DAILY GK: 06 , 07 , 08 JAN 2022
1. ANTIGUA & BARBUDA BECOMES 102ND MEMBER OF
INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE
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The Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda
joined the International Solar Alliance (ISA) as the 102nd member by signing
the International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement, the India-led global
green energy initiative.
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ISA was jointly launched by India and France
in 2015 during the 21st session of the United Nations Climate Change COP-21 in
Paris, France to promote solar energy.
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The ISA is an action-oriented, member-driven,
collaborative platform for solar resource-rich countries to address special
energy needs and to provide a platform for collaboration.
2. RBI GRANTED SCHEDULED PAYMENT BANK STATUS TO
AIRTEL PAYMENTS BANK
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the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted a
Scheduled Payment Bank status to Airtel Payments Bank by including it into the
Second Schedule to the RBI Act, 1934.
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With this inclusion, it becomes the 4th
payment bank to get this status.
·
Apart from Airtel Payments Bank, other payment
banks that are in the List of Second Schedule of the RBI Act are Paytm Payments
Bank Limited (PPBL), India Post Payments Bank Limited (IPPBL), and Fino Payments
Bank Limited (FPBL).
3. SBI, ICICI AND HDFC BANK CONTINUE TO BE
DOMESTIC SYSTEMICALLY IMPORTANT BANKS
·
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that
SBI (State Bank of India), ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation
of India) and HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited) banks will
continue to be identified as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs).
·
Therefore they will have to maintain
additional Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratios in the same manner
prescribed in 2020.
·
For SBI, the additional CET1 requirement is
maintained at 0.6% of the bank’s risk weighted assets, while for HDFC Bank and
ICICI Bank, the requirement is kept at 0.2%.
4. AJAY KUMAR CHOUDHARY & DEEPAK KUMAR
APPOINTED AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS OF RBI
·
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed
Deepak Kumar, Chief General Manager, Department of Information Technology, RBI
and Ajay Kumar Choudhary, Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of
Supervision, RBI, as the new Executive Directors (ED) of RBI with effect from
3rd January 2022.
·
Choudary will look after the fintech
department, risk monitoring department and inspection department and
Deepak Kumar will look after Foreign Exchange Department, Department of
Communication and Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of the RBI.
5. BOOK TITLED “GANDHI’S ASSASSIN: THE MAKING OF
NATHURAM GODSE AND HIS IDEA OF INDIA”
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Dhirendra K. Jha, a journalist, has authored a
new book titled “Gandhi’s Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea
of India”. The book is published by Vintage Books.
6. THEME OF NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY 2022 LAUNCHED
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Minister of State (MoS)
(Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) Dr
Jitendra Singh launched the theme of National Science Day 2022 in New Delhi
raising public appreciation of the scientific issues.
·
The National Science Day
(NSD) is observed every year on 28th February to mark the discovery of the
Raman effect.
·
Theme –
‘Integrated Approach in Science and Technology (S&T) for Sustainable
Future’.
7. NEW CORONAVIRUS VARIANT NAMED
IHU, DISCOVERED IN FRANCE
·
The Scientists of France have
discovered a new variant of the Coronavirus, named IHU – B.1.640.2 variant. The
new variant named IHU was discovered by the academics at the institute IHU
Mediterranee Infection, Marseille, France.
·
IHU variant contains 46
mutations (more than the Omicron) and 37 deletions resulting in 30 amino acid
substitutions and 12 deletions.
8. RELIANCE JIO INTRODUCES UPI
AUTOPAY IN COLLABORATION WITH NPCI
·
The National Payments Corporation
of India (NPCI) and Reliance Jio collaborated to announce the introduction of
Unified Payment Interface (UPI) Autopay for the telecom industry.
·
Through this collaboration,
Reliance Jio has become the 1st telecom company to launch a UPI autopay facility
for both prepaid and postpaid subscribers.
·
Jio customers can now autopay
for their tariff plans on the MyJio app and avail touch-free auto-recharge and
bill payments facility.
9. GOVT REAPPOINTS VIJAY PAUL
SHARMA AS CHAIRMAN OF CACP
·
The Central government has
reappointed Vijay Paul Sharma as Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural
Costs and Prices (CACP) after he resigned in May 2021 completing his five-year
term (2016-2021).
10. GANJAM DECLARED ITSELF AS
ODISHA’S 1ST CHILD MARRIAGE FREE DISTRICT
·
Ganjam district of Odisha has
declared itself as the 1st child marriage free district of Odisha. The
declaration has been made after collecting detailed information on all weddings
that took place in 2020 and 2021. The best practice in the district has been to
register each and every marriage.
·
The Ganjam administration has
increased the reward for informing about the occurrence of child marriage from
Rs 5000 to Rs 50000.
11. INDIA’S FIRST ‘OPEN ROCK MUSEUM’ INAUGURATES AT HYDERABAD
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Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science &
Technology Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated India’s first & unique ‘Open Rock
Museum’ at the campus of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research –
National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI), Hyderabad, Telangana
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The Open Rock Museum displays around 35 different types of
rocks from different parts of India with ages ranging from 3.3 Billion years to
around 55 Million years of the Earth’s history.
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The Rock Museum aims at educating the masses about several
lesser known facts about the Rocks
12.
ANTI-SUBMARINE EXERCISE ‘SEA DRAGON 22’
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Exercise, ‘Sea Dragon 22’ started in Andersen Air Force Base,
Guam, in the western Pacific.
·
The six nations that are participating in the exercise are
the US, Australia, Canada, India, Japan and South Korea.
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It is a US – led exercise that focuses on ASW training and
maritime security challenges in the Indo – Pacific region. The exercise
includes 270 hours of in-flight training.
·
Dragon Belt Award: Under the exercise, the Dragon Belt Award will
be presented to the highest point scorer from several events conducted between
the military forces of the participating countries.
13.
SKOCH AWARD FOR GOVERNANCE
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The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) – Forensic Service,
Delhi, has won the SKOCH Award 2021(Silver) in the Governance category for its
work towards combating Crime and Violence against Children.
·
The award was presented during the 78th SKOCH Summit held on
6th January 2022.
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The summit was organised with the theme “State of
Governance”.
·
The SKOCH Literature Award 2021 was presented to the
book titled ‘Rising to the China Challenge: Winning Through Strategic Patience
and Flexible Policies’ authored by leading members of Pune International
Centre(PIC).
14.
ZHANG MING APPOINTED AS NEW SECRETARY GENERAL
OF SCO
·
The senior Chinese diplomat, Zhang Ming was appointed as
the new secretary general (SG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
·
Zhang Ming will hold the post of SG of the SCO for a term of
3 years.
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India will host the SCO Summit in 2023.
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India and Pakistan joined as the permanent members of SCO in
the Astana summit in 2017.
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Member countries (8)– Kazakhstan, China, The Kyrgyz Republic,
Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India.
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Observer States (4)– Afghanistan, Belarus, Mongolia and Iran.
15.
T. S. TIRUMURTI TAKES OVER CHAIR OF UN COUNTER
TERRORISM COMMITTEE FOR 2022
·
India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN),
TS Tirumurti taken over the Chair of the United Nations Counter Terrorism
Committee (UNCTC) for 2022.
·
The Unites Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee (UN CTC)
consisted all 15 members (Permanent and Non-permanent) of the United Nations
Security Council (UNSC).
·
UNCTC was established by Resolution 1373 on 28 September 2001
as counter measure of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York (United states).
16.
CHINESE “ARTIFICIAL SUN”
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The experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST),
which is known as the Chinese ‘Artificial Sun’ has achieved a continuous
high-temperature plasma operation for 1056 seconds at a stunning 70 million
degrees Celsius. This sets a new world record for the longest time of operation
of its kind in the world.
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The EAST is located at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, Anhui Province, China.
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Goal of EAST: To create nuclear fusion like the Sun, using
deuterium abound in the sea to provide a steady stream of clean energy.
17.
2021 WORLD RAPID CHESS CHAMPION
·
Nodirbek Abdusattorov, from Uzbekistan, won the World Rapid
Chess Champion of 2021 by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) and dethroning Magnus Carlsen, the current
World Number 1.
·
2020 FIDE Champion was won by Magnus Carlsen
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The Uzbeki Grand Master (GM), received the Mard Uglon (“Brave
Son”) Presidential medal.
