Weekly CA Quiz: January 2021 2nd week

Justice Hima Kohli assumed charge as the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court. This is for the first time a woman Chief Justice heading the High Court of Telangana, also in its entire history since it was part of Andhra Pradesh.

A general manager at RBI, Giridharan penned his novel titled ‘Right Under our Nose’.

Ramgarh in Jharkhand has topped the list of aspirational districts ranked by the government think tank Niti Aayog in November 2020. Yadgir (Karnataka), Gadchiroli (Maharashtra) have been placed at the second and third positions, respectively.

The global economy is expected to expand by 4 per cent in 2021, assuming an initial COVID-19 vaccine rollout becomes widespread throughout the year, the World Bank has said in its Global Economic Prospects report.

Former Indian all-rounder and current head coach Ravi Shastri launched a new book by the Bradman Museum called ‘India’s 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia’, authored by cricket journalist R Kaushik.

Australia’s Claire Polosak is set to become the first female match official in a men’s Test match when she takes up the fourth umpire’s role in the third Test between India and Australia.

In Jammu and Kashmir, LG, Manoj Sinha launched Mobile Application ‘Satark Nagrik’ and Departmental Vigilance Officers Portal of J&K Anti Corruption Bureau at Civil Secretariat, Jammu.

The economy is expected to contract 7.7 per cent in 2020-21, according to the first advance estimate (AE) released by the Government.
The estimate is in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s forecast of (-)7.5 per cent, but lower than the projections made by various global agencies.

Centre has decided to form a committee to protect the language, culture and land of Ladakh and ensuring citizen’s participation in the Union Territory’s development.
The Committee will be headed by the Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy.

The world’s largest floating 600 MW solar energy project to be constructed at Omkareshwar dam on Narmada river in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh will begin power generation by year 2022-23.

The Reserve Bank of India has set-up a College of Supervision (CoS) in order to further the strengthening of supervision over regulated entities.
The council consists of N.S. Viswanathan, Former Deputy Governor, RBI as chairperson of the council and members as follows – Arijit Basu, Former MD, S, BIParesh Sukthankar, Former DMD, HDFC Bank, Prof. S Raghunath, IIM Bangalore, Prof. Tathagata Bandyopadhyay and Prof. Subrata Sarkar, IGIDR, Mumbai

IDFC Mutual Fund announced the launch of its latest pan-India investor awareness campaign #PaisonKoRokoMat, nudging savers to become investors.

Flipkart, e-commerce marketplace company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Logistics Skill Sector Council (LSC), an organisation set up by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) through National Skill Development Corporation of India (NSDC) and Karnataka Skill Development Centre (KSDC).

Central Bank of India and NABFOUNDATION a subsidiary of NABARD, have signed an MOU for providing working capital finance to woman SHGs for making sanitary pads under the MY PAD MY RIGHT project.

India took a tacit swipe at Pakistan for backing cross-border terrorism as it announced it would be chairing three key UN sanctions committees, includes Taliban Sanctions Committee, Counterterrorism Committee and the Libyan Sanctions Committee during 2021-22.

Tamil writer A Madhavan passed away due to age-related illness. He was 87.

Union Minister for Ocean Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan dedicated Sagar Anveshika a coastal research vessel to the Nation at the Chennai Port Trust.
SAGAR ANVESHIKA, a very complex platform which will enable scientists to conduct various oceanographic research missions aboard, will house state of the art laboratories equipped with modern scientific instruments.

Former Chief Minister of Gujarat and former Union Minister Madhavsinh Solanki passed away in Gandhinagar. He was 94.

The National Internet Exchange of India, NIXI has announced that it will offer a free Internationalized Domain Name, IDN in any of the preferred 22 official Indian language along with every IN domain booked by the registrant.

Maharashtra-cadre IPS officer Subodh Kumar Jaiswal assumed the charge of Director General, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is observed on January 9th every year to mark the contribution of the Overseas Indian community in the development of India.
This year, the theme of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is “Contributing to Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.

The Board of Directors of state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has re-appointed PK Purwar as Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of the telecom PSU.

In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre has merged J&K cadre for all India Services Viz; IAS, IPS and IFS officers with that of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT), also called the Union Territory cadre, through an ordinance.

Senior Journalist, noted orator and Padma Shri recipient Turlapati Kutumba Rao passed away at a private hospital. He was 87.

Bangladesh is the focus country at the 51th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) this year.

Manipur Governor Dr. Najma Heptulla released a book titled “Making of a General – A Himalayan Echo” authored by (Redt) Lt. Gen. Konsam Himalay Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM through virtual mode at Durbar Hall of Raj Bhavan, Imphal.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) gave its approval to Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt Ltd (MHEPL) for the acquisition of 100% shareholding in Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt Ltd.

The Indian government signed a loan agreement of Rs 2,113 crore with Japan for funding India’s efforts to provide social assistance to the poor and vulnerable households impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) lauded India for clocking 7.4% economic growth in the past five years and for steps taken in liberalising foreign direct investment policy and improving ease of doing business.

Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh Finance Corporation partnership with Universal Sompo shall add value to customers by means of comprehensive insurance covers at competitive prices.

The book, titled “Modi India Calling – 2021″was released by Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta at the Press Club of India on the eve of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD). A coffee table book filled with over hundreds of photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from his “107 overseas and bilateral visits.
The 450-page book has been published by Maneesh Media.

The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has set up a technical expert group to examine the adverse findings from the National Family Health Survey-5 and “recommend programmatic and policy interventions to improve” indicators pertaining to malnutrition, stunting, anaemia, and C-section.
The committee is chaired by Joint Secretary Preeti Pant

The Union government has appointed RS Sharma, former Trai chief, as the chairperson of an empowered committee for administration of Covid-19 vaccine.

The book titled “Gazing Eastwards: Of Buddhist Monks and Revolutionaries in China” by renowned Indian historian Romila Thapar is set to be released soon.

Rapidly digitalising India was ranked highly (4th) among “Break Out Economies” in the third edition of the Digital Evolution Scorecard developed by Tufts University’s Fletcher School in partnership with Mastercard.
China leads the countries in the “Break Out Economies” group.
South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong emerged as the leading “Stand Out Economies”.

India celebrates January 12 as the “National Youth Day” to honour the ideals of Swami Vivekanand on his birth anniversary. The Theme of 2021 is ” YUVAAH – Utsah Naye Bharat Ka “.

According to an official notification by the Government of India, Ministry of Transport and Highways, the ministry has decided to observe Road Safety Month from 18 January to 17 February 2021 instead of National Road Safety Week.

Domestic rating agency Icra Ratings said it expects the country’s real gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 10.1 per cent in FY2022. The agency expects the headline CPI inflation to decline to 4.6 per cent in FY2022 from 6.4 per cent in FY2021, while exceeding the mid-point of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC’s) medium target of 4 per cent, for the third consecutive year.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari recently said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is spending over Rs 1,200 crore to create dedicated corridors that would enable safe passage of wild animals crossing highways that pass through green belts.

Germany’s Cabinet approved legislation requiring some larger companies to ensure that at least one woman serves on their management boards.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari launched an innovative new paint developed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission. The eco-friendly, non-toxic paint, called “Khadi Prakritik Paint” is a first-of-its-kind product, with anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties.
Based on cow dung as its main ingredient, the paint is cost-effective and odorless, and has been certified by Bureau of Indian Standards.
Khadi Prakritik Paint is available in two forms – distemper paint and plastic emulsion paint.

The Government of France organised the fourth ‘One Planet Summit’ through videoconferencing, which aimed at protecting the world’s biodiversity.
The theme of the Summit was “Let’s act together for nature!”.

Henley and Partners Passport Index of 2021 has revealed the list of the world’s most powerful passports and India has been ranked 85th on it. India shares the no. 85 rank with Tajikistan.
Japan tops the list of being the most powerful passport in the world for the year 2021.

The country’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to expand by 11 per cent in the next financial year from the estimated contraction of 7 per cent to 7.5 per cent in FY21, due to a faster economic recovery and on a low base, says a report by domestic rating agency Brickwork Ratings.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel announced its partnership with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) to accelerate the digital transformation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India.

Nationalist prisoner-turned-prime minister Sadyr Japarov has won a landslide victory in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election.

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra will come out with a book titled “Unscripted: Conversations on Life and Cinema”. The book is scheduled to be released on January 25.

Former chief election commissioner (CEC) S Y Quraishi has come out with his book titled “The Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning and Politics in India”.

Bengaluru has emerged as the world’s fastest-growing mature tech ecosystem in the world since 2016, followed by the European cities of London, Munich, Berlin and Paris, with India’s financial centre of Mumbai in sixth place, according to new research released in London.

Based on data shown by its proprietary models, Nomura also revised up its FY21 GDP forecast to a contraction of 6.7 per cent, as against the official estimate of a 7.7 per cent contraction in the pandemic-impacted fiscal year.

Regulator Irdai set up a panel of experts to examine the availability of health insurance products in the country considering the need of the Indian society and recommend suitable products and processes.
IRDAI Chairperson, Subhash Chandra Khuntia will head the committee.

With frauds in digital lending space coming into sharp focus, the Reserve Bank of India has set up a working group to study digital lending activities of the regulated and unregulated players.
The group will suggest steps to regulate digital lending including online lending platform and mobile lending. Jayant Kumar Dash, Executive Director, RBI (Chairman).

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the ‘Fire Park’, a first of its kind initiative in the country, to bring awareness on fire safety measures. He also launched a dynamic online portal, ‘AgnishamaSeva’ of Odisha Fire Service on virtual platform.

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, has been secured once again for promoting cleanliness, hygiene and creating sustainable practices in public health facilities by winning the Kayakalp Award Scheme.
The institute has been adjudged as the best central government hospital under the B category for cleanliness for the third consecutive year. AIIMS Bhubaneswar will get an award of Rs 2 crore for the performance.

Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Dushyant Dave resigned from his post with immediate effect saying he has forfeited his right to continue.

Snapdeal, one of India’s largest e-commerce platforms, along with four Indian shopping complexes, two of them in New Delhi alone, have figured in the latest 2020 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy issued by the Office of the US Trade Representative. The four Indian markets that have found mention in the list are Heera Panna in Mumbai, Kidderpore in Kolkata and Palika Bazaar and Tank Road in Delhi.

Total 11 private Indian firms have made it to the list of 500 most valuable companies across the world, and the country is ranked 10th on the chart.
The list of 500 is led by consumer technology major Apple with a valuation of $2.1 trillion and is followed by Microsoft and Amazon at $1.6 trillion.
As per the Hurun Global 500 report, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads among the local enterprises with a 20.5 per cent jump in valuation to $168.8 billion as of December 1 and is ranked 54th globally, as per the list.Tata Consultancy Services’ ranked 73rd globally and making it the second most valuable Indian firm.

In Assam, the Magh or Bhogali Bihu is celebrated across the state with traditional fervor and gaiety.

In Telangana, people are celebrating Kanuma, the festival of cattle, on the third day of Sankranti festival.