Weekly CA Quiz: October 2020 2nd week

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

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.

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.

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.

A Cabinet panel appointed J Venkatramu as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of India Post Payments Bank for three years.
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.

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.

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’s (SBI) e-Mudra portal.

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.

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

India’s GDP is expected to contract by 9.6% in the fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21), the World Bank said in its report titled ‘South Asia Economic Focus’. The World Bank earlier in June had estimated the Indian economy to shrink by 3.2% in the current fiscal.
South Asia as a region is set to plunge into its worst ever recession with a sharper than expected contraction of 7.7%.
India’s growth is projected to rebound to 5.4% in FY22, mostly reflecting base effects, assuming Covid19 -related restrictions are completely lifted by 2022. As per the bank, weak activity, domestically and abroad, is also likely to depress both Indian imports and exports.

The Indian economy will contract 9.5% in fiscal 2021 due to disruptions caused by the covid-19 pandemic that has hit economic activities, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

Zurich Airport International has signed the concession agreement for the development of Jewar Airport on the outskirts of Delhi, India. The first phase of Noida International Airport is expected to be completed in 2024.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the tenure of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) R. K. Chhibber by another six months.

World Sight Day, observed annually on the second Thursday of October, is a global event meant to draw attention on blindness and vision impairment.
This year, World Sight Day will take place on 8 October 2020 with the theme: Hope In Sight.

The World Food Program won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity around the globe.

Nilesh Shah has been re-elected as the Chairman of Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), at the recently concluded Board Meeting of AMFI.

The Reserve Bank of India has said that the two per cent interest subvention scheme for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on loans offered by co-operative banks has been extended till 31st of March next year.

The poet Louise Glück has become the first American woman to win the Nobel prize for literature in 27 years, cited for “her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”.

Union Minister for Education Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually inaugurated the Gyan Circle Ventures, a MeitY funded Technology Business Incubator (TBI) of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh through Video Conference.

The Reserve Bank of India in its bi-monthly Monetary Policy statement issued, has maintained a status quo keeping the key interest rates unchanged. The reverse repo rate remains unchanged at 3.35 per cent, the repo rate at 4 per cent.

In a business-friendly move, the Reserve Bank of India said that Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), used for large value transactions, will be made available round-the-clock from December. In December 2019, the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system was made available on a 24x7x365 basis.

Goa has become the first Har Ghar Jal State in the country by providing tap water connection to every rural household. The state has provided tap water connection to two lakh 30 thousand rural households.

At the time when country is encouraged to be aatmanirbhar, the Commonwealth Games medallist shuttler Chetan Anand will be sporting India’s first-ever homegrown professional badminton brand “Transform” that was launched recently.

The World Trade Organization upgraded its forecast for trade in goods this year to a level still comparable to the decline during the global financial crisis, but better than initially predicted due to a rebound in June and July.
The WTO said that global merchandise trade would fall by 9.2% this year and then increase by 7.2% in 2021.

Justice KK Usha, the former Chief Justice of Kerala High Court died at the age of 81 in Kochi.
KK Usha was the first woman to be directly elevated to the HC bench from the bar.

The two-day half-yearly coastal security exercise, Sagar Kavach, along the Kerala and Karnataka coasts ended recently. Conducted by the Navy and the Coast Guard, the exercise had participation by all coastal security stakeholders.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat launched the Mukhya Mantri Saur Swarojgar Yojana for self-employment by solar energy farming at the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali auditorium in Dehradun.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, remains the wealthiest Indian for the 13th consecutive year on Forbes India list, which has recently been released.
List of India’s top 5 richest persons
1. Mukesh Ambani (88.7 billion dollar)
2. Gautam Adani (25.2 billion dollar)
3. Shiv Nadar (20.4 billion dollar)
4. Radhakishan Damani (15.4 billion dollar)
5. Hinduja brothers (12.8 billion dollar)

India successfully test-fired Rudram 1, the tactical anti-radiation missile that the Indian Air Force can launch from its Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets to take down enemy radars and surveillance systems.

The World Health Organisation recognises World Mental Health Day on 10 October every year for global mental heatlh education, awareness, advocacy against the social stigma that is often attached to it.
This year’s theme set by the World Federation for Mental Health is ‘mental health for all’.

Sarah Hall has become the first writer to win the BBC national short story award twice, with judges describing her as a virtuoso of the form.
Hall, who previously took the £15,000 prize in 2013, won the annual competition again for The Grotesques, a “timeless and unsettling” story that explores privilege, inequality and mother-daughter relationships in a university town.

Assam Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal launched the Kisan Rath (fruits and vegetables) mobile application to facilitate timely selling of agriculture products by promoting buyer-seller network in a programme held at the Assam Administrative Staff College.

HDFC Bank and Apollo Hospitals have joined hands to launch The HealthyLife Programme, a holistic healthcare solution which makes healthy living accessible and affordable on Apollo’s digital platform, Apollo 24/7.

LIC Housing Finance Ltd(LICHFL) launched “Project RED” (Reimagining Excellence through Digital transformation) to improve efficiencies at every level of the organisation.
Project RED aims to create value across the entire spectrum of stakeholders that includes employees, shareholders, business associates, existing and potential customers of LICHFL.

The World Day Against the Death Penalty is organised on the 10th October by the World Coalition against the Death Penalty (WCADP) of which FIACAT is a founding member and member of the steering committee.
The theme for 2020 is “Access to counsel – A matter of life or death.”

Every year, October 12 is observed as World Arthritis Day to raise awareness about Arthritis around the world.
The theme of the World Arthritis Day 2020 is “Time2Work”.

In the country’s first and unique drive, the Goa Agriculture department has collaborated with the Postal Department to enroll 11,000 farmers, eligible to avail the benefit of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-KISAN), under which small and marginal farmers get up to Rs 6,000 per year as minimum income support.

Rafael Nadal scripted history by winning a record-extending 13th French Open title as he lifted his 20th Grand Slam trophy and equalled Roger Federer’s record for most Major titles.

Lewis Hamilton has won the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, held at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scheme to distribute property cards under the Svamitva scheme through video conference.
The scheme aims to provide the ‘record of rights’ to village household owners in rural areas and issue Property Cards.

Recalling the legacy of Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia on her birth centenary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a commemorative coin of Rs 100 in her honour.

The International Day of the Girl Child is being celebrated every year on October 11. The theme of International Day of the Girl 2020 is “My voice, our equal future”.

World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is observed every year on the second Saturday of May and October.
This year the theme of World Migratory Bird Day is “Birds Connect Our World”.

Young Indian player Nihal Sarin emerged winner in the Chess.com’s 2020 Junior Speed Online Chess Championship, beating Russia’s world junior No. 6 Alexey Sarana 18-7 in the final.

The Delhi Cabinet at a meeting approved the ‘Tree Transplantation Policy’ for the preservation of trees in the Capital. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Cabinet also gave its nod for the installation of the second smog tower in the world at Connaught Place within ten months.

Argentina has approved HB4 drought-resistant GMO wheat, making it the first country in the world to approve a strain of GMO wheat.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Leave Travel Concession (LTC) cash voucher scheme and a special festival advance of Rs 10,000 to all government employees to increase consumer spending.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has declared the state public education sector completely digital as Kerala has become the first state in the country to have high-tech classrooms in all its public schools.

India has fared poorly in protecting labour rights and has slipped to rank 151 among 158 countries, according to Oxfam’s Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRII) report.
Overall, India ranked 129 in the CRI index out of 158 countries on government policies, and actions in areas of public services of education, health, social protection, taxation, and workers’ rights. Norway topped the CRI index.

In Tennis, Polish teenager Iga Swiatek has become the new French Open Champion. She beat the American Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin in the Women Singles final by 6-4, 6-1.

All India Football Federation, the apex body for the sport of football in the country, announced the launch of their new motto ‘Indian Football. Forward Together’, defining the new brand direction.

Former racer Akbar Ebrahim was unanimously elected for a second term as the president of India’s motorsports governing body, FMSCI.
Farooq Ahmed was unanimously elected as the vice-president.

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Economics, also called the Memorial Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economics, has been awarded to a pair of Stanford professors – Professor Paul R Milgrom and Professor Robert B Wilson for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.

A former intelligence officer with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), GBS Sidhu has written the book titled “The Khalistan Conspiracy”.

Former India football captain Carlton Chapman, who had formed a deadly trio in club football with Bhaichung Bhutia and IM Vijayan in the 1990s passed away. He was 49.

World Standards Day is an international day celebrated internationally each year on 14 October.
The theme of World Standards Day 2020 is “Protecting the planet with standards.”

World Calamity Control Day also known as the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is a United Nations designated day observed on October 13 every year. The World Calamity Day dedicated to disaster risk reduction was started in 1989.
The theme of International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2020 is “Disaster risk governance”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the autobiography of late multiple term Lok Sabha MP Dr Balasaheb Vikhe Patil.
The autobiography is titled ‘Deh Vechava Karani’ or dedicating one’s life for a noble cause.
The prime minister also renamed the Pravara Rural Education Society to ‘Loknete Dr Balasaheb Vikhe Patil Pravara Rural Education Society.’

In a bid to increase credit flow to small businesses, the RBI raised banks’ maximum aggregate retail exposure limit to entities with turnover up to ₹50 crore to ₹7.5 crore, up from ₹5 crore.
In another notification, the RBI said it has been decided to extend the dispensation of the enhanced Held to Maturity (HTM) limit of 22 per cent for SLR securities acquired between September 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, up to March 31, 2022.

The Indian economy, severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, is projected to contract by a massive 10.3 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund said.
However, India is likely to bounce back with an impressive 8.8 percent growth rate in 2021, thus regaining the position of the fastest growing emerging economy, surpassing China’s projected growth rate of 8.2 percent, the IMF said in its latest ”World Economic Outlook” report.

India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a 300 million US dollar loan to finance inclusive and sustainable water supply and sanitation infrastructure and services in 14 secondary towns of the state of Rajasthan.

The Tribal Affairs Ministry launched an initiative that focuses on imparting entrepreneurship and business skills to tribals in Chhattisgarh.
The initiative, Tech For Tribals, was launched in association with Chhattisgarh MFP Federation and IIT, Kanpur.

The government has selected Hughes Communications India to connect 5,000 village panchayats in border and Naxal-affected states as well as in island territories with satellite broadband under BharatNet project by March 2021.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $270 million loan to develop water supply and integrated stormwater and sewage management infrastructure and strengthen capacities of urban local bodies (ULBs) for improved service delivery in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

Merchant payment network BharatPe has elevated Dhruv Bahl as its chief operating officer (COO) with immediate effect.