Daily GK 09 Oct. 2020

1. FIRST-EVER BRAND & LOGO FOR INDIAN COTTON

•  Union Minister for Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani launched First-Ever Brand & Logo for Indian Cotton through virtual mode on occasion of World Cotton Day on October 7, 2020.

•  India’s Premium Cotton is set to be known as ‘Kasturi Cotton’ in World Cotton Trade. 

•  It will represent Whiteness, Brightness, Softness, Purity, Luster, Uniqueness and Indianness. 

 

2. ‘JAN ANDOLAN’ CAMPAIGN FOR COVID-19 APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR

•  PM Narendra Modi launched ‘Jan Andolan’ (People’s Participation) campaign for following COVID-19 Appropriate Behaviour. 

•  The awareness campaign will promote COVID-19 behaviour ahead of the upcoming festive season and the reopening of the economy.

•  Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the citizens to “Wear Mask, Wash Hands, Follow Social Distance and Practice ‘Do Gaj Ki Doori’ (a distance of two yards)”. 

 

3. COVID-19 TO PUSH 150 MILLION PEOPLE INTO EXTREME POVERTY

•  According to the report ‘Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversals of Fortune’ released by the World Bank Group around 150 Million People will be pushed into Extreme Poverty by the end of 2021 due to COVID-19.

•  This is the first rise in Extreme Poverty Percentage in 20 years.

•  The report analyzes three aspects which are driving the increase in global poverty – COVID-19, Armed Conflict and Climate Change.

•  The pandemic is expected to push 88 Million-115 Million people into extreme poverty in 2020.

•  The World Bank highlighted the lack of data in India as a hindrance for monitoring Global Poverty.

•  Government of India has not released 2017-18 All India Household Consumer Expenditure Survey Data due to which there is lack of data.

 

4. CONCESSION AGREEMENT WITH UP GOVERNMENT FOR JEWAR AIRPORT

•  The Government of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and the Zurich Airport International AG (ZAIA) signed a 40-year concession agreement which grants license to Zurich Airport for designing, building and operating the Noida International Airport(NIA) (also known as Jewar Airport) at Jewar, outskirts of Delhi.

•  The concession agreement was signed with the Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL) a special purpose vehicle incorporated by Zurich Airport for this project.

 

5. M RAJESHWAR RAO AS THE NEW DEPUTY GOVERNOR OF RBI

•  Government of India appointed M Rajeshwar Rao as the new 4th deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) responsible for financial regulations.

•  He will succeed NS Vishwanathan, the former 4th Deputy Governor of RBI, who resigned in March 2020 before the completion of his term (June 2020).

•  M Rajeshwar  Rao is currently serving as the executive director of RBI.

 

6. ASHWANI KUMAR, PASSED AWAY AT 69

•  Ashwani Kumar, the former Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and former governor of Manipur and Nagaland committed suicide and was found dead in his residence in Shimla.

•  He was born on 15th November 1950 in Nahan, Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh.

•  He was currently serving as the vice chancellor of a Private university in Shimla.

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DAILY Current Affairs 21 MAY 2020

DAILY Current Affairs 21 MAY 2020

1. 12,000 HP ELECTRIC MADE IN INDIA LOCOMOTIVE

·        Indian Railways(IR) operationalised its 1st 12,000 horsepower(hp) electric made in India Locomotive(loco), WAG12(with Number 60027)  from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Station(Mughalsarai Junction), Uttar Pradesh to Shivpur.

·        It is manufactured by Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd.

·        (MELPL) Factory, Bihar which is a joint venture between French giant Alstom(74% share) & IR(26% share).

·        India became the 6th country to produce high hp loco indigenously & is the 1st time it operationalised high hp on a broad gauge track in the world.

·        The project started in 2018 and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the project on 10th April’ 2018.

·        The prototype locomotive was delivered in March 2018.

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DAILY GK 26 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 26 FEB 2020

1.    Indradhanush – V 2020: Indo-UK bilateral air exercise begins in Hindan, Uttar Pradesh

ü About Indian Air Force(IAF)

ü Headquarters– New Delhi.

ü Motto– Glory that touches the sky.

ü Chief of the Air Staff (CAS)- Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria.

    

2.    India 5^th most polluted country with Ghaziabad as the most polluted city, globally: IQAir AirVisual Report
Bangladesh emerged as the most polluted country for PM2.5 exposure.

     It is followed by Pakistan.

     Bahamas ranked 98^th as the cleanest country 

3.    National cyber research and Innovation centre, inaugurated at Central Detective Training Institute (CDTI) in Hyderabad, Telangana State (T.S). The objective of the centre is to help the nation to combat cyber threats.

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DAILY GK 26 DEC 2019

DAILY GK 26 DEC 2019

1.    Govt launched good governance index

ü Dr Jitendra Singh launched the ‘Good Governance Index’ (GGI) in New Delhi.

ü Tamil Nadu (TN)won the 1st position in the composite ranking for good governance index (GGI).

ü Himachal Pradesh (HP) topped the ranking in followed North-east and hill category. It was followed by Uttarakhand(2nd), Tripura(3rd).

ü Among the UTs, Puducherry topped the list. It was followed by Chandigarh(2nd), Delhi (3rd).

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DAILY GK 25 DEC 2019

DAILY GK 25 DEC 2019

1)       Kerala semi-high speed rail project

ü  Ministry of Railways , the Central Government has gave its approval for Rs 56,443 crore  worth of 532 km Thiruvananthapuram – Kasaragod in Kerala semi-high speed rail (SHSR) corridor project, named “Silver Line” project.

ü  After the construction of this corridor, the distance between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod will be reduced from 12 hours to 4 hours. Trains on track will run at 200 km per hour.The state Government of Kerala has set a deadline to complete this corridor by 2024.

2)       Report :Trends in tobacco prevalence 2000-2025 

ü  WHO released its 3rd edition of global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000-2025. As per the report despite decline in tobacco usage, India is off track to achieve 30% reduction in tobacco use by 2025 when compared to its 2010 levels. 163 nations besides India are also not on track in this regard.

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DAILY GK 6 DEC 2019

DAILY GK 6 DEC 2019

1.        11th “INDRA 2019”

ü  11th “INDRA 2019” a joint tri services exercise between India and Russia is to be held at Babina (UP), Pune and Goa.  Esprit-de-corps and goodwill will be the key areas during the exercise which will facilitate further strengthening of bonds between the defence forces of India and Russia.

2.        Panel to study issues related to online pornographic content

ü  Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu announced a 14-member panel coordinated by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh to study the issues related to pornographic content on the internet and social media platforms. The panel will prepare a report regarding it within 1 month.

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DAILY GK 24, 25 NOV 2019

DAILY GK 24, 25 NOV 2019

1.    7 crore farmers benefited under PM-KISAN scheme 

ü  The govt has announced that over 7 crore farmers have been benefited under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. 

ü  Uttar Pradesh has the highest no. of beneficiaries under the scheme among all states.
PM-KISAN scheme provides Rs 6000 per year in 3 installments to the farmers.

2.    2019 Nomura’s Food Vulnerability Index

ü  The report was about 50 countries, most vulnerable to the food price surge. India ranked 44th in the list out of the total 110 countries taken for analysis.

ü  The ranking was based on the exposure in food prices based on 3 components. They were on country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per person share of food in household consumption and net food imports.

3.    India ASEAN Innotech summit 2019

ü  2^nd India ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) InnoTech Summit 2019 based on the theme “Accelerating towards innovative development” held at Davao, Philippines.

4.    Muthoot Finance acquired IDBI’s MF business

ü  Kerala-based gold loan non-banking financial company Muthoot Finance (MFIN) has entered into an agreement with IDBI bank (Industrial Development Bank of India) in acquiring its Mutual Fund (MF) business for Rs 215 crore.

ü  The MFIN will also acquire a 100% stake in both IDBI Asset Management Company(AMC) and IDBI MF trustee company by the end of February 2020.

5.    ‘K12 Education Transformation Framework’

ü  Microsoft has launched “K-12 Education Transformation Framework” in India. The framework is about facilitating digital transformation of schools in India. It was launched during the “2nd edition Microsoft Education Days” conducted by Microsoft in Gurgaon, Haryana.

6.    World’s largest GPU-accelerated cloud-based supercomputer

ü  NVIDIA announced the World’s Largest GPU (graphics processing unit)-accelerated cloud-based supercomputer named NDv2 on Microsoft Azure. NDv2 is a supercomputer that has been built to handle most demanding Artificial intelligence (AI) and its High-Performance Computing (HPC) application.

7.    ‘Avian botulism’ killed 18,000 Migratory Birds

ü  The Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh confirmed Avian botulism is the reason behind the mass mortality of 18,000 migratory birds from Northern Asia, at Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan. Botulism is a natural toxin produced by bacterial strain which affects the nervous system of birds.

8.    Shaukat Kaifi former actor and writer passed away at 91

9.    Book-‘The Third Pillar’

ü  Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and former 23rd Governor of the RBI has written a book named ‘The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind’.Other Books written by Raghuram Rajan:I Do What I Do;Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy

10. Amaravati included in Indian map as capital

ü  The Survey of India, India’s central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying has released an updated map of India with Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh (AP).

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DAILY GK 23 OCT 2019

DAILY GK 23 OCT 2019

1.    USISPF summit 2019 

ü The US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) under the delegation of its chairman Mr. John Chambers, called on Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi in New Delhi for the USISPF summit 2019.

2.    QS India University Rankings 2020

ü 2^nd edition of Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) India University Rankings 2020, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) has again topped all Indian Institutes in the list with an overall score of 88.5 followed by IISc- Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (ranked 2^nd with 84.7 score) & Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD),which has improved a notch to rank 3^rd with  82.2 scores.

3.    SBI Monthly EMI for debit card customers

ü Pine Labs,an Indian merchant platform company has joined hands with State Bank of India (SBI) to offer EMIs (equated monthly instalments) for debit card transactions.

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DAILY GK 21 OCT 2019

DAILY GK 21 OCT 2019

1.    India’s most polluted city

ü According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India, Loni rural (Dehat) of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh emerged as the most polluted city in India with the Air Quality Index (AQI) figures at 358.

2.    Telangana tops in capex on irrigation

ü According to CARE Ratings, Telangana was ranked first in terms of expenditure incurred on capital outlay/asset creation (capex) by State governments during 2015-2019 on irrigation in India.
Tamil Nadu spent highest on urban development; Bihar on rural development; Uttar Pradesh in the areas of transport, energy, public health, education and housing and Maharashtra on agriculture.

3.    IMNEX-2019 commences

ü The 2nd edition of India- Myanmar Naval Exercise IMNEX-2019 has begun in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

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DAILY GK 10 SEPT 2019

DAILY GK 10 SEPT 2019

1. life expectancy at birth improved

ü  According to the “SRS Based Abridged Life Tables, 2013-17” released by the Registrar General of India, the overall life expectancy at birth in India improved to 69 years from 68.7 years in 2012-16.Life expectancy at birth to 69 years

2. Helicopter summit 2019

ü  Ministry of Aviation jointly with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) organized the first helicopter summit 2019 in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

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DAILY GK 7 JULY 2019

DAILY GK 7 JULY

1. HIGHLIGHTS OF UNION BUDGET 2019-20

✔Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman made her maiden Budget Speech and presented the Union Budget 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha.

✔She broke away from the tradition when she replaced the conventional leather briefcase with a bright red cloth bag to carry the Budget papers to the Parliament House.

✔ “Gaon, Garib and Kisan” (Village, Poor and Farmer) was the centre of all policies of the Modi 2.0 Government.

✔10-point Vision for the decade

• Building Team India with Jan Bhagidari: Minimum Government Maximum Governance.

• Achieving green Mother Earth and Blue Skies through a pollution-free India.

• Making Digital India reach every sector of the economy.

• Launching Gaganyan, Chandrayan, other Space and Satellite programmes.

• Building physical and social infrastructure.

• Water, water management, clean rivers.

• Blue Economy.

• Self-sufficiency and export of food-grains, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables.

• Achieving a healthy society via Ayushman Bharat, well-nourished women & children, safety of citizens.

• Emphasis on MSMEs, Start-ups, defence manufacturing, automobiles, electronics, fabs and batteries, and medical devices under Make in India.

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