DAILY GK 2 OCT 2020

 

DAILY GK 2 OCT 2020

1.  NITI AAYOG AND THE NETHERLANDS SIGNED SOI

•    India is committed to reduce carbon emissions’ intensity by 33%–35% by 2030 and for this nation is collaborating internationally to achieve the ambitious sustainable targets.

•    In this regard, a Statement of Intent (SoI) was inked between NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog and Embassy of the Netherlands in New Delhi, to combine the expertise of both nations (Indo-Dutch) in supporting the decarbonization and energy transition agenda for accommodating cleaner and more energy.

•    It was signed by NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amitabh Kant and Ambassador of the Netherlands to India Marten van den Berg.

 

2.  “AMBEDKAR SOCIAL INNOVATION & INCUBATION MISSION (ASIIM)”

•  Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, Thaawarchand Gehlot virtually launched “Ambedkar Social Innovation & Incubation Mission (ASIIM)” under Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes (SC)(VCF-SC).

•  It has been launched to promote innovation, enterprise among SC students in Higher Education Institutions and to help them become Job Givers.

•  Minister of State (MoS) for Social Justice & Empowerment, Rattan Lal Kataria,

•  Deputy Managing Director (MD) of Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), Sunil Kumar Bansal were present during the launch.

 

3. UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY – 75TH SESSION

•  The 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 75) was held virtually for the first time amid COVID -19.

•  It was hosted by the United States of America (USA) from New York and under the Presidency of Volkan Bozkir of Turkey.

•  During the session, a special event was organized on September 21, 2020 marking the 75th anniversary of the UN.

•  The event was held under the theme “The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism” while the theme of the session was “The future we want, the United Nations we need, reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism – confronting the COVID-19 through effective multilateral action”.

 

4. GOI’S WMA LIMIT

•  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in consultation with the Government of India (GoI) has fixed Rs 1,25,000 crore as the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) limit for the 2nd half of the financial year(FY) 2020-21, i.e., October 2020 to March 2021.

•  The interest rate on WMA is equal to the repo rate(current repo rate is 4%).

•  In case of overdraft, the interest rate is 2% above the repo rate.

 

5. RBI EXCLUDES 6 PSBS FROM SECOND SCHEDULE OF RBI ACT

•  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) excluded six public sector banks (PSBs) from the Second Schedule of the RBI Act, 1934 following their merger with other banks with effect from April 01, 2020.

•  The six banks are Syndicate Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), United Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank, and Allahabad Bank.

•  OBC and United Bank of India merged into Punjab National Bank; Syndicate Bank into Canara Bank; Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India; and Allahabad Bank into Indian Bank.

 

6. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF OLDER PERSONS 2020 – OCTOBER 1

•  UN’s International Day of Older Persons is annually observed across the globe on 1st October to recognise the elderlys as an asset to the society who are capable of contributing to the development process.

•  The 1st October 2020 marks the 30th Anniversary of the International Day of Older Persons.

•  The theme of the International Day of Older Persons 2020 is “Pandemics: Do They Change How We Address Age and Ageing?”.

 

7. INTERNATIONAL COFFEE DAY 2020: OCTOBER 1

•  International Coffee Day is observed annually on October 1 to celebrate coffee and recognize the efforts of people who are associated with the coffee industry namely,  farmers, roasters, baristas, coffee shop owners globally.

•  The day also promotes fair trade coffee and to raise awareness for the coffee growers

•  International Coffee Organisation (ICO) launched its first official International Coffee Day in Milan, Italy  in 2015 as part of Expo 2015, a World Expo hosted by Milan.

 

8. WORLD VEGETARIAN DAY OBSERVED ON OCTOBER 1, 2020

•  World Vegetarian Day is celebrated annually on October 1.

•  It is observed to promote Joy, Compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of Vegetarianism.

•  The World Vegetarian Day was founded in 1977 by North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS), and endorsed by International Vegetarian Union in 1978.