DAILY GK : 28 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 28 JAN 2021

1.     INDIA’S LONGEST STEEL ARCH BRIDGE

•      Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma inaugurated India’s Longest Steel Arch Bridge ‘Wahrew Bridge’ at Tharia Village in Meghalaya.

•      The 169 metre long Bridge connects Bholaganj & Sohbar to Nongjri in East Khasi Hills and runs over the river Wahrew.

•      The Bridge was dedicated to Dr Donkupar Roy, Former Chief Minister of Meghalaya.

 

2.     BHARAT PARV-2021 VIRTUAL NATIONAL FESTIVAL

•      LS Speaker Om Birla inaugurated the 5-day Bharat Parv-2021, a virtual National Festival at New Delhi.

•      The Festival will take place on a  virtual platform – http://www.bharatparv2021.com/ due to the Pandemic.

•      Bharat Parv is an annual event being organized by the Ministry of Tourism since 2016.

•      Objective – To showcase the Cuisine & Culture of different States of India.

•      The overall theme of Bharat Parv will also be focused towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat.

 

3.     LAUNCHING OF PUPIL SATELLITE BY INDIA

•      In order to celebrate the 50 years of India-Bangladesh friendship & the 100th Birth Anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, India & Bangladesh have signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to design & launch the Pupil  Satellite TV for PC  to be completely developed by Students from both countries.

•      The MoU was signed between SpaceKidz India (SKI) & Global Law Thinkers Society, an Global Youth Organization of Bangladesh.

 

4.     “AYU SAMVAD” ORGANISED BY AIIA

•      The “Ayu Samvad” (My Health My Responsibility), one of the largest public awareness campaigns on Ayurveda and COVID-19 pandemic (in the form of lecture series) is organised by All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi, an apex Ayurveda institute under the Ministry of AYUSH.

 

5.     INDIA-UK JWC MEETING ON COUNTER-TERRORISM 2021

•      14th meeting of the India-United Kingdom Joint Working Group (JWC) on Counter-Terrorism 2021 was held virtually where both nations emphasised for strengthening international cooperation to combat the global menace of terrorism.

•      Indian side was represented by Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter Terrorism in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

 

6.     PM RASHTRIYA BAL PURASKAR 2021 TO 32 CHILDREN

•      Government of India conferred Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP) 2021 to 32 children under 6 categories, namely innovation, Scholastic, Sports, Arts & Culture, Social Service and Bravery.

•      This award was instituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), Government of India in 1996.

•      Chirag Bhansali (16 year old) received this Award for launching his website and mobile application called ‘Swadeshi Tech’, which acts as an alternative to Chinese apps.

•      Veer Kashyap (10-year-old) received this Award for building a Board game ‘Corona Yuga’.

 

7.     PADMA AWARDS 2021

•      Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India announced the Padma Awards 2021.

•      The Padma Awards, one of the highest Civilian Awards of the Country are conferred under 3 categories namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

•      This year (2021) total 119 Padma awards including 1 duo case (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one) were Awarded.

•      Key Persons who Received the Award:

•      Padma Vibhushan – Former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, S P Balasubramaniam(Posthumously) and Eminent sculptor Sudarshan Sahoo, Optics Narinder Singh Kapany (posthumously).

•      Padma Bhushan– Ram Vilas Paswan(Posthumous), who was the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (elected from the Hajipur constituency of Bihar) and Tarun Gogoi, former Assam CM who was the longest serving CM of the State

 

8.     HIGHLIGHTS OF  72ND REPUBLIC DAY 

•      India celebrated its 72nd Republic Day.

•      On this date, in 1950 the Constitution of India came into effect by replacing the Government of India Act (1935).

•      The Constitution was adopted by the Indian Constituent Assembly on 26 November, 1949 and came into effect on 26th January, 1950 making India a fully democratic Republic.

•      For the 1st time, a 122-member Bangladeshi Triservice force Contingent participated in the Republic Day Parade.

•      On the eve of 72nd Republic Day Celebration i.e 25th January, 2021, President Ram Nath  Kovind approved 455 Gallantry Awards & other Defence decorations to Armed Forces personnel.

•      UT of Ladakh presented its First-ever Tableau at the Republic Day Parade, since its formation in 2019.

•      The last time a Republic Day Celebration was held without a Chief Guest was in 1966.

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DAILY GK : 26 , 27 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 26 , 27 JAN 2021

1. BILATERAL AIR EXERCISE ‘DESERT KNIGHT-21’

•      Indian Air Force (IAF) and French Air and Space Force (FASF) participated in the 1st Edition of Bilateral Air Exercise ‘Exercise Desert Knight-21 (Ex DK-21)’ held at Air Force Station, Jodhpur for 5 days from January 20-24, 2021.

•      The Bilateral exercise involved the participation of Rafale fighter jets from both sides.

•      India & France are also jointly set to conduct wargames codenamed Exercise SKYROS in January at Jodhpur.

 

2. TRI-SERVICE MILITARY EXERCISE ‘AMPHEX-21’

•      Indian Navy conducted an Joint Tri-Service Amphibious Military Exercise  ‘AMPHEX-21’ in Andaman & Nicobar group of Islands .

•      Defence Exercise ‘KAVACH’ for defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands was also a part of AMPHEX-21 exercise.

•      The forces demonstrated joint capabilities of Intelligence gathering from space, air, land & sea based assets, analyzing & sharing them on a real-time basis to enable quick decision making during battle times.

 

3. AMIT SHAH LAUNCHED ‘AYUSHMAN CAPF’ SCHEME

•      Union Minister Amit Shah launched the ‘Ayushman CAPF’ scheme for personnel and dependents of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), which will be fully implemented by May 1, 2021.

•      It will cover around 28 lakh personnel of CAPF, Assam Rifles and National Security Guard (NSG) and their families under ‘Ayushman Bharat: Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana’ (AB PM-JAY).

 

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DAILY GK : 24, 25 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 24, 25 JAN 2021

1. PLI SCHEME

•      Central Government gave its consent for first set of five pharma projects with the total committed Investment of Rs 3,761.17 crore.

•      It was approved under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for promoting domestic manufacture of bulk drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

•      The projects are related to the four fermentation-based key starting materials which are all entirely imported now.

 

2. INDIA LARGEST MULTI-MODEL LOGISTIC PARK

•      A MoU was signed between the Gujarat Government and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar to set up India’s largest multi-model logistic park at Virochan Nagar near Sanand in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat.

•      The park to be developed in 1450 acre with an estimated investment of Rs 50,000 crore will be completed in 3 years i.e. by 2023.

 

3. INDIA DIGITAL SUMMIT 2021

•      15th Edition of India Digital Summit 2021 (IDS 2021) organized by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) took place.

•      It was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar Prasad.

•      Theme – ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat – Start of New Decade’.

•      During the event, the 11th India Digital Awards 2021 were also announced.

•      Digital Person of the year – Sanjeev Bikhchandani

•      Digital Startup of the year – Khatabook

•      Digital Agency of the Year: Gold – Wunderman Thompson, Silver – Kinnect, Bronze – WATConsult

•      Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (AMUL) bagged 4 awards in the event.

 

4. TREATY FOR PROHIBITION OF  NUCLEAR WEAPONS  COMES INTO FORCE

•      ‘Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) adopted by the United Nations  (UN) General Assembly came into force it is the First ever International agreement which prohibits Nuclear Weapons.

•      The Treaty was Adopted in 2017 by the United Nations General Assembly

•      Development, Testing, Production, Stocking, Transferring, using & threat of using Nuclear weapons.

•      If any Nuclear armed states are joining the treaty, a time-bound framework which leads to verified and irreversible elimination of its nuclear weapons programme is provided.

•      Until now 86 Nations have signed TPNW & 52 have ratified it.

 

5. WORLD’S LARGEST DERIVATIVES EXCHANGE TITLE

•      In accordance with the Futures Industry Association (FIA), National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) remained the world’s largest derivatives exchange for the second consecutive year in 2020 in terms of number of contracts traded.

•      On the other hand, World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) has ranked it 4th in terms of cash equities by number of trades for calendar year 2020.

 

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DAILY GK : 23 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 23 JAN 2021

1. KHELO INDIA ZANSKAR WINTER SPORTS 

•      Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs and Sports inaugurated the 1st ever Khelo India Zanskar Winter Sports & Youth Festival 2021 at Padum in Zanskar of Kargil, Ladakh UT.

•      The Festival is the 1st of its kind to be organized in Zanskar Valley,  Ladakh.To promote Zanskar as a winter Tourists destination.

 

2. NSDC PARTNERS WITH CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY

•      National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC) partnered with California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) to fulfill the increasing demand for a digitally skilled workforce in India.

•      The initiative is led by eSkillIndia, the digital skilling unit of NSDC.

•      Under this partnership ,the platform of CSULB – SkillsCommons and Multimedia Education Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) will be integrated with NSDC’s eSkillindia.org, to encourage e-learning among the youths of India.

 

3. IAF S-400 MISSILE SYSTEM TRAINING IN MOSCOW

•      India is set to send the first group of Military specialists to Russia to train on operating the S-400 air Defence system in Moscow.

•      India will receive the first batch of the S-400 by the end of 2021.

•      In October 2018, India signed a 5.43 billion USD deal with Russia to procure five S-400, long-range air Defence systems.

•      S-400 was developed by Almaz Central Design Bureau of Russia.

•      It is an upgrade of the S-300 family of surface-to-air missile systems.

•      The all five s-400 delivery is expected to be completed by 2025.

 

4. GOI INCREASED AUTHORIZED SHARE CAPITAL OF PUNJAB & SIND BANK

•      Government of India has increased the authorised share capital of Punjab & Sind bank to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 3,000 crore.

•      The government in 2020 had approved to infuse Rs 5,500 crore capital into the bank by preferential allotment of shares.

•      The fund was approved from Rs 20,000 crore cleared by the Parliament in September 2020 to infuse capital in Public Sector Banks (PSBs)  as part of  the 1st batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2020-21.

 

5. MONGOLIAN PM RESIGNS OVER PROTESTS

•      Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, Prime Minister of Mongolia resigned following the public protest against the COVID-19 control measures of the Government.

•      The mongolian parliament dominated by Ukhnaa Khurelsukh’s Mongolian People’s Party voted to accept the resignation.

 

6. HAL SUCCESSFULLY TEST FIRES SAAW

•      Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) successfully Test Fired the Indigenous  Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW) from the Hawk-i aircraft close to the coast of Odisha.

•      It is the 1st Smart Weapon to be fired from an Indian Hawk-Mk132.

•      It has been developed by  Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) under HAL’s Hawk-i Program.

•      SAAW is a precision strike weapon of 125 kg category and has a range of 100 kms

 

 

  

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DAILY GK : 21, 22 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 21, 22 JAN 2021

1. AMAZON TO SET UP QUANTUM COMPUTING APPLICATIONS LAB IN INDIA

•      Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to set up a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in the Country.

•      The lab will be the World’s 1st Quantum Computing Applications Lab to support a National Government’s Mission.

•      India announced National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications (NM-QTA) in the Union Budget 2020-21 with a budget of INR 8000 Crore for a period of 5 years to  be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST).

•      Amazon has partnered with Startup India, Sequoia Capital India & Fireside Ventures to launch an Accelerator programme namely ‘Amazon Global Selling Propel (AGSP)’  to help early-stage startups to take their products to Global Audiences.

 

2. 1ST STATE TO GIVE POWER SUBSIDY TO FARMERS THROUGH DBT

•      Madhya Pradesh (MP) has become the first State to give electricity subsidy through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) thereby successfully implementing one out of the three stipulated reforms in the power sector.

•      This achievement has made it eligible for additional borrowing equivalent to 0.15% of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

 

3. MAHARASHTRA GOVT RENAMED NAGPUR’S GOREWADA INTERNATIONAL ZOO

•      Maharashtra Government renamed Gorewada International Zoo as “Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park”, in memory of Balasaheb Thackeray, an Indian politician.

•      This zoological park is situated in Nagpur, Maharashtra and covers about 2,000 hectares of the forest land.

 

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DAILY GK : 19 , 20 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 19 , 20 JAN 2021

1. STARSTREAK MISSILE SYSTEMS FOR INDIA

•      India’s Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) under the Ministry of Defence and the United Kingdom’s Thales have signed a ‘Teaming Agreement’ to develop STARStreak Air Defence system in India under the ‘Make in India’ programme.

•      This partnership will be supported by both Governments.

•      It should be noted that in 2017 both entities inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the transfer of technology for STARStreak.

 

2. INDIA’S 1ST AIR TAXI SERVICE

•      Haryana Chief Minister(CM) Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurated India’s 1st air taxi service from Chandigarh to the newly constructed Hisar airport in Haryana under Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN) of Govt of India.

•      The airline Aviation Connectivity & Infrastructure Developers Pvt. Ltd (Air Taxi) will operate the air taxi services and has become the 1st startup airline of India to assist India with this service.

 

3.8 TRAINS TO STATUE OF UNITY

•      PM Narendra Modi virtually flagged off 8 trains from various parts of India to the Statue of Unity in Kevadiya, Gujarat to boost connectivity and Tourism.

•      The trains will connect Kevadiya.

•      Also Kevadiya Railway Station is India’s First Railway Station to be certified as a Green Building.

 

4. NATIONAL YOUTH FESTIVAL 2021

•      The 24th National Youth Festival (NYF) 2021 was held from 12th to 16th January, 2021.

•      Its closing ceremony was addressed by Union Minister of Textiles and Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani in New Delhi in the presence of Union Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju.

•      The theme of the NYF 2021 was ‘YUVAAH – Utsah Naye Bharat Ka’.

 

5. SPMCIL PAID RS 215.48 CRORE FINAL DIVIDEND TO GOI

•      The Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Limited(SPMCIL), paid the final dividend of Rs.215.48 crore to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Government of India for the financial year of 2019-20.

•      The dividend, in compliance with DIPAM guidelines, amounts to 5% of the net worth of the company at 31st March 2020 & 41% of Profit after tax for FY20.

 

6. PROTECT OCEANS BY SUPPORTING BLUE ECONOMY

•      The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) initiated a Clean and Sustainable Ocean Partnership to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate goals as advised in the Paris Agreement.

•      In this regard, both entities will support the initiatives in Asia and the Pacific.

 

7. UN WOMEN 2020 ASIA-PACIFIC WEPS REGIONAL AWARDS

•      1st United Nations(UN) Women 2020 Asia-Pacific Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Regional award winners were announced in a ceremonyin  Bangkok, Thailand.

•      IKEA India Pvt Ltd won this award in Gender-inclusive Workplace category. It is the only winner from India.

•      Tata Power- Delhi Distribution Ltd(DDL) became the 1st Runner Up in the Community & Industry Engagement category of the award.

 

8. YOWERI MUSEVENI RE-ELECTED AS PRESIDENT OF UGANDA

•      Yoweri Museveni has been re-elected as the president of Uganda for the 6th term.

•      He has been president of the country since 29th January 1986, i.e., for about 35 years and becomes one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.

•      He belongs to the National Resistance Movement(NRM) political party.

 

9. GOI TO SELL 10% OF ITS STAKE IN SAIL

•      Government of India to sell 10% stake in Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) through an Offer for Sale (OFS) route to raise Rs 2,600 crore as part of its disinvestment drive.

•      The Govt sells 206.5 million shares or 5% equity with a 5% greenshoe option.

•      After selling of stake the government will hold 65% from 75%.

 

10. BIHAR 1ST BIRD FESTIVAL ‘KALRAV’

•      Bihar’s 1st state level bird festival ‘Kalrav’ was held in Nagi-Nakti bird Sanctuary, Jamui district, Bihar.

•      It was formally inaugurated by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

•      Aim of the Festival– To create awareness about birds especially migratory birds

 

11. 1G ETHANOL PRODUCTION IN INDIA

•      Department of Food & Public Distribution (DoFPD) has notified a modified scheme to extend financial assistance for producers of “1st Generation” (1G) Ethanol from feed stocks such as Cereals (rice, wheat, barley, corn & sorghum), Sugarcane & Sugar Beet.

•      The Financial Assistance will also be extended to

•      The Main Objective behind the scheme is to achieve 20% Blending of ethanol with Fossil Fuels by 2025 from 2030.

 

12. ‘SAKSHAM 2021’ CAMPAIGN

•      The New Delhi-based Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) launched a month long pan-India campaign ‘SAKSHAM 2021 (Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav)’  to create awareness about the adverse impact of fossil fuels on health and environment, and to convince the consumers of fossil fuels to switch towards cleaner fuels.

•      The tagline of the campaign is ‘Green and Clean Energy’ (Hindi- हरित एवं स्वच्छ ऊर्जा).

 

13. MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS ISSUED IRON- ORE POLICY 2021

•      Ministry of Railways issued Iron-ore policy 2021 that will govern the allocation of rakes (train) and transportation of iron-ore.

•      The aim of the policy is to provide complete logistics support to iron ore customers, thereby helping the iron and steel industry.

•      The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) will update the features of this new policy in the Rake Allotment System module.

 

14. INDIA’S FIRST LABOUR MOVEMENT MUSEUM

•      India’s First Labour Movement Museum which showcases the history of the World Labour Movement is set to be launched in Alappuzha, Kerala.

•      The museum has been constructed with a budget of INR 9.95 crores & 97% of renovations works in the museum have been completed.

 

15. MOC ON MOVEMENT OF ‘SKILLED WORKERS’

•      In order to enhance cooperation in skills development, India and Japan have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) for operation of the ‘specified skilled worker’ (SSW) system.

•      This MoC paves the way for Indian workers with required skills and pass Japanese language tests to get employment in Japan on a contractual basis.

•      It was signed by Foreign secretary Harsh Shringla and Japan’s ambassador Satoshi Suzuki.

 

16. SKOCH CHALLENGER AWARD 2021 FOR E-GOVERNANCE

•      70th SKOCH Summit (SKOCH Public Policy Forum) was held in New Delhi during which SKOCH Awards 2021 were presented to different ministries.

•      The SKOCH Challenger Award-Best Performance in e-Governance was presented to Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA).

•      The ministry got the SKOCH Challenger Award for the 2nd consecutive year.

•      It was received by Union Minister Arjun Munda, (MoTA).

•      The “SKOCH Challenger Award- Transparency in Governance” was conferred to Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) for recognizing its IT-led initiatives

 

17. BOOK- ‘ABDUL KALAM-NINAIVUGALUKKU MARANAMILLAI’

•      M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India released a tamil book titled ‘Abdul Kalam-Ninaivugalukku Maranamillai’(immortal memories) at Raj Bhavan in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

•      It is a biography of late former President, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

•      The book is authored by  Dr APJM NazemaMaraikayar, managing trustee, Abdul Kalam International Foundation (AIKF) and well-known space scientist, Dr Y.S. Rajan.

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