Thursday 11 March 2021
GK Update of twenty fifth February 2021 protecting the next information headlines: National Urban Digital Mission, Flower Processing Centre, India’s First Digital University, Lal Lakir.
National News
1. National Urban Digital Mission Launched by Centre
- Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad launched the National Urban Digital Mission’ (NUDM) at a digital occasion, to create a digital infrastructure for cities in India.
- The NUDM has been launched collectively by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs together with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- The mission goals to place in place a “citizen-centric” and “ecosystem-driven” strategy to ‘urban governance and service delivery in cities by 2022, and across all cities and towns by 2024. The mission has three pillars – people, process, and platform.
- The NUDM will create a shared digital infrastructure for Urban India that can consolidate and cross-leverage the various digital initiatives of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, to enable cities and towns across India to benefit from holistic and diverse forms of support, in keeping with their needs and local challenges.
- Apart from this, several other digital initiatives of MoHUA was also launched which includes: India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX), SmartCode platform, Smart Cities 2.0 website, and Geospatial Management Information System (GMIS).
International News
2. China Surpasses US to become India’s prime commerce accomplice in 2020
- China has regained its place because the prime buying and selling accomplice of India in 2020, which was held by the United States, since 2018-19. The two-way commerce between India and China stood at $77.7 billion in 2020 regardless of the battle alongside the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the rising anti-China sentiment.
- The India-US bilateral commerce stood at $75.9 billion, based on provisional knowledge from the commerce ministry. Meanwhile, the UAE continues to stay India’s third-greatest buying and selling accomplice.
Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:
- China Capital: Beijing.
- China Currency: Renminbi.
- China President: Xi Jinping.
State News
3. Karnataka to arrange a Flower Processing Centre
- The Karnataka State Horticulture Department is organising a “Flower Processing Centre”, in collaboration with the International Flower Auction Bangalore (IFAB), to transform unsold flowers into varied helpful merchandise.
- The facility will present help to the flower farmers that suffer enormous losses each time there’s a glut or market disruption. Growers can study the artwork of flower processing from the centre.
- The incubation centre will course of flowers and convert them to value-added merchandise similar to pure dyes, floral papers, incense sticks, flower petal powder for beauty utilization, floral embedded works, floral arts, and silica-stored flowers.
Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:
- Chief Minister of Karnataka: B.S. Yediyurappa; Governor: Vajubhai Vala.
4. Kerala Governor Inaugurates India’s First Digital University
- Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan has inaugurated India’s first Digital University named Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology. A Digital University has been arrange in Kerala’s Technocity, Mangalapuram.
- Kerala University is established by upgrading the two-decade-old state authorities’s Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala (IIITM-K).
- India’s first Digital University will concentrate on postgraduate programmes and analysis together with constructing sturdy industry-academic and academic-academic linkages with main establishments in India and overseas.
- Developed on a 10-acre campus in Technocity, the college will present schooling to 12,000 residential students on the campus and lots of technology-linked learners exterior. The college seeks to steer the Digital Transformation Initiatives introduced by the Kerala Government within the Budget 2021.
Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:
- Kerala CM: Pinarayi Vijayan.
- Kerala Governor: Arif Mohammad Khan.
5. Punjab Cabinet approves mission ‘Lal Lakir’ in all villages
- The Punjab Cabinet has accredited the implementation of the mission ‘Lal Lakir’ geared toward facilitating villagers to monetise property rights and availing advantages supplied by authorities departments, establishments and banks in all villages throughout the state.
- As no report of rights is on the market for such properties inside the ‘Lal Lakir’, the identical can’t at present be monetised as per the true worth of the property and no mortgages may be created on such properties.
- The proper of report of properties inside ‘Lal Lakir’ within the villages of the state can be ready with the cooperation of the federal government of India below the SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) scheme.
- This will allow mapping the land, households, habitation and all different areas falling inside ‘Lal Lakir’. It will go a good distance in enhancing the residing customary of villagers and boosting their shallowness.
- There are households inside the ‘Lal Lakir’, which don’t personal property apart from the areas inside the ‘Lal Lakir’, and are thus at a drawback in terms of monetising or realising the true worth of the property, based on a authorities assertion.
- ‘Lal Lakir’ refers to land that’s a part of the village ‘abaadi’ (habitation) and is used for non-agriculture functions solely.
Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:
- Punjab CM: Captain Amarinder Singh.
- Punjab Governor: V.P.Singh Badnore.
Appointments News
6. Vijay Sampla takes cost as Chairman of National Commission for SC
- Former Union Minister Vijay Sampla has assumed the cost of Chairman National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC). He has been the previous Union Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment from 2014 to 2019.
- NCSC is an Indian constitutional physique below the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, that works for the socio-economic growth of the scheduled castes and to forestall atrocities towards them.
Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:
- NCSC Founded: 19 February 2004.
- NCSC Headquarters: New Delhi.
Agreements News
7. India, AIIB signal settlement to enhance Assam energy transmission
- The Government of India and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has signed a $304 million mortgage settlement on February 23, 2021, for the Assam Intra-State Transmission System Enhancement Project.
- The undertaking goals to enhance the reliability, capability and safety of the ability transmission community within the northeastern state of Assam.
- It consists of establishing 10 transmission substations and laying transmission strains with the related infrastructure, improve 15 current substations, and transmission strains and current floor wire to optical energy floor wire and supply technical help to help undertaking implementation.
- The complete estimated price of the undertaking is $365 million. AIIB will finance $304 million whereas the remaining funding of $61 million can be achieved by the state authorities.
Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:
- President of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: Jin Liqun.
- Headquarters of AIIB: Beijing, China.
- AIIB established: 16 January 2016.
Summits and Conferences News
8. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat inaugurates ICOLD Symposium
- Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has inaugurated the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Symposium in New Delhi.
- The theme of the symposium is “Sustainable Development of Dams & River Basins”. More than 300 delegates from throughout the nation and overseas will take part within the Symposium.
- The symposium has been organised by the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), at New Delhi in Hybrid format from 24 to 27 February 2021, in collaboration with Central Water Commission (CWC), Dam Rehabilitation Improvement Project (DRIP) and National Hydrology Project (NHP).
Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:
- International Commission on Large Dams President: Michael Rogers.
- International Commission on Large Dams Founded: 1928.
- International Commission on Large Dams Headquarters location: Paris, France.
Banking News
9. ICICI Bank launches ‘Namma Chennai Smart Card’
- ICICI Bank has introduced the launch of a Common Payment Card System (CPCS) in partnership with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Chennai Smart City Limited (CSCL) to offer residents with a one-stop answer for making varied sort of funds.
- The pay as you go card additionally facilitates retail funds inside Chennai in addition to in retail shops and e-commerce web sites throughout the nation. This will supply a standard cost card platform to residents for making funds for varied companies inside the metropolis.
- The Namma Chennai Smart Card has varied options, which residents can handle seamlessly on-line on a devoted buyer portal*. These embody options like card block/unblock, activation, pin-reset, and so on.
- Additionally, within the coming days, residents can even be capable to reload the cardboard digitally via UPI on the shopper portal or the iSmart City app. Customers can even get thrilling low cost provides on the cardboard across the yr, which can be promoted within the coming days on the Bank’s web site.
- Users even have the choice to handle the cardboard on-line via a devoted buyer portal or the iSmart City app.
Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:
- ICICI Bank Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.
- ICICI Bank MD & CEO: Sandeep Bakhshi.
- ICICI Bank Tagline: Hum Hai Na, Khayal Apka.
Awards News
10. Biden admn names Anjali Bharadwaj for anti-corruption award
- Anjali Bharadwaj, an Indian social activist engaged on problems with transparency and accountability, is likely one of the 12 “courageous” people named by the Biden administration for the newly-instituted International Anti-Corruption Champions Award.
- The 48-year-old Bhardwaj has served as an energetic member of the Right to Information Movement in India for over twenty years. She is the founding father of the Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), a residents’ group which promotes transparency and accountability in authorities and encourage the energetic participation of residents.
- The Biden administration has introduced this International Anti-Corruption Champions Award, to recognise people who’ve labored tirelessly, typically within the face of adversity, to defend transparency, fight corruption, and guarantee accountability in their very own nations, in order to fight such points.
Books and Authors News
11. Kabir Bedi’s autobiography to launch in April
- Veteran actor Kabir Bedi will inform his life story in his memoir, which can be launched in April. Entitled “Stories I Must Tell: An Actor’s Emotional Journey,” the actor will present an sincere glimpse into his life.
- The ebook will take readers via the ups and downs of Kabir Bedi’s life, each skilled and private. He can even discuss his relationships, together with marriage and divorce, why his beliefs have modified, and his days in motion pictures, tv and theatres in India, Europe and Hollywood.
Miscellaneous News
12. Kushinagar Airport Gets International Airport Licence from DGCA
- The under-construction Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh has obtained the mandatory clearances from aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to function worldwide flights. Once operational, Kushinagar airport will develop into the third purposeful worldwide facility within the state.
- Currently, the 2 worldwide airports purposeful in Uttar Pradesh are Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at Lucknow and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport at Varanasi.
- Kushinagar airport will function the closest worldwide airport to a number of Buddhist pilgrimage websites in Lumbini, Shravasti, and Kapilvastu.
- The new airport will increase tourism within the area & facilitate journey on the Buddhist circuit by offering direct aviation connectivity to town.
Important takeaways for all aggressive exams:
- HQ of DGCA: New Delhi; Established in Jan 1978.