DAILY GK: 29, 30 DEC 2020

 DAILY GK: 29, 30 DEC 2020

1. AYUSHMAN BHARAT PM-JAY SEHAT

      PM Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana Social Endeavour for Health & Telemedicine (PM-JAY SEHAT) Health Insurance scheme for covering all the residents of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).

      The scheme will operate on insurance mode in convergence with PM-JAY.

      Financial cover of upto INR 5 Lakhs per family per year on a floater basis to all residents.

      A family floater policy is a health insurance plan which covers the entire family on the payment of a single annual premium.

 

2. PASSEX NAVAL EXERCISE 2020

      Indian Navy & Vietnam People’s Navy undertook a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) 2020 in the South China Sea  to boost maritime cooperation between the two countries.

      Also  Indian Navy Ship (INS) Kiltan carrying 15 tonnes of  Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR) reached NhaRong Port, Ho Chi Minh City as part of Mission Sagar-III.

      The relief materials are for the flood-affected people of Central Vietnam.

 

3. INDIA’S 1ST EVER DRIVERLESS TRAIN

      PM Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated India’s 1st ever Driverless Train Operations on Delhi Metro’s 38 Kilometres long Magenta Line  which connects Janakpuri West & Botanical Garden in Noida.

      PM also inaugurated the fully operational National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) services on the Airport Express Line of Delhi Metro.

      With the inauguration, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) entered the elite league of 7% of the World’s Metro networks which are capable of operating without drivers.

 

4. CEBR’S WELT 2021 REPORT

      According to the 12th edition of World Economic League Table 2021 (WELT) an Annual Report released by Centre for Economics & Business Research Ltd (CEBR), India slumped 1 spot to 6th Largest Economy (out of 193 countries) in the world in 2020 from 5th in 2019 due to the impact of COVID19.

      The United States (US) topped the 2020 rankings  followed by China & Japan.

      The report stated that India will become 5th Largest Economy by 2025 & 3rd Largest by 2030.

      China will replace the US as the World’s Largest Economy by 2028.

 

5. ICC MALE CRICKETER OF THE DECADE

      The winners of the International Cricket Council(ICC) Awards of the Decade(2010-2020) were announced.

      In this, Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli wins the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade.

      He also won ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade award.

      MS Dhoni(India) won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade for calling back former England batter Ian Bell after a disputable runout at Trent Bridge Cricket ground, Nottinghamshire, England in 2011.

      Ellyse Perry(Australia) wins the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade.

      She also won ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade award and ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade award.

 

6.  ‘SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR AWARD-2018’ BY DRDO

      Dr Hemant Kumar Pandey has been conferred ‘Scientist of the Year Award-2018’ by Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) for his contributions towards developing herbal medicines which includes ‘Lukoskin’ a drug for treatment of leucoderma.

      Pandey has been undertaking research at DRDO’s Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research (DIBER) at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand for 25 years. 

 

7. GREEN PROPULSION FOR ‘GAGANYAAN’

      Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released the initial data from Chandrayaan-2, India’s second Moon Mission to the general public through PRADAN portal hosted by ISSDC (Indian Space Science Data Centre).

      At present, ISRO Science Data Archive (ISDA) has datasets acquired by Chandrayaan-2 payloads from 7 instruments. Data sets from Imaging Infra-Red Spectrometer (IIRS) payload will be added in the future.

 

8. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GENDER EQUALITY

      The Gender Park (an initiative of Kerala Government) in partnership with United Nations (UN) Women will organize the 2nd edition of International conference on Gender Equality (ICGE-II) at Gender Parks Kozhikode campus in February, 2021.

      The conference will be 3-days long and the theme of the event will be ‘Gender in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Social Business: The Mediating Role of Empowerment’.

 

9. INDIA HOISTS BLUE FLAGS ON ITS 8 BEACHES

      India hoisted ‘Blue Flags’ on its 8 beaches.

      Blue Flag certification is an eco-label given by Foundation for Environment Education, Denmark for beaches which meets its stringent environmental, educational, safety-related and access-related criteria.

      The label signifies India’s efforts to safeguard its coastal region.

      In October, 2020 India became the First Country to be awarded the Coveted International Blue Flag certification for 8 beaches in one attempt.

 

10. UN ESCAP REPORT

      According to the report ‘Foreign Direct Investment Trends and Outlook in Asia and the Pacific 2020/21’ released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), India has accounted for 77% of total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows to South & South-West Asian subregion receiving about USD 51 Billion  in 2019.

      The majority of the FDI in India were in the fields of Information & Communications Technology (ICT) & Construction sector.

      Uneven spread of FDI outflows in the region, only 2 countries – India & Turkey accounted for majority of outflows in 2019.

 

11. ICICI BANK TO COLLABORATE WITH GOOGLE PAY

      ICICI Bank collaborated with Google Pay to issue FASTag through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on the payments app.

      This allows Google Pay users to order, track and recharge ICICI Bank FASTag digitally on the payments platform.

      With this partnership, ICICI Bank FASTag is now available on Google Pay.

 

12. WORLD’S 1ST CRYPTO BANK, ‘UNICAS’

      ‘Unicas’, world’s first crypto bank was launched as a Joint Venture(JV) between Cashaa and United Multistate co-op society.

      This bank allows users to transact in cryptocurrency and fiat from one account to another.

      It will provide banking services for both fiat and crypto assets.

      This JV allows Cashaa to access regulatory licenses, physical branches, and overall banking Infrastructure of United Multistate Co-Op Society.

 

13. SURYODAY SFB TO FLOAT ITS IPO

      Suryoday Small Finance Bank(SFB) received approval from Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) to float its Initial Public Offering (IPO). 

      The shares of the SFB is expected to be listed on BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty.

 

14. KAMALADEVI CHATTOPADHYAY NIF BOOK PRIZE 2020

      Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Sabha MP & Former Union Minister for his book  ‘A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon’ and Associate Prof Amit Ahuja, for his book ‘Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements’ jointly won Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation(NIF) Book Prize 2020.

      Prize Money & Trophy:The winners will share the  prize money of 15 lacs and each of them will receive the Book Prize trophy.

 

15. INDIA’S 1ST INDIGENOUS VACCINE AGAINST PNEUMONIA

      Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan virtually launched India’s 1st Indigenous Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) – ‘Pneumosil’ to treat pneumonia.

      The vaccine has been developed by Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) in collaboration with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

      The Vaccine will make SIIPL the world’s 3rd largest supplier of PCV under the pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment (AMC), and the first Developing country vaccine manufacturer to access the global PCV market.

 

16. DHARMA SWATANTRYA (RELIGIOUS FREEDOM) BILL, 2020

      Madhya Pradesh (MP) cabinet headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan approved the Dharma Swatantrya (Religious Freedom) Bill, 2020. 

      The aim of the bill is to outlaw marriages which take place with a sole motive of religious conversions.

      It will now be placed in the MP state assembly for discussion & passage.

      Forced religious conversion of minors or women or a person belonging to SC/ST category will invite jail term of 2-10 years & penalty of INR 50, 000.

      Mass forced conversions invite 5 to 10 years of jail term & fine of up to INR 1 Lakh.