DAILY GK 22, 23 JULY
1.
NITI AAYOG INDIA INNOVATION INDEX 2021
·
Suman Bery, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India), released the
third edition of the India Innovation Index 2021 at NITI Bhawan in New Delhi,
Delhi.
·
The third edition of
the index enhances the scope of innovation analysis in India by leveraging the
framework of the Global Innovation Index (GII), which is released by WIPO
(World Intellectual Property Organization) on a yearly basis.
·
Karnataka topped the India Innovation Index 2021 and also held its top spot in the India Innovation Index in
the ‘Major States’ category for the third year in a row.
·
It is followed by
Telangana and Haryana.
·
In the North-Eastern and hilly states, Manipur
has emerged as the best performer, followed by Meghalaya and Uttarakhand.
2.
NITI AAYOG RELEASES REPORT ON DIGITAL BANKS
·
The Central Government
think tank, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog releases
its report on digital banks, titled ‘Digital Banks: A proposal for Licensing
and Regulatory Regime for India’ offering a template and roadmap for licensing
and regulatory regime for India.
·
The report was released
by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery; and CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
Parameswaran Iyer; and Senior Adviser Anna Roy
·
A digital bank would be
a bank defined in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and will have its own
balance sheet and legal existence.
·
India has made rapid
strides in furthering financial inclusion.
·
However, credit
penetration remains a challenge, especially for India’s 63-million-odd MSMEs
(Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) that contribute 30% to GDP (Gross
Domestic Product), 45% to manufacturing output, and 40% to exports, while
creating employments.
3.
SBI TO RAISE RS. 11,000 CRORE IN BASEL III BONDS IN FY23
·
The State Bank of India
(SBI), the largest lender in India, has received approval from its Board of
Directors to issue bonds to raise up to Rs. 11,000 crores via additional tier-I
and tier II bonds during the current fiscal year 2022–23 (FY23).
·
Of the total earmarked
fund-raise, the approval is for additional tier-1 (AT-1) capital up to Rs.
7,000 crore, subject to concurrence from the Government of India (GoI).
·
The remaining Rs. 4,000
crore will be in the form of tier-2 capital.
·
AT-1 bonds, often known
as perpetual bonds, have no maturity date but contain a call option at the end
of five years.
·
SBI’s Central Board
approved the plan to raise capital through the issuance of Basel III company
debt instruments in Indian Rupee (INR), United States Dollar (USD), or any
other convertible currency.
·
At the end of March
2022, SBI’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) was 13.83 %, with Tier-1 at 11.42 %
and Tier-2 at 2.41 %.
4.
FIH APPOINTS EGYPT’S SEIF AHMED AS ACTING PRESIDENT
·
The International
Hockey Federation (Fédération Internationale de Hockey – FIH) appointed Egypt’s
Seif Ahmed as its acting president after the resignation of India’s Dr.Narinder
Dhruv Batra from the post.
·
India will host the FIH
Hockey Men’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in January 2023.
·
FIH-Headquarters- Lausanne, Switzerland
5.
‘VARUNA’- INDIA’S
FIRST HUMAN PASSENGER DRONE
·
Prime Minister (PM)
Narendra Modi unveiled the pilotless drone “Varuna” -India’s first indigenous human passenger drone during
Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) seminar ‘Swavlamban’ at Dr Ambedkar
International Centre in New Delhi, Delhi.
·
It was developed by a
start-up, Sagar Defence Engineering. It has the capacity of carrying one human
inside.
·
It has a range of 25
kms with a carrying capacity of payload of 130 kgs and around 25-33 minutes of
flight time.
·
There are four
auto-pilot models which help the drone to continue flying even if some fans
fail to function.
·
Drone was made
specifically for the use by the Indian Navy.
·
The Varuna is currently
being developed along with NTDAC (Naval Technology Development acceleration
cell).
6.
NITI AAYOG LAUNCHES 2 INITIATIVES TO BOOST ELECTRIC
MOBILITY
·
Alok Sharma ,The
President of COP 26 (Conference of the Parties), during his visit to India in
July during and NITI Aayog launched two significant UK (United Kingdom)-NITI
Aayog collaborative initiatives .
·
They launched E-AMRIT (Accelerated e-Mobility
Revolution for India’s Transportation) mobile
application to raise awareness on electric mobility
·
NTPC would help in
reducing the carbon footprint for achieving the targets for emissions and
energy (portfolio mix) modelling including the development of scenarios for
2030, 2037, 2047 and 2070
·
This also supports India’s ‘Panchamrit’ goals that was
undertaken during Conference Of Parties (COP) 26 for achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2070.
·
NTPC has become India’s
1st energy company to declare its energy compact goals as part of the United
Nations (UN) High-level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE).
8.
ENERGY PRIZE 2022
·
The 3 winners of the
2022 Global Energy Prize were Viktor Orlov from Russia along with Mercouri Kanatzidis(Greece)
and Kaushik Rajashekara(India) from the United States of America (USA).
·
Kaushik Rajashekara,
who is known as “Raja,” won the
award in “New Ways of Energy
Applications” category for contributions to transportation electrification
and energy efficiency technologies.
·
Victor Orlov won the
award in the “Traditional Energy”
category
·
Mercouri Kanadzidis won
the award in the “Unconventional Energy”
category.
9.
DROUPADI MURMU ELECTED AS INDIA’S 15TH PRESIDENT
·
Droupadi Murmu, a
former Governor of Jharkhand and candidate for the National Democratic Alliance
(NDA), is elected as India’s 15th
President in the 16th Presidential Election of 2022.
·
She is the second woman
to hold the Constitutional Post after Pratibha Patel.
·
Droupadi Murmu would be
the first tribal woman to be elected President of India
·
She will be the first
President born after India’s independence.
10.
DINESH GUNAWARDENA APPOINTED AS 15TH PRIME MINISTER OF SRI
LANKA
·
The 73 years old senior
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (Member of Parliament) Dinesh Gunawardena became
the 15th Prime Minister (PM) of Sri Lanka.
·
He was sworn-in as the
Prime Minister in the presence of President Ranil Wickremesinghe
and Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya at the Parliament.
·
He belonged to the
Mahajana Eksath Peramuna party.
