Daily Current Affairs 8th April , 2021

Daily Current Affairs 8 April 2021 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Foreign Minister of Eritrea Osman Saleh Mohammed arrives in New Delhi
Foreign Minister of Eritrea Osman Saleh Mohammed arrived in New Delhi for an official visit to India. He will meet External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar.

Ladakh Administration, Leh Hill Council and Solar Energy Corporation of India sign MoU to set up 50-Mega Watt solar power project at Taru in Leh district
In a step towards making Ladakh a carbon-neutral zone a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed.

• Union Territory Administration, Leh Hill Council and Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI Ltd)  have signed MoU to set up a 50 MW solar power project at Taru in Leh district.
• Ladakh has a potential of 33GW of renewable energy to contribute nation’s efforts in reducing carbon emissions. UT Administration, Leh Hill Council and Solar Energy Corporation of India have signed 1st MoU to harness Solar energy with a 50 MW project at Taru in Leh.

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launches Madhukranti portal and Honey Corners of NAFED in New Delhi
Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched Madhukranti portal and Honey Corners of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation, NAFED in New Delhi.

• This portal is being developed for online registration to achieve a traceability source of Honey and other beehive products on a digital platform.This will also help in checking the quality and source of adulteration of honey.
• Madhukranti portal is an initiative of National Bee Board under National Beekeeping and Honey Mission. An MoU between National Bee Board and Indian Bank was signed for this project.

Cabinet approves PLI Scheme for Air Conditioners and LED Lights worth Rs 6238 crore
The Union Cabinet has approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme- ‘National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules’ for achieving manufacturing capacity of Giga Watt with an outlay of Rs 4,500 crore. 

• The National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules will reduce import dependence in a strategic sector like electricity and will also support the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
• This scheme will add an additional 10 thousand MegaWatt capacity of integrated solar Photovoltaic manufacturing plants and will bring direct investment of around Rs 17,200 crore in solar PV manufacturing projects.

Union Ministers Dr Harsh Vardhan and Arjun Munda launch Tribal Health Collaborative- ‘Anamaya’
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda launched ‘Anamaya’-  the Tribal Health Collaborative through video conference.

• A multi-stakeholder initiative supported by Piramal Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Anameya’ will converge efforts of various Government agencies and organisations to enhance the health and nutrition status of the tribal communities.
• As part of this Collaborative, the Ministry will undertake several activities such as setting up of the National Council on Tribal Health to drive policy initiatives in tribal health, establishment of a Health Cell to closely monitor healthcare delivery in the tribal areas and devising mechanisms to implement the Tribal Health Action Plan.

Nearly 68% loans under PMMY sanctioned to women entrepreneurs
More than 28 crore 68 lakh loans for an amount of nearly 15 lakh crore rupees have been sanctioned since launch of Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana.

• Finance Ministry has said that about 68 percent of loans have been given to women entrepreneurs and about 51 percent of loans have been given to SC, ST and OBC borrowers.

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI enhances Loan limit under Priority Sector Lending against eNWR/NWR
The Reserve Bank of India has enhanced the loan limit from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh per borrower against the pledge/hypothecation of agricultural produce backed by NWRs/(e-NWRs) issued by warehouses registered and regulated by WDRA.

• This has been done to encourage farm credit to individual farmers against pledge/hypothecation of agricultural produce and leverage the inherent safety of Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs)/electronic-NWRs(e-NWRs) issued by the warehouses registered and regulated by Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA).
• The Priority Sector loan limit backed by other Warehouse Receipts will continue to be ₹50 lakh per borrower.

RBI decides to publish Financial Inclusion Index
The Reserve Bank of India has decided to publish the Financial Inclusion Index. To begin with, The FI index will be published annually in July for the previous financial year.

• This index will be used to measure the extent of financial inclusion in the country. It will use various parameters and shall reflect the broadening and deepening of financial inclusion in the country.
• Financial Inclusion has been viewed as a key enabler for achieving inclusive and sustainable development worldwide.

Banks sanction Rs 15 lakh crore under Mudra Yojana in last 6 years
The Finance Ministry said banks and financial institutions have sanctioned ₹14.96 lakh crore to over 28.68 crore beneficiaries in the last six years.

• It further said that 4.20 crore PMMY loans were sanctioned in 2020-21, and ₹2.66 lakh crore was allocated in 2020-21 as on March 19, 2021.
• The average ticket size of the loans is about ₹52,000.

Jana Small Finance Bank ties up with Axis Securities to offer investment services
Jana Small Finance Bank announced its tie-up with Axis Securities, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Axis Bank, to offer its customers the perfect blend of banking and investing through 3-in-1 account.

• The 3-in-1 account integrates seamlessly Savings Bank Account maintained by Jana Small Finance Bank & Demat and Trading Accounts maintained by Axis Securities.

RBI to mandate interoperability among prepaid payments instruments: Shaktikanta Das
The Reserve Bank has made it clear that it will now make it mandatory for prepaid payments instruments issuers (such as mobile wallets) to adopt interoperability, a move that will let  their customers transact with others after doing a full-KYC (know your customer).

• It will also double the maximum balance that a single account can hold in a payments bank to Rs 2 lakh at the end of the day.
• The RBI has also decided to permit the facility of cash withdrawal, subject to a limit, for full-KYC PPIs of non-bank PPI issuers as well as a confidence building measure.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Airtel Launches 5G-Ready Airtel IoT Platform for Enterprises to Fuel ‘World of Connected Things’. 
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel announced an integrated platform that enables enterprises to leverage the power of the Internet of Things (IoT) and gear up for the emerging era of ‘connected things’.

•  ‘Airtel IoT’ is an end-to-end platform with the capability to connect and manage billions of devices and applications in a highly secure and seamless manner.
• As per estimates, India’s cellular connectivity-based IoT market is forecast to grow to Rs 10,000 crore by 2022, driven by connected cars and appliances, SMART factories and utilities, and other use cases.

Sebi modifies framework for limited purpose clearing corporation by mutual funds
Markets regulator Sebi tweaked its framework pertaining to contribution of asset management companies (AMCs) for setting up of limited purpose clearing corporation by mutual funds.

• The regulator had in February issued guidelines wherein AMCs were required to contribute Rs 150 crore as share capital for setting up of limited purpose clearing corporation (LPCC) by mutual funds.
• It was prescribed that such contribution from AMCs needs to be in proportion to the average assets under management (AUM) of open-ended debt oriented mutual fund schemes (excluding overnight, gilt fund and gilt fund with 10-year constant duration but including conservative hybrid schemes) managed by them for the financial year 2019-20.

Over 3,49,000 tonnes of Wheat procured with MSP value of more than Rs 690 Crore during current Rabi marketing season so far
Government said that over three lakh 49 thousand tonnes of Wheat have been procured with MSP value of more than Rs 690 Crore during the current Rabi marketing season so far.

• The procurement of Wheat has recently commenced in the States of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
• Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ministry said the procurement has benefited more than four lakh 45 thousand farmers.

RBI targets 5.2 per cent retail inflation for first half of FY22
Reserve Bank said it expects retail inflation at 5.2 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal and revised downwards the target to 5 per cent for the quarter ended March.

• While headline inflation at 5 per cent in February 2021 remains within the tolerance band, some underlying constituents are testing the upper tolerance level.
• Going forward, the food inflation trajectory will critically depend on the temporal and special progress of southwest monsoon in the 2021 season.

APPOINTMENTS

Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden, appointed WHO Special Envoy for the ACT-Accelerator
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), appointed Carl Bildt as WHO Special Envoy for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator).

• Bildt succeeds Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Andrew Witty in the special envoy role.
• He will help lead the collective advocacy for the ACT-Accelerator in his new role, mobilising support and resources so it can deliver against its strategy for 2021.

Tarun Bajaj appointed Revenue Secretary; Ajay Seth new DEA Secretary
In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the union government approved the appointment of Tarun Bajaj as new revenue secretary under the Ministry of Finance.Bajaj was serving as secretary to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) since April 30, 2020.

• Tarun Bajaj took additional charge of Secretary, Department of Revenue, after the superannuation of Ajay Bhushan Pandey. 
• Ajay Seth, a 1987 batch Karnataka-cadre IAS  officer, as new secretary for DEA. Along with this, there were also other changes in top bureaucracy notified by the Ministry of Personnel.
• Gaynesh Kumar, additional secretary in the Department of Home, has been appointed as secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs upon superannuation of R S Shukla on April 30.
• Ali Raza Rizvi, special secretary and financial adviser in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, will be secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises.
• Indevar Pandey, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, has been appointed secretary in the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances.
• Anjali Bhawra has been appointed secretary in the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Jatindra Nath Swain will be secretary in the Department of Fisheries. Swain, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, is managing director at the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd.
• Anil Kumar Jha special secretary in the Department of Revenue has been appointed as secretary in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs

AWARDS

India has world’s 3rd highest number of billionaires; Mukesh Ambani dethrones Jack Ma in Asia: Forbes
India has the third highest number of billionaires in the world after the US and China, according to a new list by the prestigious Forbes magazine, which said Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani reclaimed his spot as Asia’s richest person, dethroning Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma who was the richest person in the region a year ago.

• Forbes’ 35th annual list of the world’s billionaires is topped by Amazon CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos for the fourth year in a row.
• His net worth is USD 177 billion, up USD 64 billion from a year ago as a result of surging Amazon shares, Forbes said. On the second spot is SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who was the biggest gainer in dollar terms.

OBITUARIES

Veteran journalist Dr. Fatema Zakaria passes away
Well-known educationist, veteran journalist and Chairman of Aurangabad’s prestigious educational institution Maulana Azad Campus Dr. Fatema Zakaria is no more. She was 85.

• She was conferred with Padamshree for her excellent contribution in education and educational reforms. She was the wife of former union minister and founder of Azad College campus, Late Mr. Rafiq Zakaria.

Gita Press president Radheshyam Khemka passes away at 87
The president of Gita Press, Radheshyam Khemka, passed away in Varanasi following a brief illness.He was 87.

• Khemka for 38 years was the editor of the prominent ‘Kalyan’ magazine printed at the press.His last edited the magazine’s April 2021 issue.
• In total, Khemka has edited 38 yearly special issues of the magazine and 460 normal issues of ‘Kalyan’.

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