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Top 20 Current Affairs of 8 October 2020
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
42nd GST Council meeting chaired by FM Nirmala Sitharaman ; Compensation Cess Extended beyond June, 2022
i.In the current fiscal (FY21), the states are facing Rs 2.35 lakh crore Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue shortfall, out of which, Rs 97,000 crore is on account of GST shortfall, while Rs 1.38 lakh crore is due to COVID-19 pandemic.
ii.In this regard, on October 5, 2020 the 42nd GST Council meeting was held video conferencing from New Delhi under the chairmanship of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman where it was decided that this year’s compensation cess collected amounting to Rs 20,000 crore will be disbursed to the states.
iii.Extension of compensation cess: The transition period of five years for levy of Compensation Cess will be extended i.e. beyond June, 2022.
iv.Integrated GST: An amount of about Rs 25,000 crore towards IGST of 2017-18 will be released by the end of next week to the states which had received less earlier.
About GST Council:
GST Council is an apex member committee to modify or to procure any law or regulation based on the context of GST in India. The council is headed by the union finance minister (Current- Nirmala Sitharaman) assisted by the finance minister of all the states of India.
- It was constituted on 15th September 2016 under Article 279A of the Constitution.
ISLRTC and NCERT Signed MoU to Make Educational Materials Accessible for Deaf Children
i.On 6th October 2020, Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center (ISLRTC) and The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) to convert the NCERT educational materials into Indian Sign Language(ISL).
ii.This ensures the accessibility of NCERT materials to the Indian students with hearing impairment in their preferred mode of communication(ISL).
iii.The MoU was signed by Dr Prabodh Seth, Joint Secretary of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) & Director, ISLRTC and Prof. Hrushikesh Senapathy, Director of NCERT.
iv.This MoU is based on the United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF)‘s initiative “Accessible Digital Textbooks for All” and its decisions.
About Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center (ISLRTC):
ISLRTC is an autonomous national institute under the DEPwD.
Chairperson & Director– Prabodh Seth
Headquarters– New Delhi
About National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT):
NCERT is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Education(MoE) (formerly known as Ministry of Human Resource and Development(MHRD))
Director– Hrushikesh Senapathy
Headquarters– New Delhi
<<Read Full News>>
IFFCO & Prasar Bharati Signed MoU to Broadcast Agri technology for Growth of Agriculture
- IFFCO is the world’s biggest fertiliser cooperative and has prepared an Nanotechnology based alternative of Urea.
Key Points:
–As a part of MoU, DD(Doordarshan) Kisan will broadcast various innovative techniques adopted in the agriculture field in easy language through a 30 minutes program series of approximate 25 episodes.
–The objective of the MoU is to make farmers ‘Atmanirbhar’ (self-reliant) through the use of new agriculture techniques which will aid in achieving the target of doubling the farmers income by 2022.
About Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO):
Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)– Dr. Udai Shanker Awasthi
Headquarter– New Delhi
About Prasar Bharati:
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)– Shashi Shekhar Vempati
Headquarter– New Delhi
Other Static Points:
Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India- Krishnaswamy Vijay Raghavan
Doordarshan Director General (DG)- Mayank Agarwal
NITI Aayog, MNRE and Invest India organized the Global Symposium ‘India PV Edge 2020’
Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge) for New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, Managing Director (MD) & CEO of Invest India Deepak Bagla attended the session. Around 60 prominent Indian and global CEOs also attended the event virtually.
Key Points:
i.The participating companies interacted with Indian policymakers for the development of manufacturing schemes.
ii.It also discussed ways to boost the ‘Make in India’ campaign.
iii.The symposium discussed the potential for making India as a global hub for solar PV manufacturing by providing an ecosystem for setting up giga-scale factories by local and global firms.
Target of Renewable Capacity:
i.India is the third largest solar capacity country in the world.
ii.It has set an ambitious target of 450 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, which includes 300 GW of solar capacity.
iii.India’s renewable capacity installation has increased by 2.5 times and solar capacity has increased by 13 times in the last six years.
MoSPI Launched India’s first Pan India Time Use Survey 2019
- As per the findings, the large chunk of paid work is done by men, and unpaid work is largely done by women.
Key Findings:
–The participation rate of men in paid employment including jobs, farming, fishing, mining amongst other economic activities is at 57.3%, compared to women participation rate of 18.4%.
–Indian men also spend more time at paid work, spending on average 7 hours 39 minutes compared to the 5 hours 33 minutes spent by women.
–81.2%women participate in unpaid domestic services spending an average 4 hours 59 minutes each day while for men it is low at 26.1% with average spending of around 1 hour 37 minutes.
–Indians do not like to participate in unpaid volunteer work.
About Time Use Survey (TUS):
It is an important source of information on the time spent in unpaid caregiving activities, volunteer work, and unpaid domestic service producing activities of the household members. The findings of these surveys are helpful in drafting policies on poverty, gender equity and human development.
About Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI):
Minister of State (Independent Charge)– Rao Inderjit Singh
Durga Shanker Mishra launched API Integration between PM SVANidhi Portal and SBI’s eMudra Portal
ii.This integration will ease uninterrupted data flow between the 2 portals in a secure ambience and accelerate the loan sanctioning and disbursement process that benefits the street vendors who seek working loan capital under the scheme.
<<Read Full News>>
BANKING & FINANCE
Nirmala Sitharaman Launched Indian Bank’s Business Mentoring Programme ‘MSME Prerana’
ii.It is the first-of-its-kind initiative by a bank in India for the MSME sector.
iii.Poornatha & Co designs entrepreneurial development programs in vernacular languages using online web-based interactive sessions and case studies.
iv.On successful completion, all participants will get a certificate, issued jointly by Indian Bank, Poornatha & Co and MADE (Michigan Academy for Developing Entrepreneurs), United States (US).
About Indian Bank:
On April 1, 2020, Allahabad Bank amalgamated with Indian Bank.
Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)– Padmaja Chunduru
Tagline– Your Own Bank
<<Read Full News>>
Chqbook Launched India’s 1st ‘Financial Control Center’ on Mobile to Empower Small Business Owners
ii.The mobile application of Chqbook will give small businesses the power to manage everyday financial needs and to access other financial products, which helps them to save time, effort and money.
About Chqbook(Chqbook.com):
Founder & CEO– Vipul Sharma
<<Read Full News>>
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Axis Bank in Partnership with Vistara, Launched Industry 1st Co-Branded Forex Card, ‘Axis Bank Club Vistara Forex Card’
ii.This is the 1st-ever collaboration by a bank and an Indian airline for a co-branded forex card. The multi currency forex card enables customers to travel to international destinations in a cashless and hassle free manner.
About Vistara:
HeadQuarters– Gurgaon, Haryana
Chief Executive Officer(CEO)– Mr. Leslie Thng
About Axis Bank Ltd:
HeadQuarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) – Amitabh Chaudhry
<<Read Full News>>
FLO and NSDC Signed MoU to Empower Women Through Skill Training
The primary focus of this MoU is to generate a sustainable livelihood for women.
Features of MoU:
i.The collaboration between FLO and NSDC will support the empowerment of women to develop sustainable economic possibilities at various levels like grassroot, medium and senior.
ii.FLO and NSDC will support the short term training of women in different sectors like healthcare, tourism, hospitality and others and will also support them with their domestic and overseas placement.
iii.This association will create better employability opportunities for women through market relevant skill training for various roles.
3C Initiative:
i.The 3C Initiative of FLO aims to build the Competency, Capacity and Confidence of women through transformational life skills and Technical Education Adopt ITI Programme(AITIP) which will empower women with tools and knowledge to become economically independent.
ii.This 3C initiative enhances the NSDC work on increasing the participation of the female labour force.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Union Minister Piyush Goyal releases results of 1st Edition of National Startup Awards 2020
The First Ever National Startup Awards has been conceived by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
i.The award rewards startups & ecosystems which are building innovative products, solutions and scalable enterprises with high potential of employment generation & wealth creation.
ii.The full list of Awards can be accessed here – National Startup Awards 2020
About Ministry of Commerce and Industry:
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is a department under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Union Minister – Piyush Goyal
Minister of State (MoS) – Hardeep Singh Puri, Som Parkash
<<Read Full News>>
Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna Won 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Development of a Method for Genome Editing
ii.This is the 1st time 2 women have jointly won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
<<Read Full News>>
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS
Kuwaiti Govt, Headed by Prime Minister Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah Resigns
ii.The emir named Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, currently the deputy head of the National Guard, as crown prince of Kuwait.
About Kuwait(Officially- State of Kuwait):
Capital– Kuwait City
Currency– Kuwaiti dinar
<<Read Full News>>
Government of India Appoints Dinesh Kumar Khara as the Chairman of SBI
The appointment of Dinesh Kumar was recommended by the Bank Board Bureau.
About Dinesh Kumar Khara:
i.Dinesh Kumar Khara is a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers(CAIIB) and he joined SBI as a probation officer in 1984.
ii.He played a major role in merging the 5 associate banks and Bharatiya Bank with SBI in April 2017.
iii.He was appointed as the MD of SBI in August 2016 for a term of 3 years.
iv.He headed the global banking division of SBI and also served as the MD and CEO of SBI Funds Management Private Limited(SBIMF).
About State Bank of India(SBI):
Chairman– Dinesh Kumar Khara
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Tagline– Pure banking nothing else, With you all the way, The Nation banks on us, A Bank to the common man, The Banker to Every Indian”.
Government Appoints J Venkatramu as MD, CEO of India Post Payments Bank
On October 7, 2020 The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of J Venkatramu as Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) for a period of three years.
i.J Venkatramu will succeed Suresh Sethi, who served the post till March, 2020.
ii.Venkatramu is currently serving as Chief Digital Officer at Equitas Small Finance Bank.
iii.He has 22 years of work experience across various banking services such as payments, mobile banking, retail banking products and has managed digital financial service projects also.
About India Post Payments Bank (IPPB):
i.IPPB was incorporated as Payments Banking Company under Section 22 (1) of Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
ii.Headquarters – New Delhi
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS
ADIA to Invest Rs.5512.50 Crore in RRVL
Note:
With this investment RRVL has raised a total fund around Rs.37710 crore for 8.51% stake.
About the Investment:
i.The Rs.5512.50 crore investment of ADIA will translate into 1.20% equity stake in RRVL on a fully diluted basis.
ii.This investment of ADIA marks the 7th investment in RRVL following the investments of Silver Lake, KKR, General Atlantic, Mubadala, GIC and TGP.
iii.The ADIA’s investment in RRVL follows its Rs.5683.50 crore investment in Jio Platform for 1.16% stake.
iv.This fund will support the performance and potential of RRVL and its new commerce business model.
v.This investment is in line with the ADIA’s strategy of investing in markets leading business in Asia connected with the region’s consumption related growth and technological advancement.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
ICG Offshore Patrol Vessel ‘Vigraha’ launched to enhance Coastal Security
i.This is the first time that a private sector shipyard has designed & constructed an offshore patrol vessel class ship.
ii.‘Vigraha’ is the last in the series of Seven OPVs contracted to Larsen & Toubro by the Defence Ministry in 2015.
iii.It will be inducted into ICG after the completion of trials and testing by March 2021.
About Indian Coast Guard (ICG):
Director General of ICG (DG ICG) – Krishnaswamy Natarajan
Headquarters – New Delhi
<<Read Full News>>
Russia Successfully Test-Fires Tsirkon Hypersonic Cruise Missile
i.The test was carried out from Frigate Admiral Gorshkov Vessel located in White Sea, Northern Russia.
ii.The Missile successfully hit its target at a range of 450 Kilometres in Four and Half Minutes, and reached hypersonic speeds of more than Mach 8.
About Russia:
President – Vladimir Putin
Capital – Moscow
Currency – Russian Ruble
<<Read Full News>>
IMPORTANT DAYS
World Cotton Day Observed on October 7 2020
Background:
The Cotton-4 group (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali) initiated the cotton sectoral initiative at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to improve the global trade rules related to cotton. It was there in 2019 that WTO organized the World Cotton Day event in collaboration with the secretariats of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).
About World Trade Organization (WTO):
Director General– To Be Appointed (Roberto Azevêdo stepped down as WTO Director-General on 31 August 2020)
Secretariat– Geneva, Switzerland
STATE NEWS
Telangana Govt Signs Tripartite Agreement between DET, GIZ and Siemens India to Implement New Initiative IGnITE
ii.The initiative focuses on industry’s need and practices and training the trainees.
About Siemens Limited, India:
Managing Director(MD) & Chief Executive Officer(CEO)– Sunil Mathur
Head Office– Mumbai, Maharashtra
About Telangana:
Wildlife Sanctuary– Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary, Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary, Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary , Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary , Pocharam Forest & Wildlife Sanctuary
Tiger Reserve– Kawal Tiger Reserve, Amrabad Tiger Reserve
<<Read Full News>>
NDDB, Ladakh UT sign MoU to Conduct Survey for Promotion of Dairying
ii.The survey will collect required details to prepare a roadmap for development & promotion of dairying in Ladakh.
About National Dairy Development Board (NDDB):
Chairman – Dilip Rath
Headquarters – Anand, Gujarat
About Union Territory of Ladakh:
Lieutenant Governor – Radha Krishna Mathur
Capital – Leh
<<Read Full News>>
AC GAZE
Department of Fertilizers Ranked 3rd Among 65 Ministries/Department: DMEO
The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office(DMEO), Niti Aayog conducted a Data Governance Quality Index Survey to assess the performance of the ministries/departments based on the implementation of Central Sector Schemes(CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes(CSS). The Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers ranked 3rd among the 65 ministries/departments with 4.11 on a scale of 5. The Department of fertilizers also secured 2nd rank among the 16 Economic Ministries/Departments.
Indian Navy Helicopters Undertakes Aerial Seeding Initiative at Visakhapatnam for GVMC
On 2nd October 2020, The Indian Navy partnered with Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) for the Aerial Seeding Initiative at Visakhapatnam. This initiative aims to enhance the green cover in and around Visakhapatnam. Two UH3H helicopters with 2 tons of seed balls undertook the aerial seeding. Around 6.25 tonnes of seed balls were dropped in the region around Pedagantyada, Aganampudi, Naidu Thota, Chinamushidiwada, and Pavuralakonda in Bheemili.
Indian Private Firm Alpha Design Technology Limited to upgrade Pechora surface to Air Systems
Indian Private Firm Alpha Design Technology Limited (ADTL) bagged INR 591 crore contract for upgrading and digitising 16 Soviet Era Pechora missile and radar systems. ADTL has partnered with Russian entities for the project which will be executed in four years. It will be a major boost to indigenous defence manufacturing.
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Current Affairs Today (AffairsCloud Today)
| S.no | Current Affairs 8 October 2020 |
|---|---|
| 1 | 42nd GST Council meeting chaired by FM Nirmala Sitharaman ; Compensation Cess Extended beyond June, 2022 |
| 2 | ISLRTC and NCERT Signed MoU to Make Educational Materials Accessible for Deaf Children |
| 3 | IFFCO & Prasar Bharati Signed MoU to Broadcast Agri technology for Growth of Agriculture |
| 4 | NITI Aayog, MNRE and Invest India organized the Global Symposium ‘India PV Edge 2020’ |
| 5 | MoSPI Launched India’s first Pan India Time Use Survey 2019 |
| 6 | Durga Shanker Mishra launched API Integration between PM SVANidhi Portal and SBI’s eMudra Portal |
| 7 | Nirmala Sitharaman Launched Indian Bank’s Business Mentoring Programme ‘MSME Prerana’ |
| 8 | Chqbook Launched India’s 1st ‘Financial Control Center’ on Mobile to Empower Small Business Owners |
| 9 | Axis Bank in Partnership with Vistara, Launched Industry 1st Co-Branded Forex Card, ‘Axis Bank Club Vistara Forex Card’ |
| 10 | FLO and NSDC Signed MoU to Empower Women Through Skill Training |
| 11 | Union Minister Piyush Goyal releases results of 1st Edition of National Startup Awards 2020 |
| 12 | Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna Won 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Development of a Method for Genome Editing |
| 13 | Kuwaiti Govt, Headed by Prime Minister Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah Resigns |
| 14 | Government of India Appoints Dinesh Kumar Khara as the Chairman of SBI |
| 15 | Government Appoints J Venkatramu as MD, CEO of India Post Payments Bank |
| 16 | ADIA to Invest Rs.5512.50 Crore in RRVL |
| 17 | ICG Offshore Patrol Vessel ‘Vigraha’ launched to enhance Coastal Security |
| 18 | Russia Successfully Test-Fires Tsirkon Hypersonic Cruise Missile |
| 19 | World Cotton Day Observed on October 7 2020 |
| 20 | Telangana Govt Signs Tripartite Agreement between DET, GIZ and Siemens India to Implement New Initiative IGnITE |
| 21 | NDDB, Ladakh UT sign MoU to Conduct Survey for Promotion of Dairying |
| 22 | Department of Fertilizers Ranked 3rd Among 65 Ministries/Department: DMEO |
| 23 | Indian Navy Helicopters Undertakes Aerial Seeding Initiative at Visakhapatnam for GVMC |
| 24 | Indian Private Firm Alpha Design Technology Limited to upgrade Pechora surface to Air Systems |
