Daily Current Affairs: February 16, 2021

Daily Current Affairs (February 16, 2021) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK, and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness, and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

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 National News

Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of key projects of oil & gas sector in Tamil Nadu

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of key projects of the oil & gas sector in Tamil Nadu via video conferencing. He will dedicate to the nation the Ramanathapuram – Thoothukudi natural gas pipeline and Gasoline Desulphurisation Unit at Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, Manali. He will also lay the foundation stone of the Cauvery Basin Refinery at Nagapattinam.

Tamil Nadu                        

• Capital: Chennai
• Chief Minister: Edappadi K. Palaniswami
• Governor: Banwarilal Purohit.
• National Park: Mukurthi NP, Guindy NP,Gulf of Mannar Marine NP, Indira Gandhi (Annamalai) NP, Mudumalai NP.

Uttar Pradesh government Launched “Abhyuday scheme” to provide free Coaching to aspirants of different Competitive Exams

• Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath virtually launched Abhyuday Yojna to provide free coaching for exams like IIT-JEE and NEET students at the district level.
• He also interacted with 50,192 students selected under this scheme. Initially, coaching centres will be set up at the divisional level followed by the district level in the second phase.

Uttar Pradesh           

• Capital: Lucknow
• Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
• Governor: Anandiben Patel
• National Park: Dudhwa National Park (Tiger Reserve)
• Zoological park: Shaheed Ashfaq Ullah Khan Prani Udyan (Gorakhpur), Kanpur Zoological Park, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee launches ‘Maa’ scheme to provide meals at ₹5 to poor people

• Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee launched “Maa” canteens for providing subsidised meals to the poor and the destitute at a nominal cost of 5 a plate.
• The government will give a subsidy of 15 and people will have to pay Rs.5. The kitchens will be run by self-help groups. People will get a plate of rice, dal, a vegetable, and egg curry.

West Bengal     

• Capital: Kolkata
• Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee
• Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar
• National Park (NP): Buxa NP, Gorumara NP, Neora Valley NP, Jaldapara NP, Singalila NP, Sundarbans NP.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launches Pilot Pey Jal Survekshan under Jal Jeevan Mission- Urban (JJM-U)

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched a Pilot Pey Jal Survekshan under Jal Jeevan Mission- Urban (JJM-U). Secretary Housing and Urban Affairs Durga Shanker Mishra stated that it will be conducted in cities to ascertain the equitable distribution of water, reuse of wastewater, and mapping of water bodies with respect to quantity and quality of water through a challenging process.
• Ministry has decided to launch the Survekshan in 10 cities– Agra, Badlapur, Bhubaneswar, Churu, Kochi, Madurai, Patiala, Rohtak, Surat, and Tumkur.
• The total outlay proposed for JJM (U) is ₹2,87,000 crore which includes ₹10,000 crores for continuing financial support to AMRUT Mission.
• Minister of Jal shakti– Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the first route Kochi Water Metro project

• Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the first route (Vyttila-Kakkanad) of the ₹747-crore Kochi Water Metro project, the Panamkutty bridge at Pettah, and also launch the ₹1,528-crore Integrated Urban Regeneration and Water Transport System through videoconferencing.

Kerala

• Capital: Thiruvananthapuram
• Chief Minister: Pinarayi Vijayan
• Governor: Arif Mohammed Khan.

International News

‘Pahela Phagun’ spring festival celebrated in Bangladesh

• The first day of the spring called ‘Pahela Phagun’ was celebrated in Dhaka, Bangladesh despite the continued shadow of the Corona pandemic in the country. Cultural organisations held programmes at different venues in the city to herald the beginning of the spring. Programmes were held at the Suhrawardy Udyan, Nandan Manch of Shilpakala Academy, and several other locations.

Bangladesh:

• Capital: Dhaka
• Currency: Taka
• Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina
• President: Abdul Hamid.

Banking and Economy

RBI forms an 8-member expert panel headed by N S Vishwanathan to explore the consolidation of urban co-op banks

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted an eight-member expert panel to draw up a regulatory road map for urban co-operative banks (UCBs) and study the sector’s consolidation prospects.
• The committee will be headed by N S Vishw­ana­than, former deputy governor of RBI. Other members include former chairman National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Develop­ment Harsh Kumar Banwala, chartered accountant Mukund M Chitale, retired Indian Admini­str­ative Service offi­cers N C Muniyappa and R N Joshi, IIM Banga­lore Professor M S Sriram, president of National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks and Credit Societies Jyotindra M Mehta, and RBI Chief General Manager-in-Charge Neeraj Nigam.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI):

• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Formation: 1 April 1935
• Governor: Shaktikanta Das
• Deputy Governors: 4 (Bibhu Prasad Kanungo, Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, Rajeshwar Rao)
• Subsidiaries: Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (BRBNM).

Acquisitions and Mergers

Tata Electronics signs MoU with Tamil Nadu to set up mobile components’ unit

• Tamil Nadu has signed 28 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) for projects worth around Rs 28,000 crore. Tata Group Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran stated that Tata Electronics’ Rs 4684 crore project in Krishnagiri for manufacturing mechanical enclosures for mobile phones, can create jobs for 18,250 people.

Science and Technology

Indian Navy gets third Scorpene submarine to be commissioned as INS Karanj

• The Indian Navy got its third Scorpene submarine, which will be commissioned as INS Karanj, of Project P-75 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• INS Karanj has advanced stealth and combat capabilities and has been built jointly by the MDL in collaboration with a French company. The diesel-electric attack submarine has been built under Project 75 of Mazagon Dock Limited.

Defence Minister launches E-Chhawani portal & mobile app to provide online civic services

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the E-Chhawani portal and mobile app in New Delhi. The portal (https://echhawani.gov.in/) has been created to provide online civic services to over 20 lakh residents of 62 Cantonment Boards across the country.
• Through the portal, the residents of cantonment areas will be able to avail basic services like a renewal of leases, application for birth & death certificates, water & sewerage connections, trade licences, mobile toilet locators, and payment of different types of taxes and fees, with just a click of a button.
• The portal, jointly developed by eGov Foundation, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE), and National Informatics Centre (NIC), provides a platform to the residents to avail these services from the comfort of their home.

Amazon India to commence Electronic Devices Manufacturing in India

• Amazon India has an announcement to start manufacturing of electronics products from India. Amazon is going to start manufacturing Amazon Fire TV stick from India.
• The virtual meeting was attended by Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Communications and Law & Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Amit Agarwal, Amazon’s Global Senior Vice President and Country Head for India.

Appointments

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appointed as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization

• Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appointed the seventh Director-General of the World Trade Organization, making her the first woman and the first African to head the multilateral trade body from March 1, 2021, to August 31, 2025.
• Okonjo-Iweala is the former Finance Minister of Nigeria and World Bank, economist. She replaces Roberto Azevêdo, who had step down from his post on August 31, 2020.

World Trade Organizations (WTO):

• Director General: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
• Location: Geneva, Switzerland.

Ajay Mathur elected as the next director-general of the International Solar Alliance (ISA)

• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) announced Ajay Mathur as its new Director-General following his election at the first special assembly of ISA members. He succeeded Upendra Tripathy, who has served as director-general since 2017.
• The director-general has a four-year term, which can be renewed for an additional term. Mathur currently heads the New Delhi-based The Energy and Research Institute (TERI) and will be taking over from Tripathy, a former secretary in MNRE on 15 March.

International Solar Alliance (ISA):

• Director General: Ajay Mathur
• Headquarters: Gurugram, Haryana

Awards and Recognitions

Theodore Baskaran wins Sanctuary Lifetime Service Award 2020

• Sanctuary Nature Foundation honors conservation hero S Theodore Baskaran with Sanctuary Lifetime Service Award 2020 for his role in wildlife conservation and his continuing legacy of writings in Tamil and English to the conservation discourse.
• Theodore is prolific in Tamil and some of his Tamil works include Vaanil Parakkum Pullelam (The Wings that Measure the Skies, Uyirmmai Padippagam, 2012) and Kal Mel Nadandha Kaalam (When I Walked Along the Rocks, New Century Book House, 2017).

Sports News

Ravichandran Ashwin becomes the first bowler to dismiss left-handers 200 times in Tests

• Ravichandran Ashwin has become the first player in the 143-year history of Test cricket to take 200 wickets against left-handed
• Ashwin has picked 391 wickets in his career so far and 2 percent of his scalps have come against left-handers. His bowling average against left-handers is 19.55 and 31.24 against right-handed batsmen.

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Daily Current Affairs Quiz – February 16, 2021