Weekly CA Quiz: December 2020 1st week

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated the Suryadhar lake at Doiwala in Dehradun.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowalon launched the biggest-ever Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme called ‘Orunodoi’, aiming to cover 22 lakh families in the state.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $132.8 million loan to strengthen and modernize the distribution network and improve the quality of power supplied to households, industries, and businesses in India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya.

The U.S. has emerged as the second biggest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India after Singapore, replacing Mauritius, during the first half of the current financial year, according to data of the Commerce and Industry Ministry.

Lewis Hamilton has won the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain.

The Government of India appointed Varsha Joshi as the new Chairperson of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla appointed senior IAS officer Utpal Kumar Singh as Secretary General of the Lok Sabha.

World AIDS Day takes place on 1 December each year to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease.
This year’s theme for World AIDS Day is ‘Ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic: Resilience and Impact’.

The Environment Ministry has constituted a high-level inter-ministerial Apex committee for Implementation of Paris Agreement (AIPA) under the chairmanship of the secretary of the ministry, C.K. Mishra.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is inaugurated the country’s first memorial for organ donors in Jaipur on the Indian Organ Donation Day.

S&P Global Ratings retained its forecast of 9 per cent contraction in the Indian economy for the current fiscal, saying even though there are now upside risks to growth but it will wait for more signs that COVID infections have stabilised or fallen.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has marginally raised its GDP forecast for India to a contraction of 9.9% in 2020-21 (FY21) from its earlier projection of (-)10.2% in September 2020.OECD expects the GDP to rebound to 8% in 2021-22 and 5% in 2022-23.

Raimona National Park, an Assam reserve forest, ravaged by militancy, is set to become the state’s sixth national park. The state government has proposed to upgrade the 422-sq km Ripu Reserve Forest in Kokrajhar district.

The Union Minister of State for Communication Sanjay Dhotre launched five star village postal scheme to ensure the universal coverage of flagship postal schemes in Dehradun for rural areas of Uttarakhand.

According to the Global Terrorism Index of 2020, India is the eighth-most impacted countries in the world by terrorism in the last decede. The index is prepared by the Institute of Economics and Peace, an Australia-based nonpartisan non-profit.
Afghanistan tops the list followed by Iraq, Nigeria and Syria.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $50 million policy-based loan to improve financial management procedures and operational efficiencies aimed at achieving more fiscal savings, promote informed decision making, and improve service delivery in the state of West Bengal.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 430 million multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) to improve the quality and reliability of electricity supply in Uttar Pradesh in India.

State Bank of India has partnered with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Japan’s JCB International Co for unveiling new ‘SBI RuPay JCB Platinum Contactless Debit Card’ on the RuPay network.

Yes Bank has re-energised YES Premia, unveiling a premium banking program that offers personalized solutions focused on the particular needs of key consumer segments – from small business owners to salaried professionals and senior citizens.

Amul, a brand of dairy cooperative major Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), is ranked 8th in the list of top 20 global dairy processors released by the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN).
Amul has replaced United States’ Dean Foods in the global rankings after two years.

Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhary took charge as the director general of Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
Lt Gen Chaudhary succeeds Lt Gen Harpal Singh who has been appointed as the new Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army.

Nongpok Sekmai police station in Manipur’s Thoubal district has been chosen as best performing Police Station in the country.

The National University of Singapore has come up as Asia’s best university for the third consecutive year in the QS Asia University Rankings 2021.
The top-10 list doesn’t feature any Indian university. The top three Indian universities to feature on the Asia Rankings are IIT Bombay (Rank 47), IIT Delhi (Rank 50), and IIT Madras (Rank 56). A total of 107 Indian institutes made it to the overall QS Asia Rankings. Of them, 7 bagged a spot in the top 100.

Alfredo Covelli, an Italy based author launched his new book Vahana Masterclass for children and Young Audience in the Indian market.

The book titled “Indian Icon: A Cult Called Royal Enfield” authored by journalist Amrit Raj has been released recently.

India has invited U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson as chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations in January 2021 and a decision on this is awaited from London.

Singapore has granted San Francisco start-up Eat Just regulatory approval to sell its laboratory-grown chicken in the city-state, the world’s first government to allow the sale of cultured meat.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to kept repo rate unchanged at 4%, reverse repo maintained at 3.35%. It has maintained the policy stance at “accommodative”, amid high inflation and so.
Meanwhile, Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to contract 7.5 percent in 2020-21, as against an earlier estimate of a contraction of 9.5 percent. And Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation is forecast at 6.3 percent in Q3FY21, and 5.8 percent in Q4.
Settlement of AMPS, NFS, Rupay and UPI transactions will be allowed all days of the week against earlier five days of the week.

Paytm has announced its partnership with Suryoday Small Finance Bank to empower MSMEs with instant digital loans.

ICICI Bank opened its representative office in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

England’s Dawid Malan has attained the highest-ever rating points for batsmen in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20I Player Rankings after a terrific run saw him top the series aggregate with a total of 173 runs and help England thrash South Africa 3-0.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Rajnish Kumar Jenaw (IP&TA&FS) as new Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation (NSFDC) under the Department of Social Justice & Empowerment.

Shri SM Vaidya is appointed as the first Vice President of the World LPG Association (WLPGA). Shri SM Vaidya currently is the Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation.

With a net wealth of ₹54,850 crore, HCL Tech chairperson Roshni Nadar ranked first in the Kotak Wealth Hurun wealthy women list 2020.

Indian Navy Day is celebrated every year on December 4 to commemorate the attack on the Karachi harbour during the India-Pakistan war in 1971.
This year the theme of Navy Day is “Indian Navy Combat Ready, Credible & Cohesive”.

In an effort to bring major changes in technical education, the Ministry of Education under the leadership of Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has set up a task force for preparing a roadmap on imparting technical education in Mother Tongue.
As per updates, the task force set up under the chairmanship of Amit Khare, Secretary of Higher Education Department, will take into consideration the suggestions made by various stakeholders and will submit a report in a month.

Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City regulator International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has obtained membership of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS).

Finin, a fintech company, has launched itself as a ‘neobank’, in partnership with SBM Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius in India, focussing on saving rather than lending.

In a bid to give a push to digital payments, the Reserve Bank announced a slew of measures including enhancing the limit for contactless card transactions to Rs 5,000 from Rs 2,000 and making RTGS transaction facility available round the clock from December 14.

The Reserve Bank of India said retail inflation is likely to remain elevated and pegged it at 6.8 per cent for the third quarter of the current fiscal.

First Dronacharya Awardee from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Kuldeep Handoo has been appointed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Fit India’ Ambassador.
Mr Handoo, who is Wushu Coach of Team India is serving as Inspector in Jammu and Kashmir Police Department.

Gitanjali Rao, a 15-year-old Indian-American scientist and inventor has been named Time Magazine’s first-ever Kid of the Year.

Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India, is among six people named “Asians of the Year” by Singapore’s leading daily, The Straits Times for their work in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu released the book ’40-Years with Abdul Kalam- Untold Stories’ authored by Dr Sivathanu Pillai, former chief of BrahMos Aerospace at a virtual function organised in Chennai.

World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
The theme of World Soil day 2020, “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity”.

International Volunteer Day is observed on December 5, to promote the culture of volunteering, encourage the governments to support the efforts put in by volunteers in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at all levels.
The theme for International Volunteers Day 2020 is ‘Together We Can Through Volunteering’.

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga have been named by Fortune among the Businessperson of the Year 2020, a list topped by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The Fortune 2020 Businessperson of the Year is Musk for a second time.
Narayen, ranked 8th on the list, while Banga, ranked 9th on the list.

British Indian journalist and author Anita Anand’s book that tells the story of a young man caught up in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar has won a prestigious history-literary prize in the UK.
‘The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj’ beat six other titles for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History 2020, awarded annually for a non-fiction book of specifically historical content.

Media executive Uday Shankar has been named as the president-elect of industry chamber Ficci for 2020-21. Shankar will be succeeding Sangita Reddy.

Japan was chosen to host a traditional, seven-team Club World Cup in December 2021.

New Zealand all-rounder, Corey Anderson (29), has called time on his international career and signed a three-year Major League Cricket (MLC) T20 in the United States of America (USA).

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 190 million (over Rs 1,400 crore) loan for modernisation and upgradation of power distribution system in Karnataka’s capital city of Bengaluru.
This features an innovative financing arrangement, the first of its kind for ADB, combining public and private sector loans to a state government-owned enterprise.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently extended the Swasthya Sathi health insurance scheme to cover the entire population of the state, starting December 1, 2020.

Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu virtually released a commemorative postage stamp in honour of late Prime Minister IK Gujral to mark his 101st birth anniversary.
I K Gujral was the 12th Prime Minister of India, he served as the Prime Minister from April 1997-March 1998.