Latest Current Affairs For Friday 10th December, 2021

Padma Shri awardee Nanda Kishore Prusty passes away

Padma Shri awardee who is a well-known teacher from Odisha, Nanda Kishore Prusty (Nanda Sir), passed away. On 9th November 2021, he was conferred with the Padma Shri award for his contributions in the field of education. He belonged to Kantira village in Jajpur district, Odisha.

Nanda Kishore Prusty, a Class 7 pass out has dedicated several decades of his life in providing free education to children and adults in Jajpur and thus best known for his selfless dedication towards eradicating illiteracy in Odisha .

SAARC Charter Day 2021: 8th December

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Charter Day is observed annually on 8th December to commemorate the adoption of the SAARC Charter. This year marks the 37th anniversary of the regional group.

The charter was signed by the Leaders of SAARC Countries Heads of State or Government of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the First SAARC Summit held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Important For All Exam 2021:

SAARC Chairmanship: Nepal;

SAARC Secretary-General: Esala Ruwan Weerakoon (Sri Lanka);

SAARC Secretariat: Kathmandu, Nepal.

Remember the Victims Prevent Genocide: 9 December

The International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime is observed annually on December 9.

The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the Genocide Convention and its role in combating and preventing the crime of genocide, as defined in the Convention, and to commemorate and honour its victims.

9 December 2021 marks the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, as well as the 73rd anniversary of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”), the first human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly.

International Anti-Corruption Day: 09 December

International Anti-Corruption Day is observed annually on 9 December to raise public awareness for anti-corruption. The day is observed since the passage of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on 31 October 2003.

The 2021 International Anti-Corruption Day seeks to highlight the rights and responsibilities of everyone – including States, Government officials, civil servants, law enforcement officers, media representatives, the private sector, civil society, academia, the public and youth – in tackling corruption.

The theme of International Anti-Corruption Day 2021: “Your right, your role: say no to corruption”.

Indian Shuttler PV Sindhu won Silver at BWF World Tour Finals 2021

Indian Shuttler and 2-time Olympic medalist Pusarla V Sindhu, world’s number 7, won the silver at the 2021 Badminton World Federation(BWF) World Tour Finals, officially known as the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2021.

The reigning world champion PV Sindhu has won the BWF World Tour finals in 2018 and became the only Indian to achieve the feat.

Ram Nath Kovind Presented ‘President’s Standard’ to Indian Navy Squadron

President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has presented the ‘President’s Standard’ to the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron of the Indian Navy, which is also known as the Killer Squadron at the ceremonial parade held at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, Maharashtra.

To mark this occasion, the postal department has released a special day cover and a commemorative stamp. The year 2021 also marks the 50 years of inception of the Missile Vessel Squadron, also known as Killers.

President’s Standard is the highest honour bestowed by the President, the Supreme Commander, to a Military unit in recognition of the Service rendered to the nation. President’s Standard is the equivalent to that of President’s colours, but this is awarded to relatively smaller military formations or units.

IIT-Kanpur Scientist Ropesh Goyal bags “Young Geospatial Scientist” Award

Ropesh Goyal from IIT-Kanpur won the ‘Young Geospatial Scientist’ award in recognition of his unique contribution to developing the Indian Geoid Model and computation software.

Member of Space Commission, Government of India, and former ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar presented the award to Goyal during the inaugural event of the DigiSmart India 2021 conference hosted by the Geospatial World.

The ‘Young Geospatial Scientist’ award and a gold medal have been presented every year since 2011 to promising scientists below 35 years of age in memory of Rachapudi Kamakshi, a strategic analyst with a strong inclination towards geography and geospatial studies.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman Ranked 37th on Forbes’ 2021 World’s 100 Most Powerful Women

Finance Minister(FM) of India, Nirmala Sitharaman has ranked 37th on the Forbes’ list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women 2021 or 18th Edition of Forbes’ list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.  She has been featured on the list for the 3rd year in a row. She was ranked 41st on the list in 2020 and 34th in 2019.

India’s seventh woman billionaire and the wealthiest self-made billionaire, Falguni Nayar, founder and CEO, Nykaa was ranked 88th on the list.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of the HCL Technology, the first woman to lead a listed IT company in India was ranked 52nd on the list.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson and founder of Biocon was ranked 72nd on the list. She founded India’s largest listed biopharmaceutical firm in India in 1978.

The 3rd richest woman in the world, MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist, author and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was topped Forbes’ 2021 World’s 100 Most Powerful Women replacing the outgoing German chancellor Angela Merkel who topped the 15 out of 17 iterations of the list.

World Inequality Report 2022 announced

France-based World Inequality Lab published its report titled “World Inequality Report 2022”. This report was authored by Lucas Chancel, who is the co-director of World Inequality Lab. It was coordinated by famed French economist Thomas Piketty.

In 2021 the top 10 per cent and top 1 per cent of the Indian population holds 57 per cent and 22 per cent of total national income respectively, whereas the share of the bottom 50 per cent has gone down to 13 per cent.

The report notes that the top 1 % of India’s population owns more than one-fifth of the total national income in 2021.

The bottom half of the population earns just 13.1 per cent.

It highlights that economic reforms and liberalization that India has adopted, have mostly benefited the top 1 per cent.

Asia Power Index 2021: India Ranked as 4th

According to Lowy Institute Asia Power Index 2021, India has ranked 4th most powerful country in the Asia-Pacific region for comprehensive power out of 26 countries, with an overall score of 37.7 out of 100.

India’s overall score declined by 2 points compared to 2020. India again falls short of the major power threshold in 2021. India is one of 18 countries in Asia to trend downward in its overall score in 2021.

The top 10 countries for overall power in the Asia-Pacific region are the United States, China, Japan, India, Russian, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.

Important For All Exam 2021:

Lowy Institute Chairman of the Board: Frank Lowy AC;

Lowy Institute Headquarters: Sydney, Austr alia.

RBI imposed restrictions on Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed several restrictions on Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, including restrictions on withdrawals up to Rs. 10,000 for customers.

RBI has issued the directions in the exercise of powers vested in it under subsection (1) of Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 for six months.

The bank shall not, without prior approval of RBI, grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment, incur any liability, disburse any payment, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of its properties or assets. The bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions till its financial position improves.

Important For All Exam 2021:

Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank Headquarters: Ahmednagar, Maharashtra;

Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank Acting CEO:  V. Rokde;

Nagar Urban Co-operative Bank Slogan: ‘One Family….. One Bank’.

Fitch Ratings cuts India’s FY22 GDP Growth Forecast to 8.4%

Fitch Ratings has slashed India’s economic growth forecast in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22) to 8.4 per cent and raised the growth projection to 10.3 per cent for FY23, compared to October 2021 rating projections of 8.7 per cent (FY22) and 10 per cent (FY23).

Important For All Exam 2021:

Fitch Ratings President: Ian Linnell;

Fitch Ratings Headquarters: New York, United States.

PayPhi launches tokenization service that supports RuPay cards

Phi Commerce’s API (Application programming interface) first digital payments platform, PayPhi has become the first certified tokenization service for NTS supporting tokenization of RuPay cards.

Tokenization of cards as an alternate to storing card details with merchants. NPCI’s NTS platform enables PayPhi Tokenization service to provide partner merchants and aggregators with TROF.

Token Reference On File (TROF) turns sensitive cardholder data into randomly generated 16 digit numbers called “token” with no meaningful value if breached.

On the lines of the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in September 2021 regarding tokenization of cards during online transactions, NPCI announced the launch of the NPCI Tokenization System (NTS).

Important For All Exam 2021:

NPCI Founded: 2008;

NPCI Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra;

NPCI MD & CEO: Dilip Asbe.

Shivalik SFB with indiagold launches loan against digital gold

Shivalik Small Finance Bank (SSFB) signed a partnership agreement with fintech firm, Indiagold to launch India’s first Loan against Digital Gold.

This agreement will enable customers to use their digital gold balance to avail of instant and digital loans up to Rs. 60,000 and also seamlessly access gold loans starting at a monthly interest of just 1%.

To provide access to secure and affordable credit to the customers looking for quick liquidity against their gold assets.

Important For All Exam 2021:

Shivalik Small Finance Bank Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh;

Shivalik Small Finance Bank MD & CEO: Suveer Kumar Gupta.

Kazhuveli Wetland declared as 16th Bird Sanctuary of Tamil Nadu

The Kazhuveli wetland situated in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu has been declared as the 16th Bird Sanctuary by Surpiya Sahu, Environment and Forest Secretary, at the Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change.

The declaration was made under subsection (1) of section 18 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The Kazhuveli wetlands is referred to as the 2nd largest Brackish Water Lake in South India, only after Pulicat lake.

Important For All Exam 2021:

Tamil Nadu Capital: Chennai;

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister: MK Stalin;

Tamil Nadu Governor: R.N.Ravi;

Tamil Nadu State Dance: Bharathanatyam.

Canada, Australia and UK join US boycott of Beijing Olympic

Canada will join the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights concerns.

The announcement came after the White House, the Australian government and the UK government confirmed diplomatic boycotts of the Winter Games in February to protest Chinese human rights abuses. China has vowed to react with “firm countermeasures.”

The diplomatic moves by Canada, the U.S., Britain and Australia do not affect their athletes’ ability to compete in the games. The 2022 Winter Olympics are an upcoming international winter multi-sport event.

This event is scheduled to take place from February 4 to 20, 2022 in Beijing, China. It will be the first Winter Olympics in China as well as the last of three consecutive Olympics which is to be held in East Asia, after the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan.

Olaf Scholz is sworn in as new German chancellor

German lawmakers officially elected Social Democrat, Olaf Scholz as the new chancellor, putting an end to 16 years of conservative rule under Angela Merkel.

He will lead a government composed of his Social Democrat Party, the business-friendly Free Democrats and the Greens, a coalition of parties never tried before at the federal level in Germany.

The 63-year-old, Scholz previously served as vice-chancellor and finance minister during the Merkel administration, was then sworn in as Germany’s next chancellor. Olaf Scholz has achieved the necessary majority of at least 369 votes. Based on article 63, paragraph 2 of the German Constitution he is elected chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Important For All Exam 2021:

Germany Capital: Berlin;

Germany Currency: Euro;

Germany President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

NITI Aayog launches ‘e-Sawaari India e-bus Coalition’

The National Institution of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog launched the ‘e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition’ in partnership with Convergence Energy Service Ltd (CESL) and World Resources Institute, India (WRI India) and with the support from Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI).

The objective of the initiative is to share knowledge of various stakeholders – Central & State Govt. agencies, transit service providers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), on accelerating the process towards seamless adoption of e-bus services in India.

Through, e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition, the central-, state-, and city-level government agencies, transit service providers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), financing institutions, and ancillary service providers will be able to share knowledge and their learnings on e-bus adoption in India.

Important For All Exam 2021:

World Resources Institute, India CEO: O P Agarwal;

World Resources Institute, India Establishment: 2011;

World Resources Institute, India Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

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.