DAILY GK: 07 AUG 2021

 DAILY GK: 07 AUG 2021

1.POWER OF STATES, UTS TO MAKE ‘OBC LIST’

          The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Constitution (127th) Amendment Bill, which will restore the power of States and Union Territories (UTs) to make their own Other Backward Class (OBC) lists.

          The bill will be passed for parliament approval in the upcoming parliament session, after approval, the amendments will be made over the Article 342-A and 366(26) C of the Constitution.

          Article 366(26C) gives the definition for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC).

 

2.WATER VILLAS WILL BE SET UP IN LAKSHADWEEP

          For the first time in India, water villas will be set up in the Union Territory (UT) of Lakshadweep with an outlay of Rs 800 crore.

          Similar to water villas in Maldives, these will be solar-powered and eco-friendly to provide world-class facilities.

          The decision behind this development is to develop Lakshadweep like Maldives in order to promote tourism and to benefit local residents.

 

3.ASHWINI VAISHNAW REPRESENTS INDIA AT G20 DIGITAL MINISTERS MEETING

          Union Minister for the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Ashwini Vaishnaw led the Indian Delegation at the G20 Digital Ministers Meeting 2021 held virtually from Tieste, Italy.

          The meeting was hosted by Italy (G20 2021 Presidency).

          The participants adopted the “Leveraging Digitalization for a Resilient, Strong, Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery” declaration at the meeting.

 

4.THIRD BI-MONTHLY MONETARY POLICY OF FY21-22

          The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) 6-members Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had met on 4th, 5th and 6th August 2021 and released its third bi-monthly monetary policy statement for FY22 (April 2021 – March 2022).

THE POLICY RATES WERE KEPT UNCHANGED, WHICH ARE AS FOLLOWS:

CATEGORY                                                                                                           RATES

Policy Repo Rate                                                                                                     4.00%

Reverse Repo Rate                                                                                                 3.35%

Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate                                                              4.25%

Bank Rate                                                                                                                                4.25%

 

5.MAJOR DHYAN CHAND KHEL RATNA AWARD

          The Highest sporting honour of India, “Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award”, has been renamed as “Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award” in honour of the hockey Wizard Dhyan Chand.

          The Khel Ratna Award named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was instituted in 1991-1992 and the inaugural award was presented to Vishwanath Anand(Chess).

 

6.CHITKARA UNIVERSITY AS DISTRICT GREEN CHAMPION 2020-2021

          Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education (MGNCRE) under the Ministry of Education has recognised the Chitkara University in Patiala as the ‘District Green Champion’ for the academic year 2020-2021.

          Dr Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor of Chitkara University received the award in the presence of Kumar Amit, Deputy Commissioner, Patiala.

 

7.DHRITI BANERJEE APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF ZSI

          The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the proposal for appointment of Dhriti Banerjee  as the Director of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), She will be the 1st Woman Director of ZSI in 100 years.

          Dhriti Banerjee will succeed Dr. Kailash Chandra.

 

8.INDIA AMBASSADOR FOR MOTOGP

          Eurosport India, an Indian sports channel of Discovery Asia-Pacific has appointed Bollywood Actor John Abraham as India ambassador for its flagship motorsport property MotoGP.

          Yamaha’s R15 is the co-presenting sponsor for the MotoGP broadcast in India.

 

9.BANKS BUY STAKES IN IBBIC

          6 Banks namely State Bank of India (SBI), Axis Bank, Indian Bank, Yes Bank, IDBI Bank, and ICICI Bank have brought Equity Stakes in Financial Technology Platform IBBIC (Indian Banks’ Blockchain Infrastructure Co).

          The 6 Banks have picked up 5.55 percent stake each, representing 50,000 shares in IBBIC, for cash at INR 5 lakh each.

          IBBIC platform offers Distributed Ledger technology (DLT) solutions (also known as Blockchain Technology) to the Indian Financial services sector.

          The equity ownership of IBBIC is aimed at providing DLT solutions for the financial services sector.

 

10.FIDE WORLD CUP 2021

          Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) defeated Sergey Karjakin (Russia) to win the 9th Edition of FIDE (International Chess Federation) World Cup 2021.

          FIDE World Cup 2021 was held at Sochi, Russia from July 12 – August 6th, 2021.

 

11.HIROSHIMA DAY 2021 – AUGUST 6

          Hiroshima Day is annually observed across the globe on the 6th August to remember the victims of the world’s first atomic bombing on Hiroshima, Japan during World War II(WW2).

 

12.INDIA’S 1ST ‘DOORSTEP HEALTHCARE’ SCHEME

          In India’s 1st, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (CM) M K Stalin launched ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ scheme (Healthcare services at people’s doorstep Healthcare) at Krishnagiri to deliver medical services at people’s doorstep.

          A total of around INR 250 crore has been allocated for the scheme.