DAILY GK 25 JAN 2020

DAILY GK 25 JAN 2020

1.    Summit on women in STEM

ü Department of Biotechnology under the aegis of Ministry of Science & Technology has organized a 2-day long International Summit on Women in STEM–“Visualizing the Future: New Skylines” at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi with the aim to increase the participation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) field for development of scientific career.

2.    India’s first e-waste clinic

ü India’s first e-waste clinic was opened in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.The e-waste clinic was jointly set up by the Central Pollution Board Control -CPCB and Bhopal Municipal Corporation -BMC.

3.    National Girl Child Day-January 24, 2020

ü The Ministry announced an initiative called “Establishment of Chairs in the Universities in the name of eminent women” which encourages women to carry out research activities.

4.    Horticultural production data

ü According to the State-wise horticulture production data released at a conference organised by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, the state of West Bengal (WB) has been at the forefront of vegetable production in 2018-19 (3^rd  advance estimates), where the production of vegetables was 29.55 million tonnes (MT).

ü Andhra Pradesh (AP) continued to hold the top spot in fruits with 17.61MT in 2018-19.It was followed by Maharashtra (10.82 mt) and UP (10.65 mt).

5.    Measles and Rubella vaccine to Maldives

ü India (GoI) has supplied 30,000 doses of Measles and Rubella (MR) vaccine within 72 hours on the emergency request of the Maldives government. These vaccines are supplied by Serum Institute of India Private Limited, Pune, Maharashtra.

6.    WEF annual meeting 2020

ü The 50th edition of the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting  was held in Davos-Klosters,in Switzerland from January 21-24, 2020. The theme for the year 2020 was  “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World”.

ü 1st global consortium was formed and it works on designing a framework for digital currency governance that also includes stablecoins.

ü The republic of India has joined as a founding govt member of the WEF’s ‘Reskilling Revolution’.

ü Madhya Pradesh(MP) govt has made investments worth Rs. 4,125 crores at WEF from various investors.

ü The govt of Karnataka signed a pact with WEF to start “Centre for Internet of ethical things”.

7.    Bangladesh launched e-passport in Dhaka

ü PM of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina have launched e-passport in Dhaka, Bangladesh as Mujib Century year gift to the country. Bangladesh is the first country in South Asia and 119th country in the world to have e-passport facility. Malaysia is the first country in the world to launch this facility in 1998.

8.    Western Union joins hands with Airtel payments bank

ü Western Union Company, a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, has partnered with Bharti Airtel’s 2 arms– Airtel Payments Bank & Airtel Africa Plc, to enable millions of latter’s customers in India to receive international remittances in their bank accounts & and Mobile Wallets across 14 countries in Africa.

9.    India & WB signed $210 million loan pact

ü Govt of Maharashtra and the World Bank(WB) signed a loan agreement of $210 million for Maharashtra’s Agribusiness & rural transformation project. This project will help the farmers in Maharashtra to take part in competitive agriculture value chains.

10. Asset management platform “PIONEER”

ü IndusInd Bank Limited has launched the asset management platform under the name “PIONEER’ Banking.
PIONEER customers can get a benefit to link up to 10 family members & Business accounts and extend the same benefits to all of them.

11. Pakistan successfully launched ballistic missile “Ghaznavi”

12.  ‘GATI’ web portal to monitor

ü Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road has launched an online web portal ‘GATI’ to monitor Rs 3 Lakh Crore projects on the pattern of ‘PRAGATI’, the portal used by the Prime Ministers’ Officer (PMO) for monitoring projects.
 

13. New novel ‘Balwa’ to be released

ü The Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will soon release his Hindi novel Balwa, a fiction story based on the happenings in India in the 1990s. It will be published by Diamond Pocket Books.

14. 10th National Voters’ Day-January 25, 2020

ü Theme: ”Electoral Literacy for Stronger Democracy”.