Daily GK Updates – 30th Oct, 2020

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Arjun Munda launches two Centers of Excellence for tribal welfare: The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda has launched two Centers of Excellence (CoE) for Tribal Welfare in a collaboration between Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) and Art of Living (AoL) through video conference.

The first Centers of Excellence: The first CoE has been launched in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra for training about 10000 tribal farmers in the field of sustainable natural farming based on Go-Adharith farming techniques. Farmers will be helped in getting the Organic certification and marketing opportunities to make each of them Atmanirbhar Tribal Farmers.

The second Centers of Excellence: The second CoE has been launched in Jharkhand in the field of ‘Strengthening PRIs’ in 5 districts of the state covering 30 Gram Panchayats and 150 villages. This initiative aims to create the youth volunteers among the tribal youths by giving them personality development training, instilling the sense of social responsibility among them and thereby creating the tribal leaders who will work for their community in spreading this awareness.

Note: The Art of Living Foundation is a volunteer-based, humanitarian and educational non-governmental organization in Bengaluru founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

 

2. Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurates ‘Direct Port Entry Facility’: The Union Minister of State for Shipping (I/C), Mansukh Mandaviya has inaugurated the ‘Direct Port Entry (DPE) facility’ of V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust in Tamil Nadu. This will help in increasing Ease of Doing Business for the exporters, as the facility will bring efficiency and reduce dwell time, lower tariff cost and improve the competitiveness of shipper in the international trade.

About ‘Direct Port Entry (DPE) facility’: The state-of-the-art Direct Port Entry (DPE) facility would enable direct movement of containers from factories, without intermediate handling at any Container Freight Station (CFS), thus facilitating the shippers to Gate-In their factory stuffed exports directly to the Container Terminal on 24×7 basis. The facility is created in an area of 18,357 sqm inside the Truck Parking Terminal which was developed under the ‘Sagarmala’ for issuing customs clearance of export cargo i.e. Factory stuffed/re-sealed containers.

 

3. UP Govt to establish anti-human trafficking Police Stations: Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to establish anti-human trafficking Police Stations in each and every district in a major step towards the security of women and children. These Police Stations will be given enough powers to register the case and investigate the matter independently.

The state government is going to establish 40 new anti-trafficking units which will work like police stations in districts and will conduct the investigation after registering the cases. Earlier, only 35 districts in the state had Police stations of anti-human trafficking unit which was established in 2011 and 2018. The new Police stations are being established after directives from women safety division of union Government. Union Government has also allocated funds for these units.

Note: Uttar Pradesh Governor: Anandiben Patel; Uttar Pradesh Capital: Lucknow; Uttar Pradesh Chief minister: Yogi Adityanath.

 

4. GoI sets up committee to commemorate 400th anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur: The Centre has set up a high-level committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to commemorate the 400th birth anniversary of Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla will be the member secretary of the 70-member high-level committee.

About the committee: The committee will look into the approval of policies, plans, programmes and supervision and guiding the commemoration, as well as for deciding dates for detailed programmes of celebration. Some of the other members of the committee include former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Hardeep Singh Puri, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Chief ministers of Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan.

 

5. Vice President launches virtual festival of ‘Parampara Series 2020: Vice President, M Venkaiah Naidu has launched the virtual festival of “Parampara Series 2020-National Festival of Music and Dance” organised by Natya Tarangini in partnership with the United Nations India and UNESCO India. Natya Tarangini has been organising this for the past 23 years. This dance and music festival as the normal life has been disrupted by lockdowns, economic downturns and lack of social interaction caused by the pandemic. It may be noted that this festival has been organized to coincide with the World Day for Audio-visual Heritage.

Note: UN HQ: New York, USA; UN Secretary-General: Antonio Guterres.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Luis Arce declared as Bolivia’s president-elect: Luis Arce has been chosen as the President-elect of Bolivia, after winning a landslide victory in the 2020 Bolivian general election. He captured 55.1% of the total votes. Arce will take the charge of the office on 8 November 2020. He would succeed Jeanine Anez, who is serving as the interim President of Bolivia. The 57-year-old, Luis is a member of the political party Movement Toward Socialism. Previously, Arce served as Minister of Economy and Public Finance from 2006 to 2017 and in 2019 under the President Evo Morales.

Note: Bolivia Capitals: La Paz, Sucre; Bolivia Currency: Boliviano; Bolivia Continent: South America.

 

2. Alpha Condé won the 3rd Term as President of Guinea: Alpha Condé, the incumbent president of Guinea and leader of Rally of the Guinean People (Rassemblement du Peuple Guinéen – RPG) party won the 3rd the term as the President of Guinea by winning the 2020 presidential elections. He won the election against Cellou Dalein Diallo with 59.49 % votes. Diallo got 33.5% votes in the election. Winning the 2020 elections, Alpha Condé is set to govern the country for the next 6 years.

Note: Guinea Prime Minister: Ibrahima Kassory Fofana; Guinea Capital: Conakry; Guinea Currency: Guinean Franc.

 

3. 3rd India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue begins in New Delhi: India is hosting the third India-US two plus two Ministerial Dialogue at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. The Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar are leading the Indian delegation. The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence Mark Esper are leading the US delegation. The First two plus two dialogue was held in New Delhi in September 2018 and the Second in Washington DC in 2019. Besides, covering all bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest during the third dialogue, the two sides also signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA) to further expand the geospatial cooperation between them and improve the accuracy of missile systems of India.

 

4. Om Birla participates in 6th BRICS Parliamentary Forum virtually: The 6th BRICS Parliamentary Forum has been organised virtually under the chairmanship of Vyacheslav Volodin, the Chairman of Russian Parliament. The Indian Parliamentary Delegation is being led by Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla and also consists of Member of Lok Sabha Kanimozhi Karunanidhi. The forum provides an effective platform to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue and Parliamentary Diplomacy among the Parliaments of BRICS countries with a view to strengthening the role of Parliaments on a range of contemporary global issues.

Speakers and members of five BRICS Parliaments namely Brazil, Russian, India, China and South Africa are attending the Forum. The theme of the Forum is ‘BRICS partnership in the interest of global stability, general safety and innovative growth: Parliamentary dimension’.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Under-19 World Cup-winner Tanmay Srivastava retires from cricket: Tanmay Manoj Srivastava, who was part of India’s Under-19 World Cup-winning team in 2008, announced his retirement from all forms of domestic cricket. He played 90 first-class games, scoring 4918 runs. He also played 44 List A matches and 34 T20s. He also played IPL (Indian Premier League), where he represented Kings XI Punjab, Deccan Chargers and Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. Sashidhar Jagdishan took charges as MD & CEO of HDFC Bank: Sashidhar Jagdishan has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of HDFC Bank with effect from 27 October 2020. He started his career in HDFC Bank in 1996 as a manager in the finance function, became business head-finance in 1999 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2008. He will succeed Aditya Puri (70 year), who has stepped down after 25 years of his career as MD-CEO of HDFC Bank.

 

2. DMRC & SBI card launch multi-purpose smart card: The SBI Card in association with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation launched a contactless multi-purpose card that can function as a credit card and as a metro smart card. The credit card Delhi Metro SBI Card is designed for regular commuters on Delhi Metro.

The facility of the Multi-purpose credit card: It will enable its users to use it as a smart card with an auto-top up facility whenever the balance is below Rs 100. The credit card facility will automatically recharge a top-up value of Rs 200 from the user’s linked card/bank account. The card offers an enhanced daily commute experience to millions of metro commuters together with a rewarding experience on their daily purchases. The DMRC has identified 100 stations to put up kiosks from where commuters can purchase the card.

Note: CEO of SBI Card: Ashwini Kumar Tewari; Founded: October 1998; SBI Card Headquarters: Gurugram, Haryana.

 

3. Government Extends ‘Vivad se Vishwas’ scheme Deadline till 31 March 2021: The government has further extended the deadline for making payment under the direct tax dispute settlement scheme ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ by three months till March 31, 2021, in order to provide further relief to the taxpayers. This is the third time that the deadline is being extended by the Ministry of Finance. The deadline was extended for the first time till June 30, 2020 and then again till December 31, 2020. As per the latest notification, the taxpayers can now settle their tax disputes without additional amount till March 31, 2021. The last date for making declaration under the Scheme has also been extended till December 31, 2020.

What is Vivad Se Vishwas scheme? The ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ scheme was announced in the Union Budget 2020, as per which a taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of the disputed taxes and will get complete waiver of interest and penalty provided he pays by 31st March, 2020. Those who avail this scheme after 31st March, 2020 will have to pay 10% additional penalty and interest amount. The scheme will remain open till 30th June, 2020.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. 14th Asian Film Awards 2020 announced: The 14th edition of Asian Film Awards was organized by the Asian Film Awards Academy. Indian Movie Gully Boy has received the award for the Best Original Score at 14th Asian Film Awards. The award went to Karsh Kale and The Salvage Audio Collective. Gully Boy has been directed by Zoya Akhtar. In Gully Boy, Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt played leading roles. 14th Asian Film Awards Winners List:

 

Award	Name Winner
Best Actor	Lee Byung-hun – The Man Standing Next (South Korea)
Best Actress	Zhou Dongyu – Better Days (China)
Best Cinematography	Dong Jinsong – The Wild Goose Lake
Best Costume Designer	Pacharin Surawatanapongs– Happy Old Year
Best Director	Wang Xiaoshuai for So Long, My Son (China)
Best Editing	Yang Jin-mo – Parasite
Best Film	Parasite (South Korea)
Best Newcomer	Jackson Yee – Better Days
Best New Director	Hikari – 37 Seconds
Best Supporting Actor	Ryo Kase – To the Ends of the Earth
Best Supporting Actress	Ko Shu-chin – A Sun
Best Screenplay	Bong Joon-ho, Han Jin-won – Parasite
Best Original Music	Karsh Kale, The Salvage Audio Collective – Gully Boy
Best Production Design	Ha-jun Lee – Parasite
Best Visual Effects	Tomi Kijo, Renovatio Pictures – Detention
Best Sound	Yoshifumi Kureishi – Listen to the Universe

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Former Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel passes away: Keshubhai Savdasbhai Patel, former Chief Minister of Gujarat, has passed away following sudden cardiac arrest. He was 92. Keshubhai Patel had served as the Chief Minister of the state for a few months in 1995 and then from March 1998 to October of 2001. He was a six-time member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly and was a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) till 2012.