Daily Current Affairs 3rd May, 2021

Daily Current Affairs 3 May 2021 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Indian Navy launches Operation Samudra Setu-II for shipment of oxygen-filled containers to India
The Indian Navy launched operation ‘Samudra Setu-II’ to bring oxygen-filled cryogenic containers to India from abroad as the country faces a severe shortage of medical oxygen in the wake of a massive spike in new Covid-19 cases.

• Mission deployed warships will undertake shipment of liquid Oxygen filled cryogenic containers & associated medical equipment in support of nation’s fight against COVID-19.
• INS Kolkata and INS Talwar, two ships entered the port of Manama, Bahrain for carrying back 40 tonnes of liquid oxygen to Mumbai.INS Airavat is on its way to Singapore while the INS Jalashwa is en route to Bangkok on similar missions.

J&K: DDMA Srinagar launches 24×7 dedicated Helpline at Covid-19 War Control Room
In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) Srinagar has launched a 24×7 dedicated Helpline at Covid-19 War Control Room to provide real time Covid-19 related facilities to the people.

• The residents of Srinagar district can log on to the website www.waseela.in and can get real time information about Covid-19 related facilities.
• People can also dial helpline no’s 01942483650 and 01942483651 for any query related to Covid-19 pandemic.
• The basic purpose of establishing the War Control Room in Srinagar is to provide instant information to the people about the number of isolation beds, ICU beds, oxygen beds available in the city hospitals.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

U.S. clears sale of six P-8I patrol aircraft to India
The U.S. State Department approved the proposed sale of six P-8I patrol aircraft and related equipment, a deal estimated to cost $2.42 billion.

• India already has a fleet of P-8I patrol aircraft, with eight ordered in 2009 and four more in 2016. With six more now, “will allow the Indian Navy to expand its maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA) capability for the next 30 years.
• Manufactured by Boeing, P-8I is an Indian variant of P-8s that the company says are designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

BANKING & FINANCE

SBI allocates Rs 71 cr for fight against coronavirus
The country’s largest lender SBI announced allocating Rs 71 crore towards the fight against COVID-19, a part of which will be used to set up a makeshift 1,000-bed hospital for the treatment of patients in some of the worst-affected states.

• The state-owned lender has allocated Rs 30 crore for a makeshift hospital while Rs 21 crore will be used to support initiatives such as procurement of life-saving healthcare equipment, oxygen supply to hospitals, Covid-care centres, ambulances, PPE kits, masks as well as food relief efforts.
• Besides, Rs 10 crore will be used to supplement government’s effort in genome sequencing, and Rs 10 crore will be earmarked to collaborate with on-ground NGOs to address the community needs.

Labour Min hikes maximum sum assured payable under EDLI scheme to Rs 7 lakh
The labour ministry has implemented a decision of retirement fund body EPFO’s trustees to hike the maximum sum assured payable under the Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976 to Rs 7 lakh from the existing Rs 6 lakh.

• The CBT had also decided to continue payment of minimum sum assured of Rs 2.5 lakh under the scheme beyond February 14, 2020.
• This amendment was aimed at providing additional succour to families and dependents of members of the scheme in case of their unfortunate death while in service.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Barclays cuts FY22 GDP growth forecast to 10%
Blaming the slow pace of vaccinations and uncertainty around the number of those infected and dead in the second COVID-19 wave, global brokerage firm Barclays cut India’s FY22 GDP growth estimate to 10 per cent from earlier 11 per cent.

• If the ongoing localised lockdowns continue till June, it will lead to economic losses of USD 38.4 billion.
• The country’s economy is estimated to contract by 7.6 per cent in FY21 as the pandemic-induced lockdowns led to chilling of economic activity, hurt jobs and demand.

GST collection for April of Rs 1,41,384 crore sets new record
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of April 2021 is at a record high of Rs 1,41,384 crore of which CGST is Rs 27,837 crore, SGST is Rs 35,621, IGST is Rs 68,481 crore (including Rs 29,599 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 9,445 crore (including Rs. 981 crore collected on import of goods).

• Despite the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic affecting several parts of the country, Indian businesses have once again shown remarkable resilience by not only complying with the return filing requirements but also paying their GST dues in a timely manner during the month.
• During the month, the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) are 21% higher than the revenues from these sources during the last month.

CtrlS Datacenters partners with India’s leading Life Insurance Company for strategic technology solutions
CtrlS Datacenters has collaborated with Canara HSBC Oriental Bank Of Commerce Life Insurance as a strategic technology partner to enhance their overall technology infrastructure resilience by deciding to operate out of one of CtrlS data center facilities thereby supporting and enabling the life insurer’s overall digital transformation journey.

• The company aims to provide seamless customer experience round the clock to its customers and therefore has been investing in upgrading the entire technology landscape including the architecture and infrastructure over the last couple of years.

Government sets food grain output target at record 307.31 million tonnes
Amid scare of Covid-19 second wave which forced the States and Union Territories to impose lockdown like curbs, the Government set a record rice production target of 104.3 million tonne for the kharif season of 2021-22 crop year (July-June).

• However, the overall foodgrains production target for the full 2021-22 crop year is kept at 307.31 million tonne. This includes production of 151.43 million tonnes of food grains during kharif (summer) season and 155.88 million tonnes during rabi (winter) season.
• The targeted production is over 1.3% more than last year’s estimated food grain production of 303.34 million tonnes. Meanwhile, the government has asked five non-traditional onion growing states-Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh to increase the area sown under the crop by 9,900 hectares in the forthcoming kharif season to avoid any price rise situation.

Non-food credit grows 4.9% in March 2021: RBI
Non-food bank credit growth for March ’21 stood at 4.9% compared with 6.7% a year earlier, as per data on sectoral deployment of bank credit collected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from 33 scheduled commercial banks.This accounted for about 90% of the total non-food credit deployed by all scheduled commercial banks for the month.

• Credit growth to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 12.3 per cent in March 2021 from 4.2 per cent in March 2020.
• Advances to industry decelerated marginally to 0.4 pr cent in March 2021 from 0.7 per cent last year.
• However, credit to medium industries registered a robust growth of 28.8 per cent in March 2021 as compared to a contraction of 0.7 per cent a year ago.

SPORTS

Asian Boxing Championship moved from India to UAE due to Covid-19 crisis
The Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) has moved the Asian boxing championships from New Delhi to Dubai due to the worsening pandemic situation in the country.

• The continental event, which was earlier postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, will be co-hosted by the UAE Boxing Association and the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) from May 21 to June 1, which is one day more than the original schedule.

Sri Lanka All-rounder Perera Retires From International Cricket
Sri Lanka all-rounder and former captain Thisara Perera announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect.

• The 32-year-old, who represented Sri Lanka in six Tests, 166 ODIs and 84 T20s, is expected to keep playing franchise cricket around the world.

APPOINTMENTS

Government names T Rabi Sankar as Deputy Governor of RBI
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) executive director T Rabi Sankar has been named as the fourth Deputy Governor of the central bank.

• Rabi Sankar is in charge of the payments system, fintech, information technology and risk management at the RBI. He succeeds B P Kanungo as the deputy governor, who retired on April 2 after getting a one year extension in his position.
• Rabi Sankar now joins Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Patra and Rajeshwar Rao as the fourth deputy governor of the central bank.

Tripurari Sharan appointed as new Chief Secretary of Bihar
Senior IAS officer Tripurari Sharan has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Bihar.

• Mr. Sharan is an IAS officer of 1985 batch of Bihar cadre. The post of Chief Secretary was lying vacant following death of Arun Kumar Singh who passed away due to COVID complications.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 

Indian Army inaugurates first solar energy harnessing plant of 56 KVA in North Sikkim
Indian Army in its quest for harnessing renewable energy for its troops inaugurated the First Green Solar Energy harnessing plant of 56 KVA using Vanadium based battery technology in North Sikkim, at an altitude of 16000 ft.

• A team of eminent faculty from the Institute led by Prof Prakash Ghosh and troops of the Indian Army completed the project braving extreme climatic conditions.
• The project will immensely benefit troops in the forward areas and will be environment friendly.

Scientists discover the smallest known black hole in the Milky Way Galaxy dubbed ‘The Unicorn’!
Scientists have discovered what may be the smallest-known black hole in the Milky Way galaxy and the closest to our solar system — an object so curious that they nicknamed it ‘the Unicorn.’

• The researchers said the black hole is roughly three times the mass of our sun, testing the lower limits of size for these extraordinarily dense objects that possess gravitational pulls so strong not even light can escape.
• A luminous star called a red giant orbits with the black hole in a so-called binary star system named V723 Mon.
• The black hole is located about 1,500 light years — the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion km — from Earth.

OBITUARIES

Director and Cinematographer KV Anand passes away 
Tamil director-cinematographer KV Anand passed away in Chennai due to Covid-19 related complications. He was 54.

• Starting his career as a photojournalist, Anand later moved to the movie world as a cinematographer and then as a movie director.
• Anand made his movie debut as a cinematographer in the Malayalam movie Thenmaavin Kombath for which he had won a national award.

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