Daily GK Updates – 28th Oct, 2020

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. PM Modi launched 3 projects in Gujarat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated three projects in his home State Gujarat, one each related to farmers’ welfare, healthcare, and tourism development, via video conference from New Delhi. The projects inaugurated include:

Kisan Suryodaya Yojna: The ‘Kisan Suryodaya Yojna’ is an Agri scheme which aims to provide power supply during daytime from 5 am to 9 pm (16 hours) for irrigation purposes to farmers. The state government has allocated a budget of Rs 3,500 crores for installing transmission infrastructure under this scheme by 2023. Initially, Dahod, Patan, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Kheda, Tapi, Valsad, Anand and Gir-Somnath districts have been covered under the scheme for 2020-21. The rest will be included in a phased manner by 2022-23.

India’s biggest cardiac hospital in Ahmedabad: The Paediatric Heart Hospital was inaugurated at U.N Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre at Civil Hospital campus in Ahmedabad and a Mobile Application for telecardiology. The new facilities have been set up at the cost of Rs 470 crore and will be India’s biggest hospital for cardiology. It has increased the existing 450 beds to 1251 beds, 531 cardiac ICU beds, 15 cardiac modular operation theatres and 6 cardiac cath labs.

World’s longest temple ropeway project at Girnar in Junagadh: Girnar hill ropeway at Junagadh is Rs 130 crore project. It would attract more tourists and pilgrims to this historical place which will boost employment opportunities. The 2,320 metres long ropeway has a capacity of carrying 1,000 passengers every hour.

Note: Gujarat Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani; Gujarat Governor: Acharya Devvrat.

 

2. World Bank sanctions Rs 3 crore for Sand Dune Park in Goa: India’s first sand dune parks and interpretation centres are set to be developed in Goa. World Bank has sanctioned around Rs.3 crore under the programme. The Goa state biodiversity board has proposed the project, which will be implemented with financial assistance from the World Bank.

About Sand Dune Park: The Sand Dune park project will have interpretation centres to educate locals and tourists on the importance of the sand dune ecosystem. Park would also have Bridges made of nature-friendly material to reduce trampling on sand dune vegetation. Besides this, nurseries of sand dune vegetation will also be set up, which will enable its replantation on beach stretches where vegetation has gone extinct.

Note: Goa Capital: Panaji; Governor of Goa: Bhagat Singh Koshyari; Chief Minister of Goa: Pramod Sawant.

 

3. NTPC ranks 1st among Indian PSUs in Forbes’ World’s Best Employer 2020: National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has featured on the top on the list of Indian PSUs under the ‘World’s Best Employer 2020’, published by Forbes. The recognition is testimony to NTPC’s commitment towards inculcating best in class practices that are thoughtfully designed and robustly executed, the company stated in a statement. The modules have helped thousands of workers from NTPC to grow and think beyond the professional sphere.

Note: NTPC Founded: 1975; NTPC Headquarters: New Delhi, India.

 

4. Third phase of National Supercomputing Mission to start in Jan next year: The third phase of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) will kickstart in January 2021, taking computing speed to around 45 petaflops. The NSM is rapidly boosting high power computing in the country through its various phases to meet the increasing computational demands of academia, researchers, medium, small and micro enterprises and start-ups in areas like oil exploration, flood prediction as also genomics, and drug discovery. The Rs 4,500 crore-National Supercomputers Mission (NSM) envisages nearly 50 supercomputers across the country in three phases.

 

5. Indian Army in J&K Celebrates 74th Infantry Day: Every year, October 27 is celebrated as Infantry Day by the Indian Army in Jammu & Kashmir (known by nickname, Chinar Corps). The Chinar Corps celebrated the 74th Infantry Day on October 27, 2020, to honour the supreme sacrifice of the gallant soldiers in fighting the Pakistani invaders, in Jammu and Kashmir, in 1947. Infantry Day is celebrated as a remembrance of the first military event of independent India, when the First Battalion of the Sikh Regiment of Indian Army fought battle to accomplish victory over the first attack on the Indian soil by the Pakistan Army and Lashkar invader on October 27, 1947, in the Kashmir valley, who tried to grab J&K.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Bangladesh govt orders ‘no mask, no service’ policy: Bangladesh government has decided that no service will be provided to people who don’t wear a mask. The cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decided that no one will be allowed to enter offices without the mask. It decided that all offices must install notice boards saying ‘no mask, no service’ in order to control the spread of COVID 19 virus in the country. Involving community leaders in the campaign to wear a mask, the Cabinet Secretary said that the government has also talked to the Islamic scholars and religious leaders to publicise this at all mosques through the Imams.

Note: Prime Minister of Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina; Capital: Dhaka; Currency: Taka.

 

2. Pakistan to remain in grey list of FATF till Feb 2021: The global terror financing watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has announced that Pakistan will continue to remain on its grey list till February 2021. This decision has been taken since Pakistan has not been able to fulfil six out of the 27 mandates to check terror funding. FATF has strongly urged Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan by February 2021.

About FATF: FATF objective is to combat money laundering, terror financing and other related threats to the international financial system. It currently has 39 members which include two regional organizations, the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.

Note: The headquarters of FATF is in Paris, France; FATF was founded in July 1989.

Prime Minister of Pakistan: Imran Khan; President of Pakistan: Arif Alvi; Capital of Pakistan: Islamabad.

 

3. India’s Rank in Global Mobile Internet Speeds Falls to 131 While South Korea Tops: Ookla: India has been ranked 131 out of 138 countries in the global mobile internet speed rankings by Ookla, the US based company behind testing the speed and performance of the internet connection of a country. India was at 121 rank in 2019. The Ookla Speedtest Global Index shows the data as of September 2020. As per the index, the global average download speed is calculated to be 35.26 Mbps (megabit per second) but the average download of India is just 12.07 Mbps.  The global average upload speed and latency is 11.22 Mbps and 42 ms, India lags at 4.31 Mbps and a higher latency of 52 ms. South Korea has topped the list with an average mobile internet speed of 121.00 Mbps. Also, India’s global rank in fixed broadband speed has slipped from 68 in 2019 to 70 in 2020 out of 175 countries, with average download speeds of 46.47 Mbps. Singapore has topped this index with the download speed of 226.60 Mbps. The global average download speed is 85.73 Mbps

 

4. Samsung Tops Forbes’ list of World’s Best Employer 2020, HCL Tops among Indian list: South Korea based electronics conglomerate Samsung Electronics has topped the list of ‘World’s Best Employer 2020 published by Forbes’. The global list features 750 multinational and large corporations headquartered in 45 countries. Amazon, IBM, Microsoft LG are among the top 5 in the list respectively. From India, HCL Technologies is top industry in the list. It is placed at 30th position globally. In Banking sector, HDFC Bank is top from India. It is at 176th position. In addition to this, state-run power giant NTPC Ltd. has topped the list among Indian PSUs. Globally it is ranked at 261 position.

 

5. International Animation Day: 28th October: International Animation Day is observed globally on 28 October every year. The day has celebrated the art of animation and also recognises the artists, scientists and technicians behind animation. This year marks the 19th International Animation Day. The day was created in 2002 by International Animated Film Association (ASIFA), an International Animated Film Association, a member of UNESCO. ASIFA created the International Animation Day (IAD) in 2002, honouring the birth of animation, recognized as the first public performance of projected moving images: Emile Reynaud’s Theatre Optique in Paris, on the 28th October 1892.

Note: President of ASIFA: Sayoko Kinoshita; ASIFA Founder: John Halas; ASIFA Founded: 1960, Annecy, France.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. RBI bars payment system operators from launching any new QR codes: The Reserve Bank of India has barred Payment System Operators (PSOs) from launching any new proprietary QR code for payment transactions. Currently, there are two interoperable QR codes — UPI QR and Bharat QR. The decision to continue with the two existing Quick Response (QR) codes was based on the recommendations of the committee which was set up by the Reserve Bank under the chairmanship of Deepak Phatak to review the current system of such codes in India and suggest measures for moving towards interoperable QR codes.

QR codes are two-dimensional machine-readable barcodes, which are increasingly used to facilitate mobile payments at the point-of-sale. QR codes can store a large amount of information. PSOs that use proprietary QR codes shall shift to one or more interoperable QR codes; the process of migration shall be completed by March 31, 2022.

Note: Governor of RBI: Shaktikanta Das; Deputy Governors of RBI: BP Kanungo, MK Jain, MD Patra and Rajeshwar Rao; Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

 

2. ICICI Bank shuts down operations in Sri Lanka: ICICI Bank has shut down his operations in Sri Lanka after getting approval from the Sri Lankan monetary authority. The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, having considered the request made by ICICI Bank, has granted approval to close down the business operation of the bank in Sri Lanka and cancel the licence issued to it. The Director of Bank Supervision being satisfied with the bank complying with the terms and conditions imposed by the Monetary Board, the licence issued to the bank to carry on banking business in Sri Lanka is cancelled with effect from October 23, 2020.

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

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. BSE inks MoU with ICCI to support SMEs & start-ups: Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has signed an agreement with Inventivepreneur Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ICCI) to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups, and promote their listing on the exchange. Under the agreement, ICCI will offer assistance to BSE in evaluating SMEs and start-ups for listing on BSE SME board. ICCI will also help to offer industry connections to respective BSE start-ups globally and support entrepreneurship nationwide through knowledge transmission on government announced programs, acceleration fund, international presence and global business relations.

 

DEFENCE

 

1. Indian Navy Missile Corvette INS Prabal launches anti-ship missile: The Indian Navy launched anti-ship missile (AShM) by its Missile Corvette INS Prabal with deadly accuracy at maximum range and sinking the target ship. The missile launched somewhere from the Arabian Sea homed in on its target – an old ship – and hit it with deadly accuracy at its maximum range.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Former IAS officer and author of Chola History books passes away: Former IAS officer B. Venkataraman who was an authority on Chola History and Architecture expired in a private hospital in Delhi. He was 95. Mr. Venkataraman, a 1950 batch officer, had served as chief secretary Orissa and then as secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, New Delhi.He had co-authored a book ‘Later Chola Temples’ with his father. Some of the books that he had authored include ‘Laddigam: A Later Chola Temples’, ‘Temple Art under the Chola queens’ and ‘Rajarajeswaram-the pinnacle of Chola art’ on the Thanjavur Brihadeeshwara temple. His doctoral thesis was on the contribution of the Chola queen Sembiyan Mahadevi.