japan commits Rs 3,500 Cr development assistance loan to India to battle COVID-19

• Japan has committed an official Development Assistance loan worth Rs 3,500 Cr to India for the COVID-19 Crisis Emergency Response Support. This was agreed upon through the exchange of notes between Ambassador of Japan to India Suzuki Satoshi and Additional Secretary in Economic Affairs Department Dr. C.S. Mohapatra.
• Following this, a loan agreement for the Health sector programme loan was signed between Dr. Mohapatra and Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in New Delhi Katsuo Matsumoto.
• The programme loan will support India’s efforts in fighting COVID-19 and help prepare India’s healthcare system to manage future epidemics and also to improve the resilience of the nation’s health systems against infectious diseases.
• India and Japan also exchanged notes for grant assistance worth Rs 70 crore from the Japan Government. The grant-in-aid is for providing medical equipment to strengthen the public health and medical system in India for managing of critical and serious patients suffering from COVID-19 infection.

AstraZeneca's vaccine reaches Phase 3 clinical trials in the US: Trump

• US President Donald Trump announced on August 31, 2020 that AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine has reached Phase 3 clinical trials in the United States. Trump announced that the vaccine is very close to being finalised for approval. The President announced that the process usually could have taken years but his administration did in a matter of months.
• AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine, which has been developed by researchers at UK’s Oxford University, will enroll approximately 30,000 adult volunteers at 80 sites across the US for phase 3 clinical trials. The volunteers will be from diverse racial, ethnic and geographic groups who are healthy or have stable underlying medical conditions including those with HIV and those who are at increased risk of contracting the infection. 
• The phase 3 clinical trial of AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine is being implemented as part of Operation Warp Speed in the US, which aims to deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021.
• AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine is one of the leading COVID vaccine candidates in the world. The vaccine is also undergoing clinical trials in India. 

Japan former foreign minister announces candidacy to succeed PM Shinzo Abe

• Japan’s former foreign minister, Fumio Kishida has announced his candidacy to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who resigned from his post recently citing poor health. 
• The policy chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) formally announced on September 1, 2020 that he would participate in the LDP leadership election to chose Abe’s successor. 
• The candidate who wins the LDP leadership election is virtually assured to be the next Prime Minister of Japan as the party enjoys a majority in the lower house of Japan’s Parliament. 
• Abe resigned on August 28 ending his tenure as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister due to ill health as a result of his long-running battle with ulcerative colitis.