Daily GK Updates - 5th March, 2020

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 35th edition of AAHAR Food and Hospitality Fair begins in New Delhi: The India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) has organised the 35th edition of AAHAR – the International Food and Hospitality Fair in New Delhi from 3-7 March 2020. The five-day-long fair has been organised by ITPO in collaboration with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Agriculture and Processed Food Products Development Authority and several apex industry associations. AAHAR is one of Asia’s best known brands in Food & Hospitality shows. This 5-day fair will present a wide range of food products, machinery, hospitality, Food and Beverage Equipment and Decoration items, and Confectionery items from over 750 participants from India and overseas.

Note: India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) Chairman: LC Goyal; India Trade Promotion Organisation(ITPO) Headquarters: New Delhi; India Trade Promotion Organisation(ITPO) Formed: 1 April 1977.

Minister of Food Processing: Harsimrat Kaur Badal

2. U’khand CM Trivendra Rawat Announces Gairsain to be Summer Capital of the state: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has announced that his government will make Gairsain the summer capital of Uttarakhand. This means that, Uttarakhand will now get a permanent summer capital. However, Dehradun would continue to operate as the second capital. With this decision, Uttarakhand also becomes the only second state after Jammu and Kashmir in the country to have two capitals. The decision has been taken as Dehradun is far off from many districts, while Gairsain’s has an edge due to its location and proximity with hill districts.

Chief Minister of Uttarakhand : Trivendra Singh Rawat; Governor of Uttarakhand: Baby Rani Maurya.

3. India’s biggest multi-level parking to come up in Noida: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 23 development projects worth Rs 2,821 crore in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Noida. The initiative is part of the state government to develop the Gautam Buddh Nagar City as a smart city and ideal model of development and opportunities. Among the 23 projects, 13 projects were inaugurated at the total worth of Rs 1,452 crore, while foundation stones were laid for 10 projects worth Rs 1,369 crore.

The various project includes setting up:

(1) India’s biggest multi-level parking with space for 7,000 vehicles at Sector 38A – Rs 500 crore

(2) Underground parking for 276 cars and 42 two-wheelers at Sector 5 – Rs 32.25 crore

(3) A government hospital in Sector 39 – Rs 344 crore

(4) Three power sub stations at Sector 148 – Rs 366 crore

(5) Two power sub stations at Sector 38A – Rs 98.45 crore and Rs 10 crore

(6) A footover bridge at: Sector 145 metro station – Rs 10.81 crore; Sector 62 – Rs 5 crore; Sector 71 and 72 – Rs 5 crore

(7) Four pink toilets in sectors 16, 15, 28 and 74 – Rs 0.76 crore

4. Gzb Police launches ‘One Cop One Gangster’ operation to track criminals: The district police of Ghaziabad has launched a special drive named ‘One Cop One Gangster’ to keep a close eye on criminals by deputing a dedicated policeman behind every wanted person. Under the drive, the notorious criminals of the district will remain under the surveillance of sub-inspectors, while passive ones will be watched by head constables and constables.

5. Student Health Card scheme for school children launched in J&K: Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Girish Chander Murmu launched the “Student Health Card” scheme.  The scheme aims to check the malnutrition in school going children and to ensure good health of every school going children. The “Student Health Card” scheme was launched during the programme which was organised by Directorate of Mid Day Meal, School Education Department in cooperation with the National Health Mission.

6. Govt form committee to address the issues of drug security in the country in the context of Novel Coronavirus outbreak: Department of Pharmaceuticals (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) has formed a committee to address the issues of drug security in the country in the context of Novel Coronavirus outbreak in China.  The committee is headed by Dr. Eshwara Reddy, Joint Drugs Controller, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).

7. Janaushadhi Week being observed from 1st to 7th March: Janaushadhi week is being celebrated across the country from 1st March to 7th March 2020. During the week, blood pressure check-up, sugar level checkup, free doctor consultation and free medicine distribution will be hosted at various Jan Aushadhi Kendras.  Event on women’s empowerment with the theme ‘Suvidha Se Sammaan’ was held on this occasion. March 7 is observed as ‘Janaushadhi Diwas’

8. After Mumbai, Google to launch its second cloud infrastructure in Delhi by 2021: Google has planned to open its second cloud region in India in Delhi. The Delhi cloud region is expected to be launched in 2021, and will have three zones to protect against service disruptions. It will be the Google’s second cloud region in India. The first region was launched in Mumbai in 2017. The new cloud region will expand the existing network of Google, which currently stands at eight regions in the Asia Pacific and 22 regions globally. It will also enable in-country disaster recovery for the customers' mission-critical applications.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Luxembourg Becomes World’s First country to make public transport free: Luxembourg has become the first country in the world to make public transport system free for the residents as well as tourists. Luxembourg, which is Europe’s richest country, aims to tackle road congestion, pollution, as well as supporting low earners, using this initiative all the fares for trams, trains and buses have been abolished in the country with effect from February 29 2020. However, the only exception is that first-class train travel will continue to cost £2.60 (€3) per journey. Luxembourg has just over 600,000 inhabitants, but 214,000 travel for work every day from neighbouring Germany, Belgium and France, causing heavy traffic jams. causing greenhouse gas emissions.

Note: Prime Minister of Luxembourg: Xavier Bettel; Capital of Luxembourg: Luxembourg City; The currency of Luxembourg: Euro.

2. Sanjay Kumar Panda becomes India’s next Ambassador to Turkey:  The Ministry of External Affairs announced that the Senior diplomat Sanjay Kumar Panda will be India’s Ambassador to Turkey. He will succeed Sanjay Bhattacharya. Sanjay Kumar Panda is a 1991 Indian Foreign Service officer, is presently Consul General, Consulate General of India, San Francisco.

Note: President of Turkey: Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Capital of Turkey: Ankara; Currency of Turkey: Turkish lira.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. Sunil Joshi named Chairman of BCCI’s selection committee: Former India spinner Sunil Joshi (South Zone) has been named as chairman of the national selection panel by the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) replacing MSK Prasad. The CAC has also picked ex-pacer Harvinder Singh (Central Zone) replaces Gagan Khoda as a member of the five-member panel. The other three member of the group includes: Jatain Paranjpe (West), Devang Gandhi (East) and Sarandeep Singh (North). The CAC comprising Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik will review the panel’s performance after one year and make recommendations accordingly.

Note: BCCI President: Sourav Ganguly; Headquarter of BCCI: Mumbai.

2. Mumbai to host International Olympic Committee Session 2023: Mumbai is set to host the International Olympic Committee's session 2023. The year 2023 will be significant for India as it coincides with the India’s 75th independence year. This will be the second-ever IOC session to be held in India after a long gap of 37 years. India last hosted an IOC session way back in 1983 in New Delhi.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. Cabinet approves merger of 10 PSBs into 4 from 1st April 2020: Union Cabinet has approved the merger of 10 PSBs into 4 from 1st April 2020. As per the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the exercise of consolidation of 10 public sector banks (PSBs) into four is on course and the merger will come into effect from the new financial year 1st April 2020. As per the plan, PSBs will be merged into:

1. United Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce will be merged with Punjab National Bank

2. Syndicate Bank will be merged with Canara Bank

3. Allahabad Bank will be amalgamated with Indian Bank

4. Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank will be consolidated with Union Bank of India

Note: Headquarters of Punjab National Bank: New Delhi; Chief Executive Officers of Punjab National Bank: SS Mallikarjuna Rao

Headquarters of Canara Bank: Bengaluru; Chief Executive Officers of Canara Bank: Lingam Venkat Prabhakar

Headquarters of Indian Bank: Chennai; Chief Executive Officers of Indian Bank: Padmaja Chunduru

Headquarters of Union Bank of India: Mumbai; Chief Executive Officers of Union Bank of India: Rajkiran Rai G

2. RBI Deputy Governor NS Vishwanathan Quits ahead of Retirement: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor N S Vishwanathan has decided to step down on March 31, ending his 29 years of service, three months before the end of his extended one-year tenure, due to ill health.

His one-year extension was to end on July 3, 2020. The 62-year-old was appointed deputy governor in June 2016, replacing H R Khan. He was re-appointed in June 2019 for one more year till July 3, 2020. Vishwanathan joined the Central Bank in 1981 and had been in-charge of the key supervisory and regulatory functions. As a deputy governor, he was looking after key departments such as banking regulation, co-operative banking, non-banking regulation, deposit insurance, financial stability and inspection.

3. EPFO lowers interest rate on PF deposits to 8.5 pc for 2019-20: Retirement fund body, Employees’ Provident Fund Organization, (EPFO) has lowered the interest rate on provident fund deposits to 8.5 percent for the current financial year 2019-20. Earlier it was 8.65 percent. This announcement was made by Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar in New Delhi on 5 March 2020.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Environmental activist Jadav Payeng named Commonwealth Points of Light Award: Assam’s Environmental activist Jadav Payeng has been named as the 128th Commonwealth Points of Light Award winner. Jadav Payeng, who is popularly known as the ‘Forest Man of India’ has been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II for his exceptional voluntary service to environmental conservation. He has worked for years to transform the sandbar into a home to animals and birds of varied species, named ‘Molai forest’ after him.

DEFENCE

1. International Seminar ‘Pragyan Conclave 2020’ Begins in New Delhi: A two-day Indian Army International Seminar “PRAGYAN CONCLAVE 2020” has been organized in New Delhi on 4-5 March 2020. The seminar has been organized by Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), an autonomous think tank on strategic studies and land warfare, based in New Delhi. The 2-day event with 4 sessions brings together cross-domain national and international experts to deliberate on the complex subject. The event provides a platform to deliberate on the complex subject of ‘Changing Characteristics of Land Warfare and its Impact on the Military’.