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.