Daily GK Update- 21st July, 2022

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. 15th President of India Draupadi Murmu: Daughter of a tribal family coming from a very ordinary house in Odisha, Draupadi Murmu has been elected as the 15th President of India. The 2022 Indian Presidential Election was the 16th presidential election that was held in India on the 18th of July 2022. Murmu becomes India’s first woman tribal president. She also becomes the second woman to hold the post after Pratibha Patil. The tenure of incumbent president Ram Nath Kovind will end on 24 July.

Key points of the presidential election 2022:

a)      The counting of votes has started to elect India’s new president. Out of a total of 771 MPs entitled to vote (05 vacant) and a total of 4,025 MLAs entitled to vote (06 vacant and 02 disqualified), over 99 percent cast their votes.

b)      However, 100% voting by MLAs was reported from Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Puducherry, Sikkim, and Tamil Nadu.”

c)       The counting of votes takes place in room number 63 of the Parliament of India which is also the strongroom for the boxes that arrived from all state capitals and Union Territories having a legislature.

Droupadi Murmu:

a)      The 64-year-old Droupadi Murmu was born in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district to a family belonging to the Santhal tribe.

b)      Santhals, also spelled as Santals, are the third largest scheduled tribe community in India after the Gonds and Bhils. Their population is mostly distributed in Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.

c)       Murmu is the second person belonging to a scheduled tribe, to be nominated as a candidate for the post of President of India.

d)      She served as the ninth Governor of Jharkhand from 2015 to 2021.

e)      As a member of the BJP, she was elected to the state assembly twice – in 2000 and 2009 – from the Rairangpur seat.

 

2. Border dispute agreement struck between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam: According to the chief ministers of both states, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have taken a step toward settling their seven-decade-old boundary dispute by signing the Namsai Declaration. Following their third round of discussions on the matter, the Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu and his Assam colleague Himanta Biswa Sarma signed the declaration in Namsai. Key Points:

a)      The 804-km long shared border between the two states. Although there was initially no conflict, over time, claims that citizens of one state were encroaching on the territory of the other have resulted in arguments and even violence. Since 1989, a lawsuit about the matter has been pending before the Supreme Court.

b)      There were 123 border settlements that were in contention earlier. They have now decided to limit that to 86 villages. Additionally, they have decided to remedy the problem by September 15 of this year.

c)       The signing has furthered the closeness and brotherhood between the two neighbouring northeastern states, according to both CMs, who called it a milestone and landmark.

d)      28 of the 123 contested villages that are located within Arunachal Pradesh‘s constitutional border will remain with the state, according to the announcement. In contrast, three villages will continue to belong to Assam as a result of Arunachal Pradesh‘s abandonment of its claims. Six more villages would remain in Arunachal Pradesh because they could not be discovered on the Assam side.

Note: Chief Minister of Assam: Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma

Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh: Pema Khandu

 

3. West Bengal Governor La Ganesan assigned additional charge: Following the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar, who has been selected by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as its vice presidential candidate, La. Ganesan took the oath of office as the new governor of West Bengal. In the presence of the speaker, Mamata Banerjee, various state ministers, and Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, Prakash Shrivastava, he was sworn into office.

According to a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Ram Nath Kovind has accepted West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resignation after the NDA nominated him to run for vice president.

Note: Chief Minister of West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

 

4. Lt Gen (Retd) Raj Shukla appointed as member of UPSC: Retired Army officer Raj Shukla has been appointed as a member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The UPSC recommends candidates to the government for appointment to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Central Services — Group A and Group B.

Note: UPSC Chairperson: Manoj Soni; UPSC Founded: 1 October 1926.

 

5. Uttarakhand CM Dhami released the book “BEYOND THE MISTY VEIL”: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami released the book “BEYOND THE MISTY VEIL”, Temple Tales of Uttarakhand written by Ms Aradhana Johri (Senior IAS) on the temples of Uttarakhand. This book will be known as an authentic introduction to the divine temples of Uttarakhand in the country and abroad. Former IAS officer Aradhana Johri who had served earlier as the District Magistrate of Nainital.

The essence of the book: The book based on the mythological temples of Devbhoomi Uttarakhand informs us about our culture and mythology. Apart from Chardham, religious tourism should also be promoted. The book talks about the temples of Uttarakhand, their significance and the tales associated with them. This will connect the main temples coming in different areas of the state and will promote religious tourism by developing them in the form of circuits.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Sri Lanka: Ranil Wickremesinghe elected as 9th President: Veteran Sri Lankan politician and six-time Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe has been elected as the 9th President of the Island nation by the Parliament. He secured 134 votes in the presidential election by the 225-member parliament. The 73-year-old Wickremesinghe will serve the remaining term of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, which ends in 2024.

a)      Wickremesinghe will replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled the country and resigned after public anger over the country’s worst economic crisis exploded on the streets 10 days ago.

b)      Indeed, the bulk of Wickremesinghe’s support came from the Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party which witnessed a split within its ranks, but not enough to dent Wickremesinghe’s candidature.

c)       He defeated Dullas Alahapperuma, a rebel leader of the SLPP who was backed by the Opposition. Wickremesinghe, who has previously lost two Presidential elections and even his MP seat, will be the 8th Executive President of Sri Lanka.

Note: Sri Lanka Capitals: Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte; Sri Lanka Currency: Sri Lankan rupee.

 

2. Due to an intense heat wave, England under its first-ever red weather warning: As temperatures have continued to soar, the UK Meteorological (Met) Office issued the first-ever red extreme heat warning for areas of England, including London. Temperatures could reach 40 degrees Celsius, and a red warning, the maximum level used by the Met Office under its alert system, indicates a risk to life is possible. The unusual warning, which is categorised as a national emergency, signifies that life is in danger for people of all ages.

Key Points:

a)      An area from London up to Manchester and then up to the Vale of York is covered by the alert.

b)      A very famous threshold, 40 degrees Celsius, indicates that climate change is already here. Climate change has greatly increased the likelihood of this.

c)       The Met Office issues a warning that not just individuals who are most susceptible to severe heat may face “adverse health impacts.”

d)      The UK’s national weather service also issued a warning that there is a high danger of equipment and systems that are sensitive to heat failing, which could result in a localised loss of power and other important services like water or even mobile phone service.

e)      The general public has also been forewarned to anticipate vehicle delays as well as disruptions in rail and air travel.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Bangladeshi Cricketer Tamim Iqbal Announces Retirement From T20Is: Bangladesh ODI captain, Tamim Iqbal has announced his retirement from T20Is and his decision came shortly after his side defeated West Indies 3-0 in the three-match ODI series. He played his last T20 International in March 2020. The 33-year-old has played 78 T20 Internationals, scoring 1758 runs at 24.08. Tamim is one of the best openers to have come out of Bangladesh, having scored 5082 runs in Tests and 7943 runs in ODIs.

Tamim is the only Bangladesh batter to score a century in T20Is. He achieved the remarkable feat against Oman in the T20 World Cup 2016 in India. He ended his T20I career as the third-highest run-scorer for his country in the format after current skipper Mahmudullah Riyad and Test captain Shakib Al Hasan.

 

2. Los Angeles to host 2028 Summer Olympic Games: The 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games will be hosted in Los Angeles, United States. The opening ceremony for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will take place on July 14, 2028, and continue till July 30. However, Los Angeles has previously hosted the Olympics in 1984 and 1932. The LA28 Games will feature more than 3,000 hours of live sport across 800 events in more than 40 sports. 15,000 athletes are expected to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, the Paralympic Games will begin in Los Angeles on August 15, 2028, and end on August 27. This will be the first time that Los Angeles will be hosting the Paralympic Games. It must be noted that the 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Paris, France.

 

3. Former SC judge Vineet Saran appointed as new BCCI ethics officer: Former Supreme Court judge, Vineet Saran has taken over as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ethics officer and ombudsman. He has succeeded Justice (Retd) D. K. Jain, whose term ended in June last year. Saran, 65, is a former Chief Justice of Odisha High Court, and also served as a judge in Karnataka and Allahabad High Court.

Note: BCCI President: Sourav Ganguly; BCCI secretary: Jay Shah; BCCI Headquarters: Mumbai; BCCI Founded: December 1928.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. Launch of WhatsApp banking service by SBI: State Bank of India (SBI) will soon provide its customers with WhatsApp-based banking. Dinesh Khara, the chairman of SBI, announced this while announcing a few retail initiatives. In addition, Khara stated that they would soon introduce API (application programming interface) banking to corporate clients and aggregators. This system ensures seamless and secure integration between the customer’s and bank’s systems by facilitating data transfer between these two systems. With regard to WhatsApp Banking, as the name suggests, users will be able to do specific banking transactions through the well-known messaging service.

About WhatsApp Payments: A peer-to-peer money transfer tool called WhatsApp Payments (marketed as WhatsApp Pay) is presently only accessible in India. In order to enable users to make in-app payments and money transfers utilising the Unified Payments Interface, WhatsApp got authorization from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in July 2017. (UPI). Account-to-account transfers are possible with UPI through a mobile app without knowing the bank information of the recipient. WhatsApp said on November 6, 2020, that it has been given permission to offer a payment service, initially limited to a maximum of 20 million users. The service was then made available.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. Instagram’s new payments feature lets users buy products via direct messages: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company is launching a new “payments in chat” feature on Instagram. With this new feature, users can purchase products from small businesses and track orders via direct messages on Instagram. According to Meta, every week, one billion people message businesses across Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. To use the new feature, users can start by sending a direct message to a qualified small business they’re interested in buying from. In that same chat thread, they’ll then be able to pay, track their order and ask the business any follow-up questions. Key Points:

a)      According to reports, the payments in messages feature will be available to qualified business accounts on Instagram.

b)      The platform also supports real-time interaction between buyer and seller. Users will be asked to add and review payment information and shipping address.

c)       Users would be able to complete purchases using Meta Pay, the company said in a statement. Meta initially launched the feature as Facebook Pay in 2019.

Note: Instagram launched: 6 October 2010; Instagram Owner: Meta; Instagram Founder Kevin Systrom. Find More Business News Here

 

2. JSW Steel and BCG collaborate to quicken the decarbonization process: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and JSW Steel have worked together on a decarbonization and sustainability strategy. In order to help JSW Steel on its path to being a net-zero carbon emitter, BCG will make use of its unique CO2 AI platform as well as its top-tier digital and analytics skills. During this time, BCG will also put an emphasis on employee training and improving the sustainable culture throughout our manufacturing operations. Their sustainability measures will need to be scaled up as a result of this revolutionary initiative. Key Points:

a)      BCG will use JSW’s patented and exclusive CO2 AI solution to manage change effectively and make an impact. The successful Digital Transformation partnership led to their second strategic engagement with JSW Steel.

b)      They are thrilled to contribute in strongest skills and cutting-edge solutions to JSW Steel’s sustainability mission.

c)       The approach entails a thorough target-setting exercise at the level of overall manufacturing, devolving them into shop level targets, and turning emissions targets into doable tasks on operating metrics.

d)      The rollout across the manufacturing activities will be coordinated by a group of sustainability advocates. A roadmap will be created for all medium- to long-term activities with the goal of introducing new technologies and initiatives, such as the usage of hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, among others.

e)      A complete evaluation of various technology alternatives pertinent to existing and newly developed capacities and investments necessary to advance sustainability goals will also be included.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. DBS bank named ‘World’s Best SME Bank’ by Euromoney for second time: Development Bank of Singapore Limited (DBS Bank) has been recognized as the ‘World’s Best SME Bank’ by Euromoney for the second time (the first time in 2018). The bank has established its position as a global industry leader in association with Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to enhance growth and development. DBS’ latest global best SME bank accolade comes from leading UK-based financial publication Euromoney, which has honoured DBS with the ‘World’s Best SME Bank’ title for the second time since 2018.

The DBS bank also clinched three first-time awards at Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence 2022:

a)      World’s Best Financial Innovation of the year 2022

b)      Asia’s Best Bank for Wealth Management 2022

c)       Asia’s Best Bank for SME award 2022

Note: DBS Bank Headquarters: Singapore; DBS Bank CEO: Piyush Gupta.

 

2. NAARM received Sardar Patel Award of ICAR: The National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) has bagged the Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR Institute Award 2021 (in the Large Institute Category) for its overall performance. Ch Srinivasa Rao, Director of NAARM, received the award from the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar in New Delhi. The awards were given away at a function to mark the 94th Foundation Day of the ICAR.

About the NAARM: The National Academy of Agricultural Research Management is a national-level Natural Resource Service training institute for ARS cadre located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was established by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1976, to address issues related to agricultural research and education management, in India.