DAILY GK: 11 , 12 JAN 2022

 DAILY GK: 11 , 12 JAN 2022

1.       KOCHI BECOMES INDIA’S FIRST CITY WITH WATER METRO PROJECT

·         Kochi (Kerala) has become India’s first city to have a Water Metro Project after the launch of its first boat in December 2021, namely ‘Muziris,’ among the 23 battery-powered electric boats being manufactured by Cochin Shipyard Limited.

·         This launch is a part of Rs 747-crore project which is operated by Kochi Water Metro Ltd (KWML). The boats will be called Water Metros.

 

2.       RBI SETS UP SEPARATE DEPARTMENT FOR FINTECH 

·         The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sets up a separate internal department for fintech (Financial technology) by subsuming the fintech division of DPSS (department of payment and settlement systems), Central Office (CO). to facilitate innovation, and help identify, address challenges and opportunities in the fintech sector.

·         Ajay Kumar Choudhary, who was recently promoted as the Executive Director of RBI was appointed as head of the department.

·         All matters related to inter-regulatory and international coordination on fintech will be dealt with by the department and it will report to the RBI’s centralised administration division.

 

3.       RBL BANK COLLABORATES WITH GOOGLE FOR IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

·         RBL Bank and Google announced a strategic collaboration to improve the bank’s customer experience strategy through the digital platform, Abacus 2.0.

·         This collaboration will enable better customer data management and analytics.

·         Aim – To provide a one-stop solution to its existing and new customers, to effortlessly deliver different product offerings.

 

4.       FORMER RBI GOVERNOR URJIT PATEL APPOINTED AS VICE PRESIDENT OF AIIB FOR 3-YEAR TERM

·         Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Urjit Patel is appointed as a Vice President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for a three year tenure (2022-2025) starting from 1st February.

·         Urjit Patel will succeed previous Vice President D J Pandian.

·         He will be one of the five Vice Presidents of the AIIB, which is headed by the President and Chair of the Board of Directors Jin Liqun (China).

·         India is the second largest shareholder in the bank, only after China.

·         The bank has  given approval for around USD 500 million for a COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund and Health Systems Preparedness Project.

·         AIIB Headquarters- Beijing, China

 

5.       OPEC APPOINT KUWAIT’S HAITHAM AL GHAIS AS ITS NEW SECRETARY GENERAL

·         The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) appointed Kuwait’s oil executive Haitham Al Ghais as the new Secretary General (SG). He will succeed  Nigeria’s Mohammad Barkindo

·         He is appointed for a three year tenure (2022-2025) and will take the charge as the SG from 1st August 2022.

·         OPEC It  is a permanent, intergovernmental Organization. It was created at the Baghdad Conference in September  1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

·         13 Member Countries- Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela

·         Headquarters– Vienna, Austria

 

6.       BHARATH SUBRAMANIYAM BECOMES INDIA’S 73RD CHESS GM

·         The Vergani Cup Open 2022, a 9-round Swiss tournament was held on January 2-9, 2022 in Cattolica, Italy. In this, a 14-year old Chess Player, Bharath Subramaniyam from Chennai, Tamil Nadu became India’s 73rd chess Grandmaster (GM) by securing the third and final GM norm of the tournament. He scored 6.5 points and ranked 7th overall.

·         Indian player Musunuri Rohit Lalith Babu (29) emerged winner in the tournament i.e. ranked 1st with seven points.

·         In November 2020, Mitrabha Guha became India’s 72nd GM & Sankalp Gupta became India’s 71stGM.

 

7.       TENNIS-RAFAEL NADAL WINS MELBOURNE SUMMER SET 1 TROPHY 2022

·         Rafael Nadal, from Spain defeats American Maxime Cressy, in the Men’s Singles final of the Melbourne Summer Set 2022 Set 1, ATP 250 in “Hard-Court” at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne.

·         2022 Melbourne Summer Set was a series of two simultaneous tennis tournaments organized by Tennis Australia at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.

 

8.       26TH DECEMBER AS VEER BAAL DIWAS

·         The Government of India (GoI) has decided to proclaim December 26th of every year from 2022 as the Veer Baal Diwas to honour the sacrifice of Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh, the 3rd and 4th sons of the 10th Sikh Guru, “Guru Gobind Singh”, to defend the dignity and honour of Sikhism.

·         Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi made the announcement regarding the observance of Veer Baal Diwas on 9th January 2022, the 355th birth anniversary (Parkash Purab) of the 10th Sikh Guru, “Guru Gobind Singh”.

·         The first ever Veer Baal Diwas will be observed on 26th December 2022.

 

9.       WORLD HINDI DAY OR VISHWA HINDI DIWAS – 10TH JANUARY 2022

·         World Hindi Day, also known as Vishwa Hindi Diwas, is annually observed across the globe on 10th January to promote the worldwide use of the Hindi language.

·         The first ever World Hindi Day was observed on 10th January 2006. 

 

10.    PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIWAS – 9TH JANUARY 2022

·         Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD), also known as the “Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Day” is annually celebrated on 9th January to mark the contribution of the Overseas Indian community to the development of India.

·         On 9th January 1915, Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa and became the greatest ‘Pravasi’. 

 

11.    79TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2022

·         The Hollywood Foreign Press Association(HFPA) announced the winners of the 79th edition of the Annual Golden Globe Awards (2022) in Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California, United States of America(USA).

·         Jane Campion won the Best Director Motion Picture for “The Power of the Dog”.

·         Actor Will Smith won the “Best Actor-Motion Picture Drama”, his first-ever Golden Globe, for his performance in “King Richard.”

·         Michaela Jaé Rodriguez won the Best Television Actress – Drama Series for Pose and became the 1st transgender actress to win a Golden Globe.

 

12.    ALIKHAN SMAILOV NAMED AS KAZAKHSTAN’S NEW PRIME MINISTER

·         Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev nominated Alikhan Smailov, 49 years as the Prime Minister (PM) of Kazakhstan and the lower house of parliament also voted in favour of him.

·         Alikhan Smailov has served as First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2019.

·         Kazakhstan: Capital – Nur-Sultan ,Currency – Tenge.

 

13.    DANIEL ORTEGA SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT OF NICARAGUA 

·         Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), was sworn in for a new presidential term. This marks his 5th term and 4th consecutive term as the President of Nicaragua.

·         He received the presidential sash from Gustavo Porras, head of the National Assembly.

·         He has been serving as the president of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he served as the president of Nicaragua for the first time from 1985 to 1990.

·         After the retirement of Fidel Castro (former President of Cuba) in 2008, Daniel Ortega is one of the longest-serving non-royal rulers in the world and the longest-serving non-royal leader in the Americas.

·         Nicaragua Capital– Managua

 

14.    INDIA SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRES BRAHMOS SUPERSONIC CRUISE MISSILE

·         India successfully test-fired an advanced sea to sea variant of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise missile from INS (Indian Navy Ship) Visakhapatnam warship off the west coast.

·         BrahMos missiles, which has a combination of the names of Brahmaputra (India) and Moskva (Russia) rivers, are designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace, which is an India-Russian joint venture that produces supersonic cruise missiles that could be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms.

·         BrahMos missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.

·         The Indian Navy received its first indigenous INS Visakhapatnam, a P15B (Project 15 Bravo) class stealth guided-missile destroyer from Mazagon Dock shipyard Limited (MDL), Mumbai on October 28 2021.

·         Visakhapatnam’ is the first of the 4 destroyers; the three other upcoming ships in the class are INS Mormugao, INS Imphal and INS Surat.

 

15.    SOUTH AFRICAN CRICKET ALL-ROUNDER CHRIS MORRIS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT 

·         South African (Proteas) all-rounder Chris Morris announced retirement from all forms of cricket at the age of 34,

·         Morris is the most expensive buy in the history of IPL 2021 auction, bagging Rs 16.25 crores by Rajasthan Royal.

 

16.    KARNATAKA TO HOST KHELO INDIA GAMES IN 2023

·         Karnataka Minister for Youth Empowerment and Sports, K.C. Narayana Gowda announced that Karnataka will host the next Khelo India Games in 2023.

·         Khelo India Games for 2021 is scheduled to be held in February 2022 at Panchkula, Haryana.

 

17.    “INDOMITABLE” THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ARUNDHATI BHATTACHARYA

·         “Indomitable: A Working Woman’s Notes on Life, Work and Leadership” is the autobiography of Arundhati Bhattacharya, retired Indian banker and former Chairperson of the State Bank of India(SBI).

·         Arundhati Bhattacharya is the chairperson and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of salesforce India, a cloud-based Software as a service (SaaS) company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States of America.

·         She served as the first-ever woman Chairperson of the SBI, India’s largest bank and a Fortune 500 company, from 2013 to 2017.