DAILY GK : 29 MAY 2021

 DAILY GK : 29 MAY 2021

1. SAKHI-ONE STOP CENTRES TO SUPPORT INDIAN OVERSEAS WOMEN

•        Sakhi-One Stop Centres (OSC)’ is a scheme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) to support women affected by violence in public and private space.

•        The WCD Ministry in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has decided to set up 10 OSCs to support Indian Overseas Women in  9 countries – Australia, Canada, Singapore, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

•        The Sakhi-One Stop Centre (OSC) scheme was set up in 2015 by the Ministry of WCD. It is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme funded through Nirbhaya Fund.

 

2. ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEILLANCE PLATFORM FOR COVID-19

•        Karnataka Government has launched  India’s 1st City-wide Environmental Surveillance Platform named ‘Precision Health Platform’ in Bengaluru.

•        It is a city-wide sewage surveillance system which will help officials track COVID-19 at an early stage and make preparations to face it.

•        The platform is also the 1st of its kind in Asia.

•        Partners – United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Skoll Foundation-supported  COVID Action Collaborative (CAC – COVID Action Collab) will partner with the Karnataka Government for the initiative.

 

3. RBI ANNUAL REPORT 2020-21

•        Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its Annual Report for 2020-21, a statutory report of its Central Board of Directors, which covers the working and functions of the RBI for the transition period of 9 months (July 2020 – March 2021).

•        Note – The accounting year of RBI was changed from July – June to April – March.

•        Growth – Due to the onset of the second wave of COVID-19, RBI has stated a raft of revisions to growth projections of FY22 towards the RBI’s earlier projection of 10.5 percent (26.2 percent in Q1, 8.3 percent in Q2, 5.4 percent in Q3 and 6.2 per cent in Q4)

ABOUT THE RBI’S ANNUAL REPORT 2020-21 IN BRIEF:

-BALANCE SHEET OF RBI:

•        The balance sheet of RBI increased by 6.99 percent /Rs 3,72,876.43 crore, from Rs 53,34,792.70 crore (June 30, 2020) to Rs 57,07, 669.13 crore (March 31, 2021).

•        RBI’s gains from foreign exchange transactions rose by 69 percent from Rs 29,993 crore to Rs 50,629 crore in 2020-21.

•        RBI’s Annual Account:

                                                                                                FY20                                                                      July 2020-March 2021

Income (Decreased by 10.96 percent)                            Rs 149,672 crore                                                 Rs 133,272 crore

Total Expenditure (Decreased by 63.10 percent)          Rs 92,540.93 crore                                              Rs 34,146.75 crore

Surplus transferred to government                                   Rs 57,127.53 crore                                              Rs 99,122.00 crore

-BANK FRAUD IN 2019-20 FELL BY 25%:

•        In 2019-20, Bank Fraud in terms of value (Rs 1 lakh and more) decreased by 25 percent to Rs 1.38 trillion and fraud in terms of numbers decreased by 15 percent.

•        Public sector banks (PSBs) share of fraud in 2019-20 was decreased from FY20, it contributed about 59 percent (₹81,901 crores) of total fraud (FY20 – PSBs share is 80%), whereas the Private Sector Banks share increased from FY20.

 

4. ENERGY FRONTIER AWARD 2020

•        BharatRatna Professor ChintamaniNages Ramachandra Rao (C.N.R. Rao) has received the Energy Frontier Award 2020 for research into renewable energy sources and energy storage.

•        The International Eni Awards 2020 will be presented on 14th October 2021 at the official ceremony which will be held at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, Italy.

•        The award is considered the Nobel Prize in Energy Research.

 

5. FORBES 30 UNDER 30 ASIA LIST

•        Gurugram based startup MoooFarm’s Co-founders Jitesh Arora, Abhijeet Mittal, and Aashna Singh have been placed in the most esteemed, recently announced 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list.

•        They have been placed in the Industry,Manufacturing and Energy category.

•        oooFarm  is a cattle trading platform that allows farmers to sell or purchase cattle without any hassle.

 

6. 4TH TERM AS THE PRESIDENT OF SYRIA

•        Bashar al-Assad(55-year-old) was re-elected for a 4th seven-year term as the President of Syria.

•        He received around 95.1% of the votes cast and won the election against former state minister Abdallah Salloum Abdallah and Mahmud Merhi.

 

7. CYCLONE YAAS MAKES LANDFALL

•        Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) stated that the ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ – Yaas made landfall south of the Balasore region of Odisha.

•        The cyclone originated from the Bay of Bengal.

•        As the cyclone names are given by countries on a rotational basis, the name ‘Yaas’ for the cyclone has been given by Oman.

•        Yaas is a Persian language and it means Jasmin.

•        The naming of Cyclones:World Meteorological Weather Organization(WMO) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for the Asia Pacific (UN ESCAP) started preparing names for impending cyclonic storms with suggestions from its member countries in 2000.

•        India along with 12 other nations like Bangladesh, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan. Sri Lanka, Suadi Arabia, UAE are part of the panel.

 

8. MENSTRUAL HYGIENE DAY 2021 – MAY 28

•        Menstrual Hygiene Day is annually observed across the globe on 28th May to educate the importance of Menstrual hygiene.

•        The day aims to promote menstrual health and hygiene for all women and girls.

•        The theme of 2021 Menstrual Hygiene Day is “Action and Investment in Menstrual Hygiene and Health.”

 

9. WORLD HUNGER DAY 2021 – MAY 28

•        World Hunger Day is annually observed across the globe on 28th May to create awareness about the 815 million people across the globe who are living in chronic hunger.

•        The day also aims to celebrate the sustainable solution to hunger and poverty.

•        The theme of World Hunger Day 2021 is “Access Ends Hunger”.