DAILY GK 20-21 AUG 2024
1. NATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AWARDS
2023
·
President of India Droupadi Murmu conferred
the National Geoscience Awards (NGA) for 2023 of
the Ministry of Mines on 21 Geoscientists during a ceremony organized at
Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre in New Delhi, Delhi.
·
A total of 12 awards to 21
Geoscientists were honoured under three categories: National
Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement, National Geoscience Award, and
National Young Geoscientist Award.
·
The National Geoscience Award for Lifetime
Achievement was bestowed upon Prof.Dhiraj
Mohan Banerjee, an Emeritus Scientist at the Indian National Science
Academy (INSA) for his pioneering research on phosphorites, isotope geology,
and organic geochemistry of Precambrian sedimentary rocks in India.
·
Geological Survey of India (GSI) Headquartered–
Kolkata, West Bengal (WB)
·
Establishment– 1851
2. HOCKEY INDIA RETIRES NO. 16 JERSEY
IN HONOUR OF PR SREEJESH
·
Hockey India has officially
retired the No. 16 jersey from the national senior men’s
team in honour of Parattu Raveendran (PR) Sreejesh, the
goalkeeper who announced his retire
after the Paris Olympics 2024.
·
He is regarded as the ‘God of
Indian Modern History’ and popularly known as “The Wall of India”.
·
Hockey India also appointed him as
the coach for the Junior Men’s Hockey
Team.
·
He
was honored with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in
2021.
·
He
became the second Indian athlete to be named World
Games Athlete of the Year in 2021 after Indian women’s hockey
captain Rani Rampal in 2020.
·
He
received the Arjuna Award (hockey) in 2015 and he
was awarded with 4th highest civilian award Padma Shri(sports) in 2017.
3. AI-POWERED NATIONAL PEST SURVEILLANCE
SYSTEM
·
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan,
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW)
launched the Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based National
Pest Surveillance System (NPSS), a digital
initiative to connect farmers with agriculture scientists and experts for pest
management, at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New
Delhi, Delhi.
·
This platform is expected to benefit about 14 crore (140 million)
farmers in India by enabling direct communication with experts.
·
The NPSS is a digital initiative by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (DA&FW), MoA&FW.
4. RBI IMPOSES FINES ON 7
ENTITIES
·
The Reserve Bank of
India imposed penalties on 5 entities,
including CSB Bank, Union Bank of India and Muthoot Housing Finance for
contravention of various regulatory norms.
·
Muthoot Housing Finance Company Limited-Penalty:
Rs 5,00,000
·
Non-compliance with 'Governance'
provisions of the 'Non-Banking Financial Company - Housing Finance Company
(Reserve Bank) Directions, 2021'.
·
Union Bank of India Penalty: Rs 1,06,40,000
·
Reason:
Non-compliance with RBI directions on 'Creation of a Central Repository of
Large Common Exposures-Across Banks’ and ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’.
·
CSB Bank Limited. Penalty: Rs 1,86,80,000
·
Reason:
Contravention of section 10(1)(b)(ii) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and
non-compliance with RBI's guidelines on outsourcing of financial services and
branch authorization.
·
Nido
Home Finance Limited: Penalty of Rs 5 Lakh for non-compliance with norms.
·
Ashoka
Viniyoga Limited: Penalty of Rs 3.1 Lakh for non-compliance with norms.
·
Bank of Maharashtra: Penalty
Amount: Rs 1,27,20,000
·
Reasons:
Non-compliance with RBI directions on Loan System for Delivery of Bank
Credit,Cyber Security Framework in Banks,Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines
·
Hinduja Leyland Finance: Penalty
Amount: Rs 4.90 lakh.
·
Reasons:
Non-compliance with provisions of the Reserve Bank of India (Know Your Customer (KYC)) Directions,
2016.
·
Poonawalla Fincorp: Penalty
Amount: Rs 10.00 lakh.
·
Reasons:
Non-compliance with provisions of the ‘Non-Banking Financial Company -
Systemically Important Non-Deposit
5. COMMEMORATIVE COIN
OF M. KARUNANIDHI
·
Union Minister Rajnath Singh,
Ministry of Defence (MoD), released a commemorative Rs. 100 coin to
mark the birth centenary of former Chief Minister
(CM) of Tamil Nadu (TN) Kalaignar Muthuvel Karunanidhi.
·
The
reverse side of the coin features a portrait of Karunanidhi and Tamil slogan ‘Tamil Vellum’ (Tamil win) along with
the text “Birth Centenary of
KalaingarKarunanidhi’ in Hindi and English.
·
The
Rs 100 denomination coin weigh 35 grams, have a diameter of 44 millimeters,
with 200 serrations on its edge.
·
It
will be composed of an alloy comprising 50% silver, 40% copper, 5% nickel, and
5% zinc.
6. RBI TIGHTENS NORMS FOR NBFC-P2P
LENDING PLATFORMS
·
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
tightened norms for Non-Banking Financial Company-Peer to Peer (NBFC-P2P) lending platform
to enhance transparency and compliance.
·
The revised regulations will be effective
immediately.
·
However, the timeline (T+1) for transferring funds from the escrow accounts
(both lender and borrower) will come into effect from 15th November,
2024.
·
As
per the revised regulations, P2P
platforms are restricted from cross-selling insurance products (except
loan-specific insurance products) that serve as credit enhancement or credit
guarantees.
·
The
new regulations prohibited P2P platforms
from promoting P2P lending as an investment tool with features like:
tenure-linked assured minimum returns, liquidity options, among others.
·
As
per the new regulations, all fund
transfer between participants on a P2P platform must be conducted through
an escrow account mechanism operated
by a bank-promoted trustee.
·
It is now required to have minimum two
escrow accounts, one for funds
received from lenders and pending disbursal (i.e. lender’s escrow
account)and the other for collections
from borrowers (i.e. borrower’s escrow account)
·
RBI has imposed a setting cap on the aggregate exposure of a lender to all
borrowers through P2P platforms, restricting it to Rs 50 lakh.
7. NPCI LAUNCHED “UPI CIRCLE”
·
The National Payments Corporation of
India (NPCI) has launched a new “UPI
Circle” feature on its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform.
·
This new feature will enable the primary UPI account holders to securely delegate
payment responsibilities to trusted secondary users.
·
It
is a delegated payment feature that will enable a primary UPI user to link with
trusted secondary users by granting
them partial or complete access
to their account for making payments.
·
Primary
user
– Account holder who starts the circle
and controls the delegation.
·
Secondary
user
– A trusted individual who has been
granted partial or complete access to account for making payments.
·
A primary user can delegate maximum 5 secondary users and a secondary user can accept delegation from only one primary user.
·
For full delegation, members shall ensure a maximum
monthly limit of Rs 15,000 per delegation and
maximum transaction limit of Rs 5,000.
·
NPCI regulates
the retail payment and settlement system in India. It was launched as a joint initiative of RBI and India Banks’
Association (IBA).
·
Headquarters- Mumbai, Maharashtra
·
Established- 2008
8. DG OF COAST GUARD RAKESH PAL PASSED
AWAY
·
Indian Coast Guard(ICG) Director
General(DG) Rakesh Pal passed away at the age of 58
in Chennai, Tamil Nadu(TN).
·
He has been serving as the DG of the
Indian Coast Guard since July 2023.
9. INDIA’S
TELECOM SECTOR SEES IMPRESSIVE GROWTH IN FY24
·
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI)’s annual report
for the Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24) revealed that the teledensity of India grew from 84.51%
in March 2023 to 85.69% in March 2024, marking a 1.39% annual growth.
·
Internet Subscribers: Increased from 88.1 crore in March
2023 to 95.4 crore by March 2024, a growth of
8.30%, adding 7.3 crore subscribers.
·
Broadband Subscribers: Grew from 84.6 crore March
2023 to 92.4 crore in March 2024, marking a 9.15%
growth and adding 7.8 crore subscribers.
·
Wireless Data Consumption: Wireless data subscribers rose from
84.6 crore in March 2023 to 91.3 crore (7.93% growth) in March 2024,
with total data usage surging 21.69% from 1,60,054 PB to 1,94,774
PB.
10. INDIA'S FIRST DIGITAL
COURT TO HANDLE CHEQUE BOUNCE CASES
·
India's first fully digital court, named "24*7
ONCOURTS," dedicated to handling cheque bounce cases,
was inaugurated in Kollam, Kerala, by Justice Bhushan
Ramkrishna Gavai of the Supreme Court.
·
This pioneering
initiative marks a significant leap in the digitalization of India's
judiciary, aiming to streamline court processes and reduce case
backlogs.
11. PRESIDENT-DESIGNATE
OF NASSCOM
·
Rajesh Nambiar, Chairman and
Managing Director (CMD) of Cognizant India (Cognizant
Technology Solutions India Private Limited), has been appointed as the president-designate of
the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), India’s apex Technology industry
association.
·
NASSCOM Headquarters– Noida
12. M
SURESH BECOMES INTERIM AAI CHAIRMAN
·
M Suresh has been appointed
as the interim Chairman of the Airports Authority of
India (AAI) as an additional charge. He is
succeeding Sanjeev Kumar relieve from his duties as
AAI Chairman, as its government’s decision to relieve.
·
Airports Authority of
India(AAI):Headquarters – New Delhi, Delhi
·
Establishment – 1995
