DAILY GK 1,3 JAN
1. PUNJAB & SIND BANK AND SBI CARD TO LAUNCH CO-BRANDED CREDIT CARD
● Punjab
& Sind Bank (PSB), has partnered with SBI Card to
launch co-brand credit cards for the bank’s customers.
● This
marks the entry of PSB into ‘credit cards’ as a new product segment under the
bank’s portfolio.
● Under
the partnership, three card variants have been launched including, PSB SBI Card ELITE, PSB SBI Card PRIME, and PSB Simply SAVE SBI Card.
2.
ARVIND
WALIA IS INDIAN ARMY NEW ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF
● Lieutenant
(Lt) General (Gen) Arvind Walia, a
1986 batch officer and an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun has
been appointed as the next Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army.
● He
succeeds Lt Gen Harpal Singh who is superannuating on 31st December 2022.
3.
INTEREST
RATES ON A NUMBER OF SMALL SAVINGS SCHEMES INCREASES
● The Department
of Economic Affairs (DEA), a department of the Ministry of Finance (MoF),
has raised the interest rate on a number of small savings schemes for
the fourth quarter (Q4) of the current fiscal year 2022–23 (FY23), which runs
from April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2023.
● The
rates on the various instruments have increased by 20 to 110 basis points
(bps), and they now range from 4.0 % to 7.6 %.
● The
interest rates on the Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi
Account, and Savings Deposit have remained unchanged.
● The Shyamala Gopinath Committee provided
the formula to calculate the interest rates for the small savings scheme.
4.
GOI
INTRODUCES NEW
INTEGRATED FOOD SECURITY SCHEME FOR 2023
● The
Government of India (GoI) has introduced a new Integrated Food Security
Scheme beginning January
1, 2023, to supply free food grains to more than 81.35 crore beneficiaries
under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
● The
new integrated scheme will subsume two present food subsidy schemes run by the
Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), MoCA and F&PD. They are:
● Food
Subsidy to Food Corporation of India (FCI) for NFSA
● Food
Subsidy for Decentralized Procurement States, which deals with procuring,
allocating, and delivering free food grains to the states under the NFSA
5.
CROATIA
JOINS SCHENGEN ZONE & SWITCHES TO EURO
● Croatia,
the youngest member of the European Union (EU), adopted the ‘Euro’ currency, and
it became a part of Europe’s border-free Schengen zone.
● Croatia,
a Balkan country, is now the 20th member
of the Eurozone and the 27th country to join the passport-free
Schengen zone.
● Croatia is a former Yugoslav
republic that fought an independence war in the 1990s and
joined the EU in 2013.
● Schengen Area signifies
a zone where 27 European countries including four which are not members
of the European Union (EU), abolished their internal borders, for the free
and unrestricted movement of people.
● This largest free-travel zone in the
world was first established in 1985 as
an intergovernmental effort including five EU nations—France, Germany, Belgium,
the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
● The
European Union (EU) member states that have adopted the “Euro” as their national currency collectively
refer to themselves as the “Euro
Area” or “Eurozone.”
● With
Croatia, 20 EU Member States and 347 million EU citizens will share the EU’s
common currency.
6.
CAD
WIDENS TO 4.4% OF GDP IN Q2FY23- RBI REPORT
● According
to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s 26th issue of of the Financial Stability Report (FSR)
on December 29 2022 ,India’s
Current Account Deficit (CAD) widened to 4.4 per cent of GDP in Q2:2022-23
from 2.2 per cent of GDP in the previous Q2:2022-23 and 1.2 per cent in
2021-22.
● In absolute terms,
CAD was $36.40 billion in
Q2FY23 which is highest in more than a decade.
● India’s foreign
exchange reserves on BoP basis recorded a deficit of $30.4 billion compared to
a $31.2 billion surplus in the Q2FY22.
● The Gross Non-Performing Asset
(GNPA) ratio of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) fell to
a seven-year low of 5% and Net
Non-Performing Assets (NNPA) have dropped to ten-year low of 1.3% in September
2022.
7.
39TH
PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL
● Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,
the veteran left-wing politician, known widely as Lula, was sworn in for the
3rd term as the President of
the Republic of Brazil
● He
was sworn in as the 39th president
of Brazil by winning the 2022 Brazilian general election against far-right
leader Jair Bolsonaro (incumbent President of Brazil (from 2019 to 2022).
● Geraldo Alckmin was
sworn in as Brazil’s Vice President
8.
FIDE
WORLD RAPID AND BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022
● Indian
Grandmaster (GM)Koneru Humpy, a
former world rapid champion, has won a Silver medal in the Women’s World Blitz Championship at the
FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2022 held in Almaty, Kazakhstan
● Koneru
Humpy has won India’s 1st ever Silver medal in the World Blitz Chess
Championships defeating Zhongyi Tan of China.
● BibisaraAssaubayeva of
Kazakhstan won the gold medal.
● Koneru
Humpy is the 2nd Indian to
win a medal at World Blitz, after Viswanathan Anand.
● GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the World Blitz Chess Championship
2022 in the Open Blitz category.
9.
59TH
NATIONAL SENIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
● Kolkata-based
chess player Koustav Chatterjee (19-year)
became India’s 78th Grandmaster
(GM) in MPL 59th National
Senior Chess.
● The
59TH MPL Senior National Chess Championship 2022 was held at New Delhi