Daily GK Updates - 20th January, 2020

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Prakash Javadekar Inaugurates ELECRAMA 2020 at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida: The Union Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Information & Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar, inaugurated ELECRAMA 2020, at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The event has been organised from 18 to 22 January 2020 by industry body, Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association (IEEMA), which is targeting businesses worth Rs 30,000 crore during the five-day event. ELECRAMA is the flagship programme of the IEEMA to provide a platform to connect the world with Indian industry in respect of technology, new trends and innovation for future energy transition. The focus of 2020 ELECRAMA is on e-mobility, energy storage, start-ups, grid transformation, and revenue security with special attention on small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Note: IEEMA is a national representative organization of manufacturers of electrical, industrial electronics and allied equipment in India with presence in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bangalore.

2. Nearly Rs 70000 Crore Disbursed Under MSME Loan within 59 minutes: Ministry of Finance: As per the data by the Ministry of Finance, loan amount of nearly Rs 70,000 crore has been disbursed till 13 January 2020 under the scheme of providing loan to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) within 59 minutes. The government has introduced loan provision to MSMEs through a dedicated online portal- www.psbloansin59 minutes.com for ease of access to credit for MSMEs. The portal acts as a single interface portal which facilitates in principal approval of bank loans to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises upto Rs 5 crore within 59 minutes.

3. JP Nadda Elected as National President of BJP: Jagat Prakash Nadda has been elected unopposed as the National President of Bharatiya Janata Party on 20 January 2020. Nadda was serving as the Working President of the party since 17 June 2019 succeeding Amit Shah. He will serve for three years.

4. Senior bureaucrats Rajeev Singh Thakur and Shantanu Appointed as Joint Secretaries in the newly-created Department of Military Affairs: The Centre has appointed senior bureaucrats Rajeev Singh Thakur and Shantanu as Joint Secretaries in the newly-created Department of Military Affairs under the Ministry of Defence. Mr Thakur, a 1995 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Rajasthan Cadre will have tenure till December 2022. Mr Shantanu, a 1997 batch Tripura Cadre IAS officer has been appointed to the post till March 2024.

Note: The Department of Military Affairs, under the Ministry of Defence came into existence from 01 January 2020. It is headed by the Chief of Defence Staff, who acts as its ex-officio secretary. Apart from the Chief of Defence Staff, the department comprises two joint secretaries, thirteen deputy secretaries, and twenty-five under-secretaries.

5. 3rd Edition of PM Modi’s ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ held in New Delhi: The third edition of Pariksha Pe Charcha held at Talkatora Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on 20 January 2020. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction programme attended by a total of 2,000 students and teachers, of which 1,050 students have been selected through an essay competition. In the Pariksha Pe Charcha 2020 programme, PM Modi interact with students, teachers and parents and share “valuable tips” with them to ensure they take the upcoming board and entrance exams in a relaxed and stress-free manner.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 50th World Economic Forum begins: The 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Switzerland begins from 20th January and will continue till 24th. The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways, Piyush Goyal will be leading the Indian delegation. Goyal will also participate in an informal WTO Ministerial gathering being held in Davos during this period. He will also meet the DG of WTO and Secretary-General of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The theme of the 2020 meeting is “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World“. Every year, WEF meeting is held to engage the world’s top leaders to shape global, regional and industry agendas at the beginning of the year.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. Jacqueline Williams to become first woman third umpire in a men’s international match: West Indies’ Jacqueline Williams is set to become the first woman third umpire in a men’s international match. When West Indies and Ireland step on the field to play the first T20I of the three-match series, Williams will forge her name into history. The 43-year-old will be officiating in the position in all three matches of the series.

2. Arjun Munda elected as President of Archery Association of India: Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda has been elected as president of the Archery Association of India (AAI). The elections took place at JN Stadium, New Delhi in the presence of an observer each from World Archery (WA), Sports Ministry and Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Munda defeated rival and incumbent BVP Rao (Assam Archery Association president) by 34-18 margin. Pramod Chandurkar has been elected as secretary. All 19 office bearers including president, senior vice-president, vice-presidents (8), secretary, joint-secretaries (7), and treasurer have been elected for four year tenure.

3. India bags 7 medals in UWW Rome Ranking Series 2020: India won seven medals in the UWW Rome Ranking Series 2020 which was held from January 15-18, 2020. The medals included 4 gold, 2 silver and a bronze. The medals came from:

Gold: (1) Bajrang Punia – 65kg freestyle; (2) Ravi  Kumar Dahiya – 61kg; (3) Vinesh Phogat – 53kg; (4) Gurpreet Singh – 82kg

Silver: (1) Anshu Malik – 57kg; (2) Sunil Kumar – 97kg

Bronze: Sajan Bhanwal – 77 kg.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. RBI issues instructions to PPI issuers for Enhancing Security of Card Transactions: The Reserve Bank of India in its endeavor to improve the security of card-based transactions (debit cards/credit cards) has issued certain instructions for PPI issuers which are as under: (This will come into effect from March 16, 2020)

(1) At the time of issue / re-issue, all cards (physical and virtual) shall be enabled for use only at contact-based points of usage [viz. ATMs and Point of Sale (PoS) devices] within India.

(2) For existing cards, the issuer may take the decision regarding whether to disable the card not present (domestic and international) transactions, card-present (international) transactions and contactless transaction rights based on the risk perception.

(3) While existing cards that have never been used for online (card not present) / international / contactless transactions shall be mandatorily disabled for this purpose.

(4) Additionally, the issuers shall provide to all cardholders: facility to switch on / off and set / modify transaction limits (within the overall card limit, if any, set by the issuer) for all types of transactions– domestic and international, at PoS / ATMs / online transactions / contactless transactions, etc; the above facility on a 24×7 basis through multiple channels– mobile application / internet banking / ATMs / Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

2. ICICI Bank launches India’s largest API Banking portal with nearly 250 APIs: ICICI Bank has launched its API Banking portal consisting maximum number of virtual APIs (application programming interfaces) put together by any Indian bank. The API interface will enable partner companies to co- create innovative customer solutions in a frictionless manner and in a fraction of time usually taken for such integration. The ‘ICICI Bank API Banking portal’, which consists of 250 APIs, enables developers of prospective partner companies across the globe to seamlessly sign up on it, create an application, select the application, test it out and get the sample code.

3. NPCI Launches Blockchain-based ‘Vajra Platform’ to Secure Online Payment: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched a blockchain-technology based payment system ‘Vajra Platform’ for automating payment clearing and settlement processes. Vajra platform is based on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), to provide highly secure and tamper-evident transactions stored in a distributed and immutable database. Vajra is a permissioned network that will be set up so that only the parties who have been approved by the Network Administrator can be a part of the network. The platform has three types of nodes: Clearing House node (CHN) for NPCI, UIDAI node for Aadhaar authentication, and Participant node (PN) for all banks/ASP/PPI/PSP

DEFENCE

1. Indian Air Force inducts BrahMos-armed Sukhoi-30MKI: On January 20, 2020, the first squadron of Brahmos-Armed Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft was inducted into the Indian Air Force at its Thanjavur base, Tamil Nadu. This 222-squadron known as the Tiger sharks will serve as a platform for conducting aerial and maritime missions in the Indian Ocean Region.

OBITUARIES

1. Veteran Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala passes away: Veteran Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala has passed away following prolonged illness. He was 87.Surjewala was the father of party leader Randeep Surjewala. He remained a five-time MLA and one-time Rajya Sabha MP.