DAILY GK 28 DECEMBER 2024
1. WORLD BANK USD 325 MILLION LOAN TO
UTTAR PRADESH
·
The World Bank (WB) approved a USD 325.10
million loan for the Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Growth and Rural Enterprise Ecosystem Strengthening (UP-AGREES)
Project, which aims to enhance crop productivity and farmers’ incomes in
Uttar Pradesh (UP).
·
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD) provided the USD 325.10 million loan with a 33.5-year maturity and
a 6-year grace period.
·
The project also seeks to attract USD 15 million in
private finance to support this initiative.
·
WB President – Ajay Banga
·
Headquarters – Washington, DC
·
Established – 1944
2. INDIA AND ADB SIGNS USD
350 MILLION LOAN AGREEMENT
·
The Government of India
(GoI) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed
a USD 350 million policy-based loan agreement under
the second subprogramme of Strengthening
Multimodal and Integrated Logistics Ecosystem (SMILE)
programme to improve and modernize
India’s logistics sector.
·
SMILE program is a Programmatic
policy-Based Loan (PBL), which comprises two
subprograms and aims to expand India’s manufacturing sector and
improve the resilience of its supply chains.
3. SEBI NOTIFIED NEW ASSET
CLASS “SIF”
·
The Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) notified a new asset
class “Specialised Investment Fund (SIF)” between
Portfolio Management Services (PMS) and Mutual
Funds (MFs).
·
As per the SEBI
directions, the new asset class will accept investments of Rs
10 lakh or above across all investment
strategies.
·
However, accredited investors are exempted from the
requirement of minimum investment amount.
·
The
primary objective of introducing this new asset
class is to bridge the gap between MFs and PMS, while ensuring robust risk
management and investor protection.
·
As per the new rules, it is mandatory for the fund manager of
SIFs to have the relevant National Institute of Securities Market (NISM) certification.
·
As per the new SIF regulations, an investment strategy is not allowed to invest more than 20% of its
Net Asset Value (NAV) in debt instruments including money market instruments as well as
non-money market instruments issued by a single issuer and are not investment
grade.
·
However, it is possible to extend the investment limit up
to 25% of the NAV of the investment strategy
with prior approval of the Board Trustees and Board of Directors of the Asset
Management Company (AMC).
·
Government
securities (G-secs) treasury bills and
triparty repo on G-secs or treasury
bills are exempted from any such investment restrictions.
4. INDIA TOPMOST RECIPIENT OF
REMITTANCES AMONG LMICS
·
According to the World
Bank (WB)’s latest data, India has emerged as the topmost recipient of remittances among Low
and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) in 2024,
with an estimated inflow of USD 129 billion, witnessed an
increase of 3.2% compared to USD 125 billion in
2023.
·
India is followed
by Mexico (USD 68 billion), China (USD
48 billion), the Philippines (USD 40 billion),
and Pakistan (USD 33 billion).
5. 208TH MEETING OF THE SEBI BOARD
·
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
Board conducted its 208th meeting
in Mumbai to develop significant measures to improve the business
environment in the capital markets.
·
SEBI is a statutory body and a market regulator, which
controls the securities market in India.
·
It was constituted as a non-statutory body on April
12, 1988 through a resolution of the Government of India and was
established as a statutory body in the year 1992.
·
Chairperson– Madhabi Puri Buch
·
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
6. RBI REPORT: STATE’S FREEBIES CROWD
OUT RESOURCES REQUIRED FOR DEVELOPMENT
·
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a
report titled “State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2024-25”.
·
The report has cautioned about sops like farm loan waiver, free electricity and transport, by
state governments could possibly crowd
out their resources for social and economic infrastructure development.
·
The theme of the report is “Fiscal Reforms
by States”.
·
The report has appreciated the state governments for the
progress made towards fiscal consolidation by containing their total Gross
Fiscal Deficit (GFD) within 3% of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) for 3 consecutive years (2021-22 to 2023-24), while limiting
their revenue deficit to 0.2% of GDP in Financial Year 2022-23
(FY23) and FY24.
·
As per the report, states have estimated a GFD of 3.2% of
GDP in FY25 compared to 2.8% of GDP in FY24.
7. 55TH GST COUNCIL MEETING
·
The 55th Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council
meeting chaired by Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman,
Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MoCA) was held in
Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
·
Among several recommendations by the GST Council, the most
notable was the reduction of GST rate on
Fortified Rice Kernels (FRK) to 5%.
·
It has decided to exempt
gene therapy completely from GST.
·
The Council has decided to reduce the rate of compensation cess on supplies to merchant exporters
to 0.1%.
·
The GST Council has decided to exempt GST on the contributions made by general insurance companies
from the 3rd-party motor vehicle premiums to the Motor Vehicle Accident
Fund (MVA Fund).
·
GST Council is a constitutional body introduced
through 101st Amendment Act, 2016 in the constitutiona.
·
It was constituted under Article 279-A of
the constitution.
8. SEBI DEFERRED ESG DISCLOSURE
DEADLINE
·
The Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has decided to postpone the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure deadline for
value chain partners of listed companies by 1 year. i.e. shifting from the
current requirement of Financial Year 2024-25 (FY25) to Financial Year 2025-26
(FY26).
·
This decision was taken during the 208th meeting of SEBI Board held in Mumbai,
Maharashtra.
·
With this, disclosure of ESG for value chain will remain
‘voluntary’, instead of the present ‘comply-and-explain’ requirement.
·
It has also decided
that ESG disclosure for “assessment or assurance” will be applicable
from FY27 instead of the current requirement of FY26.
·
The board members of SEBI has further decided to reduce the
scope of value chain to cover the top upstream and downstream partners of a
listed company, individually accounting 2% or above of the listed entity’s
purchases and sale by (by value), respectively.
·
In December 2024, SEBI notified a new asset class between
Portfolio Management Services (PMS) and Mutual Funds (MFs) and
referred it as “Specialised Investment Fund (SIF)”.
9. RBI IMPOSED PENALTY
ON INDUSIND BANK AND MANAPPURAM FINANCE
·
RBI imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 47.30 lakh on IndusInd Bank Limited and Manappuram Finance
Limited for non-compliance with certain provisions issued by RBI
directions.
·
The penalty of Rs. 27.3 lakh on IndusInd Bank was
imposed for non-compliance with specific provisions of the ‘RBI (Interest Rate
on Deposits) Directions, 2016’.
·
The penalty of Rs. 20 lakh on Manappuram Finance was
imposed for non-compliance with certain provisions of the “RBI (Know
Your Customer, KYC) Direction, 2016.”
10. INDIA AND ADB SIGNS USD 500 MILLION
LOAN
·
The Government of India (GoI) and the Asian
Development Bank(ADB) signed a USD 500 million loan to
support green and sustainable
infrastructure projects aligned with India’s climate commitments.
·
The ADB loan will be
given to the India Infrastructure
Finance Company Limited (IIFCL)
with a sovereign guarantee.
11. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN SOLIDARITY
DAY 2024 – DECEMBER 20
·
The United Nations
(UN)’s International Human Solidarity Day is annually observed across
the globe on 20 December to raise public awareness of the importance
of solidarity in addressing global challenges such as poverty, inequality, and
injustice.
·
The Independent Expert (IE) on Human Rights and
International Solidarity (HRIS) is an individual appointed by the
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to address and promote human rights
and international solidarity.
·
The Current mandate holder is Cecilia M.
Bailliet(Argentina).
·
United Nations Human Rights Council
(UNHRC) Headquarters – Geneva, Switzerland
·
Established – 2006
·
Members– 47 member states
12. UN WORLD MEDITATION DAY
– DECEMBER 21
·
The United Nations(UN) observed
the first ever ‘World Meditation Day’ on
December 21 2024 to emphasize the profound mental, physical, and social
benefits of meditation, while fostering peace and unity worldwide.
·
The United Nations
General Assembly (UNGA) declared December
21 as ‘World Meditation Day’ following the unanimous adoption of
a resolution co-sponsored by 6 countries comprising India, Sri Lanka, Liechtenstein, Andorra,
Mexico and Nepal.
·
The resolution,
introduced by Liechtenstein, was also cosponsored by
Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Burundi, the Dominican Republic, Iceland, Luxembourg,
Mauritius, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Portugal and Slovenia.
·
UNGA President – Philemon
Yang(Cameroon)
·
Headquarters- New York
·
Established- 1945
·
Members- 193
13. UN WORLD BASKETBALL DAY:
21 DECEMBER 2024
·
The 2nd
Edition of United Nations (UN) World
Basketball Day was observed annually on 21 December 2024 across
the globe to celebrate the global significance of basketball recognized by
the UN
·
On December 21 1891, Dr. James Naismith invented basketball
at the International Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Training School
in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, to keep students active during winter.
14. NATIONAL MATHEMATICS DAY
2024 – DECEMBER 22
·
National Mathematics Day(NMD),
celebrated annually on December 22 to mark the birth
anniversary of the Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan.
·
National Mathematics Day(NMD) was introduced by former Prime
Minister(PM) Manmohan Singh on 26 December 2011 at Madras University, to mark
the 125th birth anniversary of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who
was born on 22 December 1887.
15. NATIONAL FARMER’S DAY 2024 –
DECEMBER 23
·
National Farmer’s Day, also known as Kisan Diwas,
is annually observed across India on 23rd December to honor
the farmers’ contribution to the overall social and economic development of
India and commemorate the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Chaudhary
Charan Singh, the 5th Prime Minister(PM) of India.
·
The theme for National Farmers’ Day 2024 is “Empowering
‘Annadatas’ for a Prosperous Nation.
16. NATIONAL CONSUMER RIGHTS DAY 2024 –
24 DECEMBER
·
National Consumer Rights Day, also known as Bharatiya Grahak Diwas or
National Consumer Day, is annually observed across India on 24
December to raise awareness of consumer rights and responsibilities.
·
The theme of National Consumer Day 2024 was
“Virtual Hearings & Digital Access to Consumer Justice”.
17. FORMER HARYANA CM OM PRAKASH
CHAUTALA PASSED AWAY
·
Om Prakash Chautala,a five-time Chief Minister (CM) of
Haryana, passed away at the age of 89
·
In 1970, Om Prakash Chautala began his political
career by winning his first election to
the Haryana Legislative Assembly as a member of the Janata Dal (People’s Party).
·
In 1989, he became
the CM of Haryana for the 1st time, succeeding his father, Chaudhary Devi
Lal, who had taken up the position of Deputy Prime Minister (DYCM) of India.
·
Again he served as the CM of Haryana on 12 July 1990 to 17
July 1990, again from 22 March 1991 to 6 April 1991.
·
In1999, he formed a coalition
government, becoming the CM of Haryana for the 4th time.
·
In the Haryana Assembly elections 2000, he secured 47 seats
in a 90-member assembly, and continued as CM(5th time) until 5 March 2005.
18. FORMER PM DR MANMOHAN SINGH
PASSED AWAY
·
Dr Manmohan Singh, former Indian Prime Minister(PM)
and a key architect of India’s economic reforms passed away at the age of 92 in
New Delhi
·
He was born on 16 September 1932 in Gah, West Punjab (British India).
·
Dr.Manmohan Singh served as India’s 13th PM from 2004
to 2014 (2 consecutive terms), becoming India’s 4th longest-serving
PM.
·
During his tenure as PM, he negotiated the landmark Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement,
which ended decades of nuclear isolation for India.
·
He has received the ‘Padma Vibhushan’ and ‘Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace,
Disarmament.
·
He served as ‘Chief
Economic Advisor’ to the Government of India (GoI) from 1972 to 1976, Member Secretary, Planning Commission from April 1980 to September 1982.
·
He also served as the 15th Governor of
the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) from 1982 to 1985
·
He also served as the Union
Minister of Finance during
the PV Narasimha Rao government in
1991 and played a crucial role in shaping India’s
economic policy.
19. FILM-MAKER
SHYAM BENEGAL PASSED AWAY
·
Renowned Indian film-maker & Padma Awardee Shyam Benegal passed
away at the age of 90 in Mumbai.
·
He was born on 14 December 1934 in Secunderabad, Andhra
Pradesh (AP) (now Telangana).
·
Shyam Benegal won 18 National Awards and
received the ‘Padma Shri’ and ‘Padma Bhushan’ awards
for his contribution in the Indian film industry.
·
In 1962, his first documentary, ‘Gher Betha Ganga’ (Ganges
at the Doorstep) made in Gujarati, marked his early foray into filmmaking.
·
In the 1980s, he created the landmark ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ (1988), a 53-episode series based on
Jawaharlal Nehru’s Discovery of India.
·
In 1976, he received the ‘Padma Shri’, India’s 4th
highest civilian award, and ‘Padma Bhushan’, India’s 3rd highest.
·
In 2007, he received the ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Award’ , ‘Lifetime
Achievement Award’ in 2015 by the All Lights India International Film
Festival ‘Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award’ in 2018.
·
He has won 18 National Awards, a Filmfare Award
and a Nandi Award for various films and also received the National Film Award
for ‘Best Feature Film’ in Hindi 7 times.
