DAILY GK: 7 DEC 2021
1. IMPLEMENTATION of Advanced
Biodigester Mk-II Technology
• DRDO & Maharashtra Metro Rail
Corporation (MAHA-METRO) signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) through
which DRDO will provide technical support for the implementation of advanced biodigester
Mk-II technology for treatment of human waste (night soil) in the metro rail
network.
• The biodigester units (a non-sewered
sanitation technology) will help in conserving water & protecting the
environment.
2. HARSH VARDHAN INAUGURATES CEPI CENTRALIZED
NETWORK LAB
• Dr. Harsh Vardhan virtually inaugurated
the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) Laboratory at the
Translational Health Science & Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad.
• This is the 1st of its Kind in India &
one of the Seven labs of the Global network.
• The lab is part of the Global network
developed by CEPI Foundation, the immediation mission of the CEPI Lab at THSTI
will be to assess the quality of vaccines being developed against COVID-19.
3. UJALA PROGRAMMES MARKS THEIR 6TH
ANNIVERSARY
• UnnatJyoti by Affordable LEDs for All
(UJALA) and Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) of Government of India
marks their 6th anniversary.
• Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)
implements these programmes since their inception on January 5, 2015.
• EESL, under UJALA has distributed more
than 36.69 crore Light-Emitting
Diode(LED) bulbs across India.EESL, with SLNP installed about 1.14 crore LED streetlights across India.
4. RBI TO INTRODUCE LEI IN
RTGS/NEFT
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the
introduction of Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for all payment transactions of
Rs 50 crore and above undertaken by entities through Real Time Gross Settlement
(RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT).
• The directions for the same have been
issued by RBI under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and
Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).
• The LEI system will be effective from
April 1, 2021.
• It is a unique 20-digit global reference number
to identify legal entities participating in financial transactions.
• It makes the identification of an entity
easy in the global database.
5. RBI ANNOUNCES OPERATIONALIZATION
OF PIDF SCHEME
• RBI announced Operationalization of the
Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme with an initial corpus
of INR 345 Crores for three years starting from January 1, 2021 & may be
extended for two more years depending upon the progress.
• An Advisory Council (AC) under the
chairmanship of RBI Deputy Governor BP Kanungo will be responsible for managing
the functioning of PIDF.
• Objective:To increase the number of
Payment Acceptance Devices in the country.To increase payments acceptance
infrastructure by adding 30 Lakh touch points – 10 Lakh Physical & 20 Lakh
Digital Payment acceptance devices each year.
6. INDIA EXPECTED TO GROW AT 5.4 %
IN FISCAL YEAR 2021-22
• According to the Global Economic Prospects
(GEP-January 2021) report released by the World Bank (WB), India is expected to
grow at 5.4% in the Financial Year (FY) 2021-22 & 5.2% in FY 2022-23 after
an expected contraction of 9.6% in FY 2020/21.
• The report also highlighted that the
Global Economy is expected to expand by 4% in 2021.
• The major causes of India’s contraction
are sharp declines in household spending & private investment.
