Daily GK Updates - 11th April, 2021

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. TikaUtsav: COVID-19 Vaccination Drive: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently appealed to the Chief Ministers of the States to organise “TikaUtsav”. TikaUtsav is a vaccine festival. It is to be held between April 11, 2021, and April 14, 2021. The main objective of the festival is to vaccinate as many people as possible. It will also focus on zero wastage of the COVID-19 vaccine.COVID-19 Vaccination Drive in India:

(1) Currently, three states are receiving a maximum number of COVID-19 doses. They are Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.

(2) COVAXIN and COVISHIELD are the two major COVID-19 vaccines that are currently administered in India.

(3) So far, India has shipped 64 million doses of vaccines to 84 countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. The major recipient countries of the Indian COVID-19 vaccines are Mexico, Canada, and Brazil.

(4) The GoI has planned to cover 250 million people included in the “high priority” category by July 2021 under its vaccination programme.

 

2. Govt sanctions more than Rs 25,586 cr for Stand-Up India Scheme in 5 years: Government has sanctioned more than 25 thousand 586 crore rupees to over 1 lakh 14 thousand 322 accounts under Stand-Up India Scheme in five years. This scheme has been extended up to 2025.The objective is to promote entrepreneurship amongst women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It seeks to give access to loans from bank branches to borrowers to help them set up their own enterprise.

 

3. Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launches Madhukranti portal and Honey Corners of NAFED in New Delhi: Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched Madhukranti portal and Honey Corners of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation, NAFED in New Delhi. This portal is being developed for online registration to achieve a traceability source of Honey and other beehive products on a digital platform.This will also help in checking the quality and source of adulteration of honey.Madhukranti portal is an initiative of National Bee Board under National Beekeeping and Honey Mission. An MoU between National Bee Board and Indian Bank was signed for this project.

 

4. Cabinet approves PLI Scheme for Air Conditioners and LED Lights worth Rs 6238 crore: The Union Cabinet has approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme- ‘National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules’ for achieving manufacturing capacity of Giga Watt with an outlay of Rs 4,500 crore. The National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules will reduce import dependence in a strategic sector like electricity and will also support the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. This scheme will add an additional 10 thousand MegaWatt capacity of integrated solar Photovoltaic manufacturing plants and will bring direct investment of around Rs 17,200 crore in solar PV manufacturing projects.

 

INTERNATIONALUPDATES:

 

1. Dr S Jaishankar participates in the 17th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting chaired by Sri Lanka: The External Affairs Minister of India, Dr S Jaishankar participated in the 17th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Ministerial Meeting. The meeting, chaired by Sri Lanka, was held in virtually with the participation of all BIMSTEC Member States. The meeting endorsed the BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity for adoption at the next BIMSTEC Summit, which will be held in Sri Lanka.

 

2. Eduard Heger sworn in as new PM of Slovakia: Slovakia’s president swore in a new coalition government to end a political crisis triggered by a secret deal to buy Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. President Zuzana Caputova appointed the new cabinet led by Prime Minister Eduard Heger two days after the previous government of Igor Matovic resigned. It was the first European government to collapse due to its handling of the pandemic but the move kept the same four-party coalition in power and avoided the possibility of an early election.

 

3. India contributes $3,00,000 to UN Women: India has contributed $3,00,000 to the United Nations agency for gender equality and women empowerment, a contribution lauded by the UN entity. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti said India reaffirms its support for gender equality and women empowerment, describing UN Women as a “valued partner in our progress from women’s development to #women-led development.”

 

4. World Homeopathy Day: 10th April: World Homeopathy Day is celebrated every year on April 10 to spread awareness about homoeopathy and its contribution to the world of medicine. The day marks the birth anniversary of German physician Dr Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, who is considered the founder of the system of alternative medicine called Homeopathy. The year 2021 marks the 266th birthday of Hahnemann.

International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day: The Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), Ministry of AYUSH, organised a two-day scientific conference on the occasion of #WorldHomoeopathyDay from April 10 & 11, 2021 in New Delhi. The theme of the conference is “Homoeopathy – Roadmap for Integrative Medicine”. Objective: exchange of experience by policymakers and experts to identify strategic actions towards an effective and efficient inclusion of Homoeopathy in integrative care.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. New Zealand, Australia to host 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Eden Park in Auckland in New Zealand has been selected by FIFA to stage the opening match of the tournament on July 10, with Stadium Australia in Sydney chosen to host the final on August 20. Matches are set to be held in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney in Australia as well as Auckland, Dunedin, Hamilton and Wellington in New Zealand. The 2023 edition will be the largest ever FIFA Women’s World Cup with the number of teams increasing from 24 to 32.

 

2. India finish Dubai Para Badminton with 20 medals: In Badminton, defending world champion PramodBhagat clinch two gold medals as India finished their campaign in the 3rd Sheikh Hamdan bin Al Maktoum Dubai Para-Badminton International 2021 in Dubai. India topped the tally with 20 medals (4 gold, 6 silver and 10 bronze medals), ahead of France who finished with eight medals (4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze) and Malaysia with seven medals (3 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze).

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. RBI enhances Loan limit under Priority Sector Lending against eNWR/NWR: The Reserve Bank of India has enhanced the loan limit from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh per borrower against the pledge/hypothecation of agricultural produce backed by Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs)/electronic-NWRs(e-NWRs) issued by the warehouses registered and regulated by Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA).

The Priority Sector loan limit backed by other Warehouse Receipts will continue to be ₹50 lakh per borrower. The circular in this regard will be issued separately. With a view to encourage farm credit to individual farmers against pledge/hypothecation of agricultural produce and leverage the inherent safety of NWRs/(e-NWRs) issued by warehouses registered and regulated by WDRA.

Note: Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority Established: 2010; Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority HQ: New Delhi.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. Exports of foreign subsidiaries accounted for 33% of their total sales in FY20: RBI: Exports of foreign subsidiaries in India accounted for 32.6 per cent of their total sales in 2019-20, according to RBI. The RBI released the provisional results of the 2019-20 round of the annual census on foreign liabilities and assets (FLA) covering cross-border liabilities and assets of the entities with inward/outward direct investment. These entities include companies, limited liability partnership (LLP), alternative investment fund (AIF) and partnership firms.

 

2. CBIC extends customs duty and integrated GST exemptions till March 31, 2022: The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) extended the basic customs duty and integrated goods and service tax exemptions for export oriented units, by a year till March 31, 2022. The Board also made it mandatory for a GST taxpayer having turnover of more than Rs 5 crore in the preceding financial year,to furnish 6 digits HSN Code on invoices issued for supplies. The Board also extended the exemption from integrated tax and compensation cess on goods imported against authorisations under Advance Authorisation and export promotion capital goods (EPCG) schemes, till March 31, 2022.

 

3. Axis Bank to sell UK arm to tech platform: Axis Bank has informed the stock exchanges that it has agreed to sell its UK subsidiary to OpenPayd Holdings. The consideration or the value for the transaction would be the completion net asset value (book value of the bank on the date of completion), plus a fixed premium of $5,500,000. Axis Bank expects the sale to be completed by September 30, 2021 subject to the approval of ‘Change in Control’, received from the UK Financial Regulator, the PRA.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, passes away: Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has passed away. The 99-year-old royal passed away just months before his 100th birthday in June. He had retired from public duties in 2017 at the age of 96. He was the longest-serving royal consort in British history who was a constant presence at Queen Elizabeth II’s side for decades.

 

2. Former international table tennis player Suhas Kulkarni passes away: Well-known former international table tennis player Suhas Kulkarni died in neighbouring Thane. He was 68. After retiring as a player, Kulkarni was actively involved with the game with coaching and also regularly played in Masters’ TT tournaments at the National and International level. He had also won National Masters’ TT Championship in Indore in 2019.