Daily GK 08TH Oct. 2020

 Daily GK 08TH Oct. 2020

1. 42ND GST COUNCIL MEETING

  In the current fiscal (FY21), the states are facing Rs 2.35 lakh crore Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue shortfall, out of which, Rs 97,000 crore is on account of GST shortfall, while Rs 1.38 lakh crore is due to COVID-19 pandemic.

  It was decided that this year’s compensation cess collected amounting to Rs 20,000 crore will be disbursed to the states.

  The transition period of five years for levy of Compensation Cess will be extended i.e. beyond June, 2022.

 

2.  ‘INDIA PV EDGE 2020’

  NITI Aayog, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Invest India jointly organized a Global Symposium ‘India PV Edge 2020’ virtually. It was organized to inform global Photovoltaics (PV) about opportunities in India.

  Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge) for New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, Managing Director (MD) & CEO of Invest India Deepak Bagla attended the session. 

  India is the third largest solar capacity country in the world.

  It has set an ambitious target of 450 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, which includes 300 GW of solar capacity.

  India’s renewable capacity installation has increased by 2.5 times and solar capacity has increased by 13 times in the last six years.

 

3. INDIAN BANK’S BUSINESS MENTORING PROGRAMME ‘MSME PRERANA’

  Nirmala Sitharaman, launched “MSME Prerana” an online business mentoring programme for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by Indian Bank in collaboration with Poornatha& Co, at the bank’s headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

  It is the first-of-its-kind initiative by a bank in India for the MSME sector.

 

4. 2020 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY

  Goran K. Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer A. Doudna of the United States for the development of a method for genome editing, namely ‘CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors’.

  The method is one of gene technology’s sharpest tools.

  This is the 1st time 2 women have jointly won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

 

5. NEW CHAIRMAN OF SBI

  The Government of India appointed Dinesh Kumar Khara, the current Managing Director of State Bank of India as the new Chairman of SBI for a period of three years effective from 7th October 2020.

  Dinesh Kumar Khara succeeds Rajnish Kumar as the new Chairman, whose 3-year term ended on 7th October 2020.

  The appointment of Dinesh Kumar was recommended by the Bank Board Bureau.

 

6. NEW MD OF INDIA POST PAYMENTS BANK

  The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of J Venkatramu as Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) for a period of three years.

  JVenkatramu will succeed Suresh Sethi, who served the post till March, 2020.

  Venkatramu is currently serving as Chief Digital Officer at Equitas Small Finance Bank.

  IPPB was incorporated as Payments Banking Company under Section 22 (1) of Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

 

7. TSIRKON HYPERSONIC CRUISE MISSILE

  Russia successfully test-fired the Tsirkon (Zircon) Hypersonic Cruise Missile.

  The missile successfully hit a target in the Barents Sea.

  The test was carried out from Frigate Admiral Gorshkov Vessel located in White Sea, Northern Russia.

  The Missile successfully hit its target at a range of 450 Kilometres in Four and Half Minutes, and reached hypersonic speeds of more than Mach 8.