DAILY GK: 19 , 20 AUG 2021

 DAILY GK: 19 , 20 AUG 2021

1.2ND PHASE OF SAMVAD IN BENGALURU

      The 2nd phase of SAMVAD was launched by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development (WCD)  Smriti Zubin Irani in Bengaluru on the successful completion of one year of SAMVAD programme.

      SAMVAD stands for Support, Advocacy & Mental Health intervention for children in Vulnerable circumstances and Distress.

 

2.MANUFACTURING OF ASRAAM MISSILES IN INDIA

      Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and MBDA, Europe based Missiles Manufacturer signed an agreement to establish a facility for the Final Assembly, Integration and Test (FAIT) of Advanced Short Range Air to Air Missiles (ASRAAM) in Bhanur, Telangana.

      Under the agreement, MBDA will transfer the equipment and technology to BDL for establishing the facility.

 

3.GE AVIATION GOING TO SUPPLY ENGINES FOR LCA TEJAS

      Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) placed an order in GE Aviation, the subsidiary of General Electric (GE), for purchasing 99 F404-GE-IN20 engines worth Rs 5,375 crore (US $716 million) to power the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

      This order is the largest purchase order placed by HAL for LCA.

      It was a part of the execution of 83 LCA contracts with the Indian Air Force (IAF).

 

4.AMRIT MAHOTSAV SHRI SHAKTI CHALLENGE 2021

      As a part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the 75th year of Independence of India, MyGov under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY) along with the United Nations(UN) Women launched the “Amrit Mahotsav Shri Shakti Innovation Challenge 2021”.

 

5.RBI ALLOWED HDFC BANK TO ISSUE NEW CREDIT CARDS

      Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had removed the restriction imposed on HDFC Bank after 8 months and allowed it to issue new credit cards.

      However, the restrictions on the bank’s new offerings under its Digital 2.0 were not removed.

      Background: On December 2, 2020, the RBI has stopped HDFC which has the largest credit card base in India from issuing new credit cards due to its series of digital banking outages.

 

6.TCS HITS RS 13 LAKH CRORE MARKET-CAP

      The market capitalisation(market-cap or m-cap) of the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reached around Rs 13 Lakh crore on BSE. TCS became the first Information Technology(IT) company to cross the 13 lakh crore mark and the 2nd Indian company after Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to achieve the feat.

 

7.VIRENDRA KUMAR SOCIAL JUSTICE MINISTER LAUNCHED TAPAS

      Dr. Virendra Kumar, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, launched an online portal TAPAS (Training for Augmenting Productivity and Services) to offer access to lectures, study materials and others, supplementing the physical classroom without compromising teaching quality.

      It was developed by the National Institute of Social Defence(NISD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

 

8.GODFATHER OF SUDOKU PASSES AWAY

      Maki Kaji , widely known as the Godfather of Sudoku for his role in creating one of the World’s most popular puzzles, passed away due to Bile duct cancer in Tokyo, Japan.

      Kaji’s interest with a game called Number place was later renamed as ‘Sudoku’ – a Japanese word meaning Single Numbers.

 

9.BOOK - “THE DREAM OF REVOLUTION: A BIOGRAPHY OF JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN”

      A book titled “The Dream of Revolution: A Biography of Jayaprakash Narayan” will be launched.

      The book is written by the  historian Bimal Prasad and author Sujata Prasad.

      It contains the biography of the great revolutionary leader and independence activist Bharat Ratna, Jayaprakash Narayan, also known as JP or Lok Nayak.

 

10.BOOK “OPERATION TROJAN HORSE: A NOVEL INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS”

      “Operation Trojan Horse: A Novel Inspired by True Events” authored by Abhishek Sharan and Divya Prakash Sinha (D.P. Sinha) is a novel inspired by various true events like the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and India’s fight against terrorism.

 

11.INDIA & VIETNAM BILATERAL MARITIME EXERCISE

      India and Vietnam had conducted a Bilateral maritime exercise in the South China Sea as a part of maritime cooperation between the two countries.

      This maritime exercise aims to build trustworthiness and enhance cooperation in the region of South China Sea.

 

12.AAROGYA DHARA 2.0

      Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare virtually inaugurated the Aarogya Dhara- 2.0 to increase the reach of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) programme to the poorest households of India and to create awareness about the scheme.

      He chaired the event – Aarogya Dhara- 2.0, to mark the completion of 2 crore treatments under AB-PMJAY.

 

13.2021 GLOBAL CRYPTO ADOPTION INDEX

      According to the 2nd Edition of Global Crypto Adoption Index 2021 released by Chainalysis, a crypto-analysis firm, India with a score of 0.37 ranked 2nd out of 154 countries.

      Vietnam topped the index.

      The index ranks countries based on 3 indicators such as On-chain value received, On-chain retail value received and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) exchange trade volume

        Ranking                        Country                                 Index Score

        1.                                                    Vietnam                                                                1

        2.                                    India                                                       0.37

        3.                                    Pakistan                                                 0.36

 

14.RBI ISSUED REVISED GUIDELINES FOR LOCKER IN BANKS

      The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued revised guidelines for both new and existing Safe Deposit Locker and Safe Custody Article Facility with the banks.

      The guidelines would come into effect from January 1, 2022.

        RBI’S GUIDELINES:

i. The banks are directed to incorporate a clause in the ‘locker agreement’ for prohibiting the hirer from keeping anything illegal or hazardous in lockers.

ii. Transparency: To ensure transparency in lockers allotment, the RBI mandated banks to maintain a branch-wise list of vacant lockers and a wait-list in Core Banking System (CBS) or any other computerised system compliant with Cyber Security Framework.

iii. Compensation: The banks are instructed to compensate the customers in case of incidents such as fire, theft, burglary, dacoity, robbery, building collapse or fraud committed by the bank’s employees.

      The compensation has to be an amount equivalent to 100 times the existing annual rent of the safe deposit locker.

 

15.BLOOMBERG BILLIONAIRES INDEX

      Radhakishan Damani, who owns the retail chain D-Mart under Avenue Supermarts has made it to the top 100 richest people in the world.

      He is now ranked 97 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of 19.3 billion USD (around Rs 1.4 lakh crore).Elon Musk topped the list, followed by Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault.

      A total of 6 Indians are featured among the top 100, with Mukesh Ambani(12), Gautam Adani(23), Azim Premji(36), Shiv Nadar(52) and Lakshmi Mittal(71).

 

16.AMRULLAH SALEH DECLARES HIMSELF AS CARETAKER PRESIDENT

      Afghanistan’s 1st Vice President (VP) Amrullah Saleh declared himself as ‘the caretaker President of Afghanistan’ after President Ashraf Ghani fled the Taliban captured country.

      Currently, Afghanistan is under the control of Taliban, capturing Kabul after the U.S led forces left the country.

       THE TALIBAN : HISTORY

i.  The word ‘Taliban meaning Students’ in the Pashto language, emerged in 1994 around the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

ii. It was one of the factions which were fighting a civil war to rule the country following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of the government in 1992.

 

17.WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY 2021 – AUGUST 19

      The United Nations(UN)’s World Humanitarian Day(WHD) is annually observed across the globe on 19th August to honour and recognise the efforts of Humanitarians across the globe on protecting and supporting the people in need.

      WHD is a campaign by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and humanitarian partners.

 

18.WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY DAY 2021

      World Photography Day is annually observed across the globe on 19th August to celebrate the art, craft, science and history of photography.

      The day also inspires photographers across the globe to share one of their photographs to share their world with the world.

      World Photography Day is also known as World Photo Day.