DAILY GK 22, 23 JULY

 DAILY GK 22, 23 JULY

1.       NITI AAYOG INDIA INNOVATION INDEX 2021

·         Suman Bery, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India), released the third edition of the India Innovation Index 2021 at NITI Bhawan in New Delhi, Delhi.

·         The third edition of the index enhances the scope of innovation analysis in India by leveraging the framework of the Global Innovation Index (GII), which is released by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) on a yearly basis.

·         Karnataka topped the India Innovation Index 2021 and also held its top spot in the India Innovation Index in the ‘Major States’ category for the third year in a row.

·         It is followed by Telangana and Haryana.

·         In the North-Eastern and hilly states, Manipur has emerged as the best performer, followed by Meghalaya and Uttarakhand.

 

2.       NITI AAYOG RELEASES REPORT ON DIGITAL BANKS

·         The Central Government think tank, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog releases its report on digital banks, titled ‘Digital Banks: A proposal for Licensing and Regulatory Regime for India’ offering a template and roadmap for licensing and regulatory regime for India.

·         The report was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery; and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Parameswaran Iyer; and Senior Adviser Anna Roy

·         A digital bank would be a bank defined in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and will have its own balance sheet and legal existence.

·         India has made rapid strides in furthering financial inclusion.

·         However, credit penetration remains a challenge, especially for India’s 63-million-odd MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) that contribute 30% to GDP (Gross Domestic Product), 45% to manufacturing output, and 40% to exports, while creating employments.

 

3.       SBI TO RAISE RS. 11,000 CRORE IN BASEL III BONDS IN FY23

·         The State Bank of India (SBI), the largest lender in India, has received approval from its Board of Directors to issue bonds to raise up to Rs. 11,000 crores via additional tier-I and tier II bonds during the current fiscal year 2022–23 (FY23).

·         Of the total earmarked fund-raise, the approval is for additional tier-1 (AT-1) capital up to Rs. 7,000 crore, subject to concurrence from the Government of India (GoI).

·         The remaining Rs. 4,000 crore will be in the form of tier-2 capital.

·         AT-1 bonds, often known as perpetual bonds, have no maturity date but contain a call option at the end of five years.

·         SBI’s Central Board approved the plan to raise capital through the issuance of Basel III company debt instruments in Indian Rupee (INR), United States Dollar (USD), or any other convertible currency.

·         At the end of March 2022, SBI’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) was 13.83 %, with Tier-1 at 11.42 % and Tier-2 at 2.41 %.

 

4.       FIH APPOINTS EGYPT’S SEIF AHMED AS ACTING PRESIDENT

·         The International Hockey Federation (Fédération Internationale de Hockey – FIH) appointed Egypt’s Seif Ahmed as its acting president after the  resignation of India’s Dr.Narinder Dhruv Batra from the post.

·         India will host the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in January 2023.

·         FIH-Headquarters- Lausanne, Switzerland

 

5.        ‘VARUNA’- INDIA’S FIRST HUMAN PASSENGER DRONE

·         Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi unveiled the pilotless drone “Varuna” -India’s first indigenous human passenger drone during Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) seminar ‘Swavlamban’ at Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi, Delhi.  

·         It was developed by a start-up, Sagar Defence Engineering. It has the capacity of carrying one human inside.

·         It has a range of 25 kms with a carrying capacity of payload of 130 kgs and around 25-33 minutes of flight time.

·         There are four auto-pilot models which help the drone to continue flying even if some fans fail to function.

·         Drone was made specifically for the use by the Indian Navy.

·         The Varuna is currently being developed along with NTDAC (Naval Technology Development acceleration cell).

 

6.       NITI AAYOG LAUNCHES 2 INITIATIVES TO BOOST ELECTRIC MOBILITY

·         Alok Sharma ,The President of COP 26 (Conference of the Parties), during his visit to India in July during and NITI Aayog launched two significant UK (United Kingdom)-NITI Aayog collaborative initiatives .

·         They launched E-AMRIT (Accelerated e-Mobility Revolution for India’s Transportation) mobile application to raise awareness on electric mobility

·         It also launched Report on Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Reuse and Recycling Market in India.

7.       NTPC SIGNS SOT WITH NITI AAYOG TO DEVELOP NET ZERO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS ROADMAP

NTPC has signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) with National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog to develop a net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions roadmap for NTPC.

·         NTPC would help in reducing the carbon footprint for achieving the targets for emissions and energy (portfolio mix) modelling including the development of scenarios for 2030, 2037, 2047 and 2070

·         This also supports India’s ‘Panchamrit’ goals that was undertaken during Conference Of Parties (COP) 26 for achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2070.

·         NTPC has become India’s 1st energy company to declare its energy compact goals as part of the United Nations (UN) High-level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE).

 

8.       ENERGY PRIZE 2022

·         The 3 winners of the 2022 Global Energy Prize were Viktor Orlov from Russia along with Mercouri Kanatzidis(Greece) and Kaushik Rajashekara(India) from the United States of America (USA).

·         Kaushik Rajashekara, who is known as “Raja,” won the award in “New Ways of Energy Applications” category for contributions to transportation electrification and energy efficiency technologies.

·         Victor Orlov won the award in the “Traditional Energy” category

·         Mercouri Kanadzidis won the award in the “Unconventional Energy” category.

 

9.       DROUPADI MURMU ELECTED AS INDIA’S 15TH PRESIDENT

·         Droupadi Murmu, a former Governor of Jharkhand and candidate for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is elected as India’s 15th President in the 16th Presidential Election of 2022.

·         She is the second woman to hold the Constitutional Post after Pratibha Patel.

·         Droupadi Murmu would be the first tribal woman to be elected President of India

·         She will be the first President born after India’s independence.

·         As per Article 54 of the Constitution, the President of India is indirectly elected by the Members of an Electoral College consisting of The elected members of both Houses of Parliament (LokSabha & RajyaSabha), and

The elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all States [including National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi and the Union Territory (UT) of Puducherry].

 

10.    DINESH GUNAWARDENA APPOINTED AS 15TH PRIME MINISTER OF SRI LANKA

·         The 73 years old senior Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (Member of Parliament) Dinesh Gunawardena became the 15th Prime Minister (PM) of Sri Lanka.

·         He was sworn-in as the Prime Minister in the presence of  President Ranil Wickremesinghe and  Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya at the Parliament.

·         He belonged to the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna party.