Daily GK Update - 31st March, 2021

 NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Women-led startup develops wireless product ‘Giga Mesh’ for reliable low-cost internet services to rural areas: Bengaluru-based women-led startup, Astrome, has developed an innovative wireless product called Giga Mesh, which can provide reliable low-cost internet services to suburban and rural areas. The Giga Mesh is a wireless product with the ability to provide quality, high-speed rural telecom infrastructure at 5 times lower cost.  It will give fibre like bandwidth at fraction of cost of fibre. This product may prove to be boon for the rural areas as providing internet access at remote places is difficult because laying fibre is too expensive. Besides, the currently available wireless backhaul products either do not provide sufficient data speeds or the required range, or are very expensive to deploy. Astrome is a deep tech startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and supported by DST-ABI Woman Startup Program of the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The team was led by Dr. Neha Satak, co-founder and chief executive officer at Astrome.

2. Education Minister inaugurates ‘Anandam: The Center for Happiness’ at IIM Jammu: Union Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal has inaugurated “Anandam: The Center for Happiness” at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Jammu virtually. The centre will help people overcome mental stress and help spread positivity and it will encourage and propagate holistic development for all the stakeholders at IIM Jammu. Lieutenant Governor, Jammu, and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha; Founder, Art of Living Foundation, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar virtually graced the occasion. The purpose of establishing ‘Anandam’ at IIM Jammu is to bring holistic well-being. Regular physical exercises at the Center will contribute to the wellness at the physical level for both the students and the faculty. Under the concept of ‘Anandam: The Center for Happiness’ will be divided into five broad categories, namely, Counselling, Holistic wellness, Elective courses on Happiness Development, Research and Leadership & Faculty Development.

3. Jal Shakti Minister approves Rs. 465 crore as Performance Incentive fund for seven states under JJM: Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat has approved Rs. 465 crore as Performance Incentive fund for seven states under Jal Jeevan Mission. These states are Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. For performance incentive grant, the criteria includes physical and financial progress under Jal Jeevan Mission, functionality of piped water supply schemes and capacity to utilize the fund.

                                    INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. US President Biden invites PM Modi to Leaders’ Summit on Climate: President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to a US-hosted virtual summit on climate next month to underscore the urgency and the economic benefits of stronger climate action. Biden will host a two-day climate summit of world leaders starting on Earth Day, April 22, in which he will outline the US goal for reductions of carbon emissions by 2030, known as the nationally determined contribution under the historic Paris accord. The White House said a total of 40 world leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, were invited to the conference, which will be live-streamed to the public.

Other leaders invited for the summit include Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering are the other two leaders from South Asia to be invited for the mega-conference.

2. World Bank Releases “World Development Report 2021″: The “World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives” was released by the World Bank. The World Development Report focuses on how data can improve the lives of poor people and advance development objectives, to ensure no one is left behind. It highlights the tremendous potential of the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, at the same time acknowledging its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies.

Through this report, World Bank aims to support its client countries by identifying where public and private sector investments are the most critical, defining a rich program for policy reform and technical assistance, and highlighting areas in which global initiatives can help to convene and facilitate cross-border cooperation.

Note: World Bank Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States; World Bank Formation: July 1944; World Bank President: David Malpass..

3. Global Wind Report 2021: 2020 was Best Year for Wind Industry: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the year 2020 was the best year in history for the global wind industry as this sector installed 93GW of new capacity in 2020, according to a new report titled ‘Global Wind Report 2021, released by the Global Wind Energy Council. This is the 16th annual flagship report, released by GWEC on March 25, 2021. The 93GW represents a 53% year-on-year increase.

As per the report:

(1) The global wind power market increased four times in size over the past decade but the record growth was seen in 2020. This increase was driven by a surge of installations in China and the US alone

(2) Together, the US and China installed 75% of new installations in 2020 and account for over half of the world’s total wind power capacity.

(3) In the current scenario, 743GW of wind power capacity has been installed worldwide, which is helping to avoid over 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 annually.

(4) However, GWEC’s report shows that the current rate of wind power installed will not be enough to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The world needs to install a minimum of 180 GW of new wind energy every single year to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

(5) Similarly, it will need to increase the capacity to 280GW annually to meet the net-zero emission target by 2050.

Note: Global Wind Energy Council Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium; Global Wind Energy Council CEO: Ben Backwell; Global Wind Energy Council Founded: 2005.

4. International Transgender Day of Visibility: 31st March: International Transgender Day of Visibility observed globally on 31st March every year. The day is dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society.

History of the Day: The day was founded by US-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009. As a reaction to the lack of LGBT recognition of transgender people, citing the frustration that the only well-known transgender-centred day was the Transgender Day of Remembrance which mourned the murders of transgender people but did not acknowledge and celebrate living members of the transgender community. The first International Transgender Day of Visibility was held on March 31, 2009. It has since been spearheaded by the U.S.-based youth advocacy organization Trans Student Educational Resources.

5. International Day of Drug Checking: 31 March: The International Day of Drug Checking takes place on March 31 every year since 2017 to ensure people are educated on drugs and aware of their effects. The day aims to promote harm reduction initiatives of drugs and reduce drug-related risks.

6. World Backup Day: 31 March: World Backup Day is marked every year on March 31 the day aims to reminds us to protect our precious digital documents as we’ve become more reliant on technology. It is a day for people to learn about the increasing role of data in our lives and the importance of regular backups.

History of World Backup Day: World Backup Day was started in 2011, by digital consultant Ismail Jadun. Jadun saw a post on Reddit, where a user wrote about losing their hard drive and wishing someone had reminded them about how important it is to backup your data. Jadun thought it would be a good idea to have a global day to remind everyone to sit down and back up all the files and documents they don't want to lose. He chose March 31st as the date to observe World Backup Day because it is the day before April Fool's, and only a fool would forget to backup their data.

 OTHER UPDATES:

 SPORTS

1. IPL 2021: CSK appoints Equitas Small Finance Bank as official retail banking partner: Equitas Small Finance Bank has renewed its partnership with Chennai Super Kings for the IPL season 2021. It will be the ‘Official Retail Banking Partner’ for the team. In line with the brand ethos and the logo positioning at the back of the helmet & cap, it is also going to launch a new campaign titled “The Bank Behind Every Champion”. The new campaign will be aimed to communicate that, Equitas has been transforming lives of individuals through their lending and social responsibilities over time with the support and funds of people who are banking with them.

 BANKING AND FINANCE

1. HDFC Bank Named India’s Best SME Bank by Asiamoney: HDFC Bank has adjudged the ‘India’s Best Bank for SMEs’ at the Asiamoney Best Bank Awards 2021. In its evaluation, the magazine said on its website – “HDFC Bank’s transformation of its micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) business over the past few years makes it a worthy winner of this award.” The Annual Best Banks survey of the financial magazine based in Hong Kong aims to identify which banks in each market have excelled across a range of core banking activities over the past 12 months.

Asiamoney’s award decisions were made by a team of senior journalists after receiving detailed submissions from market participants and in conjunction with research into the banking and capital markets by our editorial committee. Senior editors also visited each country or territory to meet leading bankers and gather client and competitor feedback.

Note: Headquarters of HDFC Bank: Mumbai, Maharashtra; MD and CEO of HDFC Bank: Sashidhar Jagdishan (Succeeds Aditya Puri); The tagline of HDFC Bank: We understand your world.

 BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. SAIL Chairperson Soma Mondal appointed Chairperson of SCOPE: Soma Mondal, the chairperson of the state-owned Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), was on March 26, 2021, elected the new chairperson of the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE). Mondal will have a two-year term starting April; she took charge of SAIL on January 1, 2021.

About the SCOPE: SCOPE is an apex professional organization representing the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). It promotes excellence in organisations where public investment is involved, in order to enable them to be globally competitive.

Note: SAIL Headquarters: New Delhi; SAIL founded: 19 January 1954.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Dr Sharankumar Limbale to receive Saraswati Samman 2020: Noted Marathi writer Dr Sharankumar Limbale will receive Saraswati Samman, 2020 for his book Sanatan. The award carries fifteen lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque. Saraswati Samman, instituted by KK Birla Foundation in 1991, is recognised as the most prestigious and highest literary award in the country. Dr Limbale’s Sanatan has been published in 2018. Sanatan is an important social and historical document of the Dalit struggle. Speaking first to All India Radio, Dr Limbale was overjoyed with emotion as he started his career with the public broadcaster.

OBITUARIES

1. 1971 Battle of Basantar hero, Lt Gen Pinto (retd) passes away: Lieutenant General, Walter Anthony Gustavo ‘WAG’ Pinto (Retd), a military hero who led an infantry division to a legendary victory in the 1971 India-Pakistan War has passed away at the age of 97. He led the 54 Infantry Division in the Battle of Basantar in the war that gave birth to Bangladesh, leading his troops from the front with the motto he coined “bash on regardless”.