CURRENT AFFAIRS 6 DECEMBER 2020

   

BITA (Banking Institute & TNPSC Academy)

 CURRENT AFFAIRS

                                                                                                                                December 6

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses IIT-2020 Global Summit, Organised by PanIIT USA

•   Prime Minister of India shri Narendra Modi addressed the IIT-2020 Global Summit. This summit was organised by PanIIT USA.
• The theme of this year’s summit is ‘The Future is Now’.
•   Discussions were held on global economy, technology, innovation, health, habitat conservation and universal education.
• PanIIT is an umbrella organization representing an alumni network the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) system

Meghalaya CM Unveils State Disability Logo, Launches Meghalaya Sign Bank App

•  In Meghalaya, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities was observed with a formal function held at Yojna Bhawan Auditorium, Shillong. The theme this year is building back better towards a disability inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-Covid 19 world.
• During the function the Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma,unveiled the State Disability Logo. The second edition of the Meghalaya Sign Bank App was also launched by the Chief Minister. The app is available for both ios and android users.
• Two students with disabilities were also felicitated for their outstanding achievements by Chief Guest Sangma and Social Welfare Minister Kyrmen Shylla.

INTERNATINAL AFFAIRS

Union Defence Ministry organizes Webinar between India and Australia

• Webinar was held between India & Australia with theme “Indian Defence Industry Global Outreach for Collaborative Partnership: Webinar and Expo” was held
•   It was organized under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.
• The Objective of this webinar is boost defence exports and achieve defence export target of $5 billion in the next five years.

·         Britain becomes first country in world to approve corona virus vaccine

• In a historic move, Britain has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.
• The vaccine will be rolled out from next week onwards. Priority for vaccination will be given to healthcare workers and care home residents.

PASSEX conducted by Indian Navy and Russian Navy

• The Indian Navy (IN) is undertaking a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with Russian Federation Navy (RuFN) in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region (IOR) from 4 to 5 December 2020.
• The exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability, improving understanding and imbibing best practices between both the friendly navies, and would involve advanced surface and anti-submarine warfare exercises, weapon firings, seamanship exercises and helicopter operations.
• PASSEXs are conducted regularly by IN with units of friendly foreign navies, whilst visiting each other’s ports or during a rendezvous at sea.

APPOINTMENTS

Uday Shankar designated as FICCI President for 2020-21

•  Uday Shankar has been designated as the President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) for the year 2020-21.
• He is currently served as Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific President and Chairman of Star India and Walt Disney Company India.
•   He has also served as the Chairman of FICCI’s Media and Entertainment Committee.

Dronacharya Awardee Kuldeep Handoo appointed PM’s ‘Fit India’ Movement Ambassador

• First Dronacharya Awardee from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Kuldeep Handoo has been appointed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Fit India’ Ambassador.
• Mr Handoo, who is Wushu Coach of Team India is serving as Inspector in Jammu and Kashmir Police Department.

AWARDS

15-yr-old Indian-American Gitanjali Rao named first ‘TIME Kid of the Year’

•   Gitanjali Rao, a 15-year-old Indian-American scientist and inventor has been named Time Magazine’s first-ever Kid of the Year.
• The US-based publication announced the award and selected Rao from a field of more than 5,000 nominees. It cited her ability to use technology to tackle “issues ranging from contaminated drinking water to opioid addiction and cyberbullying”.
• This is not the first time Rao has earned plaudits for her work. Earlier in 2019, she was on the Forbes’ 30 under 30 list.

Adar Poonawalla of Serum Institute Among 6 Named ‘Asians of the Year’ by Singapore Daily

• Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India, is among six people named ”Asians of the Year” by Singapore’s leading daily, The Straits Times for their work in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The other five named in the list are Chinese researcher Zhang Yongzhen, who led the team that mapped and published online the first complete genome of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that sparked the pandemic, China’s Major-General Chen Wei, Japan’s Dr Ryuichi Morishita and Singapore’s Professor Ooi Eng Eong, who are among those at the  forefront of developing vaccines against the virus, and South Korean businessman Seo Jung-jin whose company will enable the making and dispensing of the vaccines and other Covid-19 treatments to the world.

Indian school teacher Ranjitsinh Disale wins Global Teacher Prize 2020

• A Maharashtra government school teacher from Solapur has bagged the Global Teacher Prize-2020 worth $1 million.
• He also introduced digital learning tools and QR Coded Textbooks
•  The Global teacher prize is awarded by the Varkey Foundation.

BANKING & FINANCE

Finin launches as neobank in India in partnership with SBM

•  Finin, a fintech company, has launched itself as a ‘neobank’, in partnership with SBM Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius in India, focussing on saving rather than lending.
•  It will provide features such as detailed break-up of user spending and send prompts if they exceed pre-set limits and automatic sweeps of money into liquid funds.
• The bank will target white-collar workers and freelancers and has waiting list of 15,000 people before launch. It aims to open 50,000 accounts in six months.

HDFC Life stands with Dabbawalas of Mumbai with ‘PromiseWalaDabba’ Campaign

• In support of Mumbai’s Dabbawalas, HDFC Life in association with Ketto India has initiated PromisewalaDabba, a nationwide crowdfunding campaign.
•  PromiseWalaDabba has been initiated by the insurance company for supporting the community, with an aim to help the Dabbawalas of Mumbai stand on their feet once again with a month’s supply of ration, delivered to their homes.
•  Ketto, India’s foremost crowdfunding platform has also partnered with HDFC Life as part of the campaign in order to serve as a platform to raise money for this cause.

RTGS To be Made 24X7 from December 14, New Limit for Contactless Card Transactions Now Rs 5,000: RBI

•  In a bid to give a push to digital payments, the Reserve Bank announced a slew of measures including enhancing the limit for contactless card transactions to Rs 5,000 from Rs 2,000 and making RTGS transaction facility available round the clock from December 14.
•  The RBI has also decided to grant licence to entities operating payments systems on a perpetual basis, and permitted companies to reapply for licence after one year of rejection of their application or revocation of their licence.

RBI Projects 6.8% Retail Inflation in December Quarter

•  The Reserve Bank of India said retail inflation is likely to remain elevated and pegged it at 6.8 per cent for the third quarter of the current fiscal.
• RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is of the view that inflation is likely to remain elevated, barring transient relief in the winter months from prices of perishables

  Rupifi joins hands with Axis Bank, Visa to launch credit card for Small Businesses

           ·         Private sector lender Axis Bank has partnered with fintech lending platform Rupifi to offer a business credit card powered by Visa.

•  card will be offered to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to transact on aggregator platforms for their business purchases.
• The average credit limit offered will be in the range of Rs 1 and 2 lakh per month and will be decided based on business data of the MSME’s transactions with the aggregator platforms, GMV (Gross Monthly Volume) of last six months and overall revenue among other factors.

SPORTS AFFAIRS

England Cricketer Dawid Malan sets record by scoring highest-ever rating points in T20I

•  England’s Dawid Malan has scored the highest-ever rating points for batsmen in the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings in the recently concluded T20I series.
•  India’s KL Rahul is at fourth position, while Virat Kolhi’s rank has dropped to 9th in the list.
• Babar Azam (871) of Pakistan and Aaron Finch (835) of Australia is second and third in the list.

OBITUARIES

Lakshadweep Administrator Dineshwar Sharma passes away

•  Lakshwadweep’s Administrator and former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma passed away at a Chennai hospital due to lung-related complications. He was 66.
•  Mr. Sharma, a 1979-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, hailed from Bihar. He served as IB Director from 2014 to 2016. He headed the bureau when the government announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016.
• He was awarded the prestigious Indian Police Medal for the meritorious service in 1997, followed by the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2003.

Olympic gold medalist athlete Rafer Johnson passes away

•   American decathlete Rafer Johnson has passed away. He was winner of 1960 Olympic gold medal in the decathlon.
• He had also won a national decathlon championship in 1956 and a silver medal at the Melbourne Olympics in the same year.
• In 1955 he won a gold medal in Pan American Game and set a world record of 7,985 points.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Soil Day

• World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
• The theme of World Soil day 2020, “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity”.