Daily GK Updates - 19th April, 2021

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Gender Samvaad event launched by Ministry of Rural Development: The Ministry of Rural Development recently launched the Gender Samvaad Event. It is a joint initiative between DAY-NRLM and IWWAGE. The main objective of the Gender Samvaad event was to create awareness of gender-related interventions under the DAY-NRLM. DAY-NRLM is DeendayalAntyodayaYojana National Rural Livelihood Mission. IWWAGE is Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy. About Gender Samvaad:

(1) It provides opportunities to understand the best practices of other states to improve women agencies.

(2) For instance, facilitating women’s access to land rights and their engagement in Farmer Producer Organisations, establishing strong institutions for public service delivery, best practices around food, nutrition, health and water and sanitation.

(3) It helps to understand Gender Interventions globally.

(4) Also, the event provides opportunities to engage with experts on suggestions to handle implementation barriers.

(5) It aims to promote the need to focus on gender issues.

Note: Union Minister of Rural Development: Narendra Singh Tomar.

 

2. Italy launches first ever mega food park in India: Italy has launched its first-ever mega food park project in India, at Fanidhar in the Mehsana district of Gujarat. The project aims to create synergy between agriculture and industry of the two countries and focuses on the research and development of new and more efficient technologies in the sector. With this Italy also aims to explore the great opportunities offered by the Indian market. This is the first Italian-Indian food park project, an initiative in the food-processing field, which serves as a pillar of the partnership between India and Italy.

Note: Italy Capital: Rome; Italy Currency: Euro; Italy President: Sergio Mattarella.

 

3. Railways to run ‘Oxygen Express’ trains via green corridors: Following a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases, the Indian Railways will run ‘Oxygen Express’ trains transporting liquid medical oxygen and oxygen cylinders across the country via green corridors to meet growing demand from states. Green corridors are being created to ensure fast movement of these trains. Empty tankers will begin their journey from Kalamboli and Boisar railway stations in and near Mumbai to load liquid medical oxygen from Vizag, Jamshedpur, Rourkela and Bokaro, the national transporter.

Note: Union Minister of Railways: Piyush Goyal; Indian Railways Founded: 16 April 1853, India; Indian Railways Headquarters: New Delhi.

 

4. Secretary MeitY inaugurates three new initiatives of NIXI: Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Ajay Prakash Sawhney inaugurated three path breaking initiatives for National Internet Exchange of India, NIXI. These initiatives are IP Guru, NIXI Academy and NIXI-IP-INDEX.

(1) The IP Guru is a group to extend support to all the Indian entities who are finding it technically challenging to migrate and adopt Internet Protocol version, IPv6.

(2) The NIXI Academy has been created to educate technical and non-technical people in India about technologies like IPv6 which will lead to better management of Internet resources in the country.

(3) The NIXI-IP-INDEX portal has been launched to showcase IPv6 adoption rate in India and across the world.

 

INTERNATIONALUPDATES:

 

1. Indian expedition to Antarctica returns to Cape Town: The 40th Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (40-ISEA) hosted by the Ministry of Earth Sciences successfully returned to Cape Town after completing a journey of about 12,000 nautical miles in 94 days, including stopovers. This achievement concludes four successful decades of India’s scientific endeavour in the continent of peace and cooperation. The team reached its destination Bharati station on February 27 and Maitri station on March 8 in Antarctica. Bharati and Maitri are India’s permanent research base stations in Antarctica.

Note: Minister of Earth Sciences:  Dr Harsh Vardhan.

 

2. NASA Awards $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX: The United States space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has picked Elon Musk’s SpaceX for its Artemis programme, to develop the first commercial lander and take the next two US astronauts to the moon. The total value of this contract is $2.89 billion.

Under this contract: SpaceX will develop a spacecraft ‘SpaceX Starship’ to land next to two US astronauts, including a women astronaut at the lunar south pole region, by 2024. NASA also aims to bring the first person of colour to the moon’s surface as part of the Artemis programme. Between 1969 and 1972, the US brought 12 astronauts to the moon.

 

3. World Liver Day: 19th April: World Liver day is observed on the 19 April every year to spread awareness about the second largest organ in the body. The liver is the second largest and the most complex organ in the body, with the exception of the brain. Liver diseases can be caused by hepatitis A, B, C, alcohol and drugs. Viral Hepatitis occurs due to consumption of contaminated food and water, unsafe sexual practices and drug abuse.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Max Verstappen Wins Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix 2021: Max Verstappen (Red Bull – Netherlands) won the Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix 2021, in Imola, Italy. This win is his first victory of the season. The race was the second round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. The seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-Great Britain) finished second, following a crash and sustaining damage involving Mercedes team-mate ValtteriBottas. Lando Norris (McLaren – Great Britain) took third place.

 

2. India’s MirabaiChanu creates a new Clean and Jerk world record in Tashkent:MirabaiChanu set a new World Record in the women’s 49kg Clean and Jerk with a massive 119 kg lift at Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent. The 26-year-old Indian won the bronze medal at the event. The gold medal went to HouZhihui of China who created a new world record in snatch. Asian Games, held once every 4yrs, is the 2nd largest multi-sport event after Olympics.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. RBI approves re-appointment of Murali Natarajan as DCB Bank MD and CEO: Private sector lender, DCB Bank has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India for the re-appointment of Murali M. Natrajan as the Managing Director & CEO, for a further period of one year from April 29, 2021. He was appointed as MD and CEO of DCB Bank in May 2009. Prior to joining DCB, Natrajan has worked with foreign banks Standard Chartered & Citibank.

Note: DCB Bank Headquarters: Maharashtra; DCB Bank Founded: 1930.

 

2. Yes Bank executes its first trade borrowing transaction linked to SOFR: Private sector lender Yes Bank has executed its first Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) linked transaction. The transaction was a trade borrowing availed from Wells Fargo Bank and will provide further impetus to the bank’s export finance business. It is part of its benchmark transition management plan and is the first step towards a smooth transition to the new Alternative Reference Rates (ARR).

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. Rating Agencies downgrade India’s GDP forecasts for FY22: With the resurgence of COVID-19 cases posing risks to economic recovery, the leading brokerages have downgraded India’s GDP growth projections for the current fiscal year 2021-22. Current fiscal year to as low as 10 per cent on local lockdowns threatening fragile recovery.

Given below in the GDP growth forecast by several rating agencies for FY22:

 

Agencies	FY22 (revised estimate)	FY22 (previous estimate)
Nomura	12.60%	13.50%
JP Morgan	11%	13%
UBS	10%	11.50%
Citi Research	12%	12.50%

 

In the Covid-ravaged 2020-21 fiscal (April 2020 to March 2021), the economy is projected to have contracted by up to 8 per cent. The low base of FY’21 was seen aiding a double-digit growth rate in the current fiscal before moderating to 6.8 per cent in FY’23.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. Lifetime Achievement Award received by Roberto Benigni: Director Roberto Benigni will be receiving the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, which runs from September 1 to 11. The organisers confirmed the news about the two-time Oscar-winning actor-director. The filmmaker had starred in and directed the holocaust comedy-drama film Life Is Beautiful (1997), for which he received the Academy Awards for Best Actor (the first for a non-English speaking male performance) and Best International Feature Film. He was last seen in Matteo Garrone’s live-action Pinocchio, for which he won a David di Donatello Award.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Adobe co-founder and PDF developer Charles Geschke passes away: American computer scientist Charles Geschke, best known as the co-founder of graphics and publishing software company Adobe Inc, has passed away. Geschke co-founded Adobe company in 1982 with fellow mate John Warnock. Geschke, who was widely known as Chuck, also helped in developing the popular Portable Document Format (PDF).

 

2. Veteran Tamil actor and comedian Vivek passes away: Renowned Tamil actor and comedian Vivek has passed away. He was launched by legendary filmmaker K Balachander in the late 1980s. He went on to become one of the most sought after comedy actors of Tamil cinema in the 1990s and retained a stronghold in the industry. The actor was awarded the Padma Shri in 2009 for his excellent work in Tamil cinema. He acted in over 200 movies. He was last seen in DharalaPrabhu, which was the Tamil remake of the Hindi film Vicky Donor.