DAILY GK: 18 MAR 2021

 DAILY GK: 18 MAR 2021

1. ‘INS DHRUV’ NUCLEAR MISSILE TRACKING VESSEL

•      India commissioned its Ocean Surveillance & Nuclear Missile Tracking Vessel called ‘INS Dhruv’, with this it became the 5th Country after USA, France, Russia & China to possess such a Tracking vessel.

•      It was constructed at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd, Visakhapatnam under the Make in India initiative at an ~ cost of INR 725 Crore.

•      Joint Crew of National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy.

 

2. HURUN INDIA REPORT ON HNI HOUSEHOLDS

•      Hurun India released the ‘Wealth Report 2020’ in which Maharashtra ranked first in the state wise distribution of High Net-worth Individual(HNI) households with 56,000 millionaire households followed by Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat.

 

3. IR CONNECTS 2 ENDS OF ARCH OF ‘CHENAB BRIDGE’

•      Indian Railway has successfully connected the 2 ends of the main arch of ‘Chenab Bridge’ – World’s Highest Railway Bridge.

•      It is being built by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd (KRCL) at a cost of INR 12, 000 Crores.

•      The bridge is 1.315 Kms long and is to be completed by the end of 2021.

•      It is being constructed over the River Chenab which is 35 Metres higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

 

4. IQAIR REPORT

•      According to the ‘2020 World Air Quality Report’ released by IQAir (Swiss Air Technology Company), India was the 3rd Most Polluted Country in the World in 2020 after Bangladesh & Pakistan.

•      Delhi was the most polluted Capital City for the 3rd consecutive time it was followed by Dhaka (Bangladesh) & Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia).

•      In the case of World’s most polluted cities, Hotan of China came first followed by India’s Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) & Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh).

•      The rankings are based on annual average PM 2.5 (Particulate Matter) of the year 2020. It covered 106 Countries.

 

5. UN’S REPORT “STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES”

•      United Nations(UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs(DESA) released the State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (SOWIP) volume V entitled “Rights to Lands, Territories and Resources”.

•      The report examines challenges faced by the indigenous people in asserting their rights to lands, in the context of agribusiness, extractive industries, development, conservation and tourism.

•      The preparation of the report was overseen by the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

 

6. INDIA’S FIRST SOFR LINKED ECB DEAL

•      State Bank of India (SBI) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) inked the first SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate) linked External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) deal by replacing the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) which is used by world banks when charging each other for short-term loans.

•      This SOFR linked ECB deal is for about $100 million with a maturity of 5 years.

 

7. RBI IMPOSES RS 2 CRORE PENALTY ON SBI

•      RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs.2 crore on the State Bank of India over “deficiencies in regulatory compliance”.

•      SBI was penalized for “contravention of provisions of section 10 (1) (b) (ii) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and specific directions of RBI issued to the bank on payment of remuneration to employees in the form of commission”.

•      SBI was fined Rs 7 crore by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2019 for violating norms related to non-performing assets (NPAs) and fraud risk management, among other items.

 

8. BLOOMBERG BILLIONAIRES INDEX

•      Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani is poised to become the world’s richest man by 2021, ahead of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk as per the recent Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

•      Adani, a first-generation entrepreneur added a total of USD 16.2 billion to his net worth which has now jumped to USD 50 billion.

 

9. PRITZKER ARCHITECTURE PRIZE 2021

•      French architects and educators Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal were selected as the laureates of the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2021, the highest honour in the field of architecture.

•      The award was announced by Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation. The Paris based duo won the award for their various social housing projects undertaken by their Paris based studio Lacaton & Vassal.

 

10. KAPIL DEV INDUCTED INTO PGTI

•      Former Indian Cricketer Kapil Dev was inducted into the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) as a board member.

•      Kapil Dev, the captain of the Indian Cricket team that won the 1983 World Cup, will be working towards the development of Golf in the country.

 

11. INDIAN ARMY DECOMMISSIONS 2 ARTILLERY

•      Indian Army decommissioned 2 of its longest serving Artillery – 130mm Self Propelled M-46 Catapult Guns and the 160mm Tampella Mortars, after making a customary firing of their last salvos in Mahajan Field Firing Range.

•      The decommissioning event saw the presence of Director General Artillery, Lieutenant General K Ravi Prasad.

 

12. BOOK “GANDHI IN BOMBAY’’

•      The Indiatourism Mumbai, Regional Office of Ministry of Tourism in the Western Region organized an online book reading session of “Gandhi in Bombay’’ by the authors Dr.

•      Usha Thakkar and  Sandhya Mehta , as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.

 

13.11TH EDITION OF INDIA CHEM-2021

•      Chemicals and Fertilizer Minister Sadananda Gowda will inaugurate the 11th edition of India Chem-2021.

•      The theme is – “India: Global Manufacturing Hub for Chemicals and Petrochemicals”.

 

14. CABINET APPROVES BILL TO SET UP DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INSTITUTION (DFI)

•      The Union Cabinet has approved a bill to set up Development Finance Institution (DFI) with an initial capital infusion of 20 thousand crore rupees.

•      Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the initial grant to the DFI will be  5 thousand crore rupees and additional increments of grants will be made within the limit of 5 thousand crore rupees.