DAILY GK 11 DEC 2021

 

DAILY GK  11 DEC

1.      INDIA SKILLS REPORT 2022

·         As per the 9th edition of India Skills Report (ISR) 2022, released by Wheebox, Maharashtra has retained the top position in the list of states with the highest poll of employable talent followed by Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.

·         The theme of ISR 2022 – ‘Rebuilding and Reengineering the Future of Work’.

·         States with Maximum Hiring Activity: Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are the 3 states that have a higher job demand.

·         Pune is the city with the most highly employable resources with 78% of the test takers scoring above 60 percent.

·         As per the current edition, the overall employability in India has improved with 46.2% of the youth being found to be highly employable compared to last year’s employability standing at 45.97%.

 

2.      WORLD MALARIA REPORT 2021

·         According to WHO’s (World Health Organisation) latest World Malaria Report 2021, globally there were an estimated 241 million malaria cases and 627000 malaria deaths in 85 malaria-endemic countries in 2020, increasing from 227 million in 2019.

·         As per the report, there are about 14 million more cases in 2020 compared to 2019 and 69000 more deaths.

·         Globally, India accounts for 1.7 percent of malaria deaths in 2020.

·         In South-East Asia India shares over 83 percent of the malaria cases and 82 percent of all malaria deaths in the WHO South-East Asia Region, from about 18 cases per 1000 population at risk in 2000 to about 3 cases in 2020.

·         In 2021, WHO certified two countries – China and El Salvador – as malaria-free, and a further 25 are on track to end malaria transmission by 2025.

 

3.      INDIA ASSUMED THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF COUNCIL OF REGIONAL ANTI-TERRORIST STRUCTURE OF SCO

·         India assumed the Chairmanship of Council of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (RATS SCO) .

·         The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Government of India, in association with Data Security Council of India (DSCI), as a Knowledge Partner, organized a 2-day Practical Seminar on ‘Securing Cyberspace in the Contemporary Threat Environment’ for delegates from SCO member States.

 

4.      RBI GRANTED SCHEDULED PAYMENT BANK STATUS TO PAYTM PAYMENTS BANK LIMITED

·         The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted a scheduled payment bank status to the Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) by including it into the Second Schedule to the RBI Act, 1934.

·         With this approval, PPBL becomes the 3rd Scheduled Payments Banks

·         PPBL is the largest beneficiary bank and one of the top remitter banks for UPI (Unified Payment Interface) transactions in the country.

·         In the FY21, PPBL also became the largest issuer and acquirer of FASTags in India.

·         Apart the PPBL, other payment banks that are in the List of Second Schedule of the RBI Act are India Post Payments Bank Limited (IPPBL), and Fino Payments Bank Limited (FPBL).

·         Currently, the list of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) include 12 Public Sector Banks (PSBs), 22 Private Sector Banks, 11 Small Finance Banks (SFBs), 3 Payments Banks, 43 Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), and 46 Foreign Banks in India. 

 

5.      ARCHITECT BALKRISHNA DOSHI TO BE HONOURED WITH THE ROYAL GOLD MEDAL 2022

·         Acclaimed Indian architect Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi (94) has been named for the Royal Gold Medal 2022 which is one of the world’s highest honours for architecture.

·         The announcement for the same was made by Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

·         In 2018, he became the first Indian architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

·         Royal Gold Medal recognizes lifetime’s work of person or group of people in the advancement of architecture.

·         The medal is personally approved by the Queen Elizebth II.

·         Balkrishna Doshi is also an awardee of Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.

 

6.      FICCI APPOINTS SANJIV MEHTA AS PRESIDENT

·         Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is set to appoint Sanjiv Mehta, as the Chairman & Managing Director of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), as its New President after the conclusion of FICCI’s 

 

7.      HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2021 – DECEMBER 10

·         The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Day 2021 is observed annually on December 10as the Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1948.

·         The Theme – ‘Equality – Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights’.

·         Human rights is the vital part of the sustainable development goals (SDG).

·         Goal 10 – Reduced inequalities – Paves way for achievement the goal of 2021 human rights day.

 

8.      NASA LAUNCHES LASER COMMUNICATIONS RELAY DEMONSTRATION (LCRD)

·         NASA launched its new Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

·         LCRD is the first-ever laser communications system of NASA.

·         It will help NASA in test optical communication in space.

·         Presently, most of the NASA spacecraft use radio frequency communications to send data.

·         But the Optical communications will help in increasing the bandwidth by 10 to 100 times as compared to radio frequency systems.

 

9.      NCW LAUNCHES ‘SHE IS A CHANGEMAKER’ PROGRAMME

·         National Commission for Women (NCW) launched a pan-India capacity building programme called “She is a Changemaker”

·         She is a Changemaker programme was launched for women in Politics.

·         It is a capacity building programme, which will be undertaken in association with region-wise training institutes.

·         Launch of training programmes under the She is a Changemaker programme was held in collaboration with Rhambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, Thane, Maharashtra.

·         Programmes under the campaign were launched by the Chairperson of NCW, Rekha Sharma.

·         NCW is the statutory body of Government of India.

·         It is usually concerned with advising the government on all policy matters related to women.

 

10.  UAE ANNOUNCES 4.5-DAY WORKWEEK

·         The government of United Arab Emirates (UAE) is set to implement a new four-and-a-half-day work week on January 1, 2022.

·         United Arab Emirates has become the first country in the world to implement a national work week which is shorter than five-day week across the world.

·         With the implementation of new work week, longer weekend is part of government’s attempts to improve work-life balance and social well-being.

·         Apart from UAE, France is notable for having a 35-hour work week, that is four days and three hours.

·         This law has been codified since 2000.

 

11.  HORNBILL FESTIVAL-NAGALAND

·         The Hornbill Festival, which is called the ‘Festivals of Festivals’, is a 10-day annual cultural fest of Nagaland that showcases the rich and diverse Naga ethnicity through folk dances, traditional music, local cuisine, handicraft, art workshops etc.

·         The start of this festival (December 1) marks the Nagaland statehood day.

·         The festival is named after the Indian Hornbill Bird. It is a large and colourful forest bird.

 

12.  CHINESE LUNAR ROVER ‘YUTU 2’ SPOTTED A CUBE – SHAPED MYSTERY HUT ON MOON

·         Yutu – 2 is a Chinese lunar rover that was launched to the moon in Chang’e 4 mission.

·         It was launched in 2018 and it landed on the moon in 2019.

·         Recently, the rover spotted a cube – shaped mystery hut on the far side of the moon.

·         The Yutu – 2 rover found a cube shaped object in the far side of the moon.

·         A likely explanation for the object is that it can be a larger boulder that was excavated by an impact event.

 

13.  HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND DISASTER RELIEF EXERCISE PANEX-21

·         PANEX-21 is a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise.

·         The exercise is to be held among the BIMSTEC countries: Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

·         The main aim of the exercise is to build regional cooperation in responding to natural disasters.

·         It is to be conducted in Pune in December

 

14.  AUNG SAN SUU KYI

·         The Myanmar special court sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi ,a Burmese politician to 4 years of prison for violating corona virus restrictions.

·         She is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

·         This has drawn worldwide criticisms.

·         Aung San Suu Kyi served as the State Counsellor of Myanmar between 2016 and 2021.

·         The post is equivalent to that of the Prime Ministerial post. She is the youngest daughter of Aung San. Aung San is the Father of Myanmar.

·         She was detained before elections in 1989 and house arrested for 15 years.

·         This made her one of the world’s most prominent political prisoner.

·         She was called the “Children of Gandhi”.