Daily GK Update - 23rd March, 2021

 NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Bihar becomes first state to have own ethanol policy: Bihar Cabinet has approved the Ethanol Production Promotion Policy, 2021, becoming the 1st Indian State to have an ethanol promotion policy. The policy allows the extraction of ethanol, which was restricted to sugarcane, from surplus quantities of maize as well. The new policy would permit ethanol production in Bihar from all feedstocks permitted by National Policy on Biofuels, 2018, and subsequently by the National Biofuel Coordination Committee.About the policy:

(1) The Ethanol Production Promotion Policy, 2021, of Bihar promotes new standalone ethanol manufacturing units by providing them additional capital subsidy at 15% of the cost of plant and machinery up to a maximum of ₹5 crores.

(2) The new policy also provides an additional subsidy for special class investors like SCs, STs, EBCs, women, differently-abled, war widows, acid attack victims and third gender entrepreneurs.

(3) In their case, the capital subsidy will be 15.75% of the cost of plant and machinery up to a maximum of Rs. 5.25 crore. The policy lays significant emphasis on issuing licences and clearances in a timebound manner for new standalone ethanol units.

Note: Chief Minister of Bihar: Nitish Kumar; Governor: Phagu Chauhan.

2. PM Modi launches ‘Catch the Rain’ campaign: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has launched the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign on March 22, 2021, on the occasion of World Water Day for conserving water. PM urged that every penny of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) funds be spent on rainwater conservation till the monsoon arrives.

About the campaign: The ‘Catch the Rain’ campaign will be implemented across the country, in both rural and urban areas from March 22 to November 30, 2021 (the pre-monsoon and monsoon period in the country). The main aim of the campaign is to take water conservation at the grass-root level through people’s participation and urge stakeholders to create rainwater harvesting structures suitable to the climatic conditions and subsoil strata, to ensure proper storage of rainwater.

3. Shaheed Diwas: 23rd March: Every year, March 23 is observed as Martyrs Day (Shaheed Diwas or Sarvodaya Day) to pay tribute on the death anniversary of the freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, SukhdevThapar, and ShivaramRajguru, who laid their lives for the freedom of India. It was on March 23 in 1931, in Lahore (Pakistan), that these three were hanged to death for assassinating John Saunders, a British police officer in 1928. They had mistaken him for British police superintendent James Scott, who had ordered lathi-charge, which eventually led to the death of LalaLajpat Rai. Also, 30 January is observed as Martyr’s Day or Shaheed Diwas in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi.

 INTERNATIONALUPDATES:

1. India ranks 139th in World Happiness Report 2021: India has been placed at 139th position out of 149 countries in the UN World Happiness Report 2021 released. In 2019, India was ranked 140th. The World Happiness Report 2021 has been topped by Finland, for the fourth consecutive year. The 2021 report is the ninth World Happiness Report and focuses on the effects of COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared.

Top 10 Countries: (1) Finland; (2) Iceland; (3) Denmark; (4) Switzerland; (5) The Netherlands; (6) Sweden; (7) Germany; (8) Norway; (9) New Zealand; (10) Austria.

Bottom 5 Countries: (1) Afghanistan (149); (2) Zimbabwe (148); (3) Rwanda (147); (4) Botswana (146); (5) Lesotho (145).

World Happiness Report: The World Happiness Report is issued by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, to rank countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. The countries of the world are ranked on the basis of questions from the Gallup World Poll. The results are then correlated with other factors, like gross domestic product per person, healthy life expectancy and the opinions of residents.

2. India slips to 56th rank in Global Home Price Index: India has moved down 13 spots in the latest global home price index to finish last at 56th rank in the quarter ending December 2020. Against its 43rd rank a year ago, India saw a decline of 3.6% year-on-year (YoY) in home prices, leading to the drop in global position, showed Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index. India was the weakest-performing country during the fourth quarter of 2020, with a decline of 3.6% in home prices, followed by Morocco with a drop of 3.3%. According to the report, markets like New Zealand (19%), Russia (14%), the US (10%), Canada and UK (both 9%) have recorded accelerated growth in rankings in the last three months due to a growth in housing demand.

The index tracks the movement in mainstream residential prices across 56 countries and territories worldwide using official statistics. In the 12-month percentage change for the period Q4 2019 – Q4 2020, Turkey continues to lead the annual rankings with prices up by 30.3% on-year, followed by New Zealand at 18.6% and Slovakia at 16.0%.

3. World Meteorological Day: 23rd March: The World Meteorological Day is celebrated every year on 23 March to commemorate the date of the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization in 23 March 1950. The day also highlights the contribution that the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services make to the safety and well-being of society. The World Meteorological Day theme is “The ocean, our climate and weather” celebrates WMO’s focus in connecting the ocean, climate and weather within the Earth System. It also marks the starting year of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).

Note: World Meteorological Organization Head: Petteri Taalas; World Meteorological Organization (WMO) headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

World Meteorological Organization has a membership of 191 member states and territories.

                                               OTHER UPDATES:

 SPORTS

1. ISSF WC: Yashaswini wins first gold for India: YashaswiniDeswal bagged the first gold medal for India in the Women’s 10M Air Pistol final of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun. Deswal accumulated 238.8 points to lead in her category. Another Indian shooter Manu Bhaker won a silver medal with 236.7 points. World number one shooter Divyansh Singh Panwar clinched the bronze medal in 10m Air Rifle (men’s category) and opened India’s medal account in the competition.

 BANKING AND FINANCE

1. RBI sets up external advisory committee for evaluating banking applications: The Reserve Bank of India has announced the names of the members of the Standing External Advisory Committee (SEAC) for evaluating applications for Universal Banks as well as Small Finance Banks. The committee has five members, with former RBI deputy governor ShyamalaGopinath as the chairperson. The panel will have a tenure of three years.

Other members include RevathyIyer, director, central board, RBI; B Mahapatra, former executive director, National Payments Corporation of India; T N Manoharan, former chairman, Canara Bank; and Hemant G Contractor, former MD, State Bank of India, and former Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. According to guidelines, applications for universal banks and SFBs will first be evaluated by the RBI to ensure prima facie eligibility of the applicants, after which the newly formed committee will evaluate the applications.

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

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. India’s economy projected to grow at 12% in CY 2021: Moody’s: Moody’s Analytics has projected the Indian economy to grow by 12 per cent in the Calendar Year 2021. For the Calendar year 2020, the real GDP was projected to contract 7.1 per cent by Moody’s.  It must be noted that Moody’s Analytics makes calendar year projections, while its sister organization Moody’s Investors Service provides fiscal year estimates. This forecast is equivalent to real GDP, in level terms, growing by 4.4 per cent above pre-COVID-19 levels (as of March 2020) by the end of 2021, or equivalently, by 5.7 per cent above the GDP level in December 2020 by the end of 2021.

Note: Headquarters of Moody’s: NewYork, United States; President & CEO of Moody’s: Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. 67th National Film Awards Announced: The 67th National Film Awards are currently being announced in New Delhi. The awards are for films from the year 2019. The event is organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, which comes under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The ceremony was supposed to be held in May last year but was delayed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is the complete list of all the winners:

Feature Film Awards:

Best Feature Film: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (Malayalam)

Best Actor (shared): ManojBajpayee for Bhonsle (Hindi), and Dhanush for Asuran (Tamil)

Best Actress: KanganaRanaut for Panga (Hindi) and Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (Hindi)

Best Supporting Actress: Pallavi Joshi for The Tashkent Files (Hindi)

Best Supporting Actor: Vijay Sethupathi for Super Deluxe (Tamil)

Best Director: Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan for BahattarHoorain (Hindi)

Best Debut Film of a Director: Mathukutty Xavier for Helen (Malayalam)

Best Child Artist: Naga Vishal for KD (Tamil)

Best Choreography: Maharishi (Telugu), Raju Sundaram

Best Special Effects: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (Malayalam), SiddharthPriyadarshan

Special Jury Award: OththaSeruppu Size 7 (Tamil), RadhakrishnanParthiban

Best Lyrics: Prabha Varma for Kolaambi (Malayalam)

Best Music Direction: D. Imman for Viswasam (Tamil)

Best Background Music: Prabuddha Banerjee for Jyeshthoputro (Bengali)

Best Screenplay (Original): Jyeshthoputro (Bengali), Kaushik Ganguly

Best Screenplay (Adapted): Gumnaami (Bengali), SrijitMukherji

Best Children’s Film: Kastoori (Hindi)

Best Film on Environment Conservation: Water Burial (Monpa)

Best Film on Social Issues: Anandi Gopal (Marathi)

Best Film on National Integration: Tajmahal (Marathi)

Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Maharishi (Telugu)

Best Female Playback Singer: SavaniRavindra for Bardo (Marathi)

Best Male Playback Singer: B Praak for Kesari (Hindi)

 Non-Feature Film Awards:

Best Film on Family Values: OruPaathiraSwapnam Pole (Malayalam)

Best Short Fiction Film: Custody (Hindi/ English)

Special Jury Award: Small Scale Societies (English)

Best Animation Film: Radha (Musical)

Best Investigative Film: Jakkal (Marathi)

Best Exploration Film: Wild Karnataka (English)

Best Educational Film: Apples and Oranges (English)

Best Film on Social Issues: Holy Rights (Hindi) and Ladli (Hindi)

Best Environment Film: The Stork Saviours (Hindi)

Best Promotional Film: The Shower (Hindi)

Best Arts and Culture Film: Shrikshetra-Ru-Sahijata (Odia)

Best Biographical Film: Elephants Do Remember (English)

Best Ethnographic Film: Charan-AtvaThe Essence of Being a Nomad (Gujarati)

Best Debut Non-Feature Film of a Director: Raj Pritam More for Khisa (Marathi)

Best Non-Feature Film: An Engineered Dream (Hindi)

Most Film Friendly State: Sikkim

DEFENCE

1. Indian Navy undertakes exercise PASSEX with Royal Bahrain Naval Force: Indian Navy on 18th March undertook Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with Royal Bahrain Naval Force Corvette Al Muharraq in the Persian Gulf under Operation Sankalp. PASSEXs are conducted regularly by the Indian Navy with units of friendly foreign navies, whilst visiting each other’s ports or during a rendezvous at sea. The exercises are aimed at fostering interoperability and reflecting the commitments of both, India and Bahrain, to build cooperative partnerships in meeting emergent maritime challenges.

Note: King of Bahrain: Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa; Bahrain Capital: Manama; Bahrain Currency: Bahraini dinar.

OBITUARIES

1. Former Sebi chairman GV Ramakrishna passes away: Former Sebi chairman GV Ramakrishna passed away. He was appointed as the chairman of markets regulator Sebi in 1990 when it lacked legal status. He headed that body till 1994 and then became the first chairman of the Disinvestment Commission in 1996.