DAILY GK 2,3 APRIL

 DAILY GK 2,3 APRIL

1.       NEW  INTEREST RATES ONSMALL SAVINGS SCHEMES

·         The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance (MoF) has announced an interest rate hike on various Small Savings Schemes for the first quarter of the financial year 2023-24 ( Q1 FY24) (i.e. April 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023), marking the third consecutive quarter of rate hikes.

·         Small Savings Schemes have about 40 crore subscribers, and the basket includes 12 instruments such as the National Savings Certificate (NSC), Public Provident Fund (PPF), KisanVikas Patra (KVP), SukanyaSamridihi Account (SSA), Monthly Income Savings Scheme, all post office time deposits, etc.,

·         The interest rate on these savings instruments has been raised by 10-70 basis points (bps) [one percentage point is equivalent to 100 bps].

·         However, the interest rate for PPF scheme has been kept unchanged at 7.1% over Q1 FY24, and its returns have remained constant at 7.1% for the last three years.

 

2.       MOSPI) REPORT - ‘WOMEN AND MEN IN INDIA 2022’

·         The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released its report titled ‘Women and Men in India 2022’ which is 24th in series.

·         As per it, an average Indian woman, aged between 15 and 29 spends 5.5 hours doing unpaid labour.

·         A man in that age group spends about 50 minutes a day doing work that yields no money.

·         A senior woman (aged above 60) too spends four hours a day doing unpaid labour, while a senior man spends an hour and a half on the same.

 

3.       GEORGIA TO CONDEMN HINDUPHOBIA

·         Georgia, United States of America(USA) passed a resolution condemning “Hinduphobia” and “anti-Hindu bigotry”- becoming the first state in the country to do so.

·         The resolution was introduced by Representatives Lauren McDonald and Todd Jones from Forsyth County in the suburbs of Atlanta, home to one of the largest Hindu and Indian-American diaspora communities in Georgia.

 

4.       IPPB LAUNCHED BANKING SERVICES ON WHATSAPP

·         India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), under the ownership of the Department of Post, the Ministry of Communications, partnered with New Delhi (Delhi)-based Bharti Airtel Limited to launch banking services through WhatsApp for its customers.

·         With this new IPPB WhatsApp Banking channel, users of the bank will be able to easily connect with the bank on WhatsApp and access a variety of banking services, including doorstep service requests and locating the nearest Post Office.

 

5.       SAGAR SETU MOBILE APP LAUNCHED

·         The Union Minister SarbanandaSonowal, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) launched a mobile application – “SAGAR SETU”, the app Version of National Logistics Portal (Marine) in New Delhi

·         The SAGAR-SETU app helps custodians in easier access to functionalities on a handheld device by reducing turnaround time for approval and compliances.

 

6.       ANTI TANK GUIDED MISSILE, AMOGHA-III TESTED

·         Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) successfully conducted a field firing test of its indigenous third generation man-portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM), Amogha-III.

·         The whole missile system comes with a command launch unit (CLU), remote operation capability and a tripod.

·         The missile also features a dual-mode Imaging Infrared (IIR) Seeker with a range of 200 to 2500 meters.

·         The anti-armour tandem warhead of the missile can penetrate in excess of 650 mm beyond Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA).

 

7.       EARTH HOUR 2023 – MARCH 25

·         Earth Hour is annually observed across the globe on the last Saturday of March by turning out the lights from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (local time) as a symbolic act of support for the action taken on environmental issues and protecting the planet.

·         The theme of Earth Hour 2023 is “The Biggest Hour for Earth”.

·         Earth Hour was initiated by the World Wide Fund of Nature (WWF), formerly the World Wildlife Fund and partners as a symbolic lights-out event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007.