Daily Current Affairs 13th November, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 13 November 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces stimulus package 3.0
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced stimulus measures to aid job creation, and boost the key real estate and infrastructure sectors, under the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package, aimed at rescuing the economy out of a historic contraction.

  • The total outlay of the new package is over Rs 2.65 lakh crore.
  • Finance Minister announced new job scheme called Atma Nirbhar Rozgar Yojana to create jobs in the country. The new scheme will be effective from 1 October 2020. 
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced that Rs 3 lakh crore existing emergency credit line guarantee scheme is extended till March 31, 2021. The tenure of additional credit to be 5 years, including one year moratorium on principal repayment.
  • Rs 1.46 lakh crore boost for Atmanirbhar Manufacturing Production-linked incentive for 10 champion sectors. A total amount of nearly 1.5 lakh crore has been earmarked across sectors, for the next five years. 
  • The Modi government announced an additional outlay of Rs 18,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), which will be provided over and above the budget estimate which was mentioned in the Budget 2020-21.
  • To provide ease of doing business and relief to contractors whose money otherwise remains locked up, performance security on contracts will be reduced to 3%, the Modi government announced.The EMD for tenders will be replaced by bid security self-declaration for which the relaxations will be applicable till December 31, 2021
  • The Union government has announced tax relief for developers and home buyers for houses up to Rs 2 crore.
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government would make a Rs 6,000 crore equity infusion into the debt platform of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), which will help the NIIF in raising Rs 1.1 lakh crore by 2025 for infrastructure projects financing.
  • The Modi government also announced that Rs 65,000 crore fertiliser subsidy will be provided to farmers.
  • An additional outlay of Rs 10,000 crore is being provided for PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana, announced Finance Minister Nirmala Sithataman.The Modi government has allowed these funds to be used for MGNREGA or for Gram Sadak Yojana aiming at helping accelerate rural economy.
  • An additional Rs 3,000 crore that will be released to EXIM Bank for the project exports through IDEAS scheme.About 811 export contracts amounting to $10.50 billion being financed under LoCs.
  • The Modi government has also allocated Rs 10,200 crore additionally to give impetus to capital and industrial expenditure.The amount will be spent towards domestic defence equipment, industrial incentives, industrial infrastructure, and green energy.
  • Finally, to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the centre has announced Rs 900 crore fund for Covid Suraksha Mission for Research and Development to the Department of Biotechnology.

PM inaugurates future-ready Ayurveda institutions at Jamnagar and Jaipur
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA) at Jamnagar and National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA) at Jaipur on 5th Ayurveda Day via video conferencing.

  • These institutions are expected to play global leadership roles in the growth and development of Ayurveda in the 21st Century.
  • This will provide them the autonomy to upgrade the standard of Ayurveda education, frame various courses as per emerging national and international demand.

Govt approves 21 projects under Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain & Value Addition
Government has approved 21 projects, leveraging investment worth 443 crore rupees supported with a grant of 189 crore rupees under the Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition said by Minister for Food Processing Industries Narendra Singh Tomar.

  • These projects will benefit farmers and consumers and urged the officers to expedite the implementation of approved projects.
  • These projects are spread across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Nagaland, Punjab, Telangana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.
  • Besides, 8 projects leveraging investment worth 62 crore rupees with grants of 15 crore rupees under the Backward and Forward Linkages (BFL) Scheme were also approved in another meeting. These projects are likely to generate employment for nearly 2500 people.

Hardeep S. Puri inaugurates 13th Urban Mobility India Conference 2020
Hardeep S. Puri, MoS (I/C), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs  inaugurated the 13th Urban Mobility India Conference. 

  • The day-long Conference will be held on-line through Video Conference/Webinar.
  • The main theme of this year’s event is “Emerging Trends in Urban Mobility” with focus on innovative measures taken at national and international level to address the challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic to provide accessible and convenient transport to the people.


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Indian teens rank low on BMI, among the shortest: Study
India has been ranked 196th among 200 countries with respect to Body Mass Index (BMI) as per a global analysis of data spanning 34 years, according to the review published in the international medical journal ‘The Lancet’ led by Imperial College London.

  • Nineteen-year-old Indian boys and girls have a BMI of 20.1, whereas China that ranks 88th for its boys who have a BMI of 23 and 119th for its girls at 22.2. A normal BMI range is between 20 and 25.
  • Boys in India ranked 180th with an average height of 5.46 feet while girls ranked 182th with an average height of 5.06 feet.
  • This study presents the first comparable estimates of height in school-aged children and adolescents for all countries in the world and does so alongside estimates of BMI, which together are pathways from nutrition and environment during childhood and adolescence to lifelong health.

Second World Health Expo kicks off in Wuhan
The 4-day second World Health Expo was inaugurated in Wuhan, the capital city of Central China’s Hubei Province.

  • This year’s Expo will focus on displaying the most cutting-edge science and technology in the global health industry, and help Wuhan build “city of global health industry”.
  • During the Expo, more than a hundred high-end forums including a summit forum, academician forum and the roundtable dialogue on epidemic prevention and normalized control, and the Global University Leaders Forum, will be organized.


BANKING & FINANCE

Tata AIA Life Insurance partners with PayBima to drive Life Insurance Protection through Digital sales
Tata AIA Life Insurance (Tata AIA Life), one of India’s leading providers of Pure Protection Solutions, announced that it has partnered with PayBima, the digital arm of Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd., as a Broker to distribute its industry-leading life insurance solutions.

  • The association is in line with Tata AIA Life’s mission to provide Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) to its customers and aims to make the process of buying life insurance solutions simple, easy, and convenient.
  • As part of the agreement, PayBima.com will offer the life Insurance solutions of Tata AIA Life on its platform. PayBima will leverage its analytics skill to offer personalised life insurance solutions best suited to the needs of its customers.

Paytm launches Payout Links for small businesses
Paytm has launched Payout Links for businesses, enabling them to instantly process payouts to customers, employees and vendors, without collecting their bank details.

  • Payout Links offers seamless payment integration for businesses to quickly send incentives and refunds to customers through the easy and inexpensive method of a simple payout link.
  • The receiver needs to simply open the link and is automatically provided a list of saved accounts such as Paytm Wallet, Paytm UPI and connected bank accounts, which can be chosen to receive money instantly. Since no other information is needed, the receiver is free from having to remember his bank details, and the risk of human errors is effectively removed.

HDFC Bank launches SmartHub Merchant Solutions 3.0 for SMEs
The private sector lender, HDFC Bank announced the launch of SmartHub Merchant Solutions 3.0, India’s first comprehensive banking and payment solution for merchants .

  • This solution allows merchants and self-employed professionals to instantly open a current account and start accepting payments in-store, online, and on-the-go.
  • SmartHub 3.0 will be available in app based, web based and a range of PoS devices and will have features like digitizing Khata, enabling collection reminders, inventory management, billing software and lending to merchants’ basis their banking history.


BUSINESS & ECONOMY

World’s biggest pink diamond in Australia mine stops production
The  world’s largest pink diamond mine has shut its doors after exhausting its reserves of the expensive gems, global mining giant Rio Tinto said.

  • The Argyle mine, in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, churned out more than 90% of the world’s pink diamonds – sought after for their incredible rarity.
  • The seam was discovered in 1979 and the Anglo-Australian firm began mining operations there four years later.
  • It has since produced more than 865 million carats of rough diamonds, including a small but steady stream of prized pink stones.

Abu Dhabi’s SWF is first notified fund to get 100% income-tax exemption
line with the Budget announcement, the government has allowed income-tax exemption to Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF), MIC Redwood 1 RSC, for making long-term investments in India in specified priority sectors of infrastructure.

  • It is the first foreign SWF to get 100 per cent tax exemption in the case of income from interest, dividend, and long-term capital gains for its investment in infrastructure.This was part of the Finance Act, 2020.

Sebi forms expert group to review norms related to share-based staff benefit, issue of sweat equity
Markets regulator Sebi has set up an expert group to review the framework of share-based employee benefit and issue of sweat equity.

  • The seven-member expert group would be chaired by Sandip Bhagat Partner at S&R Associates.
  • The expert group would revisit the framework of share-based employee benefit and suggest policy changes.
  • Further, the panel has been mandated to revisit the framework of sweat equity regulations vis-a-vis the Companies Act, and recommend any policy changes.


SPORTS

China’s Chen Meng claims ITTF Women’s World Cup title
World number one Chen Meng beat Chinese compatriot Sun Yingsha 11-13 11-6 11-9 11-6 11-8 to win her maiden ITTF Women’s World Cup title in Weihai as international table tennis returned from an eight-month hiatus due to COVID-19.

  • Chen’s victory at the bio-secure Weihai Nanhai Olympic Center made her the first winner of the ITTF’s #RESTART series and also took her tally of senior singles titles to 19. 
  • Japan’s Mima Ito took the bronze medal after beating Han Ying of Germany in straight games.


APPOINTMENTS

Indian-American Kash Patel named Chief of Staff to Acting US Defence Secretary
Indian-American Kash Patel has been named as the Chief of Staff to the Acting US Defence Secretary Chris Miller, the Pentagon has announced.

  • Patel replaces Jen Stewart, who resigned earlier. He is currently on the National Security Council staff.
  • He had previously served as senior counsel for Counterterrorism at the House Permanent Select Committee.


SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 

Rajnath Singh unveils model of Anti-Satellite Missile at DRDO Bhawan
A model of Anti-Satellite Missile installed inside the DRDO Bhawan premises was unveiled by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

  • Mission Shakti’ was the country’s first ever Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) Missile Test successfully conducted on 27th March 2019 from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha.
  • This was a highly complex mission, conducted at extremely high speed with remarkable precision.
  • The successful conduct of Mission Shakti made India the fourth nation in the world with the capability to defend its assets in outer space.

Indian Navy’s fifth Scorpene class submarine Vagir launched
Union minister of state for defence, Shripad Naik launched the fifth Scorpene class submarine ‘Vagir’ of Project 75 in Arabian sea waters at Mazagon Dock, in Mumbai through video conferencing.

  • Vagir is part of the six Kalvari-class submarines being built in India. The submarines, designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS, are being built as part of Indian Navy’s Project-75.
  • The submarine is designed to operate in all theatres of operation, showcasing interoperability with other components of a Naval Task Force.

Telangana launches mobile apps to monitor and improve Palle Pragati works
The Telangana State government has launched two mobile applications for effectively monitoring the works undertaken by the gram panchayats and improving their efficiency.

  • The launch of the two apps – Palle Pragati PS App (panchayat secretary app) and Monitoring App – are aimed at enhancing the performance of the officials at the grass root level and enable supervision of the works taken up by the inspection officers concerned on a daily basis.
  • The apps envisage identification of the problems at village level, steps for speedy resolution of the issues and bringing in transparency in the works launched.


OBITUARIES

Bahrain’s long-serving PM Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa passes away
Bahrain’s long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who took office after Bahrain gained independence in 1971 has died. He was 84.

  • He was not only the longest-serving PM of Bahrain, but he was the world’s longest-serving prime minister. He had held the post since independence in 1971.
  • He played a key role in Bahrain’s political and economic affairs for more than three decades after setting the stage for a referendum that put paid to the Shah of Iran’s claims to the tiny Gulf archipelago.


BOOKS & AUTHORS

Boskiyana ‘ – A New Book on Gulzar from Radhakrishna Prakashan unveiled
Boskiyana”, a new book in Hindi, brings out the personality of the veteran poet-lyricist through detailed conversations and opens up readers to his thoughts and vision of the world, its publisher Radhakrishna Prakashan said.

  • The 228-page book, which navigates Gulzar’s life through his films, poetry, philosophies, lifestyle, likes and dislikes, has been edited by Yashwant Vyas.


IMPORTANT DAYS

Public Service Broadcasting Day
Public Service Broadcasting Day is celebrated on November 12 every year to commemorate the first and last visit of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi to the studio of All India Radio, Delhi in 1947.

  • The Father of the Nation addressed the displaced people, who had temporarily settled at Kurukshetra in Haryana after partition.

World Pneumonia Day
World Pneumonia Day is observed on 12 November each year. This day was first established in 2009 to raise awareness about this condition.

  • The theme for World Pneumonia Day 2020 is “Every Breath Counts” which is apt given the added focus on the disease this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


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