DAILY GK : 25 AUG 2021

 DAILY GK : 25 AUG 2021

1.NATIONAL MONETISATION PIPELINE

•      Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman launched the asset monetisation pipeline of Central ministries and public sector entities named National Monetisation pipeline (NMP).

•      The NMP report was developed by NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) in consultation with infrastructure line ministries.

•      Objective: To list out the government’s (govt) infrastructure assets that are to be sold in the next 4 years.

•      The aggregate monetisation potential under NMP through core assets of the central govt over the 4-year period (i.e. from FY22 to FY25) is estimated at Rs 6 lakh crores.

•      Monetisation: It is the process of earning revenue from an asset business by converting the assets into cash or a form that is easily convertible into cash.

 

2.LOCKHEED MARTIN GETS USD 328 MN INDIAN CONTRACT

•      Lockheed Martin, US based Company has received USD 328 Million worth Contract from the Indian Government to provide comprehensive support for the Indian Air Force (IAF) fleet of 12C-130J-30 Super Hercules Aircraft for a period of 5 years.

 

3.‘FORUM FOR DECARBONIZING TRANSPORT’

•      As a part of the Nationally Determined Contributions-Transport Initiative for Asia(NDC-TIA) project, NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute(WRI), India has jointly launched the ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport’ in India.

•      The forum will act as a channel to bring in the diverse needs to adopt an integrated approach for greening the transport sector in India.

•      Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog inaugurated the forum over the virtual event.

 

4.‘OPERATION DEVI SHAKTI’

•      The Government of India (GoI) has launched a rescue mission named ‘Operation Devi Shakti’ to evacuate stranded Indians from the Taliban-Captured Afghanistan.

•      The operation is carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF), Air India & the officials at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in collaboration with the US and several other countries.

•      Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s 1st Vice President declared himself as the caretaker president of Afghanistan, after former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

 

5.‘OPERATION BLUE FREEDOM – LAND WORLD RECORD AT SIACHEN GLACIER’

•      People with disabilities from across the country will undertake an expedition till Siachen Glacier to create a new World Record for the largest team of people with disabilities to reach the world’s highest battlefield.

•      The Government of India has permitted a team of people with disabilities to scale Siachen Glacier.

•      The team of people with disabilities trained by ‘Team CLAW’ a team of Armed Forces veterans.

•      The successful execution of this pioneering expedition will be named as ‘Operation Blue Freedom’ and empowering Divyangjan to set a benchmark for other nations to emulate.

 

6.NCCR REPORT

•      In accordance with the recent technical report by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, 32% of India’s coastline underwent sea erosion and 27% of it expanded in a time span of 28 years i.e. between 1990 and 2018.

•      This information was provided by Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal, Husbandry and Dairying in response to a question in the Lok Sabha.

 

7.CUSHMAN GLOBAL MANUFACTURING RISK INDEX 2021

•      In accordance with the Cushman & Wakefield’s 2021 ‘Global Manufacturing Risk Index-Assessing Costs, Risks and Conditions Impacting Manufacturing‘, India became the world’s second most desired manufacturing destination globally surpassing the United States (US) which stood at 3rd place.  

•      The top position is retained by China.

 

8.RBI TO LAUNCH GAAR REGULATIONS FOR ROUND-TRIPPING

•      Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the recommendation report of the Expert Committee on Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks (UCBs) under the chairmanship of N. S. Vishwanathan, which was constituted by RBI to review the issues of UCBs and to provide a road map for strengthening the sector.

•      Committee’s Recommendation:To ease the regulatory process, the committee has recommended a 4-tier structure for the UCBs, based on their capital availability and other factors.

•      Tier 1 – All unit UCBs and salary earner’s UCBs (irrespective of deposit size), and all other UCBs having deposits up to Rs 100 crore

•      Tier 2 – UCBs with deposits between Rs 100 crore – Rs 1000 crore

•      Tier 3 – UCBs with deposits between Rs 1000 crore – Rs 10,000 crore

•      Tier 4 – UCBs with deposits more than Rs 10,000 crore

 

9.GEOSPATIAL PLANNING PORTAL ‘YUKTDHARA’

•      Government of India had launched a new geo-spatial planning portal ‘’Yuktdhara’’ under Bhuvan.

•      It would enable MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) assets planning by using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) data.

•      The portal Yuktdhara was launched by Giriraj Singh, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

•      Objective– Yuktdhara platform will serve as a repository of assets and facilitate the Gram Panchayat level planning of MGNREGA activities across India.

 

10.WTT CONTENDER 2021

•      The Indian duo of table tennis players  Manika Batra and G Sathiyan defeated Hungary’s Dora Madarasz and Nandor Ecseki with 3-1 in the final match of World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender 2021 which held at Budapest,capital of Hungary.

•      With this achievement, they became the first table tennis players from India to win a WTT Contender title.

 

11.‘THE KAPIL SHARMA STORY’

•      The renowned writer Ajitabha Bose wrote a book ‘The Kapil Sharma Story’, a biography of the famous Indian Stand-up comedian and self-made superstar,  Kapil Sharma.

•      The book narrates about the journey and struggling life of Kapil Sharma.

 

12.NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY DAY – AUGUST 20

•      Akshay Urja Diwas also known as National Renewable Energy Day, is annually observed across India on 20th August to create awareness about the benefits of natural energies such as Biogas, Solar Energy, Wind Energy and Hydroelectric Power.

•      The day also marks the birth anniversary of Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

 

13.WORLD WATER WEEK 2021 – 23 TO 27 AUGUST

•      World Water Week(WWWeek) is annually celebrated across the globe in the month of August to address the major water issues across the globe.

•      The WWWeek 2021 is being held as an online event from 23rd to 27th August.

•      WWWeek has been an annual event organised by Stockholm International Water Institute(SIWI) since 1991.

•      The theme of 2021 World water Week is “Building Resilience Faster”.