Daily GK Updates – 11th Feb, 2021

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Madhya Pradesh launches ‘SAANS’ campaign to reduce infant mortality: The health department in Madhya Pradesh has launched the Social Awareness and Action to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully (‘SAANS’) campaign. The main purpose of the campaign is to reduce the death rate due to pneumonia among infants a strategy is being chalked out under the Social awareness campaign in which medical staff is being trained.

About the campaign: Training will be imparted at the community and primary health centres. Around 4,000 Health and Wellness Centres have been set up in Madhya Pradesh for this purpose. The State government has also developed training modules in partnership with PGIMER, Chandigarh, and UNICEF, which will be used to enhance the skills of health workers, including doctors and paramedical staff.

Note: Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chouhan; Governor: Anandiben Patel.

 

2. UP Government announces unique 16-digit Unicode to identify landholdings: Uttar Pradesh government has introduced a system of issuing a unique 16-digit Unicode to mark all kinds of landholdings in the state. The main purpose of the system is to check the cases of land disputes, put an end to fake registries of the disputed land and save people from falling into the trap of fraudsters. Every piece of land in the state will have its own unique identity. The Unicode would be issued by the state revenue department for marking all kinds of agricultural, residential and commercial land.

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

 

3. Ropeways and Alternate Mobility Solutions to be under Ministry of Road Transport and Highways: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) will, from now on, also look after the development of ropeways and alternate mobility solutions. The move is expected to give a boost to the sector, by setting up a regulatory regime, and facilitating research and new technology to come into this sector. An amendment to the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 has been notified to enable this step. The Ministry will have responsibility for development of ropeways and alternative mobility solutions technology, as well as construction, research and policy in this area.

 

4. Samarpan Diwas: Deen Dayal Upadhyay Death Anniversary: Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays floral tribute to former Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya on his 53rd death anniversary as part of ‘Samarpan Diwas’, in New Delhi on Feb. 11, 2021. Deendayal Upadhyaya was an Indian politician and thinker of right-wing Hindutva ideology espoused by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and leader of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of Bharatiya Janata Party.

 

5. Ramnath Kovind Inaugurates Museum Dedicated to General KS Thimayya: President Ram Nath Kovind has inaugurated a museum, dedicated to the life of former Army Chief General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya, in Karnataka. General Thimayya served as the Chief of Army Staff from 1957 to 1961. The ancestral house of General Thimayya called “Sunny Side” at Madikeri in Kodagu district of Karnataka has been renovated and converted into a museum.

About the museum: A museum celebrating the life of former Army Chief General Kodandera Subayya Thimayya, housing a variety of antique weaponry and war relics. A statue of the General from Kodagu in uniform greets as one enters the museum, which also showcases a slice of Indian military history. The museum also acknowledges the contribution of General Thimayya’s siblings, including two of his brothers, who too were Army officers, and his wife Nina, who was bestowed with “Kaiser-e-Hind” award in recognition of her work in public service. Key attractions on the premises of this war memorial include a battle tank, one of those used by the Army during the war with Pakistan in 1971.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. 14th International Children’s Film festival concludes in Bangladesh: The 14th International Children’s Film Festival of Bangladesh (ICFFB) came to an end in Dhaka. A total of 12 awards were presented to the winners at the concluding ceremony. 179 films from 37 countries were shown at various venues during the 7-day long festival organised by the Children’s Film Society (CFS) of Bangladesh. Apart from Bangladesh, films from India, Armenia, US, UK, Ireland, Japan and China among others were shown in the course of the festival. Dutch Film Jackie and Oopjen were awarded the Best International Feature Film Award. Bangladeshi film Maati got The Young Talent Award while Lottery won the Special mention under the Young Talent Award.

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

 

2. NASA Selects SpaceX to launch its SPHEREx Mission: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected spaceflight company, SpaceX to launch its SPHEREx Mission. Through this mission, NASA aims to perform an all-sky survey to measure the near-infrared spectra of approximately 450 million galaxies across the universe and 100 million stars inside our Milky Way galaxy.

About the SPHEREx Mission: The SPHEREx or the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) spacecraft. The small astrophysics spacecraft, SPHEREx, weighs 329-lb. (178 kilograms). It will be launched to space aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, in June 2024, from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Note: Acting Administrator of NASA: Steve Jurczyk; Headquarters of NASA: Washington D.C., United States; NASA Founded: 1 October 1958.

 

3. Serum Institute of India, UNICEF Enter into Long-term Supply for COVID-19 Vaccines: The Serum Institute of India (SII) and UNICEF have entered into a long-term supply agreement for the AstraZeneca/Oxford and the Novavax vaccines, with the UN children’s agency saying it will have access to up to 1.1 billion doses of vaccines for around 100 countries. India is one of the world’s biggest drugmakers, and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring coronavirus vaccines. While Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield is being manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute, and the Novavax is being produced by US-based Novavax Inc. This is great value for COVAX donors and a strong demonstration of one of the fundamental principles of COVAX – that by pooling our resources we can negotiate in bulk for the best possible deals.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Steve Smith claims Allan Border Medal for third time in his career: Former Australian captain Steve Smith won the third Allan Border Medal of his career at the Australian Cricket Awards for the period 2020-21. The Allan Border Medal recognises the most outstanding male Australian cricketer of the past season as voted by his peers, the media and umpires. Apart from this, Beth Mooney bagged Belinda Clarke Award, the top honour for a female player at the Australian Cricket Awards. This is the maiden Belinda Clarke Award for Mooney. List of 2021 Australian Cricket Awards:

Belinda Clark Award: Beth Mooney.

Allan Border Medal: Steve Smith.

Men’s Test Player of the Year: Pat Cummins.

Women’s One Day International Player of the Year: Rachel Haynes.

Male One Day International Player of the Year: Steve Smith.

Female International Twenty20 Player of the Year: Beth Mooney.

Male International Twenty20 Player of the Year: Ashton Agar.

Female Domestic Player of the Year: Elyse Villani.

Male Domestic Player of the Year: Shaun Marsh.

Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year: Hannah Darlington.

Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year: Will Sutherland.

Community Impact Award: Joshua Lalor.

Hall of Fame inductions: Johnny Mullagh, Merv Hughes, Lisa Sthalekar.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. RBI to conduct bond purchases for Rs 20,000 crore: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that it will purchase four government securities (G-Secs) that amount to ₹20,000 crores. The central bank will purchase it on February 10, 2021, under the open market operations (OMOs). This move was announced in aftermath of the yields that were moving up to touch the intra-day high of 6.1634 per cent recently. The RBI was concerned about the higher government borrowing. After the announcement of the OMO purchase was made, the yield on the benchmark 10-year G-Sec slowed down by 3-4 basis points. It now carries a coupon rate of 5.77 per cent as opposed to its previous closing yield of 6.1283 per cent.

What is the Open Market Operation: Open Market Operations are the purchase and sale of the Government securities (G-Secs) by RBI from and to the market. The Open Market Operations are conducted with the objective of adjusting the rupee liquidity conditions in the economy. In such operations, when RBI sells the government security in the market banks use to purchase them. When the banks purchase the Government securities, their ability to lend money to the industries, households and other commercial sector gets reduced. Following the reduced surplus cash, the liquidity of the rupee also contracts. This results in contraction of the credit creation or the credit supply. On the other hand, when the RBI purchases the securities, commercial banks find gets surplus cash and this in turn creates more credit in the system.

What are government securities or G-Sec: Government securities are the debt instruments which are issued by the government to borrow money. It is divided into two categories namely,

Treasury bills are short-term instruments. They get mature in 91 days, 182 days, or 364 days. Dated securities which are the long-term instruments. They get mature in between 5 years to 40 years.

Note: RBI 25th Governor: Shaktikant Das; Headquarters: Mumbai; Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

 

DEFENCE

 

1. First Women Team Inducted in CRPF’s CoBRA Commando Unit: A maiden contingent of 34 CRPF women personnel has been inducted into its specialized jungle warfare commando force CoBRA. The contingent will soon be deployed in the anti-Naxal operations grid of the country. This women’s contingent will undergo pre-induction training for 3 months and then deployed with the units in Naxal violence-affected districts of Chhattisgarh like Dantewada, Sukma, and Bijapur. The members of the 34 CRPF women personnel contingent have been chosen from the 6 all-women battalions of CRPF. The first battalion of CRPF numbered 88, was raised this day in 1986 at a CRPF base in Delhi. An all-women brass band of CRPF was also commissioned during the ceremony that was held to mark the 35th Raising Day anniversary of the first women’s battalion of CRPF.

About the CoBRA Commando Unit: The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) was raised under the CRPF in the year 2009 for undertaking intelligence-based jungle warfare operations. Till now, the force was an all-male unit and it is for the first time that a contingent of women personnel has been inducted into it. The commandos of the CoBRA teams are expected to be mentally and physically tough and most of the teams are deployed in Maoist violence-affected states of the country. Some of the CoBRA teams are also deployed in the northeastern states for undertaking counter-insurgency operations. A ceremony was held to mark the induction of women contingent in Kadarpur village wherein the chosen women personnel performed combat drills.

Note: Central Reserve Police Force Director-General: AP Maheshwari; Central Reserve Police Force Headquarters: New Delhi, India.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Founder of Rang Vidushak, Padma Shri Bansi Kaul Passed away: Founder of Rang Vidushak and theatre director Padma Shri Bansi Kaul passed away. He was born in 1949 in a Kashmiri Pandit family, Bansi Kaul was a Hindi theatre director and the founder of Rang Vidushak, a theatre group and theatre institute in Bhopal. He was awarded Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1995 and Padma Shri in 2014. He received Rashtriya Kalidas Samman for the year 2016–17.