Thursday 10 December 2020

CURRENT AFFAIRS 9 DECEMBER 2020

 


BITA (Banking Institute & TNPSC Academy)

                                                                                     9 December 2020

CURRENT AFFAIRS

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

UP’s Dandupur railway station renamed as Maa Barahi Devi Dham

  • The Dandupur railway station situated between Pratapgarh and Badshahpur on Lucknow-Varanasi rail section will now be named Maa Barahi Devi Dham.
  • The Union government has given its consent after which Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath gave his nod to the renaming of the railway station.

 Ministry of AYUSH to develop Nisarg Gram campus at Pune

  • The Ministry of AYUSH announced to develop a new campus of National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN) campus in Pune.
  •  The upcoming campus will be known as ‘Nisarg Gram’. It will be located 15 km from the present NIN campus at Bapu Bhavan.
  • The new curriculum of this campus will be prepared as per the National Education Policy, 2020. Bachelors and Masters in Naturopathy will be the major programmes offered at the campus.

APPOINTMENTS

Indian-origin Anil Soni appointed as CEO for WHO Foundation

  •  The World Health Organization Foundation has appointed an Indian-origin health expert, Anil Soni, as its first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to address the most vital health challenges all across the globe.
  • Global health expert Soni will assume his role as its inaugural CEO on January 1 next year.
  • The Foundation is an independent grant-making agency based out of Geneva in Switzerland and was launched in May 2020 to work alongside the WHO and the global health community.

AWARDS

 ICAR wins 2020 King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award

  • The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has won the prestigious International King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award for 2020.
  •  The award was presented annually by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
  • The award was conferred to the ICAR on the occasion of World Soil Day, on December 5. ICAR India will officially receive the award by Her Royal Highness, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, during an event in Bangkok in January 2021.

Raj Kamal Jha wins Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize

  •  Journalist-author, Raj Kamal Jha has won the 3rd Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for his novel, “The City and The Sea”.
  •   Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the winner of the $5,000 prize was announced online in Copenhagen, Denmark.
  •  Jha’s book, which is based on the December 2012 Nirbhaya rape and murder case, was chosen from ten shortlisted books including Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island, Nirmala Govindarajan’s Taboo and Ranjit Hoskote’s Jonahwhale.
  •  The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for Social Achievement 2020 was conferred to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the late Sultan of Oman and The People of Oman,
  • Renowned Indian choreographer Sandip Soparrkar for his contribution to the betterment of society through his initiative Dance for a Cause.

Invest India wins United Nations Investment Promotion Award for 2020

  •  United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has declared ‘Invest India’ as winner of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award. The award ceremony took place at UNCTAD Headquarters in Geneva.
  • The Award recognizes and celebrates the outstanding achievements of the World’s best-practice investment promotion agencies.
  • The evaluation was based on UNCTAD’s assessment of work undertaken by 180 national Investment Promotion Agencies across the world.

Gwalior & Orchha included in list of World Heritage City by UNESCO

  • The historical fort cities of Gwalior and Orchha of Madhya Pradesh have been included in the list of World Heritage City by UNESCO under its urban landscape city programme .
  • After being included in the list of World Heritage, UNESCO will work with the tourism department of the state to preserve and refine these archaeological and historical monuments of Orchha and Gwalior.

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI opens LAF, MSF windows for regional rural banks

  •   Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed regional rural banks (RRBs) to access the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF), marginal standing facility (MSF) and call or notice money market, aimed at facilitating better liquidity management for these lenders.
  • At present, RRBs are not permitted to access the liquidity windows of the RBI as well as the call or notice market.
  •  In addition, RBI proposed to bring the 26 stressed sectors identified by the Kamath Committee within the ambit of sectors eligible under on tap TLTRO.
  •  This is in addition to the five sectors announced under the scheme on October 21, 2020.

ICICI Bank launches iMobile Pay app

  •  ICICI Bank has launched ‘iMobile Pay’ – a mobile banking app that provides payments and banking services to customers of any bank.
  •  ‘iMobile Pay’ app offers a unique combination of facilities of a payment app – such as enabling customers to pay to any UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ID or merchants, pay bills and do online recharges among others – with instant banking services namely savings account, investments, loans, credit cards, gift cards, travel cards and much more.
  •  ‘iMobile Pay’ users can also transfer money to any bank account, payment app and digital wallet. It is the first of its kind facility in India that extends the ambit of mobile banking apps which are hitherto restricted to only the customers of the respective banks.

Fitch Ratings Revises India GDP Forecast, Sees Contraction at 9.4 Per cent

  •  Fitch Ratings raised India’s GDP forecast to -9.4 per cent in the current fiscal year to March 2021 from a previously projected contraction of 10.5 per cent after the economy staged a sharper rebound in the second quarter.
  • In its Global Economic Outlook, Fitch said the coronavirus recession has inflicted severe economic scarring and the country needs to repair balance sheets and increase caution about long-term planning.
  • Fitch said the Indian economy staged a sharper rebound in the July-September quarter from the coronavirus-induced recession. GDP fell 7.5 per cent year-on-year, up from -23.9 per cent in the April-June quarter.

Kotak MF launches REIT Funds of Funds scheme

  •  Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company has launched of Kotak International REIT Fund of Funds, which is India’s first diversified Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) Mutual Fund.
  • The open-ended scheme will invest in units of SMAM Asia REIT Sub Trust Fund. This MF scheme will have a diversified investment portfolio comprising of listed REITs which will invest in real estate projects such as residential, office, data centres, warehousing, retail and hospitality.
  • The New Fund Offer will be open for subscription till December 21.

                                                                             SPORTS AFFAIRS

Sri Lanka to host Asia Cup in 2021, Pakistan in 2022

  •  The Asia Cup 2020 had to postponed due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Pakistan was scheduled to host the Asia Cup but the PCB CEO Wasim Khan said the tournament will be hosted by Sri Lanka in 2021 while Pakistan will play host of it in 2022.
  • According to the original schedule, Pakistan was to host the Asia Cup in August-September 2020 but faced postponement. It has been now pushed to 2021 for which Sri Lanka has the hosting rights and as compensation, Pakistan will host Asia Cup 2022.

Jehan Daruvala becomes first Indian to win an F2 race

  •  Jehan Daruvala created history when he became the first Indian to win a Formula 2 race during the Sakhir Grand Prix.
  • A thrilling battle against F2 champion Mick Schumacher and later Daniel Ticktum saw the 22-year-old Indian emerge on top in the support race of the season-ending Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Sergio Pérez wins 20020 Sakhir F1 GP  

  •  Sergio Perez became the first Mexican victor in F1 since Pedro Rodriguez in 1970, ending a series of races dominated by Mercedes for whom Valtteri Bottas finished eighth and George Russell ninth.
  •  The 30-year-old Mexican recovered from a first-lap crash that dropped him to the back of the field in his 190th race.

                                                                              OBITUARIES

Veteran Hindi writer Madhukar Gangadhar passes away

  •  Veteran Hindi writer Madhukar Gangadhar passed away in a hospital in the National Capital. He was 88 years old.
  • Mr. Gangadhar had worked at Patna Akashwani and later also served as the director, AIR Allahabad.He also worked in the capacity of Deputy Director General (DDG), AIR at New Delhi.
  • After serving for 39 years in All India Radio (AIR) he became an independent writer based in Delhi.
  •  ‘Motiyo Wale Hath’, ‘Hirna Ki Aankhen’ are some of his most well known works.

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