DAILY GK: 09, 10 JULY 2021

 DAILY GK: 09, 10 JULY 2021

1. VMAN AVIATION SIGNED MOU WITH AIRBUS HELICOPTERS

•      Vman Aviation Services became the first GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec) City, Gandhinagar based Aircraft leasing company to sign an Aircraft purchase agreement after placing an order for an Airbus H125 helicopter with France-based Airbus Helicopters SAS.

•      The agreement has been signed under Government’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan Initiative.

•      The Government of India is aiming to make GIFT IFSC a hub for aircraft leasing & financing activities

 

2. GOVT SET UP 25-MEMBER DCCI

•      The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has set up a 25-member Development Council for the Cement Industry (DCCI) under the chairmanship of Puneet Dalmia, CMD, Dalmia Bharat Group.

•      The Council will suggest ways to eliminate waste, obtain maximum production, improve quality, reduce costs, and promote standardization of products.

 

3. INDIA TO HAVE 24 ICP ON LAND BORDERS BY 2025: LPAI

•      During a seminar organized by Centre for Social & Economic Progress (CSEP), Aditya Mishra, Chairman of LPAI (Land Ports Authority of India), a statutory body under the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that India will have 24 Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) on land borders by 2025.

•      It will enable better integration of India with the South East Asian region and other regions beyond them.

 

4. OECD REPORT ON JOBS

•      The Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) in its ‘OECD Employment Outlook 2021’ stated that over 22 million jobs were lost in developed nations due to COVID-19.

•      Out of 22 million who remain out of work, 8 million are unemployed and 14 million are considered inactive.

•      The report states that worldwide, 114 million jobs were lost during the pandemic.

 

5. INDIA’S FIRST AI-BASED HOME LOAN SELECTION ENGINE

•      Easiloan Techno Solutions Pvt. Ltd. located in Mumbai, Maharashtra launched ‘Easiloan Instant Match’ application for home loans.

•      This app is the housing finance industry’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology-based selection and recommendation engine for home buyers.

 

6. RBI ANNOUNCED CHANGES IN G-SEC AUCTION METHODOLOGY

•      By reviewing the market conditions and market borrowing program of the government, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has modified the auction methodology of the benchmark securities of tenor 2-year, 3-year, 5-year, 10-year, 14-year tenor and Floating Rate Bonds (FRBs) to uniform price auction method (earlier it was based on multiple price-based auctions).

•      The auction of other benchmark securities such as 30-year and 40-year were unchanged and made to continue as multiple price-based auctions.

 

7. INDIAN CRICKETER MITHALI RAJ BECAME LEADING SCORER

•      Indian cricketer and women’s ODI Captain Mithali Raj became the leading scorer in women’s international cricket in all three formats.

•      She overtook former England’s batter Charlotte Edward’s tally of 10273 runs during the 3rd and final One-Day Internationals (ODI) between England and India held in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.

•      She is the only Indian cricketer and 2nd international cricketer to score more than 10000 runs in Women’s International Cricket.

 

8. CONGRESS LEADER VIRBHADRA SINGH PASSED AWAY

•      Former Chief Minister (CM) of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh passed away in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.

•      He is the sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Arki assembly constituency (Solan District, Himachal Pradesh).

•      He was popularly known by the honorific ‘Raja Sahib’.

•      Virbhadra Singh has served as the CM of Himachal Pradesh (6 times) between 1983 to 2017.

 

9. HAITI PRESIDENT JOVENELMOÏSE ASSASSINATED

•      Jovenel Moïse, President of the Republic of Haiti was assassinated at his private residence at Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

•      He was born on 26th June 1968 in Trou Du Nord, Nord Est, Haiti.

 

10. 1ST SSMI TO PUBLISH TRANSPARENCY REPORT

•      Google India became the 1st technology company which is qualified as ‘Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMIs)’ to publish a Transparency report under the new ‘Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021’.

•      Transparency report includes details of complaints received from users in India and the action taken across Google’s platform between April  1-30, 2021.

•      SSMIs are technology platforms which have more than 5 million users.

 

11. INDIA’S 1ST INTEGRATED CARBON BLACK COMPLEX

•      Coal India Ltd (CIL) signed an agreement for the purchase of 11 20-cubic metre Russian rope shovels for nearly Rs 1,462 crore with Iz- Kartex named after P.G. Korbokov Ltd, a Russian shovel manufacturing company.

•      India’s first integrated carbon black complex has successfully commissioned its operations in Bellary, Karnataka.

•      It has been set up by Epsilon Carbon Private Limited (ECPL), a coal tar derivatives Indian company with estimated investment of Rs 550 cr.

 

12. WORLD’S TALLEST SANDCASTLE BUILD IN BLOKHUS, DENMARK

•      The sandcastle created by the Dutch Designers team led by Wilfred Stijger, which stands around 69 feet tall (more than 21 meters) becomes the world’s tallest sandcastle.

•      The sand castle made of around 5000 tons of sand was created as a part of the sandcastle festival in Blokhus, Denmark.

 

13. RBI DIRECTED BANKS TO SHIFT FROM LIBOR TO ARR

•      Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued an advisory to banks and other RBI-regulated entities to prepare for the transition from the international benchmark reference rate, ‘London Interbank Offered Rate’ (LIBOR), to any other widely accepted Alternate Reference Rates (ARR).

•      LIBOR is used widely by the global financial system as one of the interbank benchmarks for a large volume and broad range of financial products and contracts.

•      In March 2021, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ceased the use of LIBOR by any administrator and stated that it would no longer be representative.

 

14. UNITED KINGDOMS COMMONWEALTH POINTS OF LIGHT AWARD

•      Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi, a hunger activist from Hyderabad has been awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Points of Light award by the United Kingdom(UK) Government.

•      He had launched the #Hunger Has No Religion initiative through his NGO ‘Sani Welfare Foundation’, which has helped to feed over 1,500 people a day.

 

15. ICC CEO MANU SAWHNEY RESIGNS OVER ABRASIVE CONDUCT

•      Manu Sawhney, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has resigned from his post with immediate effect following the report against his “abrasive behaviour” with his colleagues.

•      Geoff Allardice will continue as the acting CEO of ICC.

 

16. SATISH AGNIHOTRI APPOINTED AS NEW MD OF NHSRCL

•      Satish Agnihotri, retired Indian Railways Service of Engineers (IRSE) officer (1982 batch), has been appointed as the new Managing Director(MD) of the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd(NHSRCL).

•      He succeeds Achal Khare, the first MD of NHSRCL (2017 to 2021).

•      NHSRCL was incorporated on 12th February 2016 with an aim to finance, construct, maintain and manage the high-speed rail corridor in India.

 

17. FRANCE TESTS ‘HELMA-P’

•      French Armed Forces used ‘HELMA-P (High-energy Laser for Multiple Application – Power)’, a Laser-Powered Anti-Drone System to destroy a drone during a test of technology conducted near the Atlantic coast in South western part of France.

•      HELMA-P which is manufactured by a French startup ‘CILAS’ is capable of detecting lightweight commercial drones from a distance of up to 3 Km (1.8 miles).

•      It can track & destroy drones once they are within 1 Km radius of the system.