DAILY GK : 14 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 14 JAN 2021

1. PMFBY COMPLETES 5 YEARS OF OPERATION

      Government of India’s Crop Insurance Scheme – Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has completed 5 years of its operation.

      It was launched by the Government on 13th January, 2016.

      The Scheme is in line with One Nation – One Scheme theme.

      It replaces 2 existing Crop Insurance schemes – National Agricultural Insurance Scheme & modified NAIS (National Agricultural Insurance Scheme).

      The scheme was made voluntary for all farmers post revamp in February, 2020.

      Union Agriculture Ministry has stated that around INR 90, 000 Crore has been disbursed to farmers since the launch of the scheme.

 

2. ‘SEA VIGIL 21’- LARGEST COASTAL DEFENCE EXERCISE

      The Second Edition of the Biennial Pan-India, Largest Coastal Defence Exercise ‘Sea Vigil-21’ coordinated by Indian Navy.

      It was conducted along the entire 7516 Km coastline & Exclusive Economic Zone of India.

      The Defence Exercise involved 13 Coastal States/Union Territories.

      It also included the fishing and coastal communities.

 

3. INDIA’S 1ST FIRE PARK

      Naveen Patnaik virtually inaugurated India’s first ‘Fire Park’ at Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.

      On that occasion CM Patnaik also launched the virtual platform ‘Agnishama Seva’ to provide through which 16 fire related services can be availed.

      The Fire Park is a first of its kind initiative to provide awareness on fire safety measures, mainly focusing on School and College students.

 

4. INDIA, VIETNAM HOLD DEFENCE SECURITY DIALOGUE

      13th India-Vietnam Defence Security Dialogue was held virtually.

      Dr Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary, Government of India & Lt Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Defence Minister, Socialist Republic of Vietnam co-chaired the meeting.

 

5. COLLABORATATION TO  STOCKPILE A GLOBAL EBOLA VACCINE

      World’s four leading Health and Humanitarian organisations UNICEF, World Health Organisation (WHO), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) collaborated to stockpile a global Ebola Vaccine with financial assistance from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

      The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization has recommended 500,000 doses of Ebola vaccine to be stockpiled, as a precautionary measure to the sudden Ebola outbreak.

 

6. TESLA INC REGISTERS INDIA SUBSIDIARY IN BENGALURU

      Tesla Inc, United States based Electric car maker has incorporated a fully owned subsidiary in Bengaluru, Karnataka as a first step to establish a Research & Development (R&D) unit in India.

      It has registered with the Registrar of Companies in Bengaluru, Karnataka as ‘Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited’.

      It is also in the process of setting up a manufacturing plant at Dharwad, Karnataka for producing electric vehicles in India.

 

7. HURUN GLOBAL 500

      list – a list of 500 most valuable companies across the globe, of Hurun Research features a total of 11 Indian companies.

      According to the report India secured the 10th rank with 11 companies whose total values grew 14% and reached 805 billion USD (around one third of Indian GDP).

      Topped by United States with 242 companies.

      Apple tops the list with a value of 2.1 Trillion USD followed by Microsoft with a value of 1.640 Trillion and Amazon with a value of 1.610 Trillion and Alphabet with 1.2 trillion USD.

 

Rank      Company Name                                  Value(billion USD)             % Change            Country

54           Reliance Industries                              168.8                                      21%                        India

73           Tata Consultancy Services                                139                                         30%                        India

105         HDFC Bank                                         107.5                                      11.5%                    India

 

8. TECH MAHINDRA TO ACQUIRE PTSL

      IT services major, Tech Mahindra is set to acquire 100% share of Hong Kong based Payments Technology Service Ltd (PTSL) a subsidiary of Fidelity Information Services (FIS) for $9 million (about Rs.66 Crore) to scale its enterprise payments and banking capabilities.

      In regard to this acquisition, Tech Mahindra had signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with FIS.

      The transaction is expected to completed by 31 March 2021.

 

9. 83 TEJAS MK-1A FOR INDIAN AIR FORCE

      In a big push to “Make in India”, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday approved the procurement of 83 Tejas Mk-1A fighter jets for the Indian Air Force from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, in the largest-ever indigenous military aviation deal worth around Rs 48,000 crores.

      “The CCS today approved the largest indigenous defence procurement deal worth about Rs 48,000 crores to strengthen the IAF’s fleet of home-grown fighter jet LCA-Tejas.

      This deal will be a game-changer for self-reliance in Indian defence manufacturing,” defence minister Rajnath Singh tweeted.