29th January 2021 Current Affairs

GK Update of twenty ninth January 2021 protecting the next information headlines: thirty fifth PRAGATI Meet, Vaccine Maitri, Krishi Sakha, Corruption Perception Index 2020, Reliance Jio.

National News

1. India’s “Vaccine Maitri” Initiative begins

• Vaccine Maitri Initiative is an initiative launched by India to present COVID-19 vaccines to neighbouring international locations. Recently, Sri Lanka and Bahrain have obtained the COVID-19 vaccines from India below the initiative.
• The Vaccine Maitri initiative was launched by India on January 20 to present COVID-19 vaccines to neighbouring international locations.
• Sri Lanka has obtained 5 lakh Covid-19 vaccines from India as part of the “Vaccine Maitri” initiative.
• Consignment of vaccines has additionally been despatched to Bahrain. The nation will obtain 10,800 vaccines below the initiative.
• India has already delivered over 5 million doses to seven international locations within the neighbourhood below the initiative earlier than Sri Lanka and Bahrain.
• The 7 international locations are- the Maldives (100,000 vaccines), Bhutan (150,000 vaccines), Nepal (1 million vaccines), Bangladesh (2 million vaccines), Myanmar (1.5 million vaccines), Mauritius (100,000 vaccines), and Seychelles (50,000 vaccines).
• Commercial provides of Covishield have additionally been despatched to Morocco, Brazil, (2 million doses every), and Bangladesh (5 million doses).

International News

2. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigns

• Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte resigned after dropping his Senate majority, plunging the nation into political uncertainty simply because it’s battling the pandemic and a recession.
• He tendered his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella, the last word arbiter of Italian political crises, who invited him to remain on in a caretaker capability pending discussions on what occurs subsequent.
• Italy was the primary European nation to face the total pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic and has since suffered badly, with the financial system plunged into recession and deaths nonetheless rising by round 400 a day.
• Parts of the nation stay below partial lockdown, the vaccination programme has slowed and a deadline is looming to agree on plans to spend billions of euros in European Union restoration funds.

Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:

• President of Italy: Sergio Mattarella.
• Capital of Italy: Rome; Currency of Italy: Euro.

Banking News

3. Bharti AXA General Insurance launches ‘Krishi Sakha’ App for farmers

• Bharti AXA General Insurance has launched Krishi Sakha App, a one-stop-shop for Indian farmers that gives them related info to cater to their each day farming wants. It additionally gives steerage to farmers to undertake finest farming practices and improve their productiveness.
• The farmers by way of this app will even have entry to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) portal for crop insurance-related info.
• Bharti AXA ‘Krishi Sakha’ goals at serving to Indian farmers make knowledgeable selections by way of personalized info associated to their farming necessities.
• It shares related details about the scientific manner of farming, crop cultivation, sowing, or harvesting of main crops. It guides the farmers about climate forecasting, market and crop costs and authorities schemes associated to insurance coverage and agriculture.

Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:

• Bharti AXA General Insurance Established: 2008.
• Bharti AXA General Insurance Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• Bharti AXA General Insurance MD and CEO: Sanjeev Srinivasan.
• Bharti AXA General Insurance Tagline: Suraksha ka Naya Nazariya.

Appointments News

4. Swaminathan Janakiraman and Aswini Kumar Tewari appointed as MDs of SBI

• The appointments committee (ACC) of the Cabinet has permitted the appointment of Swaminathan Janakiraman and Ashwini Kumar Tewari as new Managing Directors (MDs) of State Bank of India (SBI) for a interval of three years.
• Prior to this, Swaminathan Janakiraman was the deputy managing director (Finance) at SBI and Ashwini Kumar Tewari was serving as MD & CEO of SBI Card, a subsidiary of SBI.
• SBI is headed by a Chairman and 4 managing administrators. Dinesh Kumar Khara is the present Chairman of the financial institution. The different two MDs of the financial institution are C.S. Setty and Ashwani Bhatia. The two posts have been vacant since October 2020.

Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:

• State Bank of India Headquarters: Mumbai; Founded: 1 July 1955.

Awards News

5. Ram Temple tableau of Uttar Pradesh on Republic Day wins 1st prize

• The Ram Temple tableau of Uttar Pradesh that was on show in the course of the Republic Day 2021 has bagged the first prize amongst all tableaux. The theme of Uttar Pradesh’s tableau was ‘Ayodhya: Cultural Heritage of Uttar Pradesh’.
• The cultural heritage of historical holy city Ayodhya, a reproduction of a Ram temple, a glimpse of ‘Deepotsav’ and varied tales from Ramayana epic have been depicted within the tableau.
• The Tripura tableau gained the second prize for the Republic Day parade. Uttarakhand’s tableau on the theme ‘Dev Bhoomi — The Land of the Gods’ was adjudged third among the many states and union territories.
• The tableau of Central Public Works Department (CPWD), with the theme ‘Amar Jawan’, bagged a particular prize for paying tribute to the fallen heroes of the armed forces.

Defence News

6. Lt Gen Chandi Prasad Mohanty appointed as new Army Vice-Chief

• Lieutenant General Chandi Prasad Mohanty has been appointed as the brand new Vice-chief of Army employees. He would assume the workplace on February 1, 2021, from Lt General SK Saini, who’s superannuating on 31 January 2021.
• Lt General CP Mohanty is an alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun, and National Defence Academy. He is a June 1982 batch Infantry Officer from the Rajput Regiment.
• Vice-Chief of Army Staff is the deputy head and the second-highest-ranking officer of the Indian Army. The place is held by the senior officer within the rank of Lt-General, of the Commander in Chief grade.

Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:

• twenty eighth Chief of Army Staff: General Manoj Mukund Naravane.
• The motto of Indian Army: “Service Before Self”.
• Headquarters of Indian Army: New Delhi.

Ranks and Reports News

7. India Ranks 86 amongst 98 Countries in Lowy Institute’s Covid-19 Response Index

• India has been ranked at 86th place amongst 98 international locations within the new Coronavirus Performance Index launched by Australia-based Lowy Institute.
• Countries have been ranked based mostly on the publicly obtainable and comparable information on Covid-19 response. The Lowy Institute is an unbiased worldwide coverage suppose tank, situated in Sydney.
• New Zealand, Vietnam and Taiwan are the highest three international locations respectively within the index. Brazil was ranked on the backside of the checklist for worst dealing with of the pandemic than some other nation. China was excluded from the checklist as a consequence of lack of publicly obtainable information.

8. India Secures 86th Rank in Corruption Perception Index 2020

• India has been ranked 86th amongst 180 international locations within the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2020, launched by Transparency International. This 12 months, India’s rank has slipped six locations in comparison with 2019, when it was ranked at eightieth spot. The CPI rating for India in 2020 is 40. India is sharing its place collectively with Burkina Faso, Morocco, East Timor, Trinidad and Tobago and Turkey.
• New Zealand and Denmark have collectively secured the primary place with scores of 88.
• Somalia and South Sudan rank lowest at 179th place with scores of 12.

Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:

• Transparency International Headquarters location: Berlin, Germany.
• Transparency International Chairperson: Delia Ferreira Rubio.
• Transparency International Founded: 4 May 1993.

9. Reliance Jio ranked fifth strongest model globally

• Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s four-year-old telecom enterprise Reliance Jio has been ranked the fifth strongest model globally behind the likes of Ferrari and Coca-Cola. As per the rating, Reliance Jio has emerged because the fifth strongest model on the earth.
• Reliance Jio has made its entry to the world’s strongest manufacturers. Reliance has been ranked because the fifth strongest model on the earth. It has a Brand Strength Index (BSI) rating of 91.7 out of 100.
• The Brand Finance’s Global 500 rating of the strongest manufacturers globally, which decided the relative power of manufacturers, is topped by WeChat, in keeping with its annual report on most beneficial and strongest world manufacturers.

Summits and Conferences News

10. PM Modi Chairs thirty fifth PRAGATI Meet

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chaired the thirty fifth PRAGATI assembly to overview a number of initiatives, grievances and programmes. In the assembly, ten agenda gadgets have been taken for overview value Rs. 54,675 crore, associated to fifteen states.
• These included 9 initiatives and one programme. Prime Minister additionally reviewed the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana.
• PRAGATI stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation.
• Of the full 9 initiatives, 3 initiatives have been from the Ministry of Railways, 3 from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and 1 challenge every from Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Power Ministry and Ministry of External Affairs.
• The States are Odisha, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. 

Economy News

11. Economic Survey 2021: Key highlights of Economic Survey

• Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has offered Economic Survey 2020-21 within the Parliament on 29 January 2021. The main focus of this 12 months’s financial survey is the losses and influence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The survey will present an evaluation of how the Indian financial system has been impacted by the lethal COVID-19 virus and the way it’s enhancing. It will even challenge India’s gross home product development for 2021-22.
• The Economic Survey doc is ready by the Economics Division of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) below the steerage of the Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian. The Economic Survey 2020-21 shall be adopted by the Union Budget 2020-21 which shall be tabled on February 1.

The theme of Economic Survey, 2020-21:

• #SavingLives&Livelihoods
• #VshapedRecovery