DAILY GK 1 -3 JAN

 DAILY GK 1 -3 JAN

1.     PUNJAB & SIND BANK AND  SBI CARD TO LAUNCH CO-BRANDED CREDIT CARD

      Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB),  has partnered with SBI Card to launch co-brand credit cards for the bank’s customers.

      This marks the entry of PSB into ‘credit cards’ as a new product segment under the bank’s portfolio.

      Under the partnership, three card variants have been launched including, PSB SBI Card ELITE, PSB SBI Card PRIME, and PSB Simply SAVE SBI Card.

 

2.     ARVIND WALIA IS INDIAN ARMY NEW ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF

      Lieutenant (Lt) General (Gen) Arvind Walia, a 1986 batch officer and an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun has been appointed as the next Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army.

      He succeeds Lt Gen Harpal Singh who is superannuating on 31st December 2022.

 

3.     INTEREST RATES ON A NUMBER OF SMALL SAVINGS SCHEMES INCREASES

      The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), a department of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), has raised the interest rate on a number of small savings schemes for the fourth quarter (Q4) of the current fiscal year 2022–23 (FY23), which runs from April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2023.

      The rates on the various instruments have increased by 20 to 110 basis points (bps), and they now range from 4.0 % to 7.6 %.

      The interest rates on the Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi Account, and Savings Deposit have remained unchanged.

      The Shyamala Gopinath Committee provided the formula to calculate the interest rates for the small savings scheme.

 

4.     GOI INTRODUCES NEW INTEGRATED FOOD SECURITY SCHEME FOR 2023

      The Government of India (GoI) has introduced a new Integrated Food Security Scheme beginning January 1, 2023, to supply free food grains to more than 81.35 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

      The new integrated scheme will subsume two present food subsidy schemes run by the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), MoCA and F&PD. They are:

      Food Subsidy to Food Corporation of India (FCI) for NFSA

      Food Subsidy for Decentralized Procurement States, which deals with procuring, allocating, and delivering free food grains to the states under the NFSA

 

5.     CROATIA JOINS SCHENGEN ZONE & SWITCHES TO EURO

      Croatia, the youngest member of the European Union (EU), adopted the ‘Euro’ currency, and it became a part of Europe’s border-free Schengen zone.

      Croatia, a Balkan country, is now the 20th member of the Eurozone and the 27th country to join the passport-free Schengen zone.

      Croatia is a former Yugoslav republic that fought an independence war in the 1990s and joined the EU in 2013.

      Schengen Area signifies a zone where 27 European countries  including four which are not members of the European Union (EU), abolished their internal borders, for the free and unrestricted movement of people.

      This largest free-travel zone in the world was first established in 1985 as an intergovernmental effort including five EU nations—France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

      The European Union (EU) member states that have adopted the “Euro” as their national currency collectively refer to themselves as the “Euro Area” or “Eurozone.”

      With Croatia, 20 EU Member States and 347 million EU citizens will share the EU’s common currency.

 

6.     CAD WIDENS TO 4.4% OF GDP IN Q2FY23- RBI REPORT

      According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s 26th issue of of the Financial Stability Report (FSR) on December 29 2022 ,India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) widened to 4.4 per cent of GDP in Q2:2022-23 from 2.2 per cent of GDP in the previous Q2:2022-23 and 1.2 per cent in 2021-22.

      In absolute terms, CAD was $36.40 billion in Q2FY23 which is highest in more than a decade.

      India’s foreign exchange reserves on BoP basis recorded a deficit of $30.4 billion compared to a $31.2 billion surplus in the Q2FY22.

      The Gross Non-Performing Asset (GNPA) ratio of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) fell to a seven-year low of 5% and Net Non-Performing Assets (NNPA) have dropped to ten-year low of 1.3% in September 2022.

 

7.     39TH PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL 

      Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the veteran left-wing politician, known widely as Lula, was sworn in for the 3rd term as the President of the Republic of Brazil

      He was sworn in as the 39th president of Brazil by winning the 2022 Brazilian general election against far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro (incumbent President of Brazil (from 2019 to 2022).

      Geraldo Alckmin was sworn in as Brazil’s Vice President

 

8.     FIDE WORLD RAPID AND BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022

      Indian Grandmaster (GM) Koneru Humpy, a former world rapid champion, has won a Silver medal in the Women’s World Blitz Championship at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2022 held in Almaty, Kazakhstan

      Koneru Humpy has won India’s 1st ever Silver medal in the World Blitz Chess Championships defeating Zhongyi Tan of China.

      Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan won the gold medal.

      Koneru Humpy is the 2nd Indian to win a medal at World Blitz, after Viswanathan Anand.

      GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the World Blitz Chess Championship 2022 in the Open Blitz category.

 

9.     59TH NATIONAL SENIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

      Kolkata-based chess player Koustav Chatterjee (19-year) became India’s 78th Grandmaster (GM) in MPL 59th National Senior Chess.

      The 59TH MPL Senior National Chess Championship 2022 was held at New Delhi