Daily Current Affairs: March 5, 2021

Daily Current Affairs (March 5, 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.

Also, Don’t forget to attend the Daily Current Affairs Quiz – March 5, 2021, now @ our Bankersdaily Tests.

SUBSCRIBE to Race Youtube Channel for CA QUIZ LIVE Sessions

Check: Previous – Daily Current Affairs – Banking Exam

National News

India sends the first consignment of Assam’s ‘red rice’ to the US

• In a major boost to India’s rice exports potential, the first consignment of ‘red rice’ was flagged off to the USA. Iron-rich ‘red rice’ is grown in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, without the use of any chemical fertilisers. The rice variety is referred to as ‘Bao-dhaan’, which is an integral part of the Assamese food.
• The red rice is being sourced by leading rice exporter – LT Foods. The flagging-off ceremony of the export consignments was carried out by APEDA Chairman M Angamuthu at Sonepat, Haryana.

Assam     

• Capital: Dispur
• Chief Minister: Sarbananda Sonowal   
• Governor: Jagdish Mukhi
• National Parks: Orang National Park, Manas National Park or Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, Kaziranga National Park, Nameri National Park, Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary.

International News

India to fund Rs. 246 million for the reconstruction of 3 Cultural Heritages in Nepal

• India will be funding Nepal of Rs. 246 million for the reconstruction of three more Cultural Heritage projects in Nepal after six out of the 28 heritage site contracts have already been reconstructed.
• The MoU was signed for Jestha Varna Mahavihara in Lalitpur, Sulighyang Gumba, and Shermathang Gumba located in the Sindhupalchowk district.
• Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) will be providing technical assistance for the restoration of Jestha Varna Mahavihara while the other two will be undertaken by Central Level Project Implementation Unit (CLPIU).

Nepal:

• Capital: Kathmandu
• Currency: Nepalese Rupee
• Prime Minister: KP Sharma Oli
• President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari

Prime Minister Modi to hold a virtual summit with Swedish counterpart Stefan Löfven

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a virtual summit with his Swedish counterpart Stefan Löfven to exchange views on regional and global issues and to discuss the bilateral relations between the two countries.
• India and Sweden have warm and friendly relations based on shared values of democracy, freedom, pluralism, and rules-based international order. This will be the fifth interaction between the two leaders since 2015.

Sweden:

• Capital: Stockholm
• Currency: Swedish krona
• Prime Minister: Stefan Löfven

India signed a key pact with the Philippines for the sale of defence equipment

• India signed a key pact with the Philippines for the sale of “defence material and equipment”, which are likely to include BrahMos cruise missiles. Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana was also present at the pact’s signing ceremony in Manila.
• The BrahMos missile is produced by an India-Russian joint venture, “BrahMos Aerospace” and it can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms.

Philippines:

• Capital: Manila
• Currency: Peso
• President: Rodrigo Duterte

Australia building world’s first platypus sanctuary to promote breeding and rehabilitation

• Australia to build the world’s first refugee for the platypus, to promote breeding and rehabilitation as the duck-billed mammal faces extinction due to climate change.
• The Taronga Conservation Society Australia and the New South Wales State Government would build the specialist facility, mostly ponds, and burrows for the semiaquatic creatures, at a zoo 391 km (243 miles) from Sydney, by 2022, which could house up to 65 platypuses.

Australia:

• Capital: Canberra
• Currency: Australian dollar
• Prime Minister: Scott Morrison

YuWaah, UNICEF, Capgemini and UNGCNI collaborate to provide opportunities for young people

• YuWaah, UNICEF, Capgemini, and United Nations Global Compact Network India (UNGCNI) entered into a collaboration to work together on providing India’s young people with skill sets that will help empower them for creating their career pathways and enabling them as active changemakers.
• This initiative will offer a range of opportunities like local demand-based skilling with job matching through quality internships and apprenticeships and promote entrepreneurship.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):

• Headquarter: New York, United States
• Executive Director: Henrietta Holsman Fore
• UNICEF Representative in India: Dr Yasmin Ali Haque

Union External Affairs Minister Jaishankar inaugurated the new Cultural Centre of the High Commission of India in Dhaka

• Union External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar inaugurated the new Cultural Centre of the High Commission of India in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the second cultural centre of the High Commission of India after the Dhanmondi centre at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka.
• Both countries shared history and common heritage, linguistic and cultural ties, passion for music, literature, and the arts.

Bangladesh:

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

Banking and Economy

RBI announced Operation Twist-cum-Open Market Operations (OMO)

• RBI will purchase Government securities worth Rs. 20,000 crore and sell securities worth Rs. 15,000 crore. The yield on the       10-year benchmark bond closed at 6.22% after hitting an         11-month high of 6.26%.
• RBI announced that it will buy securities maturing in 2025, 2028, 2030 and 2033, and sell short-term securities maturing in November, February, and May 2022.

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, M. Rajeshwar Rao)
• Subsidiaries: Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (BRBNM).

EPFO kept the interest rate untouched at 8.5% for 2020-21

• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) announced an 8.5 percent interest rate on Provident Fund deposits for the financial year 2020-21.
• In Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the depositors investing more than Rs. 2.5 lakh in EPF in a year would have the interest liable for tax from April 1.

PNB Housing Finance and YES Bank signed a strategic co-lending pact for retail home loans

• PNB Housing and Yes Bank provide an efficient and seamless experience to existing and new retail home loan customers.
• This strategic co-lending agreement will offer convenient and customised retail loans to homebuyers at competitive interest rates. PNB Housing and Yes Bank jointly do due diligence and co-originate the loan at an agreed ratio.

YES Bank

• CEO: Prashant Kumar
• Founder: Rana Kapoor
• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Tagline: “Experience our Expertise”.

Kotak Mahindra Bank signed MoU with the Indian Army to handle salary accounts of personnel

• Kotak Mahindra Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Army for salary accounts. The MoU enables Kotak to offer its salary account proposition, combined with exclusive benefits for the Indian Army, to all army personnel, both active and retired.
• All personnel of the Indian Army will get access to the full range of Kotak’s products and services including a zero-balance salary account that earns up to 4 percent interest per annum with free unlimited ATM transactions on all VISA ATMs among other facilities.

Kotak Mahindra Bank

• CEO: Uday Kotak.
• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

SEBI cancelled Sahara India Financial Corp’s registration as sub-brokery

• Markets regulator SEBI cancelled the certificate of registration of Sahara India Financial Corporation as a sub-broker citing its failure to fulfill the “fit and proper” criteria. The regulator had appointed a designated authority in 2018 to enquire whether Sahara India Financial violated provisions of Intermediaries Regulations.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):

• Headquarter: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Chairman: Ajay Tyagi
• Founded: 12 April 1992.

Axis Securities launched ‘YIELD’ an online platform to invest bond and debenture hassle-free

• Axis Securities, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Axis Bank, launched ‘YIELD’ an online platform to buy and sell bonds as well as debentures in the secondary market.
• YIELD is the first-of-its-kind initiative that allows retail investors direct access to the debt instruments. This removes the hassle of filling up physical forms or the need for separate KYC with the bond institutions, the brokerage house.

KVGB inks pact with ‘Our Food’ for arranging processing units for farmers

• The Dharwad-headquartered Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Our Food Pvt Ltd, Visakhapatnam, for arranging cost-effective processing units to farmers through the bank loan.
• The vendor will ensure the supply, delivery, and installation of high-quality, standardised, and branded equipment as per the requirement of the farmer and also will ensure the purchase of processed products.

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB)

• Headquarters: Dharwad, Karnataka
• Chairman: P Gopi Krishna.

Appointments

Rajesh Vaishnaw appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Morocco

• Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced Senior Diplomat Rajesh Vaishnaw has been appointed India’s next Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco. He is a 1996-batch Indian Foreign Service officer is currently the High Commissioner of India to Malta.

Kingdom of Morocco

• Capital: Rabat
• Currency: Moroccan dirham
• King: Mohammed VI.

Glenmark Pharma signs Rohit Sharma as brand ambassador for Candid Powder

• Drug major Glenmark Pharma has signed cricketer Rohit Sharma as brand ambassador for its product Candid Powder. Candid Dusting Powder is used to treat four key skin problems of redness, irritation, sweat rash, and fungal infections.
• Candid Powder brand is a market leader in its category, with a market share of 64 percent in the medicated powder category.

Awards and Recognitions

Mohankrishna Bohara won 30^th Bihari Puraskar award

• The 30^th Bihari Puraskar for 2020 will be given to Mohankrishna Bohara for his Hindi book of Criticism, titled “Taslima: Sangharsh Aur Sahitya”.  Bihari Puraskar carries award money of two lakh 50 thousand rupees, a Citation, and a Plaque.
• Award is named after famous Hindi poet Bihari, the award is given every year for outstanding work in Hindi or Rajasthani.

Rankings

12 Indian institutions secure position in top 100; QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021

• Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ addressed at the unveiling of QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021.
• IIT Madras has been ranked 30^th in the world for Petroleum Engineering, IIT Bombay has been ranked 41^st and IIT Kharagpur has been ranked 44^th in the world for Minerals and Mining Engineering, and the University of Delhi has been ranked 50^th in the world for Development Studies.
• Other institutes are IISC Bangalore, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, JNU, Anna University, and O.P Jindal University.

Can you score 20/20 in Today’s Current Affairs Quiz? Attempt the Current Affairs Quiz of  March 5, 2021, now from the link given below. 

Daily Current Affairs Quiz – March 5, 2021