Daily Current Affairs and GK | 11 December 2021

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

1. Narendra Modi will deliver India’s national statement in the first US organized virtual Summit for Democracy.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver India’s national statement at the first Summit for Democracy.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the summit at the invitation of President Joe Biden.
• Prime Minister Modi has been invited to participate in the main Leaders’ Plenary Session hosted by the US President.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that sensitivity, accountability, participation, and reform orientation as four pillars of Indian democratic governance.

Topic: Reports and Indices

2. NITI Aayog released two comprehensive reports on emergency and injury care in India.

• NITI Aayog has released two comprehensive reports on the present status of emergency and injury care in India.
• The report will mention about the prevailing gaps in ambulance services, health infrastructure, human resources, and equipment.
• These studies were carried out by the Department of Emergency Medicine, JPNATC, AIIMS, New Delhi in collaboration with NITI Aayog.
• The report has assessed the prevailing status of 100 emergency and injury care centres in government and private hospitals.
• The report has also highlighted a nationwide policy for triage, standardized protocols for care, world-class ambulance services.
• The outcome of this study will improve and strengthen emergency care services at all tiers of healthcare facilities.
• The reports were launched in the presence of Dr V K Paul and Dr Rakesh Sarwal.

Topic: Books and Authors

3. Bala Krishna Madhur’s autobiography titled ‘At Home In The Universe’ released.

• Bala Krishna Madhur’s autobiography titled ‘At Home In The Universe’ has been released.
• He is advisor to the Ministry of Road Development in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It consists of early life hardships, experiences, and life lessons of the author.
• The book offers information about the policy environment in the 1980s and 1990s in the Housing Finance Sector.
• B K Madhur was former Chief Executive Officer at DHFL Property Services Ltd. It is one of the key personalities in establishing Dewan Housing.

Topic: Important Days

4. International Mountain Day: 11 December

• International Mountain Day is celebrated annually on 11 December.
• The UN General Assembly declared the UN International Year of Mountains in 2002.
• The theme of this year's International Mountain Day (IMD) will be sustainable mountain tourism.
• Mountain tourism can attract around 15 to 20 percent of global tourism. Sustainable tourism can contribute additional and alternative livelihood options.
• 15% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s land animals and plants live in the mountains.

Topic: International News

5. 8th India – Slovenia Foreign Office Consultations held virtually on 10 December 2021.

• 8th Foreign Office Consultations between India and Slovenia was held virtually on 10 December 2021.
• The consultations were led on the Indian side by Smt Reenat Sandhu, Secretary (West), and on the Slovenian side by State Secretary of Slovenian Foreign Affairs Ministry.
• Foreign Office Consultations were held in the backdrop of Slovenia’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the period July-December 2021.
• Next year, India and Slovenia will be commemorating 30 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
• Both sides welcomed the establishment of India Study Centre at Nova University at Ljubljana. The talks covered entire gamut of bilateral relations, regional and global issues.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Awards and Prizes

6. Professor Neena Gupta wins 'Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from Developing Countries 2021'.

• Professor Neena Gupta has won 'Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from Developing Countries 2021'.
• Professor Neena Gupta has won the prize for her outstanding work in affine algebraic geometry and commutative algebra.
• Professor Neena Gupta is a mathematician at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata.
• Professor Neena is the third woman to receive the Ramanujan Prize since its inception in 2004.
• Professor Neena is also a recipient of 'Young Scientist' award from the Indian National Science Academy.
• In 2019, Professor Gupta became one of the youngest people to receive the 'Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize' at the age of 35. She solved a 70-year-old mathematics puzzle - Zariski's Cancellation Problem.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

7. NITI Aayog and Bharti Foundation launched Convoke 2021-22 to strengthen education.

• NITI Aayog in association with Bharti Foundation launched Convoke 2021-22 to address the challenges in imparting education and strengthen its quality.
• Through this platform, School Teachers/ Heads/Principals of Government Schools and teachers from the Bharti Foundation network will be encouraged to use research based solutions.
• Convoke is a National Research Symposium to resolve the issues related to teachers, educationists, and heads of schools across India.
• Teachers can now share their micro research papers through Convoke. These research papers will be analyzed by a panel of Educationists.
• The National Education Policy 2020 identified the importance of teachers and faculty in the learning process.
• CONVOKE will promote the suggestions of the National Education Policy 2020. It will also help in policymaking in the country.

Topic: Banking System

8. RBI enforced 20-digit LEI for cross-border deals above Rs 50 crore.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) mandatory for capital or current account transactions of Rs 50 crore and above.
• Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a 20-digit number to improve the quality and accuracy of financial data systems. It is used to create a global reference data system that uniquely identifies every legal entity.
• Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) can be obtained from any of the Local Operating Units (LOUs) accredited by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF).
• Under this system, banks have to include the information of the remitter and beneficiary in the payment messages. It will also help Banks in the tracking of large transactions.
• Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) has been introduced by the RBI in a phased manner for participants in the over-the-counter (OTC) derivative, non-derivative markets, and large corporate borrowers.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

9. ISRO signed a pact with Oppo India to provide NavIC message service in mobiles.

• Indian Space Research Organisation has signed an agreement with Oppo's Indian arm to strengthen the research and development of the NavIC messaging service.
• The NavIC system provides regional navigation services in the area around 1,500 km beyond the Indian mainland.
• Under this agreement, ISRO and Oppo India will exchange technical information about NavIC messaging services by integrating NavIC messaging services with the mobile handset platform.
• ISRO and Oppo India will develop indigenous solutions by incorporating the NavIC short messaging feature in smartphones.
• Isro’s Navigation with Indian Constellation (NaVIC) provides message service for broadcasting safety alerts in areas with poor or no communication.
• This pact will pave the way for further collaborations between ISRO and Oppo India. Oppo India has its manufacturing unit in Noida and R&D centre in Hyderabad.

Topic: Banking System

10. The Reserve Bank of India has granted Paytm Payments Bank scheduled bank status.

• The Reserve Bank of India has accorded Paytm Payments Bank Scheduled Bank status on December 9, 2021.
• The bank has been inducted in the Second Schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and the approval will allow it to offer more financial services and products.
• Now, Paytm Payments Bank can explore new business opportunities, including participation in government and other large corporations, requests for proposals, primary auctions, fixed-rate and variable rate repos, and reverse repos, after receiving the scheduled bank status.
• In addition, it will also be eligible to partner in government-run financial inclusion programs and participate in the Marginal Standing Facility.
• The bank supports 33.3 million Paytm Wallets, allowing customers to pay at over 87,000 online retailers and 2.11 million in-store merchants.
• Paytm Payments Bank has also become the largest issuer and acquirer of FASTags in India in the previous financial year.
• Recently, Paytm Payments bank emerged as one of the most successful digital banks operating in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
• Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of Paytm, owns 51 percent of Paytm Payments Bank, while One 97 Communications Ltd holds the rest portion. Its headquarter is in Noida.

Topic: International News

11. New Zealand will prohibit the sale of cigarettes for future generations.

• New Zealand has planned to ban young people from buying cigarettes anytime in their lifetime. It is one of the world's toughest crackdowns in the tobacco industry.
• According to a regulation anticipated to be adopted next year, anyone born after 2008 will be unable to purchase cigarettes or tobacco products during their lifetime.
• New Zealand is committed to meeting a national objective of reducing smoking rates to 5% by 2025, with the goal of eventually eliminating the smoking entirely.
• The Government is planning to introduce legislation into parliament in June next year, with the aim of making it law by the end of 2022.
• The restrictions will then be introduced in phases from 2024, beginning with a sharp reduction in the number of authorized vendors, followed by a reduction in the need for nicotine in 2025 and the creation of a "smoke-free" generation from 2027.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

12. Balkrishna Doshi, the Indian architect, has been awarded a prestigious award.

• Balkrishna Doshi, a renowned Indian architect, has been awarded the Royal Gold Medal 2022, one of the world's greatest architectural honours.
• Doshi, a 94-year-old architect with a career spanning 70 years and over 100 completed projects, influenced the direction of architecture in India and its surrounding regions through both his practice and his instruction.
• The Royal Gold Medal is personally approved by Queen Elizabeth II. It is given to a person or group of persons who have made a significant impact on architectural innovation.
• The medal was first awarded to Charles Robert Cockerell in 1848, and its second recipient was the Italian Luigi Canina in 1849.

Topic: International News

13. The International Solar Alliance has been granted Observer status by the United Nations General Assembly.

• According to India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, T S Tirumurti, the International Solar Alliance (ISA) has been given Observer Status by the United Nations General Assembly.
• The ISA was conceived as a collaborative initiative between India and France to mobilize efforts to combat climate change by deploying solar energy technologies.
• It was presented by the leaders of the two countries during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris in 2015.