Daily Current Affairs 23rd July, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 23 July 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Punjab govt signs MoU with IIT Ropar for skill development
The Punjab government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, in the area of skill development.

• The MoU provides for the IIT’s technical education department to become an academic mentor for the state’s engineering colleges at Gurdaspur and Ferozepur, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Skill Institute at Chamkaur Sahib, five government polytechnics and 10 government ITIs.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India and US conduct joint military exercises in Indian Ocean
The US and Indian navies conducted joint military operations in the Indian Ocean as both countries try to navigate tense relations with Beijing.

• The Passage Exercise near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands involved the United States’ Carrier Strike Group (CSG) led by aircraft carrier Nimitz and units of Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet and Andaman and Nicobar Command.

BANKING & FINANCE

NPCI rolls out ‘Autopay’ feature on UPI for recurring payments
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI),, launched its one-stop fintech payment solution- UPI AutoPay in a virtual event of Global Fintech Fest.

• The feature is dedicated to recurring payments and can be used for multiple financial purposes such as utility payments, booking bus pass, train tickets, paying DTH subscriptions among others.
• Customers can create e-mandate through their UPI ID or QR Scan for transactions up to Rs 2000. In case of transactions above Rs 2000, the UPI PIN will be needed to authenticate the payment.

LIC ties up with Union Bank of India to distribute formers’s policies
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Union Bank of India, after its amalgamation with Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank, have announced a corporate agency agreement to distribute LIC policies.

• Union Bank of India can act as a financial supermarket by offering a basket of products to its account holders, whereby they can select products according to their choice.
• The bank will market LIC products of term insurance, pension, plan, children plan, ULIPs, and endowment schemes.

FamPay launches numberless card targeted at teenagers
FamPay, a neo-bank for teenagers that brings cashless convenience to millions of teens and their parents, announced the launch of a numberless card – FamCard.

• FamCard is like a debit card that teenagers can now use to make payments independently, relieving parents of the trouble of giving them physical cash or their debit/credit card.
• With FamPay and its numberless card, minors can make online (UPI & P2P) and offline payments without the need to set up a bank account. Every transaction is protected with device locks like fingerprint, Face ID, pattern lock or PIN.

APPOINTMENTS

Sumit Deb appointed CMD of National Mineral Development Corporation
Sumit Deb has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), iron ore mining major of the country.

• Deb, at present Director (Personnel) in the NMDC, will have tenure till February 28, 2023, i.e. the date of his superannuation
• He succeeds N Baijendra Kumar who superannuates this month-end

SBI General Insurance appoints PC Kandpal as MD, CEO
SBI General Insurance, the non-life a subsidiary of State Bank of India has appointed Prakash Chandra Kandpal as its new managing director & chief executive officer.

• Kandpal has been with SBI General Insurance as the deputy CEO since June 2019.
• He also had a stint in SBI Mutual Fund as the chief operating officer.

AWARDS

Greta Thunberg won a $1.15M humanitarian prize
Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg win the inaugural Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity from 136 nominees from 46 different countries.

• Thunberg is pledging to donate $1.15 million she’s won in prize money to organizations helping make change amid the global climate crisis and pandemic.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

India’s indigenously developed anti-tank guided missile ‘Dhruvastra’ test-fired
India has successfully conducted three flight tests of its indigenously developed anti-tank guided missile ‘Dhruvastra’ from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha.

• Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the helicopter-launched anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) is one of the most advanced anti-tank weapons in the world.

China launches 1st independent mission to Mars
China has launched an unmanned probe to Mars in its first independent mission to another planet, a bid for global leadership in space and a display of its technological prowess and ambition.

• The Mars mission is named Tianwen-1, which in Mandarin means “Questions to Heaven” – will join an international community of explorers on Mars, comprising the US, Europe, Russia, India, and soon the UAE which launched a mission to the red planet.
• The Long March 5 Y-4 rocket, carrying an unmanned Mars probe of the Tianwen-1 mission, takes off from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China

SpaceX launches South Korea’s 1st military satellite
SpaceX successfully launched South Korea’s first military satellite and aced a rocket landing, too, to mark its 12th launch of the year.

• The satellite named “ANASIS-II”was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) by a Falcon 9 rocket. It was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the US of Florida.
• With this launch, South Korea has become the 10th country to own a military-only communications satellite, which will provide permanent and secured military communications.

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