DAILY GK: 4 FEB 2021

 DAILY GK: 4 FEB 2021

1.     INDIA’S 1ST WETLAND CONSERVATION CENTRE

•      Babul Supriyo announced the establishment of India’s 1st Centre for Wetland Conservation and Management (CWCM) at Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

•      It is being set up as part of the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) Institute, a research institute under MoEFCC.

•      It was launched on occasion of the World Wetland Day observed on February 2, 2020.

 

2.     2ND EXCLUSIVE LCA TEJAS PRODUCTION PLANT

•      Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) 2nd Exclusive Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Tejas Fighter Jets Production Plant at Doddanekundi, Bangalore, Karnataka.

•      The Plant will double HAL’s production capacity of LCA Tejas to 16 LCA Tejas Aircrafts a year from 2022-23 (at present it is 8).

•      The Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, indigenously designed by Aircraft Development Agency (ADA) under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

•      Earlier GOI approved INR 48, 000 Crore deal (Largest Indigenous order) for procurement of 73 Tejas Mk-1A Variants & 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer Aircraft from HAL.

 

3.     INDIA’S FIRST AMPUTEE CLINIC

•      The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) launched India’s first Amputee Clinic, “PGI Amputee Clinic” in Chandigarh.

•      The PGI Amputee clinic was inaugurated by PGIMER Director Prof. Jagat Ram.

•      The clinic will also run an Amputee school following the success of the Knee School which is running at PGIMER.

 

4.     NITI AAYOG’S ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS RANKING

•      The Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh(UP) topped the Aspirational Districts Ranking of Niti Aayog in December 2020, the ranking is done every month.

•      Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure were the development areas that were considered for the ranking.

•      Dhalai of Tripura secured the 2nd position followed by Garhwa of Jharkhand, Baksa of Assam and Bokaro of Jharkhand in 3rd, 4th and 5th position respectively.

5.     EIU’S DEMOCRACY INDEX 2020

•      According to the ‘Democracy Index 2020’ released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), India with a score of 6.61 slipped two places to 53rd Rank (out of 167 countries) in the Index due to decline in Civil Liberties.

•      Norway topped the index followed by Iceland & Sweden.

•      The handling of Coronavirus Pandemic has led to a further decline of civil liberties in 2020 in India, Asia and other regions of the world.

Rank              Country                Score

1                      Norway                  9.81

2                      Iceland                  9.37

3                      Sweden                  9.26

 

6.     EXTERNAL PROFESSIONAL AUDIT OF HDFC BANK’S IT INFRASTRUCTURE

•      RBI has appointed an external professional IT firm to carry out a special audit of the entire IT infrastructure of HDFC bank under Section 30 (1-B) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

•      The audit will be conducted at the cost of the bank under Section 30 (1-C) of  the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

•      The name of the IT firm was not disclosed.

 

7.     FEDFIRST, A SPECIAL SAVINGS ACCOUNT FOR CHILDREN

•      Federal Bank  Ltd launched  FedFirst, a special savings account for children  up to age of 18 years (both Resident and Non Resident Indians-NRIs).

•      The account is designed to help children learn about the importance of money management.

•      FedFirst contactless Debit Card is given to this account holder.

 

8.     PFC RAISES USD 500 MILLION

•      Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has successfully raised USD 500 Million through issuance of USD Denominated Bonds under ‘Reg S route’.

•      The Bonds have a Fixed Coupon of 3.35% and will mature on May 16, 2031 making it the Longest Tenor Bond Issuance from India since the start of 2021.

•      Totally it has raised around USD 2.55 Billion, which is an oversubscription of 5.1 times.

 

9.     OXFORD HINDI WORD OF 2020

•      The Oxford Languages has named “Aatmanirbharta or Self-Reliance” as the Hindi Word of the year 2020 since it validated the day-to-day achievements of the countless Indians who dealt with and survived the perils of a pandemic.

 

10. JEFF BEZOS TO STEP DOWN AS CEO OF AMAZON

•      Jeff Bezos, the Founder and CEO of Amazon, will step down as the CEO of Amazon in the third quarter October 2021 and Andy Jassy, the lead of Amazon Web Services(AWS), the cloud computing unit of Amazon will take over as the New CEO.

•      Jeff Bezos will be taking up the role of executive chair of the Amazon’s Board of Directors.

 

11. PUNJAB’S FIRST ‘CENTRAL WATER TREATMENT PLANT’

•      Punjab’s First ‘Central Water Treatment Plant’ set up at Village Daudhar of Moga, Punjab began supply of Clean Drinking Water to 85 Villages of Moga district.

•      This plant was built with financial assistance worth INR 232 Crores from World Bank.

•      The Project was developed by Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which will be responsible for operation & maintenance of the project for the next 10 years.