Daily GK Updates - 1st May, 2021

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. TRIFED inks MoU with ‘The LINK Fund’ for tribal development: Tribal Co-operative Marketing Federation of India (TRIFED), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The LINK Fund, for a collaborative project titled “Sustainable Livelihoods For Tribal Households in India”.  Under the project, both the organisations will work together towards:

(1) Tribal Development and Employment Generation, by providing support to tribals for increasing value addition in their produce and products;

(2) Sustainable livelihoods and value addition, for the increase in income and employment generation through technological intervention for efficiency in value addition for MFPs, produce and crafts diversification, skill training and enhancement of value additions in minor forest produce.

LINK Fund: The LINK Fund is a Geneva, Switzerland based philanthropic operational foundation and practitioner-led fund, working towards eradicating extreme poverty and mitigating the effects of climate change.

TRIFED: TRIFED is a nodal agency under the administrative control of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, working for the empowerment of the tribals community in India.

 

2. Punjab cabinet approves hike in Ashirwad Scheme aid from ₹21,000 to ₹51,000: The Punjab Cabinet approved a hike in financial assistance under the Ashirwad scheme from Rs 21,000 to Rs 51,000 per beneficiary, with directions to clear all payment backlog under the scheme. The hike will come into effect from July 1, a government statement said after a virtual meeting of the Council of Ministers. This is the second hike in the scheme amount by the present government, which had earlier enhanced the assistance from Rs 15,000 to Rs 21,000 soon after it took over in 2017, while renaming the Shagun scheme as Ashirward scheme.

 

3. Madhya Pradesh govt launches Corona Warriors Scheme: In Madhya Pradesh, the state government has launched the Corona Warriors Scheme. The government will take the responsibility of family members of health workers who have passed away while on Corona duty.  Their families will be given honorarium of Rs 50 lakhs by the government. So far 80 lakh 66 thousand 980 doses of Corona vaccines have been administered in the state, out of which 70 lakh 19 thousand 763 first and 10 lakh 47 thousand 217 second doses have been administered.

 

4. Govt releases over Rs 8,873 cr for State Disaster Response Fund to all States for COVID-19 containment measures: As a special dispensation, Centre has released in advance over 8873 crore rupees for State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to all the States. The States can use up to 50 percent of the released amount for COVID-19 containment measures, that include meeting the cost of oxygen generation and storage plants in hospitals, ventilators, strengthening ambulance services, COVID-19 hospitals, thermal scanners, personal protective equipment, testing laboratories and testing kits.

 

5. Finance Ministry decides to provide additional amount of uptoRs 15,000 cr to States: The Finance Ministry has decided to provide an additional amount of upto 15 thousand crore rupees to States as interest free 50 year loan for spending on capital projects. The Department of Expenditure has issued fresh guidelines in this regard on the Scheme of Financial Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure for the financial year 2021-22. This helped to sustain state level capital expenditure in the pandemic year. In view of the positive response to the scheme and considering the requests of the State Governments, the Government has decided to continue the scheme in the year 2021-22.

 

INTERNATIONALUPDATES:

 

1. UK become the first country to allow Driverless cars on roads: The United Kingdom has become the first country to announce regulation for the use of self-driving vehicles at low speeds. The UK wants to be at the forefront in rolling out autonomous driving technology. The Government of the UK forecasts that around 40% of UK cars will have self-driving capabilities by 2035. This will create 38,000 jobs in the country. The speed limit of the ALKS is to be set at 37 miles per hour. The ALKS shall drive itself in a single lane.

How do Self Driving Vehicles work: A self-driving vehicle is fully autonomous. No driver is required for the safe operation of the vehicle. Self-driving technologies have been developed by Uber, Google, Nissan, Tesla. Most of the self-driving systems maintain an internal map. They use lasers, sensors and radars to map their surroundings. Based on the map created, instructions are delivered to the actuators of the vehicle.

Note: Prime minister of United Kingdom: Boris Johnson; Capital of the United Kingdom: London.

 

2. International Workers’ Day: 1st May: International Labour Day (also known as May Day or International Workers’ Day) is celebrated across the world on the 1st of May every year. The day celebrates the struggle, dedication and commitment of the working class and is an annual public holiday in several countries.

History of the day: On 1 May 1886, Chicago and a few other cities were the sites of a major union demonstration in support of the eight-hour workday demand. In 1889, the International Socialist Conference declared that in commemoration of the Haymarket affair, 1 May would be an international holiday for the labour force, now known as International Workers’ Day.

Note: Headquarters of International Labour Organization: Geneva, Switzerland; President of International Labour Organization: Guy Ryder; International Labour Organization Founded: 1919.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. ICICI Bank launches Digital banking Platform ‘Merchant Stack’: The ICICI Bank has announced the launch of a digital and contactless banking platform, especially for retail merchants. The service, called ‘Merchant Stack’, is targeted at the over 2 crore retail merchants in the country, covering grocers, supermarkets, large retail store chains, online businesses and large e-commerce firms. Retail merchants can avail the ‘Merchant Stack’ services on InstaBIZ, the mobile banking application of ICICI Bank for businesses. The wide range of banking, as well as value-added services, will enable merchants to meet their banking requirements seamlessly so that they can continue to serve their customers in the challenging times during the pandemic. The banking services under Merchant Stack will include zero-balance current account, instant credit facilities, ‘digital store management’ facility, loyalty programme, and value-added services like alliances with e-commerce and digital marketing platforms.

 

2. HDFC Bank top arranger of corporate bond deals in FY21: HDFC Bank has emerged as the top arranger of corporate bond deals in 2020-21 (FY21). Axis Bank came in second, while ICICI Bank third. However, for the last quarter of FY21, i.e January- March 2021, Axis Bank was the top arranger of corporate bond deals while HDFC was second in the last quarter. Axis Bank managed 16 deals worth Rs. 106.6 billion while HDFC Bank had 19 deals worth around Rs 70.4 billion.

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

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. Niraj Bajaj named Bajaj Auto Chairman: Bajaj Auto has announced the appointment of Neeraj Bajaj as its new Chairman of the Board with effect from May 1, 2021. The automaker has also announced Rahul Bajaj as its Chairman Emeritus. This will be taken up at the ensuing annual general meeting for the approval of the shareholders. Rahul Bajaj, Non-executive Chairman of the Company, having been at the helm of the Company since 1972 and the Group for five decades, considering his age, has tendered his resignation as a non-executive director and Chairman of the Company with effect from close of business hours on 30 April 2021.

 

DEFENCE

 

1. NATO military exercises launched in Albania: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has launched joint military exercises “DEFENDER-Europe 21” in Albania with thousands of military forces from the United States and other countries in the first such large-scale drills since World War II in the Western Balkans. Albania is playing a critical part in the DEFENDER-Europe 21 exercise with Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore operations taking place.

About the exercises: DEFENDER-Europe is an annual large-scale U.S. Army-led, multinational exercise, defensive in nature and focused on deterring aggression, which this year focuses on building operational readiness and interoperability with NATO and a greater number of allies and partners over a wider area of operations than ever before. Around 28,000 U.S., allied and partner forces from 26 nations will conduct nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas in more than a dozen nations from the Baltics and Africa to the critical Black Sea and Balkan regions.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. American Astronaut-Pilot Michael Collins Passes Away: The American astronaut, Michael Collins, who was the command module pilot for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, has passed away, after losing his battle to cancer. During the three-man Apollo 11 crew mission in 1969, Collins kept the command module flying while the other two members, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. Collins spent seven years of his career as an astronaut with NASA.

 

2. Senior TV Journalist RohitSardana Passes Away: Renowned TV journalist and news anchor, RohitSardana, has passed away, due to a heart attack, following the deadly COVID-19 infection. The young journalist was just 41-year-old. Sardana was associated with Zee News since 2004, before moving to AajTak in 2017. With Zee News, he hosted TaalThokKe, a programme that discusses contemporary issues in India, while with AajTak, he was hosting the debate show ”Dangal.” Sardana was awarded the Ganesh Shankar VidyarthiPuraskar by the Indian government in 2018.