Latest Current Affairs For Thursday 18th November, 2021

Centre approves new Rajya Sainik Board for Ladakh

Centre has approved new Rajya Sainik Board for Ladakh, that will be an effective link between the Centre and Ladakh Administration. 

It will play an advisory role on the matters of ex-servicemen, war widows, widows and non-combatants, including serving soldiers and their dependents.

Zila sainik welfare offices of Leh and Kargil will function under newly constituted Rajya Sainik Board. 

It provide access to the welfare schemes under Raksha Mantri Ex-servicemen Welfare Fund. 

Kotak Mahindra Bank, PVR Cinemas launch co-branded movie debit card

Kotak Mahindra Bank and PVR Cinemas has launched co-branded movie debit card. 

Kotak PVR debit cardholders will get automatically enrolled to the PVR Privilege Plus programme. 

With this, cardholders will receive joining vouchers and earn points on every transaction on the debit card at PVR and outside PVR as well, with no upper limit on the points earned. 

Points earned can be redeemed all year round on PVR movie tickets and on food and beverages at PVR.

National Epilepsy Day: 17th November

National Epilepsy Day is observed every year on 17th November in India to create awareness about epilepsy. 

The day was founded by Epilepsy Foundation.

Epilepsy: It is a chronic disorder of brain characterized by recurrent ‘seizures’ or ‘fits’ and is caused due to a variety of factors such as brain infections, strokes and brain tumours, brain damage.

Month of November is observed as ‘National Epilepsy Awareness Month’.

World Famous Legendary Author Wilbur Smith passes away

Internationally acclaimed Zambia-born South African author Wilbur Smith (88 years) passed away.

She was the global bestselling author and has authored 49 novels and sold over 140 million copies worldwide in more than 30 languages.

He rose to fame in 1964 with his debut novel named ‘When the Lion Feeds’ which turned in movie with 15 sequels.

She published his autobiography named ‘On Leopard Rock’ in 2018.

Eminent Hindi writer Mannu Bhandari passes away

Renowned Hindi author Mannu Bhandari (90 years) passed away after hospitalisation at Gurugram hospital

She was best known for her novels ‘Aapka Bunty’ and ‘Mahabhoj’.

1974 Hindi feature film ‘Rajnigandha’ was an adaptation from her novel ‘Yahi Sach Hai’.

Other works: Ek Plate Sailab (1962), Teen Nigahen Ek Tasveer (1969), and Trishanku (1999).

M. Mukundan’s ‘Delhi: A soliloquy’ wins 2021 JCB Prize for Literature

Novel titled as ‘Delhi: A Soliloquy’ written by Malayalam writer M Mukundan has won 2021 JCB Prize for literature. 

This book was originally written in Malayalam and has been translated into English by Fathima E.V. and Nandakumar. 

JCB Prize for Literature:

It was established in 2018.

It is the most expensive Indian award for writing.

It carries a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh for author and Rs 10 lakh for translator.

HDFC Bank launches 2nd edition of ‘Mooh Band Rakho’ campaign

HDFC Bank has launched second edition of its ‘Mooh Band Rakho’ campaign to raise awareness on fraud prevention in support of International Fraud Awareness Week 2021 (14th to 20th November 2021). 

Aim: To increase awareness of its customers on all types of frauds and the importance of keeping your mouth shut to ensure their prevention, not to share confidential banking Information. 

HDFC Bank will organize 2,000 workshops in the next four months under this campaign. 

Total corpus of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund reaches 614 crore

Total corpus of RBI’s Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) has reached Rs 614 crore.

PIDF scheme was launched by RBI in January 2021 to subsidize deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure (PoS) in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres with a special focus on Indian North-Eastern States.

RBI will make an initial contribution of Rs. 250 crores to the PIDF covering half the fund and the remaining contribution will be from card-issuing banks and card networks. 

RBI introduces Internal Ombudsman mechanism for select NBFCs

RBI has introduced Internal Ombudsman mechanism for two types of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs):

Deposit-taking NBFCs (NBFCs-D) with 10 or more branches and Non-Deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND) with asset size of Rs.5,000 crore and above having public customer interface. 

These two NBFCs will have to appoint Internal Ombudsman (IO), who will be responsible for handling the public grievance at the entity level before the grievance is escalated to Ombudsman. 

‘Kaiser-i-Hind’ declared as Arunachal Pradesh’s State Butterfly

Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu has approved declaration of Kaiser-i-Hind butterfly as the State butterfly of Arunachal. 

Scientific name of Kaiser-i-Hind butterfly is Teinopalpus imperialis.

It literally means Emperor of India.

This species of butterfly has a 90-120 mm wingspan.

They are found in 6 Indian States along the Eastern Himalayas at elevations from 6,000-10,000 feet in well-wooded terrain: Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim and Manipur.

PM Modi inaugurates Purvanchal Expressway in Uttar Pradesh

PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated Purvanchal Expressway at KarwalKheri in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. 

This 341 km long Purvanchal Express and will connect Lucknow with Ghazipur.

It has been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 22,500 crore.

Expressway starts from village Chaudsarai, located on Lucknow-Sultanpur road (NH-731) and ends at village Hydaria located on National Highway No. 31.

A 3.2-km long airstrip has also been constructed on the expressway. 

VP Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates Bengaluru Tech Summit

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated three days annual flagship Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) 2021.

Organized by: Department of Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T, Government of Karnataka and Co-Hosted by STPI. 

It will be held from 17th to 19th November 2021.

Central theme of BTS 2021: Driving the Next.

It is the 24th edition of BTS which is being conducted in a hybrid format and will see participation from 30 countries.

VVS Laxman named as new head of National Cricket Academy (NCA)

Former Indian international cricketer VVS Laxman (47 years) has been named as the next head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

He will assume the office as NCA’s head on 4th December 2021.

He will replace Rahul Dravid, who has been appointed as Team India’s national men’s head coach. 

NCA:

It was the brainchild of cricket administrator and former BCCI President Raj Singh Dungarpur. 

HQs: Bengaluru

Established: 2000

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.