Daily News

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Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year 2021: Oliveboard's New Year Offer

News Content:

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1) Bank Elite Plan - 1000+ Mock Tests

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3) Online Live Courses: IB ACIO, IBPS Clerk & SSC CGL 2021, and more.

https://bit.ly/New-Year-OB-Offer.

Did you Know

Oliveboard users improve their scores by +16 marks after 9 tests

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RBI launches Digital Payments Index(DPI) to capture extent of digitisation of payments;DPI grew 2x in March 2020 v March 2018.

RBI-DPI has 5 broad parameters: Payment Enablers, Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors, Payment Infrastructure –Supply-side factors, Payment Performance and Consumer Centricity;March 2018 is the base period, with a DPI score of 100.

Did you Know

DPI for March 2019 & March 2020 work out to 153.47 & 207.84.

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Indian Coast Guard(ICG) signs pact with 7 Asian countries Japan, Philippines,Thailand,Myanmar,Sri Lanka,Indonesia & Vietnam.

MoU is for cooperation in Maritime Search and Rescue(M-SAR) operations.SAR in India controlled & co-ordinated by ICG through 3 Maritime Rescue Co-ordinating Centres(MRCC) at Mumbai, Chennai & Port Blair.ICG-Karnataka is coordinator for M-SAR.

Did you Know

ICG:
DG - Gen Krishnaswamy Natarajan;
Founded - 1978.

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MSME Ministry's Khadi arm, Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) launches E-commerce Portal: ekhadiindia.com

Website catalogues over 50,000 products under more than 500 varieties & various categories of locally made Khadi and village industry products. It is the first of its kind government online shopping platform to boost rural economy & become self-sustainable

Did you Know

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena.

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Legendary Odia Music Director Shantanu Mohapatra Passes Away At The Age Of 84

He has over 1900 compositions, which include 53 films, 60 dramas by All India Radio(Cuttack), 10 Jatras & 10 dance dramas. Holds credit for many firsts in Odia music: modern lullaby in AIR, qawali,bhangra tune, fusion and jumping note.

Did you Know

Won 80 awards and accolades, highest as an Odia Music Director.

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Former Union minister and Congress leader Buta Singh passes away at 86.

The eight-time parliamentarian was first elected in 1962 from Moga Lok Sabha constituency,Punjab. He was Deputy minister of railways in 1974,Chairperson of the Organising Committee for Asian Games in 1981 & Union home minister under Rajiv Gandhi.

Did you Know

He was chairman of NCSC from 2007-2010.

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J&K Govt signs historic MoU with National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd for High Density plantation

NAFED to invest Rs.1700 Crore for plantation of Apple,Walnut,Cherry,etc covering 5500 Hectares in next 5 years;set up 20 Farmer Producer Organisations, one in each District, in next 3 months;3 Clusters of Cold Storage in J&K at a cost of Rs. 500 Crore etc.

Did you Know

NAFED:
Chairman - Bijender Singh;
Founded - 1958;
HQ -New Delhi

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India to be co-chair of Asia Protected Areas Partnership (APAP),a regional forum to conserve wildlife habitats,for 3 years.

APAP chaired by IUCN Asia & co-chaired by an APAP member country.It currently has 21 members from 17 countries. It helps govts & other stakeholders to collaborate for more effective management of Protected Areas.India is replacing South Korea as co-chair.

Did you Know

APAP launched at IUCN World Parks Congress in Australia in 2014.

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Govt extends benefit of RoDTEP scheme(tax refund scheme) to all export goods from Jan 1,2021 to boost export

It will now refund to exporters embedded central, state & local duties or taxes that were not being rebated or refunded.Rates would be based on G K Pillai committee recommendation. RoDTEP launched in 2020 was expected to be limited to 3 sectors initially.

Did you Know

RoDTEP replaced MEIS scheme that was not WTO compliant.

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Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah released inaugural issue of "National Police K-9 Journal"

First such publication in the country on the subject of Police Service K9s (PSKs) i.e. Police Dogs.It is a step in creating an ecosystem in the country to train & learn on augmenting this vital resource.The biannual journal will be released in April & Oct.

Did you Know

A special 'Police K9 Cell' was established in November 2019.

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TRIFED Signs MoU with Deen Dayal Antyodaya- National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) to boost tribal livelihood development.

It is to work together in synergizing various programmes that are implemented already & enhance livelihoods especially that of women SHGs including those from tribal populations. Scope of work outlined 2 broad areas: MFP & Handloom/ Handicrafts.

Did you Know

NRLM, Ministry of Rural Development renamed DAY-NRLM in 2015.

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National Commission for Scheduled Tribes(NCST) Develops Software to Facilitate Web Enabled Grievance Redressal System

It will facilitate ease of filling a complaint in the Commission by any aggrieved person belonging to ST community or their representatives & will also facilitate them in getting updates on progress/status of the case.

Portal is https://ncstgrams.gov.in/

Did you Know

NCST:
Chairman - Nand Kumar Sai;
Formed - 2004.

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Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) launched to monitor genomic variations in SARS-CoV-2 virus.

High level inter-ministerial steering committee guided INSACOG will monitor genomic variations through the multi-laboratory network. Knowledge generated will also assist in developing diagnostics and potential therapeutics and vaccines.

Did you Know

Consortium comprises 10 research labs.

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India becomes first country to culture U.K. variant of SARS-CoV-2.

It was isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from the clinical specimens collected from UK-returnees.Culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside their natural environment.

Did you Know

Vero cell lines were used by scientists of ICMR-NIV to culture.

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South runway of Bengaluru Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) now CAT III B compliant

CAT III B is an instrument landing system which helps to guide pilots to land during difficult visibility.KIA is 6th airport in India & only one in South India with CAT III B runway. Aircrafts can now land even under 50-m visibility & take-offs at 125m.

Did you Know

Permissible range were 550m(landing) & 300m(takeoff) earlier.

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United Nations’ FAO names 4 Asian tea cultivation sites as Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems

Chosen sites are: Pu’er Traditional Tea Agrosystem & Jasmine tea site(China), Traditional Tree Grass system(Japan)& Fuzhou and Traditional Hadong Tea Agrosystem (South Korea).India has 3 sites: Koraput traditional agri, Kuttanad farming, Saffron heritage.

Did you Know

GIAHS was started in 2002 by FAO.

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New Zealand Test Great John Fulton Reid Dies of Cancer at The Age of 64

Reid, who made his Test debut against Pakistan in 1979, represented Black Caps in 19 Tests & 25 ODIs. Playing between 1979 and 1986,finished his Test career with a noteworthy average of 46.28, which included six hundreds.

Did you Know

His conversion rate of centuries from half-centuries was 75%.

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GRSE delivered IN LCU L-58, eighth and last in the series of Landing Craft Utility Ships to the Indian Navy.

It is the 106th Warship built & delivered by GRSE so far,highest no.of warships delivered by any Indian Shipyard. LCU ships, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, were developed in-house with 90% of its parts indigenously manufactured.

Did you Know

GRSE:
Founded:1960;
HQ:Kolkata;
CMD:Rear Admiral(retd)VK Saxena.

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Oakridge Energy signed agreements to solarize 1000 Kendriya Vidyalayas, Delhi govt. schools

Company is aiming to solarise 1000 institutions by 2022. In 2020 it solarised over 15 schools of Department of Education in Delhi,along with recently commissioned largest solar power project of 217 KW in Delhi University at Lady Irwin College.

Did you Know

Oakridge Energy:
CEO :Shravan Sampath;
HQ - New Delhi.

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IOC launches India's first Remote Monitoring & Operation Centre for Tracking of Indian Oil’s Refinery Gas Turbines

Set up in Hyderabad by BHEL-GE Gas Turbine Services (BGGTS), a joint venture of BHEL and General Electric. It will analyse operational data from 27 gas turbines at 8 Indian Oil Corporation refineries across the country.

Did you Know

IOC chairman S.M.Vaidya

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Goa’s 14-year-old Leon Mendonca becomes India’s 67th Grandmaster

He achieved his first GM norm at the Rigo Chess GM Round Robin in October while the 2nd came at the 1st Saturday event in Budapest in November and the final one at the Vergani Cup in Italy. Mendonca achieved the feat at 14 years, 9 months and 17 days.

Did you Know

He is the second GM from Goa.