Daily GK 08TH Oct. 2020
1. 42ND GST COUNCIL MEETING
• In the current fiscal (FY21), the states are
facing Rs 2.35 lakh crore Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue shortfall, out
of which, Rs 97,000 crore is on account of GST shortfall, while Rs 1.38 lakh
crore is due to COVID-19 pandemic.
• It was decided that this year’s compensation
cess collected amounting to Rs 20,000 crore will be disbursed to the states.
• The transition period of five years for levy
of Compensation Cess will be extended i.e. beyond June, 2022.
2. ‘INDIA PV
EDGE 2020’
• NITI Aayog, Ministry of New & Renewable
Energy (MNRE) and Invest India jointly organized a Global Symposium ‘India PV
Edge 2020’ virtually. It was organized to inform global Photovoltaics (PV)
about opportunities in India.
• Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge)
for New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) NITI
Aayog, Amitabh Kant, Managing Director (MD) & CEO of Invest India Deepak Bagla
attended the session.
• India is the third largest solar capacity
country in the world.
• It has set an ambitious target of 450 GW of
renewable capacity by 2030, which includes 300 GW of solar capacity.
• India’s renewable capacity installation has
increased by 2.5 times and solar capacity has increased by 13 times in the last
six years.
3. INDIAN BANK’S BUSINESS MENTORING PROGRAMME ‘MSME
PRERANA’
• Nirmala Sitharaman, launched “MSME Prerana” an
online business mentoring programme for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs) by Indian Bank in collaboration with Poornatha& Co, at the bank’s
headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
• It is the first-of-its-kind initiative by a
bank in India for the MSME sector.
4. 2020 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY
• Goran K. Hansson, secretary-general of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020
jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer A. Doudna of the
United States for the development of a method for genome editing, namely
‘CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors’.
• The method is one of gene technology’s
sharpest tools.
• This is the 1st time 2 women have jointly won
the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
5. NEW CHAIRMAN OF SBI
• The Government of India appointed Dinesh Kumar
Khara, the current Managing Director of State Bank of India as the new Chairman
of SBI for a period of three years effective from 7th October 2020.
• Dinesh Kumar Khara succeeds Rajnish Kumar as
the new Chairman, whose 3-year term ended on 7th October 2020.
• The appointment of Dinesh Kumar was
recommended by the Bank Board Bureau.
6. NEW MD OF INDIA POST PAYMENTS BANK
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
approved the appointment of J Venkatramu as Managing Director (MD) & Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) for a period of
three years.
• JVenkatramu will succeed Suresh Sethi, who
served the post till March, 2020.
• Venkatramu is currently serving as Chief
Digital Officer at Equitas Small Finance Bank.
• IPPB was incorporated as Payments Banking
Company under Section 22 (1) of Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
7. TSIRKON HYPERSONIC CRUISE MISSILE
• Russia successfully test-fired the Tsirkon
(Zircon) Hypersonic Cruise Missile.
• The missile successfully hit a target in the
Barents Sea.
• The test was carried out from Frigate Admiral
Gorshkov Vessel located in White Sea, Northern Russia.
• The Missile successfully hit its target at a
range of 450 Kilometres in Four and Half Minutes, and reached hypersonic speeds
of more than Mach 8.
