DAILY GK 16-17 AUG 2020

 DAILY GK 16-17 AUG 2020

1. DEF MINISTER RAJNATH SINGH LAUNCHED INDIGENISATION PORTAL SRIJAN

·        Final day of Atma Nirbhar Week celebration (Atmanirbharta Saptah) between August 7-14, 2020 of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and to boost Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (self-reliant India movement), Union Defence Minister (Raksha Mantri) Rajnath Singh virtually launched Department of Defence Production (DPP) portal SRIJAN as a part of “opportunities for Make in India in Defence”.

·        This portal provides information about defence equipment and items which are being imported currently or are going to be imported by the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs)/Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)/ Service Headquarters (SHQs) so that they can be taken up for indigenisation by Indian companies that can design, develop and manufacture as per their capability or through joint venture with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

 

2. EU LAUNCHES NIRMANSHREE

·        European Union has launched project ’Nirmanshree’ for enhancing the women skill towards housing construction sector. This is the first-of-its-kind sustainable housing on a large scale in India with 1-million-euro.

·        The project will be implemented in Beed and Osmanabad districts of Maharashtra and the Dhenkanal and Jajpur districts of Odisha.

3. RBI’s DIVIDEND OF RS 57,128 CRORE TO CENTRAL GOVT

·        The 584th meeting of the Central Board of RBI under the Chairmanship of Governor Shaktikanta Das approved the transfer of Rs 57,128 crore in surplus as dividend to the Central government for the accounting year 2019-20.

·        The board decided  to maintain the Contingency Risk Buffer at 5.5%.

·        RBI in 2019 had transferred a record payment of Rs 1.76 lakh crore(trillion) which included Rs 1.23 lakh crore  as dividend and about Rs 52,637 crore of excess provisions identified as per the revised Economic Capital Framework (ECF). 

 

4. ‘SARABHAI CRATER’ AFTER VIKRAM SARABHAI

·        Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that Chandrayaan-2 has captured images of the Moon by Terrain Mapping Camera – 2 (TMC-2) and named one of the craters as ‘Sarabhai Crater’ after Indian astrophysicist Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai.

·        Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai’s 100th birth century was observed on 12th of August, 2020. 

·        Also Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru & ISRO developed a sustainable process for making brick-like structures named “Space Bricks” on the surface of the moon.

·        The process uses the lunar soil, bacteria and guar beans to make the space brick.

 

5. BOOK “A BEND IN TIME: WRITINGS BY CHILDREN ON THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC”

·        A book titled “A Bend in Time : Writings by Children on the COVID 19 Pandemic” was released in July 2020, the introduction of which is written by award-winning children’s author Bijal Vachharajani.

·        The book is published by Talking Cub (children’s imprint of Speaking Tiger).The book showcased the emotions and thoughts of children and young adults, from across the country and social groups, about the greatest global crisis in recent times: the COVID-19 pandemic.