DAILY GK 9-10 AUG 2020

 DAILY GK  9-10 AUG 2020

1. GANDHIAN YOUNG TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AWARDS 2020

·        Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Awards 2020 is bestowed to a group of researchers from Indian Institutes of Technology(IIT) Kharagpur for developing a mechanism for generating electricity from wet clothes left under sunlight to dry. The work has been published in Nano Letters, a high-impact journal in the field, and the innovation has been patented by them.

·        1The same award was presented separately to another team of the IIT Kharagpur for addressing the problem of energy conservation and thermal management in wearable and flexible electronic devices.

 

2. ‘AIR SUVIDHA’ PORTAL

·        Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) a GMR Group-led consortium, has developed AIR SUVIDHA, a first-of-its-kind portal allowing international arriving passengers to fill a mandatory self-declaration form and eligible passengers to apply for exemption from compulsory institutional quarantine for coronavirus.

·        It will make passengers’ journey more convenient and comfortable in a contactless way as they won’t have to fill the physical copies of the forms on arrival.

 

3. IIT GUWAHATI DEVELOPS NANOPARTICLE ‘META-GRID’

·        The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, India, and Imperial College London, United Kingdom, have developed nanoparticles called the ‘meta-grid’ or ‘metamaterial grid’ that makes the light-emitting diodes (LED) brighter, energy-efficient and durable.

·        It was jointly developed by Dr. Debabrata Sikdar, assistant professor at IIT Guwahati along with Prof. Sir John B. Pendry and Prof. Alexei A. Kornyshev from Imperial College London. 

 

4. SII PARTNERED WITH GAVI AND THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

·        Serum Institute of India(SII) Private Limited has entered into a new partnership with Gavi, the International Vaccine Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to accelerate the process of manufacture and delivery of up to 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for India and other low and middle income countries(LMICs) by 2021 as part of the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a mechanism within the COVAX Facility.

 

5. ICC RETAINS INDIA AS THE HOST OF 2021 CWC

·        International Cricket Council(ICC) confirmed that India will host the Twenty-20(T20) Cricket World Cup 2021 between October – November 2021 as the BCCI retained the hosting rights and Australia will host the 2020 World Cup edition, which was postponed due to the global pandemic in 2022.

 

6. U.P. GOVERNMENT ODOP SCHEME

·        E-commerce platform Flipkart signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Uttar Pradesh Government’s One District, One Product (ODOP) scheme.As part of the MoU, artisans, weavers and craftsmen under the One District, One Product (ODOP) scheme will be brought into the ‘Flipkart Samarth’ initiative. 

·        Flipkart will provide training, dedicated space in Flipkart’s fulfilment centres, constant seller support, free cataloguing, marketing, account management, business insights and warehouse support. 

 

7. SMART INDIA HACKATHON 2020

·        Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) Pune, an autonomous organization under the Department of Defence Research & Development, DRDO,  has won first prize of rupees 1 Lakh for solving problem statement MS331 in the category of software posed by the Madhya Pradesh Government in Smart India Hackathon -SIH(Software) 2020, which is held at Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology (NIET), Uttar Pradesh from August 1 to 3, 2020.

 

 

 

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DAILY GK 8 AUG 2020

 

DAILY GK  8 AUG 2020

1. INDIA’S FIRST ‘KISAN RAIL’ FLAGGED OFF

·        Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Railways and Narendra Singh Tomar flagged off the India’s 1st Kisan Rail, a Special Parcel Train from Maharashtra’s Devlali to Bihar’s Danapur Railway station
through video link.

·        This is the 1st ever multi commodity train of Indian Railways(IR) that carries fruits like Pomegranate, Banana, Grapes etc and vegetables like Capsicum, Cauliflower etc.

·        The train will run on a weekly basis.

·        The launch of Kisan Rail is a step towards achieving the target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022.

·        The train is in pursuance of announcement made by Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman in Union Budget 2020-21

 

2. PM MODI ADDRESSES CONCLAVE ON REFORMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

·        PM Narendra Modi delivered the inaugural address at the Conclave on Transformational Reforms in Higher Education under National Education Policy(NEP) organised by the Ministry of Education in association with University Grants Commission(UGC) over a virtual platform and discussed various aspects of NEP 2020, which replaces the National Policy on Education framed in 1986 with academicians and scientists.

·        K Kasturirangan, an Indian space scientist, stated that to enable scientific steps to integrate technology in the education system, the National Research Foundation (NRF) will work closely with the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF).

·        The new policy focuses and encourages the “How to think” approach to education than the current “What to think” teaching.

 

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DAILY GK 7 AUG 2020

 

DAILY GK 7 AUG 2020

 

1. GLOBAL REMITTANCES MAY LOSE $108.6 BN IN 2020

·        In accordance with the report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) published on August 3, 2020 , if the economic impact of Covid-19 persists throughout the year then global remittances may fall by $108.6 billion in 2020.

·        As per the report, there is severe continuous impact of pandemic on the global economic systems and employment.

·        Migrant workers are in extreme situations while many others are facing scant job security and limited access to social assistance.

 

2. FUTUREBRAND INDEX 2020

·        FutureBrand Index 2020 was released, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Oil and Gas Company ranked as the Second Biggest Brand for its recognition associated with its growth, innovative products and customer service after Apple which topped the index.

·        Reliance Industries Limited is owned by Mukesh Ambani is one of the companies of the future among Nextera Energy, ASML and other high tech, renewable and ethical organisations.

·        Tata is ranked 65 for its technology business.

 

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DAILY GK 5 AUG 2020

DAILY GK 5 AUG 2020

1. DEFENCE PRODUCTION AND EXPORT PROMOTION POLICY 2020

·       Ministry of Defence (MoD) publicized a draft ‘Defence Production & Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP) 2020 for public feedback by August 17, 2020 after which the policy would be promulgated by the MoD.

·       The policy aims to achieve a manufacturing turnover of $25 bn or Rs 1,75,000 crore, including exports of $5 bn or Rs 35,000 Crore in aerospace and defence goods and services by 2025.

·       The DPEPP 2020 is MoD’s overarching guiding document for providing significant thrust to defence production for self-reliance and exports.

·       Currently, FDI policy for Defence sector, FDI was allowed under automatic route up to 49% and above 49% through government route.

 

2. LISTED ENTITIES GET 3 YEARS TO MEET CRITERIA OF MINIMUM 25% PUBLIC SHAREHOLDING

·       In order to provide more time to the listed entities to meet criteria of minimum public shareholding (MPS) of 25%, the Centre Government has made changes in the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 in rule 19A, in sub-rule (1), where the words “two years” substituted by words “three years”.

·       Therefore, listed entities get one more year to comply with the rules of MPS, benefitting more than three dozen PSUs (public sector undertakings) who have been unable to meet this requirement amid COVID-19.

 

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DAILY Current Affairs 30 MAY 2020

DAILY GK C.A 30 MAY

 

1. INSTANT ALLOTMENT FACILITY OF PAN

·        Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Instant Permanent Account Number (PAN) facility of Income Tax (IT) Department through Aadhaar based e-KYC (Electronic Know your Client) to provide further ease to taxpayers, from New Delhi.

·         This launch has been made on the lines of the para 129 of the FY20-21 Budget stating a simplified allotment process of PAN.

·        It is a system under which PAN will be instantly allotted online for those who possess a valid Aadhaar number.

·        The allotment process is paperless and an electronic PAN (e-PAN) is issued to the applicants free of cost.

 

2. 22ND MEETING OF THE FSDC

·        Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 22nd Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) via video conferencing, which was the first meet since the coronavirus outbreak.

·        The meet was held to review the various measures to maintain financial stability in the context of COVID-19.

·        The economy is expected to contract by 5% by some estimates amid the virus crisis.

·        The FSDC is the apex body of sectoral regulators, headed by the finance minister. 

·        The idea to create this regulatory body was mooted by the Raghuram Rajan (ex RBI Governor) Committee in 2008.

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DAILY GK 23 – 24 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 23 – 24 FEB 2020

1.    International Judicial Conference 2020

ü Narendra Modi addressed the International Judicial Conference in New Delhi. The theme of the conference was “Gender Just World” while its topic was “Judiciary and The Changing World”. Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal addressed the gathering.

2.    G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting

ü Meeting was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia the theme “Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All”. The meet was chaired by the Saudi Arabia’s finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan

3.    Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival 2020

ü Ceremony was held in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Hrithik Roshan bagged the Best Actor award for film “Super 30”.Divyanka Tripathi was honoured as the Best Actress for television.

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DAILY GK 22 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 22 FEB 2020

1.    Indian Army is Set to Get New Headquarters

ü Defense Minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone of the Army Headquarters new building “Thal Sena Bhawan” in Delhi Cantonment. Thal Sena Bhawan, the multi-storeyed complex adopting Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA-5 rating) norms, designed like a “rising sun” and spread over nearly 39 acres.

2.    High Level Global Conference on Road Safety

ü The 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety with theme “Achieving Global Goals 2030” was held in Stockholm, Sweden.It was hosted by Government of Sweden in collaboration with WHO.

ü Indian delegation was led by Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari.

3.    National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI)

ü In order to promote financial literacy RBI has released a National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) 2019-24. The strategy has been prepared by Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee (FIAC) of the RBI in consultation with the Centre, SEBI, IRDAI, and PFRDA.

ü NSFI has been finalized and approved by the Financial Stability Development Council (FSDC).

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DAILY GK 20 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 20 FEB 2020

1.    India turn on to Bharat Stage(BS)-VI

ü India to switch to World’s cleanest petrol and diesel from April 1,2020, when it proceeds to Bharat Stage (BS-VI) from BS-IV grades at present. India will join the select League of Nations using petrol & diesel which contains 10ppm (parts per millions of Sulphur which cuts down vehicular discharge that is stated to be one of the reasons for pollution.

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2.    India’s tallest pier bridge

ü The northern frontier railway construction has constructed India’s tallest railway pier bridge. It is built across the Makru river in the Tamenglong district of Manipur,Noney of Manipur.It is 100m tall similar to a 33 storey building.

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