Current Affairs December 01st 2021| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare- Nov 30

• The Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is an annual event held November 30
• As a tribute to the victims of chemical warfare, as well as to reaffirm the commitment of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to the elimination of the threat of chemical weapons, thereby promoting the goals of peace, security, and multilateralism.
• The first Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare was held in 2005
• Chemical weapons were used on a massive scale during World War I, resulting in more than 100,000 fatalities and a million casualties.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

Government forms 5-member panel to monitor Central Vista project

• The Union government has formed a five-member committee to ensure timely completion of various projects executed under the Central Vista Redevelopment Plan.
• To directly oversee the Rs 20,000 crore project for a period of two years includes Rs 971 crore’s a new Parliament building and Rs 13,450 crore’s new residences of the prime minister and the vice president.
• Former Finance Secretary Ratan P Watal has been appointed the Chairman of the five-member Central Vista Oversight Committee.

Other member of the panel are :

1. Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) -P K Tiwari,
2. Former director of L&T – Shailendar Roy
3. IIT Delhi professor – Prof. Mausam
4. Joint secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

About ‘Central Vista Oversight Committee’:

• The ‘Central Vista Oversight Committee’ will ensure multi-agency and stakeholder coordination for seamless integration of different project works.
• The terms of reference of the committee stated that the panel will ensure continuous monitoring of the pace of execution of various projects of Central Vista with respect to targeted milestones to ensure their timely completion.
• It will also ensure that the project is executed according to the approved scope of work and prescribed standards and specifications.
• The available resources are being used optimally during the project execution and necessary due diligence regarding costing is done during procurement
• High standards in quality of work are maintained
• Project follows the Green Building features for sustainable development.
• Project is executed as per the approved scope of work and prescribed standards and specifications.

About Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs :

• Cabinet Minister: Hardeep Singh Puri
• Minister of State: Kaushal Kishore
• Secretary: Durga Shanker Mishra

Prasar Bharati enters into MoU with IIT, Kanpur to develop Next Generation Broadcast solution

• Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, has announced that, Prasar Bharati has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with IIT, Kanpur to develop Next Generation Broadcast solution for digital terrestrial broadcasting consistent with emerging standards such as 5G broadcast.
• In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Mr Thakur, sanction for the proof of concept of Next Generation broadcasting has also been conveyed to IIT, Kanpur.
• The selection of an appropriate Next Generation broadcast technology and digital terrestrial transmission roadmap of Doordarshan depends upon evaluation of this proof of concept.

PM Modi to inaugurate InFinity Forum thought leadership Forum on FinTech

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate InFinity Forum, a thought leadership Forum on FinTech, on 3rd of December via video conferencing.
• The event is being hosted by International Financial Services Centres Authority under the aegis of Government of India in collaboration with GIFT City and Bloomberg. 
• Indonesia, South Africa and the U.K. are partner countries in the first edition of the Forum.
• InFinity Forum will bring together leading minds of the world in policy, business, and technology. 
• They will discuss and come up with actionable insight into how technology and innovation can be leveraged by the FinTech industry for inclusive growth and serving humanity at large.
• The agenda of the Forum will focus on the theme of Beyond.
• It will have various sub-themfes including FinTech beyond boundaries, with governments and businesses focussing beyond the geographical boundaries in the development of global stack to promote financial inclusiveness, FinTech beyond Finance, by having convergence with emerging areas such as to drive sustainable development and FinTech Beyond Next, with focus on how Quantum Computing could impact the nature of Fintech industry in the future and promote new opportunities.

Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021 passed in Parliament as Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha approve it on Day 1 of Winter Session

• Parliament passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021, with the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha approving it on the first day of the Winter Session.
• The bill seeking to withdraw the three farm bills was moved in Lok Sabha by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar amid ruckus by the Opposition.
• It was passed in the Lower House without discussion as Speaker Om Birla,debate is not possible in a noisy scene.
• The three Laws sought to be repealed include the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
• Later, the Bill was introduced in the Upper House by Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in the post-lunch session, which was passed amidst noisy scenes.

Government approved strategic disinvestment of Central Electronics Ltd

• Government has approved the strategic disinvestment of Central Electronics Limited. 
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA empowered Alternative Mechanism comprising Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Science and Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, has approved the highest price bid of M/s Nandal Finance and Leasing Private Limited for sale of 100 percent equity shareholding of Government of India in Central Electronics Limited.
• The winning bid is for 210 crore sixty thousand rupees. The process for disinvestment of Central Electronics Limited commenced in 2016 with the in-principle approval of CCEA.
• The entire disinvestment process has been carried out in a transparent manner, through multi-layered decision making involving Inter-Ministerial Group, Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment and the empowered Alternative Mechanism at the apex Ministerial level.

NITI Aayog releases report on Online Dispute Resolution policy for speedy access to justice

• NITI Aayog has pushed for Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) for speedy access to justice.
• NITI Aayog has released the report Designing the Future of Dispute Resolution: the ODR Policy Plan for India, to scale dispute avoidance, containment, and resolution online.
• The rollout of the recommendations in the report can help make India a world leader in using technology and innovation through ODR, for effective access to justice for every individual.
• The report is a culmination of the action plan made by a committee constituted at the peak of the Covid crisis by NITI Aayog on ODR in 2020 and chaired by Supreme Court Justice A K Sikri.

Production Linked Incentive of Rs. 120 crore is provided for Indian manufacturers of drone and drone components

• The Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for drones and drone components has been notified on 30 Sep 2021 to push the production of drones.
• An incentive of Rs. 120 crore has been provided for Indian manufacturers of drone and drone components on the basis of their value addition in India.
• The incentive shall be provided over three financial years commencing from 2021-22.
• The PLI that can be claimed by a manufacturer is 20% of the value addition by such manufacturer. The PLI rate is constant at 20% for all three years.
• Minimum value addition is specified as 40% of net sales
• Eligibility norm for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and startups is specified as Rs. 2crore of annual sales revenue for drone manufacturers and Rs. 50 lakhs of annual sales revenue for drone component manufacturers.
• PLI for a beneficiary is capped at 25% of the total annual outlay to allow widening of the number of beneficiaries.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

4th Foreign Office Consultations between India and Uruguay held at Montevideo

• The 4th Foreign Office Consultations between India and Uruguay were at Montevideo. Secretary (East), Riva Ganguly Das led the Indian delegation.
•  Reviewing the ongoing bilateral cooperation, both sides identified steps to strengthen and boost trade and investment, access to pharmaceuticals products, cooperation in Information Technology sector and strengthening people-to-people ties.
• Response to Covid pandemic and access to vaccines and medicines and mutual recognition of Covid certificates were also discussed.
• They reiterated their resolve to strengthen coordination in multilateral and regional fora. External Affairs Ministry, the consultations were held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere.
•  Both sides agreed to hold the next consultations at a mutually convenient date in New Delhi

About Uruguay:

• Capital: Montevideo
• President: Luis Lacalle Pou
• Currency: Peso Uruguayo

South Korea to get world’s first floating city by 2025

• South Korea to get the world’s first floating city by 2025, it will be built off the coast of South Korea, and work on it will likely be completed as early as 2025.
• The project has been backed by the United Nations, and the city will be built off the coast of Busan to deal with the problem of rising sea levels. 
• Referring to this, project leaders added that it will be a ‘flood-proof infrastructure’ that will comprise several man-made islands, aiming to eliminate the risk of flooding by rising with the sea.
• The floating city will be a self-sufficient city, which is a joint effort by the UN Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habit) and OCEANIX. 
• The city will be able to generate its own electricity from solar panels, ferry tourists and inhabitants between the island on specially-made boats, and produce its own food and fresh water.

About South Korea:

• Capital: Seoul
• Currency: South Korean won
• President: Moon Jae-in

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE NEWS

Asian Paints signed MoU with Gujarat government

• Asian Paints has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Gujarat, commencing the proposed expansion of manufacturing capacity at its Ankleshwar facility at a total investment of about ₹960 crore at the current prices.
• The company, in an exchange filing, said the manufacturing capacity of paint will go up from 130,000 KL to 250,000 KL, and resins and emulsions from 32,000 MT to 85,000 MT.
• The capacity expansion will be completed over a period of the next 2-3 years.
• The company, expansion will be carried out on the existing land owned by the company.

About Gujarat:

• Capital: Gandhinagar
• Governor: Acharya Devvrat
• Chief minister: Bhupendrabhai Patel
• NP: Gir Forest National Park, Blackbuck National Park, Vansda National Park, Marine National Park, Gulf of Kutch

Nagaland police launches ‘Call your Cop’ mobile App for citizens

• Nagaland DGP T. John Longkumer officially launched the ‘Call your Cop’ mobile App at Police Headquarters in Kohima.
• DGP Longkumer, the App will enable all citizens of the state especially those in distress to get in touch directly with the police as easily available with just one click away.
• IT, internet, and mobile is pervasive which cannot be avoided, and sometimes it is used for criminal activities and wrongdoings. 
• This initiative is also in keeping with the total modernization of the police department not only in Nagaland but all over the country.
• The development of this App is one of the most important initiatives of the Nagaland Police with the aim to bring the police and public closer.
• The features in the App include directory, alerts, tourist tips, SOS, nearest police station and search.
• Citizens can download the app from google store on any android phone. One can download the app from the google store.

About Nagaland:

• Capital: Kohima
• Chief minister: Neiphiu Rio

Chennai-headquartered ICT Academy partners with UiPath

• The Chennai-headquartered ICT Academy, an initiative of the Government of India in collaboration with the State governments and industries, has partnered with UiPath, an enterprise automation software company, to take the UiPath Academic Alliance programme to over 1,000 ICT Academy partner institutions across India.
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and automation skills have become an integral component for the future of work.
• This partnership aims to drive automation literacy among teachers, administrative staff, and the students of partner institutions
• According to a recent Deloitte survey, 78 per cent of organisations are already implementing RPA, while Gartner predicts 90 per cent of large organisations globally will have adopted some form of RPA by 2022.

About Tamilnadu:

• Governor: R. N. Ravi
• Capital: Chennai
• Chief minister: M. K. Stalin
• NP: Guindy National Park, The Gulf of Mannar Marine, The Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Madumalai National Park.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND ECONOMY

RBI appoints additional director on board of Ujjivan SFB

• The Reserve Bank of India has appointed P.N. Raghunath, General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, as an Additional Director on the board of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank for a period of two years.
• Previously, the RBI had on September 16 appointed a special committee of directors, with three independent directors as members, to oversee the day-to-day operations.
• The bank has been facing some amount of turmoil in recent months. Its Managing Director and CEO, Nitin Chugh, resigned earlier this year.
• The lender has also had problems with asset quality as gross non-performing assets surged to Rs 1,712.65 crore or 11.8 per cent of gross advances as on September 30, 2021.

About USFB:

• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Founder: Samit Ghosh
• Founded: 1 February 2017

NBFC Agriwise Finserv partners Central Bank of India for agri loan disbursals

• Agriwise Finserv Limited, an agri-focussed NBFC, has entered into a co-lending agreement with Central Bank of India for agri-loan disbursal.
• The co-lending agreement will ensure that the farmer, agri and allied community get finance at affordable rates in a simple, transparent and speedy manner. 
• The loan will be disbursed at a blended interest rate, as per the RBI directive on co-lending of loans

About NBFC:

• A non-banking financial institution or non-bank financial company is a financial institution that does not have a full banking license or is not supervised by a national or international banking regulatory agency.

About Central Bank of India:

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Founded: 21 December 1911
• Tagline: Central to You Since 1911, Build a better life around us
• MD & CEO:  Matam Venkata Rao

RBI imposes ₹1 crore penalty on Union Bank of India

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1 crore on Union Bank of India (UBI) for non-compliance with certain provisions of its directions relating to fraud classification and reporting and sale of stressed assets.
• The central bank, in a statement, said its inspection of UBI revealed, inter alia, non-compliance with the above-mentioned directions to the extent of

• failure to classify an account as Red Flag Account despite presence of Early Warning Signals and
• failure to disclose ageing of and provisioning for Security Receipts (SRs) in its Annual Report.

• This action is based on the deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

About UBI:

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• CEO: Rajkiran Rai G
• Founded: 11 November 1919.
• Tagline: Good People to Bank with

Regional Rural Banks surpass prescribed lending target to Small & Marginal Farmers & SCs/STs

• Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) have been playing an important role in purveying agricultural credit, particularly to Small and Marginal Farmers (SF/MF) and weaker sections of the society.
• The RRBs have surpassed the prescribed target of lending to the SMFs & Weaker Sections during the years 2018-2019 to 2020-21 as can be seen in the table below:

• Government of India implements an interest subvention scheme under which short term crop loans up to Rs.3.00 lakh are provided to farmers at a reduced interest rate of 7% p.a.
•  The scheme provides interest subvention of 2% per annum to Banks on use of their own resources.
•  Besides, additional 3% incentive is given to the farmers for prompt repayment of the loan, thereby reducing the effective rate of interest to 4%.
• The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme was introduced in 1998 for issue of KCC to farmers.
• The scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window with flexible and simplified procedure to the farmers to meet their short-term credit requirements for cultivation of crops, investment credit requirement for agriculture and allied activities and other needs.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

Bajaj Finserv kicks off the second phase of ‘Savdhaan Rahein. Safe Rahein’

• Bajaj Finserv, one of the largest financial conglomerates in India, has kicked off the second phase of ‘Savdhaan Rahein. Safe Rahein’. a public awareness campaign focusing on Life Insurance Frauds.

Aim:

• To educate its customers and the wider public on how to stay safe from such frauds.
• Through this awareness initiative, Bajaj Finserv aims to convey a very important message to consumers opting for Life insurance policies to check policy documents carefully and verify the details from the insurers’ websites only.
• It highlights the details that policy holders need to check to verify the policy authenticity; differentiating between a genuine and fake policy and most importantly where the policyholders can report these incidents in the event of a fraud.
• The campaign has a catchy jingle ‘Na Ji Na Ji’ with an endearing character named ‘Gupta Ji’ who goes around spreading these awareness messages.

About Bajaj Finserv Ltd:

• Founded: May 2007
• Founder: Jamnalal Bajaj
• Headquarters: Pune, Maharashtra
• Chairman: Rahul Bajaj
• CEO: Sanjiv Bajaj
• Bajaj Finserv Limited, a part of Bajaj Holdings & Investments Limited, is an Indian financial services company focused on lending, asset management, wealth management and insurance.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION

Indian tech wizard Parag Agrawal takes over as CEO of Twitter

• Indian tech wizard Parag Agrawal takes over as CEO of the social media platform Twitter following the departure of its co-founder CEO.
• Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has stepped down as chief executive of the company paving way for the current chief technical officer, Parag Agrawal, to take over.
• Mr Dorsey has been serving as chief executive of both Twitter and payment firm Square.
• Parag Agrawal, IIT alumnus, joins the likes of Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella as Indian-origin techies at the help of the biggest tech companies of the world.
• A Computer Science and Engineering graduate from IIT Bombay, Agrawal is a Ph.D. from Stanford University

Admiral R Hari Kumar assumes charge as 25th Chief of the Naval Staff

• Admiral R. Hari Kumar has assumed charge as the 25th Chief of the Naval Staff. 
• He received Guard of Honour at the South Block lawns in New Delhi as the new Chief of Naval Staff. Admiral Hari Kumar succeeds Admiral Karambir Singh who superannuated.
• Talking to reporters, Admiral Hari Kumar, it is a matter of great honour for him to take charge as the Chief of Naval Staff of Indian Navy.
• Admiral R. Hari Kumar was commissioned on 1st January 1983 into the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy.
• During his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 39 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments.
•  He has been decorated with the Param Vishist Seva Medal, Ati Vishist Seva Medal and Vishist Seva Medal.

Petr Fiala has been appointed as new the Prime Minister of Czech Republic

• Petr Fiala has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of the Czech Republic by President Milos Zeman. Fiala succeeds Andrej Babis.
• The alliance narrowly defeated the ANO movement led by billionaire Babis.
• Fiala, 57, heads the three-party coalition Together, which garnered 27.8% of the vote in early October.
• The centrist group of the Mayors and Independents and the left-wing Pirate Party joined with Fiala’s coalition to remove Babis, who had served as prime minister since 2017.

About Czech Republic:

• President: Miloš Zeman Trending
• Capital: Prague
• Currency: Czech koruna

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOUR

IFFI honours renowned lyricists Prasoon Joshi with ‘Film Personality of the Year’ Award

• Lyricist and CBFC Chairperson Prasoon Joshi was honoured with the ‘Indian Film Personality of the Year’ award at the 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
• “IFFI has been more than an award show, it has been a festival, veteran actress Hema Malini received the similar honour. The festival is being held in Goa.
• The award was conferred on him by the Minister for Information & Broadcasting Shri Anurag Thakur, for his contribution to cinema, popular culture and socially significant artistic work.
• Prasoon Joshi entered Indian cinema as a lyricist in 2001 with Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja, and since then he has been a part of films like Taare Zameen Par, Rang De Basanti, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Neerja and Manikarnika, Delhi 6 and many more.
• Joshi is currently the Asia-Pacific Chairman of one of the world’s largest advertising companies, McCann Worldgroup
• He has also won coveted international awards including Golden Lions at Cannes and Young Global leader by the World Economic Forum.  

Kerala based start-up wins two prestigious awards at National level

• A Kerala-based medical technology start-up has been adjudged the winner of Startup India Grand Challenge 2021 in the medical device category of the Government of India.
• Sascan Meditech, the start-up incubated at the SCTIMST-TIMed the Technology Business Incubator of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for MedicalSciences & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, received a Cash grant of INR 15,00,000 at the Grand Challenge organized by Department of Pharmaceuticals, Govt of India along with Startup India and Investindia.org.
• The award was announced by Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Ayog, after a rigorous evaluation process, and “Sascan” was selected from among 310 start-ups which took part in the grand challenge.
• Sascan, founded by Dr. Subhash Narayanan, a scientist turned biomedical entrepreneur, focuses on developing affordable healthcare products and solutions for cancer care and screening based on biophotonics and allied technologies.
• It has also received Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) from BIRAC and further NIDHI Seed support from the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India for developing OralScan.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE NEWS

India, Sri Lanka, Maldives Conduct Joint Exercise On Maritime Security

• The ships and aircraft of the Indian Navy participated in the first-ever Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) Focused Operation to enhance maritime security in the Indian Ocean region, along with Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
• The two-day conclave witnessed the participation of ships and aircraft of the Indian Navy (IN), Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN). 
• They operated over a vast area in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the three countries in the Southern Arabian Sea.

Aim:

• The ‘CSC Focused Operation’ was conducted with an aim of keeping this vital part of the Indian Ocean Region safe and secure for commercial shipping, international trade and conduct of legitimate maritime activities.
• The CSC Focused Operations are aimed at streamlining Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and enhanced interoperability amongst the three navies.
• It would help build understanding and interoperability between the lead maritime security agencies, and facilitate institution of measures to prevent and suppress transnational crimes in the region.
• It would further enhance the operational synergy by exchange of information and conduct of coordinated operations to handle maritime incidents/ accidents
• A trilateral Tabletop Exercise (TTX) between IN, MNDF and SLN was conducted on 14 and 15 July 2021.
• The three countries had participated in the 5th Deputy National Security Advisors (NSA) – level meeting of Colombo Security Conclave on 04 August 2021, wherein ways of enhancing maritime security cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region were deliberated upon.

About Ministry of Defence:

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Defence Minister: Rajnath Singh
• Minister of State: Ajay Bhatt
• Defence Secretary: Dr Ajay Kumar

About Sri Lanka:

• Capital: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
• President: Gotabaya Rajapaksa
• Prime Minister: Mahinda Rajapaksa
• Currency: Sri Lankan rupee

About Maldives:

• Capital: Malé
• Currency: Maldivian rufiyaa
• President: Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

CURRENT AFFAIRS: ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

LIC receives RBI approval to increase stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank to 9.99%

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted approval to state-owned insurance behemoth, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), to raise its stake in private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank up to 9.99 percent.
• The approval of the central bank will be valid for one year.
• Currently, LIC holds 4.96% in Kotak Bank, as per the information available from the shareholding pattern till 30 September.
• The central bank has allowed promoters to raise up to 26% stake and non-promoters to raise up to 10% stake in private sector banks.

Note:

• Among other major banks, LIC holds 8.8 per cent in Canara Bank, 8.3 per cent in Punjab National Bank and State Bank of India, 8.2 per cent in Axis Bank, and 7.6 per cent in ICICI Bank.

About LIC:

• Founded: 1 September 1956
• Chairperson: M R Kumar
• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Managing Directors: Mukesh Gupta, Smt. Ipe Mini, Siddharth Mohanty, Rajkumar

About RBI:

• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Founded: 1 April 1935
• Governor: Shaktikanta Das
• Deputy governors: Mahesh Kumar Jain, M. Rajeshwar Rao, Michael Patra and T. Rabi Shankar
• Repo Rate: 4.00%
• Reverse repo rate: 3.35%
• Bank rate: 4.25%
• Cash Reserve Ratio: 4.00%
• Statutory liquidity ratio: 18.00%

About Kotak Mahindra Bank:

• Founder & CEO: Uday Kotak
• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Chairman: Prakash Apte
• Founded: Feb 2003
• Tagline: Let’s make money simple.
• It is India’s third largest private sector bank by assets and by market capitalization as of November 2021.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BOOKS & AUTHORS

New Book Titled The Ambuja Story: How a Group of Ordinary Men Created an Extraordinary Company by Narotam Sekhsaria                                          

• Indian businessman and philanthropist Narotam Sekhsaria authored a book titled The Ambuja Story: How a Group of Ordinary Men Created an Extraordinary Company.
• The Book will be Published by HarperCollins Publishers India & it is set to be released in December 2021.

About the Book:

• The book vividly captures that engaging story, the determination and perseverance that went into building one of India’s finest companies.
• The Ambuja Story provides a new perspective on business and life, inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs to scale greater heights.

About Narotam Sekhsaria :

• Narotam Sekhsaria Born in Gujarat.
• He is the chairman of ACC Limited, Ambuja Cements Ltd, and Ambuja Cements Foundation.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWS

India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan wins maiden singles tennis title at ATP Challenger tournament in Bahrain

• Indian tennis player Ramkumar Ramanathan won his maiden Challenger level singles title 12 years after turning a Pro, after he defeated Evgeny Karlovskiy of the Russian Tennis Federation in the final of the ATP Challenger tournament in Manama, Bahrain.
• The inaugural Bahrain Ministry Of Interior Tennis Challenger, played on hard court, was an ATP80 event.
• Ramanathan, a winner of six ATP Challenger doubles titles, pocketed $7,200 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points.
• He is likely to be ranked 186 and will surpass Prajnesh Gunneswaran (215) and out-of-action Sumit Nagal (219) when the chart is updated.
• Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral took the doubles title after defeating Maximilian Neuchrist of Austria and Michail Pervolarakis from Greece 7-5, 6-7(5), 10-8.

About Ramkumar Ramanathan:

• Ramkumar Ramanathan born on 8 November 1994, in Chennai, Tamilnadu , India.
• He is the first Indian player to reach an ATP world tour singles final since Somdev Devvarman.

About Association of Tennis Professionals:

• Founded: September 1972
• CEO: Massimo Calvelli
• Chairman :  Andrea Gaudenzi
• Headquarters : United Kingdom

Saurav Ghosal becomes the first Indian to win Malaysian Open squash championships

• On Nov 27, 2021, Squash star Saurav Ghosal made history as he became the first Indian to win the Malaysian Open Championships after beating Miguel Rodriguez 11-7, 11-8 and 13-11 in the men’s singles final in Kuala Lumpur to win the 2021 Malaysian Open Squash Championships title.
• It was Ghosal’s first PSA Tour title in three years.
• He last won a PSA title in the 2018 Kolkata International Open.
• In the women’s single title of the 2021 Malaysian Open squash championships has been won by Malaysia’s Aifa Azman.

About Saurav Ghosal:

• Saurav Ghosal born 10 August 1996, in Kolkata, West Bengal.
• In 2013, Saurav became the first Indian to reach the Quarter finals of the World Squash Championship at Manchester, England. 
• In 2004, he became the first Indian ever to win the coveted British Junior Open Under-19 Squash title, defeating Adel El Said of Egypt in the final at Sheffield, England.
• Saurav won the bronze medal at the Asian Games 2006 Doha and was awarded the Arjuna Award by the President of India in August 2007 thus becoming the first Squash player from the country to get the award.

About Malaysian Open Squash Championships:

• The Malaysian Open Squash Championships is an annual squash tournament that takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• The event is organised by the Squash Racquets Association Of Malaysia.
• The event was established in 1975.

About Professional Squash Association:

• Founded: 1975
• CEO: Alex Gough
• Chairman: Ziad Al-Turki
• President : Ali Farag (Men),  Jenny Duncalf (Women)
• Directors : Daryl Selby, John Nimick, Mike Puertas, Pablo Serna, Claudia Schurmann
• The Professional Squash Association (PSA) is the governing body for the men’s and women’s professional squash circuit.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES

National Award-Winning Choreographer K Sivasankar Passes away         

• On Nov 28, 2021, National Award-winning choreographer & actor Sivasankar Passed away at the age of 72.

About Sivasankar:

• Sivasankar was born on 7 December 1948 in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.
• Sivasankar master has worked as a choreographer in over 800 films over a period of four decades.
• He worked in more than 10 languages but majorly with South Indian films, including Tamil films & Telugu films.
• Through his career spanning over 40 years, Sivasankar choreographed songs for hundreds of films, among his most notable works are for the films Suryavamsam, Poove Unakkaga, Thiruda Thirudi, and more recently, Baahubali: The Beginning.
• He appeared as a judge on one of the most popular reality TV dance shows.

Awards & Honours:

• He won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award under the Best Choreographer category in 1996, 2003, 2006 and 2008, for the films Poove Unakkaga, Vishwa Thulasi, Varalaru and Uliyin Osai respectively.
• He also won the National Award in 2008 for his work in the SS Rajamouli directorial Magadheera, and gained wide popularity for the song Dheera Dheera Dheera from the film.

Founder of Williams Racing F1 team, Sir Frank Williams Passes away                         

• On Nov 28, 2021, The founder and former chief of the Williams Formula One team , Sir Frank Williams Passed away at the age of 79.

About Sir Frank Williams :

• Sir Francis Owen Garbett Williams was a British businessman, racing car driver.
• He was the team principal from its foundation in 1977 until 2020.
• Frank Williams, the longest-serving Team Principal Formula 1, marked 50 years as an F1 team boss in 2019.
• He took his motor racing team from an empty carpet warehouse to the summit of Formula One, overseeing 114 victories, a combined 16 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships, while becoming the longest-serving team boss in the sport’s history.

 

UNION GOVERNMENT SCHEME

The Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme – DHRUV  

About DHRUV:

• The name of the scheme, DHRUV, is based on the pole star called “Dhruv Tara”
• This Innovative Program was launched at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
• headquarters in Bengaluru in the presence of the union HRD minister; Dr K Sivan, ISRO Chairman
• The programme focusses on encouraging young and talented students in the field of their interest be its science, performing arts, creative writing.

Launched on:

• The programme was launched on October 10, 2019 by the then union HRD Minister Ramesh
• Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.

Ministry involved:

• the scheme is under administrative control of ministry of human resource development.
• Current HRD minister: Dharmendra Pradhan.

Objectives of DHRUV Programme:

• To encourage talented and gifted children to enrich their skills and knowledge.
• In centres of excellence across the country, children will be mentored and nurtured by renowned
• experts in different areas, so that they can reach their full potential.
• To boost the confidence of young students and encourage them to learn new and innovative
• things as per their potential.
• The programme will help students to grow and work for the betterment of the society and the
• Two areas will be the main focus: Arts and Science.
• Around 60 students will be selected from all over the country, studying between classes 9 to 12

About the first batch of DHRUV:

• The first batch of DHRUV programme was implemented during October 2019.
• 60 outstandingly talented students were selected in the first batch of DHRUV programme. To begin with, two areas i.e., Science and Performing Arts were covered.
• There were 60 students in all, 30 from each area. The 60 students came from across the
• The students have been broadly chosen from classes 9 to 12, from all schools including government and private.
• A 14 days programme was organized for these students in which the science and performing arts students were separated into two groups.
• The science students were further divided into 3 groups of 10 each and also the performing arts students into 3 groups of 10 each. Each group from science stream were required to produce a project under the mentorship of experts from the field of science.
• Similarly, each group in performing arts were mentored by icons from the field of culture and were required to choreograph a programme. All the six teams were given themes relevant to issues being faced globally like environment change, pollution, terrorism, etc.
• Target group:
• Target group of the scheme is the talented children across the country having skills and knowledge .

Benefits:

• The Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme has been started to identify and encourage talented children to enrich their skills and knowledge.
• In centres of excellence across the country, gifted children will be mentored and nurtured by renowned experts in different areas, so that they can reach their full potential.
• It is expected that many of the students selected will reach the highest levels in their chosen fields and bring laurels to their community, State and Nation.

Other recent scheme for children welfare by the government:

PM-CARES for Children’ scheme:

• Launched on – march 2020
• It aims to support children who have lost both the Parents or legal Guardian or Adoptive Parents or Surviving Parent to COVID-19 pandemic during the period starting from 11th March 2020.
• The objective of the Scheme is to ensure comprehensive care and protection of Children in a sustained manner, and enable their wellbeing through health insurance, empower them through education and equip them for self-sufficient existence with financial support on reaching 23 years of age.

Daily CA On Dec 01:

• The Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is an annual event held November 30
• The Union government has formed a five-member committee to ensure timely completion of various projects executed under the Central Vista Redevelopment Plan & Former Finance Secretary Ratan P Watal has been appointed the Chairman of the five-member Central Vista Oversight Committee.
• Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, has announced that, Prasar Bharati has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with IIT, Kanpur to develop Next Generation Broadcast solution for digital terrestrial broadcasting consistent with emerging standards such as 5G broadcast.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate InFinity Forum, a thought leadership Forum on FinTech, on 3rd of December via video conferencing & the event is being hosted by International Financial Services Centres Authority under the aegis of Government of India in collaboration with GIFT City and Bloomberg, Indonesia, South Africa and the U.K. are partner countries in the first edition of the Forum.
• Parliament passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021, with the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha approving it on the first day of the Winter Session.
• Government has approved the strategic disinvestment of Central Electronics Limited. 
• NITI Aayog releases report on Online Dispute Resolution policy for speedy access to justice
• The Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for drones and drone components has been notified on 30 Sep 2021 to push the production of drones & an incentive of Rs. 120 crores have been provided for Indian manufacturers of drone and drone components on the basis of their value addition in India.
• The 4th Foreign Office Consultations between India and Uruguay were at Montevideo. Secretary (East), Riva Ganguly Das led the Indian delegation.
• South Korea to get the world’s first floating city by 2025, it will be built off the coast of South Korea, and work on it will likely be completed as early as 2025.
• Asian Paints has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Gujarat, commencing the proposed expansion of manufacturing capacity at its Ankleshwar facility at a total investment of about ₹960 crore at the current prices.
• Nagaland DGP T. John Longkumer officially launched the ‘Call your Cop’ mobile App at Police Headquarters in Kohima.
• The Chennai-headquartered ICT Academy, an initiative of the Government of India in collaboration with the State governments and industries, has partnered with UiPath, an enterprise automation software company, to take the UiPath Academic Alliance programme to over 1,000 ICT Academy partner institutions across India.
• The Reserve Bank of India has appointed P.N. Raghunath, General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, as an Additional Director on the board of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank for a period of two years.
• Agriwise Finserv Limited, an agri-focussed NBFC, has entered into a co-lending agreement with Central Bank of India for agri-loan disbursal.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1 crore on Union Bank of India (UBI) for non-compliance with certain provisions of its directions relating to fraud classification and reporting and sale of stressed assets.
• Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) have been playing an important role in purveying agricultural credit, particularly to Small and Marginal Farmers (SF/MF) and weaker sections of the society.
• Bajaj Finserv, one of the largest financial conglomerates in India, has kicked off the second phase of ‘Savdhaan Rahein. Safe Rahein’. a public awareness campaign focusing on Life Insurance Frauds.
• Indian tech wizard Parag Agrawal takes over as CEO of the social media platform Twitter following the departure of its co-founder CEO.
• Admiral R. Hari Kumar has assumed charge as the 25th Chief of the Naval Staff. 
• Petr Fiala has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of the Czech Republic by President Milos Zeman. Fiala succeeds Andrej Babis.
• Lyricist and CBFC Chairperson Prasoon Joshi was honoured with the ‘Indian Film Personality of the Year’ award at the 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
• A Kerala-based medical technology start-up has been adjudged the winner of Startup India Grand Challenge 2021 in the medical device category of the Government of India.
• The ships and aircraft of the Indian Navy participated in the first-ever Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) Focused Operation to enhance maritime security in the Indian Ocean region, along with Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted approval to state-owned insurance behemoth, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), to raise its stake in private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank up to 9.99 percent.
• Indian businessman and philanthropist Narotam Sekhsaria authored a book titled The Ambuja Story: How a Group of Ordinary Men Created an Extraordinary Company.
• Indian tennis player Ramkumar Ramanathan won his maiden Challenger level singles title 12 years after turning a Pro, after he defeated Evgeny Karlovskiy of the Russian Tennis Federation in the final of the ATP Challenger tournament in Manama, Bahrain.
• On Nov 27, 2021, Squash star Saurav Ghosal made history as he became the first Indian to win the Malaysian Open Championships after beating Miguel Rodriguez 11-7, 11-8 and 13-11 in the men’s singles final in Kuala Lumpur to win the 2021 Malaysian Open Squash Championships title.
• On Nov 28, 2021, National Award-winning choreographer & actor Sivasankar Passed away at the age of 72.
• On Nov 28, 2021, The founder and former chief of the Williams Formula One team , Sir Frank Williams Passed away at the age of 79.