Daily GK Update- 28th Aug, 2021

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Ohmium launches India’s first green hydrogen electrolyzer gigafactory: US-based Ohmium International has started India’s first green hydrogen electrolyzer manufacturing unit at Bengaluru, Karnataka. The factory will manufacture India-made Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) hydrogen electrolyzers. Green hydrogen is made from non-fossil sources as against blue hydrogen that is made from fossil sources. Making green hydrogen in India will give a cost advantage for manufacturers rather than going for imports.

About the gigafactory: The gigafactory will manufacture India-made Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) hydrogen electrolyzers with an initial manufacturing capacity of about 500 MW per year and will scale it up to 2 GW per year. The PEM hydrogen electrolyzer is the main equipment for the production of green hydrogen as it uses power generated from renewable resources to break water into hydrogen and oxygen.

 

2. Ministry of Electronics & IT launches SAMRIDH programme: Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has launched the “Start-up Accelerators of MeitY for pRoduct Innovation, Development and growth (SAMRIDH)” programme. The programme was launched by Shri Ashwini Vaishnav, Union Minister MeitY. The objective of the SAMRIDH programme is to create a conducive platform to Indian Software Product start-ups to enhance their products and securing investments for scaling their business.

About the programme: The programme is being implemented by MeitY Start-up Hub (MSH). It will focus on accelerating the 300 start-ups by providing customer connect, investor connect, and international immersion in the next three years. Investment of up to Rs. 40 lakh will be provided to the start-up through selected accelerators.

 

3. Ministry of Education launches the booklet on One-year New Education Policy (NEP) – 2020 Achievement and some other initiatives: Union Education and Skill Development Minister, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Virendra Kumar jointly launched the booklet on completion of One year of New Education Policy (NEP) – 2020 Achievement along with some major initiatives of the New Education Policy- 2020.

Some other initiatives launched at the events are:

“Priya -The Accessibility Warrior”: It is an E-Comic cum Activity Book. The book will sensitize the students on accessibility-related issues for Divyangs.

Virtual School of NIOS: The school is the first-of-its-kind initiative in the country that will provide advanced digital learning platforms through Virtual Live Classrooms and Virtual Labs. The Virtual Open Schooling platform has been designed for NIOS by Ed4All and Microsoft.

NIPUN Bharat Mission: The aim of NIPUN Bharat Mission is to ensure every child achieves the desired learning competencies in reading, writing and numeracy by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27.

Vidya Pravesh: a three months School Preparation Module for Grade I children.

Blueprint of National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR)

 

4. A book title ‘Accelerating India: 7 Years of Modi Government’ by K J Alphons: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received a book titled ‘Accelerating India: 7 Years of Modi Government’ by former Union Minister, K J Alphons. The book is about all the areas of India’s reform journey, written by Mr Alphons. K J Alphons is the former Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge), in office from 3 September 2017 to May 2019.

 

INTERNATIONALUPDATES:

 

1. India Partners with BRICS Group to Setup Network of Genomic Surveillance and Study the Overlap of SARS-CoV-2 with tuberculosis: The Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India has collaborated with BRICS countries to implement SARS-CoV-2 NGS-BRICS consortium and multi centric programme for  studying the impact of severe COVID-19 conditions on TB patients.

SARS-CoV-2 NGS-BRICS consortium: is an interdisciplinary collaboration to advance COVID-19 health-relevant knowledge and to contribute to improvements in health outcomes.

Multi centric programme: is an interdisciplinary team of researchers from India, Brazil and South Africa, to investigate the impact of severe COVID-19 on transient peripheral immunosuppression and lung hyperinflammation conditions in TB patients for epidemiology and comorbidity.  The collaborative study would provide valuable co-morbidity data pertaining to pulmonary TB patients with or without COVID-19 co-infection, for better disease management.

 

2. Dubai sets up specialised court to combat money laundering: Dubai Courts announced the establishment of a specialised court, focused on combating money laundering, within the Court of First Instance and Court of Appeal. This court ties into a string of initiatives aimed at reducing financial crimes and follows the recent establishment of the Executive Office of the Anti-Money Laundering & Countering the Financing of Terrorism. This move will enable our stakeholders to raise their efficiency in effectively implementing the National AML/CFT Strategy and National Action Plan and achieving its goals through an empowered and sustainable system.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. India’s Arjun Erigaisi wins chess tourney in Portugal, Gukesh second: Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi emerged victorious in the II Terras de Tras-os-Montes Chess Open while his compatriot D Gukesh finished second. The 17-year old Erigaisi (Elo 2597) secured 8.5 points from nine rounds to finish clear winner in the field comprising over 140 players. The Chennai-based Gukesh’s wins came against GM Max Warmerdam (Holland), Georgia’s Nodar Lortkipanidze, Vojtech Zwardon (Cze) and Lennis Martinez Ramirez (Cuba).

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. Government approves increase of Bank Employees Family Pension to 30%: Central Government has approved the Indian Banks’ Association’s (IBA) proposal to increase the family pension to 30% of the last salary drawn. The immediate benefit of this approval will be an increase of 30,000 to 35,000 in the family pension of public sector bank employees from a maximum of 9,284 per month, depending on the last drawn salary of the deceased bank employee. The other big announcement is an increase in the employer banks’ contribution to the pension fund of employees under the NPS (National Pension System) from the existing 10 per cent to 14 per cent. Approximately 60% of public sector bank employees are covered under NPS

Note: Indian Banks’ Association Chairman: Rajkiran Rai G; Indian Banks’ Association CEO: Sunil Mehta; Indian Banks’ Association Headquarters location: Mumbai; Indian Banks’ Association Founded: 26 September 1946.

 

2. Carol Furtado appoints as interim CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank: Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has named Carol Furtado as the interim CEO of the bank after the whole time CEO Nitin Chugh resigned recently. She has also been appointed as the officer on special duty (OSD) of the bank. Furtado is currently serving as the CEO of Ujjivan Financial Services, the holding company of the bank. The appointment is subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India.

Note: Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Headquarters: Bengaluru; Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Founder: Samit Ghosh; Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Founded: 28 December 2004.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. RBI includes PM SVANidhi Scheme beneficiaries under PIDF Scheme: The Reserve Bank of India has announced to include street vendors of tier-1 and tier-2 centres, identified as part of the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi Scheme) as beneficiaries under the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme. Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme was launched by RBI to encourage deployment of Points of Sale (PoS) infrastructure (both physical and digital modes) in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and northeastern states. So now RBI has specifically allowed street vendors of Tier-1 and Tier-2 centres, to be part of PIDF Scheme. The street vendors in tier-3 to tier-6 centres will continue to be covered under the Scheme by default. PIDF presently has a corpus of Rs. 345 crore.

 

2. Bajaj Finserv gets in-principle approval from SEBI for mutual fund business: Bajaj Finserv will be the latest entrant to the Rs 35-trillion mutual fund (MF) industry after the company received in-principle approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In an exchange notification on the BSE, Bajaj Finserv stated that the company has received approval from Sebi through its letter dated August 23 for sponsoring an MF. Accordingly, the company would be setting up an asset management company (AMC) and the trustee company, directly or indirectly i.e., itself or through its subsidiary in accordance with applicable Sebi regulations and other applicable laws.

 

DEFENCE

 

1. India Pavilion inaugurated at ‘ARMY-2021’: The International Military and Technical Forum ‘ARMY 2021’ has been organised in Moscow, Russia from August 22 to 28, 2021, at Patriot Expo, Kubinka Air Base and Alabino military training grounds. The ARMY 2021 is the 7th edition of the annual International Military-Technical Forum.

About the forum: The forum is being organised by the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation since 2015. The International Military and Technical Forum ‘ARMY’ is the world’s leading exhibition of armament and military equipment and the authoritative platform for discussing innovative ideas and developments for the armed forces by various foreign exhibitors, delegations and visitors.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Former England and Sussex captain Ted Dexter passes away: Former England and Sussex captain Ted Dexter has passed away. Dexter, nicknamed “Lord Ted”, was an aggressive batsman and part-time seam bowler who played 62 tests for England after making his debut in 1958 against New Zealand and was captain between 1961-1964. After retiring, he helped devise a ranking system for Test players and was chairman of selectors for England. Dexter was also a regular on the BBC’s TV coverage of England home Test matches and was a newspaper columnist. The ranking system was adopted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and formed the basis of today’s system.