DAILY GK 17 SEPTEMBER 2020

 

DAILY GK 17 SEPTEMBER 2020

1.    CABINET APPROVES ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW AIIMS AT DARBHANGA

·        Central Government has given its consent for the establishment of a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) at Darbhanga, Bihar with an outlay of Rs.1264 crore.

·        PM Narendra Modi has also given its approval to the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor Project from Palwal to Sonipat via Sohna-Manesar-Kharkhauda, benefitting Haryana’s district of Palwal, Nuh, Gurugram, Jhajjar and Sonipat, at an estimated cost of Rs. 5,617 crore.

 

2.    GLOBAL AYURVEDA SUMMIT

·        4th edition of Global Ayurveda Summit was virtually inaugurated by Vice-President Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu on the theme “Emerging Opportunities for Ayurveda during Pandemic“.

·        It will culminate on October 14, 2020.  Due to COVID-19, it is being conducted as a web event for 30 days with virtual exhibition and conference on emerging opportunities for Ayurveda. 

·        It is being organized by the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry)-Kerala in partnership with Ministry of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy).

 

3.    MAGLEV TRAINS TO INDIA

·        Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has signed a MoU with Swiss Rapide AG to Maglev Train (Magnetic Levitation) Projects in India.

·        The MoU will enable the Indigenous manufacturing of the State-of-the-art Maglev Trains.

 

4.    JAPAN’S NEW PRIME MINISTER

·        Yoshihide Suga was formally elected as Japan’s New Prime Minister.

·        He will succeed Shinzo Abe, who was Japan’s Longest serving Prime Minister and stepped down due to health problems. 

·        Yoshihide’s party Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holds a majority in the Japan Parliament. 

 

5.    WORLD OZONE DAY 2020 – SEPTEMBER 16

·        The first International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was observed on 16th September 1995.
The theme for the 2020 is “Ozone for life: 35 years of ozone layer protection”.

·        The 2020 International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer or World Ozone Day marks the celebration of 35 years of the Vienna Convention and 35 years of Global ozone layer protection.

 

6.    INDIA TO BE SELF-RELIANT IN FERTILIZERS PRODUCTION BY 2023

·        The Union Minister of Chemical and Fertilizers D.V. Sadananda Gowda announced that India will be self-reliant in fertilizer production by 2023 while addressing a webinar on Self-Reliant India and Sustainable Agriculture Organized by cooperative Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) for farmers of Karnataka.

·        Currently, the fertilizer production of the country is 42-45 million tonnes, and imports are at around 18 million tonnes.

 

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DAILY GK 16 SEPT. 2020

 

DAILY GK 16 SEPT. 2020

1. UN’S COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN

·        India & Afghanistan were elected as Members of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Status of Women, a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

·        The Commission on the Status of Women is a UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.

·        India (38 votes) and Afghanistan (39) won the ballot among the 54 members, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, T S Tirumurti announced the election of India to the Committee. 

 

2. EUROMONEY’S LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2020

·        Euromoney, the global finance and banking magazine’s Awards for Excellence 2020 honoured Aditya Puri, Managing Director(MD) of HDFC Bank with a Lifetime Achievement Award 2020.

·        This is a first of its kind recognition for a corporate leader from India.

·        The award is conferred upon him to recognise his skills in building a world class Indian bank and his contribution in creating a trustworthy brand.

 

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DAILY GK 13- 14 SEPT. 2020

 

DAILY GK 13- 14 SEPT. 2020

1. MOHUA LAUNCHED CLIMATE SMART CITIES ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK 2.0

·     Hardeep Singh Puri for Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF) 2.0, along with the “Streets for People Challenge” in a virtual event organised by the Smart Cities Mission from New Delhi.

·     The objective of CSCAF is to provide a roadmap for cities for combating Climate Change while planning and implementing their actions.

·     In order to make cities more pedestrian friendly, MoHUA has initiated Streets for People Challenge to develop a unified vision of streets, in consultation with stakeholders and citizens, through quick, innovative, and low-cost measures.

·     This challenge is open to all cities under the Smart Cities Mission, capital cities of States/UT’s and cities with a population of over 5 lakh.

 

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DAILY GK 11 SEPT. 2020

 DAILY GK 11 SEPT. 2020

1.         AATMANIRBHAR BHARAT ARISE-ANIC INITIATIVE 

·             Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog launched Aatmanirbhar Bharat ANIC-ARISE Challenges (Atal New India Challenges in Applied Research and Innovation for medium and Small Enterprises) to stimulate applied research and innovation in Indian Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and startups. 

·             The ARISE–ANIC programme will support applied research–based innovations by providing funding support of up to Rs 50 lakh for speedy development of the proposed technology solution or the product.

 

2.         MHA APPROVED TO RENAME HUBBALI RAILWAY STATION

·             The Ministry of Home Affairs approved the long pending demand to rename the Hubbali Railway Station as Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji Railway Station, Hubbali in Karnataka after Sri Siddharoodha Swami.

·             The government of Karnataka has to formally issue a Gazette notification for the proposed name change with the spelling of the new name in Devnagri (Hindi), Roman (English) and Regional language.

 

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DAILY GK 8 SEP 2020

 

DAILY GK 8 SEP 2020

1. ANDHRA PRADESH RETAINS TOP SPOT IN EODB 2019

·          Nirmala Sitharaman has virtually announced the 4th edition of State Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) Ranking for 2018-19 which was released by Department of Industrial Promotion and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of commerce and industry.

·          In accordance with that, Andhra Pradesh (AP) topped the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) ranking 2019, followed by Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Telangana at 2nd & 3rd place respectively.

·          Among Union Territories (UTs), Delhi bagged the top spot.

·          The state of UP improved to reach the 2nd spot from 12th spot in the 2018 ranking while Telangana slipped from 2nd to 3rd position.

·          It should be noted that EODB is a joint initiative by the DPIIT and the World Bank (WB) to improve the overall business environment in the States.

 

2. INDRA NAVY-20- MARITIME EXERCISE

·          The 11th Edition of bi-annual, bilateral Maritime Exercise INDRA NAVY – 20 between Indian Navy and Russian Navy was conducted successfully from September 4 to 5.

·          The Exercise was conducted in Bay of Bengal, close to the Strategic point of Strait of Malacca.

·          Due to the Pandemic, INDRA NAVY-20 was undertaken in a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ format.

 

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CURRENT AFFAIRS 5 SEPT 2020

 CURRENT AFFAIRS 5 SEPT 2020

1)    12TH MEKONG GANGA COOPERATION SENIOR OFFICIALS’

·       12th Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Senior Officials Meeting took place virtually, The key areas of cooperation tourism, culture, education, transport and communications were discussed and reviewed during the meeting.

·       The meeting was attended by Senior Officials from all 6 MGC Member States (India, Cambodia, Lao PDR (People’s Democratic Republic), Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam).

 

2)    RBI ANNOUNCED ADDITIONAL OMO OF RS 20,000 CR

·       RBI announced measures in order to ensure orderly market conditions and congenial financial conditions.

·       In this regard Reserve Bank will conduct additional special open market operations (OMO) involving the simultaneous purchase and sale of Government securities (G-secs) for Rs 20,000 crore in two tranches of  Rs 10,000 crore each on September 10, 2020 and September 17, 2020.

·       The apex bank also announced term repo operations of Rs 100,000 crore (1 trillion) to infuse liquidity into the market.

·       Reserve Bank also increased the held to maturity limit (HTM) or the amount that banks invest in G-secs from 19.5% to 22%. 

·       RBI reviewed the Priority Sector Lending (PSL) Guidelines to align it with emerging national priorities amid COVID-19 impact.

·       In this regard, new categories are included under priority sector for financing viz. start-ups (up to Rs 50 crore); loans to farmers for installation of solar power plants for solarisation of grid connected agriculture pumps and loans for setting up Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plants.

 

3)    LIGO AND VIRGO DETECTED MAMMOTH COLLISION OF ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ BLACK HOLES FOR 1ST TIME

·       For the 1st time, The Collision of ‘Impossible’ Black Holes was detected and directly observed by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Laboratory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration also known as LVC (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), which includes scientists from the Australian National University (ANU). 

·       They Initially found 2 black holes of 66 and 85 solar masses, which generated a final black hole of 142 solar masses, till now it is the largest black hole ever observed through gravitational-wave observations.

 

4)    PUNJAB GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES ‘I RAKHWALI’ APP

·       Punjab State Minister for Department of Forest & WildLife & Preservation Sadhu Singh Dharmsot launched ‘I Rakhwali’ application.

·       The app was launched to safeguard the forest areas in the state by making common citizens as stakeholders in the process.

·       It will help citizens to become ‘Greenery Saviours’.

·       The main aim is to inspire people to plant more trees and this app will help people come forward and contribute towards environment protection.

 

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CURRENT AFFAIRS 4 SEPT 2020

 CURRENT AFFAIRS 4 SEPT 2020

1)    BAN ON 118 CHINESE MOBILE APPS 

·       Ministry of Electronics and Information & Technology banned 118 Chinese Mobile Applications.

·       The mobile applications have been banned as they were found to be harmful to the Sovereignty, Integrity, Defence of India and Public Order.

·       The Government has banned them amidst the border tensions with China.

·       The apps have been banned under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009.

 

2)    SIKKIM CELEBRATED PANG LHABSOL

·       A festival of cultural heritage and historical importance is one of the most historically and culturally significant festivals celebrated annually by Sikkim people.

·       This festival is celebrated only in this state.

·       It commemorates the blessing of Mount Khangchendzonga as the guardian deity of Sikkim.

 

3)    GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2020

·       For the First time, India joined the group of Top 50 Countries in the 13th Edition of Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020, as it took the 48th rank with a score of 35.59 in the Annual report jointly released by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD Business School. 

·       The Theme of the 13th edition of the GII 2020 is “Who Will Finance Innovation?”.

Rank	Country	Score	Income
1	Switzerland	66.08	HI*
2	Sweden	62.47	HI
3	United States	60.56	HI

 

4)    THE WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKING 2021

·       Times Higher Education (THE), based in the United Kingdom (UK) released the World University Rankings 2021.

·       Placed under the group of 301-350 rankings, Indian Institute of Science(IISc) Bengaluru tops among the 63 institutions that qualified for the rankings.

·       University of Oxford of UK was spotted tops in the list IIT, Ropar which is under the 351-400 group rankings and IISc Bengaluru are the only Indian institutes in the world top 400 Universities.

5)    NATIONAL AWARD TO TEACHERS 2020

·       For the first Time, Sudha Painuli, a vice-principal of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS), established under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been selected for National Award to Teachers (NAT) 2020. 

·       Sudha Painuli is the vice-principal of EMRS-Kalsi, Dehradun, Uttarakhand since its establishment. Sudha Painuli made it to the list of 47 outstanding teachers after a 3-stage rigorous online transparent process.

 

6)    NEW CHAIRMAN OF PTI

·       The Board of Directors of Press Trust of India(PTI) announced that Aveek Sarkar (75 years), Editor Emeritus and Vice Chairman of Ananda Bazar Group of Publication was elected as the new Chairman of PTI, he will succeed Vijay Kumar Chopra, Chief Editor of the Punjab Kesari Group of Newspapers.

 

7)    FIRST EVER CEO OF IR

·       The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the organizational restructuring of the Indian Railways, which includes the merger of eight Group A services and also approved the appointment of the current chairman of the Railway Board V K Yadav as the first ever Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IR.Along with the CEO post he also holds the chairman post.

 

8)    ADANI GROUP TO ACQUIRE 74% STAKE IN MIAL

·       Adani Airport Holdings Limited(AAHL), holding company of Adani Group for its airports business has entered into an agreement to acquire 74% in Mumbai International Airport Limited(MIAL) or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

 

9)    POPE FRANCIS’S NEW BOOK “LET US DREAM”

·       Pope Francis is set to release the book “Let Us Dream” in December 2020.

·       The book will be an outcome of numerous exchanges between Pope Francis and his Biographer Austen Ivereigh in the weeks following the Coronavirus outbreak around the world.

 

 

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