Daily GK Updates - 4th Aug, 2020

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launches Cybercrime Awareness program ‘e-Rakshabandhan’: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy has launched a one month-long innovative virtual cybercrime awareness programme ‘E-Rakshabandhan’ on 3 August 2020. The campaign organised by the Andhra Pradesh CID and the police, aims to bring awareness among the public in cyberspace, especially women, youth and children. The slogan for the campaign is “Let us make August a month of e freedom and e-safety.” As a part of the E-Rakshabandhan program, Webinars will be conducted, FM radio talks and competitions for students will also be held. Cybercrime experts will speak on different types of cyber crimes and create awareness among the public. The month long online awareness programme would be organised by the Crime Investigation Department (CID), FM Radio, Cyber Crime Prevention Against Women and Children (CCPWC), Cyber Peace Foundation and other organisations.

Note: Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy; Governor: Biswa Bhusan Harichandan.

 

2. MoD releases draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has formulated a draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 (DPEPP 2020), with the objective to make India self-reliance in defence manufacturing and to position the country amongst the leading countries of the world in defence and aerospace sectors. Key goals and objectives of DPEPP 2020:

(1) To achieve a turnover of Rs 1,75,000 Crores (USD 25 Billion) including export of Rs 35,000 Crore (USD 5 Billion) in Aerospace and Defence goods and services by 2025.

(2) To develop a dynamic, robust and competitive Defence industry, including Aerospace and Naval Shipbuilding industry to cater to the needs of Armed forces with quality products.

(3) To reduce dependence on imports and take forward “Make in India” initiatives through domestic design and development.

(4) To promote export of defence products and become part of the global defence value chains.

(5) To create an environment that encourages R&D, rewards innovation, creates Indian IP ownership and promotes a robust and self-reliant defence industry.

 

3. MoD signs tripartite MoU with IIT Kanpur and DARPG to conduct predictive analysis of public grievances: A Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Department of Defence (DoD) Ministry of Defence (MoD), Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) and Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) on 4 August 2020. Under this MoU, IIT Kanpur will develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Techniques to conduct exploratory and predictive analysis of Public Grievances received on the web based Centralized Public Grievances Redress & Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) related to the MoD. The DARPG, the nodal Department of Government of India in respect of policy initiatives on Public Grievances and custodian of data on web based CPGRAMS portal will provide the data dump on the Public Grievances pertaining to MoD to IIT Kanpur to facilitate their analysis. Through this project the MoD aims to identify the cause and nature of grievances and bring about systemic changes and policy interventions wherever required.

 

4. “Bharat Air Fibre Services” inaugurated in Maharashtra: State Minister for Electronics, Communication, and IT, Sanjay Dhotre has inaugurated ‘Bharat Air Fibre Services’ at Akola in Maharashtra. It has been introduced by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) under digital India initiative of Government. It will offer Wireless fastest internet Connectivity in the range of 20 KMs from the BSNL Locations via local business partners at Akola & Washim district.

Note: Chief Minister of Maharashtra: Uddhav Thackeray; Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

 

5. Nitin Gadkari approves “Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission”: Unique employment generation program “Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission” has been approved by the Union Minister for MSME, Shri Nitin Gadkari. The programme has been proposed by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to make India Aatmanirbhar in Agarbatti production. It will facilitate thousands of job creation for unemployed and migrant workers in different parts of the country while increasing domestic Agarbatti production. KVIC will offer 25% subsidy on the cost of the machines and will recover the remaining 75% of the cost from the artisans in the form of easy monthly installments. KVIC has also decided to procure only locally made machines encouraging local production

Note: Chairman of Khadi and Village Industries Commission: Vinai Saxena.

 

6. Nitish Kumar releases book titled Siyasat Mein Sadasyata: Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar has released a book titled “Siyasat Mein Sadasyata” authored by Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary. The book is a compilation of the author’s views, three dozen articles on different important issues and his life journey. The book was published by Bihar Assembly Secretariat. The book also mentions about developmental works across sectors. The book is compiled and edited by senior journalist Arvind Sharma while its preface is written by journalist Vinod Bandhu.

Note: Governor of Bihar: Phagu Chauhan; Capital of Bihar: Patna.

 

7. MSME Minister launches Khadi’s Gift Box of Silk Mask: Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Shri Nitin Gadkari has launched the Khadi’s Gift Box of Silk Mask. The Gift Box has been developed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). The KVIC developed gift box comprises of four handcrafted silk masks in different colors and prints. These triple-layered silk masks are skin-friendly, washable, reusable as well as bio-degradable. The Khadi’s Gift Box has been launch to tap the foreign market and a large Indian population looking for reasonably priced gift items.

Note: Chairman of Khadi and Village Industries Commission: Vinai Saxena.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Mohamed Irfaan Ali named as President of Guyana: Former Guyanese housing minister, Mohamed Irfaan Ali has been named as the President of the country. He is a member of the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP). He succeeds David Arthur(A.) Granger. David A. Granger is a member of A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (ANPU-AFC). The PPP won 33 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly with 233,336 votes, while the APNU-AFC earned 31 seats with 217,920 votes. He is the 10th President of Guayana. He started his political career as a member of National Assembly of Guyana in 2006 and appointed as the Minister of Housing and Water and later as Tourism Industry and Commerce Minister.

Note: Capital of Guyana: Georgetown; Currency of Guyana: Guyanese dollar (GYD).

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. World Cup winner Benedikt Howedes retires from soccer: World Cup winner German footballer, Benedikt Howedes has retired from football. He was part of the 2014 world-cup winning Germany team. He was one of the 3 players who had played every minute for the team in the tournament. Benedikt Howedes has played 44 times for German National Team from 2011-17. In September 2007, German Football Association honoured him with the Fritz Walter Medal, under-19 Gold Medal which is given to the best youth players.

 

2. Govt of India gave nod to IPL 2020 in UAE: The Indian Government has provisionally granted permission for the 13th edition of Indian Premier League’s (IPL’s) 2020 to be rescheduled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from September 19 to November 10, 2020, due to COVID-19 outbreak. BCCI has also decided to host a Women’s T20 Challenge to be held from November 1 to 10 in UAE. Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah will be the three venues of the tournament. No spectators to be allowed in the initial phase of the tournament. IPL governing council has postponed the tournament final to November 10 to adhere to the broadcaster’s request, which will be the first-ever weekday final in the history of the tournament. The squad size of each franchise is capped at 24 players.

 

3. India withdraws from women’s world team Squash championship: India has withdrawn from the women’s world team Squash championship scheduled in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 15th to 20th December, due to lack of preparation, time and match-readiness of its players. Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) has decided to withdraw from the championship.

Note: President of SRFI: Debendranath Sarangi; Headquarter of SRFI: Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

 

4. Indian hockey team to join National Camp for Tokyo Olympics: Indian men's and women's hockey team’s member bound for Tokyo Olympics will be joining National Camp at National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) in Bengaluru. The decision to organise camp was taken by Sports Authority of India (SAI). Athletes, coaches and support staff will join the camp and undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine inside the campus. All the member will be adhere to institutional quarantine protocols issued by Ministry of Home Affairs, MoHFW, Karnataka Govt.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. SEBI to set up virtual museum of securities market: Indian Market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is planning to set up a virtual museum of the securities market to highlight achievements and milestones in the Indian capital market. SEBI has invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from agencies to develop the virtual museum. About the Museum:

(1) The museum is intended to be a visual online organised collection of history of evolution, achievements and milestones in the Indian securities market over the decades in terms of market infrastructure, regulation and enforcement, among others.

(2) The achievements will be told through photos, videos, articles, media clippings, an interactive display like quiz, paintings, drawings, diagrams, graphs, newspaper articles, transcripts of interviews and numerical databases, among others.

(3) Information pertaining to the history of securities laws as well as the establishment of stock exchanges in India and history of institutions important to the securities market, including UTI and Forward Market Commission (FMC), would be used as content for the proposed museum.

(4) Besides, information related to developments on account of events such as world war, independence of India and economic liberalisation would be exhibited through audio/video/images/articles/artworks on the virtual museum.

(5) The virtual museum will engage the audience with creative content through various means like video, audio, chatbot, voice assistants, virtual reality, analytics, interactive and animated elements.

(6) Latest technologies analytics, virtual reality or augmented reality, artificial intelligence and machine to machine communication would be used to provide the best possible showcase and experience.

(7) Apart from English, the online platform should be able to develop and deliver content in Hindi and other Indian languages.

Note: Chairman of SEBI: Ajay Tyagi; Headquarter: Mumbai.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. BOB Financial Solutions Limited partners Fiserv Technology for Digital Transformation: BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda, has selected Fiserv, Inc., to enable the digitization of their end-to-end card issuance and processing cycle and support the unveiling of several new and high-tech products namely contactless credit cards, tokenisation and integration with branded wallets, and virtual credit cards.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Former AP Minister P Manikyala Rao passes away: Former Andhra Pradesh Ministe Pydikondala Manikyala Rao passed away due to COVID-19. He was born on November 1, 1961. He was a Senior BJP leader. Rao was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Thadepalligudem of West Godavari district (May 2014 – May 2019) and served as the Endowment Minister in Chandrababu Naidu’s cabinet between 2014-2018. He was a RSS member and later joined BJP. He served BJP in various capacities like president of West Godavari unit and state general secretary.