Daily Current Affairs 23rd January, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 23 January 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Uttarakhand becomes 1st state to implement agricultural land leasing policy
Uttarakhand has become the first state in the country where the government has made a policy to lease agricultural land.The government has made a policy to lease agricultural land.In lieu of giving land on a 30-year lease, the concerned farmer will get the rent for the land.

Bengaluru airport first in India to get disabled aircraft recovery equipment
Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has entered into an agreement with KUNZ GmbH to manufacture, supply, commission and maintain specialised Disabled Aircraft Recovery Equipment (DARE) for the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB).

• The commissioning of this equipment will make KIAB the first airport in the country with the capability effect recovery of disabled aircraft up to Code F category, enabling faster resumption of operations during aircraft incidents on runways.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

France to train Indian flight surgeons for ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission
France will train Indian flight surgeons to enable them to monitor the health of astronauts selected for the ambitious human space mission Gaganyaan. The two-week training is a critical aspect of the Gaganyaan project that is aimed at sending three Indians to space by 2022.

ILO Labour Report 2020: Unemployment to rise by 2.5m in 2020
International Labour Organization (ILO) released the World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2020 (WESO). The report forecasted Global unemployment to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020.

• The report highlighted that more than 470 million people worldwide are unemployed or underemployed.

India falls to 51st position in EIU’s Democracy Index
India slipped 10 places to 51st position in the 2019 Democracy Index’s global ranking, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit, which cited “erosion of civil liberties” in the country as the primary cause for the downtrend.

• The overall list was topped by Norway, followed by Iceland and Sweden. Other countries in the top 10 include New Zealand at the fourth place, Finland (5th), Ireland (6th), Denmark (7th), Canada (8th), Australia (9th) and Switzerland (10th).

World Economic Forum 2019 held in Davos
The annual meet of World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, Switzerland. World leaders from across the globe will flock to the ski resort town on the Swiss Alps for five days to discuss what’s ailing the world amid fears of the global economy sleepwalking into a crisis.

• The theme of the event was ‘Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’, which would have several India-focussed .

UAE has been declared ‘reciprocating territory’ by India under section 44A of CPC, 1908
The Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of declared United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) a “reciprocating territory” for the purposes of enforcing foreign civil decrees in India. The declaration has been made by the Indian government in exercise of powers under Explanation 1 appended to Section 44A, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (“CPC”).

Guyana takes over the chairmanship of G77
IN a historic move, Guyana has been elected to chair the Group of 77 next year from Palestine. India a member of the G77, congratulated Guyana on taking over the chairmanship of the Group of 77 for 2020, the year which commemorates the 75th anniversary.

Hyderabad ranked 14th globally in Knight Frank’s Global Residential Cities Index Q3, 2019, Budapest in Hungary tops
Hyderabad ranked 14th out of 150 cities globally in terms of price appreciation in residential properties, according to property consultant Knight Frank. Budapest in Hungary leads the ”Global Residential Cities Index Q3 2019” followed by Xi”an and Wuhan in China .

• Knight Frank said that Hyderabad is the only Indian city to figure in top 20 list in terms of appreciation in residential real estate prices.
• Among other Indian cities, Delhi ranked 73th with 3.2 per cent growth in housing prices year-on-year, followed by Bengaluru at 94th position that saw 2 per cent rise in home rates. Ahmedabad ranked 108th while Kolkata stood at 130th position,Mumbai and Chennai ranked 135 and 136, respectively.

BANKING & FINANCE

For the 1st time, RBI Releases Minutes of board meeting
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the first time, released the minutes of its central board meeting held on October 11, 2019. Earlier, this was only available in response to queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

• In future, the minutes will be placed on the RBI website within two weeks from the date of its confirmation in the next meeting of the Central Board and on being signed by the chairman in the same meeting.

ICICI Bank introduces cardless cash withdrawal facility through ATMs
ICICI bank launched cardless cash withdrawal facility from its ATMs with a per day transaction limit of Rs 20,000. This service enables customers to withdraw cash from over 15,000 ATMs of the bank by simply raising a request on iMobile, its mobile banking application.

NPCI Launches Blockchain-Based Vajra Platform To Secure Payments
The National Payment Corporation of India has launched a blockchain-based payments platform called Vajra.It can be accessed by various payment companies for providing secured transactions on their online platforms or mobile applications.

• For easy incorporation of Vajra in payments systems operated by banks, NPCI will provide an application programming interface (API).

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Indian Oil Signs MoU with National Petroleum Authority of Ghana
Ia step that will further strengthen the relations between India and Ghana, Indian Oil has signed a MoU with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) of Ghana for providing its assistance and technical expertise in the implementation of Ghana’s National LPG Promotion Policy.

70,000 crore rupees has disbursed till January 13, 2020 under MSME loan scheme: Ministry of Finance 
The Finance Ministry has said that a loan amount of nearly seventy thousand crore rupees has been disbursed till 13th of this month under the scheme of providing loan to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises – MSMEs within 59 minutes.

• For ease of access to credit for MSMEs, the government has introduced loan provision to MSMEs through a dedicated online portal– www.psbloansin59 minutes.com.

SPORTS

Shooters Divyansh, Apruvi win gold at Meyton Cup in Austria
Indian shooters Divyansh Singh Panwar and Apurvi Chandela have clinched a gold medal each in Meyton Cup, a private tournament in Innsbruck, Austria. While Divyansh won the gold in the men’s 10m air rifle event with an effort of 249.7, Apurvi bagged the yellow metal in the 10m air rifle women’s category with a 251.4.

• Deepak Kumar and Anjum Moudgil also a bagged bronze medal each in men’s and women’s 10m air rifle events respectively.

APPOINTMENTS

Challa Sreenivasulu Setty appointed managing director of SBI
The government appointed Challa Sreenivasulu Setty as the managing director of the State Bank of India for a period of three years. Setty, currently serving as the deputy managing director of the SBI, in the key post.

New MD and CEOs for Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Canara Bank
The government appointed heads of three large public sector banks – Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Canara bank for a period of three years.

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) appointed Sanjiv Chadha as the managing director and chief executive of Bank of Baroda, Lingam Venkat Prabhakar as MD & CEO of Canara Bank and Atanu Kumar Das as MD & CEO of Bank of India.

AWARDS

Former President Pranab Mukherjee Confers ‘Champions of Change 2019’ Award to Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was honoured with ‘Champions of Change 2019’ award for social welfare . Award was conferred to Jharkhand CM by former President of India Pranab Mukherjee.

• The award is contributed to Hemant for his work in the Barhait and Dumka assembly constituencies in the state. Soren had won the Dumka constituency in 2009 and lost the constituency in 2014 election and regained it in 2019.

Priya Prakash wins Cisco Youth Leadership Award 2019
Priya Prakash, the founder and CEO of India based HealthSetGo, has won the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award for 2019 for her school health programme that aims at providing 360 degree healthcare support to children.

• The award includes a US $250,000 prize paid to the individual’s organisation to which the individual contributes, to further their mission of accelerating global problem solving.

President of India Presents 14th Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards 
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, presented the 14^th Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards at a ceremony held in New Delhi. The recipients of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards constitute works from the year 2018. It is awarded in various categories.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

NICL board approves its merger proposal with OICL & UIIC
State-owned non-life insurer National Insurance Company Ltd has approved its merger with Oriental Insurance Company Ltd and United India Insurance Company Ltd.New India Assurance Company may also be involved in this merger & The General Insurers’ Public Sector Association (India) is said to approve the amalgamation.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

In a 1st, TSEC to use face recognition app in 2020 Telangana Municipal polls on pilot basis
In a first-of-its-kind in India, the Telangana State Election Commission will be using facial recognition app in a bid to counter impersonation by voters on a pilot basis in 10 selected polling stations.The initiative will be implemented in Kompally Municipality of Medchal Malkajgiri district.

Xenobots: World’s first living, self-healing robots
Scientists have created the world’s first living, self-healing robots using stem cells from frogs.

• Named xenobots after the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) from which they take their stem cells, the machines are less than a millimeter (0.04 inches) wide — small enough to travel inside human bodies. They can walk and swim, survive for weeks without food, and work together in groups.

ENVIRONMENT

Jharkhand’s Jharia most polluted city in India
According to Greenpeace, India’s fourth Airpocalypse report, Coal-belching Jharia in Jharkhand continues to be the most polluted city in India, while Delhi has made marginal improvement in reducing air pollution .

• Noida, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Allahabad, Moradabad and Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh figure in list of 10 most polluted cities topped by Jharia in Jharkhand and closely followed by Dhanbad in the same state. Lunglei in Mizoram is the least polluted followed by Meghalaya’s Dowki

OBITUARY

Bhopal’s titular queen Saleha Sultan passes away
Princess Saleha Sultan, the titular queen of Bhopal who passed away in Hyderabad and whose last rites were performed in the Madhya Pradesh city. She was 80.

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