Weekly CA Quiz: September 2020 2nd week

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Patrika Gate in Jaipur through video conferencing.
The iconic gate is built by the Patrika Group of Newspapers on the Jawaharlal Nehru Marg in Jaipur.

The 35th Session of the Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific held virtually on a videoconferencing platform, on an exceptional basis, in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health concerns.
The Conference was held under the Chair of the Host Country, Bhutan.

Mahindra Finance is set to enter the business of online insurance broking giving digital services to the customers of its insurance brokerage subsidiary, Mahindra Insurance Brokers, through a soon-to-be launched portal called PayBima.
The new portal would play a role in the transformation of Mahindra’s insurance broking services to a “phygital” model.

An awareness cum sensitization programme for newly proposed Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) was organized by NABARD in coordination with District Administration in Anantnag, J & K.

Assam State Rural Livelihoods Mission (ASRLM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB) to work in cohesion in support of Bank Linkage of the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Producer Groups/ Enterprises under ASRLM.
ASRLM is the first amongst all the State Livelihood Missions to initiate the signing of MoU with the new generation small finance banks.

The very first International Day of Clean Air for blue skies observed on September 7th, 2020, following the recognition by the United Nations General Assembly of the importance of clean air for the health and day-to-day lives of people.

International Literacy Day is observed every year on 8 September in an effort to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals and communities around the world.
The theme of International Literacy Day 2020 is “Literacy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.”

The Finance Ministry said more than 42 crore people have received Rs 68,820-crore financial assistance under the government’s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKP) to protect poor and vulnerable from the impact of COVID-19 crisis.

Reliance-backed eCommerce platform Fynd has launched a new hyper-casual game titled ‘Social Doori’ to encourage social distancing amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

NITI Aayog has constituted a Multidimensional Poverty Index Coordination Committee (MPICC). The MPICC is chaired by Ms. Sanyukta Samaddar, Adviser (SDG).

The (UNICEF) has announced that it will be leading the global procurement and supply of the COVID-19 vaccine in order to ensure that all the countries have safe, equitable, and fast access to the initial doses when they are available.

The government of Himachal Pradesh and the World Bank signed $82 million loan for the implementation of Himachal Pradesh State Roads Transformation Project which will strengthen transport and road safety institutions of Himachal Pradesh by improving the condition, safety, resilience, and engineering standards of state road network.

Fitch has sharply lowered its forecast for India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the current fiscal 2020-21 (FY21) and now expects the country’s GDP to contract 10.5 per cent versus its earlier estimate of 5 per cent contraction in this period.

Domestic rating agency India Ratings and Research revised the country’s FY21 GDP growth forecast to (-) 11.8 per cent from (-) 5.3 per cent earlier.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs expects Indian economy to undergo a deeper recession in FY21 with a contraction of 14.8% against its earlier estimate of 11.8% dip in economic activity.

Father of India’s Radio Astronomy, Dr. Govind Swarup passed away at Pune. He was 91. Dr. Swarup is known not only for his many important research contributions in several areas of astronomy and astrophysics, but also for his outstanding achievements in building ingenious, innovative and powerful observational facilities for front-line research in radio astronomy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi digitally launched the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY). He also inaugurated the e-Gopala app that will provide farmers marketplace for livestock.
The PMMSY is a flagship scheme for focused and sustainable development of fisheries sector in the country with an estimated investment of ₹20,050 crore for its implementation during 2020-21 to 2024-25 as part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat package.

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated Organic India Pvt Ltd’s plant at Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh that has been set up at a cost of Rs 55 crore.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa inaugurated the ‘Veer Savarkar’ flyover in Bengaluru. The flyover has been named after Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa unveiled the country’s first integrated air ambulance service jointly launched in the State capital, Bengaluru by the International Critical Air Transfer Team (ICATT) and the Kyathi in the city.

The Uttar Pradesh government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with United Nation World Food Programme for manufacturing and distribution of take-home ration with the help of Self Help Groups.

In view of the exceptional circumstances arising out of Covid-19, the Central Board has recommended the same interest rate at 8.50 per cent to the Central Government.

India’s child mortality rate has declined substantially between 1990 and 2019 but the country, along with Nigeria, still accounted for almost a third of all under-five deaths last year, according to a new UN report which warned that COVID-19 pandemic threatens to undo decades of progress in eliminating preventable child deaths globally.

Bank of Baroda has topped the EASE Banking Reforms Index 2.0. State Bank of India and erstwhile Oriental Bank of Commerce are second and third respectively.
EASE (Enhanced Access and Service Excellence) reform index is prepared by the Indian Banking Association (IBA).

State Bank of India is planning to launch a loan product, SAFAL, primarily focused on organic cotton growers who don’t have any credit history.

India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a 500 million US dollar loan for Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor.The first tranche of a total one billion dollar facility, to build a modern, high-speed 82-kilometer Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor will improve regional connectivity and mobility in India’s national capital region (NCR).

World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is an awareness day observed on 10 September every year, in order to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003.
The theme of the World Suicide Prevention Day 2020 is “Working Together to Prevent Suicide”.

The first-ever ‘Kisan Rail’ of South India chugged off from Anantapur Railway Station carrying 322 tonnes of fruits and vegetables to Adarsh Nagar in Delhi after it was virtually flagged off by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar has launched an online registration portal for admissions in undergraduate (UG) programmes in government, aided and self-financed colleges for the new academic session 2020-21.
He also launched WhatsApp chatbot “Apka Mitra” to resolve any admission-related queries of the students.
Students can send a message on WhatsApp chatbot number 7419444449 to get any information regarding admissions, scholarships etc.

The Central Authority has appointed Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman as the Chairman of the Supreme Court legal services committee.
The committee has been constituted for implementing the legal services programme in connection with the top court.

According to the CARE Ratings report, the employment growth rate declined to 3.5 per cent in FY20 from 3.8 per cent in the previous fiscal year, but the total number of jobs increased to 50.02 lakh from 48.32 lakh.
In FY20, 1.70 lakh new jobs were added, while the net addition was 1.76 lakh in FY19. But in FY20, as many as 321 companies reduced their headcounts by 1.13 lakh compared to 272 companies doing so by 1.18 lakh in the previous year.

Two years into its efforts to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from the global food supply, the apex global public health agency in a report titled ‘Countdown to 2023: WHO report on global trans-fat elimination 2020’ released said that 58 countries so far have introduced laws that will protect 3.2 billion people from the harmful substance by the end of 2021. But more than 100 countries still need to take actions to remove these harmful substances from their food supplies.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance joined hands with NSDL Payments Bank to provide its products to customers of payments bank.

Indian Wushu stalwart Poonam Khatri has claimed World Championship status after her silver medal at the Wushu World Championship last year has been upgraded to a Gold medal.

Every year September 9 is observed as ‘Himalaya Diwas’ or Himalayan Day, a day which would be celebrated across the State to spread the message of conservation of the Himalayan ecosystems.
The theme of the Himalayan Day this year is “The Himalaya and Nature”.

First-ever International Day to Protect Education from Attack, is observed on September 9 to raise awareness of the plight of millions of children living in countries affected by conflict.
The International Day to Protect Education from Attack 2020 theme is “Protect Education, Save a Generation”.

Road Transport and Highways Ministry is in the process of implementing Integrated Road Accident Database Project (iRAD) which will be applicable across the country.
In the first instance, it has been decided to implement the proposal in six states. These are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

A Research lab of DRDO at a cost of 2 thousand crore rupees will be opened in Kailaras-Jaura region of Morena district in Madhya Pradesh.

In US Open Tennis Women’s Singles category, Japan’s Naomi Osaka defeated Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the Women’s Singles final to clinch her third Grand Slam title.

Filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane’s ‘The Disciple’ won the Best Screenplay award at Venice International Film Festival. This is the second award the film got at the festival. Earlier, it was honoured with the International Critics’ Prize awarded by FIPRESCI.

The United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation is annually observed on September 12.
Theme for 2020 is “Pathways toward the SDGs through South-South solidarity beyond COVID-19.”

The Odisha government launched a statewide welfare scheme “GARIMA” for sanitation workers to ensure their safety and dignity.
The ‘Garima’ scheme will institutionalise and regulate core sanitation services to provide social security and financial benefits to the sanitation workers and their families.

India is the second-fastest-growing freelance market in the world with a massive increase in the number of freelancers this year, according to a report on ‘Freelancing in 2020: An Abundance of Opportunities’ by Payoneer.
Apart from India, other popular markets for gig workers include the US, Pakistan, and Ukraine.

The government of Bangladesh has launched a campaign named ‘Asol Chini’ or ‘real-sugar’ to fight fake information and rumour spreading on social media.

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal are the 14 states to whom the grant has been released.

SAROD-Ports will resolve the disputes in fair and just manner while saving huge amount of legal expenditure and time.

According to the Economic Freedom of the World: 2020 Annual Report, India’s rank dropped 26 spots from 79 to 105. Hong Kong and Singapore retain the top two positions followed by New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, United States, Mauritius, Georgia, Canada, and Ireland.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a pact for a USD 15-million debt financing through the subscription of non-convertible debentures for Suguna Foods, to help sustain poultry farming operations, rural livelihoods and food security in India.

The ADB and France’s ENGIE group have signed a long-term loan of up to ₹ 466 crore for setting up a 200-MW solar power project in Gujarat. The project will be developed in the Raghanesda Solar Park.

According to Moody’s Investors Service, India’s credit profile is increasingly constrained by low growth, high debt burden and weak financial system. These risks have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Indian economy will contract by 9 per cent in 2020-21 as the coronavirus infections are yet to peak and the government is not providing adequate direct fiscal support, ratings agency Crisil said. It will be the highest since the 1950s.

Domestic rating agency CARE Ratings said the country’s economy is likely to see a sharper contraction of 8-8.2 per cent in the current financial year compared to a decline of 6.4 per cent it had projected earlier.

The EDLI scheme is a mandatory insurance cover provided to to all subscribers of EPF scheme. A nominee gets a lump sum payment of up to ₹7 lakh in the event of death due to natural causes, illness or accident. All organisations covered under EPF and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 get enrolled for EDLI automatically.

UNICEF India announced Ayushmann Khurrana as its celebrity advocate for children’s rights campaign, For Every Child. He will work towards this initiative in India and joins the likes of former football star David Beckham, who works on this campaign globally.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray launched a state-wide campaign, ‘My Family, My Responsibility’, to tackle the coronavirus pandemic amid further relaxation of lockdown curbs.

International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) and India Gold Policy Centre (IGPC) – IIMA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the IFSCA, GIFT City Gandhinagar, Gujarat for providing consulting to facilitate the establishment of International Bullion Exchange in India.

S&P Global Ratings slashed its growth forecast for India to (-) 9 per cent in the current fiscal, from (-) 5 per cent estimated earlier, saying that rising COVID-19 cases would keep private spending and investment lower for longer.

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has elected Subhash Kamath as its new chairman of the board of governors.

The appointments committee of the cabinet has approved the appointment of Haryana IAS officer as executive director, World Bank headquarters, in Washington DC.
Khullar will represent a group of countries including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka as the World Bank executive director.