Daily GK Update- 6th Oct, 2022

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Indore Gets India’s Cleanest City Tag for 6th Time in a Row: Swachh Survekshan Awards: Indore bagged the title of India’s cleanest city for the sixth time in a row as the results of the Central government’s annual cleanliness survey ‘Swachh Survekshan Awards 2022’ were announced. Madhya Pradesh secured the first position in the category of best performing states, followed by Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. As per the survey results:

a)      Surat is the second cleanest city and Navi Mumbai comes a close third in the category of cities with a population of more than a lakh.

b)      Tripura has bagged the top rank among the states having fewer than 100 urban local bodies.

c)       In the category of cities having a population of fewer than one lakh, Maharashtra’s Panchgani was ranked number one, followed by Chhattisgarh’s Patan (NP) and Maharashtra’s Karhad.

d)      Haridwar was adjudged the cleanest Ganga town in the category of more than 1 lakh population, followed by Varanasi and Rishikesh.

Swachh Survekshan: Swachh Survekshan is the world’s largest urban sanitation and cleanliness survey which has been conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs since 2016. It aims to encourage large-scale citizen participation and create awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities better places to reside in.

The scale of Swachh Survekshan is evidenced in the consistent increase in the number of cities over the years. From surveying 73 major cities in 2016 and 434 cities in 2017, the 7th edition of Swachh Survekshan has become became the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey, with 4,355 cities having participated in the survey. This year’s survey with a “People First” theme captured an unprecedented number of citizen feedback this year – over 9 crores, a marked increase from last year’s 5 crores.

 

2. CBI launched Operation ‘GARUDA’ to dismantle drug networks: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched a multi-phase ‘Operation Garuda’. Operation Garuda will help to disrupt, degrade, and dismantle networks with international linkages through the rapid exchange of criminal intelligence on drug trafficking and coordinated law enforcement action across international jurisdictions through Interpol. Key Points:

a)      Operation Garuda is a Global Operation that was initiated in close coordination with Interpol and Narcotics Control Bureau.

b)      Operation Garuda was initiated to combat the smuggling of illicit drugs and psychotropic substances, with a special focus on the Indian Ocean Region.

c)       The CBI and the NCB have been closely coordinating with all the states and UTs police agencies for information exchange, analysis, and development of Operational Information.

d)      Across multiple states of India several arrests, searches, and seizures were carried out under Operation Garuda.

e)      In this operation apart from CBI and NCB, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Manipur also participated in Operation Garuda.

f)        During this special operation, 6600 suspects were checked, 127 new cases were registered, and 175 persons including six absconder’s offenders were arrested.

 

3. Government approved Railways proposal for redevelopment of 3 major stations: Union Cabinet has approved Indian Railways’ proposal for the redevelopment of 3 major railway stations in the country. These are New Delhi Railway Station, Ahmedabad Railway Station and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai. The project involves an investment of approximately ₹10,000 crores. Currently, the redevelopment of 199 railway stations across India is already underway. The first phase of the project is covering stations having footfalls of 50 lakhs and above each year. The overall cost of the redevelopment of these 199 stations as well as the New Delhi, CSMT and Ahmedabad railway stations is Rs.60,000 crore. The progress the re-development work of station with 10 lakhs and above will begin in the second phase.

 

4. IRCTC signed an agreement with Chhattisgarh toursim board to promote tourist spots of state: The Chhattisgarh Tourism Board has signed an MoU with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to promote tourist places of the state. The IRCTC will attract travelers from all over the country by promoting Chattisgarh’s tourism on their social media websites like Twitter, and Facebook. Tourism in the state was neglected for a long time and even after the formation of the state (in 2000) it could not get due popularity and the focus remained centred on Maoist issues.

Note: Chhattisgarh Capital: Raipur; Chief Minister: Bhupesh Baghel; Governor: Anusuiya Uikey

 

5. Sujoy Lal Thaosen, Anish Dayal Singh named as New DGs of CRPF, ITBP: Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers Sujoy Lal Thaosen and Anish Dayal Singh have been appointed as the new director generals of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) respectively. Thaosen’s scheduled retirement is in November this year, while Singh will superannuate in December 2024. The order for their appointment was issued by the Personnel Ministry after sanction from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the prime minister.

Note: Central Reserve Police Force Headquarters: New Delhi, India; Central Reserve Police Force Formed: 27 July 1939; Central Reserve Police Force Motto: Service and Loyalty;

ITBP Founded: 24 October 1962; ITBP Headquarters: New Delhi, India.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Lalit Bhasin elected new President of Indo-American Chambers of Commerce: Noted lawyer Lalit Bhasin has been appointed as the national president of Indian American Chambers of Commerce (IACC). Bhasin, before being elected to the post, was the executive vice president of IACC. Bhasin is the 54th national president of IACC, which was set up in October 1968 and is headquartered in Mumbai, having 14 offices all over India, with a large membership from large, medium and small business entities.

Note: The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), was established in 1968

 

2. ISRO scientist Anil Kumar elected Vice President of IAF: Senior Indian Space Research Organization scientist Anil Kumar has been appointed as the Vice-President of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). Dr. Anil Kumar is currently serving as the Associate Director, of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC).

About International Astronautical Federation (IAF): The International Astronautical Federation was founded in 1951. IAF is one of the world’s top space advocacy bodies with 433 members in 72 nations. International Astronautical Federation Congress (IAC) is an annual space event and it is attended by more than 6000 participants, IAC is organized by the IAF. The International Astronautical Federation Congress includes networking events, talks, and a technical program on advances in science and exploration, applications, and operations, technology, infrastructure, and space and society.

 

3. Optimus robot’s prototype unveiled by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla: Elon Musk unveils Optimus robot’s prototype: Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, unveiled a model of the humanoid “Optimus” robot, which uses some of the same Artificial Intelligence (AI) software and sensors as the Autopilot driving assistance system in Tesla vehicles. At Tesla AI Day 2022, which was held to show off how far the company’s research into autonomous robots and vehicles had progressed, Optimus was unveiled. Key Points:

a)      Optimus was initially seen during the event pacing around the stage, along with updates on new self-driving software and a first look at the Dojo hardware that powers Tesla’s AI research, according to media sources.

b)      Elon Musk claims that this humanoid prototype is capable of more than what was demonstrated in real life.

c)       But at the Tesla AI Day celebration, it was used for the first time without a tether.

d)      Musk also asserted that Tesla’s Optimus is different from previous really stunning humanoid robot demos since it is designed for mass manufacturing in the “millions” of units and is extremely competent.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Indian javelin thrower Shivpal Singh suspended till 2025 for doping: Indian javelin thrower, Shivpal Singh has been suspended from competing till October 2025 due to a doping violation. As per the Olympics.com he subsequently tested positive for the banned substance methandienone, a performance-enhancing steroid. As a result, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) suspended Shivpal Singh for four years. The ban comes into effect from October 21, 2021, which means that the 27-year-old will be out of action till October 2025.

Shivpal Singh is the fifth notable Indian athlete to be caught in the doping net this year. Discus thrower Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, sprinter Dhanalakshmi Sekar and quarter-miler MR Poovamma have all been banned from competitions due to violations. Tokyo Olympian Kamalpreet Kaur, too, failed a dope test.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. Active credit cards drop 2.3 million in August over new RBI norms: The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) new rules, which call for the deactivation of cards that have been inactive for a year, are mostly to blame for the decline in the number of outstanding credit cards, which fell to 77.99 million in August from over 80 million in July. Key Points:

a)      Credit card spending fell 3% on a high base in August, the first time in several months that net card additions decreased month over month (MoM) by 2.8%. Nevertheless, spending exceeded Rs 1 trillion for the sixth straight month.

b)      For some years, the banking system had been adding roughly 1-1.5 million cards every month. However, credit cards outstanding for the sector fell by 2.3 million in August, primarily due to steep drops seen by HDFC Bank and Axis Bank. This is partly due to the adoption of the new RBI regulations, which demand that credit card firms delete dormant cards after 365 days.

c)       HDFC Bank and Axis Bank’s net credit card additions got significantly decreased in August. Outstanding credit card balances at HDFC Bank decreased from 17.94 million in July to 16.42 million in just one month, an 8.47% decrease. The number of outstanding credit cards at Axis Bank decreased by 10.6% in July, from 9.93 million to 8.87 million. Axis Bank is the fourth-largest credit card issuer in the nation, behind HDFC Bank, which is the largest.

d)      According to the RBI’s circular, cards inactive for more than 12 months as of 1st July 2022 had to give clear consent to continue or be closed.

e)      On the other side, SBI Card added the most cards in the reviewed month (296,259), followed by ICICI Bank (211,520).

f)        In terms of active cards, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank had market share declines of 130 basis points (bps) and 100 bps, respectively. SBI Card and ICICI Bank saw increases of 90 bps and 80 bps, respectively. In light of this, the SBI Card stock increased 3.4% on the BSE.

 

2. New debit, credit card rules kick in with Tokenisation: The rules and regulations for online payments for debit and credit cards have been changed. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) card-on-file (CoF) tokenization norms came into effect on 1st October 2022. RBI’s CoF tokenization aims to improve the payment experience of cardholders. The new rule released by RBI says that neither businesses nor payment aggregators can save customer card details on their platforms. The card details can only be saved by card networks or issuing banks.

Benefits of Tokenisation

a)      Tokenisation has replaced sensitive card information including card number, and card expiry with cryptographically-generated random strings.

b)      Once the card is Tokenised, the generated card token can be used for processing payments as a substitute for card details.

c)       The Tokenised card eliminates the risk of loss of sensitive card information.

Impact of Tokenisation: The impact of Tokenisation on customers is minimal. The customers are only required to enter their card details the first time for issuance of a token. After that, the merchant will trigger the tokenization process at no cost or effort to the customer.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. ‘Hurun India 40 & under self-made rich list 2022’ topped by Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath: Nikhil Kamath, the cofounder of Zerodha, topped the ‘IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 & Under Self-Made Rich List 2022’ with a net worth of Rs 17,500 crore. Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder of Ola, came in second place (Rs 11,700 crore), and Divyank Turakhia of Media.net in third place (Rs 11,200 crore). Key Points:

a)      According to Hurun, this year the number of under-40 billionaires surged to 1,103, an increase of 96. The cumulative wealth of the entrants in 40 & Under Self-made List has increased by 11% in comparison to last year, currently standing at Rs 1,83,700 crore highlighting the increasing rate of entrepreneurship that exists in the ecosystem.

b)      A majority of young billionaires on the list live in India while some live abroad. The report said 47 of the 53 entrepreneurs reside in India. India’s Silicon Valley Bengaluru has the highest number of billion residents.

The Top 10 in IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 & Under Self-Made Rich List:

 

Rank	Name	Wealth (INR Cr)	Company
1	Nikhil Kamath	17,500	Zerodha
2	Bhavish Aggarwal	11,700	Ola Electric
3	Divyank Turakhia	11,200	Investments
4	Nakul Aggarwal	9,900	BrowserStack
5	Ritesh Arora	9,900	BrowserStack
6	Binny Bansal	8,100	Flipkart
7	Ritesh Agarwal	6,300	OYO
8	Harshil Mathur	5,500	Razorpay
9	Shashank Kumar	5,500	Razorpay
10	Neha Narkhede & family	4,700	Confluent

 

2. Hero MotoCorp Appoints Movie Star Ram Charan New Brand Ambassador: The Hero MotoCrop has appointed actor Ram Charan as the new brand ambassador. Hero MotoCrop, the country’s largest two-wheeler maker has launched the Hero GIFT Programme. The Hero GIFT stands for the Grand Indian Festival of Trust. This initiative includes exciting model refreshers, retail benefits, several financing schemes, pre-booking offers, and many more.

Key Points related to the New Hero GIFT Programme:

a)      The customers will get HF Deluxe in festive gold stripes and pleasure+ XTEC in Pole Star Blue.

b)      The festive portfolio will also include the eye-catching Xtreme 160R stealth 2.0 edition.

c)       The company is also offering insurance benefits, easy financing schemes along with other promotional activities.

d)      The Glamour XTEC personifies the evolved preferences of today’s youth with its elevated glamour quotient and consistent performance.

e)      The new campaign or initiative emphasizes the new age youth culture of swiping.

f)        The campaign depicts Glamour XTEC setting the benchmark in the market with its new age features, and premium and youthful appearance.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. Nobel Prize 2022: Svante Pääbo awarded Nobel Prize in medicine: The Nobel Prizes 2022 for medicine or physiology was awarded to Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo. Svante Pääbo was given the award “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution,” the Nobel Prize committee.

About his research: Through his pioneering research, Svante Pääbo accomplished something seemingly impossible: sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day humans. He also made the sensational discovery of a previously unknown hominin, Denisova. Importantly, Pääbo also found that gene transfer had occurred from these now extinct hominins to Homo sapiens following the migration out of Africa around 70,000 years ago. This ancient flow of genes to present-day humans has physiological relevance today, for example affecting how our immune system reacts to infections.

The Nobel Prize: The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million). The prize money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. The other prizes are for outstanding work in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.