DAILY GK : 21, 22 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 21, 22 JAN 2021

1. AMAZON TO SET UP QUANTUM COMPUTING APPLICATIONS LAB IN INDIA

•      Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to set up a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in the Country.

•      The lab will be the World’s 1st Quantum Computing Applications Lab to support a National Government’s Mission.

•      India announced National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications (NM-QTA) in the Union Budget 2020-21 with a budget of INR 8000 Crore for a period of 5 years to  be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST).

•      Amazon has partnered with Startup India, Sequoia Capital India & Fireside Ventures to launch an Accelerator programme namely ‘Amazon Global Selling Propel (AGSP)’  to help early-stage startups to take their products to Global Audiences.

 

2. 1ST STATE TO GIVE POWER SUBSIDY TO FARMERS THROUGH DBT

•      Madhya Pradesh (MP) has become the first State to give electricity subsidy through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) thereby successfully implementing one out of the three stipulated reforms in the power sector.

•      This achievement has made it eligible for additional borrowing equivalent to 0.15% of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

 

3. MAHARASHTRA GOVT RENAMED NAGPUR’S GOREWADA INTERNATIONAL ZOO

•      Maharashtra Government renamed Gorewada International Zoo as “Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park”, in memory of Balasaheb Thackeray, an Indian politician.

•      This zoological park is situated in Nagpur, Maharashtra and covers about 2,000 hectares of the forest land.

 

4. 2020 LIST OF D-SIBS

•      RBI released the 2020 list of Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) on the basis of data collected from banks as on March 31, 2020.

•      As per the list SBI (State Bank of India), ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India), and HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited) continue to be D-SIBs or institutions which are ‘too big to fail (TBTF)’.

•      The D-SIB framework classifies banks under five buckets depending on order of importance.

•      In accordance with this ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are in bucket one while SBI is in bucket three.

 

5. KIREN RIJIJU GETS ADDITIONAL CHARGE OF AYUSH MINISTRY

•      President Ram Nath Kovind, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, temporarily appointed Union Minister of State(MoS)Kiren Rijiju with additional charge of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) following the hospitalisation and treatment of Shripad Yesso Naik.

•      Kiren Rijiju will have this additional charge till Shripad Yesso Naik resumes his work.

 

6. SIDDHARTHA MOHANTY APPOINTED AS MD OF LIC

•      The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of Siddhartha Mohanty as MD of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

•      Meanwhile, Sanjeev Kumar has been appointed as the chairman & MD of Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd(TCIL).

 

7. PM APPOINTED AS CHAIRMAN OF SOMNATH TEMPLE TRUST

•      Prime Minister Narendra Modi was appointed as the chairman of  Somnath Trust.

•      He succeeds former Gujarat Chief Minister late Keshubhai Patel.

•      The trust manages the world famous Somnath Temple at Prabhas Patan town in Gujarat’s Gir-Somnath district.

•      Narendra Modi is the second Prime Minister who has been appointed the chairman of the temple trust after former PM Morarji Desai.

 

8. INDIAN CRICKET TEAM RETAINS BORDER-GAVASKAR TROPHY

•      Indian Cricket Team defeated Australia by  3 wickets in the 4th Test Match against Australia held at The Gabba Stadium, Brisbane,  Australia. 

•      With this victory, India won the 4-Test Series against Australia by 2-1 and  retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

•      Ajinkya Rahane led the Indian Team in the absence of Virat Kohli who played only the First Test Match.

•      Pat Cummins was adjudged as the Player of the Series.

•      Also Australia’s Claire Polosak  became the 1st Female Match Official in a Men’s Test Match.

 

9. TRIPURA OBSERVED 42ND KOKBOROK DAY

•      Tripura observed the 42nd Kokborok Day to recognise declaration of Kokborok as an official language of the state of Tripura, India by the state government in the year 1979.

•      This language is not included in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India.

•      The name ‘Kokborok’  is derived from Kok meaning “verbal” and Borok meaning “human”.

 

10. INDIAN INNOVATION INDEX 2020

•      NITI Aayog virtually released the 2nd Edition of Indian Innovation Index 2020.

•      Karnataka topped the Index in the Major States Category, Delhi topped among the Union Territories (UT) and Himachal Pradesh among North-Eastern and Hilly States.

•      Overall, Indian States have achieved an average score of 23.4 in the Index.

 

11. NFPC FOR FACELESS PENALTY PROCEEDINGS

•      As a part of faceless taxation, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has introduced the Faceless Penalty Scheme 2021 under which penalty to assessee will be imposed in a digital format.

•      Faceless penalty scheme will help boost  transparency, compliance for taxpayers.

•      In this regard, there will be setting up of National Faceless Penalty Centres(NFPC), regional penalty centres, penalty units and review units for execution of penalty proceedings.

 

12. INDIAN RAILWAYS RENAMED HOWRAH-KALKA MAIL

•      As a tribute to Freedom fighter ‘Netaji’ Subhas Chandra Bose, the Indian Railways has renamed the Howrah-Kalka Mail, one of the oldest running trains in India, as “Netaji Express” with effect on 23rd January 2021, the 125th Birth Anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose.

•      The train was first operated on 1st January 1866 as Howrah-Peshawar Express.

 

13. NUMBER OF PEOPLE FACING FOOD INSECURITY SET TO DOUBLE

•      According to the report ‘Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2020: Maternal and child diets at the heart of improving nutrition’, based on Global estimates the number of people facing severe food insecurity was estimated to double to 265 Million by the end of 2020 due to pandemic.

•      The report was jointly released by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organization (WHO).

 

14. GLOBAL FIREPOWER ‘2021 MILITARY STRENGTH RANKING’

•      In the ‘2021 Military Strength Ranking’ an annually updated list of 138 modern military nations by a defence analytics website Global Firepower, India is ranked 4th with PwrIndx (Power Index) rating of 0.1214 where 0.0000 rating is considered as ‘perfect’.

•      The ranking has been topped by the United States of America (USA).

•      Among region the index is topped by Asia and followed by Asia-Pacific, Middle East and European Union (EU) at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively.

 

15. PRESIDENCY OF THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

•      Fijian Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan, the chief diplomat of Fiji in Geneva won the Presidency Election of the United Nations Human Rights Council(UNHRC) with  29 out of 47 votes.

•      Fiji became the first Pacific Island nations to win the presidency election of the UNHRC.

•      She succeeds Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberge of Austria.

 

16. “NELSON MANDELA” WORLD HUMANITARIAN AWARD

•      Ravi Gaikwad, a Philanthropist & Chief of Regional Transport Office, Thane & Konkan Region has been awarded the “Nelson Mandela” World Humanitarian Award for his dedication & service to humanity.

 

17. 46TH PRESIDENT OF THE USA

•      Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Joe Biden) took oath as the 46th President of the United States of America(USA) at a ceremony organised at the West Front of the US Capitol building, Washington, USA.

•      78-year-old Joe Biden became the oldest President in the history of the USA.

•      He belong to Democratic Political Party.

•      Kamala Harris took oath as the 49th Vice President.

•      She is the first woman and first person with south Asian origin to take the office of Vice President of the USA.

 

18. SEBI GIVES APPROVAL TO FUTURE GROUP AND RELIANCE RETAIL DEAL

•      The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given approval to the deal between Future Group and Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd(RRVL), where Future group will sell its retail, wholesale, logistics and warehouse businesses to Reliance Retail for Rs 24,713 crore.

•      The retail & wholesale undertaking will be  transferred to Reliance Retail and the Fashion Lifestyle Limited (RRFLL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RRVL.

 

19. MOBILE APP – AERO INDIA 2021

•      Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the mobile application  – Aero India 2021.

•      The app Aero India 2021 was developed by EventEdge.

•      This event application will provide an interactive interface to the issues related to the 13th edition of Aero India Exhibition 2021, a 3 day business event which will be conducted from 3rd to 5th February 2021 in Air Force Station, Yelahanka, Bengaluru, Karnataka.

•      The theme of the Aero India Exhibition 2021 is “Runway to a Billion Opportunities”

 

20. BOOK-‘THE POPULATION MYTH: ISLAM, FAMILY PLANNING AND POLITICS IN INDIA’

•      Dr. S Y Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner(CEC) is set to release his new book titled “The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India”.

•      This book looks into the questions about the politicisation of demographics in India based on the standard research of SY Quraishi.

•      The book is published by HarperCollins India.