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Showing posts from October, 2020

Current affairs notes on October 11-15

1.October 12 marks 15 years since the implementation of the Right to Information Act. This act was enacted in order to consolidate the fundamental right in the Indian constitution ‘freedom of speech’.  It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. 2.‘Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas’ (SVAMITVA) scheme: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched the physical distribution of property cards under the scheme. This launch will enable nearly one lakh property holders to download their property cards through SMS on their mobile phones and pave the way for villagers to use property as a financial asset for taking loans and other financial benefits. 3. Feluda is the acronym for FNCAS9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay. It is an accurate and low-cost paper-based test strip to detect Covid-19 and can deliver a result in 45 minutes. It has been approved for commercial launch by the Drugs Controller General of India. 4. Two beaches

Current affairs notes on October 06-10

1.The initiative under PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi or PM SVANidhi Scheme will help these vendors grow their business which was severely hit and are still struggling due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a special micro-credit facility plan to provide affordable loan of up to ₹10,000 to more than 50 lakh street vendors, who had their businesses operational on or before 24 March 2020.Small Industries Development Bank of India is the technical partner for implementation of this scheme. 2. The Supreme Court recently asked the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India about the steps taken to implement the K.V. Kamath Committee report on recommendations to bail out sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In August this year, RBI set up a committee headed by K.V. Kamath on restructuring ofcorporate   loans impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. 3. Americans Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice, and British scientist Michael Houghton have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiol

Current affairs notes on October 01-05

 1.Ambedkar Social Innovation & Incubation Mission (ASIIM) launched: launched by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Objective is to promote entrepreneurship among the SC Youth with special preference to Divyangs. 2.The Finance Ministry has said that the government will borrow Rs 4.34 lakh crore in the second half of the current fiscal to meet its expenditure requirement amid COVID-19 crisis afflicting the country”s economy. Govt Borrowing is a loan taken by the government and falls under capital receipts in the Budget document. Usually, Government borrows through issue of government securities called G-secs and Treasury Bills. 3. The new BrahMos missile Successfully flight tested. It is a surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile featuring indigenous Booster and Airframe Section. The missile was jointly developed by India and Russia and was first tested in 2001. 4. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released the annual Crime in India 2019 report. Uttar P

Current affairs notes on September 22-30

 1.State Bank of India has raised ₹7,000 crore by issuing Basel III compliant bonds. Basel guidelines refer to broad supervisory standards formulated by group of central banks- called the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). The set of agreement by the BCBS, which mainly focuses on risks to banks and the financial system are called Basel accord. The purpose of the accords is to ensure that financial institutions have enough capital on account to meet obligations and absorb unexpected losses. 2.The Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 (CAROTAR, 2020) came into force on September 21. They set guidelines for enforcement of the ‘rules of origin’ for allowing preferential rate on imports under free trade agreements. Under these rules, a country that has inked an FTA with India cannot dump goods from some third country in the Indian market by just putting a label on it. 3. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) h

Current affairs notes on September 16-21

 1.Cabinet approves establishment of new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Darbhanga, Bihar under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). PMSSY was announced in 2003 with objectives of correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable/ reliable tertiary healthcare services and also to augment facilities for quality medical education in the country. The PMSSY is implemented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 2.RBI has released the draft version of Rupee Interest Rate Derivatives (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2020. Interest Rate Derivatives (IRD) are contracts whose value is derived from one or more interest rates, prices of interest rate instruments, or interest rate indices. 3.A Customized My Stamp on India’s First Anti Satellite Missile (A-SAT) launch was released by the Department of Posts on the occasion of Engineers Day. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted an Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) miss

Current affairs notes on September 11-15

1.127th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s in Chicago. The Parliament of World’s Religions, held for the first time in 1893, from September 11 to September 27, saw eminent personalities from around the world at the same forum. 2. The Department of Posts has launched a scheme called Five Star Villages, to ensure universal coverage of flagship postal schemes in rural areas of the country. The scheme is being launched on pilot basis in Maharashtra. The scheme will be implemented by a team of five Gramin Dak Sevaks who will be assigned a village for marketing of all products, savings and insurance schemes of the Department of Posts. 3. ‘SAROD-Ports’ stands for Society for Affordable Redressal of Disputes – Ports. Launched by the Union Shipping Ministry. It is Affordable Dispute Redressal Mechanism for all kind of disputes of maritime sector. 4. Recently, the EASE (Enhanced Access and Service Excellence) 2.0 Banking Reforms Index on performance of Public Sector Banks (PSB) from March