Daily GK Update- 25th July, 2021

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. CM KCR to Launch ‘Telangana Dalit Bandhu’ from Huzurabad: Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao will launch his government’s new Dalit empowerment scheme, now christened DalitaBandhu, on a pilot basis from the Huzurabad assembly constituency. The scheme, which was to be called Dalit Empowerment Scheme, has now been renamed as DalitaBandhu scheme. As part of the scheme, eligible Dalit families would be given Rs 10 lakh in cash directly to their accounts. The sanctioned amounts will be deposited in the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries.Poll-bound Huzurabad constituency has five mandals and the total number of Dalit families in this constituency stands at 20,929. All these families will be scrutinised before the final beneficiary list is made. All those found eligible will be extended the benefits of the scheme. Huzurabad constituency has only a total of around 2 lakh voters. Out of the total, CM KCR’s scheme will benefit nearly 21,000 families, which accounts for around 60,000 to 80,000 people, if this scheme is implemented soon.

Note: Telangana Capital: Hyderabad; Telangana Governor: TamilisaiSoundararajan; Telangana Chief Minister: K. Chandrashekar Rao.

 

2. MoRTH’s Secretary AramaneGiridhar gets additional charge as NHAI Chairman: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Secretary, AramaneGiridhar (IAS) has been given additional charge of the Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Present NHAI Chairman, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu has been appointed the new Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand. He took over as NHAI Chainman in October 2019.

Note: National Highways Authority of India Founded: 1988; National Highways Authority of India Headquarters: New Delhi.

 

3.Vice President Venkaiah Naidu addresses the World Universities Summit 2021: The Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated and addressed the World Universities Summit as Chief Guest. The Union Education and Skill Development Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan also addressed the summit. The Summit was organized by O.P. Jindal Global University, located at Sonipat, Haryana. The theme of the summit was “Universities of the Future: Building Institutional Resilience, Social Responsibility and Community Impact”. The World Universities Summit 2021 provided a platform to bring together over 150 thought leaders to deliberate on the ways in which higher education institutions can strengthen their vision and commitment towards institutional resilience, social responsibility and community impact.

 

4. JNCASR hits Nature Index Top 50 for materials science: The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre For Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru, has been placed in the top 50 institutions worldwide for advances in materials science by the prestigious Nature Index. The list which includes 18 institutes from China, 12 from the United States and two from the United Kingdom places the JNCASR in the 23rd position globally among universities and institutions as part of its ‘50 Rising Institutions’ list.

The centre is also the only Indian institute on the list and shares the privilege with others such as Shanghai Jiao Tong University which is in the first place, the University of Texas Austin (fourth), the University of Berkley (12th) and the University of Cambridge (27th). JNCASR president Professor Giridhar U Kulkarni, who is also a materials scientist, described the mood at the centre as being jubilant.

 

5. A book title ‘Bank With A Soul: Equitas’ by Dr. C K Garyali: Former RBI Governor, DuvvuriSubbarao has unveiled a book ‘Bank With A Soul: Equitas’ authored by Dr. C K Garyali. Dr. Garyali is a founder trustee of EDIT (Equitas Development Initiative Trust) and the book chronicles the journey of Equitas and EDIT in transforming the lives of women with frequent social reform initiatives helping them set up micro-enterprises.

 

INTERNATIONALUPDATES:

 

1. G20 Environment Ministers’ Meeting 2021: The G20 Environment Ministers’ Meeting 2021 is one of the ministerial meetings organized as part of the G20 Leaders Summit 2021, which will be hosted by Italy in October 2021. The 2021 G20, under the Italian Presidency, will focus on three broad, interconnected pillars of action: People, Planet, Prosperity. Within these pillars, the G20 aims to take the lead in ensuring a swift international response to the COVID-19 pandemic – able to provide equitable, worldwide access to diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines – while building up resilience to future health-related shocks.India was represented by a delegation led by Hon’ble Union Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav and include Minister of State, Ashwini Kumar Choubey and senior officers of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Countries Participated:The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

 

2. UNESCO removes Liverpool from world heritage list: The UN’s cultural agency UNESCO has voted narrowly to remove Liverpool’s waterfront from its list of world heritage sites, citing concerns about overdevelopment, including plans for a new football stadium. At committee talks chaired by China, 13 delegates voted in favour of the proposal and five against, just one more than the two-thirds majority required to delete a site from the global list.Those against delisting Liverpool included Australia, whose own listing for the Great Barrier Reef is threatened in this year’s UNESCO deliberations. Others opposing included Brazil, Hungary and Nigeria, arguing any step should be deferred a year to give the UK and Liverpool authorities more time.

Note: UNESCO headquarters: Paris, France; UNESCO Head: Audrey Azoulay; UNESCO Founded: 16 November 1945.

 

3. World Drowning Prevention Day: 25th July:World Drowning Prevention Day, declared through the April 2021 UN General Assembly Resolution “Global drowning prevention”, is held annually on 25 July. This global advocacy event serves as an opportunity to highlight the tragic and profound impact of drowning on families and communities and to offer life-saving solutions to prevent it.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Madhya Pradesh Para Shooter Rubina Francis bags gold at Peru event: Madhya Pradesh shooter, Rubina Francis has set a world record at the ongoing Para Sport Cup in Peru. She has won gold in the 10-metre air pistol para-event for women. Scoring 238.1 points, she went past the world record of AysegulPehlivanlar of Turkey. This win also secured her the quota for India at the Tokyo Summer Paralympics 2020. Over the years, she has earned more than 15 medals from national and international events. Presently, Rubina is training under the guidance of Jaspal Rana, former shooter and coach of the Junior Indian Pistol Shooting Team.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. U GRO Capital & Bank of Baroda in tie-up for MSME co-lending: U GRO Capital, a non-bank financier, and state-owned Bank of Baroda have partnered for co-lending to the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector. Under the co-lending programmePratham, Bank of Baroda and U GRO will together disburse loans worth Rs 1,000 crore to MSMEs. The aim is to dispense the entire amount by the end of this financial year. The loan amount ranges from ₹50 lakh to ₹2.5 crores to be offered at an interest rate starting from 8% with a maximum tenure of 120 months. The programme is accessible to MSMEs across U GRO’s over 200 channel touchpoints around nine locations in Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.

Note: U GRO Capital’s Managing Director: ShachindraNath.

Bank Of Baroda Headquarters: Vadodara, Gujarat, India; Bank Of Baroda Chairman: HasmukhAdhia; Bank Of Baroda MD & CEO: Sanjiv Chadha.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. Cachar district received National Silver SKOCH award: Cachar Deputy Commissioner, KeerthiJalli received the National Silver SKOCH Award a few days ago for ‘PushtiNirbhor’ (nutrition-dependent), a convergence project on transformation and development entailing setting up Nutri-gardens at houses in DinnathpurBagicha village. The village is near the India-Bangladesh border in the Katigorah circle of the Cachar district.

Under the project: 30,000 seedlings of vegetables, fruits and herbal plants were distributed among 140 beneficiaries. Each household of the village was also given payment for 75 man-days to implement the project. The main objective was to train the villagers toward becoming self-reliant during the pandemic, grow enough for their own nutritional needs and sell the surplus in the markets.

About the award: Instituted in 2003, SKOCH Award salutes people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation.

 

2. Sandesh Jhingan named AIFF men’s Footballer of Year: Senior India defender, Sandesh Jhingan was named the AIFF men’s Footballer of the Year 2020-21 season. It is the first time that the towering central defender has received the AIFF Player of the Year award, having won the Emerging Player of the Year Award in 2014.

About Jhingan:Jhingan made his senior national team debut in 2015 in Guwahati and has since gone on to make 40 appearances for the Blue Tigers, scoring four goals. He was part of the Indian sides that lifted the Intercontinental Cup in 2018 and played out a memorable draw at the home of the Asian champions Qatar in 2019. Jhingan has captained the senior team on five occasions, the most recent being the international friendly against Oman in Dubai in March. He was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award last year.

Another award: While midfielder Suresh Singh Wangjam was picked as the Emerging Player for the year award for 2020-21. The 20-year-old Suresh, who made his Blue Tigers debut earlier this year against Oman, was part of the Indian side that competed at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017.

Note: All India Football Federation President: Praful Patel; All India Football Federation Founded: 23 June 1937; All India Football Federation Headquarters: Dwarka, Delhi.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Gira Sarabhai co-founder of National Institute of Design passes away: Gira Sarabhai co-founder of the National Institute of Design has passed away. The pioneer of design education in the nation has played a vital part in establishing several other institutions and also made remarkable contributions in the field of art and architecture. Sarabhai was the daughter of industrialist Ambalal Sarabhai & sister of DrVikram Sarabhai. She also established the Calico Museum of Textiles. She was trained at the famous Taliesin West Studio in Arizona with noted architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright.