Daily GK Update - 17th March, 2021

 NATIONAL UPDATES:

 1. Supreme Court seeks govt.’s response on plea against Places of Worship Act: The Supreme Court has asked the government to respond to a plea challenging the Places of Worship Act enacted in 1991. A notice is issued by a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde to the Union Ministries of Home, Law and Culture on a plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay against various provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991. The petition said Sections of the Act that dealt with the bar on legal claims were against the principles of secularism.

About the law: It was passed in 1991 by the P V Narasimha Rao-led Congress government. The law seeks to maintain the “religious character” of places of worship as it was in 1947 except law Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute case that was already in court. The law was brought in at the peak of the Ram Mandir movement after one year before the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Home Minister S B Chavan in introducing the law said in the Parliament that it was adopted to curb the communal tension.

About the issue: As discussed above a petition has been filed in the court saying about the law as “arbitrary, irrational and retrospective”. The cut-off date that is 15 August, 1974 as per the law bars Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs from approaching courts to “re-claim” their places of worship which were “invaded” and “encroached” upon by “fundamentalist barbaric invaders”.

 2. World Bank economist Deepak Mishra appointed as director of ICRIER: Deepak Mishra, Practice Manager in the World Bank’s Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment Global Practice, has been appointed as the next director and chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He will take the charge of Rajat Kathuria who has been the director and chief executive of ICRIER since 1st September 2012. Mishra has held various positions at the World Bank, including co-director of the World Development Report 2016 (Digital Dividends), country economist for Ethiopia, Pakistan, Sudan, and Vietnam.

Note: ICRIER Established: August 1981; ICRIER Headquaters: New Delhi.

 3. ISRO launches sounding rocket RH-560 to study attitudinal variations: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched the sounding rocket (RH-560) to study attitudinal variations in the neutral winds and plasma dynamics, at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota Range (SHAR). ISRO has developed a series of sounding rockets called Rohini series, important among them being RH-200, RH-300 and RH-560, number in the name indicating the diameter of the rocket in mm, according to the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency. Sounding rockets are one or two-stage solid propellant rockets used for probing the upper atmospheric regions and for space research. They also serve as easily affordable platforms to test or prove prototypes of new components or subsystems intended for use in launch vehicles and satellites.

Note: ISRO Chairman: K.Sivan; ISRO Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka; ISRO established: 15 August 1969.

 4. India’s first centralised AC railway terminal in Bengaluru to function soon: India’s first centralised air-conditioned (AC) railway terminal has been built at Baiyappanahalli in Bengaluru. Named after ‘Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya’ one of the foremost civil engineers, the AC railway terminal is set to become operational soon. It has been built at an estimated cost of Rs 314 crore. The Byappanahalli terminal is the third coach terminal named after Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya, sanctioned in 2015-16. The state-of-the-art terminal is equipped with all the modern facilities and is aimed to offer an airport-like aura to the passengers.

 INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 1. In world-first trial, Japan-Australia venture starts producing hydrogen from dirty coal: A  Japanese-Australian venture has begun producing hydrogen from brown coal in a A$500 million ($390 million) pilot project that aims to show liquefied hydrogen can be produced commercially and exported safely overseas. The plan is to create the first international supply chain for liquefied hydrogen and the next big step will be to ship a cargo on the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier. The project is producing hydrogen by reacting coal with oxygen and steam under high heat and pressure in a process that also yields carbon dioxide and other gases.

 2. PM Modi Addresses 4th Global Ayurveda Festival (GAF) Virtually: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the fourth Global Ayurveda Festival (GAF) on through virtual mode. The Fourth Edition of GAF has been organized from 12 to 19 March 2021. Global Ayurveda Festival is the largest Ayurvedic event ever held anywhere across the world and witness the largest gathering of experts, stakeholders and business explorers from the field of Ayurveda. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) is the festival and industry partner.

 OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

 1. Mumbai City FC beat ATK Mohun Bagan to win their maiden ISL title: Mumbai City FC has defeated ATK Mohun Bagan 2-1 in the ISL 2020-21 final to lift yet another trophy this year. Mumbai had earlier secured the ISL Shield along with a spot in the AFC Champions League group stage by finishing first in the standings in the regular season.

Related Awards:

Golden Ball Award (Best Player of ISL 2020-21): ATK Mohun Bagan forward Roy Krishna.

Emerging Indian Player of the Year: NorthEast United midfielder Lalengmawia.

Golden Boot Award (Top goal-scorer): FC Goa striker Igor Angulo for 14 goals.

Golden Glove Award (Best Goalkeeper): ATK Mohun Bagan custodian Arindam Bhattacharya for ten clean sheets.

 2. Bhavani Devi becomes first ever Indian fencer to qualify for Olympics: Bhavani Devi became the first-ever Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics. The sabre fencer secured an Olympic spot due to events in the ongoing Fencing World Cup. Hosts Hungary lost in the quarterfinals of the team event, allowing Korea to progress to the semis. Therefore, Bhavani Devi qualifies through the Adjusted Official Ranking (AOR) Method. Currently, she is ranked 45th in the world. In 2017 She won India’s 1st international gold medal in fencing.

 BANKING AND FINANCE

 1. India’s Forex Reserves Surpass Russia’s to become World’s 4th Biggest: India’s foreign-exchange reserves surpassed Russia’s to become the world’s fourth-largest reserve. The foreign currency holdings of India stood at $580.3 billion as of March 5, as per the data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The reserve of Russia was $580.1 billion. Overall, China has the largest reserves, followed by Japan and Switzerland, as on the International Monetary Fund table. Reserves for both countries have mostly flattened out this year after months of rapid increase. India pulled ahead as Russian holdings declined at a faster rate in recent weeks. India’s reserves, enough to cover roughly 18 months of imports, have been bolstered by a rare current-account surplus, rising inflows into the local stock market and foreign direct investment.

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

 BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 1. NPCI launches UPI-Help on BHIM app for Grievance Redressal: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella entity for digital payments in India, has launched a new application named “UPI-Help” on BHIM UPI, which will act as a grievance redressal mechanism for the users of the BHIM application. Initially, UPI-Help has been made live on the BHIM app for the customers of State Bank of India, AXIS Bank, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank. Users of other banks participating in UPI will also be added to UPI-Help soon.

The UPI-Help will enable the users to:

(1) Check the status of the pending transactions;

(2) raise complaints against transactions that have not been processed;

(3) raise complaints against money that has not reached the beneficiary;

(4) Raise complaints against merchant transactions

Note: National Payments Corporation of India MD & CEO: Dilip Asbe; National Payments Corporation of India Headquarters: Mumbai; National Payments Corporation of India Founded: 2008.

 AWARDS AND HONOURS

 1. Grammy Awards 2021 Announced: The 63rd edition of the annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. The 2021 Grammy awards recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, between September 1, 2019, to August 31, 2020. The award is presented by The Recording Academy to recognize achievements in the American music industry. Beyonce received the most nominations with nine, as well as the most awards with four.

Here is the list of winners of Grammy Awards 2021:

Sr. No.	Category	Winner
1	Album Of The Year	“Folklore” by Taylor Swift
2	Record Of The Year	“Everything I Wanted” by Billie Eilish
3	Best New Artist	Megan Thee Stallion
4	Best Rap Album	“King’s Disease” by Nas
5	Best R&B Album Winner	“Bigger Love” by John Legend
6	Best Rap Song	“Savage” by Beyoncé, Shawn Carter, Brittany
7	Best Country Album	“Wildcard” — Miranda Lambert
8	Song Of The Year	“I Can’t Breathe” by Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas
9	Best Rock Album	“The New Abnormal” by The Strokes
10	Best Rock Song	“Stay High” by Brittany Howard, songwriter (Brittany Howard)
11	Best Dance/Electronic Album	Bubba by Kaytranada
12	Producer of the Year, Classical	David Frost
13	Best Music Video	Brown Skin Girl by Beyoncé, Blue Ivy & WizKid
14	Best Country Song	Crowded Table by Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby & Lori McKenna
15	Best Folk Album	All the Good Times
16	Best Comedy Album	Black Mitzvah by Tiffany Haddish

 

History of Grammy Award: The Grammy Award is an award presented by the Recording Academy to recognize achievements in the music industry. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honour and respect the musical accomplishments of performers for the year 1958. The trophy represents a gilded gramophone.

 OBITUARIES

1. Noted Kathakali Dancer Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair passes away: Veteran Kathakali artist Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair has passed away in Kozhikode, Kerala. He was 105-year old. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2017 for his contributions to the dance form of Kathakali. Besides this, Chemencheri was also the recipient of several other awards like the Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Award in 1979, the Kerala Kalamandalam award in 2001, Kalaratnam award in 2009, Mayilpeeli award and Sangeet Natak Academi Tagore award.