Daily Current Affairs 8th January, 2021

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

NATIONAL NEWS

Punjab CM launches scheme for free sanitary pads to schoolgirls, dedicates month to girl child
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced a slew of welfare schemes, including free sanitary pads for girls studying in high school and colleges in the state.

• The CM dedicated the month of January to the girl child and paved the way for the distribution of 2,500 sports kits among youngsters.
• He also launched a programme to give property rights to slum dwellers and rolled out an over Rs 75-crore smart metering project besides an e-Daakhil portal for consumer complaints.

Centre decides to form committee to protect language, culture & land of Ladakh
Centre has decided to form a committee to protect the language, culture and land of Ladakh and ensuring citizen’s participation in the Union Territory’s development.

• The Committee will be headed by the Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy and will include elected representatives from Ladakh, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, central government, and the Ladakh administration.

Centre approves new National Highway projects worth Rs 5,801 cr for Maharashtra
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gandkari said that the Centre has approved new National Highway projects worth Rs 5,801 crore rupees for Maharashtra under the Annual Plan.

• The project includes improving and developing 1035 km of National Highways in the State.
• In addition, Rs 1,800 crore projects under the Central Road Fund scheme has also been sanctioned. The Minister also informed that 1 lakh Crore Greenfield Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will be extended till JNPT, to facilitate container traffic.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India Provides 30.66 Cr Rupees to Nepal as Part of Post-quake Aid to Build Educational Institutions
India provided a grant assistance of 30.66 crore Nepalese Rupees (nearly INR 19.21 crore) to Nepal as part of its commitment towards reconstruction of educational institutions damaged during the 2015 earthquake.

• With this, India has reimbursed an amount of NRs 819.8 million (NRs 81.98 crore/INR 51.37 crore) to Nepal towards educational sector reconstruction projects.

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI sets up of College of Supervision
The Reserve Bank of India has set-up a College of Supervision (CoS) in order to further the strengthening of supervision over regulated entities.

•  The CoS has been set-up to augment and reinforce supervisory skills among its regulatory and supervisory staff both at entry level and on a continuous basis.
• The council consists of N.S. Viswanathan, Former Deputy Governor, RBI as chairperson of the council and members as follows – Arijit Basu, Former MD, S, BIParesh Sukthankar, Former DMD, HDFC Bank, Prof. S Raghunath, IIM Bangalore, Prof. Tathagata Bandyopadhyay and Prof. Subrata Sarkar, IGIDR, Mumbai
• Dr. Rabi Narayan Mishra, former Executive Director, RBI has been appointed as the Director of CoS.

BoB inks pact with SIDBI to help MSME revamp loans
Bank of Baroda (BoB) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to support MSME enterprises through a web-based platform called ‘Asset Restructuring Module for MSMEs (ARM-MSME)’ for submission of their loan restructuring proposal.

• Through this automated / Do-It-Yourself (DIY) web-portal, MSMEs can self-create their restructuring proposal with financial viability projections and relief options.
• This initiative is the ‘first-of-its-kind’ to help MSMEs prepare their restructuring proposals by keying in only the most essential data of their past and projected financials.

PhonePe ties up with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, launches term plans
PhonePe, India’s leading digital payments platform, announced the launch of Term Life Insurance plans on its platform, in association with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

• With this launch, millions of PhonePe users can now protect their families from financial turmoil in the event of an untimely demise.
• The premiums begin from as little as Rs 149 each year. This coverage will be availed immediately on the PhonePe app with none well being check-ups and paperwork by way of an all-digital buyer expertise.
• PhonePe’s customers aged 18 to 50 years and incomes Rs 1 lakh each year or above can avail this coverage immediately on the platform.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Global Economy Expected to Expand by 4 Per Cent in 2021: World Bank
The global economy is expected to expand by 4 per cent in 2021, assuming an initial COVID-19 vaccine rollout becomes widespread throughout the year, the World Bank has said.

• A recovery, however, will likely be subdued unless policy makers move decisively to tame the pandemic and implement investment-enhancing reforms, it said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report. 
• In India, the pandemic hit the economy at a time when growth was already decelerating. Output is estimated to contract by 9.6 per cent in fiscal year 2020-21, reflecting a sharp drop in household spending and private investment. 

Govt expects GDP to contract 7.7% in FY21
The economy is expected to contract 7.7 per cent in 2020-21, according to the first advance estimate (AE) released by the Government.

• The estimate is in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s forecast of (-)7.5 per cent, but lower than the projections made by various global agencies.
• The Advance Estimate of 2020-21 reflects continued resurgence in economic activity in Q3 (October-December) and Q4 (January-March) — which would enable the Indian economy to end the year with a contraction of 7.7 per cent.

SPORTS

Khelo India Ice Hockey tournament begins in Chiktan, Kargil
In Kargil Ladakh, Khelo India Ice Hockey Tournament is being organised at Chiktan by Zonal Physical Education Officer Chiktan.

• For the first time the women team of Chiktan also participated in the Khelo India Games in Kargil district. There are 13 teams from different villages of Chiktan participating in the tournament, which include 11 men’s teams and 2 women’s teams.
• The motive of organizing such events by the UT Administration at Zonal Level is to popularize the game in the whole UT Ladakh so that talents from far-flung areas should get a platform to prove themselves.

Claire Polosak set to become first female match official in men’s Test match
Australia’s Claire Polosak is set to become the first female match official in a men’s Test match when she takes up the fourth umpire’s role in the third Test between India and Australia. 

• The 32-year-old from New South Wales has already earned the distinction of being the first woman on-field umpire in a men’s ODI match in ICC’s Division 2 league between Namibia and Oman played at the Windhoek in 2019.

APPOINTMENTS

Justice Hima Kohli takes charge as 1st woman CJ of Telangana high court
Justice Hima Kohli assumed charge as the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court. 

• This is for the first time a woman Chief Justice heading the High Court of Telangana, also in its entire history since it was part of Andhra Pradesh.

Karan Bajwa to head Google Cloud in Asia Pacific
Google Cloud has appointed its India MD Karan Bajwa as its new leader for Asia-Pacific.

• Bajwa will lead all regional revenue and go-to-market operations for Google Cloud, including on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Google Workspace, effective.
• Bajwa succeeds Rick Harshman, who is leaving the organisation. Bajwa is currently based in Gurgaon, India, but will relocate to Singapore this year. He will continues to lead Google Cloud in India until a new senior leader for the business is appointed. He will report to Rob Enslin, president of sales for Google Cloud

AWARDS

Jharkhand’s Ramgarh Tops Niti Aayog’s Aspirational Districts Ranking in November 2020
Ramgarh in Jharkhand has topped the list of aspirational districts ranked by the government think tank Niti Aayog in November 2020. Yadgir (Karnataka), Gadchiroli (Maharashtra) have been placed at the second and third positions, respectively.

• Dumkaand Sahibganj of Jharkhand have been ranked at fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
• The delta rankings took into account incremental progress made by over 112 aspirational districts across six developmental areas in December 2019.

SCIENCE, & TECHNOLOGY 

J&K LG, Manoj Sinha launches Mobile Application ‘Satark Nagrik’ and Departmental Vigilance Officers Portal
In Jammu and Kashmir, LG, Manoj Sinha launched Mobile Application ‘Satark Nagrik’ and Departmental Vigilance Officers Portal of J&K Anti Corruption Bureau at Civil Secretariat, Jammu.

• The mobile application launched has been developed with a purpose to facilitate seamless flow of information about corruption and enable citizens to submit their grievances with ease and mobility.
• The Departmental Vigilance Officers (DVO) Portal has been designed to enable an online communication channel with the DVOs of various departments and the portal will help in quick disposal of complaints and will help to redress grievances in a systematic manner by enabling monitoring of the status of DVO matters and Citizens Grievances assigned to DVOs at ACB Central Office.

Pakistan successfully test fires indigenously developed weapons rocket system
Pakistan successfully conducted the test-flight of an indigenously developed Guided Multi Launch Rocket System named Fatah-1, capable of delivering conventional warheads, with a maximum range of 140 km.

• The Weapon System will give Pakistan Army capability of precision target engagement deep in enemy territory.

World’s largest floating solar project to start in MP by 2023: State Govt
The world’s largest floating 600 MW solar energy project to be constructed at Omkareshwar dam on Narmada river in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh will begin power generation by year 2022-23.

• The estimated investment in this project stands at Rs 3,000 crore. The International Finance Corporation, World Bank and Power Grid have granted in-principle consent for providing aid for the said project development.
• The project will have floating solar panels of 600 MW power generation capacity in the backwaters of Omkareshwar dam. Electricity will be produced in about 2000-hectare water area by installing solar panels in the dam. Solar panels will float on the surface of the water in the reservoir.

OBITUARIES

World’s oldest first-class cricketer Alan Burgess passes away
The world’s oldest living first-class cricketer Alan Burgess has passed away at the age of 100.

• A right-hand batsman and slow left-arm bowler, Alan appeared in 11 first-class matches for Canterbury from 1940/41 to 1951/52 and also for New Zealand Services in England in 1945. He took 6-52 on debut against Otago at Lancaster Park in a match that began on Christmas Day 1940.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

RBI officer Giridharan pens novel ‘Right Under our Nose’
A general manager at RBI, Giridharan penned his novel titled ‘Right Under our Nose’. 

• In this novel “Right Under Your Nose”, scientists are being murdered ‘right under the nose’ of the government and its forces, just as they are on the verge of an important discovery. Ace crime detective Vijay, along with his journalist friend Padmini and trusted aide Dalvi, try to solve the mystery behind the slew of deaths that seem to occur without a trace of a suspect.

Book ‘India’s 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia’ released 
Former Indian all-rounder and current head coach Ravi Shastri launched a new book by the Bradman Museum called ‘India’s 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia’, at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

• The book, authored by cricket journalist R Kaushik, describes India’s first 12 tours to Australia, uncovering the shaping up of the rivalry between the two nations which was majorly dominated by the hosts.

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