GK Snapsots on 8 May 2021

World Athletics Day 2021 – May 7

World Athletics Day(WAD) is annually observed across the globe in the month of May to create awareness about athletics and encourage youngsters to take up sports.

The day is annually observed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), formerly (1912–2001) International Amateur Athletic Federation.

The IAAF marks the WAD 2021 on 7th May 2021.

Note:

In 2019 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was renamed World Athletics.

Aim:

To promote athletics as a primary sport in schools and institutions.

61st Border Roads Organisation Raising Day – 7th May 2021

The Border Roads Organisation(BRO) Raising Day is annually observed across India on 7th May to mark the establishment of the BRO in 1960. The day also recognises the contribution of all veterans and BRO personnel.

• 7th May 2021 marks the celebration of the 61st BRO Raising Day.

• BRO is the leading road construction agency under the Ministry of Defence.

KVG Bank Bags Top 5 PFRDA Awards

Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB), has bagged top 5 awards from the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) due to the various campaigns held under KVGB for enrolment of Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

• The 5 awards include – Lead to Leap, APY Makers of Excellence, Game Changers, Leadership Capital and Amazing Achievers

KVGB’s Implementation of social security schemes:

i.The bank is playing a key role in the implementation of social security schemes such as Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Prime Minister Jeevan Jyothi Bhima Yojana (PMJJBY), and Prime Minister Suraksha Bhima Yojana (PMSBY)

ii.So far, the bank has settled around 3,809 claims (Rs 76.18 crores) under PMJJBY, and 706 claims (Rs 13 crores) under PMSBY.

MK Stalin becomes Tamil Nadu CM; N Rangasamy becomes CM of Puducherry for 4th time

On May 7, 2021, M K Stalin who belongs to the party of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam took oath as the 23rd Chief Minister (CM) of Tamil Nadu (TN). This is M K Stalin’s 1st Term as CM of TN.

• He was administered the oath of Office & Secrecy by TN Governor Banwarilal Purohit at Raj Bhavan, Chennai.

i.Meanwhile, N Rangasamy who belongs to All India N.R. Congress (AINRC) took oath as the CM of Puducherry. It is Rangasamy’s 4th Term (2001-06, 2006-08, 2011-16) as CM of Puducherry.

• He was administered the oath of Office & Secrecy by Puducherry Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Niwas, Pondicherry.

Elections

The State Assembly elections to TN & Puducherry were conducted on April 6, 2021.

DMK + Alliance parties had won 159 seats out of 234 +1 Seats in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly. Along with M K Stalin, a 34 member Cabinet was also sworn in.

India, Israel, UAE Sign Maiden Trilateral Trade Agreement

An Israel-based company ‘Ecoppia’ is set to produce robotic solar cleaning technology in India for a project in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The project will take place through the Trilateral cooperation agreement between Israel, India, and UAE, which is the 1st of its kind between the 3 countries.

• The Trilateral partnership was initiated by the International Federation of Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce (IFIICC).

• In September 2020, Israel and UAE signed the Abraham Accord, which marked the 1st public normalization of relations between UAE & Israel.

• Ecoppia is a leading company in robotic solution solar, it has a manufacturing base in India and over 2, 700 MegaWatt (MW) of global projects.

Cutting Methane emissions key to curbing Global Warming: Global Methane Assessment 2021

The ‘2021 Global Methane Assessment: Benefits and Costs of Mitigating Methane Emissions’ report released by Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) & United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) state that human-caused methane emissions can be reduced by 45% (or nearly 200 Million Tons) in this decade (2020-30), these reductions would avoid 0.3°C of Global Warming by 2045.

• It will also help countries to keep close with the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C.

• A 45% Methane reduction will prevent around 2, 60, 000 premature deaths and 7,75,000 asthma-related hospital visits annually, 25 million tonnes in crop losses & 73 billion hours of lost labour from extreme heat.

• The report states that around 60% of methane comes from human activity, the remaining from wetlands and natural sources.

World’s first 2 nanometer chip technology unveiled by IBM

International Business Machines(IBM) unveils the world’s first 2 nanometer chip technology that promises to speed up access to the Internet, longer battery life and faster processing time in applications.

Key points:
i.It is projected to achieve 45 percent higher performance, or 75 percent lower energy use, than today’s most advanced 7 nm node chip
ii.The potential benefits of these advanced 2 nm chips includes,

• Quadrupling cell phone battery life, only requiring users to charge their devices every four days.

• Slashing the carbon footprint of data centers, which account for one percent of global energy use.Changing all of their servers to 2 nm-based processors could potentially reduce that number significantly.

• Drastically speeding up a laptop’s functions, ranging from quicker processing in applications, to assisting in language translation more easily, to faster internet access.

• Contributing to faster object detection and reaction time in autonomous vehicles like self-driving cars.

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