CURRENT AFFAIRS 5 SEPT 2020

 CURRENT AFFAIRS 5 SEPT 2020

1)    12TH MEKONG GANGA COOPERATION SENIOR OFFICIALS’

·       12th Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Senior Officials Meeting took place virtually, The key areas of cooperation tourism, culture, education, transport and communications were discussed and reviewed during the meeting.

·       The meeting was attended by Senior Officials from all 6 MGC Member States (India, Cambodia, Lao PDR (People’s Democratic Republic), Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam).

 

2)    RBI ANNOUNCED ADDITIONAL OMO OF RS 20,000 CR

·       RBI announced measures in order to ensure orderly market conditions and congenial financial conditions.

·       In this regard Reserve Bank will conduct additional special open market operations (OMO) involving the simultaneous purchase and sale of Government securities (G-secs) for Rs 20,000 crore in two tranches of  Rs 10,000 crore each on September 10, 2020 and September 17, 2020.

·       The apex bank also announced term repo operations of Rs 100,000 crore (1 trillion) to infuse liquidity into the market.

·       Reserve Bank also increased the held to maturity limit (HTM) or the amount that banks invest in G-secs from 19.5% to 22%. 

·       RBI reviewed the Priority Sector Lending (PSL) Guidelines to align it with emerging national priorities amid COVID-19 impact.

·       In this regard, new categories are included under priority sector for financing viz. start-ups (up to Rs 50 crore); loans to farmers for installation of solar power plants for solarisation of grid connected agriculture pumps and loans for setting up Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plants.

 

3)    LIGO AND VIRGO DETECTED MAMMOTH COLLISION OF ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ BLACK HOLES FOR 1ST TIME

·       For the 1st time, The Collision of ‘Impossible’ Black Holes was detected and directly observed by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Laboratory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration also known as LVC (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), which includes scientists from the Australian National University (ANU). 

·       They Initially found 2 black holes of 66 and 85 solar masses, which generated a final black hole of 142 solar masses, till now it is the largest black hole ever observed through gravitational-wave observations.

 

4)    PUNJAB GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES ‘I RAKHWALI’ APP

·       Punjab State Minister for Department of Forest & WildLife & Preservation Sadhu Singh Dharmsot launched ‘I Rakhwali’ application.

·       The app was launched to safeguard the forest areas in the state by making common citizens as stakeholders in the process.

·       It will help citizens to become ‘Greenery Saviours’.

·       The main aim is to inspire people to plant more trees and this app will help people come forward and contribute towards environment protection.