DAILY GK: 14 , 15 DEC 2021

 DAILY GK: 14 , 15 DEC 2021

1.       HAIDERPUR WETLAND RECOGNIZED AS 47TH RAMSAR SITE IN INDIA    

·         Haiderpur Wetland, the human-made wetland of around 6908 hectares in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh(UP) has been recognised as the 47th Ramsar Site of India

·         The wetland is located within the boundaries of Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh.

·         The Convention on Wetlands (RAMSAR Convention) is the oldest of the modern global intergovernmental environmental agreements that unite 172 countries to protect and use wisely the wetlands and the resources they provide.

·         The convention was adopted in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971 and came into force in 1975.

 

2.       DUBAI BECOMES WORLD’S 1ST 100% PAPERLESS GOVT.                

·         Dubai became the world’s first government to turn 100 percent paperless, the announcement was made by the United Arab Emirate (UAE) Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

·         The digitization will provide all the govt. services to customers & reduce  paper consumption by more than 336 million papers.

 

3.       WHO REPORT ON 3 DISEASES: STATE OF INEQUALITIES – HIV, TB AND MALARIA            

·         The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Fund released titled ‘State of Inequalities – HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria’, stating that the poorest, least-educated and rural subgroups remain vulnerable to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.

·         The report takes a look at 32 health indicators from 186 countries on HIV, TB and malaria.

·         India’s average on prevention of HIV, TB and malaria have improved in the past decade.

 

4.       INDIA RANKS 56TH ON IMD 2021 WORLD TALENT RANKING

·         India has ranked 56th on the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) 2021 World Talent Ranking, which evaluates the ability of the economies in developing, attracting and retaining talent.

·         In the Peer Group Ranking – Asia – Pacific, India have ranked 12th.

·         Switzerland tops the ranking followed by Sweden in 2nd and Luxembourg in 3rd.

 

5.       RBI MANDATED 20-DIGIT LEI FOR CROSS-BORDER TRANSACTIONS ABOVE RS 50 CRORE             

·         The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mandated the companies to quote the 20-digit Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for cross-border transactions for capital or current account transactions of Rs 50 crore and above, from October 1 2022.

·         LEI is a number used to uniquely identify parties to financial transactions worldwide to improve the quality and accuracy of financial data systems.

·         The LEI numbers are maintained in a global LEI database available on the website of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF).

·         RBI has introduced the LEI in a phased manner for over the counter (OTC) derivative, non-derivative markets, large corporate borrowers and large value transactions in centralised payment systems.

 

6.       70TH MISS UNIVERSE: INDIA’S HARNAAZ SANDHU CROWNED MISS UNIVERSE 2021

·         Indian Actor and Model, Harnaaz Sandhu from Chandigarh, Punjab, has been crowned Miss Universe 2021 at the 70th Edition of the Miss Universe Competition held in Eilat, Israel.

·         Harnaaz Sandhu became the 3rd Indian to be crowned Miss Universe after Sushmita Sen, the 1st Indian to win Miss Universe (1994) and Lara Dutta (Miss Universe 2000).

·         Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza(Mexico) presented the crown to Harnaaz Sandhu.

·         Nadia Ferreira(Paraguay) finished 2nd followed by Lalela Mswane (South Africa) in 3rd.

 

7.       CHINA LAUNCHES SATELLITES FOR SPACE EXPLORATION – SHIJIAN-6 05           

·         China successfully launched a new group of satellites Shijian-6 05 into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China for space exploration and new technology tests.

·         According to the rocket developers with the state-owned space giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the first 100 launches took place over 37 years, the second 100 launches took seven and half years, the third took four years and three months, and the fourth only took two years and nine months.

 

8.       DIGITAL PLATFORM TO ADDRESS CITIZEN’S COMPLAINTS – ‘LOKPALONLINE’               

·         Lokpal Chairperson Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose inaugurated a digital platform for the complaints management from anywhere called ‘LokpalOnline’ for Indian citizens.

·         The LokpalOnline is a web-based portal hosted on National Informatics centre (NIC) Cloud which has been developed on an Open Source Technology for the management of complaints against public servants filed under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.

·         Lokpal of India, has been established under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 to inquire and investigate allegations of corruption against public functionaries.

·         Aim of Lokpal is to free the country from corruption and to build a strong and corruption free India.

 

9.       INDIA SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRES SUPERSONIC MISSILE ASSISTED TORPEDO IN ODISHA           

·         India has successfully test-fired a long-range Supersonic Missile Assisted Torpedo (SMART) off the coast of Balasore in Odisha.

·         The weapon system is a next-generation missile-based standoff torpedo delivery system.

·         It is being developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Navy.

·         It is a canister-based missile system and it consists of advanced technologies like two-stage solid propulsion, electro-mechanical actuators and precision inertial navigation.

·         Earlier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) has flight-tested the indigenously made helicopter-launched SANT (Stand-off Anti-tank) missile from Pokhran ranges.

 

10.    ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX 2021         

·         Red Bull’s Max Emilian Verstappen (24) from The Netherlands clinched the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 by defeating Mercedes’ Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton of the United Kingdom (UK) at the Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

·         With this, Max Verstappen won his first Formula One (F1) World Driver Championship.

 

11.    INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE DAY 2021 – DECEMBER 12    

·         The United Nations(UN)’s International Universal Health Coverage Day (UHC Day) is annually observed across the globe on 12th December to create awareness about the need for strong and resilient health systems and Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

·         The theme of UHC Day 2021 is “Leave No One’s Health Behind: Invest in health systems for all.” 

 

12.    GOVT  LAUNCHES NATIONAL HELPLINE TO REPORT ATROCITIES AGAINST SCS/STS

·         The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment  launched  a National Helpline Against Atrocities (NHAA) to prevent atrocities on members of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). 

·         The NHAA will be available 24×7 on toll-free number 14566 across the country.

 

13.    UTTARAKHAND’S ASKOT WILDLIFE SANCTUARY DECLARED AS ECO-SENSITIVE ZONE

·         An area of 454.65 square kilometres around the boundary of Askot Wildlife Sanctuary in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand has been declared as the Askot Wildlife Sanctuary Eco-sensitive Zone (ESZ).

·         There is no village falling inside the Eco-Sensitive Zone of Askot Wildlife Sanctuary.

·         The activities prohibited within ESZ are, Commercial mining, stone quarrying and crushing units; Setting up industries causing pollution; Establishment of major hydroelectric projects; Use or production or processing of any hazardous substances; Discharge of untreated effluents in natural water bodies or land areas; Commercial use of firewood; Setting up of new sawmills; and Setting up of brick kilns.

 

14.    BOB LAUNCHES WEARABLE PAYMENT SOLUTION – BOB WORLD WAVE

·         Bank of Baroda (BOB) in partnership with National Payments Corporations of India (NPCI) launched bob World Wave, a wearable line of products for payments, integrated with a complete health ecosystem.

·         A bob World Wave wearable device will allow customers to monitor their Saturation of Peripheral Oxygen (Sp02), body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure.

·         The device will provide contactless payments of up to Rs. 5,000 in all Near-Field Communication (NFC) enabled Point of Sale (PoS) devices and also enable payments above Rs 5000 using the PIN.

·         BOB will also provide a dummy plastic card, with the same card number printed as that of the wearable device along with expiry date and Card Verification Value (CVV) to enable customers to do e-commerce transactions at ease.

 

15.    ELON MUSK NAMED TIME MAGAZINE’S ‘PERSON OF THE YEAR’ 2021

·         The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla & SpaceX, Elon Musk named ‘Person of the Year 2021’ by Time magazine. 

·         He took over the title from US President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris, who received the title in 2020.

·         COVID-19 Vaccine scientists Kizzmekia Corbett, Barney Graham, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman named ‘Heroes of the year 2021’ by Time Magazine.

·         In April 2021, NASA granted Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX an exclusive contract to put United States (US) astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972.

·         Elon Musk is the founder, CEO and Chief Engineer at SpaceX, and CEO – Product Architect of Tesla.

·         In 2021, Elon Musk became the world’s richest person with a total worth of  USD 300 billion.

·         He succeeded Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, who previously held the position of World’s Richest Person.

 

16.    BOOK  ‘PRIDE, PREJUDICE AND PUNDITRY’

·         Former union minister and Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Dr Shashi Tharoor‘s 23rd book titled ‘Pride, Prejudice and Punditry’ was launched in Hyderabad, Telangana.

·         He is serving as MP in Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009.

 

17.    NATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION DAY 2021 – DECEMBER 14

·         National Energy Conservation Day is annually observed across India on 14th December to create awareness about the importance of energy conservation and the benefits of replacing non-renewable resources with renewable energy.

·         The Ministry of Power has celebrated the National Energy Conservation Week 2021 from 8th to 14th December 2021 as Iconic Week under “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”.