Daily GK Updates – 26th Nov, 2020

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. 5th India International Cherry Blossom Festival cancelled: The 5th India International Cherry Blossom Festival has been cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. The festival is held every year in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, to celebrate the unique autumn flowering of the Himalayan cherry blossoms and mark the beginning of India’s version of autumn. Every year, Shillong hosts a plethora of events like fitness art, fashion show, rock concerts and much more to mark the festival.

Note: Meghalaya Chief Minister: Conrad Sangma; Meghalaya Governor: Satya Pal Malik; Meghalaya Capital: Shillong.

 

2. Ravi Shankar Prasad launches International version of UMANG App: Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched the UMANG mobile app International version in coordination with Ministry of External Affairs for select countries that include USA, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. The Union Minister also launched an e-Book which presents major milestones of UMANG and major services available on UMANG App classified into various categories. Mr Prasad also unveiled the newly instituted UMANG Awards for Partner Departments of Centre and States based on the highest number of transactions across services.

About UMANG mobile app: The UMANG mobile app –Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance is a Government of India all-in-one single, unified, secure, multi-channel, multi-lingual, multi-service Mobile App. providing access to high impact services of various Government of India Departments and State Governments.

International Version: It will help Indian international students, NRIs and Indian tourists abroad, to avail Government of India services, anytime. It will also help in taking India to the world through ‘Indian Culture’ services available on UMANG and create interest amongst foreign tourists to visit India.

 

3. 1st cow hospital of Northeast inaugurated in Assam: A cow shelter in Assam’s Dibrugarh inaugurated Northeast’s first-ever cow hospital, on the occasion of Gopashtami. The hospital, Surbhi Aarogyashala, is set up by Shree Gopal Gaushala at a cost of Rs 17 lakh. The hospital will provide services in 30 km radius. There are 368 cows in the shelter.

Note: Chief Minister of Assam: Sarbananda Sonowal; Governor: Prof. Jagdish Mukhi.

 

4. Indian Constitution Day: 26th November: In India, 26 November is celebrated as Constitution Day or Samvidhan Diwas. On this day in 1949, the constitution was adopted which came into force on January 26, 1950, marking the beginning of a new era in the history of India. On 19th November 2015, during the year-long celebration of the 125th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, Government of India declared November 26th as the Constitution Day. Previously this day was celebrated as Law Day. 26 November was chosen to spread the importance of the constitution and to spread thoughts and ideas of Ambedkar.

 

5. National Milk Day: 26th November: In India, November 26 is celebrated as National Milk Day, since 2014, to commemorate the birthday of the father of India’s White Revolution, Dr Verghese Kurien (also nicknamed as Milkman of India). The day was fixed by all the dairy majors of the country including the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the Indian Dairy Association (IDA), along with 22 state-level milk federations. The significance of National Milk Day lies in the fact that this day celebrates the importance of milk in a person’s life. The Indian Dairy Association (IDA), in 2014, took the initiative to celebrate this day for the first time. The first National Milk Day was celebrated on 26 November 2014 where various milk producers from 22 states participated.

Note: World Milk Day is observed on 1 June every year by the United Nations.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. India to host G-20 Summit in 2023: India will host the Summit of the G20 Group in 2023. India was earlier slated to host the summit in 2022. India and Indonesia have swapped their respective hosting year of G20 as Indonesia would also chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2023. However, now the G20 Summit be hosted by Italy in 2021, Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024.

 

2. Malaysia hosted 2020 APEC Summit: The 2020 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. This was the first time that all 21 APEC Economic Leaders met virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The APEC 2020 ended with the adoption of the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 and the 2020 Kuala Lumpur Declaration. The APEC Summit 2021 will be hosted by New Zealand. This is the second time Malaysia hosted an APEC meeting, having hosted one in 1998. The theme of the APEC Malaysia 2020 was “Optimising Human Potential Towards a Resilient Future of Shared Prosperity: Pivot. Prioritise. Progress”.

About Putrajaya Vision 2040: The Putrajaya Vision 2040 is a new 20-year growth vision, which will replace the existing Bogor Goals, which was agreed by leaders in 1994 for free and open trade and investment in APEC.

Note: APEC headquarters: Singapore; APEC Founded: November 1989.

Malaysia Capital: Kuala Lumpur; Malaysia Currency: Malaysian Ringgit.

 

3. CAG GC Murmu Elected as External Auditor of Inter Parliamentary Union, Geneva: The Comptroller & Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu has been elected as External Auditor of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), Geneva for three years. Murmu will assume the position shortly by taking charge from Supreme Audit Institution of Switzerland. The CAG of India has been the external auditor of various international organisations. He has earlier also been on the UN Board of Auditors from 1993 to 1999 and 2014 to 2020. Presently, he is the external auditor of the World Health Organization, Geneva and Food & Agriculture Organization, Rome.

 

4. UK plans to ban sales of diesel and petrol cars from 2030: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed the UK will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 2030, before banning new hybrid sales in 2035. The government originally planned to implement the ban in 2040, before deciding to move the deadline forward to 2035. The ban only applies to the sale of new vehicles, and with the average British car boasting a lifespan of around 14 years, it seems likely gasoline- and diesel-powered cars will remain a common sight on UK roads well into the 2040s. It seems likely many plug-in hybrid cars will remain on the road until the 2050s.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Daniil Medvedev beat Dominic Thiem to win ATP Tour 2020: In Tennis, Daniil Medvedev (Russia) beat Dominic Thiem (Austria) to win the 2020 ATP Tour Finals, held in London. This is the biggest title of his career. The 24-year-old will finish the year at fourth position in the world rankings. In the doubles final, Dutch-Croatian duo Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic claimed their first title together after surpassing Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. RBI imposes six-month ban on Manta Urban Cooperative Bank: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has banned the Manta Urban Cooperative Bank in Jalna district of Maharashtra for six months for payment of money and loan transactions. The central bank has given some instructions to this bank, which will be effective for six months since the bank closed on 17 November 2020. According to these instructions, this bank will not be able to make any loan or loan without RBI permission, nor will it be able to renew the old loans and make any investment. Bank has also been banned from accepting new deposits. He will not be able to make any payment nor make any agreement to pay.

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

 

2. ADB approves $50 mn loan to improve resource planning in West Bengal: The Asian Development Bank said it has approved a USD 50 million loan to improve operational efficiencies and resource planning and management in West Bengal. The loan will support the integration of financial and information system and the expansion of automation reforms in the operations of the state government, which are expected to strengthen the delivery of public services and create fiscal savings. The loan will be supplemented by a USD 350,000 technical assistance grant for capacity building, monitoring of IFMS (Integrated Financial Management System) reforms, and strengthening the integration of social and gender aspects in reform areas.

 

3. RBI imposes Rs 1 cr penalty on PNB for unauthorised ATM operations: State run Punjab National Bank said the RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on it for contravention of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act. RBI  has observed that the Bank was operating a bilateral ATM sharing arrangement with Druk PNB Bank Ltd, Bhutan, (international subsidiary of the Bank), since April, 2010 without the prior approval / authorisation from RBI. Meannwhile, in a statement the RBI said it has cancelled the Certificate of Authorisation (CoA) of five Payment System Operators (PSOs) engaged in issuance and operation of prepaid payment instruments.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. BSE StAR MF launches a direct investment portal for corporate: BSE, the leading stock exchange has launched ‘Corp Direct – A Direct Investment Portal for Corporates’, with more features which will further simplify and provide end-to-end value-based services to the asset management companies (AMCs), distributors, investors, and mutual fund industry participants. The StAR MF Corp Direct Portal is loaded with salient new features and is currently live for Corporates. It will soon be available for other non-individuals (HUF, Partnership Firms, Societies, etc.) The key features of StAR MF Corp Direct are as below – End to End Digital Web Module, Corporate Parent-Child Entity Concept, All AMCs and Schemes available under single plat form, SMS & Email Confirmation & approval process and Multiple Transactions at single click.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. ISRO Chairman K Sivan receives Doctor of Science Honorary Doctorate: Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala presented Doctor of Science honorary doctorate upon ISRO Chairman K Sivan. The Visvesvaraya Technological University has conferred the doctorate to him. The Governor highly praised the role of ISRO in defining our Space programme and the social role that it has played in the country.

 

DEFENCE

 

1. Indian Navy gets 9th P-8I anti-submarine warfare aircraft: Indian Navy has got its ninth 1. India-Singapore Maritime Exercise SIMBEX-20: The 27th edition of India – Singapore Bilateral Maritime Exercise SIMBEX-20 has been organised from 23 to 25 November 2020 in the Andaman Sea. Indian Navy (IN) is the host for the 2020 edition of SIMBEX. The SIMBEX series of exercises are being held between the Indian Navy and Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), annually since 1994. The exercise aims at enhancing mutual inter-operability and imbibing best practices from each other.

From the Indian side, destroyer Rana with integral Chetak helicopter and indigenously built corvettes Kamorta and Karmuk, IN submarine Sindhuraj and P8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft will participate in the exercise. RSN will be represented by the ‘Formidable’ Class frigates ‘Intrepid’ and ‘Steadfast’ with integral S70B helicopter and ‘Endurance’ Class Landing Ship Tank ‘Endeavour’ in the exercise.

Note: Chief of Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Sahitya Academy award winning Telugu Poet Shaik Khaja Hussain passes away: Noted Telugu poet, journalist, scriptwriter Shaik Khaja Hussain, has passed away after brief illness. He was 70. Popularly known as Devi Priya, the renowned poet bagged the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017, for his book Gaali Rangu.