Daily Current Affairs 30th July, 2021

Daily Current Affairs 30 July 2021 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Government announces 27% reservation for OBCs, 10% quota for EWS in medical seats
Twenty-seven percent of the all-India quota admissions for medical and dental courses will be reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) starting this academic year, the Union health ministry said. An additional 10% will be reserved for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS).

• The reservations will be implemented in all undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses.
• The decision will benefit nearly 1,500 OBC students seeking to join MBBS courses and 2,500 backward category students in postgraduate courses. It will also benefit around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1,000 EWS students in postgraduate courses.

Govt releases Rs 8257.88 cr to States, UTs towards India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package in 2020-21
The Government has released 8257.88 crore to the States and Union Territories towards the India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package during 2020-21. Similarly, 1113.21 crore rupees was released during the financial year 2019-20.

• 23 thousand 123 crores rupees approved by the Cabinet under India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package- Phase-II to be implemented from 1st July 2021 to 31st March 2022.
• This includes 15 thousand crore as Central Component and 8123 crore as State component.

Kerala Police launch Pink project for women safety 
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan formally rolled out the Kerala Police’s Pink Protection Project that aims at protecting women in public, private, and digital spaces.

• He flagged off a horde of dedicated vehicles, including 10 cars, 40 motorcycles, and 20 bicycles outside the State Police Headquarters to launch the Statewide project.
• The endeavour comes amid increasing complaints of dowry-related atrocities and other forms of harassment against women and children. Cybercrime too comes under the purview of the scheme, which has 10 components including Pink Patrol, Pink Janamaithri beat, Pink control room, Pink Shadow, Pink Romeo, counselling facilities and a dedicated mobile application for women protection.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India Set to Take Over as President of UN Security Council for Month of August
India will take over the Presidency of the UN Security Council on August 1 and is set to host signature events in three major areas of maritime security, peacekeeping and counterterrorism during the month.

• India’s two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council began on January 1, 2021.The August presidency will be India’s first Presidency during its 2021-22 tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.

BANKING & FINANCE

Paytm Payments Bank crosses 1-crore FASTags mark
Paytm Payments Bank said it has become the first bank in the country to achieve the milestone of issuing 1 crore FASTags. According to NPCI, over 3.47 crore FASTags were issued by all banks together till the end of June 2021.

• Besides this, Paytm Payments Bank is also India’s largest acquirer of toll plazas for the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) program offering an interoperable nationwide toll payment solution.
• Paytm Payments Bank is also working closely with NHAI for testing and implementing multi-lane free-flow movement using automatic number plate recognition technology.

SWIFT launches SWIFT Go, a fast, cost-effective service for low-value cross-border payments
SWIFT announced the launch of SWIFT Go, a new service that enables small businesses and consumers to send fast, predictable, highly secure, and competitively priced low-value cross-border payments anywhere in the world, direct from their bank accounts.

• The new service is a direct response to the needs of small businesses and consumers for fast, easy, predictable, secure and competitively priced cross-border payments.
• It will allow banks to compete effectively in one of the fastest growing segments of the payments market, delivering a seamless experience for their customers.

ICICI Lombard, SVAAS Wellness tie up for cashless outpatient services
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories-owned SVAAS Wellness have joined hands to offer cashless outpatient services to health insurance policyholders.

• The partnership marks the launch of Dr Reddy’s digital health solution SVAAS and demonstrates ICICI Lombard’s deeper foray into the wellness space.
• It is a first-of-its-kind integrated and cashless digital health solution in India, the statement said. To begin with, there will be pilot launch of the service in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.

Prest Loans and U GRO Capital join hands to solve the MSME credit gap in Tier 3 and 4 cities
Delhi based, MSME focused, digital lender Prest Loans (https://www.prestloans.com) has signed up a strategic alliance agreement with Mumbai based U GRO Capital (https://www.ugrocapital.com), a BSE listed technology enabled NBFC, to provide secured business loans to Micro SME business units. 

• Under this arrangement Prest Loans shall offer U GRO Capital’s ‘GRO Micro’ product to its small businesses and MSME customers in tier 3 and tier 4 cities who lack the access to formal credit at affordable price without requirement of too many documents.

Digital payments grew 30.2% in FY21, says RBI
Digital payments have recorded a growth of 30.19 per cent during the year ended March 2021, reflecting adoption and deepening of cashless transactions in the country, RBI data showed.

• As per the newly constituted Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI), the index rose to 270.59 at the end of March 2021, up from 207.84 a year ago.
• The RBI-DPI index has demonstrated significant growth in the index representing the rapid adoption and deepening of digital payments across the country in recent years.

IFC invests ₹916 crore in Federal Bank for 4.99% stake
IFC, along with two investment funds managed by IFC Asset Management Company (IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund and IFC Emerging Asia Fund) have picked up 4.99 per cent stake in Federal Bank for ₹916 crore.

• The investment will support Federal Bank’s commitment to environmental social and governance (ESG) standards, and also strengthen its Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and expand its micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSME) and climate finance portfolios.

RBI cancels Gos based Madgaum Urban Co-op Bank licence
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the licence of Goa-based Madgaum Urban Cooperative Bank, with effect from July 29, 2021.

• RBI said the decision was taken as the bank doesn’t have adequate capital and earning prospects, and its would be unable to pay its present depositors in full in its present financial position.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Intel launches ‘AI For All’ initiative in partnership with CBSE
Chipmaker Intel said it has collaborated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to launch the ‘AI For All’ initiative, aimed at creating a basic understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) for people in India.

• Based on Intel’s ‘AI For Citizens’ programme, ‘AI For All’ is a 4-hour, self-paced learning programme that demystifies AI in an inclusive manner.
• The four-hour open content resource, which is available in 11 vernacular languages, is divided into two sections – AI Awareness (1.5 hours) and AI Appreciation (2.5 hours).
• The programme aims to introduce AI to one million citizens in its first year.

Maruti Suzuki, Savitribai Phule Pune University tie-up to train youth
Maruti Suzuki India Limited has announced a partnership with Maharashtra’s Savitribai Phule Pune University to train youth in automobile retail.

• The aim is to offer a customised three years “Bachelor of Vocational Studies in Retail Management” course to students.
• The three-year curriculum will comprise one-year classroom training followed by two-year on-the-job training at Maruti Suzuki authorised dealerships.

Skylo, FISHCOPFED tie up to improve fishermen safety, profitability
Skylo, an internet of things (IoT)-based solutions provider, said it has partnered with the National Federation of Fishers Cooperatives in India (FISHCOPFED) to improve the safety of fishermen, increase their profitability and bolster ecosystem sustainability.

• Skylo will provide IoT-based solutions to marine fishing and aquaculture sectors, including monitoring oxygen and pH levels of water in ponds across the states (aquaculture and inland fisheries) and enhancing fish yields and profitability for the fish farmers.
• As part of the partnership, Skylo and FISHCOPFED will work together to improve the welfare of fishermen and fish farmers to increase profits for the fishing community by using IoT technology.

SPORTS

Vantika Agarwal wins women’s National online chess title; Raahul bags junior crown
Delhi youngster Vantika Agarwal has won the National women online chess title. From 11 rounds she scored 9.5 points.Second and third position secured by Arpita Mukherjee of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu’s Sreeja Seshadri.

• In Junior Open section, Tamil Nadu’s VS Raahul won the first position with 9.5 point. International Master Bharath Subrahamaniam finished second with 9 points and Grandmaster P Iniyan who had recently represented the country at the World Cup finished third.

APPOINTMENTS

Maldives FM Abdulla Shahid wins presidency of 76th UN General Assembly
Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid was elected as the President of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly.

•  In the 193-member General Assembly, 143 votes were polled in his favour out of the total 191 ballots cast.
• Mr Shahid will preside over the 76th Session of the UN body that will commence in September. Former Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Dr Zalmai Rassoul was the other contestant.

Bharat BillPay appoints PayU’s Noopur Chaturvedi as new CEO
Bharat Bill Payment System has appointed former PayU and Airtel Payments Bank executive Noopur Chaturvedi as its new chief executive officer. 

• Chaturvedi, prior to this appointment, was the country head for small and medium businesses at PayU.
•  In a career spanning nearly two decades, she has worked with Airtel Payments Bank, Samsung, ING Vysya Bank and Citibank in various senior roles.

Pham Minh Chinh re-elected as Vietnamese Prime Minister
The 15th National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam re-elected Pham Minh Chinh as the Vietnamese Prime Minister for the 2021-2026 tenure, according to voting results.

• Chinh, also a member of the Politburo of the 13th Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (CPVCC), was re-elected with a 95.99-per cent approval rate among deputies at the ongoing first session of the 15th NA.

AWARDS

MP’s Satpura Tiger Reserve bags Natwest Earth Heroes Award
Madhya Pradesh has made another achievement in the field of nature conservation. The Satpura Tiger Reserve of the State has received the Natwest Group Earth Heroes Award in the Earth Guardian category for best management.

• It is noteworthy that the Satpura Tiger Reserve has also been included in the potential list of World Heritage. Satpura Tiger Reserve in Hoshangabad district is spread over an area of 2130 square kilometer.
• It is part of the Deccan Bio-Geographic Region. It is the oldest forest wealth of the country, full of unmatched natural beauty, which has been carefully preserved.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NSDL e-Governance develops cab-hailing platform on open-source tech
NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited is developing the world’s first cab-hailing platform, which is enabled by open-source specifications.

•  What makes this project distinct from the private cab-hailing platforms already in the market, such as Uber and Ola are that, unlike these enterprises where the company serves as the central aggregator, NSDL’s platform allows various enterprises, cab companies, individual players to access the platform on their own accord using open-source technologies.
• NSDL e-Gov will be using Beckn protocols, which is an open protocol that enables local commerce across industries to be discovered and engaged by any Beckn-enabled application. he key to plug into a wide network.

IIT Hyderabad develops Covihome, a rapid electronic Covid-19 RNA test kit
A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad led by Prof Shiv Govind Singh, Department of Electrical Engineering, has developed an Artificial Intelligence-powered Covid-19 test that can be performed at an affordable cost at home, after commercialisation and required ICMR approval. 

• This test kit can produce results within 30 minutes for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.
• It does not require RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction), an expert human resource, and a BSL 2 lab facility for the extraction of RNA, so it has the potential for one to take the test at home without expert supervision.

OBITUARIES

Former England bowler Mike Hendrick passes away
Former England seamer Mike Hendrick passed at the age of 72.

• He played a major role in two of England’s Ashes-series victories and took 87 wickets in 30 Tests for his country between 1974 and 1981.
• Hendrick, who took 770 wickets in 267 first-class matches and 35 wickets in 22 ODIs, was also the first professional coach of Ireland

Ganpatrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra’s Longest-serving MLA and Former Minister, Passes Away at 94
Ganpatrao Deshmukh, the longest-serving MLA of Maharashtra and a senior leader of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), died in a private hospital in Solapur. He was 94.

• Deshmukh represented Sangola in Solapur district in the state legislative assembly for 11 terms since 1962 across multiple terms and served as an MLA for 54 years. He got defeated in 1972, but again won in a bypoll n 1974. In 1995, he lost by a slender margin of 192 votes, said his grandson Aniket Deshmukh.He had won the Sangola seat in the 2014 state elections for a record 11th time and served in the assembly till 2019.
• Deshmukh also served as a minister in the government of Sharad Pawar in 1978 and again in 1999 (in Vilasrao Deshmukh cabinet) when his party PWP gave support to the Congress-NCP alliance.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is marked every year on July 30 to create awareness around people who are being trafficked and are taken away against their will.

• The theme for this year for the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is ‘Victims’ voices lead the way.’ It highlights the importance of sharing and learning from survivors of human trafficking.

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