Daily Current Affairs: April 20, 2021

Daily Current Affairs (April 20, 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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Important Days

UN Chinese Language Day – 20 April

• UN Chinese Language Day is observed annually on 20 April. The event was established by the UN Department of Public Information in 2010, seeking to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six of its official working languages throughout the organisation.

National News

Centre launches Startup India Seed Fund Scheme to create a robust startup ecosystem in India

• Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal has launched the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS). The Fund Scheme aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry, and commercialization.
• An amount of 945 crore rupees corpus will be divided over the next 4 years for providing seed funding to eligible startups through eligible incubators across India. The scheme is expected to support an estimated 3,600 startups through 300 incubators.

India and Germany sign agreement on ‘Cities combating plastic entering the marine environment’

• Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH India on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety signed an agreement on Technical Cooperation titled ‘Cities Combating Plastic Entering the Marine Environment’.
• The project’s outcomes are completely in line with the objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban focusing on sustainable solid waste management and the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision to phase out single-use plastic by 2022.

Germany

• Capital: Berlin.
• Currency: Euro.
• President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier
• Chancellor: Angela Merkel

International News

New Zealand brings World’s 1^st Climate Change Law for Financial Firms

• New Zealand had become the first country to introduce a law that required banks, insurers and investment managers to report the impacts of climate change on their business.
• All banks with total assets of more than NZ$1 billion ($703 million), insurers with more than NZ$1 billion in total assets under management, and all equity and debt issuers listed on the country’s stock exchange had to make disclosures.

New Zealand:

• Capital: Wellington
• Currency: New Zealand dollar
• Prime Minister: Jacinda Ardern

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan launches construction of trans-border trade hub

• Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan had launched the construction of an international center for trade and economic cooperation named “Central Asia” on the border of the two countries.
• The center is intended to become a large industrial, trade and logistics platform for the implementation of joint investment projects of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Kazakhstan

• Capital: Nur-Sultan
• Currency: Kazakhstani Tenge.
• President: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Uzbekistan

• Capital: Tashkent
• Currency: Uzbekistani Som

Banking and Economy

Life Insurance Corporation of India ties up with Paytm to handle digital payments

• State-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) had appointed homegrown payments player Paytm to facilitate its digital payments. The corporation witnesses roughly eight crore digital transactions at the moment and the figure is likely to go up in the future.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Founded: 1 September 1956
• Chairman: MR Kumar

Science and Technology

DRDO develops a supplemental oxygen delivery system for soldiers and COVID-19 patients

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a SpO2-based supplemental oxygen delivery system for soldiers serving in extremely high-altitude areas and COVID-19 patients.
• This automatic system delivers supplemental oxygen based on the SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation) levels and prevents the person from sinking to a state of hypoxia, which is fatal in most cases.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chairman: Dr G Satheesh Reddy

Appointments

RBI constitutes a six-member panel headed by Sudarshan Sen to review ARCs

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) formed a six-member panel headed by Sudarshan Sen, former Executive Director of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to carry out a comprehensive review of the working of Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) in the financial sector ecosystem.
• The panel will recommend suitable measures for enabling such entities to meet the growing requirements of the financial sector.

The other members of the panel are

1. Vishakha Mulye (Executive Director of ICICI Bank)
2. P N Prasad (Former Deputy Managing Director of SBI)
3. Rohit Prasad (Professor of Economics in Management Development Institute, Gurgaon)
4. Abizer Diwanji (Partner in Ernst & Young)
5. R Anand (Chartered Accountant).

Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC)

• An Asset Reconstruction Company is a specialised financial institution that buys the NPAs (Non-Performing Asset) or bad assets from banks and financial institutions so that the latter can clean up their balance sheets.

Books and Authors

A new book titled “Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through its Languages” was authored by Peggy Mohan

• A new book titled “Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through its Languages” was authored by noted linguist Peggy Mohan. The book was published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI).

A new book titled “The Cursed Inheritance” was authored by Sutapa Basu

• A new book titled “The Cursed Inheritance” was authored by Sutapa Basu. The book was published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI).
• The Cursed Inheritance is the journey of a young, intelligent, and digitally savvy woman whose idealistic, ethical beliefs are pitted against an older, corrupt, immoral mindset. The book was published by Readomania Publishing.

Obituary

Senior IIS officer Narendra Kaushal passes away

• A senior officer of the Indian Information Service (IIS) Narendra Kaushal passed away following a COVID-19 infection. He served in different departments of the Ministry of I&B including All India Radio, Doordarshan, ROB, and RNI in senior positions.

Padma Shri awardee G Venkatasubbaiah passes away at 107

• A well-known Kannada lexicographer, G Venkatasubbaish died in Bengaluru. He is popularly known in Kannada literary field, was a lexicographer, grammarian, and literary critic.
• His monumental literary works got him various awards, including the Padma Shri, Pampa Award, Bhasha Samman by the Sahitya Akademi, Karnataka Rajyotsava Award, and the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award.

Former Union Minister Bachi Singh Rawat passes away at 71

• Former Union minister Bachi Singh Rawat died at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. He was a four-time MP from the Almora-Pithoragarh constituency and had defeated former chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat thrice in consecutive elections.

National award-winning filmmaker Sumitra Bhave passes away at 78

• The seven-time National Award winner Marathi film-maker and writer Sumitra Bhave passed away in Pune due to age-related ailments. She made her first short film “Bai” in 1985 for Stree Vani which went onto bag her the first National Award for Best Non-Feature Film on Family Welfare (1986), followed by another short film “Paani” got the National Award in 1988.

Sports News

Stefanos Tsitsipas wins Monte Carlo Masters

• Stefanos Tsitsipas won the Monte Carlo Masters without dropping a set, beating Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-3 for his first title this year and sixth overall. Stefanos Tsitsipas is a Greek professional tennis player.

Max Verstappen wins Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix

• Max Verstappen won a thrilling Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton ran off the road and George Russell and Valtteri Bottas were involved in a huge 200mph crash.
• Max Emilian Verstappen is a Belgian-Dutch racing driver currently competing in Formula One, under the Dutch flag with Red Bull Racing.

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