Daily Current Affairs 1st January, 2021

Daily Current Affairs 1 January 2021 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Jharkhand launches crop relief scheme ‘Kisan Fasal Rahat Yojana’
Jharkhand launches its own crop relief scheme to replace the Prime Minister’s insurance scheme.

• It is a compensation scheme aimed at providing security cover to Jharkhand farmers in case of crop damage due to natural calamity. It will cover both land owning and landless farmers.
• The Department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Co-operative will be the implementing agency and it will work in association with a project management unit, which will be a consultancy firm that will take care of technical requirements.

BANKING & FINANCE

Interest Rates on PPF, NSC and Other Small Savings Schemes Unchanged for Q4
The government kept the interest rates on small savings schemes, including PPF and NSC, unchanged for the January-March quarter amid moderating bank deposit rates.

• Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC) will continue to carry an annual interest rate of 7.1 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.
• The interest rate for the five-year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme has been retained at 7.4 per cent.Interest rate on savings deposits has been retained at 4 per cent annually. The girl child savings scheme Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana will offer 7.6 per cent rate during the fourth quarter of the current fiscal.
• The annual interest rate on Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) has been retained at 6.9 per cent. Term deposits of one-five years will fetch interest rate in the range of 5.5-6.7 per cent, to be paid quarterly, while the interest rate on five-year recurring deposit is pegged at 5.8 per cent.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Oakridge Energy to solarise 1,000 KVs, Delhi government schools
Solar firm Oakridge Energy said it has signed agreements with the Delhi government and screw Vidyalaya Sangathan to solarise schools in Delhi.

• The company is aiming to solarise 1,000 institutions by 2022.
• The project is developed by the company and subsidised by the Government of India’s capital subsidy scheme for government buildings, which the Delhi government has utilised for solarising its schools.

APPOINTMENTS

Suneet Sharma Appointed New Chairman and CEO of Railway Board
Former Eastern Railway general manager Suneet Sharma was appointed the new Railway Board Chairman and CEO upon the completion of the term of incumbent V K Yadav. Yadav was given an extension in January this year.

• Suneet Sharma is a Special Class Railway Apprentice Officer of the 1978-batch. He has discharged responsibilities at various levels, including zonal railways, workshops and diesel loco sheds, in his over 34 years in the Indian Railways.

AWARDS

Pt Satish Vyas conferred with prestigious Tansen Samman by MP Government
Santoor player Pt. Satish Vyas honoured with Tansen Samman- 2020 for Hindustani classical music.

• Madhya Pradesh government will confer the award on Pt. Vyas at Tansen Sangeet Samaroh, held in Gwalior. The Tansen Samman including the cash component of Rs 2 lakh. 
• Besides Abhinav Kala Parishad, Bhopal has been selected for ‘Raja Mansingh Tomar Samman’.

United Nations’ FAO names 4 Asian tea cultivation sites as Globally Important Agri Heritage Systems
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has recognised four tea producing sites spanning across three countries as the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS).

• All the four sites chosen by the FAO are in the Asian continent and include two tea production sites from China(Pu’er Traditional Tea Agrosystem and Fuzhou Jasmine tea site ) – the world’s largest producer- and one each from Korea(Traditional Hadong Tea Agrosystem Korea) and Japan(Traditional Tree Grass system in Shizuoka) .
• However, India which is the second largest producer of the beverage and one of the biggest exporters of tea to several countries could not find a place in the chosen GIAHS sites.
• India is the second largest tea producing country of the world and the crop is grown in states like Assam, West Bengal, Kerala among others.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

IIT Hyderabad sets up ‘TiHAN-IIT’ testbed for autonomous navigation systems
The Department of Science and Technology has sanctioned ₹135 crore to IIT Hyderabad under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to set up a Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems.

• The Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation Systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Remotely Operated Vehicles at IIT Hyderabad, known as ‘TiHAN Foundation’ has been incorporated as a Section-8 company by the institute in June 2020.
• TiHAN Foundation at IIT Hyderabad is a multidepartmental initiative, including researchers from electrical, computer science, mechanical and aerospace, civil, mathematics and Design with collaboration and support from reputed institutions and industry.
• It is a step towards ‘Aatmanibhar Bharat’ with a focus on the R&D of interdisciplinary technologies in the domain of Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems. This hub focuses on addressing various challenges hindering the real-time adoption of unmanned autonomous vehicles for both terrestrial and aerial applications.

OBITUARIES

Veteran broadcaster Indira Joseph Venniyoor passes away
Indira Joseph Venniyoor, Renowned broadcaster, All India Radio veteran, and the first English news announcer of Travancore Radio, passed away at her residence at Poojapura . She was 94.

• The Kerala-based veteran was the first English news announcer of Travancore Radio, when its English service started in 1949.
• She had a distinguished career with the All India Radio (AIR).
• Venniyoor was the wife of well-known literary scholar and art critic the late E.M.J. Venniyoor, Station Director, All India Radio.

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