Weekly CA Quiz: January 2021 1st week

Jharkhand launches its own crop relief scheme to replace the Prime Minister’s insurance scheme.
It is a compensation scheme aimed at providing security cover to Jharkhand farmers in case of crop damage due to natural calamity. It will cover both land owning and landless farmers.

The government kept the interest rates on small savings schemes, including PPF and NSC, unchanged for the January-March quarter amid moderating bank deposit rates.
Public Provident Fund (PPF) and National Savings Certificate (NSC) will continue to carry an annual interest rate of 7.1 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.
The interest rate for the five-year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme has been retained at 7.4 per cent.Interest rate on savings deposits has been retained at 4 per cent annually. The girl child savings scheme Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana will offer 7.6 per cent rate during the fourth quarter of the current fiscal.
The annual interest rate on Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) has been retained at 6.9 per cent. Term deposits of one-five years will fetch interest rate in the range of 5.5-6.7 per cent, to be paid quarterly, while the interest rate on five-year recurring deposit is pegged at 5.8 per cent.

Former Eastern Railway general manager Suneet Sharma was appointed the new Railway Board Chairman and CEO upon the completion of the term of incumbent V K Yadav. Yadav was given an extension in January this year.

Santoor player Pt. Satish Vyas honoured with Tansen Samman- 2020 for Hindustani classical music. Besides Abhinav Kala Parishad, Bhopal has been selected for ‘Raja Mansingh Tomar Samman’.

Indira Joseph Venniyoor, Renowned broadcaster, All India Radio veteran, and the first English news announcer of Travancore Radio, passed away at her residence at Poojapura. She was 94.
The Kerala-based veteran was the first English news announcer of Travancore Radio, when its English service started in 1949.

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Buta Singh passes away. He subsequently held many positions including those of the Union home minister and Union agriculture minister.

To bring in more automation and efficacy in the functioning of the state Public Relations department, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh virtually launched a mobile application ‘DigiNest’, to give people digital access to the state government’s directory, which can be synced with the smart phone with the click of a button.
The Chief Minister also rolled out an online Punjab Advertisement Release Order System to bring transparency and efficiency in the entire process of releasing State Government’s advertisements and payments to media houses.

Soma Mondal has taken over as Chairman of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). She was the Director (Commercial) of SAIL prior to this.
She replaces Anil Kumar Chaudhary, who superannuated on 31 December 2020.

India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a USD 231 million loan to augment electricity generation capacity in the State of Assam through construction of a 120 MegaWatts hydroelectric power plant that will enhance availability of electricity for households.

India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a USD 10 million project readiness financing (PRF) to help finance piloting activities and design and capacity building for an ensuing project that aims to expand horticulture production and farm household income in Himachal Pradesh.

India is beginning its two-year tenure as a Non-Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council, UNSC.
India, Norway, Kenya, Ireland and Mexico will join non-permanent members Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam and the five permanent members China, France, Russia, U.K. and the U.S.

International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) said that it has become an associate member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

PM Modi laid the foundation stone of six LHPs under the Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India). Modi said that the Light House Projects being executed with modern technologies in six states will show a new direction to the housing construction sector in the country and further strengthen cooperative federalism.
The six states are Tripura, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Australia has changed one word in its national anthem to reflect what the prime minister called the spirit of unity and the country’s Indigenous population.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on New Years Eve announced that the second line of the anthem, Advance Australia Fair, has been changed from “For we are young and free” to “For we are one and free.”

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced that RuPay has partnered with RBL Bank to launch an innovative payment solution for Indian merchants – RuPay PoS in association with PayNearby.

Goa’s 14-year-old Leon Mendonca has become India’s 67th chess Grandmaster by winning the third and final norm at a tournament in Italy. Mendonca, who achieved the feat at 14 years, 9 months and 17 days, is the second GM from the coastal state.

Goa’s 14-year-old Leon Mendonca has become India’s 67th chess Grandmaster by winning the third and final norm at a tournament in Italy. Mendonca, who achieved the feat at 14 years, 9 months and 17 days, is the second GM from the coastal state.

Umesh Sinha has been appointed as the deputy election commissioner in the Election Commission of India. Sinha, a 1986-batch IAS officer (retired) of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, is at present the secretary-general in the commission.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan released ”Sabarimala Vijnaanakosham,” a book written by KS Vijayanath. The Governor also presented a Limca Book of World Records certificate to Swami Maheswaranandu for erecting a 111 feet Shiv Linga sthoopa at the Shiva Paravarthy temple premises at Chenkal in Thiruvananthapuram.

Alfredo Covelli, an Italy based author has launched his new book Vahana Masterclass for children and Young Audience. The books will be illustrated and published by Scholastic India. Alfredo had a keen interest in our Indian culture and mythology which inspired him to write a story on Lord Ganesh for children.

The Department of Art, Culture and Language of the Delhi government set up a Tamil academy to promote the South Indian language and culture in the Capital.
It also appointed former municipal councillor and member of the Delhi Tamil Sangam N. Raja as vice-chairman of the academy.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constructed a composite Digital Payments Index (DPI) to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country.
The RBI-DPI has been constructed with March 2018 as the base period.

After efficiently growing inhabitants of wild animals corresponding to tigers, lions and leopards via defending their habitats, India will be the co-chair of the IUCN-supported Asia Protected Areas Partnership (APAP) for 3 years and it could, on this capability, help different Asian international locations in managing their protected areas.
The APAP at present consists of 21 members from 17 international locations together with China, Japan, South Korea, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Ace mountaineer Colonel Narendra ‘Bull’ Kumar, who helped India secure the Siachen Glacier, passed away at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi due to age-related illness.He was 87.

The Centre has notified an area to an extent varying from zero to one km around the boundary of Mathikettan Shola National Park in Kerala’s Idukki district as an Eco-sensitive Zone considering the unique nature of the Shola forest and its importance as an elephant strip.

The fourth Global Ayurveda Festival (GAF 2021), aimed at the global discussion and development of Ayurveda, will be held from March 12 to 19 as a virtual meet. It will be hosted by Kerala state government.

India’s fiscal deficit stood at Rs 10.75 lakh crore at the end of November, 35% higher than the budget estimate for FY21, mainly on account of low realisation of revenue due to disruption in business activities amid the coronavirus pandemic.
India’s April-November fiscal deficit tops 135% of full-year target.

Former India hockey player and 1975 World Cup-winning team member Michael Kindo died at the age of 73.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $100 million loan to modernise and upgrade the power distribution system to enhance the quality and reliability of electricity supply in Bengaluru city in the state of Karnataka.
Besides the $100 million sovereign loan, ADB will provide a $90 million without sovereign guarantee loan for the project to Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), one of five state-owned distribution utilities in Karnataka.

In Madhya Pradesh, ‘Launch Pad Scheme’ is being started for boys and girls coming out of child care institutions and having completed 18 years of age.
The objective of this scheme of the Women and Child Development Department is to provide such a platform to these youth, through which they will be able to become self-reliant by continuing their education and training.

India launched the 40th Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. This Indian expedition marks four decades of the country’s scientific endeavour to the southern white continent.
The 40th expedition journey was flagged off from Goa with 43 members onboard.

India’s food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), plans to reduce the level of trans fats in food items from the permissible limit of 5 per cent to 3 per cent by 2021, and to 2 per cent by 2022 is under process.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Geneva has awarded the status of ‘centennial observing station’ to the Patna meteorological observatory in recognition to its long-term meteorological observation exceeding over 100 years.

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has in association with Jammu & Kashmir Government launched the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) SEHAT for all the residents of the Union territory.
SEHAT stands for social, endeavour for health, and telemedicine.

Well-known breast cancer surgeon from Hyderabad Dr Raghu Ram Pillarisetti has been named in the New Year’s Honours list of Queen Elizabeth II. Dr Pillarisetti, 54, is one of the youngest surgeons of Indian origin to be named on the list.

The center has set up a high-level group to help build a South Asia-focused energy security architecture. The high-level group, headed by former Union power secretary Ram Vinay Shahi, is named the South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE).

Japan’s Sumitomo Forestry company and Kyoto University aims to launch the world’s first wood-based space satellite to combat the problem of space junk.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh launched mPension Manipur App, an online platform through which pensioners can do self-updation without visiting Treasury Offices.
The App uses Artificial Intelligence techniques to detect whether the pensioner is alive or dead from the updated photographs and will allow uploading of only photographs taken from living persons.

The Government of India, the Government of West Bengal and the World Bank signed a $105 million project to improve the inland water transport infrastructure in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Shivalik Small Finance Bank (SSFB) will start its banking operations from April 2021. It has received the commercial banking license from banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
SMCB is the first urban co-operative bank (UCB) in India to transition to a SFB under the voluntary transition scheme.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to introduce the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) system for all payment transactions of value ₹50 crore and above undertaken by entities (non-individuals) using the Reserve Bank-run Centralised Payment Systems with effect from April 1.
LEI is a 20-digit number used to uniquely identify parties to financial transactions worldwide.

Private lender Bandhan Bank said that it has signed an agreement with the Indian Army to provide banking services to the personnel of the force. The bank got the mandate to maintain zero-balance salary accounts of the Army personnel.

The Reserve Bank of India announced the operationalization of the Payment Investment Development Fund (PIDF) with an initial corpus of Rs 345 crore for three years – extendable up to an additional two more years.
The Scheme is expected to benefit the acquiring banks / non-banks and merchants by lowering overall acceptance infrastructure cost.

The World Bank predicted India’s economy to contract by 9.6% in 2020-’21 financial year and recover to 5.4% in the next fiscal.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between Indian and Japan on a Basic Framework for Partnership for Proper Operation of the System Pertaining to ‘Specified Skilled Worker’.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is set to appoint former India international Abhishek Yadav as its Deputy General Secretary.

Indian Army has undergone a major reshuffle at the top within the Army Headquarters and at the various other formations including the Corps Commanders, administrative and training institutions witnessing the change of guard.
Lt Gen Shantanu Dayal has taken charge as the new Deputy Chief of Staff assuming the position from January 1, 2021.

The All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), the national apex body of the gems and jewellery industry, has appointed Ashish Pethe as Chairman and Saiyam Mehra as its Vice Chairman for a period of two years.

Sanjay Kapoor was elected president of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) while Bharat Singh Chauhan retained the secretary’s post in the polls held online.

Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera has won five more years in power by securing more than 53% of votes in an election that was marred by violence, according to provisional results announced..