Daily Current Affairs 6th & 7th December, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 6 & 7 December 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Vice President releases postal stamp in honour of late IK Gujral
Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu virtually released a commemorative postage stamp in honour of late Prime Minister IK Gujral to mark his 101st birth anniversary.

  • I K Gujral was the 12th Prime Minister of India, he served as the Prime Minister from April 1997-March 1998.
  • During his tenure as India’s External Affairs Minister, I K Gujral laid a set of five principles – ‘Gujral Doctrine’ to guide the conduct of foreign relations with India’s immediate neighbours.

West Bengal CM announces ‘Swasthya Sathi’ health scheme
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently extended the Swasthya Sathi health insurance scheme to cover the entire population of the state, starting December 1, 2020.

  • The scheme was launched by Banerjee in 2016. It is a basic health cover for secondary and tertiary care up to Rs five lakh per annum per family. It is quite popular among rural and economically deprived sections of the state’s population.
  • Under the scheme, a smart card and is being issued in the name of a female family member.


BANKING & FINANCE

PayNearby partners NPCI and Yes Bank to launch retailer shopping card
PayNearby, India’s largest hyperlocal fintech startup has partnered with YES Bank and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch PayNearby Shopping Card, enabling its retail partners to derive maximum benefits of digital commerce in the mass market category.

  • The new service will allow PayNearby retailers to avail a range of digital services in a secure, risk-free mode. The retailers can avail of services such as e-learning, e-commerce, online gaming, monthly recharges and utility payments, online music, and videos.
  • The launch of the PayNearby shopping card is powered by RuPay and is targeted for enabling a mass-market adoption. This will likely allow for cash digitization options at the grass-root levels.

KVG Bank launches OD facility for farmers 
The Dharwad-headquartered regional rural bank, Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB), has launched an overdraft (OD) facility for farmers.

  • The farmers are provided with an OD facility based on the value of the land. The limit is capped to a maximum of ₹1.5 lakh per acre to irrigated lands and ₹1 lakh per acre to dry land.
  • The facility can be used for working capital requirements such as maintenance of machinery and equipment, repair and replacement of machinery, agricultural allied activities and even for the repayment of private loans availed for personal use.

ADB approves $190 mn loan for upgradation of Bengaluru power distribution system
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a USD 190 million (over Rs 1,400 crore) loan for modernisation and upgradation of power distribution system in Karnataka’s capital city of Bengaluru.

  • The funding for the Bengaluru Smart Energy Efficient Power Distribution Project by ADB includes a USD 100 million sovereign loan and a USD 90 million without sovereign guarantee loan to Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM).
  • This features an innovative financing arrangement, the first of its kind for ADB, combining public and private sector loans to a state government-owned enterprise.


BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Fiscal deficit for Apr-Oct at 119.7% of budget target
The fiscal deficit for April-October touched a massive Rs 9.53 lakh crore, accounting for 119.7% of the full year’s budgeted target as tax collections remained under pressure because of the Covid-19 crisis.

  • Revenue receipts were Rs 6.71 lakh crore, or 34.2% of the budgeted target during the period, compared with 46.2% last year. Total expenditure was Rs 16.61 lakh crore, or 54.6% of the budgeted estimate, less than the 59.4% a year ago, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts.
  • The Centre has retained this year’s fiscal deficit target at 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) but experts believe it will be a much higher 7.5-9.25%.


SPORTS

New Zealand’s Corey Anderson retires from international cricket
New Zealand all-rounder, Corey Anderson(29), has called time on his international career and signed a three-year Major League Cricket (MLC) T20 in the United States of America (USA).

  • Anderson, who once held the record for fastest ODI hundred,played 13 Tests, 49 ODIs and 31 T20Is for New Zealand, didn’t feature in any of Black Caps’ assignment for the past two years.
  • In the 93 international games across formats, he scored 2277 runs with two hundreds and 10 half-centuries. He also picked up 90 wickets.

FIFA extends 7-team Club World Cup to 2021; Japan to host
Japan was chosen to host a traditional, seven-team Club World Cup in December 2021. 

  • FIFA wanted a December 2020 edition in Qatar to be the last with seven teams, six continental champions and the host nation’s domestic league winner.
  • The format often attracts little interest and is routinely won by the European club.


APPOINTMENTS

Uday Shankar named FICCI President for 2020-21
Media executive Uday Shankar has been named as the president-elect of industry chamber Ficci for 2020-21.

  • Shankar will be succeeding Sangita Reddy, president of Ficci and joint managing director, Apollo Hospitals Group, during Ficci’s 93rd annual general meeting.
  • Presently Shankar is the president of The Walt Disney Company for Asia Pacific and the chairman of Star and Disney India.


AWARDS

British Indian author Anita Anand’s Jallianwala Bagh story wins history prize
British Indian journalist and author Anita Anand’s book that tells the story of a young man caught up in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar has won a prestigious history-literary prize in the UK.

  • ‘The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj’ beat six other titles for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History 2020, awarded annually for a non-fiction book of specifically historical content.

Shantanu Narayen, Ajay Banga named among Fortune Businessperson of the Year 2020
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga have been named by Fortune among the Businessperson of the Year 2020, a list topped by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The Fortune 2020 Businessperson of the Year is Musk for a second time.

  • Narayen, ranked 8th on the list, while Banga, ranked 9th on the list.
  • The Fortune list of 20 people also includes Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su, ranked 2nd, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings (4), Fortescue Metals Group CEO Elizabeth Gaines (5), Bezos (7) and Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi (16).


SCIENCE& TECHNOLOGY

China becomes second nation to plant flag on the Moon
Over 50 years after the United States planted the first human flag on the moon, China has become the second country to leave a flag on the lunar surface.

  • Images of the flag, which were taken by a camera fitted to Chang’e 5, were shared by China’s National Space Administration. The flag, representing China, is 2 m wide and 90 cm tall.
  • China’s ambitious lunar mission Chang’e 5 successfully landed on the Moon, marking the third time that the country has placed a robotic spacecraft on the lunar surface


OBITUARIES

VSSC former director Dr S Ramakrishnan passes away
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre’s former director S Ramakrishnan died in Thiruvananthapuram. He was 71.

  • A recipient of Padma Shri in 2003, Ramakrishnan served as Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre director from June 2010 to December 2012 and as VSSC director from January 2013 to June 2014.He also served as Project Director of PSLV, GSLV Mk-III and Director (Projects).
  • He had received ASI Award-1998, Dr. Biren Roy Award-1999 from Aeronautical Society of India, and ISRO Performance Excellence Award-2006. He held a masters degree in Aerospace Propulsion from IIT, Madras with first rank in the year 1972.

Veteran Actor Ravi Patwardhan passes away 
Veteran actor Ravi Patwardhan, known for his powerful character roles in over 250 Marathi and Hindi theatre plays, TV shows and films, passed away at a private hospital in Thane following a heart attack. He was 84.

  • Ravi Patwardhan had also acted in several plays and featured in around 200 films, including Yeshwant (1997) in Hindi, and Marathi features like Asha Asavya Sun (1981), Umbartha (1982), Jhanjaar (1987), and Jyotiba Phule, a 2019 Marathi langauge show.
  • He was last seen on the popular TV series Aggabai Sasubai.

Veteran Bengali actor Manu Mukherjee passes away
Veteran Bengali actor Manu Mukherjee died in Kolkata following a cardiac arrest, family members said. He was 90.

  • Manu Mukherjee, who had started his film career with Mrinal Sen’s Nil Akasher Niche (1958), earned plaudits with his roles in Satyajit Ray’s Joy Baba Felunath and Ganashatru.
  • He had also received critical appreciation for his actin prow in children’s fantasy film Patalghar’.


IMPORTANT DAYS

International Volunteer Day
International Volunteer Day is observed on December 5, to promote the culture of volunteering, encourage the governments to support the efforts put in by volunteers in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at all levels.

  • The theme for International Volunteers Day 2020 is ‘Together We Can Through Volunteering’. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic on the world level, the volunteers have worked at the forefront of medical, community and societal responses.

Armed Forces Flag Day
Since 1949, 7th December is observed as the Armed Forces Flag Day throughout the country to honour the martyrs and the men in uniform who valiantly fought & continue to fight on our borders to safeguard the country’s honour.

  • To celebrate the day, all three branches of the Indian armed forces – the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Navy – arrange a variety of shows, carnivals, dramas and other entertainment programmes to showcase to the general public the efforts of their personnel to ensure national security.
  • Citizens are urged to make voluntary contributions towards the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund for the welfare of personnel and ex-servicemen, their family members and also to rehabilitate those injured in wars.

International Civil Aviation Day
International Civil Aviation Day is observed on December 7th every year.It was established in the year 1994 as part of ICAO’s 50th-anniversary activities.

  • This day is celebrated worldwide every year to reinforce awareness of the role and importance of international civil aviation organisation in air travel across the globe.
  • The theme for International Civil Aviation Day 2020 is, “Advancing Innovation for Global Aviation Development”. The council has decided to keep the same theme until the year 2023.


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