DAILY GK: 04, 05 JULY 2021

 DAILY GK: 04, 05 JULY 2021

1. ‘DRAFT NATIONAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION POLICY – 2020’

          The Department of Space (DoS) has placed the ‘Draft National Space Transportation Policy – 2020 – Norms, Guidelines & Procedures (NGP)’ for implementation in public domain for comments & suggestions.

          Indian National Space Promotion & Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), an independent body constituted by Government of India, under the DoS has been specified as the nodal agency for all approvals related to launches by the Indian private sector.

 

2. BRICS CULTURE MINISTERS MEETING 2021

          India virtually hosted the 6th BRICS(Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Culture Ministers meeting 2021 under the chairship of Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism.

          The meeting saw the participation of the Minister of Culture from the BRICS member countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).

          The meeting was conducted under the theme – “Bonding and Harmonizing Cultural Synergy”.

          2021’s Theme – BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus

 

3.INDIA JOINS G20-OECD TAX FRAMEWORK DEAL

          The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) stated that 130 countries including G20 members, India & China have joined the G20-OECD Tax Framework Deal for Global Minimum Corporate Tax.

          The Global Minimum Corporate Tax is set to come into force from 2023 mandates 15% Tax on globally operating companies (such as Google, Facebook).

          It is applicable for Global companies with global annual revenue of at least 20 billion Euros (USD 24 billion) and a profit margin of over 10%.

          The 15% tax is expected to generate an estimated USD 150 billion additional tax revenue each year.

 

4.WHO AWARDED CHINA A MALARIA-FREE CERTIFICATE

          World Health Organization (WHO) awarded China a malaria-free certification.

          This certification recognized China’s 70-year effort to eradicate this disease.

          It reported zero cases for last the 4 years.

          China is the first country in the WHO Western Pacific Region to be awarded a malaria-free certification in more than 3 decades.

          Other countries in the region that have achieved this status include Australia (1981), Singapore (1982) and Brunei Darussalam (1987).

 

5. NABARD SANCTIONED RS 388 CRORE FOR ODISHA

          The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned financial assistance of Rs 388 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for Odisha to set up 4 mega piped drinking water supply projects and 20 rural road projects across 15 districts of the state.

 

6.RBI ISSUED DIRECTIONS FOR APPOINTMENT OF MD/WTD IN UCBS

          The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued directions relating to ‘Appointment of Managing Director (MD) / Whole-Time Director (WTD)’ in all Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks (UCBs).

          Educational Qualifications:  He should be a graduate, preferably, with Qualification in banking or Post-graduation in any discipline.

          Age Limit: From 35 years to 70 years. (the bank’s Boards are allowed to prescribe a lower retirement age).

          Ineligible Persons: Member of Parliament (MP), Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Member of Municipal Corporation or Municipality or other local bodies, persons engaged in business, trade or having substantial interest in any company.

TENURE OF MD/ WTD:

CRITERIA                                                                                              TENURE

Minimum period to hold the post after 1st appointment                                                            3 years

Maximum period to hold the post at a time                                                                                5 years

Re-appointment

(in the same bank)                                                                                              After a minimum gap of 3 years (In that 3 years they should not be appointed or associated with a bank (directly/indirectly))

Maximum Tenure to hold the post in the same bank                                                                  15 years.

 

7.WORLD BANK INCREASED COVID-19 VACCINE FUNDING

          The World Bank (WB) enhanced its available funding by $8 billion for COVID-19 vaccine purchases and deployment to $20 billion over next 18 months i.e. through 2022 from a previous target of $12 billion.

          This decision has been taken to overcome the disproportionate vaccination rates between the advanced economies and developing countries as the latter are facing sharp increase in overall financing demand.

 

8.RBI IMPOSED RS 25 LAKH PENALTY ON PUNJAB AND SIND BANK

          RBI imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 25 lakh on the state-owned Punjab and Sind Bank for non-compliance with certain provisions related to the directions on ‘Cyber Security Framework in Banks’.

          RBI has also imposed a Rs 1 lakh penalty on the Nagar Sahkari Bank Limited, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh for contravention of certain regulations such as ‘Income Recognition, Asset Classification, Provisioning and Other Related Matters – UCBs (Urban Cooperative Banks)’.

 

9.WORLD’S MOST INNOVATIVE INVESTMENT PROMOTION AGENCY OF 2021

          Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal and Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar congratulated ‘Invest India’ for winning the World’s Most Innovative Investment Promotion Agency for 2021 by the OCO Global.

          Invest India has been continuously identifying innovative areas of investment and bringing in sustainable investors to India, despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic

 

10.SHAMBHU NATH SRIVASTAVA APPOINTED AS IFUNA CHAIRMAN

          ShambhuNath Srivastava, the former Allahabad High Court Judge and former chief Lokayukta of Chhattisgarh, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Indian Federation of United Nations Associations (IFUNA).

          He succeeded Mukul Sangma, a former chief minister of Meghalaya.

 

11.INDIA’S 1ST INDIGENOUS DRONE DEFENCE DOME

          India’s first indigenous Autonomous Drone Defence Dome (AD3) namely ‘Indrajaal’ has been developed by Grene Robotics, a Hyderabad (Telangana) based company into building autonomous technologies.

          This Anti-Drone Dome provides a 24*7 protection to a large area / city of 1,000-2,000 sq km against threats such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), incoming weapons (missiles), loitering munitions and Low-Radar Cross Section (RCS) targets autonomously.

12.BOOK- “NATHU RAM GODSE: THE TRUE STORY OF GANDHI’S ASSASSIN”

          Journalist Dhaval Kulkarni has authored a book titled “Nathuram Godse: The True Story of Gandhi’s Assassin”, the biography of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi.

          Teesta Guha Sarkar, editorial head at Pan Macmillan India acquired the book from Anish Chandy, founder of Labyrinth literary agency in an auction.

 

13.INTERNATIONAL PLASTIC BAG FREE DAY 2021 – JULY 3

          The International Plastic Bag Free Day is annually observed across the globe on 3rd July to create awareness about the issues of plastic pollution and to highlight the effects of plastic pollution on the natural environment ranging from land to marine.