DAILY GK: 29,30 JUNE 2022
1. NITI AAYOG REPORT ON INDIA’S GIG AND PLATFORM ECONOMY
• NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog’s report titled ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy- Perspectives and Recommendations on the Future of Work’ was launched by its Vice Chairman Suman Bery, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amitabh Kant and Special Secretary Dr. K RajeswaraRao.
• Gig Economy/Sector is a labour market in which instead of a traditional, in-office, full-time job with a single company, gig workers work as short-term, temporary/freelance, or independent contractors for one or a variety of employers.
• In 2020–21, 77 lakh (7.7 million) workers were engaged in the gig economy.
2. RBI ISSUES SEMI-CLOSED PPI LICENCE TO MUFIN FINANCE LIMITED
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted Mufin Finance Limited, a leading Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), in-principal approval for the issuance of semi-closed Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs).
• Mufin Finance is the fourth NBFC to get such a licence from the RBI, following Bajaj Finserve, Manapurram, and Paul Merchants.
• Prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) : PPIs are instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittances and fund transfers to family and friends against the value stored on such instruments.
• It can come in the form of digital wallets, smart cards, magnetic chips, Gift cards, payment wallets, smart cards and vouchers.
• Debit cards, however, need an open PPI licence and are issued only to banks.
Types of prepaid payment instruments:
Closed System PPIs: Cash cannot be withdrawn from this kind of PPIs.
It facilitates the purchase of goods and services from that entity only. E.g., gift cards.
Semi-closed system PPIs: Cash cannot be withdrawn from these instruments, whether issued by banks or non-banking institutions.E.g.,Banks – HDFC Bank’s PayZapp and State Bank of India’s (SBI) YONO App & Non- Banks – Paytm and GPay.
Open system PPIs: Cash can be withdrawn from this type of instrument.
The most commonly used PPIs are debit and credit cards.
Semi -Open System PPIs :These are payment instruments that can be used to purchase goods and services at any card-accepting merchant locations (Point of sale terminals).
Mobile Prepaid Instruments : These are prepaid talk time instruments issued by mobile service providers.
This talk time value can also be used to purchase ‘value added service’ from the mobile service provider or third-party service providers.
3. WORLD BANK APPROVES USD 250 MILLION FOR INDIA’S ROAD SAFETY PROGRAM
• The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank has approved the financing of USD 250 million to support the “India State Support Program for Road Safety”, a project by the Indian government to improve road safety.
• The project will be implemented in seven States: Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
• The USD 250 million variable spread loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has an 18 years maturity period with a grace period of 5.5 years.
• World Bank: Together, The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and The International Development Association (IDA) make up the World Bank.
• President of World Bank Group – David Malpass
• Headquarters – Washington, DC, United States of America (USA)
4. HOCKEY: HERO FIH HOCKEY5S LAUSANNE 2022
• Indian Men’s Hockey Team won the Inaugural men’s Champion of Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022 defeating Poland in the finals.
• Uruguay women’s Hockey Team defeated the Switzerland team and became the inaugural women’s champion.
• Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022, the 1st ever official senior World Hockey5s competition
• The event was held in the centre of the Olympic Capital Lausanne, Switzerland on 4 and 5 June 2022.
5. PUNJAB BUDGET 2022
• Punjab Finance Minister (FM) Harpal Singh Cheema presented Rs 1,55,859.78-crore budget in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, a growth of 14.2% from the previous fiscal.
• The Fiscal deficit of Punjab stands at 3.78% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for the fiscal year.
• The budget also lays provisions for introducing Fiscal Risk Management.
• The FM stated that from 1st July 2022, every household (domestic consumers) in Punjab will have 300 units of free electricity every month
• In the last 3 months, the government of Punjab has borrowed Rs 8000 crore to pay the interest for old loans.
• The outstanding debt of Punjab is projected to increase from Rs 283,756.82 crore to Rs 305,361.44 crore in 2022-2023.
6. RANJI TROPHY 2022: MADHYA PRADESH BEATS MUMBAI BY SIX WICKETS
• Madhya Pradesh won their maiden Ranji Trophy title, beating Mumbai by 6 wickets in the final at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
• Under the leadership of Aditya Shrivastava, the team defeated 41-time champions Mumbai.
• The team was coached by former India wicketkeeper-batsman Chandrakant Pandit.
• Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan was crowned as the ‘Man of the Tournament
• The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations.
• The competition currently consists of 38 teams, with all 28 states in India and four of the nine union territories having at least one representation.
• The competition is named after the first Indian cricketer who played international cricket, Ranjit Singh, who was also known as ‘Ranji’.
• The first match of the competition was held on 4 November 1934 between Madras and Mysore at the Chepauk ground in Madras in the final.
7. DAK KARMAYOGI: E-LEARNING PLATFORM LAUNCHED
• Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Ministry of Communications (MOC), and Minister of State (MoS) Devusinh Chauhan launched ‘Dak Karmayogi’ an e-learning portal of the Department of Posts.
• It is Developed under the Central Government’s vision of Mission Karmayogi
• The Ministers also conferred Meghdoot Awards for 2021 to recognize the good performance of employees of Department of Posts and to motivate them to maintain or improve their good work.
8. NATIONAL HIGHWAYS EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2021
• The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) announced the fourth cycle of National Highways Excellence Awards (NHEA) 2021 to recognize India’s best-performing road assets and toll plazas at VigyanBhavan in New Delhi.
• Theme of the 2021 awards – Innovation and Excellence in Road Construction
9. LASER-GUIDED ATGM SUCCESSFULLY TESTED BY DRDO & INDIAN ARMY
• An indigenously-developed Laser-Guided Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) was successfully test-fired from Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Army at KK Ranges near Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.
• It has multi-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from 120 mm rifled gun of MBT Arjun.
• It uses tandem High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles in ranges from 1.5 to 5 kilometre.
10. NASA’S CAPSTONE MISSION LAUNCHES TO THE MOON
• NASA’s CAPSTONE ,12-unit Cube Sate lunar orbiter was successfully launched on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, which marks the first-of-its kind for both Rocket Lab and NASA.
• The mission’s aim is to allow future spacecraft to determine their location without relying on Earth-based tracking.
• Te microwave-oven sized CubeSat was designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a Terran Orbital Corporation.
• The spacecraft belongs to and will be managed by US based company Advanced Space.
• The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) is a low-cost mission that carries a payload flight computer and radio that performs calculations to determine 55-pound (25 kilograms) CubeSat, a microwave size satellite’s location in its orbital path.
• The CubeSat satellite will use NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) as a reference point to know its position in space.
11. INDIAN COAST GUARD COMMISSIONS INDIGENOUS ‘ALH MK-III’ HELICOPTER
• Indian Coast Guard (ICG) commissioned the 835 Squadron (CG), indigenous advanced light helicopter (ALH) MK-III aircraft at Porbandar port, Gujarat.
• The ALH MK III helicopters have been indigenously manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
• The aircraft has the capability to shift from an offensive platform with heavy machine gun to a benign that carries a Medical Intensive Care Unit.
12. CRICKET: INDIA DEFEATS IRELAND IN A TWO-MATCH T20I SERIES
• Indian Cricket Team led by Hardik Pandya for the Ireland series – 2022 has defeated Ireland cricket team led by Andrew Balbirnie in both the Twenty 20 International (T20I) and won “Joy E-Bike Electrifying Cup”.
• The match took place in Malahide Cricket Club (The Village), Malahide, Ireland.
13. NATIONAL STATISTICS DAY 2022 – JUNE 29
• National Statistics Day(Statistics Day) is annually observed across India on 29th June to recognise the role and importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation.
• The day marks the celebration of the birth anniversary of Professor(late) Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (PC Mahalanobis), known as the “Father of Indian Statistics”
• The theme of National Statistics Day(Statistics Day) 2022 is “Data for Sustainable Development”.