DAILY GK: 31 DEC 2020
1. GST RULES AMENDED
• Ministry of Finance made amendments in the
Goods and Services Tax (GST) Rules on the recommendations of the GST Council’s
Law Committee in order to curb evasion by fake invoicing.
• The changes have been notified by the
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
• The amendment has introduced Rule 86B in
GST Rules w.e.f. January 1, 2021, which restricts use of input tax credit (ITC)
for discharging GST liability to 99% for businesses with monthly turnover of
over Rs 50 lakh.
• Means these businesses will have to
mandatorily pay at least 1% of their GST liability in cash.
2. INDIA’S 1ST POLLINATOR PARK
• India’s 1st Pollinator Park was
inaugurated at Haldwani in Nainital district, Uttarakhand by Peter Smetacek, a
butterfly expert.
• The park has been developed by the
Research Wing of Uttarakhand’s Forest Department.
• Sanjiv Chaturvedi, Chief Conservator of
Forest (Research), head of Research Wing, Uttarakhand India was also present
during the inauguration.
• The main objective of the park is to
conserve various pollinator species, create awareness among people and promote
further research on various aspects
3. INDIA’S 1ST ETHANOL PLANT UNDER
PPP MODEL
• Bhoramdeo Sahakari Sakhar Utpadak Karkhana
Maryadit (BSSUKM), a sugar mill signed Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with
NKJ Biofuel Ltd, a subsidiary of
Chhattisgarh Distillery Limited(CDL) to set up India’s 1st ethanol plant
under Public-Private Partnership(PPP) model at BSSUKM in Kabirdham(Kawardha),
Chhattisgarh.
4. MYANMAR INDUCTS ‘INS SINDHUVIR’
INTO ITS NAVY
• Myanmar officially inducted the Kilo Class
‘INS Sindhuvir’ into its Navy under the name ‘UMS Minye Theinkhathu’.
• The submarine was handed over by India to
Myanmar in October, 2020.
• It is the 1st & only submarine of the
Myanmar Navy.
• It is also the 1st time that India has
given a Submarine to any other country.
• It was given to Myanmar under India’s
vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region).
• It is a Soviet-era kilo class submarine
and has served Indian Navy since 1988.
5. TOP THREE BANKS OF 2020
• In accordance with the Banking, financial
services and insurance (BFSI) Movers and Shakers 2020 Report by Wizikey,
Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC), Industrial Credit and
Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), and State Bank of India (SBI) are the
top three banks of 2020.
• Among wallets, Google Pay has emerged as
the number one followed by Phone Pe.
• In Neo Banks category, SBI’s YONO emerged
as the number one followed by Niyo and Kotak 811 at ranks two and three,
respectively.
• A neobank operates exclusively online
without traditional physical branch networks
6. HARSH VARDHAN NOMINATED TO THE
BOARD OF GAVI
• GAVI(formerly theGlobal Alliance for
Vaccines and Immunisation),the vaccine alliance nominated Harsh Vardhan, Union
Minister of Health and Family Welfare as a member on the GAVI Board.
• He will represent the South East Area Regional Office(SEARO)/
Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) constituency on the GAVI Board.
• He will succeed MyintHtwe, Union Minister
of Health and Sports, Govt of Republic of the Union of Myanmar.
7. TATA SONS ACQUIRED FURTHER
32.67% STAKE IN AIRASIA INDIA
• Tata Sons acquired an additional 32.67%
stake in AirAsia India Limited from AirAsia Investment Ltd (AAIL), subsidiary
of AirAsia Group Berhad for USD 37.66 million(about Rs 275 crore).
• Earlier Tata Sons was holding 51% in
AirAsia India, with this acquisition Tata Sons will hold 83.67% stake.
8. HARSH VARDHAN LAUNCHES ‘DIGITAL
OCEAN’
• Union Minister for Earth Science, Dr Harsh
Vardhan virtually launched ‘Digital Ocean’ (www.do.incois.gov.in) a 1st of its
kind Digital platform for Ocean Data Management.
• The platform has been developed by INCOIS
(Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services).
• The platform will serve as a one
stop-solution for all data related needs of a wide range of users such as
research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, academic
community, maritime industry & public.
9. INDIA’S FIRST INDIGENOUS
RUTHENIUM 106 PLAQUE
• An eye cancer therapy namely “Ruthenium
plaque therapy” developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has been
successfully used for the first time for the treatment of patients with ocular
tumours in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Delhi.
• The therapy used Ruthenium 106 plaque for
treatment of a patient with choroidal hemangioma (benign tumour in blood
vessels).
• It involves placing a radioactive source
like Ruthenium-106 (a radioisotope) in contact with the surface of the eyeball
for cancer therapy.
