Daily GK Updates - 10th November, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 27th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (COCSSO) to be held at Kolkata: The 27th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (COCSSO) will be held in Kolkata, West Bengal on 11 and 12 November 2019. It is organised by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The theme of the event is: “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. The Conference provides a platform for discussion and improved coordination between the Central and State Statistical agencies for enhancing the efficiency of the Indian Statistical System.

2. Devendra Fadnavis resigns as Maharashtra chief minister: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has finally resigned and met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to submit his resignation papers. This comes just hours before the deadline for government formation in Maharashtra ends with the current assembly session coming to an end on November 9. Fadnavis addressed a press conference after submitting his resignation. Fadnavis announced that he has submitted his resignation to the Governor and he has accepted it. Soon he launched into a direct attack on ally Shiv Sena and its chief Uddhav Thackeray and said while the elections were fought by the two parties as allies, Sena's sudden change of stand after the results "came as a shock".

3. India’s first Elephant Memorial opens in Mathura: India’s first elephant memorial has come up in Mathura. This memorial is an unique way to honour elephants that lost their lives to illegal trafficking, abuse and cruelty. It has been established by NGO, WildLife SOS at the Elephant Conservation & Care Center, Mathura

4. Legal Services Day: 9 November: Legal Services Day is celebrated every year on 9th of November in all the states Authorities. The 9th of November is selected as the Legal Services Day which was first started by the Supreme Court in the year 1995 all across the India to offer help and support to the weaker and poor group of sections of people which may be women, disabled persons, Scheduled Tribes, children, Scheduled Castes, human trafficking victims as well as natural calamities victims.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India contributes USD 1 mn for WFP's humanitarian activities in N Korea: As North Korea faces chronic food shortage, India has contributed USD 1 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its humanitarian activities in Pyongyang, the UN agency's monthly report said. In September, a total of 584,800 people received aid across North Korea as the country received 1,905 tons of food aid from the WFP, up from 1,425 tons provided in August. In 2018, North Korea's crop output hit the lowest since 2008, leading to an urgent need for food to an estimated 10 million people, or about 40 per cent of its population, the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported in May. In a bid to address the food situation, South Korea had planned to provide 50,000 tons of rice to Pyongyang through WFP. However, the North has refused to accept the offer.

2. ‘World Tolerance Summit’ to be held in Dubai: A two-day ‘World Tolerance Summit’ will be held in Dubai, UAE on November 13 and 14, 2019. Mathematician Anand Kumar of Super 30 has been invited to address this summit. The summit is an initiative of the International Institute for Tolerance, as part of UAE’s Prime Minister and ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s global drive. Theme: “Tolerance in Multiculturalism: Achieving the Social, Economic and Humane Benefits of a Tolerant World”.

3. ADB approves $300 million for power transmission expansion in Bangladesh: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 300 million dollar loan for a project to expand power transmission lines in Greater Dhaka and western zone of Bangladesh. Besides ADB's loan, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is considering 200 million dollars in co-financing to fund transmission lines, substations and an enterprise resource planning system. The assistance also comprises a 750,000 dollar grant from China's Poverty Reduction and Regional Cooperation Fund. According to ADB Principal Energy Specialist Aiming Zhou "The project will improve the reliability and efficiency of the electricity supply in Greater Dhaka and western zone of Bangladesh, helping to bolster economic growth and achieve the government target of electricity for all by 2021." Bangladesh has yielded average annual gross domestic growth of 6.5 per cent during fiscal years 2009 to 2018 and achieved lower middle-income country status in FY2015. Despite its economic success, Bangladesh faces major challenges in maintaining growth trends and reducing poverty because of infrastructure deficiencies in the energy sector and elsewhere.

4. ‘Climate strike’ named 2019 word of the year by Collins Dictionary: Climate strike” has been crowned word of the year by Collins Dictionary. The term, which refers to people leaving work or school as a way to demand action on climate change, was used 100 times more often in 2019 compared to last year, Collins’ lexicographers found. The company says that they monitor a 9.5 billion-word body of text each year to identify “new and notable” words that reflect big shifts in culture.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. France Claims Fed Cup Title 2019 with 3-2 Win Against Australia: France defeated Australia, 3-2, to claim their first Fed Cup title in 16 years, held in Perth, Australia. Fed Cup is an international team competition in women’s tennis. Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic of France surpassed Ashleigh Barty and Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 6-3, winning the deciding doubles match to break the tie. This was France’s third Fed Cup title and first since they beat the United States in 2003. However, Australia has till date lost all nine of the last Fed Cup finals they have appeared in.

2. Kento Momota Defends Fuzhou China Open Badminton Title to Claim 10th Title of 2019: Japan’s World number one Kento Momota defeated Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan to win 2019 Fuzhou China Open men’s single badminton title. With this win, the 25-year-old claimed his 10th title of the year 2019. In women’s single, Home hope Chen Yufei claimed victory over Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara to win the title.

3. Indian Cricketer Shafali Surpasses Tendulkar’s 30-year-old record to become youngest Indian to score international fifty: The 15-year-old Shafali Verma has created history as she became the youngest Indian cricketer to score a half-century in international cricket, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s 30-year-old record. Shafali achieved the feat while playing T20 International against West Indies at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium. She scored 73 off 49 balls to reach her maiden fifty at the age of 15 years and 285 days. The batting legend Tendulkar scored his maiden Test fifty at 16 years and 214 days.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. No charges on NEFT payments from January: Banks will not be able to charge their savings account customers for online transactions done via the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system from January 2020. NEFT can be done by bank customers either online or offline through bank branches. While several major banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and YES Bank, do not charge for online NEFT transactions, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India charge Rs. 2.25, excluding the goods and services tax (GST), for such transfers up to Rs. 10,000. The RBI earlier this year had waived the charges it levied on banks for transactions routed through NEFT and the Real- Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), which is used for large fund transfers. It had asked banks to pass on the benefit to customers to provide an impetus to the digital funds movement.

2. IRDAI directs Reliance Health Insurance to stop selling new policies: IRDAI has barred Reliance Health Insurance Ltd (RHICL) from selling new policies due to its weak financial health. The regulator has also asked RHICL to transfer the entire policyholders’ liabilities along with financial assets to Reliance General Insurance Co Ltd (RGICL), which in turn will settle claims of the existing policyholders. IRDAI noted that Reliance Health Insurance was facing solvency issues. Solvency ratio loosely refers to the financial ability of an insurer to service its obligations, including payment to claims. RHICL had reported a solvency ratio of 106 per cent for the quarter ended June 30. It was below 150 per cent, which is the control level of solvency.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. 8 Indian companies named in Fintech 100 list: Eight Indian firms have been named in the KPMG and H2 Ventures’ ‘Fintech100’ list with two firms in top 10. PayTm is ranked 5th while Ola is ranked 8th. Ant Financial (China) is on rank one in the list. This report compiles a list of the best fintech innovators from around the world. Apart from this, Policybazaar is ranked on 21, Lendingkart on 23.

2. Indian start-up ecosystem continues to be the 3rd largest in the world: NASSCOM Report: As per the “Indian Tech Start-up Ecosystem” released by NASSCOM, the Indian start-up ecosystem continues to be the third-largest in the world with a total of 24 Unicorns. (unicorn is a start-up with >$1Bn valuation). China is on top with 206 Unicorns and US is on second with 203 unicorns.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla Conferred ABLF Global Asian Award by UAE Govt: Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla has been honoured with the ABLF Global Asian Award by the UAE Government in Dubai. He has been awarded for being a “Powerful individual whose business footprint and commitment to excellence have engaged international interest and attention”. The previous recipients of the award include among others Late Dhirubhai Ambani, Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, H.E Mohamed Ali Alaber (Chairman- Emaar), H.E Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum (Chairman-Emirates).

2. George Schaller award for wildlife biologist: Wildlife biologist K. Ullas Karanth, Director, Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru, was awarded the George Schaller Lifetime Award in Wildlife Conservation Science for his contribution to the field of conservation. He is the first recipient of the award instituted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), New York.

DEFENCE

1. Indo-Russian Joint Tri-Service Exercise INDRA 2019 to be held from December 10-19: India is set to host the first-ever joint tri-service exercise between India and Russia codenamed INDRA 2019 from December 10-19. The 10-day bilateral joint services exercise is expected to enhance interoperability between both national armed forces (Armies, Air Forces and Navies) to jointly undertake operations under the UN flag.