DAILY Current Affairs 1 – 2 JAN 2020

DAILY Current Affairs 1 – 2 JAN 2020

1.    5th Swachh Survekshan League 2020

ü  Hardeep Singh Puri,has announced the results of Swachh Survekshan League 2020 (Quarter 1 and Quarter 2). >10lakh population: Among the cities with more than 10 lakh population category, Indore ranked 1st in both quarter 1 and quarter 2.

ü  1-10 lakh population: Among cities with 1-10 lakh population, Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) ranked 1st in both quarter 1 and quarter 2.

2.    2019-2025 National Infrastructure Pipeline report

ü  Nirmala Sitharaman released a report of the task force on National Infrastructure Pipeline for 2019-2025 (NIP 2019-25) inorder to achieve the $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 . Based on the information compiled by the task force headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty, Rs 102 lakh crores has been projected on the capital expenditure in infrastructure sectors in India during the fiscals 2020 to 2025.  The capital expenditure will be shared by the Centre, States and the private sector in the ratio 39:39:22 respectively.

3.    Review crop insurance scheme-PMFBY

ü  The central Government has formed a 7-member group of ministers (GoM) headed by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to review the crop insurance scheme ,“Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)” & make suggestions to improve it according to the needs of the farmers.

4.    Pragati Maidan metro station renamed as Supreme Court metro station

5.    14^th Global healthcare summit in 2021

ü  The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), a professional association for Indian American physicians, is set to organize a 3-days long 14^th Global Healthcare Summit (GHS) in Visakhapatnam,Andhra Pradesh(AP) from January 3, 2021 for the 1^st time.

6.    Department of military affairs

ü  Government has created a new ‘Department of Military affairs (DMA)’ in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to be headed by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat. The new department works for the unity of the three forces Army, Navy and Air Force and will also monitor the services .The DMA is the 5th department in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and was created after a change in Government of India (Allocation of Business), Rules 1961.

7.    RBI governor launched MANI app

ü  Shri Shaktikanta Das launched a mobile app named “MANI” (Mobile Aided Note Identifier) that would help visually impaired people to identify denomination of currency notes correctly.

8.    Small savings schemes interest rates unchanged

ü  Union Finance Ministry,  has not made any changes in the interest rates on its small savings schemes (SSS) of the post office for the fourth quarter of the financial year(FY)  2019-20 starting from January 1, 2020- March 31, 2020 due to softening in the bank deposit rate.
Current Interest Rates of Small Savings Schemes:

Small Savings Scheme	Annual Interest Rate
Public Provident Fund (PPF)	7.9%
National Savings Certificate (NSC)	7.9%
Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP)	7.6%  (113 months maturity)
Sukanya Samriddhi Account	8.4%

9.    Piyuus jaiswal wins Global Bihar excellence award 2019

ü  Piyuus Jaiswal has been awarded the Global Bihar Excellence Award 2019 by Rajya Sabha MP and Padma Shri Awardee Dr CP Thakur & Bihar Women Commission president Dilmani Devi in Patna, Bihar for his invaluable and outstanding contribution towards social welfare, women empowerment and introducing new talent in the field of arts and culture.

10. TS Sundar appointed as interim MD&CEO and additional director of Lakshmi Vilas Bank

11. HDFC gets requisite approval to hold a 51.2% stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company

ü  HDFC has received its requisite approvals from Competition Commission of India (CCI), IRDAI to acquire 51.2% stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company from Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited (AHEL) and other shareholders. After the acquisition, Apollo Munich will be merged with and into HDFC Ergo, subject to approval from the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal. IRDAI granted approval under Section 6A of the Insurance Act, 1938.

12. IAF chief formally inducted Dornier 228 aircraft

ü  Indian Air Force Chief Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria formally inducted the light utility aircraft Flight Inspection System (FIS) Dornier 228 into the No. 41 ‘Otters’ Squadron at a ceremony at the Palam Air Force Station in New Delhi.

ü  About Dornier-228 aircraft:
The Do-228 is a twin-engine, multirole light transport aircraft, capable of transporting up to 19 passengers or various cargoes, jointly designed and developed by Indian aircraft manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and RUAG Aerospace, Germany.

13. UPSRTC launched ‘Damini’ helpline service

ü  UPSRTC (Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation) has launched ‘Damini’ helpline service considering the safety of the women passengers in Uttar Pradesh (UP). As the extension of ‘Nirbhaya Yojana’ the unique number “81142-77777”.

14. Kerala became 1st State to pass resolution against citizenship Amendment Act

ü  Kerala became the 1st state in the country to pass a resolution scrapping the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA). The resolution was moved by Kerala’s Chief Minister Shri Pinarayee Vijayan and was seconded by the Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala.