Daily Current Affairs 22nd June, 2021

Daily Current Affairs 22 June 2021 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Bihar CM launches two new schemes to provide employment opportunities to women and youths
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar launched two new schemes- the Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyami Yojna (MMUY) and the Mukhyamantri Yuva Udyami Yojana (MYUY) — with an aim to provide more employment opportunities to youths and young women in the state.

• Under the MMUY, an unemployed woman would be provided a sum of Rs 10 lakh to start a new business or small industry. Of Rs 10 lakh, Rs five lakh would be a subsidy amount which the woman doesn’t need to return, while the rest Rs 5 lakh would be an interest-free loan, to be returned in many installments in the next seven years from the start of the new enterprise.
• Under the MYUY, an unemployed youth would be provided a sum of Rs 10 lakh to start a new enterprise or industry. Of the total Rs 10 lakh, Rs five lakh would be the subsidy amount which the youth need not to return, the rest Rs 5 lakh would be a loan on simple interest of 1%, to be returned in many installments.

No Tax On Cash Deposits Made By Housewives During Demo 2016
A housewife now may not face any problem from the Income Tax Department on deposit of cash up to ₹2.5 lakh during demonetisation (2016). A Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that such deposits cannot be treated as income of the assessee.

• This is key as normally ITAT ruling is binding only on the applicant and the jurisdiction tax officer and can be used as reference in similar matter.
• This ruling is important in the sense that the government had made it clear in 2017 that if an individual (other than minors) does not have any business income, no further verification is required if total cash deposit is up to ₹2.5 lakh.

BANKING & FINANCE

PayPoint India signs pact with banks, NBFCs for lending services 
PayPoint India, a technology-enabled distribution network of financial services, intends to add lending vertical to its portfolio of services for which it has signed agreements with 12 financial institutions.

• The Mumbai-based company has signed ‘lead generation agreements’ with Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank, Deutsche Bank and NBFCs such as Bajaj Housing, Piramal Housing and Hero Fincorp, among others and is close to entering into a similar agreement with State Bank of India.
• PayPoint India would be also introducing two more products – an investment related Systematic Investment Plan  inter-operable wallets (in which cash can be loaded at the retail touch points) – to its service bucket.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

India Was Fifth Largest Recipient Of FDI In 2020: UN Report
India received $64 billion in Foreign Direct Investment in 2020, the fifth largest recipient of inflows in the world, according to a UN report which said the COVID-19 second wave in the country weighs heavily on the country’s overall economic activities but its strong fundamentals provide optimism for the medium term.

• The World Investment Report 2021 by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), released, said in India, FDI increased 27 per cent to $64 billion in 2020 from $51 billion in 2019, pushed up by acquisitions in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, making the country the fifth largest FDI recipient in the world.
• The United States remained the largest recipient of FDI, although, the FDI inflow to the country decreased by 40 per cent, to $156 billion, in 2020. China was the second-largest recipient with USD 149 billion FDI. The global FDI flows decreased by 35 per cent in 2020 to USD 1 trillion from USD 1.5 trillion in 2019.

SEBI Reconstitutes Four-Member Takeover Panel
Markets regulator Sebi has reconstituted its Takeover Panel, which looks into the applications seeking exemption from the mandatory open offer that an acquirer needs to make to minority shareholders.

• The regulator has appointed N Venkatram MD and CEO, Deloitte India as the new member of the Takeover Panel.
• The panel, chaired by N K Sodhi, the former chief justice of the high courts of Karnataka and Kerala, makes its recommendations to Sebi on such applications after which the regulator gives an opportunity to concerned parties before passing an order.

Airtel, TCS Partner For 5G Network Solutions
Leading telecom firm Bharti Airtel announced a strategic partnership with the steel-to-software conglomerate Tata group for 5G network solutions.

• Based on open radio access network (ORAN) technology, the plan is to roll out the solution initially for India and subsequently for exports.
• The move is being seen as far more ambitious than Airtel’s original plan of collaborating with hardware and software players to build a 5G network at the lowest price.

Sebi comes out with new guidelines on MF investment in interest rate swap
Markets regulator Sebi put in place fresh guidelines for participation of mutual fund schemes in interest rate swap, a derivative product.

• Mutual funds can enter into plain vanilla Interest Rate Swaps (IRS) for hedging purposes. The value of the notional principal in such cases must not exceed the value of respective existing assets being hedged by the scheme.
• In case participation in IRS is through over the counter transactions, the counterparty has to be an entity recognized as a market maker by RBI and exposure to a single counterparty in such transactions should not exceed 10 per cent of the net assets of the scheme.
• However, if mutual funds are transacting in IRS through an electronic trading platform offered by the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL), the single counterparty limit of 10 per cent will not be applicable, it added.

Sebi imposes Rs 15 cr fine on Franklin Templeton, 8 others
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has imposed a cumulative fine of ₹15 crore on nine entities, including Franklin Templeton Trustee Services, senior official and fund managers associated with the six debt schemes wound-up by the fund house.

• In  its latest action, SEBI has issued a fine of ₹3 crore on Franklin Templeton Trustee Services Pvt Ltd, and ₹2 crore each on Franklin Asset Management (India) Pvt Ltd President Sanjay Sapre and its Chief Investment Officer Santosh Kamat.

Wipro Joins WEF’s Partnership For New Work Standards Initiative
Digital transformation major Wipro said it has joined the World Economic Forum’s Partnership for New Work Standards initiative to establish a healthy, resilient and equitable future of work.

• The initiative aims to co-create new frameworks, shape forward-thinking people policies, and utilise tools and technologies to collectively build human-first work standards with people at the heart of business.

SPORTS

Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard Will Be First Trans Athlete To Compete At Olympics
New Zealand has named Laurel Hubbard to its women’s weightlifting roster for the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo, making her the first openly transgender athlete to compete in the games.

• Hubbard, 43, will compete in the category for women over 87 kg, about 192 pounds.
• Hubbard has met the International Olympic Committee’s requirements for athletes who transition from male to female. The requirements stipulate that the athlete must declare that her gender identity is female and can’t change that status for sports purposes for at least four years.

APPOINTMENTS

Upasana Kamineni Named ‘Ambassador Of Forest Frontline Heroes’ At WWF India
WWF India has inducted Upasana Kamineni, Director, Apollo Hospitals, as “Ambassador of Forest Frontline Heroes” with the aim to appreciate the efforts of frontline workers in hospitals and in the wildlife protection space.

• The focus of this will be on several States across the country covering most eco-regions.
• Kamineni will support and draw attention towards the people who are the pillars of nature and wildlife conservation.

British Lawyer Karim Khan Sworn In As ICC’s Chief Prosecutor
British lawyer Karim Khan was sworn in as the new chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, pledging to reach out to nations that are not members of the court and to try to hold trials in countries where crimes are committed.

• Khan, a 51-year-old English lawyer, has years of experience in international lawyer as a prosecutor, investigator and defense attorney.
• He takes over from Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, whose nine-year term ended recently.

Tadang Minu Becomes 1st Arunachali Woman To Be Appointed In AIBA
Dr Tadang Minu from Arunachal has become the first woman in the country and the second Indian to be appointed as a member of the Coaches Committee of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), the parent body for boxing in the world.

• Dr Minu, who is the HoD (in-charge) of the physical education department of RGU, has also been retained as the Boxing Federation of India’s Women’s Commission chairman for another two years.She is also the president of the Arunachal Amateur Boxing Association (AABA).
• The BFI has also appointed Teli Kahi from Arunachal as its Youth Commission secretary.

AWARDS

Indo-American Chemist Sumita Mitra Wins European Inventor Award 
Indian-American chemist Sumita Mitra has won one of Europe’s most prestigious awards for her pioneering innovation in nanotechnology, allowing her to successfully integrate the same into dental materials, which in turn help to produce stronger and more aesthetically-pleasing fillings.

• She has been honoured with the European Inventor Award 2021 in the ‘Non-European Patent Office countries’ category which is presented annually by the European Patent Office (EPO) to recognise outstanding inventors from Europe and beyond.
• She used the emerging research field of nanotechnology to explore new developments that will help dentistry. Along with her team, she developed a technique for creating linked clusters of nanoparticles, termed ‘nanoclusters’.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

PM Narendra Modi Launches MYoga App
Addressing India and the world on the International Yoga Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the mYoga app.The app will be accessible around the world and will deliver the benefits of Yoga to millions via audio and video training modules in different languages.

• The app is a work of collaboration between the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ministry of AYUSH), Government of India.
• The mYoga app will provide users with a collection of videos and audio practice sessions that they can do “in the comfort of their own homes, as and when they wish.”

OBITUARIES

Former Olympic Gold Medallist Shuttler Markis Kido Dies Of Heart Attack
Former Olympic gold medallist Markis Kido of Indonesia has died after suffering a heart attack, the game’s governing body BWF said.He was 36.

• The Indonesian doubles player had won the 2008 Olympic gold medal, 2006 World Cup and 2007 World Championships titles with Hendra Setiawan.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Renowned neurologist Ashok Panagariya’s memoir to be released posthumously June 28
On the day of his demise from post-Covid complications, renowned neurologist Ashok Panagariyas publisher announced that his memoir, “Monk in a Merc”, which will serve as a poignant reminder for anyone looking to achieve eternal happiness and mental peace while pursuing all of lifes luxuries, material wealth and professional success, will be released on June 28.

• “Monk in a Merc” (Bloomsbury) is an insightful read for anyone looking to achieve eternal happiness and peace while still enjoying all that life offers — material wealth and professional success.

Tahira Kashyap Khurrana Announces New Book ‘The 7 Sins Of Being A Mother’
Filmmaker-writer Tahira Kashyap Khurrana has announced her upcoming book about motherhood, titled “The 7 Sins of Being A Mother”.

• It will be published by Juggernaut Books.
• This is her fifth book and the second she wrote amid the pandemic.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Hydrography Day
World Hydrography Day is celebrated every year on June 22.

• The day is marked to recognise the IHO at the worldwide level and to encourage all governments to collaborate with the IHO, to promote safe navigation and marine life preservation.
• The theme of World Hydrography Day 2021 is “One hundred years of international cooperation in hydrography”.

World Humanist Day
World Humanist Day is celebrated every year on June 21.

• The day aims to spread awareness of Humanism as a philosophical life stance and means to effect change in the world.

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