Daily Current Affairs 8th October, 2020

Daily Current Affairs 8 October 2020 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

ISLRTC, NCERT sign MoU to convert educational materials into Indian Sign Language
A historic Memorandum of Understanding(MoU ) was signed between Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center and NCERT to make education materials accessible for Deaf children in their preferred format of communication, Indian Sign Language.

• The MoU will convert the educational print materials, teachers’ handbook, supplementary materials and NCERT Textbooks into digital sign language.
• MoU also fulfil the needs of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and New Education Policy, 2020.

IIM Kozhikode to launch an E-Learning hub and Library for villagers in Mavoor
The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode will soon be launching an e-learning hub and library as a pilot project for villagers in Mavoor, one of the five villages adopted by the institute under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA).

• The programme aims to create a virtuous cycle between society and academic system by providing knowledge and practices for the emerging professions.
• Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan is a flagship programme by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan is aimed at linking the Higher Education Institutions with a set of at least five villages.

BANKING & FINANCE

FM Minister Launches Indian Bank’s Programme ‘MSME Prerna’
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched ‘MSME Prerana’ which is an online business mentoring programme for MSMEs launched by the public lender Indian Bank.

• The programmed will be available in local languages and aimed at empowering entrepreneurs via skill development and capacity building workshops.
• The programme is a joint initiative with Poornatha & Co, a firm which designs entrepreneurial development programs in vernacular languages and case studies.
• The first two programs will be in Tamil language for the Coimbatore clusters of Indian Bank and it will help them scale up across the country in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Gujarati

Vistara Partners With Axis Bank to Launch Co-Branded Forex Card For International Travellers
Axis Bank has partnered with Vistara to launch a co-branded forex card  ‘Axis Bank Club Vistara Forex Card’. This is also the first-ever collaboration by a bank and an Indian airline for a co-branded forex card.

• Designed to cater to the needs of international travelers, the card offers exciting benefits such as the option of loading up to 16 currencies on a single card, locked-in exchange rates and accruing 3 CV Points on every USD 5 (or equivalent value) spent. Customers also get awarded 500 CV Points as a Welcome Bonus on signing up.
• Customers can choose to retain balance on the card, convert it to another currency for their next holiday or encash the amount. Additionally, the card provides emergency assistance services from TripAssist, thereby providing both flexibility and safety.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

IBM to set up centre of excellence for AI with government e-marketplace
IBM announced the creation of an AI centre of excellence in partnership with the government e-marketplace during the inaugural session of RAISE 2020 virtual summit.

• The AI centre of excellence’s goal will be to apply the power of AI to improve usability and transparency and drive efficiency and cost savings in public procurement.

India’s first B2B Crypto trading exchange DigitX launched
DigitX, India’s first business-to-business (B2B) cryptocurrency trading exchange, began its trading operations.

• DigiX aims to deliver transparent and secure model with its network of trusted links in a first of its kind industry initiative to instill trust and confidence in its investors and traders of cryptocurrency.

Smriti Irani launches first ever Brand & Logo for Indian Cotton World Cotton Day 
Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani launched the first ever Brand and Logo for Indian Cotton on Second World Cotton Day through video conferencing.

• Now India’s premium cotton would be known as ‘Kasturi Cotton’ in the world cotton trade. The Kasturi Cotton brand will represent Whiteness, Brightness, Softness, Purity, Luster, Uniqueness and Indianness.
• India is the second largest cotton producer and the largest consumer of cotton in the world.It produces about six million tonnes of cotton every year which is about 23 per cent of the world cotton. She said,  India produces about 51 per cent of the total organic cotton production of the world

APPOINTMENTS

Motilal Oswal Home Finance appoints Arvind Hali as new MD & CEO
Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd (MOFSL) has appointed Arvind Hali as the new Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of its housing finance company Motilal Oswal Home Finance Limited (MOHFL).

• It has also appointed Amar Bahl as the Deputy Managing Director & COO of the company

Govt appoints M Rajeshwar Rao as new deputy governor of RBI
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet appointed M Rajeshwar Rao as the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

• Currently, BP Kanungo, MK Jain and Micheal Patra are the deputy governors.Rao will take charge as the fourth deputy governor. The post became vacant after N S Vishwanathan demitted office in March citing health reasons just before his tenure was to end.
• Prior to this, he was the chief general manager of the financial markets operations department.

Govt appoints J Venkatramu as MD, CEO of India Post Payments Bank
A Cabinet panel appointed J Venkatramu as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of India Post Payments Bank for three years from the date of assumption of the charge of the post, or till the date of his superannuation, or until further orders, whichever is the earlier.

• Venkatramu will take over the post of Suresh Sethi who had served as founder MD and CEO of the payments banks till March, much before his tenure ended.
• He is currently chief digital officer at Equitas Small Finance Bank.

AWARDS

Two Scientists Win Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Crispr Gene Editing
Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the U.S. won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for the gene-editing technique known as the CRISPR-Cas9 DNA snipping “scissors.

• This is the first time a Nobel science prize has gone to a women-only team.

National Startup Awards 2020 announced
Hyderabad headquartered startup Dhruva Space has bagged National Startup Awards 2020 in the space category. Dhruva space was founded in 2012 and it is the first private space technology company in India.

• A total of 38 startups were awarded, one in each of the 35 categories and 3 special categories in the 12 sectors.
• The winning startup founders will get a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh and an opportunity to present their solutions to relevant public authorities and corporates. Incubators and accelerators will get Rs. 15 lakh as the winning amount.

List of National Startup Awards 2020:

Agriculture

• Allied Areas: Cornext Agri Products Pvt Ltd
• Farmer Engagement and Education: Mandya Organic
• Post-Harvest: Intello Labs
• Productivity: Nava Design Innovation & Innovation

Education

• Access to Institutional Education: Robotguru Education Technologies
• Access to Open Education: Kickhead Softwares

Energy

• Clean Energy: Aloe E-Cell
• Energy Efficiency: Esyasoft

Enterprise Technology

• Enterprise Solutions: Unnati Online

Fintech

• Finance: BharatPe or Resilient Innovations

Food

• Access to Food: Food Cloud
• Food Processing: God’s Own Food Solutions

Health

• Access to Healthcare: Wellthy Therapeutics
• Diagnostics: Niramai Health Analytix
• Life Sciences: Bonayu Lifesciences
• Medical Devices: Innaumation Medical Devices

Industry 4.0

• Big Data: Uptimeai Tech
• Internet of Things: Minionlabs India
• 3D Printing: Fabheads Automation
• Augmented Reality Products/Wearables: Scapic Innovations
• Robotics: Planys Technologies
• Computer Vision: Gingermind Technologies

Security

• Citizen Security Solutions: Staqu Technologies
• Cyber Security: Lucideus Tech

Space

• Launch Vehicles: Skyroot Aerospace
• Satellite Technology: Dhruva Space / Bellatrix Aerospace

Tourism

• Hospitality: Feeinsta Consulting & Services
• Travel Planning and Discovery: Param People Infotech

Urban Services

• Construction Development Monitoring Solutions: SnPC Machines
• Traffic Management: Wickedride Adventure Services
• Waste Management: Sukriti Social Foundation
• Water and Water Networks: Taraltec Solutions

Other Winners

• Top Incubator: Villgro Innovations Foundation
• Top Accelerator: Brigade Real Estate Accelerator Program (REAP)
• Campus Initiated Startups: Genrobotic Innovations
• Startups Having a Rural Impact: Bodhami
• Women-Led Startups: Azooka Labs

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Government of India launches website to enable startup discovery in India
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal trade launched an online discovery platform called ‘Startup India Showcase’ to spread awareness about and capture the details of some of India’s most promising startups.

• The website will include startups from across sectors such as fintech, enterprise tech, social impact, healthtech, and edtech, among others.
• The startups mentioned on the website will be handpicked by experts, and will go through multiple screening and evaluation rounds.

API integration between PM SVANidhi Portal and SBI portal launched
Under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, had launched the Application Programming Interface (API) integration between the PM SVANidhi Portal and the State Bank of India (SBI) portal.

• The API integration will facilitate seamless flow of data between the PM SVANidhi Portal and SBI’s eMudra Portal
• The integration will secure the payment environment and expedite the loan sanctioning and disbursement process.

Russia Successfully Test-Launches ‘Tsirkon’ Hypersonic Missile
Russia has successfully test-fired its highly touted hypersonic cruise missile called Tsirkon in the waters of northwestern Russia.

• The missile traveled four and a half minutes at the hypersonic speed of more than Mach 8 and a maximum altitude of 28 kilometers.

OBITUARIES

Veteran Actor Vishal Anand passes away
Veteran actor Vishal Anand, best known for featuring in the 1976 hit film Chalte Chalte, passed away following a prolonged illness. He was 82.

• His real name was Bhishmam Kohli. He has appeared in 11 Hindi films during his acting careers like Hindustan Ki Kasam and Taxi Driver. Apart from acting, Anand had also directed and produced a few films, including Chalte Chalte.

Former CBI director Ashwani Kumar passes away
Ashwani Kumar, a former Director of the CBI and former Governor of Manipur and Nagaland, was found dead at his residence in Shimla. He was 69.

• Kumar was the Director General of Police, Himachal Pradesh, before being appointed the director of CBI from August 2008 to November 2010.
• From March 2013 to July 2014, he served as the Governor of Nagaland and also held the additional charge of Governor of Manipur for some time.

Rock Legend Eddie Van Halen  passes away
Eddie Van Halen, the guitar virtuoso whose group is considered one of the greatest rock bands of all time, passed away following a long battle with cancer. He was 65.

• Van Halen founded the rock group with his older brother Alex in the early 1970s and quickly earned a fan base.
• He was famous for what became known as “finger tapping” playing the guitar with two hands, like a piano.
• He was also known for his guitars, including one named Frankenstein which he pieced together from part of other instruments. Among the group’s classics are ‘Jump’, ‘Panama’, ‘Runnin with the Devil’, and the guitar solo ‘Eruption’.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Cotton Day
The World Cotton day is celebrated on 7 October as a global celebration of cotton and its stakeholders, from field to fabric and beyond.

• The main objective of World Cotton day is to celebrate the advantages of cotton, ranging from its qualities as a natural fibre to the benefits people obtain from its production, transformation, trade and consumption

Indian Air Force Day 
Indian Air Force day is observed on October 8 every year to mark the establishment anniversary of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on October 8, 1932.

• This year Indian Air Force celebrate it’s 88th anniversary of the Indian Air Force, also known as Bharatiya Vayu Sena.
• The commemoration marked by a fly past by a host of aircraft and choppers, including the newly inducted Rafale fighter jets.

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