Daily GK Update- 2nd Mar, 2022

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Delhi Cabinet approved India’s first’ e-waste eco-park: The Delhi Cabinet has approved setting up India’s first of its kind electronic-waste eco-park. It has also agreed to devise ‘Delhi Film Policy 2022’, as a thrust to promote tourism. The electronic waste eco-friendly park is to be built on 20 acres of land in Delhi. Nearly, 2 lakh tonnes of e-waste are thrown by Delhi every year. This eco-park will recycle, refurbish and dismantle e-waste in a scientific and safe way.

About the eco-park:

a)      This eco-park will act as an Integrated Facility, by engaging in dismantling, segregating, refurbishing, material-wise storage, testing and plastic recycling. It will also have precious metal extraction facilities, especially from Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) through high-end technologies.

b)      The Delhi Film Policy 2022 is to promote tourism in Delhi, making the National Capital- a Brand. It will also make it a hub for modern film-making, meeting European Standards.

c)       The government is to create an ‘e-Film Clearance Portal’ and provide aid of Rs 3 crores for film production. It has also decided to incentivize hiring locals in the cinema industry.

 

2. Cochin Airport to become power-positive with new solar plant: The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) is set to commission a 12 MWp solar power plant on March 6 near Payyannur in Kannur district of Kerala. With the commissioning of the new solar power plant, CIAL will get the status as a power positive airport, from its current status of being a power-neutral airport. In 2015, CIAL became the world’s first airport to be fully powered by solar energy.

About the power plant: The power plant boasts of 12 megawatt capacity on a 35-acre land where CIAL introduced a concept of terrain-based installation where the geographical characteristics of the area are retained and no changes are made in the gradient of the land.

 

3. Mansukh Mandaviya launched the “ICMR/ DHR Policy on Biomedical Innovation: For medical professionals, scientists, and technicians in medical, dental, and paramedical institutes, the Union health ministry has launched the ICMR/ DHR Policy on Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship.  By promoting the Government of India’s Make-in-India, Start-Up-India, and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives, it would assure multidisciplinary collaboration, promote start-up culture, and establish an innovation-led ecosystem at medical institutes across the country.”

In comparison to engineering universities, most medical colleges lack an IP and entrepreneurial policy. Only 15% of medical schools have an IP policy in place, compared to 85% of engineering schools. From 2010 to 2020, medical institutes produced only 5% of patent filings. Engineering institutes filed the majority of the data.

Implementation: Medical institutes will be able to implement IP management policies after the policy is implemented. It will make it possible for medical experts to start their own businesses. In addition, through the PPP model, it will stimulate inter-institutional and industrial collaborations. Medical schools have been requested to establish an office of licencing of innovation ventures and enterprises (OLIVEs) to encourage medical practitioners to learn about, participate in, and start their own businesses. OLIVEs will assist inventors with IP management, startup firm formation/incubation, business development, and techno-legal assistance. OLIVEs will also supply chartered accountants, company secretaries, and patent attorneys to innovator-led enterprises in exchange for 2-10% equity in incubated companies.

 

4. 28th DST-CII India- Singapore Technology Summit 2022: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), New Delhi in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology (DST), GoI hosted the 28th edition of the DST – CII Technology Summit on 23rd and 24th of February 2022. The Summit was held virtually. Singapore is the Partner Country for this year’s Technology Summit. Technology Summit has been very crucial in providing significant opportunities to build and improve bilateral technology partnerships over a period of more than two decades. Dr Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Union Minister of State, Ministry of Science and Technology, GoI.

Objectives Of The Summit:

a)      This Technology summit will provide the right platform to further improve the interaction; will help to explore more opportunities in the businesses and investment areas, and to upgrade the bilateral cooperation.

b)      It is expected that the summit is going to be a turning point by leading to interaction amongst a big and important group of technology experts, government leaders, elite scholars, industry stalwarts and start-ups from both countries.

c)       The focus of the summit would be making Smarter Cities, Space, Industry 4.0 and Advanced Engineering, Healthcare, Precision Medicine, etc.

Note: The chairman of the Technology Summit: Vipin Sondhi; President of CII: Thachat Vishwanaath Narendran; Director-General of CII: Chandrajit Baneerjee.

 

5. 46th Civil Accounts Day: 2nd March: The 46th Civil Accounts Day has celebrated on 2nd March 2022 at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, Janpath, New Delhi. Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman is the Chief Guest of the occasion.

Finance Minister has launched a major e-governance initiative – the Electronic Bill (e-Bill) processing system as part of ease of doing business and Digital India eco-system. A Budget 2022-23 announcement, the e- Bill system will be implemented across all Central Ministries and Departments. This will be a further step to enhance transparency, efficiency and a faceless- paperless payment system. Suppliers and contractors will now be able to submit their claims online which will be trackable in a real-time basis.

About the Indian Civil Accounts Service:

a)      Initially, the ICAS was carved out from the Indian Audit & Accounts Service (IA & AS), through the promulgation of an Ordinance amending the C & AG’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 1976.

b)      Later, the Departmentalisation of Union Accounts (Transfer of Personnel) Act, 1976 was enacted and came into force on 01 March 1976, following which the ICAS celebrates March 1 every year as the “Civil Accounts Day”.

c)       ICAS helps in the delivery of financial management services for the Government of India, such as payment services, supports the tax collection system, performs government-wide accounting, financial reporting functions, preparation of budget estimates and carries out Internal Audit in civil ministries of the Union Government.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Russia destroyed the largest plane in the world ‘Mriya’: Russian invasion to Ukraine, Russia destroyed the largest plane in the world called “Ukraine’s Antonov-225 cargo plane”. The plane was destroyed outside Kyiv. According to weapons manufacturer Ukroboronprom, restoring “AN-225 Mriya” would cost over USD 3 billion and could take over five years. The aircraft was unique to the world. The An-225 aircraft was located at Hostomel Airport when Russia launched an attack on the Ukrainian airport on February 24, 2022. It was destroyed on February 27.

About the plane:

a)      The aircraft was designed to airlift Energia rocket’s boosters and Buran-class orbiters for Soviet space program. It was developed to replace the Myasishchev VM-T.

b)      The original mission and objectives of An-225 are almost similar to that of the United States’ Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The lead designer of the An-225 was Viktor Tolmachev.

c)       It was 84 meters long and could transport up to 250 tonnes of cargo at a speed of 850 kilometres per hour.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Rafael Nadal wins Mexican Open 2022: In tennis, Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat British number one Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-4 to win the singles title of Mexican Open 2022 (also known as Acapulco title). This is the 91st ATP title of his career and the third title of the season. This is the fourth time that Rafael Nadal has won the Mexican Open title, after winning the previous ones in 2005, 2013 and 2020. Men’s double title winners are Feliciano Lopez (Spain) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece).

 

2. Pooja Jatyan became 1st Indian to win a silver in Para Archery World Championships: Para-archer, Pooja Jatyan has scripted history as she became the first Indian to win a silver in an individual section of the Para World Championships in Dubai, UAE. She lost to Italy’s Patrilli Vincenza in the final to be content with the silver medal. India ended its campaign with two silver medals, a first for the country.

India has won 2 Silver medals for the first time in the Para Archery World Championship. The compound mixed pair of Shyam Sundar Swamyand Jyoti Baliyan had earlier opened India’s account by winning a silver medal.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. Bank of Maharashtra launches “Project Banksakhi” in Odisha: Public sector lender, Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has announced the launch of “Project Banksakhi” in Odisha in collaboration with Mahagram & Sunivesh India Finance Services Pvt. Ltd. for Online Bank Account opening. It will provide doorstep and hassle-free access to the people of Odisha for opening bank accounts. The people of Odisha using our innovative customer-friendly financial services and best in class customer experience across digital and physical touchpoints.

Bank of Maharashtra has been catering to the banking needs of customers offering a spectrum of banking products and financial services covering Retail, Agri and MSME sectors to its more than 2 crore customers. Apart from its physical delivery channels, the bank offers various digital platforms like mobile banking, internet banking, AEPS, ATM-Debit Card, 24×7 customer care centre for accessing uninterrupted banking services to its customers.

Note: Bank of Maharashtra Headquarters: Pune; Bank of Maharashtra CEO: A. S. Rajeev (2 Dec 2018–); Bank of Maharashtra Founded: 16 September 1935.

 

2. Madhabi Puri Buch named as first woman chief of SEBI: Former ICICI Banker, Madhabi Puri Buch has been appointed as the new Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman, replacing Ajay Tyagi. She is the first woman chief of SEBI and also the first non-IAS to head the regulatory body. She has over three decades of experience in the financial markets and was SEBI whole-time member (WTM) between April 5, 2017, and October 4, 2021. During her tenure at SEBI, she handled portfolios such as surveillance, collective investment schemes and investment management.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. NSE, BSE starts T+1 Stock Settlement from February 25: India has become the second country after China to implement the T+1 stock settlement mechanism in a phased manner from 25 February. The system will be starting with select stocks and then gradually adding others to the fold. Instruction regarding this was issued by SEBI on January 01, 2022. Before this, the settlement period of stocks in India was T+2, i.e. two days after the actual buy/selling of stock.

T means the trade/transaction day i.e. the day on which stock is brought/sold. and here T+1 means that the actual stock settlement will happen on the next day i.e +1 day. Ex: You buy a stock on Monday, you will get it in your Demat account Tuesday.

Important Info:

a)      SEBI introduced the present T+2 settlement in April 2003. Before that settlement of T+3 was followed by stock exchanges.

b)      Stock exchanges like BSE and NSE have selected, the bottom 100 stocks based on market cap that will be settled using the T+1 mechanism starting February 25.

c)       Thereafter, 500 more stocks will be added every last Friday of subsequent months, until every stock is placed under the new settlement system.

 

2. Samiran Gupta to head public policy for Twitter in India: Samiran Gupta will lead microblogging platform Twitter’s public policy and philanthropy efforts in India and South Asia. Prior to joining Twitter, Gupta was the head of stakeholder engagement in South Asia for ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

Gupta was associated with The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organisation. He served there for seven years. He was also briefly the firm’s head of stakeholder engagement for the South Asia market. The news of the appointment comes almost a year after the former Public Policy Director for India and South Asia Mahima Kaul resigned.

Note: Twitter CEO: Parag Agrawal; Twitter formed: 21 March 2006; Headquarters of Twitter: San Francisco, California, United States.

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Legendary West Indies spinner Sonny Ramadhin passes away: West Indies spin legend, Sonny Ramadhin has passed away at the age of 92. He was a part of the side that won its first away series in England in 1950. He made his Test debut against England at Old Trafford in 1950. Ramadhin ended up playing 43 Tests and taking 158 wickets at an average of 28.98. Ramadhin played 184 first-class matches and scalped 758 wickets at an average of 20.24. He moved to England after taking retirement from the sport in the late 1960s.