Daily GK Updates - 4th Sept, 2020

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Union Cabinet approves “Mission Karmayogi” NPCSCB: The Union Cabinet has approved the launch of a “Mission Karmayogi” National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB). A sum of Rs. 510.86 crore will be spent over a period of 5 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 in order to cover around 46 lakh Central employees. Mission Karmayogi has been launched to prepare the Indian Civil Servant for the future by making him more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled. Through this, the civil servant will be empowered with specific role-competencies, and will also be able to ensure efficient service delivery of the highest quality standards. The mission will focus on setting-up Prime Minister’s Public Human Resources (HR) Council, Capacity Building Commission, Special Purpose Vehicle for digital assets and Coordination Unit. It will lay the foundations for capacity building for Civil Servants. An Integrated Government Online Training “iGOTKarmayogiPlatform” would be set up to deliver the programme. The platform will brings the scale as well as state-of-the-art infrastructure to enhance the capacities of over two crore officials in India.

 

2. IIPA organizes “National Tribal Research Conclave”: The Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) organised 2-days long “National Tribal Research Conclave”. The inaugural session of conclave was addressed by the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda. The National Tribal Research Conclave was organised to review the progress on the results of projects launched by Ministry of Tribal Affairs. 10 research partners shared their projects in the 2-days long conclave. The conclave also featured the participation of more than 100 participants from all over the country including Tribal Affairs Ministers from various states. The road map of National Tribal Research Institute (NTRI), to be launched in collaboration with IIPA, was also shared during the conclave.

 

3. ACC approves appointment of V K Yadav as CEO of Railway Board: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of the current chairman of the Railway Board VK Yadav as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The chairman and CEO will be the cadre controlling officer responsible for human resources (HR) with assistance from a DG (HR). ACC approves restructuring of Railway Board:

(1) The Cabinet had earlier approved the restructuring of the Railway Board, whose strength has been cut from eight to five, as part of large scale reforms initiated by the national transporter.

(2) The process to merge eight railway-related wings into a single central service called the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) is underway.

(3) These reforms, the Railways will end “departmentalism”, promote the smooth working of railways, expedite decision making, create a coherent vision for the organisation and promote rational decision making.

(4) The Indian Railway Medical Service (IRMS) will be renamed the Indian Railway Health Service (IRHS).

Note: Union Minister of Railways: Piyush Goyal.

 

4. India Targets 100 MT Coal Gasification By 2030: The Government of India has set the target to achieve 100 million tonnes (MT) coal gasification by the year 2030. This will be achieved with an estimated investment of over Rs. 4 lakh crores. The announcement was made by Shri Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister of Coal and Mine, while addressing a webinar on Coal Gasification and Liquefaction on 31 August 2020.

 

5. Jal Shakti Ministry launched ‘Water Heroes’ Contest: The Jal Shakti ministry has launched a ”Water Heroes – Share Your Stories” contest with an aim to reach out to people with the important message of water conservation and management. The primary objectives of the Ministry of Jal Shakti are to make water conservation a people”s movement and strengthen the water consciousness in the country. About ”Water Heroes – Share Your Stories” contest:

The contest encourages people and collects best practices in water conservation from across the country.

(1) A maximum of 10 entries can be considered for the awards every month.

(2) All selected entries will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 10,000 and a certificate.

(3) The participants will have to post their success stories on water conservation through a specially made video of 1-5 minutes, along with a write-up of up to 300 words and some photographs, depicting the efforts and significant contributions to conserve and manage water resources.

Note: Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti: Rattan Lal Kataria.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Google partners with Bangladesh for Flood Forecasting: Google has partnered with the Bangladesh Water Development Board to bring the flood warning services to the country. Google is currently covering more than 40 mn people in Bangladesh and it is working to expand its coverage to the entire country. More than 65% of people who receive advance flood warnings take action to protect themselves. Google is also partnering with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to build to deliver alerts.

 

2. Raj Srivastava appointed as India’s Ambassador to Republic of Croatia: Raj Kumar Srivastava has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Croatia. He is an IFS officer of 1997 batch and is presently serving as the Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India, Tokyo.

Note: Capital of Croatia: Zagreb; Currency: Croatian kuna; President of Croatia: Zoran Milanovic.

 

3. Saudi Arabia chairs G20 Foreign Ministers’ Extraordinary Meeting: Saudi Arabia chaired the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Extraordinary Meeting which was held in the virtual mode. External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar represented India in the virtual meeting that was convened in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. During the meeting, India proposed the setting up of voluntary ‘G20 Principles on Coordinated Cross-Border Movement of People’. This new set up will be based on following three pillars:

a) Standardisation of testing procedures and universal acceptability of test results

b) Standardisation of ‘Quarantine procedures’

c) Standardisation of ‘movement and transit’ protocols

The participants deliberated on strengthening international cooperation across borders amid COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The Ministers also discussed the national experiences and lessons acquired from the cross-border management initiatives taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

4. Global tourism lost USD 320 billion in 5 months from coronavirus: UN: The tourism global industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, with USD 320 billion lost in exports in the first five months of the year and more than 120 million jobs at risk, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. The tourism is the third-largest export sector of the global economy, behind fuels and chemicals, and in 2019 it accounted for 7 per cent of global trade. It employs one in every 10 people on Earth and provides livelihoods to hundreds of millions more.

The export revenues from tourism could fall by USD 910 billion to USD 1.2 trillion in 2020” and that “could reduce global GDP by 1.5 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

 

1. India’s P Iniyan wins World Open Online Chess Tournament: Indian Grandmaster P Iniyan has won the prestigious 48th Annual World Open online chess tournament. He scored 7.5 points out of a possible 9 with six victories and three draws to finish on top. A total number of 120 players from 16 countries participated in the event which included more than 30 Grandmasters. On the way to his title, Iniyan defeated Grandmasters Baadur Jobava of Georgia, Sam Sevian, Sergey Erenburg of the USA and Nyzhyk Illia of Ukraine.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. ICICI Bank launches ‘Home Utsav’, a virtual property exhibition: ICICI Bank has launched a virtual property exhibition under the name ‘Home Utsav’. The exhibition will digitally showcase real estate projects by renowned developers, across India. The exhibition can be accessed on www.homeutsavicici.com. About ‘Home Utsav’ exhibition:

(1) The exhibition can be accessed by both customers and non-customers of ICICI Bank.

(2) It offers them enhanced convenience, as they can simply browse through these projects online, from the comfort of their home and office.

(3) The first ‘Home Utsav’ exhibition has been launched for the Mumbai and Pune region, where over 100 projects by more than 60 developers are being showcased.

 Benefits of ‘Home Utsav’ include: Wide range of projects by leading developers; Attractive home loan interest rates; Special processing fees; Digital sanction of the loan through Express Home Loan; Exclusive direct discounts by developers.

Note: ICICI Bank Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra; ICICI Bank MD & CEO: Sandeep Bakhshi; ICICI Bank Tagline: Hum Hai Na, Khayal Apka.

 

2. Murali Ramakrishnan becomes new MD & CEO of South Indian Bank: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of Murali Ramakrishnan as Managing Director and CEO of the South Indian Bank for a period of three years with effect from October 1, 2020. Ramakrishnan had retired from ICICI Bank as Senior General Manager at Strategic Project Group on May 30, 2020, and joined the South Indian Bank as an advisor on July 1, 2020. He represented the bank in the board of CIBIL and the risk advisory board of VISA for the Asia Pacific.

Note: South Indian Bank Headquarters: Thrissur, Kerala; South Indian Bank Tagline: Experience Next Generation Banking.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. NTPC wins AIMA Chanakya National Management Games 2020: Team of NTPC Limited, the Central PSU under Ministry of Power, has won the All India Management Association (AIMA) Chanakya (Business Simulation Game) National Management Games (NMG) 2020. The team from NTPC Vallur, Tamil Nadu won the championship which featured the participation of teams from 112 organisations from different parts of the country.

AIMA Chanakya National Management Games is an online Business Simulation Game which is conducted every year. The championship aims to ensure that executives participating in the event get the onboard experience about the complexities of running an organisation and gain expertise and skills from this event. It also enables the Corporate Managers to face the thrill of Managing Business in a competitive mode.

 

2. Para swimmer Satyendra Singh first Divyang sportsperson of country to get prestigious Adventure Award: Para-swimmer Satyendra Singh Lohia of Madhya Pradesh is the first Divyanga Indian sportsperson of the country, who has been awarded with the Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award. He is also the first Asian Divyang swimmer to cross the 42-kilometer Catalina Channel in the US in just 11 hours 34 minutes. Para-swimmer Satyendra Singh was also conferred with the Best Sportsperson National Award by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on World Divyanga Day. He has also been awarded the highest sports award of Madhya Pradesh as well as many other national and international honours.

           

DEFENCE

 

1. 11th edition of exercise INDRA NAVY begins in Bay of Bengal: Indian Navy and Russian Navy has commenced the 11th edition of a biennial bilateral maritime exercise “INDRA NAVY”. The biennial bilateral maritime exercise will be conducted in the Bay of Bengal from 04 to 05 September 2020. The maritime exercise “INDRA NAVY” embodies the long-term strategic relationship between the two Navies. The INDRA NAVY-20 exercise seeks to consolidate the inter-operability built up by the navies of two countries over the years. It will also improve the understanding as well as the procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations. This year, the bilateral maritime exercise would be undertaken in a ‘non-contact, at sea only’ format amid the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Note: President of Russia: Vladimir Putin; Capital of Russia: Moscow; Currency: Russian Ruble.

Chief of Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Former England Cricketer David Capel passes away: Former England all-rounder and legendary cricketer, David Capel passed away. He had played around 15 tests and 23 One Day Internationals (ODIs) representing England from 1987 to 1990. He made his Test debut against Pakistan in 1987. Capel served as assistant coach of the England Women’s team in 2013 and as a coach for Bangladesh Women’s team from 2016 to 2018. He was inducted in the hall of Fame of Northamptonshire county cricket club in 2018.