DAILY GK 22 SEPT. 2020

 DAILY GK 22 SEPT.  2020

1.  9 HIGHWAY PROJECTS WORTH RS 14, 528 CRORES IN BIHAR

·        PM  Narendra Modi laid the Foundation Stone for Nine Highway Projects worth Rs 14, 528 Crores in Bihar through video conference.

·        The project includes making six-lane highways, and three bridges on rivers.

·        He also laid foundation of ‘Har Gaon Optical Fibre Cable’ for Internet Services to connect all villages of Bihar.

·        “Har Gaon Optical Fibre Cable” project , under this  about six lakh villages would be provided internet services through optical fibre cable in 1,000 days.

·        This includes all 45,945 villages in Bihar. 

·        It will be executed by the Department of Telecom, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Common Service Centres (CSC).

 

2. INDIA LAUNCHES FIRST EVER CARGO FERRY VESSEL “MCP LINZ” TO MALDIVES

·        Minister of State for shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya and Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation of Maldives, Aishath Nahula jointly launched the First Ever Direct Cargo Ferry Service between India and Maldives.

·        It is considered to be the new connectivity effort has begun in Indian Ocean Region.

·        India provided a financial assistance of US$250 million(Indian Rupees of around 1837 crores) at favourable terms to the Government of Maldives

 

3. DMUC TRAINS TO NEPAL RAILWAYS

·        Konkan Railways (operated by Konkan Railway Corporation) handed over two modern Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit (DMUC) trains to Nepal Railways for the Jaynagar-Kurtha Broad Gauge Line.

·        The Rails will run between Jaynagar (Bihar) and Kurtha in Dhanusa district from December, 2020. 

·        The Trains have been manufactured by Integrated Coach Factory, Chennai with modern amenities and latest AC-AC Propulsion Technology.

·        They were procured by Nepal’s Railway Department for a price of  84 Crore 65 Lakhs Nepali Rupees.

 

4. INDIA’S NOMINAL GDP TO GROW BY 19% IN FY22

·        Krishnamurthy Subramanian, chief economic advisor in the finance ministry, Government of India informed that as per the estimate of finance ministry, India’s nominal Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is expected to grow by 19% in FY22(2021-22) on a low base. 

·        NK Singh, chairman of Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) stated that this estimate is a bit moderate when compared with some estimates received from experts.

 

5. NARENDRA MODI WON THE IG NOBEL PRIZE 2020

·        Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India won the Medical Education Prize of Ig Nobel Prize 2020 at the 30th First Nobel Prize Ceremony over virtual platform.

·        Modi became the 2nd Prime Minister from India to win the Ig Nobel Prize after Atal Bihari Vajpayee who won the 1998 Peace award for “Aggressively peaceful explosion of atomic bombs”.

·        The government of India and Pakistan won the Ig Nobel Prize 2020 for peace for “having their diplomats surreptitiously ring each other’s doorbells in the middle of the night, and then run away before anyone had a chance to answer the door.”

·        India’s 1st CRISPR COVID-19 test, ‘FELUDA’

·        Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has given regulatory approval for the commercial launch of ‘FELUDA’( FNCAS9 Editor-Limited Uniform Detection Assay), India’s 1st CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) test.

·        It is developed by the scientist of CSIR-IGIB (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research -Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology).

·        As per the agreement as signed by Tata Sons  Private Limited  and CSIR-IGIB in May, 2020, Tata group will manufacture it.

 

6. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE OBSERVED ON 21ST SEPTEMBER, 2020

·        The theme for 2020 International Day of Peace is “Shaping Peace Together”. 

 

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Daily GK Quiz 19 and 20 Sept. 2020

 [Q] Who chairs the expert committee constituted by central government to examine the reports of digital surveillance on prominent Indian nationals (President, Army chief) by Chinese firm?

(a) Aditya Khullar
(b) Mohit Gupta
(c) Gulshan Rai
(d) Rajesh Pant
(e) None of the Above

[ANS] d

 

[Q] Who has been given additional charge as the minister of Food Processing Industries (Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned recently)?
(a) Prakash Javadekar
(b) Narendra Modi
(c) Pralhad Patel
(d) Harsh Vardhan
(e) Narendra Singh Tomar

[ANS] e

 

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DAILY GK 20 & 21 SEP 2020

DAILY GK 20 & 21 SEP 2020

1.  CENTRE AMENDED PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (PREFERENCE TO MAKE IN INDIA) ORDER 2017

·        In order to promote the “Make in India” initiative, the Central Government has amended the Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017 .

·        This amendment will enable nodal Ministries/ Departments to notify higher minimum local content requirements for Class-I & Class-II local suppliers which was earlier fixed at 50% and 20% respectively.

·        This order is issued pursuant to Rule 153(iii) General Financial Rules 2017.

 

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DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 19 SEPTEMBER 2020

 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 19 SEPTEMBER 2020

1.  KOSI RAIL MEGA BRIDGE AND 12 OTHER RAILWAY PROJECTS IN BIHAR

·        PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the historic Kosi Rail Mahasetu (mega bridge) and other projects including a new railway bridge on the Kiul River, two new railway lines, 5 Electrification projects, Bihar’s first Electric Locomotive Shed at Barauni and 3rd Line Project between Barh-Bakhtiyarpur in Bihar through video conference. 

 

2. INDIA’S FIRST TERMINAL AT DELHI AIRPORT

·        Hardeep Singh Puri, Ministry of Civil Aviation inaugurated India’s first General Aviation Terminal at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, Delhi to handle the flight operations and movement and processing of passengers flying through of private jets or chartered flights. 

·        This terminal can handle Code C type aircraft, which are 50-seater charter aircraft and the biggest in their category.

 

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DAILY GK 18 SEPT. 2020

 

DAILY GK 18 SEPT. 2020

1. INDIA JOINED DJIBOUTI CODE OF CONDUCT/ JEDDAH AMENDMENT

·        On the lines of the high level meeting of the Djibouti Code of Conduct/ Jeddah Amendment (DCOC/JA) held virtually on 26 August 2020, India has joined the DCOC/JA Amendment, as Observer in order to collaborate with DCOC/JA member states towards for enhancing maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). 

·        With this, India joins Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) as Observers to the DCOC/JA.

·        Adopted in January 2009, DCOC/JA is a grouping on maritime matters aiming to prevent piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, the East coast of Africa and Island countries in the IOR.

 

2. HUMAN CAPITAL INDEX 2020

·        The 2020 Human Capital Index (HCI) is a collaboration between the Human Development Practice Group and the Development Economics Group of the World Bank.

·        World Bank released the report titled “The Human Capital Index 2020 Update: Human Capital in the Time of COVID-19”on September 16, 2020.

·        India has been placed at the 116th position among 174 countries in the Human Capital Index 2020 with score increase to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018 in comparison to 115 out of 157 countries.

 

3. YEAR SOVEREIGN SDG BOND WORTH $890M

·        Mexico became the first country in the world to inaugurate sustainable financing program for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by issuing a seven-year Sovereign SDGs Bond worth USD 890 million under its new “SDG Sovereign Bond Framework” developed with investment bank Natixis, located in Paris, France.

·        This transaction allows Mexico to expand its investor base by accessing international funds working towards sustainable economic development.

 

4. 2020 ASIA GAME CHANGER AWARD FOR FEEDING MILLIONS

·        The Michelin Star Chef Vikas Khanna received the 2020 Asia Game Changer Award from Asia Society, a United States based non-profit organisation for feeding millions of people across India amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, by coordinating a food distribution drive from Manhattan.

·        He is the only Indian among the six awardees who were recognised by the Asia Society.

 

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DAILY GK 17 SEPTEMBER 2020

 

DAILY GK 17 SEPTEMBER 2020

1.    CABINET APPROVES ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW AIIMS AT DARBHANGA

·        Central Government has given its consent for the establishment of a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) at Darbhanga, Bihar with an outlay of Rs.1264 crore.

·        PM Narendra Modi has also given its approval to the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor Project from Palwal to Sonipat via Sohna-Manesar-Kharkhauda, benefitting Haryana’s district of Palwal, Nuh, Gurugram, Jhajjar and Sonipat, at an estimated cost of Rs. 5,617 crore.

 

2.    GLOBAL AYURVEDA SUMMIT

·        4th edition of Global Ayurveda Summit was virtually inaugurated by Vice-President Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu on the theme “Emerging Opportunities for Ayurveda during Pandemic“.

·        It will culminate on October 14, 2020.  Due to COVID-19, it is being conducted as a web event for 30 days with virtual exhibition and conference on emerging opportunities for Ayurveda. 

·        It is being organized by the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry)-Kerala in partnership with Ministry of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy).

 

3.    MAGLEV TRAINS TO INDIA

·        Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has signed a MoU with Swiss Rapide AG to Maglev Train (Magnetic Levitation) Projects in India.

·        The MoU will enable the Indigenous manufacturing of the State-of-the-art Maglev Trains.

 

4.    JAPAN’S NEW PRIME MINISTER

·        Yoshihide Suga was formally elected as Japan’s New Prime Minister.

·        He will succeed Shinzo Abe, who was Japan’s Longest serving Prime Minister and stepped down due to health problems. 

·        Yoshihide’s party Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holds a majority in the Japan Parliament. 

 

5.    WORLD OZONE DAY 2020 – SEPTEMBER 16

·        The first International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was observed on 16th September 1995.
The theme for the 2020 is “Ozone for life: 35 years of ozone layer protection”.

·        The 2020 International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer or World Ozone Day marks the celebration of 35 years of the Vienna Convention and 35 years of Global ozone layer protection.

 

6.    INDIA TO BE SELF-RELIANT IN FERTILIZERS PRODUCTION BY 2023

·        The Union Minister of Chemical and Fertilizers D.V. Sadananda Gowda announced that India will be self-reliant in fertilizer production by 2023 while addressing a webinar on Self-Reliant India and Sustainable Agriculture Organized by cooperative Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) for farmers of Karnataka.

·        Currently, the fertilizer production of the country is 42-45 million tonnes, and imports are at around 18 million tonnes.

 

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DAILY GK 16 SEPT. 2020

 

DAILY GK 16 SEPT. 2020

1. UN’S COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN

·        India & Afghanistan were elected as Members of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Status of Women, a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

·        The Commission on the Status of Women is a UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.

·        India (38 votes) and Afghanistan (39) won the ballot among the 54 members, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, T S Tirumurti announced the election of India to the Committee. 

 

2. EUROMONEY’S LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2020

·        Euromoney, the global finance and banking magazine’s Awards for Excellence 2020 honoured Aditya Puri, Managing Director(MD) of HDFC Bank with a Lifetime Achievement Award 2020.

·        This is a first of its kind recognition for a corporate leader from India.

·        The award is conferred upon him to recognise his skills in building a world class Indian bank and his contribution in creating a trustworthy brand.

 

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