DAILY GK: 12 , 13 FEB 2021

 DAILY GK: 12 , 13 FEB 2021

1.  ‘TROPEX 21’ UNDERWAY AT THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION

      Indian Navy’s Largest War Game – the Biennial ‘Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (TROPEX 21)’ is currently taking place at the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

      Operational assets of the Indian Navy as well as Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard were participating in the Exercise.

 

2. ‘SWAVALAMBAN SASHAKT’ TO PROMOTE STAND-UP INDIA SCHEME

      SIDBI and Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs of India (COWE) have launched “Swavalamban Sashakt- Mega campaign” to encourage and to create awareness about the Stand Up India (SUI) scheme of Central Government.

      Launched in 2016, The scheme is a flagship programme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to facilitate bank loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs  100 Lakh (1 crore) to scheduled caste (SC) or scheduled tribe (ST) borrower and woman borrower.

 

3. SC STAYS DISMANTLING OF AIRCRAFT CARRIER INS VIRAAT

      Supreme Court bench headed by CJI S A Bobde stayed dismantling of the decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat(world’s longest-serving warship), was purchased by Shree Ram Group for a sum of Rs. 38.54 crore at an auction conducted by the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited in July 2020 and was proposed to preserve it as a maritime museum.

      This aircraft carrier was inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987 and decommissioned in 2017.

 

4. IRDAI ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20

      In accordance with the data by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s (IRDAI) annual report 2019-20, the claim settlement ratio of Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) declined in FY20 to 96.6% from 97.7% in FY19.

      On the other hand, Private Insurers has increased their settlement ratio to 97.18% from 96.6% in this period.

      LIC was ranked 17th among the 24 life insurers.

      Among, private sector life insurer Max Life had the highest claim settlement ratio for the industry at 99.2% .

 

5.  SRI LANKA SETTLES $400 MILLION CURRENCY SWAP FACILITY WITH INDIA

      The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) repaid USD 400 million currency swap to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

      RBI and Sri Lanka entered into this  facility in July 2020 under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) currency swap framework.

      This facility was got for an initial period of 3 months to cope with the severe economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

      Further, RBI provided a three-month rollover at CBSL’s request, until February 1, 2021.

 

6. GOVT TO SELL 20% STAKE IN NFL

      The Central Government is all set to sell 20% stake in National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) out of its shareholding of 74.71% through an Offer For Sale (OFS) method of shares, which can fetch about Rs 400 crore.

      To initiate the sale process, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has invited tenders from merchant banks.

      It should be noted that NFL is the second largest producer of Urea in the country with a share of about 15% of total Urea production in the country.

 

7.  WORLD UNANI DAY 2021

      World Unani Day is annually observed across the globe on 11th February to create and spread awareness about health care delivery through the Unani system of medicine.

      The day marks the birth anniversary of Hakim Ajmal Khan, a great Unani scholar and social reformer.

      The first Unani day was celebrated in 2017 at Central Research Institute of Unani Medicine (CRIUM), Hyderabad.

      The conference is held under the theme “Unani Medicine: Opportunities and Challenges in times of COVID-19”.

 

8. ‘FORMATION AND PROMOTION OF 10, 000 NEW FPOS’

      The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare stated that the Government of India (GoI) has launched a New Central Sector Scheme named ‘Formation and Promotion of 10, 000 new Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)’.

      Under the Scheme, GoI will form and promote 10, 000 new FPOs in India with a budget of INR 6865 Crores.

      More than 86% of Farmers in India are Small, Marginal and Landless farmers, this scheme aims to integrate them under FPOs.

      It will help in Doubling of Farming Exports by 2022 and also increasing the income of farmers.

 

9. RBI ANNOUNCES RS 20,000CR OMO

      In order to boost liquidity in the economy, On February 10, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) purchase Rs 20,000 crore ($2.74 billion) of government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO).

      This purchase will also boost government’s borrowing programme worth Rs 12.06 lakh crore which will initiate in April 2021.

      This decision has been taken due to the increasing yields on government securities.

 

10. AAROGYA SETU APP INTEGRATED WITH COWIN PORTAL

      India has integrated its COVID-19 Tracing App ‘Aarogya Setu’ & COVID-19 Vaccine Registration platform ‘Co-WIN portal (COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network)’.

      The integration will enable Users to download Vaccination certificates after they have received at least one dose of COVID-19 Vaccination.

 

11. BOOK “KAMALA’S WAY: AN AMERICAN LIFE”

      Journalist and author Dan Morain has authored his new book titled “Kamala’s way: An American Life”, a biography of Kamala Harris, the first woman vice president of the United States of America.

      The book is published by Simon & Schuster.

 

12.4 FRENCH COMPANIES SIGNS LOIS WITH TN GOVT

      During the IFCCI Indo-French Investment Conclave 2021, french companies namely, A.Raymond Fasterners, Cryolor, Precia Molen and Timac Agro signed 4 Letter of Intents (LoIs) with the Tamil Nadu government to invest Rs 200 crore in the state.

      Special Focus sectors for which LoIs– Aerospace & Defence, Mobility, Electronics & Hardware and Ease of Doing Business.

 

13. INDIA’S 1ST IMPACT-BASED FLOOD FORECASTING SYSTEM

      The UT of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has partnered with the United Kingdom Space Agency’s (UKSA) programme for a joint project on ‘Impact Based Flood Forecasting using Earth Observation (EO) based Information’ for getting India’s 1st Impact-based Flood Forecasting.

      The project comes under the National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP).

      J&K Government will not have to bear any expenses on the project.