Daily Current Affairs 9th February, 2021

Daily Current Affairs 9 February 2021 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Union Education Minister launches ASEAN-INDIA Hackathon
The Union Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has launched the ASEAN India Hackathon 2021.

• The ASEAN India Hackathon 2021 is being conducted virtually from February 1 to 3, 2021. The program concluded with the announcement of Prizes for the winning teams, runner ups and encouragement awards for other participating teams.
• The ASEAN-INDIA Hackathon is an initiative by PM Modi and is launched by the Ministry of Education.
• This unique hackathon presents opportunities for India and all the 10 ASEAN countries to improve and strengthen their economic and cultural ties through cooperation in science and technology and education.

Centre notifies ₹945-crore seed fund scheme for start-ups
The Centre has notified the ‘Start-up India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS)’ with a corpus of ₹945 crore to provide financial assistance to start-ups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialisation.

• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry will implement the scheme.
• Financial assistance to eligible start-ups across sectors under the SISFS will be disbursed through selected incubators across India in 2021-25.

Madhya Pradesh launches ‘SAANS’ campaign to reduce infant mortality
The health department in Madhya Pradesh has launched the Social Awareness and Action to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully (‘SAANS’) campaign with the aim of reducing infant mortality due to pneumonia.

• To reduce the death rate due to pneumonia among infants a strategy is being chalked out under the Social awareness campaign in which medical staff is being trained.
• Training will be imparted at the community and primary health centres.  Around 4,000 Health and Wellness Centres have been set up in Madhya Pradesh for this purpose.

Maharashtra cabinet approves water conservation programme
The Maharashtra Cabinet approved the implementation of Chief Minister Water Conservation Programme, costing ₹1,340.75 crore. 

• Under the programme, various ponds, and lakes with the irrigation capacity up to 600 hectares would be repaired. Also, repair work of canals due to breakage of its lining will also be undertaken.
• The period of the programme is from April 2020 to March 2023. 

PGIMER Chandigarh launches India’s 1st amputee clinic
The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, has launched ‘PGI Amputee Clinic’, the first in India.

• The clinic, a collective effort of various experts and departments of the institute, strives to provide social, mental and physical support to its patients.
• The clinic has been set up to improve amputation patient care by providing collection of services under one roof and with significant coordination.

ICAR organized hackathon to promote innovation in Agriculture
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has started organising KRITAGYA- a National level hackathon to promote innovation in agriculture and allied sectors in the country.

• Advantages of organising Agri-Hackathon  are to give opportunity to the students along with faculties, innovators for showcasing their innovative approaches & technologies in agriculture and allied sectors.

BANKING & FINANCE

PNB customers won’t be able to withdraw money from non-EVM ATMs 
In an attempt to check frauds, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) has taken a giant step and won’t allow its customers to withdraw money from non-EMV automated teller machines (ATMs) from 1 February 2021.

• PNB has already informed its customers that it will be restricting both financial and non-financial transactions from non-EMV ATM machines from 1 February.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

MSME wing of GoI to cooperate in setting up industries up to 20 crore rupees in Dhanbad
In Jharkhand, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME wing of the Government of India will cooperate in setting up industries up to  20 crore rupees in Dhanbad.

• The central government will give 70 percent amount, while the remaining 30 percent  is to be borne by the state government and industrialists.
• The Central Government has taken initiatives to set up integrated industries, including the automobile section, tools room, and other subsidiary industries in Dhanbad for Rs 20 crore and more. This amount will be received by industrialists through clusters.

APPOINTMENTS

Air Marshal GS Bedi AVSM VMVSM takes over as Director General
Air Marshal GS Bedi Ati Vishisht Sewa Medal, Vayusena Medal, Vishisht Sewa Medal took over as Director General (Inspection & Safety) at Air Head Quarters.

• Prior to his present appointment, the Air Marshal was Senior Air Staff Officer of Eastern Air Command.
• In a career spanning over 37 years, the Air Marshal has held a number of coveted command and staff appointments.

Michael Bloomberg re-appointed as United Nations Climate Envoy
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres re-appointed Michael Bloomberg as his Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, in an effort to mobilize global action in the lead-up to a key climate conference in Scotland in November.

• Bloomberg will work to strengthen the group of governments, companies, cities and financial institutions that are working to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to become WTO’s first female leader
Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was poised to become the first African and first woman to lead the embattled World Trade Organization (WTO) after a South Korean rival withdrew and the United States reversed its previous opposition.

• Okonjo-Iweala, an economist and former finance minister of Nigeria, already enjoyed broad support from WTO members, including the European Union, China, Japan and Australia.
• Okonjo-Iweala spent 25 years at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to the position of managing director. She also chaired the board of Gavi, which is helping to distribute coronavirus vaccines globally, stepping down at the end of her term in December.

AWARDS

14th International Children’s Film festival concludes in Bangladesh
The 14th International Children’s Film Festival of Bangladesh (ICFFB) concluded in Dhaka.

• 179 films from 37 countries were shown at various venues during the 7-day long festival organised by the Children’s Film Society (CFS) of Bangladesh.
• Dutch Film Jackie and Oopjen was awarded the Best International Feature Film Award. The Best Director award went to Ani Oganesyan for his film Stork’s Nest from Armenia. A total of 12 awards were presented to the winners at the concluding ceremony.
• Bangldeshi film Maati got The Young Talent Award while Lottery won the Special mention under the Young Talent Award.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Union Ministers jointly launch unified web portal for monitoring progress of GOBARDHAN activities
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria jointly launched a unified web portal for monitoring the progress of GOBARDHAN activities across the nation.

• Gobardhan is an important component of Swachh Bharat Mission Phase-2 for organic solid waste management.
• Gobardhan pilot project will prove to be an important and useful step in cleanliness. Through this farmers will be able to get wealth from waste in a true sense.
• Apart from making the country ODF Plus, through the important scheme of Gobardhan, India will get ethanol, bio-diesel and compressed bio-fuel in the coming years.

IMPORTANT DAYS

OBITUARIES

Founder of Rang Vidushak, theatre director Padma Shri Bansi Kaul, passes away 
Noted colourist and theatre director Bansi Kaul breathed his last at his residence in Delhi. He was 71.

• In 1984, he founded Rang Vidushak, a theatre group that has incorporated folk idioms into its production and evolved a new idiom of clown-theatre. It performed in India and elsewhere in Hindi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil and Singhalese.
• In 1995, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and in 2014 Kaul was honoured with the prestigious Padma Shri. Kaul also a recipient of the Rashtriya Kalidas Samman for the year 2016–17.

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