Daily GK Updates - 24th February, 2020

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Govt launches PM-KISAN Mobile App: The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) was launched on February 24, 2019 to provide annually Rs 6,000 to each eligible farmer. The first anniversary of the scheme was observed on Feb 24, 2020. On this occasion, a mobile app named PM-KISAN Mobile App was launched by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to broaden the reach of this programme. Using the app, farmers can view the status of their application, update or carry out corrections of their Aadhaar cards and also check history of credits to their bank accounts. All the states except West Bengal have implemented this scheme. The total number of beneficiaries to be covered under the scheme is about 14 crore.

2. US President Donald Trump arrives on a Historic Maiden Visit to India: US President Donald Trump arrived at Ahmedabad today on his maiden two-day visit to India. He is also accompanied by his daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and top brass of his administration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally welcomed him and US first lady Melania Trump at the airport. Both the leaders then proceeded to Motera stadium to participate in Namaste Trump event. More than lakh people cheered and greeted President Trump during the roadshow.

3. NCMRWF organizes international conference on “EMMDA” in Noida: National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has organized a 3-day international conference on Ensemble Methods in Modelling and Data Assimilation (EMMDA) in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The conference was organized to have a concrete discussions and deliberations on the present status, future prospects as well as optimum use of Ensemble Prediction System (EPS). The Ensemble Prediction System has been developed by leading weather forecasting centres of the world to quantify the forecast uncertainty and to probabilistic forecasting of weather.

4. IRSDC installs squat machine at Delhi's Anand Vihar Railway Station: Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) has installed a squat machine at Anand Vihar Station, turning it into a health hub. Fit India Squat Machine is the first such machine at any railway station across the country to encourage the Fit India Program. The Railways will give free platform tickets to the person performing 30 squats in 180 seconds.

5. Central Excise Day: 24 February: The Central Excise Day is commemorated every year across India on 24th February to commemorate the Central Excise and Salt Act (enacted on 24 February 1944) by Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). It is celebrated in India to encourage the employees of excise department in carrying out the central excise duty in a better way. CBEC is the nodal national agency responsible for administering Customs, GST, Central Excise, Service Tax & Narcotics in India.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Riek Machar swears in as first Vice President in South Sudan: South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar has been sworn in as first vice president. He is formally rejoining the government in the latest effort to bring peace to a nation ravaged by war. The rebel leader returns as first vice president in a transition government which will serve for 36 months. President Salva Kiir announced the official ending of the war and said peace is now irreversible as the new unity government was formed after more than a year of delays.

Note: South Sudan Capital: Juba; Currency: South Sudanese pound.

2. Sweden Creates Food Planet Prizes worth USD 1 Million for Sustainable Food Solutions: Sweden has created two new prizes named ‘Food Planet Prizes’, to be awarded for solutions to feed billions of people, as climate change threatens the world’s food supply and a growing population requires sustainable food systems. Food Planet Prizes will be worth USD 1 million each, and will encourage people to work towards sustainable food production. The prizes will be awarded annually in two categories: (1) An existing scalable solution for sustainable foods and (2) innovative initiatives that could transform the global food sector

3. France to Shut Down its Oldest Nuclear Complex Fessenheim Power Plant by June 2020: The 2X920 MW Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant is the oldest operational nuclear power plant in France. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced that the entire complex will come to a halt on June 30, 2020. The Unit 1 of the plant will close on 22nd February 2020 while the Unit 2 on 30th June 2020. The plan to shut down the plant has been taken to balance nuclear produced energy and electricity with increased generation from renewable sources. The government has planned to close the coal-based plants by 2022 to reduce greenhouse gases. Currently, France receives more than 70% of its electricity from nuclear power; the new plan would cap the amount of electricity from nuclear power at 50% by 2035.

4. Indian Universities make it to top 100 THE Emerging Economies University Rankings, 2020: A record number of 11 Indian Universities have made it to the top 100 Times Higher Education’s (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020. Overall 56 Indian universities appear in the full ranking of a total of 533 universities from 47 emerging countries or regions of the world. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is India’s top-ranked institution in the index at 16th position. Mainland China is the most-represented nation overall, with 81 institutions, followed by India at 56 and Brazil at 46. China claimed 14 places in the top 30 of the Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020, including all of the top four places: (1) Tsinghua University: (2) Peking University; (3) Zhejiang University; (4) University of Science and Technology of China.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh wins 34th Cannes Open in France: In Chess, India’s 13-year old Grandmaster D Gukesh won the 34th Cannes Open in France. Gukesh defeated Harutyun Bargseghyan of France in the final round to end with 7.5 points in 50 moves to emerge clear winner. The Tamil Nadu player Gukesh became the world’s second youngest Grandmaster ever in 2019 at the age of 12 years, 7 months, and 17 days. As of 2019 he is the youngest grandmaster in the world and India’s youngest grandmaster.

2. India Finishes Third with 20 Medals at 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships: The 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships was held at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium, Indira Gandhi Arena, New Delhi from February 18 to February 23. China was not allowed to participate in the competition due to coronavirus outbreak. India won total 20 medals including 5 Gold, 6 Silver and 9 Bronze to be placed at third spot in the medal table. Japan stood first with 16 medals (8-4-4) while Iran was second with 17 medals (7-3-7). The Championship was held in three categories: (1) Men’s freestyle: (2) Men’s Greco-Roman; (3) Women’s freestyle.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. NCAER Pegs India’s GDP Growth at 4.9% in 2019-20: Delhi-based think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has pegged the economic growth of India for 2019-20 at 4.9 percent. For 2020-21, the Indian economy is expected to improve to 5.6 percent.

2. NPCI launches “UPI Chalega” Campaign to promote UPI: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched an industry campaign named “UPI Chalega” to promote UPI as Easy, Safe, and Instant mode of payment. NPCI has launched the campaign in association with the payment ecosystem players. The “UPI Chalega” campaign is aimed to guide users towards the right usage of UPI and help create a habitual change, use of UPI in their daily life.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Actor Manoj Kumar felicitated by World Book of Records, London: Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar has been felicitated by the World Book of Records, London with the WBR Golden Era of Bollywood honour for being a legendary actor and for his contribution to Indian cinema. The certificate of honour was presented to Manoj Kumar by Santosh Shukla, Supreme Court Advocate (President World Book of Records), Usman Khan (Vice President, World Book of Records, India) and Professor Rajeev Sharma. Before this, legendary actor Dilip Kumar has also been felicitated with the honour.

Note: Manoj Kumar was the winner of 47th Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2015 and also awarded Padma Shri award by the Government of India in 1992.

OBITUARIES

1. Creator of LEGO Minifigure, Jens Nygaard Knudsen Passes Away: Jens Nygaard Knudsen, the chief designer of the iconic Lego minifigure with interchangeable legs and torsos has passed away. He was 78-year old. Nygaard Knudsen was also responsible for developing some of Lego’s classic themes, such as Lego Space and Lego Pirates. The LEGO Group is a Danish toy production company located in Billund, Denmark.