Latest Current Affairs For Sunday 5th September, 2021

STATIC GK Based on Current Affairs

1. Bangladeshi vaccine scientist Dr. Firdausi Qadri along with other 4 were conferred with Ramon Magsaysay Award 2021.

• She is an emeritus at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh.

➤Other winners of Ramon Magsaysay Award 2021:

• Muhammad Amjad Saqib: A visionary who founded one of the largest microfinance institutions in Pakistan, servicing millions of families.
• Steven Muncy: A humanitarian who has been helping the displaced refugees of Southeast Asia rebuild their lives.
• WatchDoc: A production house that ingeniously combines documentary filmmaking and alternative platforms to highlight underreported issues in Indonesia.
• Roberto Ballon: A fisherman from Southern Philippines who has led a community in restoring their rich aquatic resources and their primary source of livelihood.
• Known as Nobel Prize in Asia, Ramon Magsaysay award was established in 1957

2. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu appointed Dr. Parasaram Pattabhi Kesava Ramacharyulu as the new secretary-general of Rajya Sabha.

• Ramacharyulu has been working as secretary in the RS Secretariat since 2018.
• He will succeed Desh Dipak Verma.
• He was awarded Ph.D Degree by the JNU for his work on ‘Committee Systems of Indian Parliament and the US Congress: A Comparative Study’ in 2005.

➤Some Recent Appointments:

• JB Mohapatra - chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes
• Pankaj Kumar Singh - Director General (DG) of Border Security Force.
• Kamlesh Kumar Pant - Chairperson of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)
• Rajiv Gauba - Cabinet Secretary of India
• Director of the Zoological Survey of India - Dr. Dhriti Banerjee
• Director-General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) - Nasir Kamal
• Director General of All India Radio - N Venudhar Reddy
• Central Vigilance Commission - Suresh N Patel
• Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - T. V. Narendran
• National Human Rights Commission - Arun Kumar Mishra
• Intelligence Bureau(IB) - Arvind Kumar
• Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) - Samant Goel
• Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) - Subodh Kumar Jaiswal
• Chief Information Commissioner of India(CEC) - Sushil Chandra
• Director-General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) - Kuldeep Singh

3. Punjab Govt launches 'Innovation Mission Punjab' to boost start-up sector.

• It is a public-private partnership that brings in global investors and experts to catalyze start ups.
• The Mission will mobilise a global pool of ambassadors and partners for investment, mentorship and market access.
• Besides, the Innovation Mission Punjab will act as a catalyst to strengthen by rallying all the stakeholders viz. academia, incubators, investors, startups, govt, farmers etc.

➤About Punjab:

• Punjab, a state bordering Pakistan, is the heart of India’s Sikh community.
• The city of Amritsar, founded in the 1570s by Sikh Guru Ram Das, is the site of Harmandir Sahib, the holiest gurdwara (Sikh place of worship). Known in English as the Golden Temple, and surrounded by the Pool of Nectar, it's a major pilgrimage site.
• Capital - Chandigarh
• Chief Minister - Amarinder Singh
• Governor - V. P. Singh Badnore

4. Actor Sidharth Shukla (40) passed away due to a massive heart attack.

• Well known for being the winner of popular reality show Bigg Boss 13

➤Recent Famous Obituaries:

• PK Warrier - Ayurveda physician
• Virbhadra Singh - politician
• Dilip Kumar (Mohammed Yusuf Khan) - Bollywood actor
• Dingko Singh - Boxer
• Srikumar Banerjee - Former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
• Jyoti Krishan Dutt - Director-General of National Security Guard (NSG)
• K Raghothaman - Director of Central Bureau of Investigation
• Manas Bihari Verma - Aeronautical scientist
• Pandit Devabrata Chaudhuri - Sitar maestro
• Soli Sorabjee - Attorney General of India

5. 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.

➤Important awards and their Recipient :

• Will Eisner Award - Anand Radhakrishnan
• Kuvempu Rashtriya Puraskar 2020 - Dr. Rajendra Kishore Panda 
• Pulitzer Prize 2021 - Megha Rajagopalan
• Nature TTL Photography Awards 2021 - Thomas Vijayan
• India Biodiversity Award 2021 - N.M. Shaji
• Whitley Awards 2021 - Y. Nuklu Phom
• UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize 2021 - Maria Ressa
• Wild Innovator Award 2021 - Krithi Karanth
• Nelson Mandela World Humanitarian Award 2021 - Rumana Sinha Sehgal
• International Ranger Award 2021 - Mahinder Giri
• World Food Prize 2021 - Shakuntala Haraksingh

Canadian City Burnaby to Observe September 5 As Gauri Lankesh Day

The Canadian city of Burnaby has declared September 5 as “Gauri Lankesh Day”, as a tribute to the dead journalist on her death anniversary, her sister Kavitha Lankesh.

The proclamation issued by the office of the Mayor of Burnaby Mike Hurley said Gauri Lankesh was a courageous Indian journalist who stood up for truth and justice, challenged superstition and social ills, and dedicated her life to serving the poor and oppressed.

Gauri Lankesh, a left-leaning journalist who brought out a magazine “Gauri Lankesh Patrike”, was shot dead by two assailants on September 5, 2017 evening just outside her house in Bengaluru allegedly for her anti-Hindutva stand.

Tokyo Paralympics: Manish Narwal wins gold in 50m Mixed Pistol

Indian shooters Manish Narwal and Singhraj Adhana clinched the gold and silver medal respectively in the P4 – Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 final at Asaka Shooting Range.

The 19-year-old Manish created the Paralympic record as he amassed 218.2 points to clinch the gold while Singhraj grabbed his second medal of the Tokyo Paralympics with 216.7 points.

The Russian Paralympic Committee’s (RPC) Sergey Malyshev won the bronze medal.

India’s medal tally now stands at 15 at these Paralympics. It has now won three golds, seven silvers and five bronze medals. This is India’s best tally at a single edition of the Para Games. It had won four medals at Rio 2016 and four at the 1984 Paralympics.

Paralympics 2020: Archer Harvinder Singh Clinches Bronze in Men’s Individual Recurve

In Paralympics 2020, India’s ace archer Harvinder Singh has won the bronze medal in the men’s individual recurve open. The 31-year old has become India’s first-ever archer to win a medal in the Paralympics.

With this win, India’s medal haul at the ongoing Paralympics Games in Tokyo has reached 13 [2G,6S,5B]. Harvinder defeated South Korea’s Kim Min Su 6-5 in a shoot-off to win India’s third medal of the day at Tokyo 2020, taking India’s tally to 13.

Earlier, United States of America’s (USA) Kevin Mather defeated Harvinder by 6-4 in the semi-final.

PM Modi Virtually Addresses 6th Eastern Economic Forum 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually addressed the plenary session of the 6th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), organised in Vladivostok, Russia. An Indian delegation led by Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri and comprising leading Indian oil and gas companies are participating in the EEF Summit 2021 in Russia.

On the sidelines of EEF, Petroleum Minister will also have meetings with Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov to review bilateral energy cooperation in the energy sector and with the Russian Minister for Development of Far East and Arctic Alexei Chekunkov to discuss the collaboration between Indian and Russian companies in that region. Petroleum Minister will also co-chair India-Russia Business Dialogue.

India to host conference on International Climate Summit 2020-21

India is all set to host a key conference as part of the International Climate Summit (ICS) 2020-21 to build a dialogue for India’s transition to clean energy. Policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, experts, and scientists from across the globe are going to be a part of the climate summit.

Director of CSIR, National Chemical Laboratory, Dr Ashish Lele has underlined the importance of the conference for the future mitigation strategies of climate change. The need to adopt these strategies and the problems arose due to dependence on conventional fuels.

India becomes 3rd largest Unicorn ecosystem in the world

Hurun Research Institute has released the Hurun India Future Unicorn List 2021, as per which India is the third-largest Unicorn/startup ecosystem in the world. The USA is on top followed by China on second.

India has 51 unicorns according to the list. The USA has 396 and China has 277 unicorns. Zilingo is the top unicorn in the ranking in India with funding of USD 310. The headquarters of Zilingo is in Singapore.

Bengaluru is the top Indian city in terms of the number of Unicorns headquartered in a city. Bengaluru has 31 unicorns followed by Mumbai which has 12 unicorns.

University of Oxford tops Times World University Rankings 2022

The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2022 has been announced. The University of Oxford is at the top of the list, followed by the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University at the second and third positions, respectively.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, is placed between the 301-350 position. Incidentally, it is also the only university in the top 350 rankings.

Three Indian educational institutes have found a place in the top 400 list:

• IISc Bangalore – 301-350 bracket
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar – 351-400 bracket.
• IIT Indore – 401-500 bracket.

Top Five Universities in the world:

• University of Oxford, UK
• California Institute of Technology, US
• Harvard University, US
• Stanford University, US
• University of Cambridge, UK

HDFC Life to acquire Exide Life Insurance for ₹6,687 crore

HDFC Life has announced to acquire a 100 per cent stake in Exide Life Insurance Company in a stock and cash deal, for Rs 6,887 crore. Subsequently, Exide Life will be merged with HDFC Life, subject to regulatory approvals.

Exide Life is a wholly-owned subsidiary of battery maker Exide Industries. This acquisition will mark one of the first and the largest acquisitions in the life insurance space.

From the total deal value of Rs 6,887 crore, HDFC Life will pay Rs 725 crore in cash, while the balance amount will be in form of shares.

HDFC Life will issue 87.02 million equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 at a price of Rs 685 per share to Exide Industries Limited.

Post the acquisition, Exide Industries will hold a 4.1 per cent stake in merged HDFC Life and mortgage lender HDFC Ltd will hold 47.9 per cent. Currently, HDFC Ltd. holds a 49.9 per cent stake in HDFC Life.

Important For All Exam 2021:

HDFC Life Headquarters: Mumbai

HDFC Life CEO: Vibha Padalkar

HDFC Life Founded: 2000

Vartika Shukla becomes first woman CMD of Engineers India Ltd

Vartika Shukla took charge as the first woman Chairperson and Managing Director of public sector enterprise Engineers India Ltd. She spearheaded the company’s innovative energy programmes, including biofuels, coal gasification, waste to fuel and hydrogen energy, among others.

A graduate in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Shukla joined EIL in 1988 and has extensive consulting experience comprising design, engineering, and implementation of complexes in refining, gas processing, petrochemicals and fertilisers.

Important For All Exam 2021:

Engineers India Ltd Founded: 1965

Maharashtra to set up science city named after Rajiv Gandhi in Pune

The Maharashtra Government has decided to set up a world-class science city at Pimpri-Chinchwad near Pune to develop a scientific outlook among the students and prepare them to become students in future.

To be named as ‘Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Science Innovation City’, a science Centre will be developed on the one-acre area in an eight-acre complex in the PCMC area. The Centre has granted assistance of Rs 191 crore to build the Science city in the PCMC area.

Important For All Exam 2021:

• Maharashtra Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari
• Maharashtra Capital: Mumbai
• Maharashtra CM: Uddhav Thackeray

IMF increases India’s quota of Special Drawing Rights (SDR)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made an allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 12.57 billion to India. (approx USD 17.86 billion). With this, the total SDR holding of India has gone upto SDR 13.66 billion (equivalent to around USD 19.41 billion).

SDR is one of the components of the Foreign Exchange Reserves (FER) of India. Hence the Foreign Exchange Reserves (FER) has also increased now. IMF has allocated a total of SDR 456 billion to all its member countries out of which India has got SDR 12.57.

Important For All Exam 2021:

• IMF Headquarters: Washington, D.C. U.S
• IMF Managing Director and Chairman: Kristalina Georgieva
• IMF Chief Economist: Gita Gopinath

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.