Weekly CA Quiz: December 2021 1st week

The Centre has formed a three-member committee to review the criteria for reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment announced.

Continuing its promotional campaign of offbeat tourist destinations in the valley, tourism department Kashmir in collaboration with district administration Kulgam organised a day-long Aharbal festival in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

Merriam-Webster announced that “vaccine” was its word of the year for 2021.

The world’s first “floating city” will be built off the coast of South Korea — and it will be hurricane-proof, flood-proof and self-sustaining.

State Bank of India (SBI) has signed an agreement with Usha International Limited (UIL) for empowering women entrepreneurs by providing financial assistance.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of USD 125 million (around Rs 938 crore) for water supply and sanitation projects in Uttarakhand.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded the board of directors of Reliance Capital Ltd , belonging to the Anil Ambani group, in view of the defaults by RCL in meeting the various payment obligations to its creditors and serious governance concerns which the board has not been able to address effectively.

The government approved sale of Central Electronics Ltd to Nandal Finance and Leasing for Rs 210 crore, marking the second strategic disinvestment of the current fiscal.

India’s Gross domestic product, GDP, for the second quarter of the current fiscal logged fastest growth among major economies in the world.

 The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has elected Major General Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi, inspector general of the UAE’s Ministry of Interior, as its new president.

Sweden’s first female prime minister Magdalena Andersson has been reappointed as the head of the country’s government, less than a week after she resigned within hours of taking the job.

 The book titled ‘Indian Innings: The Journey of Indian Cricket from 1947’ written by Ayaz Memon has been released recently.

The Delhi government launched the ‘Business Blasters’ programme, a first-of-its-kind televised event that will give students of classes 11 and 12 of schools run by it an opportunity to present their start-up ideas to investors and obtain investment capital to take them to the next level.

The government has estimated a saving of over ₹44,000 crore in fiscal 2020-21 with the help of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mechanism.

The State-level Scheme Sanctioning Committee (SLSSC) has approved drinking water supply schemes worth one thousand 816 Crore rupees for Rajasthan.

 The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment announced the formation of a three-member committee to review the criteria for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) reservations.

The government has approved the continuation of the Scheme for Investment Promotion (SIP) for five years (2021-26) with a financial outlay of Rs 970 crore, according to a notification of the commerce and industry ministry.

Tel Aviv has been ranked the world’s most expensive city to live in thanks to the rapid rise in inflation that has pushed up the cost of a whole range of goods and services across the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

India and European Union (EU) have agreed to step up their Clean Energy and Climate Partnership.

Global trade is expected to reach $28 trillion in 2021, up 23% from last year, according to a report issued by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in November grew 25 per cent to Rs 1.31 lakh crore — second highest since its implementation — indicating economic recovery with normalisation of business activity and increased compliance.

The Centre has said the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi has been adjudged the ‘Best Airport in India and Central Asia’ this year by Skytrax.

Barbados has declared Rihanna a national hero after removing Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and entering a new era as a republic.

With a commitment to enhance regional connectivity throughout the country, Star Air has had an incredible and exciting journey during the winter schedule of October 2020. It has been voted as the airline with the highest average passenger load factor on RCS flights by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a leadership Forum on Financial Technology (FinTech) via virtual conference.This is the first edition of the summit.

 India joined the G20 ‘Troika’. With this move, India has started the procedure for taking over the G20 presidency next year.

nine-day joint maritime exercise between Bangladesh and the United States (US) has commenced in the Bay of Bengal.

Private sector lender Federal Bank has launched a feature-rich savings bank product for women.

Paytm, the digital payment company, will train 6000 individuals over three years, to make them ready for the fintech domain. The tech company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect, with the Directorate of General Training (DGT), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

State Bank of India (SBI) has recently inked an agreement with Adani Capital Private Ltd(Adani Capital), the NBFC arm of Adani Group, for co-lending to farmers for purchase of tractor and farm implements.

State Bank of India, the country’s largest commercial bank, dual listed its $650 million green bonds simultaneously on the India International Exchange (India INX) and Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE).

States have budgeted to bring down their deficits by a full percentage point from last year, as revenue improved in sync with lift in pandemic-related restrictions, but the local bodies have been badly hit by the pandemic and must be allowed functional autonomy, said a report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The urban unemployment rate has increased to 9.3% in the January-March 2021 period from 9.1% in the year-ago period, according to a periodic labour force survey by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

S&P Global Ratings said in a note that it has kept India’s economic growth forecast in the fiscal year to March 2022 unchanged at 9.5% but raised its predictions for the subsequent year on broadening out of the recovery.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) pared its growth forecast for India from 9.7% estimated earlier to 9.4% for this fiscal even as it maintained that the ongoing economic recovery is gaining traction, supported by progress in vaccination, which is boosting consumer sentiment.

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra has been appointed as the Chairman of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC).

Director Naomi Kawase, winner of several Cannes awards, was named UNESCO goodwill ambassador, becoming the first Japanese woman to hold this post, according to the permanent delegation of Japan to the UN organization.

 International Monetary Fund Chief Economist, Gita Gopinath is set to take over from Geoffrey Okamoto as the institution’s No. 2 official. It is going to be a historic movement when International Monetary Fund has the female at its first two leading positions.

The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) has been ranked ‘number one Cooperative‘ among the top 300 cooperatives in the world, withholding its position from last year.

Legendary Indian athlete Anju Bobby George has been bestowed with the Woman of the Year Award by World Athletics (WA) for grooming talent in the country and advocating gender equality.

Bihar bagged gold medal in the 40th India International Trade Fair (IITF) held at Pragati Maidan in Delhi for “excellence in display” in state government/union territory pavilion category.

The 22nd edition of Hornbill Festival has been celebrated with colourful renditions of traditional music, dances, and contemporary in one roof at Naga Heritage village Kisama

China launched the first USD 6 billion cross-border train of its multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from Laos, which Beijing says will help the small and only landlocked country in South East Asia turn into a land-linked hub, boost regional connectivity and supply chain resilience.

South Sudan’s Government has promised to end child marriage by 2030 in line with the African Union’s campaign to end child marriages in the continent.

Pakistan has been elected as the following Chair of the Group of 77 for the yr 2022 with Islamabad promising a improvement agenda specializing in debt restructuring, concessional financing, local weather finance and ending illicit monetary flows.

Bihar’s shotgun shooter Shreyashi Singh won her second women’s trap title at the National Championship.

Eminent Indian-American mathematician Nikhil Srivastava, has been jointly selected for the inaugural $5,000 Ciprian Foias Prize for the “highly original work” in Operator Theory by the American Mathematical Society (AMS).

Digital payments platform Paytm announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Paytm Moneyhas launched Portfolio Management Services (PMS) Marketplace for HNI (High Networth Individuals) investors.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $500 million loan to the Government of India to help improve the quality of the country’s school education and mitigate the impact of the Covid-19) pandemic on students’ learning.

Pradip Shah, the founder of IndAsia Fund Advisors, has been appointed chairman of the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL).

India will have nine nuclear reactors by the year 2024. This Minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions Jitendra Singh said this in the Rajya Sabha on behalf of the Centre.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has informed that one lakh 60 thousand crore rupees has been transferred to the farmers in their bank accounts directly under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme so far.

The union housing & urban affairs ministry has extended the timeline for the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission to June 2023 due to the Covid pandemic and other reasons.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov arrives in New Delhi for his official visit.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that the government’s aim is to achieve the defence export target of 35,000 crore rupees by 2024-25.

The government has set a target to open about ten thousand five hundred Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Kendras (PMBJK’s), by March 2025 across the country.

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar has stressed on the importance of respecting and facilitating freedom of navigation and overflight and unimpeded commerce in a globalised world. He said this while addressing the fifth Indian Ocean Conference in Abu Dhabi,UAE.

Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Ltd has launched India’s first exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the Nifty Alpha 50 Index, which tracks the performance of 50 stocks with high alphas in the past one year.

Gujarat has pipped Maharashtra to emerge the largest manufacturing hub in the country, with the former’s Gross Value Addition (GVA) in manufacturing growing 15.9 per cent annually on average between FY12 and FY20 to touch Rs 5.11 lakh crore, according to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

In double joy for India, a project on holistic urban revitalisation of the historic Nizamuddin Basti community in Delhi, has brought laurels for the country in two categories in this year’s UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr Virendra Kumar launched Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas (SRESHTA) for socio-economic upliftment and overall development of Scheduled Castes students.

The Centre has said it has initiated a Scheme for the Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India.

The 11th edition of Exercise EKUVERIN between India and Maldives will be conducted at Kadhdhoo Island, Maldives. It will conclude on 19th of this month.

Cambridge Dictionary has announced perseverance as its Word of the Year 2021.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) said it has launched PNB Pride-CRMD module tool, an android-based application for differently-abled employees, to monitor and effectively follow up with the special mention account (SMA) borrowers.

To make daily transactions of its customers more secure and easier, J&K Bank launched its revised and refurbished Mobile Banking App mPay Delight for the public.

Pranjala Yadlapalli clinched the KSLTA ITF World Tour Championships women’s singles titlebeating Sowjanya Bhavisetti, in Bengaluru.

Adama Barrow has comfortably won a second term in The Gambia’s presidential election, with thousands of supporters celebrating and opponents disputing the results.

The Government has appointed Alka Upadhyaya as chairperson of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Upadhyaya is a 1990-batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre and is serving as Additional Secretary, Department of Rural Development.