Daily Current Affairs 4 December 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.
NATIONAL NEWS
India invites UK’s Johnson as 2021 Republic Day chief guest
India has invited U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson as chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations in January 2021 and a decision on this is awaited from London.
- If Johnson accepts the invite, he would become the first British prime minister to grace the parade at Rajpath in nearly three decades.
- The last British prime minister at the Republic Day parade was John Major in 1993.
Kolkata’s Majerhat Bridge Named “Jai Hind” to mark Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th Birth Anniversary
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee named the newly-built Majerhat bridge in Kolkata as “Jai Hind” bridge to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose.
- The 650-metre-long bridge, which has been built in the place of an old one that collapsed in September 2018.
- The bridge, on the arterial Diamond Harbour Road, connects the central part of the city to the soutwestern suburbs of Behala and beyond.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Singapore becomes first country to approve lab-grown meat
Singapore has granted San Francisco start-up Eat Just regulatory approval to sell its laboratory-grown chicken in the city-state, the world’s first government to allow the sale of cultured meat.
- Singapore Food Agency (SFA), Singapore’s regulatory authority entrusted with ensuring a safe food supply, granted the approval after an iterative and extensive safety review process.
- The cell-cultured chicken will be produced under Eat Just’s new GOOD Meat brand through partnerships with local manufacturers. The lab meat will go on sale to restaurants before it is available to consumers.
New Zealand declares a climate change emergency
New Zealand promised its public sector would become carbon neutral by 2025 as it declared a climate emergency, a symbolic move that critics said needed to be backed with greater actions to reduce emissions.New Zealand joins 32 other countries that have declared a climate emergency.
- The climate emergency declaration was based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s findings that to avoid more than 1.5 degree Celsius rise in global warming, emissions would need to fall by around 45% from 2010 levels by 2023 and reach zero by around 2050.
India to surpass 350 mn 5G connections by 2026
In India, 5G subscriptions will surpass 350 million, accounting for 27 per cent of all mobile subscriptions in 2026, Swedish gear maker Ericsson said in a report titled “Ericsson Mobility Report.”
- The projections come on the heels of another Fitch Ratings report that said that 5G spectrum auction India could be delayed if the government focused on a 4G auction next year.
- Globally, more than 1 billion people will have access to 5G coverage by the end of 2020. The report projects that four out of every ten mobile subscriptions in 2026 will be 5G.
BANKING & FINANCE
Monetary policy: RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 4%, projects real GDP growth for 2021 at -7.5%
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to kept repo rate unchanged at 4%, reverse repo maintained at 3.35%. It has maintained the policy stance at “accommodative“, amid high inflation and so.
- Meanwhile, Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to contract 7.5 percent in 2020-21, as against an earlier estimate of a contraction of 9.5 percent. And Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation is forecast at 6.3 percent in Q3FY21, and 5.8 percent in Q4. “Inflation is likely to remain elevated.
- The money transfer tool RTGS facility will be made 24×7, said, governor Das. Settlement of AMPS, NFS, Rupay and UPI transactions will be allowed all days of the week against earlier five days of the week.
NPCI allows payment banks and fintechs to be shareholders
Retail payments body National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said that it has completed private placement of 4.63% of its equity shares worth ₹81.64 crores, allowing small finance and payment banks, as well as fintechs to be shareholders in the organisation.
- With this small finance and payment banks such as AU Small Finance Bank Ltd., India Post Payments Bank Ltd., and digital payment fintechs including BillDesk, Amazon Pay, PayU India, PhonePe, Pine Labs and MobiKwik have joined NPCI’s shareholding and hold up to 0.44% each in the retail payments entity.
- The total shareholder entities for NPCI now stands at 67.
Paytm partners with Suryoday Small Finance Bank to empower MSMEs with instant digital loans
Paytm has announced its partnership with Suryoday Small Finance Bank to empower MSMEs with instant digital loans.
- The company is offering instant microloans to businesses that are unable to access financial services from traditional banking players.
- The company through this partnership is aiming at disbursing loans to over 1 lakh small businesses in the next 12 to 18 months.
NABARD and SBI sign MoU to extend concessional refinance facility in Karnataka
The Karnataka regional office of NABARD and State Bank of India have signed an MoU to extend concessional refinance facility to the beneficiaries of watershed development and tribal development projects.
- The MoU aims to benefit 45000 beneficiaries from 260 Farmers Producers Organisations in 28 districts. In addition 8500 beneficiaries from Self Help groups and Joint Liability Groups will be covered.
- The MoU signed will enable SBI to act as an implementing agency for digitilising the Self Help Groups and uploading data on E-Shakti portal across the state.
ICICI Bank Opens Representative Office in Nepal, First Pvt Sector Lender to Do so
ICICI Bank opened its representative office in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
- The representative office will closely work with the domestic banks in Nepal to facilitate investment, trade, payments and treasury business between the two countries.
- With this foray, ICICI Bank has expanded its footprint to 15 countries, including India.
SPORTS
Virat Kohli fastest to 12000 runs in ODI cricket, surpasses Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli became the fastest player to score 12,000 runs in ODI cricket, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar, after he scored 23 runs against Australia in the third ODI at Canberra.
- Kohli took 242 innings to reach 12,000 runs while Tendulkar had touched the score in his 300th ODI innings.
- Kohli has also played 86 Tests and 82 T20Is in which he has scored 7,240 and 2,794 runs, respectively. He has scored more than 21,000 international runs across formats till now.
England’s Dawid Malan achieves highest-ever rating points in T20I history
England’s Dawid Malan has attained the highest-ever rating points for batsmen in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20I Player Rankings after a terrific run saw him top the series aggregate with a total of 173 runs and help England thrash South Africa 3-0.
- The 33-year-old left-hander has reached 915 points, the first to cross the 900-point mark after Australian Aaron Finch’s 900-point achievement in July 2018. Malan now enjoys a 44-point lead over Pakistan’s Babar Azam, whom he overtook to become number one in September this year.
- Malan’s player of the series performance included a match-winning 99 not out in the final match and helped England leapfrog Australia to take top position in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings.
APPOINTMENTS
Rajnish K Jenaw posted as CMD, NSFDC
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Rajnish Kumar Jenaw (IP&TA&FS) as new Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation (NSFDC) under the Department of Social Justice & Empowerment.
- Jenaw has been appointed to the post with effect from the date of assumption of charge and for a period up-to August 31, 2024, i.e. date of his superannuation or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
- He is a 1992-batch Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service officer.
Indian oil Chairman Shri SM Vaidya taken charge as VP of the World LPG Association
Shri SM Vaidya is appointed as the first Vice President of the World LPG Association (WLPGA), The World LPG Association (WLPGA) is the authoritative voice of the global LPG industry representing the full LPG value chain.
- Shri SM Vaidya currently is the Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation.
AWARDS
Indian Teacher Wins $1 Million Global Teacher Prize for Promoting Girls’ Education
A primary school teacher, Ranjitsinh Disale from India was named the winner of the USD 1-million annual Global Teacher Prize 2020 in recognition of his efforts to promote girls’ education and trigger a quick-response (QR) coded textbook revolution in India.
- Disale, 32, from Paritewadi village in Maharashtra’s Solapur district, emerged the winner from 10 finalists from across the world for the annual prize founded by the Varkey Foundation in 2014 to recognise an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession.
- In another first, the Global Teacher Prize 2020 winner’s announcement was made at a virtual ceremony broadcast from the Natural History Museum in London by British actor-broadcaster Stephen Fry.
HCL Tech’s Roshini Nadar India’s richest women in 2020
With a net wealth of ₹54,850 crore, HCL Tech chairperson Roshni Nadar ranked first in the Kotak Wealth Hurun wealthy women list 2020.
- The founder and managing director of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, ranked second in the list. She is also the richest self-made woman on the list with an estimated net wealth of ₹36,600 crore.
- With the estimated net wealth of ₹21,340 crore, the chairperson of the privately-held pharma company USV, Leena Gandhi Tewari, bagged third place.
- Out of 100, there are 31 self-made women on the list — in which six are professional managers, and 25 are entrepreneurs. And, 15% of the women on the list hail from non-metro cities.
OBITUARIES
Former French President Giscard d’Estaing passes away
Former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who championed European integration and helped modernise French society in the 1970s, has died at the age of 94 after contracting COVID-19.
- Giscard was elected president in 1974 at the age of 48 to become France’s youngest postwar leader.
- He was also an ardent Anglophile, and took office a year after Britain joined the European Economic Community.
Rafer Johnson, Olympian and James Bond actor, passes away
Rafer Johnson, who is best known for his athletics career and his performance in James Bond movie Licence to Kill, has passed away at the age of 86.
- Johnson won an Olympic gold medal in the decathlon in 1960, besting the silver medal he earned at the previous Games in 1956.
- He later became involved in politics and helped to subdue the shooter responsible for assassinating US senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.
IMPORTANT DAYS
International Day of Banks
International Day of Banks is observed globally on the 4th of December.
- The day is celebrated to the recognition of the significant potential of multilateral development banks and other international development banks in financing sustainable development and providing know-how, and also in recognition of the vital role of the banking systems in the Member States in contributing to the improvement of the standard of living.
Indian Navy Day
Indian Navy Day is celebrated every year on December 4 to commemorate the attack on the Karachi harbour during the India-Pakistan war in 1971.
- On this day, the Indian Navy’s attack on Karachi harbour contributed to the ultimate victory of the Indian Armed Forces over Pakistan.
- This year the theme of Navy Day is “Indian Navy Combat Ready, Credible & Cohesive”.