Daily Current Affairs 15th September, 2021

Daily Current Affairs 15 September 2021 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

J&K: LG Manoj Sinha launches Mission ‘One Gram Panchayat-One DIGI-Pay Sakhi’
In order to promote door to door digital banking and financial services in remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha launched Mission ‘One Gram Panchayat-One DIGI-Pay Sakhi’, at Jammu & Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) in Pampore.

• Initially, the DIGI-Pay facility will be provided in 2000 remote villages of the UT and in the first phase, 80 women from Self Help Groups from across Jammu and Kashmir have been selected as DIGI-Pay Sakhis.
• He also inaugurated a week-long training program for Krishi Sakhis and Pashu Sakhis on sustainable agriculture and livestock management.

Rural Development Ministry provides Community Enterprise Fund loan worth Rs. 8.60 crore to over 2,600 SHG entrepreneurs
Rural Development Ministry has provided Community Enterprise Fund loan worth Rs. 8.60 crore to over 2,600 Self Help Group entrepreneurs in a week, as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

• The loans were given for starting their micro-enterprises in their villages across 19 States under the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme.

Govt to start PM Adarsh Gram Yojna covering 36 thousand villages across country 
Union Tribal Affairs minister Arjun Munda said that his ministry would start Prdhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojna covering 36 thousand villages across the country.

• Mr. Munda said that those villages with 50 percent tribal population would be given priority under it.He said that 1,700 tribal villages in Assam will be converted into model village.
• He also said that another 184 new Van Dhan Kendra to be set up in the state that would benefit nearly 60 thousand people.

Govt approves PLI Scheme for Drones & Drone Components
The Union Cabinet approved the Production-linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Automobile and Drone Industries with a budgetary outlay of 26 thousand 58 crore rupees. It will herald a new age in higher technology, more efficient and green automotive manufacturing.

• Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said, a sum of 25 thousand 938 crore rupees for the auto sector and 120 crore rupees have been allocated for Drone Industry.
• The scheme will also bring fresh investments of over 47 thousand 500 crore rupees in five years and create additional employment oppurtunities to over seven lakh 60 thousand people.

IIT-Bombay launches ‘Project Udaan’, that enables translation of textbooks and other study material
With an aim to break the language barrier that many students face when they join institutes of higher education, IIT-Bombay launched ‘Project Udaan’, that enables translation of textbooks and other study material related to engineering and other streams.

• The project, envisaged by Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Institute Chair Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay, is a donation based project.
• They have built an Artificial Intelligence-based translation ecosystem, which can help translate engineering textbooks and learning materials in one-sixth the time it would take for a team consisting of domain and linguistic experts working manually.

India and USA sign MoU for enhancing export potential of Ayurvedic & other Indian traditional medicine products
The Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine has signed MoU with Homoeopathy and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, USA. 

• The MoU is aimed at strengthening promotion and development of standards in the field of Ayurveda and other Indian Traditional systems of medicine between the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

QS World University Rankings 2022: IIM Ahmedabad Best B-School Globally, 2 Indian Colleges in Top 50
The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad has been adjudged as the best B-school in India, according to the QS World University Rankings 2022. 

• Globally, IIM-A has got 46th rank among the total 280 business schools ranked this year. IIM Ahmedabad was followed by IIM Bangalore(50) and IIM Calcutta(76) in the second and third positions, respectively in the country.Other Indian universities in the lists are Indian School of Business (ISB)(92),IIM Indore(151), SPJIMR(151-200) and IIM Lucknow (201-250). Overall the first place has been secured by Stanford Graduate School of Business, followed by Harvard Business School and Penn (Wharton), which secured the second position jointly.
• QS World University Rankings 2022: Best B-Schools Globally are Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, Penn (Wharton) and HEC Paris.
• Featuring a total of 1,300 universities from around the world, this year’s university rankings has been assessed based on five parameters — tiemployability (40%), entrepreneurship and alumni outcomes (15%), return on investment (20%), thought leadership (15%), class and faculty Diversity (10%).

BANKING & FINANCE

IRDAI permits insurers to sell short-term Covid policies till Mar 2022
Regulator IRDAI allowed insurers to continue selling and renewing short-term Covid specific health insurance policies till March 2022.

• Amid rising number of coronavirus cases in the country, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) had last year asked all insurance companies to come out with ‘Corona Kavach’ policies (standard indemnity based health policy) and Corona Rakshak policies (standard benefit-based health policy).

India, Singapore announce linking of UPI and PayNow fast payment systems
The RBI and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have announced a project to link their respective fast payment systems, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow. The linkage is targeted for operationalisation by July 2022.

• The UPI-PayNow linkage will enable users of each of the two fast payment systems to make instant, low-cost fund transfers on a reciprocal basis without a need to get onboarded onto the other payment system.

SPORTS

Lasith Malinga announces retirement from all forms of cricket
Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, ending a decorated 16-year international career that began in 2004. Malinga had already ended his Test (2011) and ODI (2019) careers, and by announcing his decision to step away from T20 cricket, the 38-year-old marked his retirement from all forms.

• Malinga played 30 Tests, 226 ODIs and 84 T20Is for Sri Lanka in which he picked 546 wickets (101 in Tests, 338 in ODIs and 107 in T20Is) across formats.

APPOINTMENTS

Retired Lt. General Gurmeet Singh sworn in as new Governor of Uttarakhand
Retired Lt. General Gurmeet Singh is the new Governor of Uttarakhand. Chief Justice of Nainital High Court Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan administered the oath to Retired Lt. General Gurmeet Singh. He is 8th Governor of the State.

• Lt Gen Singh succeeds Baby Rani Maurya, who resigned three years before completing her tenure.

Senior advocate Gopal Mukherjee appointed as Advocate General of West Bengal
Senior advocate of the Calcutta High Court Gopal Mukherjee has been appointed as the Advocate General of West Bengal.

• Earlier, Kishore Datta had resigned from the post, citing personal reasons.

AWARDS

Prestigious “Rajbhasha Keerthi Puraskar” award presented to National Mineral Development Ltd
The highest and the most prestigious “Rajbhasha Keerthi Puraskar” award was presented to National Mineral Development Ltd. (NMDC), under Ministry of Steel during the Rajbhasha Diwas Samaroh in New Delhi.

• NMDC secured the third prize in the category of Undertakings situated in “C” region for the year 2019-20.
• Visakhapatnam Steel plant has been bestowed with the ‘Rajbhasha Keerti Puraskar’-FIRST PRIZE for effective implementation of Official Language Hindi for the year 2020-21.

Super 30’s Anand Kumar conferred with Swami Brahmanand Award 2021
Mathematician Anand Kumar was conferred with the Swami Brahmanand Award 2021 for his contribution in the field of education through his ‘Super 30’ initiative, which prepares underprivileged students for the IIT entrance exam.

• He received the award from professor Roop Kishore Shastri, the vice-chancellor of Haridwar’s Gurukula Kangri deemed university, at a function in the Rath area of Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
• The award carrying Rs 10,000 in cash, a bronze medal, a bronze statue of Swami Brahmanand and a certificate is given every year to people who have done special work in the education sector or for the welfare of the cow.

Joe Root, Eimear Richardson voted ICC Players of the Month for August
England Test skipper Joe Root and Ireland’s Eimear Richardson have been voted as the winners of the ICC Players of the Month for August 2021.

• Root was voted the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for August for his consistent performances in the Test series against India that was part of the next cycle of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC).
• During the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Europe qualifier, Richardson won the Player of the Tournament award for her superb performance with the bat and the ball, starting off against Germany, she returned figures of 2/6, as the Irish cruised home to a comfortable 164-run victory.

OBITUARIES

Former India player and Mohun Bagan great Bhabani Roy passes away 
Former India international and Mohun Bagan legend Bhabani Roy, who excelled as the country’s first ‘overlapping full-back’ under the tutelage of the great Amal Dutta, passed away in Kolkata following a prolonged illness.He was 75.

• He played his club football for Mohun Bagan from 1968 onwards wherein he captained the green and maroons in 1972 which was his last year in the club as a player. But he started his career with Mohun Bagan’s arch-rivals, East Bengal, in 1964.
• Roy who made his international debut in the Merdeka Cup in 1969 represented India in three matches. He scored five goals in the process, and helped the club win the CFL in 1969. Bagan also won the IFA Shield that year.

IMPORTANT DAYS

International Day of Democracy
The International Day of Democracy also known as World Democracy Day is observed every year on 15 September. It is a day which highlights the importance of participation of all members for proper functioning of a democracy.

• The theme for International Day of Democracy 2021 is  “Strengthening democratic resilience in the face of future crises“.

National Engineer’s Day
Every year on September 15, India along with Sri Lanka and Tanzania celebrate National Engineer’s day to recognise and honour the achievements of the great engineer Mokshagundam This year marks the 160th birth anniversary of M Visvesvaraya.

• The day is observed to commemorate the great work of engineers and to encourage them for improvement and innovation.

World Lymphoma Awareness Day
The World Lymphoma Awareness Day (WLAD) is observed globally on September 15 every year.

•  The day is dedicated to rationsing awareness about lymphoma and the particular emotional and psychosocial challenges facing patients and caregivers suffering from different forms of lymphoma.

Telangana Language Day
Telangana Language Day is celebrated on 9 September every year in Telangana.

• This date was chosen on the occasion of renowned writer, poet of the Telangana Kaloji Narayana Rao’s 100th birth anniversary.
• The Government of Telangana provides funds and awards for the improvement of Telangana.

Click here to read Daily Current Affairs