Weekly CA Quiz: July 2020 2nd week

Tamil Nadu’s G Akash became the country’s 66th chess Grandmaster while his statemate M Pranesh and Goa’s Ameya Audi earned International Master titles.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas won Formula One’s season opening Austrian Grand Prix with teammate Lewis Hamilton being handed a five-second time penalty that dropped him from second place to fourth.

Senior bureaucrat Injeti Srinivas has been appointed as a Chairman of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) for the Gandhinagar-based financial special economic zone or Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) City by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Israel has launched its Ofek 16 reconnaissance satellite into low Earth orbit by using a locally-developed Shavit rocket from a launch pad at Palmachim airbase in central Israel, marking the latest addition to a fleet deployed over the past 20 years.

Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa launched Weavers Sammaan Yojana. Under this scheme, 19,744 handloom weavers in the state will get annual financial assistance of two thousand rupees through Direct Benefit Transfer.

In Madhya Pradesh, in order to attract tourists to the tourist places of the state; ‘Intzaar Aap Ka’ means waiting for you campaign has started on social media platforms.

In a significant development, Indian Railways has set up a solar power plant in Bina in Madhya Pradesh to power the Railway overhead lines that power the electric locomotives. This is the first time in the world that solar power will be used to run trains.

The National Human Rights Commission has constituted an 11-member expert committee to study impact of Covid-19 on human rights and future response of the government.
The expert panel would be headed by Dr KS Reddy, President of Public Health Foundation of India.

Indian Railways is taking decisive steps to transform itself as a ‘Net Zero’ Carbon Emission Mass Transportation Network by 2030.

India has accumulated the world’s fifth-largest foreign exchange reserves after China, Japan, Switzerland and Russia, according to the International Monetary Fund.

RIL added another feather to its cap as its market valuation crossed Rs 12 lakh crore mark, a first by any domestic company.
The company’s market valuation rose by Rs 40,508.8 crore to Rs 11,73,677.35 crore at close of trade on the BSE.

The government approved setting up an agriculture infrastructure fund with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore to provide financial support to entrepreneurs, start-ups, agri-tech players and farmer groups for infrastructure and logistics facilities.

The Union Cabinet decided to halt the merger process of three state-owned general insurance companies, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance, for the moment and approved fund infusion of Rs 12,450 crore to improve their financial health.
The cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also decided to increase the authorised share capital of National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) to Rs 7,500 crore and that of United India Insurance Company Limited (UIICL) and Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL) to Rs 5,000 crore each to give effect to the capital infusion decision.

The United States has formalized its intent to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO).
President Donald Trump first said he would withdraw the U.S. in May if certain conditions were not met within 30 days

The Maldives and Sri Lanka have become the first two countries in the region to have eliminated both measles and rubella ahead of the 2023 deadline, said the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) South East Asian Region (SEAR) office.
Maldives reported its last endemic case of measles in 2009 and rubella in 2015. Meanwhile, the island nation of Sri Lanka reported its last endemic case of measles in May 2016 and rubella in March 2017.

Himachal Pradesh has become the first state in the country where 100 per cent households have LPG connections announced by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The state government had launched ”Himachal Grihini Suvidha Yojana” to cover the left out families in the state, who were not covered under the Centre”s scheme — ”Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana”.

Fino Payments Bank Limited announced the launch of a savings account scheme for minors aged between 10-18 years. ‘Bhavishya’, a subscription-based savings account, can be opened by paying a nominal amount.

The UK India Business Council said Jayant Krishna will take over as its new Group Chief Executive Officer from August 3.
He will be the first Indian CEO of UKIBC and the first CEO of the Council to be based in India

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a mobile application ‘Self Scan’, developed by the state’s information technology department, to scan documents and said it reflects patriotism. It is an alternative to CamScanner.

The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) extended the term of Justice Bansi Lal Bhat as acting chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) by three months.

The fourth edition of the Ministerial on Climate Action (MoCA) was held, virtually for the first time, due to the ongoing pandemic. Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar, represented India in the meeting. The meeting was co-chaired by European Union, China and Canada.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and India’s ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) have announced the launch of a new partnership to increase India- US collaboration for clean energy development.

The global economy is likely to contract by 5.2 per cent in 2020 with the coronavirus still spreading and the economic prospects of countries across the world looking muted, says a report.

Indian boxer and World Championship silver medallist Amit Panghal has climbed up the leaderboard to the first spot in the rankings released by Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA), after a gap of almost 18 months.He competed in the 52 kg categories and one of the finest boxers in the Indian contingent.
In the rankings, Mary Kom is world no.3. Also, World silver medallist Manju Rani (48kg) is at second spot.

India has ranked at 31st place with an inform risk of 5.4, means risk of humanitarian crises and disasters at the “INFORM Report 2020: Shared evidence for managing crises and disasters” released by research centre INFORM, operating under the European Commission (EU).
North Korea ranks among the most dangerous places to live as its people are exposed to high risks of natural disaster, poverty and social injustice. North Korea was rated as the 39th most dangerous place.

India has been ranked at 117th position in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Index 2020. The Sustainable Development Goals and Covid-19”, comprising of SDG index 2020, there will be severe negative impacts on most of the United Nations (UN)-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The index has been topped by Sweden, Denmark followed by Finland.

India’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index ranking has improved by one notch to 34 on the back of regulatory reforms, better market data and green initiatives, according to property consultant JLL.
UK ranks first

Deutsche Bank and Google Cloud have agreed to join forces and form a strategic partnership that aims to redefine how the bank develops and offers its financial services.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray e-inaugurated Asia’s largest certified tier IV data centre near Mumbai. Located in Panvel, the Yotta NM1 data centre building, is the largest of its kind in India, as well as the second largest in the world

India has been ranked eighth for cancer preparedness among 10 Asia-Pacific countries, according to a new report. Australia ranked 1st.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report on “Cancer preparedness in Asia-Pacific: Progress towards universal cancer control”, sponsored by Roche, examines the findings from the EIU’s Index of Cancer Preparedness.

BofA Securities, a foreign brokerage, stated that India’s GDP will contract by 3% in FY21 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, assuming the economy is opened up fully from next. The Indian GDP will contract this fiscal, with some estimates ranging up to 7% negative growth.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has formed a working group to examine the feasibility of ‘Pandemic Risk Pool’.
Suresh Mathur, Executive Director, Irdai, will be the Chairman for the 9-member working group with industry representatives as members.

According to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Tamil Nadu has so far raised ₹30,500 crore in the fiscal 2020-21 and has topped market borrowings among States in the country.

The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) is collaborating with NVIDIA, a multinational technology company, to establish India’s first ‘NVIDIA AI Technology Centre’ (NVAITC) to accelerate research on Artificial Intelligence and its commercial adoption.

India’s squash star Joshna Chinappa has broken into the top-10 of the PSA world rankings again after the shock retirement of Egyptian World No. 1 Raneem El Welily.

World Population Day is an annual event, observed on July 11 every year, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues.

Hockey India Executive Board held an Emergent Executive Board meeting naming Manipur’s Gyanendro Ningombam as the Officiating President of Hockey India.
This was following the resignation letter of Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad received by Hockey India due to his personal and family commitments.

Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launched Aatamanirbhar Skilled Employee-Employer Mapping (ASEEM) portal to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 750 MW Solar Project set up at Rewa, Madhya Pradesh through video-conferencing. The 750 MW plant is Asia’s largest Mega Solar Power Project which comprises of three solar generating units of 250 MW each located on a 500-hectare plot of land situated inside a Solar Park.

Given the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in the country, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, IRDAI, has allowed 30 general and health insurers to launch short-term ‘Corona Kavach’ health insurance policies.
This policy can be availed by persons between the age of 18 to 65 years. People can avail the Corona Kavach policy for Self, spouse, parents, parents-in-law and dependent children up to 25 years of age.

The government of Maharashtra along with the State Bank of India is setting up a stress fund to restart stuck slum rehabilitation projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and other urban areas of the state.
The government will infuse Rs 700 crore to Rs 1,000 crore in this fund aimed at providing financial support to revive such projects

Industry body Ficci said its Economic Outlook Survey has projected the country’s annual median GDP growth for 2020-21 at (-) 4.5 per cent with a minimum and maximum growth estimate of (-) 6.4 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively for 2020-21.

Global leader in payment technology Mastercard announced an additional ₹250-crore investment to help small businesses in the country, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Virtual Counter-Terrorism Week was held from 6-10 July and convened under the overarching theme of “Strategic and Practical Challenges of Countering Terrorism in a Global Pandemic Environment”.

The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International having its headquarters at Chicago, has honoured TN Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami with Paul Harris Fellow recognition.
The Paul Harris Fellow recognition is accorded to honour people who render efficient services in providing drinking water, sanitation, prevention of diseases, environment, world peace etc., to its people.

Arunachal Pradesh filmmaker Kezang D Thongdok has bagged the Dada Saheb Phalke Award 2020 for a short documentary “Chi Lupo“.
Chi Lupo is based on honey hunting.

Lewis Hamilton started in pole position and held the lead throughout as he won Austria’s Styrian Grand Prix.

The illustrated book – “A Song of India”, scheduled to release on July 20, marks the 70th year of Ruskin Bond’s literary career.

Madhya Pradesh government run a Roko -Toko means stop and campaign for those who do not wear masks.

The state will get Rs 500 crore from the Centre in recognition of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government’s bid for water conservation through ‘Mera Pani Meri Virasat’ scheme and another sum of Rs 1,000 crore for rejuvenation of ponds and treating water.

Sachin Awasthi President, National Media Club has and Founder of Shri Ram Seva Mission has been awarded the “Top Publicist” honour in the Global Humanitarian Awards 2020 as a part of the Honoring the Honorable initiative of the World Humanitarian Drive(WHD)

The 20-member advisory committee on mutual funds is headed Usha Thorat, former deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Visa, a global leader in payments technology, has entered into a partnership with Federal Bank to roll out Visa Secure to the bank’s cardholders.

A longer wait for a vaccine against Covid-19 virus may lead to a contraction of up to 7.5 per cent in the Indian GDP in FY21, a foreign brokerage Economists at Bank of America Securities said.

Brahm Vasudeva, the chairman of cookware manufacturer Hawkins, passed away. He was 84.

Technology giant Google will invest $10 billion (₹75,000 crore) in India over the next five-seven years with a focus on digitising the economy and building India-first products and services, its CEO Sundar Pichai announced.

In a meeting with the 15th Finance Commission, the Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, highlighted that the government aims at gradually increasing the public health expenditure to 2.5 per cent of the nation’s GDP by the year 2025.

Google has announced its partnership with CBSE to help 1 million teachers conduct classes online by the end of the year.
Google will help teachers from 22,000 schools across India to run classes via YouTube, Google Classrooms, and GSuite.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), announced a concessional refinance facility to the tune of ₹5,000 crore for banks and financial institutions for on-lending to beneficiaries in its 2,150 watershed development projects.
NABARD made the announcement in its first ‘Digital Choupal’ which was organised to mark its 39th Foundation day.

The National Housing Bank (NHB) has in the last four months (March to June 30, 2020) provided a total refinance assistance of over ₹25,000 crore to the housing finance companies (HFCs) alone.

Confederation of Indian Industry said Snapdeal’s Co-founder & CEO Kunal Bahl has taken over as the Chairman of its e-commerce committee for the year 2020-21.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have appointed Hemang Amin as the interim chief executive officer (CEO) after relieving Rahul Johri last week but the Indian Premier League (IPL) chief operating officer may soon emerge as a serious candidate for the CEO’s position.

Ashok Kumar, a key member of India’s 1975 World Cup-winning hockey team, will be conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award by city’s iconic club Mohun Bagan on the occasion of its foundation day in a virtual ceremony in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.