Daily GK Updates - 2nd Oct, 2020

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Union Minister launches various services for farmers in Andhra Pradesh: Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers Shri. D.V. Sadananda Gowda has launched POS 3.1 software, SMS Gateway and Home Delivery facility of Fertilizers (RBK) for farmers in Andhra Pradesh. Under POS 3.1 version, keeping in view of prevailing pandemic condition, contactless OTP based authentication option has been introduced. Farmer will be able to purchase fertilizer without touching finger print sensor. The SMS Gateway will periodically send SMS to farmer about availability of fertilizer at retail outlet from where he last purchased the fertilizer. Under an initiative of Home delivery of Fertilizers in Andhra Pradesh through Rythu Bharosa Kendralu (RBK) state Government has launched 10,641 Rythu Bharosa Kendralu (RBKs) in all gram panchayats to provide farmers with quality inputs and allied services.

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

 

2. South Eastern Railway launches ‘Operation My Saheli’: The South Eastern Railways (SER) has launched the project, “Operation my Saheli” to enhance the security of women passengers in the train throughout the entire journey from the originating point to their destinations.

About Operation my Saheli: Since 18th September 2020, the pilot version of the project “Operation my Saheli” has been introduced in 3 trains: Howrah-Yesvantpur Duronto Special, Howrah- Ahmedabad Special and Howrah-Mumbai Special. ”Operation my Saheli” is executed under the Framework of “Nirbhaya Fund” and no additional expenditure is provided by the Head of Railways.

Features of Operation my Saheli: Team of Women Sub Inspectors briefed the women passengers on the safety precautions and provided emergency contact numbers. The team will collect the information such as seat number and contact information of the women passengers and will remain in contact throughout the journey. The collected information will be passed to the stations at the destination and scheduled stoppage stations.

Note: South Eastern Railway General Manager: Sanjay Kumar Mohanty; South Eastern Railway Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal.

 

3. World’s longest span concrete deck extra-dosed cable stayed bridge inaugurated in Hyderabad: Union MoS for Home G Kishan Reddy and Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao inaugurated the World’s longest span concrete deck extra-dosed cable-stayed bridge at Durgam Cheruvu of Hyderabad. The bridge was constructed at the cost of Rs 184 crore and it was built by Larsen & Toubro. The cable-stayed bridge portion is 435 m long, including the approaches at both ends, 25.8 m wide with a total of 52 stay cables.

 

4. Tata Steel & CSIR signs MoU to collaborate for CCUS: Tata Steel and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) have signed an MoU to collaborate in the area of Carbon Capture, Utilisation & Storage (CCUS). The MoU has been signed considering the importance of Carbon Capture, Utilisation & Storage (CCUS) in India’s fight against Climate Change and Global Warming, meeting the growing energy demands and building a strong ecosystem to meet commitments under Paris Agreement. As part of this strategic MoU, the teams from Tata Steel and CSIR will work towards accelerating development and deployment of CCUS technologies in the steel industry. These technologies would expedite transition to a decarbonised economy in other carbon intensive sectors like Power, Cement, and Fertilizer etc.

Note: CEO & MD of Tata Steel: T. V. Narendran.

 

5. Nagaland launches livelihood generation portal for returned migrant workers: The Nagaland government launched a programme to provide skill development training to migrant workers who have returned to the state from other parts of the country due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The state government, with support from the North East Council, will initially train around 100 such returnees under the ”Livelihood Generation Programme for Returned Migrant Workers”.

 

6. L Adimoolam Elected President of Indian Newspaper Society: L Adimoolam has been elected president of the Indian Newspaper Society, an apex body of the publishers of newspapers, magazines and periodicals in the country. Adimoolam, who succeeds Shailesh Gupta of Mid-Day as the president of INS, belongs to the family of Dinamalar, National Tamil Daily. D  D Purkayastha (Ananda Bazar Patrika) is the deputy president, Mohit Jain (Economic Times) the Vice President and Rakesh Sharma (Aaj Samaj) the Honorary Treasurer of the Society for the year 2020-21.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. NDB Bank Approves Loan worth USD 741 million for Mumbai Metro & Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid Rail: The Shanghai-based New Development Bank (NDB) has approved USD 741 million loan for two projects in India which includes Mumbai Metro and the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Project. From the total loan approved by the NDB Board, USD 241 million loan is for the Mumbai Metro Rail II Project. The fund will be used for the purpose of implementing a metro rail Line 6 with a length of about 14.47 km to improve Mumbai’s transport and traffic conditions by providing a modern metro system, featuring high-capacity, safe and comfortable mode of transport. Apart from this, the NDB Board has approved a loan of USD 500 million for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Project. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTC) will use the fund for construction of a rapid rail corridor connecting the National Capital Territory of Delhi with the cities of Ghaziabad and Meerut located in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

 

2. International Day of Non-Violence: 2nd October: Every year, 02 October is celebrated as the International Day of Non-Violence, to mark the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. This day is referred to as Gandhi Jayanti in India. On 15 June 2007 the United Nations General Assembly, voted to establish 2 October as the International Day of Non-Violence. The day aims to “spread the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness. The year 2020 marks 151st birth anniversary of the global peace icon who was born on 2 October 1869, in Porbandar in Gujarat.

 

3. World Day for Farmed Animals: 2nd October: Every Year since 1983, the World Day for Farmed Animals (WDFA) is observed on 2nd October, which marks the birth anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi. The day is organised by the International animals’ welfare organization, World Animal Protection along with the Asia for Animals coalition to show the importance and urgency of farm animal welfare. The day is dedicated to exposing the needless suffering and death of farmed animals who are raised and slaughtered for food.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Alyssa Healy breaks MS Dhoni’s wicketkeeping record in T20Is: Australian woman cricketer and wicketkeeper, Alyssa Healy broke the record of “Most Dismissal by Wicket Keeper” by MS Dhoni’s who made 91 dismissals in 98 T20 Internationals(T20Is) for India. Healy has played 114 T20Is for Australia and broke the record with 92 dismissals in the shortest format of the game during the match against New Zealand in the 2nd T20I of the three-match series at Allan Border Field at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. RBI defers Basel III provisions amid Covid Uncertainty: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has deferred implementation of provisions made under Basel III capital due to uncertainty related to COVID crisis. In this regard, RBI will repel the final tranche of the capital conservation buffer (CCB) and the implementation of net stable funding ratio (NSFR) by six months i.e. April 1, 2021.

About Capital Conservation Buffer: The capital conservation buffer is an additional pool that banks build in normal times for its use during periods of stress. The RBI had asked banks to build up the capital conservation buffer to the required 2.5% in stages. The last stage of 0.625% was to start on Sept. 30, 2020. This has now been deferred to April 1, 2021. The RBI had earlier deferred the implementation by six months from March 31, 2020.

About Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR): The net stable funding ratio requires banks to fund their activities with sufficiently stable sources of funding over a time of a year to reduce future funding risk for banks. As per the prescribed timeline, banks were required to maintain NSFR of 100% from April 1, 2020 but now this deferred it for a second time to April 1, 2021.

Highlights:

(1) RBI increased the timeline for additional market borrowing provided to states/UTs by 6 months.

(2) In April 2020, RBI increased the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) Limits and overdraft (OD) regulations for states and Union Territories (UTs) to provide additional flexibility for dealing with the Covid-19 crisis until September 30, 2020. The Reserve Bank of India has set the limits for Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for the second half of the financial year 2020-21 (October 2020 to March 2021) for Central Government at Rs. 1,25,000 crore.

(3) The Reserve Bank will trigger fresh floatation of market loans when the Government of India utilizes 75% of the WMA limit.

(4) Now to further aid the state governments from financial problems, RBI extended this timeline by six months i.e. till March 31, 2021.

(5) Notably, RBI decided to increase the number of days for which a state/ UT can be in overdraft continuously to 21 working days from 14.

(6) Also, the number of days for which a state/ UT can be in overdraft in a quarter was increased to 50 working days from 36.

(7) RBI also extended the enhanced borrowing facility provided to banks under the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) scheme by six months till March 31, 2021. It was initially available up to June 30, 2020, and was later extended up to September 30, 2020, due to economic disruptions amid COVID-19.

 

2. Yes Bank tie-up with BSE to empower small business companies: Yes Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to empower the SME segment through awareness and knowledge-sharing programmes.

About Memorandum of Understanding: Under this MoU, both BSE and Yes Bank will conduct knowledge events for SMEs, export promotion of SME scale companies, in addition to providing banking and financial solutions. This MoU shall further entail services pertaining to the development and imparting industry-specific and related knowledge-based information. The Bank will also offer customised services and products to the listed SME members of the platform and advisory solutions to EXIM potential listed SMEs.

Note: Yes Bank CEO: Prashant Kumar; Yes Bank Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. Microsoft acquires video game company ZeniMax: Microsoft announced that it will buy ZeniMax Media, the company that owns well-known video game publisher Bethesda, for $7.5 billion in cash. The deal gives Microsoft access to a raft of successful game franchises, including Fallout, The Elder Scrolls and Doom. It’s the biggest gaming acquisition in Microsoft’s history, after the company bought Minecraft developer Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.

 

DEFENSE

 

1. Indian Coast Guard Vessel Karnaklata Barua commissioned at Kolkata: The Indian Coast Guard Vessel Karnaklata Barua was commissioned at Kolkata. It is the fifth and last in a series of Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd. The FPVs are upgraded versions of the inshore patrol vessels with a modified form of the hull and can achieve a speed of 34 knots. Such vessels have also been delivered to Indian Navy by GRSE.

Indian Coast Guard Vessel Karnaklata Barua was named after a teenage freedom fighter who was shot dead in Assam during the Quit India Movement. The other four are ICGS Priyadarshini (named after Indira Gandhi), ICGS Annie Besant, ICGS Kamala Devi (after Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay), and ICGS Amrit Kaur. These ships are suited for patrolling, maritime surveillance, anti-smuggling, anti-poaching operations and also for fishery protection, and rescue and search missions.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Veteran Artist KC Sivasankar, illustrator of Vikram and Betaal series, passes away: The legendary artist KC Sivasankar who is best known for illustrating the Vikram Betaal series, has passed away after long illness. He was 97. He is also known for illustrating popular children’s magazine Chandamama aka Ambulimama. He had contributed to the field of art for over 60 years.