DAILY GK : 14 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 14 JAN 2021

1. PMFBY COMPLETES 5 YEARS OF OPERATION

•      Government of India’s Crop Insurance Scheme – Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has completed 5 years of its operation.

•      It was launched by the Government on 13th January, 2016.

•      The Scheme is in line with One Nation – One Scheme theme.

•      It replaces 2 existing Crop Insurance schemes – National Agricultural Insurance Scheme & modified NAIS (National Agricultural Insurance Scheme).

•      The scheme was made voluntary for all farmers post revamp in February, 2020.

•      Union Agriculture Ministry has stated that around INR 90, 000 Crore has been disbursed to farmers since the launch of the scheme.

 

2. ‘SEA VIGIL 21’- LARGEST COASTAL DEFENCE EXERCISE

•      The Second Edition of the Biennial Pan-India, Largest Coastal Defence Exercise ‘Sea Vigil-21’ coordinated by Indian Navy.

•      It was conducted along the entire 7516 Km coastline & Exclusive Economic Zone of India.

•      The Defence Exercise involved 13 Coastal States/Union Territories.

•      It also included the fishing and coastal communities.

 

3. INDIA’S 1ST FIRE PARK

•      Naveen Patnaik virtually inaugurated India’s first ‘Fire Park’ at Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.

•      On that occasion CM Patnaik also launched the virtual platform ‘Agnishama Seva’ to provide through which 16 fire related services can be availed.

•      The Fire Park is a first of its kind initiative to provide awareness on fire safety measures, mainly focusing on School and College students.

 

4. INDIA, VIETNAM HOLD DEFENCE SECURITY DIALOGUE

•      13th India-Vietnam Defence Security Dialogue was held virtually.

•      Dr Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary, Government of India & Lt Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Defence Minister, Socialist Republic of Vietnam co-chaired the meeting.

 

5. COLLABORATATION TO  STOCKPILE A GLOBAL EBOLA VACCINE

•      World’s four leading Health and Humanitarian organisations UNICEF, World Health Organisation (WHO), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) collaborated to stockpile a global Ebola Vaccine with financial assistance from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

•      The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization has recommended 500,000 doses of Ebola vaccine to be stockpiled, as a precautionary measure to the sudden Ebola outbreak.

 

6. TESLA INC REGISTERS INDIA SUBSIDIARY IN BENGALURU

•      Tesla Inc, United States based Electric car maker has incorporated a fully owned subsidiary in Bengaluru, Karnataka as a first step to establish a Research & Development (R&D) unit in India.

•      It has registered with the Registrar of Companies in Bengaluru, Karnataka as ‘Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited’.

•      It is also in the process of setting up a manufacturing plant at Dharwad, Karnataka for producing electric vehicles in India.

 

7. HURUN GLOBAL 500

•      list – a list of 500 most valuable companies across the globe, of Hurun Research features a total of 11 Indian companies.

•      According to the report India secured the 10th rank with 11 companies whose total values grew 14% and reached 805 billion USD (around one third of Indian GDP).

•      Topped by United States with 242 companies.

•      Apple tops the list with a value of 2.1 Trillion USD followed by Microsoft with a value of 1.640 Trillion and Amazon with a value of 1.610 Trillion and Alphabet with 1.2 trillion USD.

 

Rank      Company Name                                  Value(billion USD)             % Change            Country

54           Reliance Industries                              168.8                                      21%                        India

73           Tata Consultancy Services                                139                                         30%                        India

105         HDFC Bank                                         107.5                                      11.5%                    India

 

8. TECH MAHINDRA TO ACQUIRE PTSL

•      IT services major, Tech Mahindra is set to acquire 100% share of Hong Kong based Payments Technology Service Ltd (PTSL) a subsidiary of Fidelity Information Services (FIS) for $9 million (about Rs.66 Crore) to scale its enterprise payments and banking capabilities.

•      In regard to this acquisition, Tech Mahindra had signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with FIS.

•      The transaction is expected to completed by 31 March 2021.

 

9. 83 TEJAS MK-1A FOR INDIAN AIR FORCE

•      In a big push to “Make in India”, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday approved the procurement of 83 Tejas Mk-1A fighter jets for the Indian Air Force from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, in the largest-ever indigenous military aviation deal worth around Rs 48,000 crores.

•      “The CCS today approved the largest indigenous defence procurement deal worth about Rs 48,000 crores to strengthen the IAF’s fleet of home-grown fighter jet LCA-Tejas.

•      This deal will be a game-changer for self-reliance in Indian defence manufacturing,” defence minister Rajnath Singh tweeted.