Daily GK Update- 15th May, 2023

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. IPS Officer Praveen Sood appointed as next Director of CBI: A 1986 batch IPS officer and the current Karnataka DGP, Praveen Sood was appointed as the new CBI director for a period of two years. He would replace current CBI Director Subodh Jaiswal, who will retire on May 25, 2023. He started his career in Mysore as Assistant Superintendent of Police in 1989. Later, he served as Superintendent of Police, Bellary, and Raichur before being posted in Bengaluru as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP).

 

2. Himachal CM Sukhu launches 'Him Data Portal': Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has launched a 'Him Data Portal' a common digital platform to integrate data of all organizations for the deliverance of welfare schemes and to better serve the public. The people associated with the Him Pariyojna project would get information about various welfare schemes easily. From July 2023, the HP government would start the Him Parivar project which will give a special digital identity to the people of the State.

 

3. PM Modi lays foundation stone worth INR 4,400 crores in Gujarat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone and inaugurated projects worth Rs 4400 crores in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The projects inaugurated include augmentation of multi-village drinking water supply schemes in Banaskantha district, river overbridge in Ahmedabad and sewage treatment plants in Mehsana and Ahmedabad. The projects whose foundation stone were laid include bulk pipeline project in Junagadh district, augmentation of water supply schemes in Gandhinagar district and various town planning roads among others. PM also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of PMAY (rural and urban) projects worth around 1950 crores rupees and participated in Gruh Pravesh of around 19,000 houses built under the scheme by handing over keys to beneficiaries of the scheme during the program. The projects include PM Awas Yojna (PMAY) projects worth INR 1,950 crores. PMAY houses include Swachh Bharat Abhiyan toilets, Saubhagya scheme electricity connections, free LPG connections under the Ujjwala scheme, and piped water under JJM (Jal Jeevan Mission).

 

4. MHA to organize “G20 Conference on Crime and Security” in July 2023: The Ministry of Home Affairs will organize the “G20 Conference on Crime and Security in the Age of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), Al and Metaverse” on 13th and 14th July 2023 in Gurugram, Haryana. The event will be held in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Rashtriya Raksha University, National Forensic Science University, National Law School of India University, Interpol and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime are the organising partners for the event that will be held in Haryana’s Gurugram.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. The first meeting of India-EU trade, technology Council at Brussels: The first ministerial-level meeting of the India-European Union Trade and Technology Council will be held b on May 16, 2023. Aim: To discuss ways to increase cooperation in strategic technologies, digital connectivity, clean energy, trade, and investments Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal will co-chair the meeting along with EAM S Jaishankar and MoS, Electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

 

2. Gucci appoints Alia Bhatt as its global ambassador: Actor Alia Bhatt has been appointed as the global ambassador for luxury fashion brand Gucci, becoming the first Indian to represent the esteemed Italian brand worldwide. She will make her inaugural appearance as Gucci’s newest global ambassador during the upcoming Gucci Cruise 2024 show in Seoul. Gucci is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, home decoration, etc.

 

3. Elon Musk appoints Linda Yaccarino as Twitter CEO: Linda Yaccarino has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Twitter. Prior to this, she was serving as the head of advertising at NBCUniversal. She had served 19 years at Turner Entertainment and has been credited with dragging the network's ad sales operation into the digital future. She is an alumna of Penn State University, having studied liberal arts and telecommunications. In October 2022, Elon Musk completed $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

 

4. China launches projects to build 'new-era' marriage, childbearing culture: China will launch pilot projects in more than 20 cities to create a "new-era" marriage and childbearing culture to foster a friendly childbearing environment. Aim: To boost the country's falling birth rate China's Family Planning Association will launch projects to encourage women to marry and have children. Cities included in the pilot include the manufacturing hub Guangzhou and Handan in China's Hebei province.

 

5. 7th UN Global Road Safety Week: 15th -21st May 2023: The 7th UN Global Road Safety Week is being observed from 15-21 May 2023 to raise awareness about road safety and the importance of taking steps to prevent accidents 2023 slogan: #RethinkMobility The week is organized by the WHO and the UN regional commissions and supported by governments, NGOs, and individuals. The Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 reflects an ambitious target to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030.

 

6. International Day of Families 2023: 15th May: International Day of Families is celebrated on May 15 to raise awareness of the importance of families and their role in society. 2023 theme: Demographic Trends and Families The UN adopted a resolution in 1994 establishing the International Day of Families to celebrate the institution of family and to raise awareness regarding the issues faced by families. It acknowledges the role of families in promoting social and economic development.

 

7. UAE’s Sharjah Police launches ‘Stay in your lane’ campaign: UAE’s Sharjah Police launched a traffic campaign, “stay in your lane” in May to curb road lane violations. The campaign aims to improve traffic culture among drivers and other road users by increasing awareness and promoting adherence to traffic rules and instructions. The campaign includes the dissemination of awareness messages in three different languages through the social networking sites of the Sharjah Police.

 

8. Geeta Rao Gupta appointed US Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues: The US Senate has appointed Indian-American Geeta Rao Gupta as the ‘Ambassador at Large for global issues related to women at the State Department. Gupta’s nomination has won by 51-47 votes in the US Senate. Gupta is known internationally as a leader in promoting gender equality and women’s economic security. Gupta worked closely with various United Nations (UN) agencies and programs. She worked as the Executive Director of the UN Foundation’s 3D Programme for Girls and Women. She also advises the UNAIDS Global Coalition on Women and AIDS and is on the boards of InterAction and the Moriah Fund.

 

9. 15 May – International Day of Families: International Day of Families is observed every year on 15 May. This day offers an opportunity to reflect on the significant role that these social units play in our lives and to acknowledge the challenges that families face today. Theme 2023 – Demographic Trends and Families This day was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993. The first International Day of the Family was observed in 1994, and is observed annually on 15 May.

 

10. 15 – 21 May – UN Global Road Safety Week: UN Global Road Safety Week is observed every year on 15 to 21 May. Objective – To raise awareness about road safety and the importance of taking steps to prevent accidents. The week is organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN regional commissions, and it is supported by a wide range of partners, including governments, NGOs, businesses, and individuals. The week was first marked in 2007. This year 7th UN Global Road Safety Week will take this year from 15-21 May 2023.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. London stock exchange group to set up technology centre in Hyderabad: Global financial markets infrastructure and data provider London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) will be establishing a technology centre of excellence (CoE) in Hyderabad. Which will be generating employment for about 1,000 people in a year. The setting up of the CoE will be a significant boost to the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector in the city and expected to create ample employment opportunities and drive growth in the industry. The LSEG has significant operations in 70 countries across EMEA, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. It employs 23,000 people globally, with more than half located in Asia Pacific.

 

2. RBI launches 100 days campaign to settle unclaimed deposits: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched the ‘100 Days 100 Pays’ campaign for banks to trace and settle the top 100 unclaimed deposits of every bank in every district of the country within 100 days. This measure will complement the ongoing efforts and initiatives by the Reserve Bank to reduce the quantum of unclaimed deposits in the banking system and return such deposits to their rightful owners/claimants. At present, the depositors and beneficiaries of unclaimed bank deposits of 10 years or more have to go through the website of multiple banks to locate such deposits. Now, in order to improve and widen the access of depositors or beneficiaries to information on such unclaimed deposits it has been decided to develop a web portal.

 

3. Bank of Baroda launches electronic bank guarantee on its digital platform: State-owned Bank of Baroda has launched of electronic bank guarantee (e-BG) on its BarodaINSTA platform, in partnership with National E-Governance Services Limited (NeSL). NeSL is India’s first and only Information Utility and is regulated by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) under the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). Electronic bank guarantee is a start-to-end digital process across the complete lifecycle of a BG including issuance, amendment and closure resulting in substantial reduction in the turnaround time in issuing a BG, while at the same time bringing in greater security and accessibility. The conventional paper-based process of issuing inland Bank Guarantees normally takes a few days to execute from BG issuance to receipt by the beneficiary.

 

4. RBI imposes Rs 2.92 Cr penalty on Canara Bank: RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 2.92 crore on Canara Bank for violation of various norms, including linking interest rates to external benchmarks and opening savings accounts of ineligible entities The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conducted a statutory inspection for supervisory evaluation of the bank with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2021. A scrutiny of the bank was carried out by RBI in July 2020 based on a high-value fraud reported by another bank. After scrutiny, the RBI found that the bank failed to link interest on floating-rate retail loans and loans to MSME to an external benchmark.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. Ben Whishaw wins best leading actor at BAFTA 2023: Ben Whishaw has received the best leading actor award for his role in 'This is Going to Hurt (BBC One)' at the BAFTA TV Awards 2023. While Kate Winslet won the leading actress award for her role in I Am Ruth (Channel 4).

Otherawards:

·       Drama series: Bad Sisters (Apple TV Plus)

·       Mini-series: Mood (BBC Three)

·       International: Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix)

·       Supporting actor: Adeel Akhtar – Sherwood (BBC One)

 

2. TDB/DST conferred National Technology Awards 2023: Technology Development Board (TDB) has conferred the National Technology Awards 2023 in five categories: Main, MSME, Startup, Translational Research, and Technology Business Incubator. T-Hub Foundation, Telangana has received the National Technology Awards 2023 in Technology Business Incubator. T-Hub (Technology Hub) is an innovation hub and ecosystem enabler. T-Hub leads India’s pioneering innovation ecosystem and is the world’s largest innovation campus.

 

3. Cochin Port bagged the Sagar Shreshtha Sammaan Award 2023: Cochin Port has bagged Sagar Shreshta Award of Ministry of Ports Shipping & Waterways for best performance among all Indian Major Ports for best turnaround time in non-container port category, during the year 2022-23. Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal has given the award to M. Beena, Chairperson, Cochin Port Authority at a function held in New Delhi. The port recorded 48 hours in turning around vessels of an average parcel size of 43,800 MT. The turnaround time is an important performance parameter.