DAILY GK: 15 MAY 2021

 DAILY GK: 15 MAY 2021

1. AGRICULTURE MINISTRY ALLOCATES INR 2250 CRORE FOR HORTICULTURE SECTO

•     The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) has allocated INR 2250 Crore for the FY 2021-22 for ‘Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture’ (MIDH), a centrally sponsored scheme.

•     It aims at developing the Horticulture sector in the FY 2021-22.

•     During the FY 2019-20, India recorded its highest ever horticulture production of 320.77 Million Tonnes (MT) from an area of 25.66 million hectares.

 

2. SWAMIH TO BENEFIT 1.16 LAKH HOME BUYERS

•     Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman has stated that the Real Estate Fund – ‘Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) Investment Fund I’ will benefit 1.16 lakh home loan borrowers, whose housing projects were stalled due to funding issues.

•     The residential project – ‘Rivali Park Wintergreens’ is located in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

•     It was also the 1st housing project in India to receive funding under the SWAMIH Fund.

•     It is a INR 25, 000 Crore fund – Government of India holds 50% of the fund.

•     Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), State Bank of India (SBI) each hold 10%.

 

3. RBI CANCELLED THE LICENCE OF UNITED CO-OPERATIVE BANK

•     The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the license of United Co-operative Bank Ltd., Bagnan, West Bengal in May 2021, as the bank does not have adequate capital and earning prospects to pay its present depositors in full.

•     The bank also does not comply with the provisions of section 11(1) and section 22 (3) (d) read with section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

 

4. ONEWEB PARTNERS WITH SOFTBANK 

•     OneWeb (a venture backed by Sunil Mittal) has signed an Cooperative agreement with SoftBank Group Corp, a Japanese multinational holding company to promote its satellite communication services in the Global and Japan markets.

•     The two entities will promote satellite communication services through a combination of OneWeb’s satellite services &SoftBank’s Digital Transformation (DX) platform services.

 

5. RS 4,100 CRORE INFUSION BY GOVTIN IOB

•     Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) obtained approval from its shareholders through an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) for the issuance of 246, 54,23,932 equity shares to the Government of India (GoI) on a preferential basis for a capital infusion of Rs 4,100 crores by GoI in the bank.

•     After the capital infusion, the GoI’s shareholding in IOB increased from 95.84 percent to 96.38 percent.

 

6. RBI EXCLUDED LAKSHMI VILAS BANK FROM THE SECOND SCHEDULE

•     RBI has excluded Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd.(LVB) from the Second Schedule of the RBI Act, 1934.

•     RBI appointed the former non-executive chairman of Canara Bank, T N Manoharan as an administrator of LVB for those 30 days.

•     On November 27, 2020, Govt allowed the merging of LVB (bank under crisis) with DBS Bank India Ltd. (under Section 45 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949), and removed the restrictions imposed over LVB.

•     On the same day, it was excluded from the Second Schedule of the RBI Act, 1934.

 

7. CLIMBING MOUNT EVEREST TWICE

•     Nepali mountain guide, MingmaTenji Sherpa, a 43-year-old, had created a world record by climbing 8848.86-meter-high Mount Everest (world’s highest peak) twice in the shortest span of just four days.

•     Previously, Indian mountaineer Anshu Jamsenpa had held the record for fastest dual ascents on Mount Everest in 118 hours and 15 minutes in 2017 and still holds the record for fastest dual ascent on Mount Everest by a woman.

 

8. NITI AAYOG SET UP COVAID

•     NITI Aayog has set up the CovAid portal, a dedicated platform to monitor all the COVID-19 aid received by the Government of India.

•     The portal will enable donors to do end to end tracking till the ultimate beneficiary.

•     The Indian Red Cross Society is financially responsible for all the consignments of donations from foreign countries which are received through the mission.

 

9.1ST PRIVATE ASTRONAUT MISSION TO ISS

•     US Space Agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has signed an agreement with Axiom Space to send the 1st private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by  January 2022.

•     The mission has been designated as ‘Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1)’.

•     SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Capsule will carry the crew to the ISS.

 

10. PREMIER LEAGUE 2020-21

•     Manchester City won the 2020-21 Premier League by defeating Manchester United.

•     2020-21 Premier League is the 29th edition of Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs.

•     It is Manchester City’s 5th Premier League title and 7th English league title.

•     It was also the Manchester City’s third title in the last four seasons.

•     Punjab is set to become the 1st Indian state to join the Global COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access) Alliance.

•     Joining the Alliance will help Punjab to address the Anti-Covid-19 vaccine shortage & to procure vaccines at the best price.

•     The decision to join the Global COVAX Alliance was taken during a virtual Cabinet meeting headed by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

•     It is an global initiative co-led by Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation), World Health Organization (WHO), and key delivery partner UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund).