DAILY GK: 26 NOV 2020

 DAILY GK: 26 NOV 2020

1. ESIC EXTENDED ABVKY SCHEME

•      The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has extended the “Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana (ABVKY)” by another one year i.e. from 1st July, 2020 to 30th June, 2021 amid COVID-19.

•      It has also relaxed the eligibility conditions for the period between March 24, 2020 and December 31, 2020.

•      The rate of unemployment relief under the scheme has also been enhanced to 50% of wages from earlier rate of 25%.

•      ABVKY is a welfare measure for employees covered under Section 2(9) of ESI Act, 1948, in the form of relief payment upto 90 days, once in a lifetime.

 

2. NUCLEAR ENERGY PARTNERSHIP “GCNEP”

•      India and the United States of America (USA) extended the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning cooperation with the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP) India, for 10 more years.

•      This MoU, inked on November 7, 2010 in New Delhi also marked the 10 years of partnership on nuclear energy cooperation.

 

3. BLOCKING OF 43 MOBILE APPS

•      Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Government of India issued orders to block 43 mobile apps from accessing by users in India, under section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

•      These apps have been blocked for engaging in activities prejudicial to India’s Sovereignty, Integrity, Defence, Security and Public Order.

•      The apps have been blocked based on reports received from Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, Ministry of Home Affairs.

 

4. AFGHANISTAN CONFERENCE 2020

•      “2020 Afghanistan Conference” was co-hosted by the United Nations (UN), the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and the Government of Finland.

•      The Indian side was represented by the Union Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

•      India announced the Phase-IV of High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP) in Afghanistan worth USD 80 million (Rs 592 crore), which envisages more than 100 projects.

 

 

5. IPPB PARTNERED WITH PNB METLIFE INDIA

•      The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has collaborated with PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited to launch Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.

•      This scheme provides life cover of Rs 2 Lakh on death of the insured member due to any reason.

•      It is optional for all the savings account holders with IPPB.

 

6. TX2 AWARD 2020 FOR DOUBLING TIGER POPULATION

•      A virtual TX2 Tiger Conservation Awards 2020 ceremony was held to confer the relevant site among 13 tiger range countries under two categories viz. TX2 Award and Conservation Excellence Award.

•      In this regard, the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve of Uttar Pradesh (UP) under the UP Forest department has bagged the first-ever international award, TX2, for doubling the number of tigers in four years against a target of 10 years.

•      The PTR had 25 tigers in 2014 which went up to 65 in 2018.

 

7. FEASIBILITY OF VIRGIN HYPERLOOP IN INDIA

•      NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) constituted a High-level committee  to explore the technological and commercial viability of Virgin Hyperloop Technology  in India,  V.K. Saraswat, was appointed as the Chairman and Adviser of the committee & Sudhendu Jyoti, Adviser, NITI Aayog as its convener.

•      The committee will submit a report within six months time of its first meeting.

 

8. LAND-ATTACK VERSION OF BRAHMOS MISSILE

•      Indian Army successfully test-fired the land-attack version of BrahMos supersonic cruise Missile from the Andaman and Nicobar Island Territory.

•      The range of the land-attack version of Brahmos supersonic cruise Missile has been extended to 400 Kms from the original 290 kms.

•      It is a surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile.

•      The missile hit the target in the Bay of Bengal accuracy.

 

9. AHMED PATEL, PASSES AWAY

•      Ahmedbhai Mohammedbhai Patel(Ahmed Patel), a senior leader of Indian National Congress Party and  Rajya Sabha  MP from Gujarat passed away at the age of 71 at Delhi due to complications from COVID-19.

•      He was the treasurer of the All India Congress Committee (2018 – 2020).