Daily Current Affairs 12th May, 2021

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

NATIONAL NEWS

‘Miyon ka Bara’ station in Jodhpur renamed Mahesh Nagar
The name of Miyon ka Bara railway station in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur has been changed to Mahesh Nagar after getting an approval from various departments, a senior government official said.

• Earlier, in August 2018, the name of the village was officially changed from Miyon ka Bara to Mahesh Nagar after residents complained that they were unable to get matrimonial matches for their children as the name gave an impression that it is inhabited by Muslims.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Indian and Indonesian navies carry out military drill in southern Arabian Sea
The navies of India and Indonesia carried out a military drill in the Southern Arabian sea with a focus on further improving their interoperability.

• The Indian Navy was represented at the ‘Passage’ exercise by INS Sharda, an offshore patrol vessel (OPV), and the Indonesian Navy was represented by KRI Sultan Hasanudin.

BANKING & FINANCE

Federal Bank enters into tie-up with UAE’s Mashreq Bank
Federal Bank said it has entered into a strategic tie-up with UAE-based Mashreq Bank to facilitate money transfers from the UAE.

• Mashreq is one of the oldest banks and also the only privately-owned bank in that country.
• The partnership will support Mashreq’s faster payment product, QuickRemit, which was launched in 2017.

COVID-19 Relief Paytm Launches Vaccine Finder Tool That Sends Real-Time Availability Alerts
Digital payments platform Paytm has announced the launch of ‘COVID-19 Vaccine Finder,’ an integrated platform to help citizens check the availability of vaccination slots – on its Mini App store.

• The platform will help citizens to check the availability of vaccination slots for a specific date by individually entering different pin codes or district details along with age group (18+ or 45+).
• Notably, if slots are unavailable, users can select the option for real-time alerts from Paytm once there’s availability. 

Jana Small Finance Bank launches ‘I choose my number’ feature
Jana Small Finance Bank, announced the launch of “I choose my number” feature for all its customers across India.

• This new feature gives the bank’s existing and new customers the option to select their favourite numbers as their savings or current account number.
• This feature of Jana Small Finance Bank will allow its customers to choose their favourite numbers as the last 10 digits of their bank account, savings or current. The allocation of the account number chosen by the customer will be subject to availability of the requested number.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

India projected to grow at 10.1% in 2022: UN
India is forecast to grow at 10.1 per cent in 2022, becoming the fastest growing major economy in the world, the United Nations said, but cautioned that the growth outlook of 2021 was “highly fragile” as the country was the “new hotbed of the pandemic.”

• At a growth rate of 10.1 per cent in 2022, India will be the fastest growing major economy in the world, ahead of China, which is projected to grow at 5.8 per cent, a slowdown from 8.2 per cent in 2021.
• UN expects India’s GDP to grow 7.5% in 2021, outlook fragile due to Covid. The United Nations has raised India’s growth forecast to 7.5 per cent for calendar year 2021, marking a 0.2 per cent increase from its projection in January, but said the country’s outlook for the year remains highly fragile.

Nomura cuts India’s FY22 growth estimate to 10.8% due to lockdowns
Japanese brokerage Nomura cut its GDP growth estimate for India for the current 2021-22 fiscal to 10.8 per cent from the earlier 12.6 per cent, blaming the impact of the second wave-induced lockdowns.

• It said the activity levels have dropped further to 64.5 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels in the week to May 9 as per a proprietary index, after a further 5 percentage points drop in the week. The activity levels, at present, are at par with those seen in June 2020.

Moody’s cuts India’s growth forecast to 9.3%
Moody’s Investors Service slashed India’s growth forecast for the current financial year to 9.3 per cent saying that the second wave of coronavirus infections hampers economic recovery and increases risk of longer-term scarring.

• Moody’s, which has a ‘Baa3’ rating on India with a negative outlook, said obstacles to economic growth, high debt and weak financial system contrain sovereign credit profile.

AstraZeneca Pledges $250,000 as Humanitarian Aid to Covid-Ravaged India
Drug major AstraZeneca said it has pledged $250,000 (over Rs 1.8 crore) in humanitarian aid to India to support relief activities amid the second wave of COVID-19 sweeping across the country.

• The aid to India is part of the USD 1 million which the British-Swedish multinational has earmarked for relief initiatives across communities which have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

Twitter Donates USD 15 Mn for Covid-19 Relief in India
Microblogging giant Twitter has donated USD 15 million to help address the Covid-19 crisis in India which is battling the unprecedented second wave of the deadly pandemic.

• The amount has been donated to three non-governmental organisations Care, Aid India and Sewa International USA.
• While CARE has been given USD 10 million, Aid India and Sewa International USA have received USD 2.5 million each.
• This grant will support the procurement of lifesaving equipment such as oxygen concentrators, ventilators, BiPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) and CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machines as part of Sewa International’s Help India Defeat COVID-19′ campaign.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

HDFC Bank acquires 10% stake in CSC Grameen, launches AI Chatbot Eva
HDFC Bank has acquired a 10% stake in CSC Grameen e-Store, a special purpose vehicle run by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, for an undisclosed amount.

• The partnership between the country’s largest private bank and CSC Grameen aims to deliver and scale access to financial services and banking products to semi-urban and rural customers.

SPORTS

New Zealand wicketkeeper BJ Watling to retire after World Test Championship
New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman BJ Watling has announced he would be retiring from international cricket after the three Tests, including the World Test Championship final against India, on their upcoming England tour.

• Watling, 35, has played 73 Tests, 28 ODIs and 5 T20Is for the BlackCaps.
• Watling became just the 9th wicketkeeper to hit a double hundred and the first to hit a double against England when he did so in Bay Oval in 2019. Watling has been involved in two 350-plus stands, one with Brendon McCullum in 2014 against India and the other with Kane Williamson the following year.

APPOINTMENTS

Former Senator Bill Nelson sworn in as new NASA Administrator
Former Florida senator Bill Nelson was sworn in as 14th head of NASA, hailing a “new day” for space exploration as the United States seeks to return to the Moon.

• Nelson served in the U.S. Senate for 18 years from Florida and as a payload specialist on space shuttle mission 61-C in 1986.

RBI appoints Jose J Kattoor as new Executive Director
The Reserve Bank of India appointed Jose J Kattoor as Executive Director (ED) with effect from 4 May 2021, the central bank said.

• Before being promoted as ED, Kattoor was heading Bengaluru Regional Office of the RBI as regional director for Karnataka.

Padmakumar M Nair to be CEO of National Asset Reconstruction Company
Padmakumar M Nair of State Bank of India (SBI) will be the chief executive of National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL), a proposed entity for taking over bad loans of lenders, predominantly public sector banks.

• NARC, also called a ‘bad’ bank, is expected to be operational in June 2021.
• Nair, a career banker with SBI, has been chief general manager (CGM) in the stressed assets resolution group (SARG) of the bank since April 2020.

YES Bank appoints Indranil Pan as chief economist
Private sector lender Yes Bank said it has appointed Indranil Pan as its chief economist.Pan joins the bank from rival IDFC First Bank.

• Pan and his team will provide strategic and policy-level inputs for the bank, based on macroeconomic developments at global and national level.

PESB picks Arun Kumar Singh as next CMD of BPCL
The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), the government’s head-hunter, has picked Arun Kumar Singh as the chairman and managing director of state-run oil refining and marketing firm Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).

• Arun Kumar Singh is currently director, marketing at BPCL and holding additional charge of Director, Refineries.
• The company’s finance director N Vijayagopal will step down on July 31 upon superannuation, while human resources director K Padmakar will leave the company on December 31. Padmakar is also holding additional charge of chairman and managing director.

AWARDS

Mumbai-born Dr Tahera Qutbuddin first Indian to win Arab World Nobel Prize
Dr. Tahera Qutbuddin has become the first person from India to win the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Book Award.  The Mumbai-born professor won the honour for her book ‘Arabic Oration: Art and Function’, which was published by Brill Academic Publishers of Leiden in 2019.

• Sheikh Zayed Book Award is popularly known as the Arabic world’s Nobel Prize.The award aims at showcasing the most powerful, stimulating and challenging works representing the Arab world.

19-year-old Becomes Youngest Pakistani To Climb Mt Everest
A 19-year old man became the youngest Pakistani to summit Mt Everest, the world’s highest peak.

• Shehroze Kashif, who hails from Lahore, has earlier climbed Broad Peak (8,047m) in the Karakoram range when he was 17 years old.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ISRO develops 3 cost-effective ventilators, oxygen concentrator
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, said it has developed three different types of ventilators and an oxygen concentrator at a time when a shortage of these critical medical equipment resulted in deaths of many Covid-19 patients across the country.

• Based on designs, features and specifications, we have named them, Prana, VaU and Svasta. All three are user-friendly, fully automated and with touch-screen specifications, meeting all safety standards.
• Technology transfer will be done for the commercial production of these three ventilators and the one oxygen concentrator by this month itself. Likely to be priced around ₹1 lakh, the ventilators developed by the ISRO were cost-effective and easy to handle compared to the mini conventional ventilators that are currently priced around ₹5 lakh.

OBITUARIES

Former Asian Games gold medallist footballer Fortunato Franco passes away
Former India international footballer Fortunato Franco breathed his last at the age of 84 in Goa.

• The midfielder was an integral part of the Indian football team which won the Gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games.
• He made 26 appearances for India, including the 1962 Asian Cup, where India finished runners-up, and silver and bronze-winning medal-winning sides of 1964 and 1965 Merdeka Cup.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

 ‘Life in the Clock Tower Valley’ authored by Shakoor Rather
“Life in the Clock Tower Valley” is the debut book of Press Trust of India (PTI) journalist Shakoor Rather.

• The book is published by Speaking Tiger, it talks about Kashmir’s pristine past, its grievous present and always-uncertain future.
• It also includes historical and political information about Kashmir as well as environmental issues that are seldom talked about.

IMPORTANT DAYS

International Nurses Day
The International Nurses and Midwives Day is celebrated every year on May 12 globally to appreciate the nurses’ efforts.

• This day is also marked as the anniversary of Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing.
• Theme of the World Nursing Day this year is ‘A Voice to Lead – A vision for future healthcare.’

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