DAILY GK : 4 DEC 2020

 DAILY GK : 4 DEC 2020

1. INTERNATIONAL SAND ART FESTIVAL

•      Odisha government tourism department has organised the 9th edition of International Sand Art festival at Chandrabhaga Beach in Odisha’s Puri district and parallely the 31st edition of Konark dance festival following the COVID-19 protocols.

•      Theme of the 2020 International Sand Art festival is “environment” and “COVID-19”.

•      India’s renowned sand artist and Padma Shri Awardee, Sudarsan Pattnaik, is the Chief Curator of the event.

 

2. DR HARSH VARDHAN CHAIRED “HEALTH TALKS”

•      As a part of 13th Sweden India Nobel Memorial Week 2020, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) chaired the inaugural session of “Health Talks”, an annual conference of the India Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre.

•      The Sweden India Nobel Memorial Week was instituted in the memory of Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel and celebrates his biggest contributions viz. innovations, entrepreneurship and creativity.

 

3. INDIA’S ANNUAL TAX LOSS OVER $10.3 BN

•      The Tax Justice Network (TJN) has released the first-of-its-kind report titled “The State of Tax Justice 2020- Tax Justice in the time of COVID-19” in accordance to which the international corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion is incurring a global loss of over $427 billion in tax each year.

•      In this scenario, India’s annual tax loss aggregates to $10.3 billion i.e. $10,319,683,940 (equivalent to INR 70,000 crore), of which, a major part is corporate tax evasion nearly $10.11 billion and $202.15 million is offshore private tax evasion.

 

4. 6TH BRICS YOUTH SUMMIT 2020

•      6th BRICS Youth Summit 2020 opening ceremony and a meeting of BRICS Ministers was held in Ulyanovsk, Russia. 

•      Kiren Rijiju virtually addressed the 6th BRICS Youth Summit 2020 on behalf of India.

•      Also India to host BRICS Games in 2021.On the occasion of India’s annual sports competitions along with the Khelo India Games, BRICS member countries will be invited to showcase their traditional indigenous games in the inaugural or closing ceremony of Khelo India 2021, at Panchkula, Haryana.

 

5. FININ BECOMES INDIA’S 1ST FULL-FLEDGED CONSUMER NEOBANK

•      Finin launched itself as a ‘neobank’, in partnership with SBM Bank (India) Limited (SBM Bank India).

•      It is India’s 1st full-fledged consumer neobank.

•      SBM Bank India has launched Hyper-personalised SmartBanking platform in partnership with Finin.

•      The platform helps the users to manage , save and invest their money in a smarter, secured and simpler way.

 

6. FORTUNE 500 RANKING LIST

•      Fortune India announced the 2020 Fortune 500 Ranking List of Indian companies .

•      The list is topped by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) with revenue of Rs 615,854.00 crore, accounting for 7% of cumulative revenues and 11% profit of the companies featured.

•      RIL retains the top rank  for the 2nd time.

•      Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.(IOCL) secured 2nd rank with revenue of Rs 493,932.99 crore followed by Oil & Natural Gas Corporation with revenue of Rs 405,243.31 crore.

 

7. TASK FORCE TO IMPART TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN MOTHER TONGUE

•      Union Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ constituted a Task Force for preparing a blueprint on imparting Technical Education in Mother Tongue.

•      The Task Force will be headed by Secretary of Higher Education (Amit Khare).

•      The Task Force will submit a report in 1 month based on suggestions made by various stakeholders.

 

8. FORMER PM OF PAKISTAN, ZAFARULLAH JAMALI PASSES AWAY

•      15th Prime Minister of Pakistan Zafarullah khan Jamali passed away at Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology & National Institute of Heart Diseases (AFIC-NIHD), a military hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

 

9. INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY 2020

•      The United Nations(UN)’s International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is annually celebrated across the globe on 2nd December with an aim to eradicate the modern form of slavery like human trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labour, forced marriage and forced recruitment of children for armed conflicts.

 

 10. “RAIMONA NATIONAL PARK” IN THE RIPU RESERVED FOREST

•      The Assam government has proposed to establish its 6th National park, the “Raimona National Park” in the Ripu Reserved Forest of the state which was severely damaged due to militancy.

•      The proposal to upgrade an area of 422 square kilometer notified Ripu Reserve forest under Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve into Raimona National Park has been submitted to Jagadish Mukhi, the governor of Assam.

 

11. INDIGENOUS AIRCRAFT CARRIER TO BE COMMISSIONED

•      Indian Navy’s Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) will be commissioned by the end of 2021 or by early 2022.

•      The IAC had undergone Basin Trials at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CGL).

•      The Sea Trials of the IAC would be undertaken in the first half of 2021 after which it will be inducted into the Indian Navy as Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vikrant.