DAILY GK 10-11 OCTOBER 2024
1. RAFAEL NADAL ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
·
Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has announced
his retirement from professional tennis after an illustrious career spanning 23
years.
·
He confirmed that he would step away
from the sport at the conclusion of the ongoing season, specifically after the
upcoming Davis Cup final.
·
He won 22 Grand Slam Titles
·
He won 14 French Open Titles
2. SINGAPORE OPEN BILLIARDS
·
Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advaniclinched the prestigious Songhe Singapore Open title
by defeating Jaden in the final held
in Singapore.
3.
DRDO SUCCESSFULLY FLIGHT-TESTS 4TH GENERATION VSHORADS
·
The Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted three
flight tests of the advanced 4th Generation technically-advanced
miniaturised Very Short Range Air
Defence System (VSHORADS) at the Pokhran
Field Firing Ranges in Rajasthan,
·
The
VSHORADS, designed as a Man Portable Air
Defence System, was developed by Hyderabad, Telangana based Research
Centre Imarat (RCI) in collaboration with other DRDO labs.
·
These
are fully digital and heat-seeking. It has aa strike range up to 6 km.
·
DRDO
is a Research and Development (R&D) wing of the Ministry of Defence
(MoD).
·
Chairman– Dr Samir V Kamat
·
Headquarters– New Delhi
·
Established– 1958
4.
INDIAN
ARMY GETS HIGH-ALTITUDE FIRING RANGE IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH
·
The
Indian Army (IA) has opened a new artillery firing range in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh
(AR), which falls under the Eastern Command of the IA.
·
This is
the first artillery firing range in a high-altitude area.
5.
INDIA’S
5TH LUNAR MISSION ‘LUPEX’
·
The National
Space Commission, India’s apex body on space missions, has approved the
Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (Lupex), India’s 5th Lunar mission.
·
This will
be conducted in collaboration
between the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) and Japan’s
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
·
The Lupex
rover will weigh about 350 kg, much larger than the 26 kg Pragyanrover
from Chandrayaan-3.
·
Lunar
South Pole Target: The
mission will land at the Moon’s south pole to investigate water and other
resources, as well as analyze the interaction of water with lunar regolith.
6. WORLD’S HIGHEST IMAGING CHERENKOV
TELESCOPE IN LADAKH
·
Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Secretary of the
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission,
inaugurated the Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) Observatory in Hanle, Ladakh.
·
This monumental facility is the largest
imaging Cherenkov telescope in Asia and
stands as the highest of its kindin the world, located at an altitude of
approximately 4,300 meters.
7. MARBURG VIRUS OUTBREAK IN RWANDA
·
The recent outbreak of Marburg virus in
Rwanda has raised significant alarm, marking the first reported cases in the
country.
·
The
Marburg virus is one of the deadliest pathogens known,
causing severe hemorrhagic fever with a case fatality rate ranging from 24% to
88%.
·
Marburg
virus disease (MVD) is a highly infectious illness
caused by the Marburg virus, a
member of the Filoviridae family, which
includes the Ebola virus.
·
Initial infections typically stem from
contact with Rousettus bats, but
human-to-humantransmission can occur through direct contact with infected
bodily fluids or contaminated surfaces.
8. MALABAR 2024 NAVAL DRILL
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MALABAR exercise started in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
·
Exercise will see the participation of India ,Australia, Japan, and the United States of America beginning with
the Harbour Phase in Visakhapatnam, followed by the sea phase.
·
It was started in 1992.
·
In 1992 started as a bilateral naval
exercise between India and the US navy.
·
It was expanded into a trilateral format with the inclusion of
Japan in 2015.
·
In
2020, the Australian
Navy joined the Malabar Exercise, making it a quadrilateral naval exercise.
9.
BRIAN
LARA MEMOIR TITLED “LARA: THE ENGLAND CHRONICLES”
·
Former
Trinidadian cricketer, Brian Charles Lara, nicknamed “The Prince of Port of Spain” or “The Prince”,
has penned his memoir titled “LARA: The England Chronicles”.
·
The book
offers insight into Brian Lara’s childhood, his ambitions of playing for the
West Indies, his batting highs, and his captaincy.
10.
INTEREST RATE ON SMALL SAVINGS SCHEMES
·
The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA-Budget
Division), Ministry of Finance (MoF) has kept the interest rate on Small Savings Schemes (SSS) unchanged for
its 3rd Quarterof financial Year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) i.e. from
1st October, 2024 to 31st December, 2024 from
those notified for Q2FY25.
·
This is for the 3rd consecutive
quarter of FY25 that interest rate on SSCs remain unchanged.
·
Interest Rates on Small Savings Schemes for Q3 FY25 - Savings Deposit -4%
·
1-Year Post Office Time Deposits (POTD)-6.9%
·
2-Year Post Office Time Deposits (POTD) -7.0%
·
KisanVikas Patra (KVP) - 7.5% (will mature in 115 months)
·
Public Provident Fund (PPF) - 7.1%
·
SukanyaSamriddhiYojana (SSY) - 8.2%
·
National Savings Certificate (NSC) - 7.7%
·
Senior Citizens’ Savings Scheme (SCSS)-8.2%
·
MahilaSamman Savings Certificate (MSSC)-7.5%
·
Small Savings Schemes are savings
instruments managed by the GoI to encourage citizens to save
regularly.
·
These SSSs are broadly
classified into 3 categories: savings
deposits, social security schemes, and monthly
income plan.
·
Interest rates for SSSs are notified on
a quarterly basis by the GoI.
·
The
methodology to determine the interest rates for
SSSs was recommended by ShyamalaGopinath Committee
in January 2023.
·
The committee suggested that interest
rates for these schemes should range from 25 to 100 bps above
the yields on corresponding government bonds.
11. NEW UPI AUTOPAY RULE
·
The National Payments Corporation of
India (NPCI) has announced changes to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Autopay framework with
immediate effect.
·
Following this, auto-replenishment of
the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) FASTag and RuPay National
Common Mobility Card (NCMC) will no longer require the standard 24-hour pre-debit notification.
12.
RBI’S MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE RECONSTITUTED
·
The Government of India(GoI) has
revamped the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary
Policy Committee (MPC), a key body that guides the country’s
monetary policy decisions, with new external members.
·
The new external members are Ram
Singh, Saugata Bhattacharya, and Nagesh Kumar.
·
The external members are appointed for a term of 4 years, with no provision for reappointment.
·
Other
3 members of the MPC are Shaktikanta Das, RBI governor; Michael
Debabrata Patra, Deputy Governor of RBI and Rajiv Ranjan, and Executive
Director monetary policy department of RBI.
·
The MPC was established in 2016, through
amendments to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act1934 primarily based on
the Urjit Patel Committee recommendations,
which aimed to enhance transparency and accountability in monetary policy.
·
The MPC’s primary goal is to maintain price stability while considering economic
growth.
·
There are 6 members in the MPC and the RBI
governor is the chairperson.
·
Three
members from the RBI(Governor, Deputy Governor and one officer to be nominated
by the central board) and three were
appointed by the GoI.
·
The MPC is
tasked with guiding India’s inflation rate, measured by the Consumer
Price Index (CPI), to a target of 4%, with a tolerance band of 2%
to 6%.
13. UPI TRANSACTIONS IN H1 2024
·
In a major boost to India’s digital payment landscape, UPI transaction volumes recorded a 52% year-on-year rise to 78.97 billion in the first half of 2024.
·
According to Worldline’s India Digital Payments Report, UPI’s value surged by 40%, growing from Rs 83.16 trillion to Rs 116.63 trillion
between January 2023 and June 2024.
·
While
PhonePe led the market, followed by Google Pay and Paytm,
the average ticket size (ATS) saw an 8%
decline, reflecting a shift toward smaller transactions.
·
UPI
transaction volumes grew from 51.9 billion in H1 2023 to 78.97 billion in H1 2024.
·
Value
also rose from Rs12.98 trillion to Rs 20.07 trillion.
·
Despite this, ATS decreased from Rs 1,603 to Rs 1,478.
·
P2P
transactions increased marginally
·
P2M
transactions saw a 4% drop in ATS.
·
In-store
categories like grocery and clothing accounted for 53% of transaction value, while online sectors like e-commerce and utilities made
up 81% of the volume.
·
Additionally, the number of POS terminals increased by 17% during the same period.
