Latest Current Affairs For Saturday 4th September, 2021

Current Affairs in One Minute

1-India all-rounder Stuart Binny announced his retirement from first-class and international cricket. 

2-India's Avani Lekhara won the first gold medal for the country at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in Women's 10m Air Rifle SH1 with a world record score of 249.6 in the elimination round. 

3-India's Devendra Jhajharia won the silver medal in the men's javelin throw - F46 final event at the Tokyo Paralympics with his best throw of 64.35, while Sundar Singh Gurjar won the bronze medal in the same event with his best throw of 64.01. 

4-Yogesh Kathuniya has won silver for India in the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 Men's Discus Throw Final event in the F56 category. 

5-In Tokyo Paralympics, India's Nishad Kumar has won silver medal with a best effort of 2.06 meter in Men's High Jump T47 event. 

6-In Tokyo Paralympics, Vinod Kumar wins Bronze medal with a best effort of 19.91 meter in Men's Discus Throw F52 event. 

7-Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Chemical and Fertilizer Mansukh Mandaviya released the first commercial batch of COVAXIN from Chiron Behring Vaccines facility of Bharat Biotech in Ankleshwar, Gujarat. 

8-Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas inaugurated the 7.5-km long Western Extension Metro Line under Phase-2 of Bengaluru’s Namma Metro, from Mysore Road to Kengeri Metro Station. 

9-Dr. L. Murugan, Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting inaugurated a community radio station in Mysuru. 

10-The performance test run of the first metro rail in Bangladesh was conducted in Dhaka. The metro rail test run with 6 coaches was conducted over a distance of 6 kilometers from Uttara north to Pallabi. 

11-Tamil Nadu government's Department of Fisheries will establish an integrated fisheries college-cum-research centre at Tuticorin to provide scientific training to fishermen to improve their skill set. 

12-The Finance Ministry has extended the last date to avail of the late fee amnesty scheme under Goods and Services Act (GST), till November 30. 

Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa launch CBDC Scheme

Central banks in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa have launched digital currencies (CBDC) scheme.

It is a cross border payments trial that uses different central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in order to assess if this allows transactions to be settled in a cheap and easy manner.

Many govt and central banks are exploring the use of CBDCs. 

This latest project aims to develop prototype shared platforms for cross-border transactions using multiple CBDCs.

New Development Bank approves Bangladesh as a new member

The New Development Bank has approved Bangladesh as its new member.

The NDB Board of Governors initiated the negotiation to expand its membership in 2020.

It has now approved the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Bangladesh as its first new member countries.

Since the beginning of its operations, NDB has approved about 80 projects totaling a portfolio of USD 30 billion.

NDB was established by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. 

Ladakh adopts State animal and bird

UT of Ladakh has declared the black-necked crane and snow leopard as their state bird and animal respectively.

Black-necked crane, only found in Ladakh region was previously the state bird of the former state of J&K, along with Hangul as the state animal.

The crane was chosen as the state bird since it is only found in the eastern region of Ladakh.

Black-necked crane and snow leopard are two endangered species and the pride of Ladakh.

RBI to set up five-member panel on NUE licences

The RBI will set up a committee to scrutinize applications and give recommendations on new umbrella entity (NUE) licences.

The 5-member committee will be headed by RBI chief general manager P Vasudevan.

NUEs will establish their own payment infrastructure to compete with NPCI. 

The system will be focussed on small and medium enterprises, merchants and consumers.

The RBI had in August 2020 issued guidelines for creating “for-profit NUEs”.

AYUSH Ministry launches campaign of distributing Ayush prophylactic medicine

AYUSH Ministry has launched a campaign of distributing Ayush prophylactic medicines and written guidelines on diet and lifestyle in New Delhi.

The drive was jointly kick-started by Sarbananda Sonowal and Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai.

The kit of Ayurveda prophylactic medicines for COVID-19 contains Sanshamani Vati. The kit and the guidelines have been prepared by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Medicines (CCRAS).

Praveen Kumar bags silver medal in High Jump T64 at Tokyo Para-Olympic

At Tokyo Paralympics, Indian Para-athlete Praveen Kumar bagged the silver medal in Men’s High Jump T64 event.

Praveen jumped 2.07 metre while Great Britain’s Jonathan Broom-Edwards took the gold with a season-best of 2.10 metre in the event.

With the win, India’s medal tally at Tokyo Paralympics has risen to 11 with two Gold medals, six Silver and three Bronze medals.

Finance Minister attends 11th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue

The 11th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue was held virtually.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman and the UK Treasury Chancellor Rishi Sunak co-chaired the meeting.

The Dialogue covered discussions on economic cooperation on multilateral issues, including G-20 and COP-26.

Private sector initiatives under India-UK Financial Partnership and India-UK Sustainable Finance Working Group including its progress were also discussed.

Two-time Rajya Sabha MP, journalist Chandan Mitra passes away

Veteran journalist and two-term Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra passed away.

Editor and managing director of The Pioneer newspaper, Mitra had been unwell for the past one year.

Considered a prominent right-wing intellectual he was first nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the BJP in 2003.

Mitra started his journalism career with The Statesman in Kolkata.

He joined The Pioneer, which he headed editorially for around 24 years, after stints at The Times of India.

J-K LG Sinha inaugurates 'Saath' initiative for women associated with SHGs

Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha launched Rural Enterprises Acceleration Programme titled 'Saath' for Self Help Group (SHG) women.

This Saath initiative will stress on mentoring and market linkages of products created by these women.

This will transform the lives of these women and make them independent and strong in social and financial aspects.

This initiative aims to teach women such skills and convert their businesses into Higher Order Enterprises.

Indian Navy hands over two Mobile Oxygen Plants to Bangladesh

Indian Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel, INS Savitri delivered two Mobile Oxygen Plants to Bangladesh to support its effort to fight the COVID 19.

Each of the MOPs has the capacity to generate 960 litres of Oxygen per minute.

The MOPS have been developed and manufactured by DRDO in India.

The MOPs are fully equipped and state of Art plants which can generate medical oxygen in a highly cost effective manner on site.

Bangladesh Currency: Taka

Bangladesh Capital: Dhaka 

I&B Ministry constitutes Committee to review Journalist welfare scheme

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting constituted a Committee to review the existing guidelines of Journalist Welfare Scheme and make appropriate recommendations for changes to the guidelines.

The committee will be headed by Ashok Kumar Tandon.

The committee will have nine Members from different print and electronics media.

It will examine the need for revision of quantum of ex-gratia payment in death as well as other cases under Journalist Welfare Scheme.

Alejandro Prieto wins Bird Photographer of the Year 2021

Mexican photographer Alejandro Prieto has won the Bird Photographer of the Year award 2021.

His photo features a roadrunner at a new section of the border wall between Mexico and the USA.

Prieto wins the top prize of £5,000 and the prestigious title.

His image also won Gold Award in the Birds in the Environment category.

His photo was selected from more than 22,000 submissions by photographers from around the world.

PM Narendra Modi to be awarded prestigious Lokmanya Tilak Award 2023

The Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust (Hind Swaraj Sangh) would confer the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2023 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Pune on August 1, 2023.

Reason: This award recognizes PM Modi's supreme leadership under which India has climbed the ladder of progress

It is presented annually on the occasion of Lokmanya Tilak's death anniversary.

Other awardees: Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sharad Pawar, Cyrus Poonawalla, and Manmohan Singh. 

J&K Bank wins award for Best Performance in CASA

Jammu & Kashmir Bank has been felicitated for the Best Performance in CASA-India (1st Runner up in Small Bank Category) at ICC Emerging Asia Banking Conclave & Awards 2022.

The event was participated by banks from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & Myanmar.

The function was organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Goa.

Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group headquartered in Calcutta.

India poised to become world’s 2nd-largest economy by 2075: Goldman Sachs

According to the Investment Bank Goldman Sachs, India is poised to become the world’s second-largest economy by 2075.

As per the report, India would cross Japan, Germany, and the US With a population of 1.4 billion people.

India’s GDP is estimated to expand remarkably, reaching 52.5 trillion dollars surpassing the US GDP projection.

The labour force participation set to make India the second-largest economy in the world by 2075.

L&T and Spain's Navantia sign agreement for submarine project

L&T has signed a teaming agreement with Spanish-based Navantia for the submission of a techno-commercial bid for the Indian Navy’s prestigious P75 (India) submarine program.

P75 (India) Submarine Project is expected to be valued at €4.8 billion.

Navantia would carry out the design of P75(I) submarines based on its S80 class of submarines.

The first S80 class submarine was launched in 2021 and is undergoing sea trials prior to its delivery to Spanish Navy. 

India overtakes China as most attractive emerging market for investing

According to a study by Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management, India has overtaken China to become the most attractive emerging market for investing in sovereign wealth funds this year.

Reason: This is due to its solid demographics, political stability, and proactive regulation. 

Positives for the nation also include the rapidly expanding demography, strong regulatory actions, and a welcoming climate for sovereign investors.

World Population Day 2023: 11 July

World Population Day is observed every year on July 11 in order to raise awareness about global population issues, including population control.

2023 theme: Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities. 

It was established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1989, after the day the world approximately reached a population of five billion, which was observed on 11 July 1987.

MoHUA conducts SBM-U 2.0 Planning & Implementation Review-cum-Workshop

The Housing Ministry organized a review-cum-workshop to evaluate and accelerate the planning and implementation of the SBM-Urban 2.0.

PM Modi launched the 2.0 versions of SBM-U and AMRUT on October 1, 2021.

SBM-U 2.0: Achieving 100% waste segregation in all households and premises and 100% door-to-door collection of segregated waste from each. 

AMRUT 2.0: To provide complete coverage of water supply to all households and sewerage and septage in 500 AMRUT cities. 

Gujarat CM launches pilot project of ‘Antyodaya Shramik Suraksha Yojana’

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel launched the Antyodaya Shram Suraksha Accident Insurance Scheme from Kheda

All those registered under the e-Shram portal from Nadiad will benefit from the scheme.

It is being implemented through the Indian Postal Department, the IPPB, and the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Under this scheme, insurance with a premium of Rs. 289 and Rs. 499 per year will be a big support to workers in the event of death or partial disability.

OCA elects Sheikh Talal as the new President

Kuwait’s Sheikh Talal Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah has been elected as the new President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

He replaced his older brother Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who led the OCA for 30 years until 2021.

The OCA was founded in 1982 by his father Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who led it until 1990.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a governing body of sports in Asia, currently with 45 member National Olympic Committees.

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance wins Insurer Innovation Award 2023

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has won the Insurer Innovation Award 2023 for the APAC region at the 8th World Digital Insurance Awards, hosted by TDI - The Digital Insurer.

Recognition: Bajaj Allianz Life's ground-breaking WhatsApp Conversational Platform - empowering customers to digitally services their policies seamlessly. 

The award entries were shortlisted by industry experts and the winner was selected by the community through pre-voting and live event voting.