Weekly CA Quiz: November 2020 3rd week

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked banks to ensure all accounts are Aadhaar-seeded and linked with Permanent Account Number (PAN) by March 31, 2021.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has said that it has approved Google picking up 7.73% stake in Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Platforms for ₹33,737 crore, facilitating the internet major and Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL) to develop and launch Android smartphones in India.

The Union government has extended the tenure of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra by a year after modifying his appointment order that was issued in 2018.

Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, Queen Mother of Bhutan, was announced as the individual laureate for the 2020 United Nations Population Award. HelpAge India was announced as the award’s institutional laureate.

The Delhi government launched the Jeevan Seva app to aid Delhi’s Covid patients and their families for a safe commute to hospitals and healthcare facilities in the city.
The app, launched in collaboration with EVERA will use electric vehicles as ambulances to transfer non-critical cases to healthcare facilities in Delhi, free of cost.

Delhi-based author Rachna Bisht Rawat just launched the book titled “Insomnia: Army Stories” , featuring stories based on life in the armed forces.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveils the “Statue of Peace” in Rajasthan’s Pali district via video-conferencing to mark the 151st birth anniversary celebrations of Jain monk Acharya Shree Vijay Vallabh Surishwer Ji Maharaj.
The 151-inch-tall statue is made of “ashtadhatu” (eight metals with copper being the major constituent) and is being installed at the Vijay Vallabh Sadhana Kendra, Jetpura, in Rajasthan’s Pali.

The world’s first library for children on a tram would be launched in Kolkata on Children’s Day, which is celebrated to commemorate first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary.
The tram would run on Shyambazar-Esplanade and Esplanade-Gariahat routes, spanning across north and south Kolkata, every day from morning to evening.

A three-month marketing campaign to give attention to consciousness technology and early intervention with regard to childhood pneumonia, enabling caregivers throughout the nation to establish vital signs at earlier phases and set off immediate care-seeking with certified suppliers, was launched by the Union Ministry of Family Welfare (MoHFW).
The initiative targets to reduce lower than 5 pneumonia deaths, per a 1000 reside births, to lower than three deaths by 2025 via the accelerated SAANS (Social Action and Awareness to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully) initiative.

India’s retail inflation rose to the highest in more than six years on account of elevated food prices. According to Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, inflation stood at 7.61% in October — the highest since May 2014. Retail inflation recorded at 7.27% in September, according to data.

Lewis Hamilton has won the Turkish Grand Prix 2020 at Istanbul Park, Turkey. Sergio Perez secured the second position and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari finished third.

Navneet Munot has been appointed as managing director and chief executive officer of HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Rajasthan’s Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Bhanwarlal Meghwal died at a private hospital in Gurugram after prolonged illness. He was 71.

Vijayanagara, which will be carved out of Ballari district, is set to be Karnataka’s 31st district after Cabinet nod.

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched the global strategy to fast track the eradication of cervical cancer. WHO aims to reduce more than 40% of new cases and 5 million related deaths by 2050, with a combination of vaccination, screening and treatment.

Private sector lenders HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank have been put in the so-called ‘red flag’ list, a system used for monitoring foreign portfolio investor (FPI) limits. A listed company enters the list when the available legroom for overseas investment is less than 3 per cent of the permissible limit.

HDFC Bank Ltd. announced the launch of “Mooh Band Rakho,” a campaign to increase awareness on cyber frauds and preventing them.

Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, DIPAM signed an agreement with World Bank.
Under the agreement, World Bank is to provide advisory services to DIPAM for asset monetization.

Reserve Bank of India has announced the names of two startups that have been selected as a part of its regulatory sandbox programme.
The two companies are Jaipur based Natural Support Consultancy Services Private Limited and New Delhi based Nucleus Software Exports Limited.
While the former has named its product ‘eRupaya’, which will facilitate offline Person-to-Merchant transactions and offline digital payments in remote locations. The second company’s product ‘PaySe’, proposes to help in digitisation of payments in rural areas, starting with Self Help Groups, through an offline payment solution and a digitised SHG-centered ecosystem.

Equitas Small Finance Bank has launched a new product aimed at women. ‘Eva’, a unique savings account, tries to address the well-being of Indian women in every aspect such as health, wealth and prosperity.
Equitas Small Finance Bank also announced Smriti Mandhana – an Indian Woman cricketer as the new brand ambassador.

In Maharashtra, the first solar power-enabled Textile Mill in Asia is coming up in Parbhani district.
The Jai Bhawani women’s cooperative textile mill will be the first in Asia that will operate on solar power.

The Women’s Under-17 football World Cup in India, which was initially postponed to next year due to COVID-19 pandemic, was cancelled by FIFA, but India was handed the hosting rights of the 2022 edition.
The FIFA cancelled both the women’s U-17 World Cup and U-20 World Cup which were scheduled to be held in India and Costa Rica respectively but handed both the countries the hosting rights of the 2022 editions.

Actor Sonu Sood has been appointed as state icon of Punjab by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a statue of Swami Vivekananda in the JNU campus in New Delhi through video conferencing.

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that, the state government has decided to set up a Gau Cabinet for the protection and promotion of cows in the state.

Arunachal Pradesh recorded the best sex ratio in India with 1,085 females born per thousand males, followed by Kerala at 963 and Karnataka at 957.The report was released by the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner.
Manipur, which recorded the lowest sex ratio, was followed by Lakshadweep at 839 and Daman & Diu at 877, Punjab at 896 and Gujarat at 896.

Vancouver-based Resonance Consultancy Ltd., which deals in real estate, released its “World’s Best Cities for 2021” list, naming London as the best city.
London was followed by USA’s New York. Only one Indian city Delhi, made it to the list, taking the 62nd position.

India’s Artificial Intelligence supercomputer Param Siddhi has achieved 63rd rank among top 500 most powerful non-distributed computer systems in the world.
Param Siddhi, the high-performance computing-artificial intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer established under National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) at C-DAC.

Karnataka Bank launched CASA (current account, savings account) mobilisation campaign which will run from November 17 to March 4, 2021.

According to Goldman Sachs, the global investment bank, India’s gross domestic product is to contract 10.3% in 2020-21 against a contraction of 14.8% forecast in September.

Sudeep Tyagi, who played for the Indian national cricket team in four ODIs and a lone T20I as a fast bowler, announced his retirement from all forms of the game.

World COPD Day is observed on every third Wednesday of November. This year the day falls on 18 November 2020.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a term used to define a group of progressive lung diseases. The 2020 theme for World COPD Day will be “Living Well with COPD – Everybody, Everywhere”.

World Toilet Day is observed every year on November 19 to create awareness about sanitation and encourage people to use toilets. World Toilet Day 2020 was celebrated with the theme of ‘Sustainable sanitation and climate change’.

World Philosophy Day is observed on the third Thursday of November every year to strengthen people’s commitment to philosophy by fostering philosophical analysis, research, and studies on major contemporary issues. It also raises awareness about the importance of philosophy.
The 2020 edition of World Philosophy Day, to be celebrated this year on November 19 and November 20.
The theme of World Philosophy Day 2020 is the importance of philosophy in times of crisis.

Mumbai has become the first city in India to design a plan for development of designated spaces for women’s needs. The city has designed an urban plan with gender-focus on reserving physical and social infrastructure for women.

India is ranked 77th in the global list of trade bribery risks of 2020 with 45 points. Trade bribery risk is included in 194 countries, regions and autonomous and semi-autonomous regions in the list of anti-bribery standard setting organization TRACE.
North Korea topped.

November 19 marks International Men’s Day all around the world. The objective of this day is to focus on men’s and boys’ health, improving gender relations, and promoting gender equality.
This year, International Men’s Day theme is “Better health for men and boys” intending to make practical improvements to the health and wellbeing of the male population.

Every year, World Antimicrobial Awareness Week observed from November 18 to 24.
The slogan for 2020 will be “Antimicrobials: handle with care” applicable to all sectors. The theme for the human health sector for WAAW 2020 is “United to preserve antimicrobials”.

The book titled ‘Reporting India: My Seventy-Year Journey as a Journalist’ by veteran journalist Prem Prakash has been released recently.

The Indian Navy received the ninth Poseidon 8I maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft from the US at its naval airbase in Goa, under a USD 1.1 billion deal. It is the first of the four additional planes ordered.

Bhubaneswar becomes the 1st city in the entire country to receive the ISO-9001:2015 certification for effective Faecal Sludge & Septage Management FSSM services.

Maia Sandu, a Harvard-educated economist who supports closer ties with the European Union, has won a presidential election in Moldova against an incumbent whom President Vladimir V. Putin had openly endorsed.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its GDP projection for India in 2020-21 to a 10.6% contraction compared to a 11.5% drop it had estimated.

Global forecasting firm Oxford Economics revised downwards its India growth forecast over the medium term to an average 4.5 per cent over 2020-25, from its pre-pandemic projection of 6.5 per cent.

Barclays has modestly revised its FY21 GDP forecast downwards to -6.4 per cent from -6 per cent earlier, to reflect the marginally weaker incoming data than it had earlier anticipated.

Yes Bank said it has launched a co-branded prepaid card named ‘Yes Bank Neokred Card’, in partnership with Neokred Technologies to facilitate cashless payments.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited and the New Development Bank signed a loan agreement for lending 500 million dollars for the ‘Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Project’.

The Government of India, Meghalaya government and the World Bank signed a 120 million dollar project to improve and modernise the transport sector of Meghalaya.

World Fisheries day is celebrated every year on November 21 throughout the world by the fisherfolk communities.
The World Fisheries Day 2020 celebrated under the theme Social Responsibility in the fisheries value chain.

In a major feat and a first of its kind in the state, North Police Station Kohima in Nagaland has been awarded an ISO certification.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) launched the Lilavati Award to acknowledge efforts undertaken to empower women in the country. The award was launched by the Minister of Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank via a virtual conference.

Scottish writer Douglas Stuart, whose debut novel Shuggie Bain narrates the story of a boy growing up in Glasgow in the 1980s, has won the 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction from a shortlist that included Indian-origin writer Avni Doshi’s Burnt Sugar.

Private lender ICICI Bank has launched a fully digital mode of payment at leading retail stores. Titled as ‘ICICI Bank Cardless EMI’ (Equated Monthly Instalments), the facility will help lakhs of its pre-approved customers in buying their favourite gadgets or home appliances with the help of their mobile phone and PAN.
ICICI Bank is the first lender in India to introduce a fully digital, cardless EMI facility at retail stores.

To enable women entrepreneurs to launch, grow and thrive, Mastercard and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced their partnership to launch Project Kirana.
A two-year programme, the project will first be rolled out in select cities of Uttar Pradesh – Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi.

Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ was conferred with the Vatayan Lifetime Achievement Award at a virtual ceremony.
The Vatayan award has been given to Pokhriyal for his excellent contribution to the literary works of India.

The Asian Development Bank said it has approved a USD 50 million loan to improve operational efficiencies and resource planning and management in West Bengal.
The loan will support the integration of financial and information system and the expansion of automation reforms in the operations of the state government, which are expected to strengthen the delivery of public services and create fiscal savings.

India has become the fourth country in the world to have its independent regional navigation satellite system recognised by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as a part of the World Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS).
The other three countries that have its navigation systems recognised by the IMO are the US, Russia and China.

The Comptroller & Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu has been elected as External Auditor of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), Geneva for three years.

Critically-acclaimed books by three Indian writers have featured among this year’s ‘100 Notable Books’ list of The New York Times that also includes former US president Barack Obama’s newly released memoir ‘A Promised Land’.
The prestigious list also includes the work of fiction ‘A Burning’ by India-born Megha Majumdar.
‘Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line’ by Deepa Anappara, who grew up in Kerala, also features on the list.
Samanth Subramanian’s ‘A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J. B. S. Haldane’ is a nonfiction work.