Daily Current Affairs 12th August, 2021

Daily Current Affairs 12 August 2021 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Aadi Pooram celebrated in Tamil Nadu 
Aadi Pooram is celebrated in Tamil Nadu albeit in a subdued manner due to the Pandemic Restrictions. Aadi Pooram is also celebrated as the birth day of Andal, a famous Tamil Poet of Vaishnavite sect.

• Andal also known as Godadevi, Nachiyar and Kothai, is the only female Aalvaar among the 12 Aalvaar saints of South India. The Aalvaar saints are known for their affiliation to the Srivaishnava tradition of Hinduism.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India, Saudi Arabia set to carry out first-ever naval exercise 
India and Saudi Arabia are all set to conduct their first-ever naval exercise, in reflection of their growing defence and military cooperation, officials said.

•  Indian Navy’s guided-missile destroyer INS Kochi reached Saudi Arabia for the ‘Al-Mohed Al-Hindi 2021’ exercise.
• The exercise is taking place amid rising tension in the Gulf region after a drone attack on a merchant tanker off Oman killed a British national and a Romanian citizen over a week back.

All four Quad Countries to take part in next edition of Malabar Exercise
With an emphasis on “open, inclusive Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order”, the ‘Quad countries’ India, US, Australia and Japan  will come together with two aircraft battle groups and a plethora of air power to carry out the complex second phase of the Malabar exercise in the Northern Arabian Sea. 

• The US Navy’s potent Nimitz Carrier Strike Group including a nuclear submarine along with India’s Vikramaditya Carrier Battle Group will come together with the Japanese and Australian navy for the exercise until 20 November.
• Having completed the Phase 1 of the Malabar 2020 earlier this month, the Phase 2 will involve coordinated operations of increasing complexity between the navies of the four countries.

BANKING & FINANCE

GIFT City, India Insurtech Association ink pact to promote fintech in insurance space
India Insurtech Association (IIA), a not-for-profit body promoting tech-driven insurance ecosystems in India inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with International Financial Services Centre at GIFT City, (GIFT-IFSC) to collaborate on building thought leadership in the field of insurance and promoting GIFT City for Indian and foreign insurance companies.

• To raise awareness about GIFT IFSC, the collaboration will organise events, information series, seminars, and conferences.
• The two institutions will also research regulatory sandbox projects for GIFT IFSC, which will benefit insurtech start-ups, re-insurance businesses, politicians, service providers, and individuals

ADB ties up with IIFL Home Finance to promote green housing in India
Asian Development Bank has embarked on a green housing initiative in India aiming to reduce carbon emissions and conserve water and energy.

• The multilateral development body has tied up with low cost housing financier IIFL Home Finance towards this end. ADB is also planning to engage other institutional stakeholders including the Indian government, which has initiated a massive drive towards housing for all.
• The program has a broad scope and reaches other key actors in the green affordable housing ecosystem in India to build capacity across a range of developers, other housing finance companies, and local /state/national government stakeholders.

ESFB unveils programme for budding fintech entrepreneurs
Equitas Small Finance Bank Ltd. (ESFB) has introduced an unique programme ‘Equitech’ (Equitas Fintech Accelerator Programme) to help budding fintech entrepreneurs to be mentored by industry experts and venture capitalists.

• Equitech will help fintechs to reach the next level and take its product to the market in a more targeted manner.
• Equitech will be focusing on banking technology such as payments, lending, CASA, transaction banking, API banking, governance and regulations as well as other technologies such as agri-tech, banking tech, clean energy, government technology and other horizontal segments across key focus areas.

RBL Bank Gets RBI Accreditation to Conduct Government Transactions
RBL Bank said it has been accredited by the RBI to be an agency bank to carry on banking transactions of the central and state governments.

• RBL Bank has been empanelled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an agency bank to conduct banking business for the central and state governments, RBL Bank said in a release.
• The authorisation will enable RBL Bank to handle a broad range of transactions related to government business.

NABARD sanctions ₹ 217.72 crore so far during the year under RIDF assistance to Government of Goa
NABARD has sanctioned loans worth ₹ 188.81crore for Construction of Super Speciality Block, Bambolim and Enhancement of Solid Waste Treatment Plant, Saligao under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) to the Government of Goa for various Social infrastructure Projects in the State, taking the cumulative sanctions to ₹ 217.72 crore during 2021-22. 

• RIDF was introduced with the sole objective of giving low cost funding support to State Governments and State owned Corporations for quick completion of projects related to Medium and Minor Irrigation, Soil Conservation and others forms of rural/social infrastructure.

SIDBI launches ‘Digital Prayaas’ app for providing loans
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched ‘Digital Prayaas’, an App based end to end digital lending platform, whereby loan sanction will be accorded to aspiring entrepreneurs from the bottom of the pyramid by the end of the day.

• Further, to cater to the aspiring youth in urban areas, SIDBI tied up with a major aggregator — BigBasket — to on board its delivery partners across the country and provide loans at an affordable interest rate for purchase of environment friendly e-Bikes and e-Vans.
• The onboarding of borrowers including e-KYC and sanction based on the credit score and analytics based on the algorithms will get done on an end-to-end basis digitally. The post sanction documentation including e-signing and e-stamping of the documents by the executants will also be done digitally through the App.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Indian and US Bodies Ink Deal to Improve Weather and Monsoon Forecasts
Indian and American bodies have signed an agreement on monsoon data analysis and cooperation to improve weather forecasts in the region.

• As a result of this, the two bodies would enhance technical cooperation in the development of the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) and the Ocean Moored buoy Network in the northern Indian ocean (OMNI) for improving weather and monsoon forecasts between NOAA and India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences.

APPOINTMENTS

B D Mishra assumes additional charge of Mizoram Governor
In Mizoram, Brig (Dr.) B.D. Mishra (Retd.) has assumed additional charge of Governor of the state. He is also the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.

• The President of India has appointed Brig Dr. Mishra as the Governor of the state as an interim arrangement due to the absence of Governor Haribabu Kambhampati who is currently on leave.

India’s first F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan roped in as Brand Ambassador of JK Tyre & Industries
JK Tyre & Industries Ltd has assigned Padma Shri Awardee and India’s first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan as its brand ambassador.

•  He will be the face of the brand to exemplify the company’s quest of driving innovation and excellence in the industry.

Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad given additional charge of Manipur
Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad was given the additional charge of Manipur in addition to his own duties, during the absence on leave of Dr. Najma A. Heptulla, Governor of Manipur. while Arunachal Pradesh Governor B. D. Mishra was given the additional responsibility of in addition to his own duties, during the absence on leave of Dr. Hari Babu Kambhampati, Governor of Mizoram.

• The above appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge of their respective offices.

AWARDS

Maharashtra announces Rajiv Gandhi Award for excellence in IT
Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna as Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, the Maharashtra government announced Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Information Technology (IT).

• Minister of State for Information and Technology Satej Patil said the award would be announced on August 20, birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister.
• The Maharashtra IT Corporation Limited (MAHA-IT had been appointed the nodal agency to propose the award.

Cleanest city of country Indore now declared as first Water Plus city of country
Cleanest city of the country Indore has now been declared as the first Water Plus city of the country. The results were released by the Central Government.

• Indore is the number one city in the country for four times in the cleanliness category.
• The Water Plus certificate is awarded to cities that have met all the standards of ODF Double Plus. Also, the residual sewage from residential and commercial establishments is released into the environment only after treatment. Re-use of treated waste water is also ensured for this award.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Isro’s satellite launch fails due to technical glitch
The ISRO launcher GSLV F10 launched Earth Observation Satellite EOS-03 from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR in Sriharikota.

• Performance of first and second stages was normal. However, Cryogenic Upper Stage ignition did not happen due to technical anomaly. The mission couldn’t be accomplished as intended.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Vice President releases book ‘Accelerating India: 7 Years of Modi Government’ 
The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, released the book titled ‘Accelerating India: 7 Years of Modi Government’.

• The Vice President appreciated the efforts of the 28 eminent authors who contributed 25 essays in the book on various sectors of Indian governance.
• He also commended the editor of the book, Shri K.J. Alphons, Member of Rajya Sabha and the publishers. He hoped the book will serve as a guide for policymakers to reflect and identify key elements of the unfinished agenda of our development.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Elephant Day
World Elephant Day is an international annual event on August 12, dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world’s elephants.

• The goal of World Elephant Day is to create awareness on elephant conservation and to share knowledge and positive solutions for the better protection and management of wild and captive elephants.

International Youth Day
Observed annually on 12th August, the International Youth Day reminds the international community of youth issues and celebrates their potential as global partners.

• The theme of International Youth Day 2021 is ‘Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health’. 

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