Current Affairs Daily Digest – January 06 2020
1. MECOS-3, 2020: Global Marine Ecosystem Meet in Kochi
The Marine Ecosystems-Challenges and Opportunities (MECOS), the third international symposium is to be held in Kochi. The symposium is conducted by thhe Marine Biological association of India between January 7, 2020 and January 10, 2020.
2. GoI to confer first “Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman”
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will confer “Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman” to 30 media houses. The award is being presented for the first time. The aim of the award is to acknowledge positive role of media in disseminating outreach of Yoga.
3. P Magesh Chandran lifts 95th Hastings International Chess title
India’s P Magesh Chandran lifted the title in the 95th edition of the prestigious Hastings International Chess Congress at Hastings in England.
He remained unbeaten in all the nine rounds. The 36-year old Grand Master with a FIDE rating of 2479, finished in clear first place with 7.5 points from nine games after securing a 33-move draw in the final round yesterday against compatriot G A Stany, also a Grand Master. He beat fellow Indian GM Deep Sengupta in the eighth round.
4. Golden Globes 2020: ‘1917’ and Tarantino’s ‘Hollywood’ win best picture
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino’s take on the Manson murders, walked away with three awards on Sunday night, the most of any project. The film won best comedy or musical, along with best supporting actor for Brad Pitt and best screenplay for Tarantino.
In a possible forecast of the Oscar race, Sam Mendes’s World War I drama “1917” walked away with the best drama prize, as Mendes also shocked the room when he triumphed over Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”) for best director.
5. Challakere to be ISRO’s astronaut training hub
India’s world-class facility for training astronauts will come up not in the space headquarters in Bengaluru, nor in any glitzy metropolis. It will be established in three years at Challakere, a shrubby, arid oilseeds town on the Bengaluru-Pune NH4 in Chitradurga district of Karnataka.
6. NSE taps Sebi for IPO even as banks plan to offload shares
The National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) has formally approached the stock market regulator for an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares, even as two state-run lenders have started selling some of their NSE shares ahead of the IPO.
7. UCO Bank extending credit linkage to 10,000 self help groups
State-owned lender UCO Bank has said it has recovered ₹800-900 crore from four large stressed accounts in the December quarter under the bankruptcy law and is extending credit linkage to 10,000 Self Help Groups
“We recovered between ₹800-900 crore from four important accounts in the December quarter,” UCO Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive A K Goel said.
8. Equitas Bank waives non-maintenance charges on all savings account
Equitas Small Finance Bank has waived non-maintenance charges on all savings account. The bank also offered lower transaction charges to customers. This is expected to benefit certain of its customers. Currently the bank offers upto 7.5% interest on savings account.
The Average Monthly Balance (AMB) to be maintained in Equitas Small Finance Bank depends on the region. If the branch is in metro, then the customer is required to maintain ₹10,000. For semi-urban and rural branches, Equitas Small Finance Bank customer is required to maintain ₹5,000 and ₹2,500 respectively.
9. Former Karnataka Governor TN Chaturvedi passes away
Former Karnataka Governor Triloki Nath Chaturvedi died at the age of 90. According to ourbitcoinnews.com, he was admitted to Kailash Hospital in Sector-27 of Noida, due to sudden chest pain. He died at the hospital where is was being treated.
10. India’s service sector activity growth hits 5-month high in December: PMI
India’s services sector activity gained momentum and touched a five-month high in December, supported by uptick in new business orders that boosted output as well as employment, a monthly survey showed.
The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index improved from 52.7 in November to 53.3 in December, highlighting the second-strongest rate of increase in output in over a year, after July.
11, AI powered National Stock Exchange Knowledge Hub inaugurated in New Delhi
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) knowledge Hub was inaugurated. The hub will assist insurance, banking and financial services. The hub has adopted the latest technology of Artificial Intelligence.
The technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are two major keys for India to become 1 trillion-dollar economy by 2035.
12. India’s UJALA Programme completes 5 successful years
Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) and LED Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) marked their fifth anniversary. The schemes were implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). EESL is a joint venture of PSU operating under Ministry of Power.
13. India Russia to sign MoUs on AK-203 assault rifles
The Indian Army will sign MoU with Russia to procure AK-203 assault rifles. According to the deal, around 1 lakh rifles are to be received directly from Russia and the rest will be manufactured in India.
The rifles will be manufactured at Korwa in Uttar Pradesh by a joint Venture (JV) called Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL). Of the JV, 50.5% is to be owned by India and 49.5% by Russia.
