GK Snapsots on 2 July 2021

National Chartered Accountants’ Day 2021 – July 1

The National Chartered Accountants'(CA) Day is annually observed across India on July 1st to commemorate the establishment of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India(ICAI) by the Parliament under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949.

The day highlights the importance of Chartered Accountants in bringing transparency to the economy.

The year 2021 marks the celebration of the 73rd National Chartered Accountants’ Day.

Event 2021:

As a part of the celebration of 73rd CA Day, ICAI has organised a virtual event “Remembering the glorious existence and envisioning the Future”.

National Doctors Day 2021 – July 1

The National Doctors Day is annually observed across India on 1st July to recognise the efforts and contributions of the doctor’s community to society and the commitment of the doctors towards their profession.

• The day also marks the birth and death anniversary of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, who served as the Chief Minister(CM) of West Bengal(WB) from 1948 to 1962.

• The Indian Medical Association(IMA) celebrates National Doctors Day across India.

The headquarters of IMA has declared “Save the Saviours” as the theme of National Doctors Day 2021.

About Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy:

i.Dr.Bidhan Chandra Roy was an Indian physician who has also served as the 2nd CM of West Bengal.

ii.He was born on 1st July 1882 in Patna Bengal Presidency, British India and passed away at the age of 80 on 1st July 1962.

iii.The government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna for public affairs in 1961.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) Day 2021 – July 1

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Day is annually observed across India on 1st July. The day marks the commemoration of the unprecedented reform of Indian taxation – Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The day is observed by the Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs(CBIC) across India.

The year 2021 marks the observance of the 4th GST Day.

Components of GST:

There are 3 taxes applicable under GST,

• CGST(Central Goods and Services Tax) – tax collected by the Central Government on an intra-state sale.

• SGST(State Goods and Service Tax) – tax collected by the state government on an intra-state sale.

• IGST(Integrated Goods and Services Tax) – tax collected by the Central Government for an inter-state sale.

Advantages:

i.The GST has eliminated the cascading effect on the sale of goods and services which has impacted the cost of goods.

ii.The GST related activities like registration, return filing, application for refund and response to notice needs to be done online on the GST portal.

3 Delhi Students Won Diana Award 2021 for Their Contribution During COVID-19

Three Delhi students – Kaif Ali, student of Jamia Millia Islamia; Sana Mittar, from the University of Warwick; and Devanshi Ranjan, from Lady Shri Ram College has won the 2021 Diana Award Roll of Honour for their contribution to society during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Diana Award is established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales and is given out by the charity named – Diana Award, it is supported by her sons, William, the Duke of Cambridge, and Harry, the Duke of Sussex. Click here to know the recipients of 2021 Diana Awards

Indian American Abhimanyu Mishra Became the Youngest Chess Grandmaster

Indian American chess player Abhimanyu Mishra (12 years 4 months, 25 days old) became the youngest ever Chess Grandmaster after he scored his third Grandmaster (GM) norm in Budapest, Hungary. He won the title against 15-year-old Indian chess player Leon Luke Mendonca

• Abhimanyu Mishra broke the record of Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin who held the position for 19 years. He became the youngest grandmaster at the age of 12 years and seven months.

About Abhimanyu Mishra:
i.Abhimanyu Mishra scored both his first and second Grandmaster norms at the April Vezerkepzo tournament and the May 2021 First Saturday tournament.
ii.He scored his 3rd GM norm having crossed the required 2500 Elo rating.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 Shifted to UAE – Oman

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has shifted the venue of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Tournament from India to United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, due to India’s prevailing pandemic situation. The tournament will be hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at 4 venues from 17 October to 14 November 2021. i.ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be participated by 16 teams and the last T20 World Cup event was won by West Indies in 2016 in India.

 “Fiercely Female: The Dutee Chand Story” authored by Sundeep Mishra

Journalist Sundeep Mishra authored a new book, “Fiercely Female: The Dutee Chand Story”. The book insights on the Gender-identity controversy of popular Indian sprinter Dutee Chand. She is India’s first openly homosexual athelete.

i.The book details the controversy, when Dutee Chand was dropped from the 2014 Commonwealth Games on false gender identity claims, which was later turned to her favour by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

About Dutee Chand:

i.She is the 1st Indian Women to win Gold Medal in a 100 meter global racing event, when she won the 2019 World Universiade in Naples, Italy.

ii.She is the 3rd Women & 5th Indian to qualify for the 100 meter racing event in Olympics, when she qualified for 2016 Rio Olympics

About Sundeep Misra:

i.Sundeep Misra is a Journalist and Author, who has previously authored India’s 1st anthology of sports, “The Best of Indian Sports Writing”

ii.He has also authored 2 books on Hockey – “Forgive Me Amma: The Life and Times of Dhanraj Pillay”, and “The Mohammed of Benares and Other Stories”

India, Russia begin Construction of Units 5 & 6 of Kudankulam Nuclear Plant, Tamil Nadu

Rosatom, a Russian state-run Nuclear Energy Corporation & Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) have started the construction work on Units 5 & 6 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu. Kudankulam is India’s largest nuclear power station.

• The starting of works were virtually launched by Atomic Energy Commission chairman and DAE secretary K N Vyas in the presence of Alexey Likhachev, Director General, Rosatom Global and CMD of NPCIL S K Sharma.
• Rosatom & NPCIL have been building 6 power reactors of 1,000 MW each at Kudankulam. Units 1 and 2 have already been commissioned, while work on unit 3 & 4 is in advanced stage and is expected to be completed by 2026-27.

i.The construction of KNPP began on 31st March, 2002. The nuclear plant is a result of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) signed on 20th November 1988 between the then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi and the Soviet head of state, Mikhail Gorbachev.
ii.India and Russia’s agreement on nuclear power envisions building as many as 12 nuclear plants by 2035.

Indian Navy inked MoU with BEL Ltd to develop Emerging Technologies

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Indian Navy and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), New Delhi to create a joint Technology Incubation Forum (TIF).

• The reason behind this MoU is to foster development of Emerging Technologies.
Key Points:
i.The technology developments under TIF will include Weapons & Sensors, Information Technology and Emerging Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Quantum Computing, Autonomous Platforms/ Robotics, Image Processing and Cognitive Radio.
ii.TIF will also lead the mission mode development of deployable products under the Government’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative with involvement of Industry, Academia and Start-Ups.

Government Retained the Interest Rate of Small Savings Schemes for Q2 of FY22

The Ministry of Finance, Government of India (GoI) had retained the Interest Rate of Small Savings Scheme for the 2nd quarter(Q2) for the Financial Year 2021-22 (FY22) same as Q1 FY22 due to COVID-19.

• It is the 5th consecutive quarter that GoI had unchanged the Interest Rates of the small saving schemes (unchanged since April 1, 2020).
• The small savings schemes consist of 12 schemes including the National Saving Certificate (NSC), Public Provident Fund (PPF), Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) and Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme, etc.
• The annual interest rate on NSC was unchanged at 6.8 percent and interest rate of PPF too unchanges at 7.1 percent.
• The interest rate on the 5-year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme Account (SCSS) also retained at 7.4 percent.

Note – Interest rates for small savings schemes will be reset by the government on a quarterly basis.

MoD initiates project to create 1st of its kind Cyber Museum on War Heroes

As part of the 75th Anniversary of India’s Independence, the Ministry of Defence has initiated a project to create the 1st of its kind cyber museum which will honour the war heroes of India. It will be an interactive virtual museum of India’s Gallantry award winners and will be hosted by the Gallantry awards portal.

• The project will be implemented in partnership with Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
• It will provide a 3D walk-through experience through a Gallery Building, Wall of Fame, an Awardee Gallery with their photos & profiles, a tour of War Memorials and an auditorium.

India ranked 10th in Global Cybersecurity Index 2020, US Tops: ITU Report

Recently, the Global Cybersecurity Index 2020 (GCI 2020) – 4th Edition was released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN agency for Information & Communication Technologies (ICT). India with a score of 97.5 has been ranked 10th (India was placed at the 47th spot in the last edition of GCI in 2018) in the Index. The US topped the Index, UK & Saudi Arabia shared the 2nd spot while Estonia took the 3rd rank.

• Among the Asia-Pacific nations, South Korea & Singapore topped the index, while India was ranked 4th.

World’s 1st report on Artificial Intelligence in healthcare released by WHO

In June 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released the World’s 1st report on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the healthcare sector called, “Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health”. WHO with inputs from various international experts prepared the report that can be used by countries to minimize the risk & maximize the benefits of AI.

Challenges in AI – Unethical collection & use of Health data; Biasing AI Algorithm; Unregulated use of AI to patient safety; Data Privacy and Security; Uninformed collection of Patients data. WHO proposed 6 principles to maximize the utility of AI on Public Interest Proposed Principles:

• Protecting human autonomy – Human to take medical decisions & protect patient’s medical data
• Promoting human well-being and safety and the public interest
• Ensuring transparency, explainability and intelligibility
• Fostering responsibility and accountability
• Ensuring inclusiveness and equity
• Promoting AI that is responsive and sustainable

World Bank Approved USD 500 Million Loan to Support India’s Informal Working Class

On June 30, 2021, the World Bank (WB) Board of Executive Directors approved a USD 500 million (~ Rs 3,726.30 crore) loan programme to support India’s informal working class to overcome the COVID-19 distress and to support the states to manage the current pandemic, future climate and disaster shock.

• Out of the USD 500 million loan, USD 112.50 million will be financed by the International Development Association (IDA) and the remaining USD 387.50 million will be provided as a loan from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
• Maturity: The loan has a maturity period of 18.5 years with a grace period of 5 years.

Note – IBRD and IDA were the members (lending arms) of the World Bank Group.

Key Facts of the Loan Programme:
i.The loan programme was named – ‘Creating a Coordinated and Responsive Indian Social Protection System’ (CCRISP), it was built on the USD 1.15 billion ‘Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program’ which was approved to support schemes under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY).
ii.Under the credit program, around 5 million urban street vendors could get affordable working capital loans of up to Rs 10,000 and those street vendors would be identified by the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) through an IT-based platform.
iii.This program will invest in the National Digital Urban Mission, which will create a shared digital infrastructure for people living in urban areas through investments at the municipal level, and it will also provide gender-disaggregated information on women workers.

ICICI Bank Launched Banking Solution for Doctors – ‘Salute Doctors’

On the eve of National Doctor’s Day, on July 01, 2021, ICICI Bank launched ‘Salute Doctors’, a digital and instant banking solution that is designed exclusively for medical doctors.

• The solution is powered by ICICI STACK, a digital banking platform with nearly 500 services

• It offers customized banking and value-added services to every doctor such as medical students, senior medical consultants, and even the owner of a hospital or a clinic.

Key offers of the solutions:
i.The bank offers Salute Doctors Savings Account in three variants viz, Wealth, Platinum and Gold with banking benefits, wealth management and benefits for the family.
ii.It offers flexibility to maintain balance across Current Account, Savings Account or Fixed Deposits. It provides a Personalised Debit Card and Insurance cover up to Rs 75 lakh.
iii.The doctors could avail home loans of up to Rs 5 crore for home loan and construction or expansion of clinic or hospital and medical equipment loan of up to Rs 10 crore.

iv.The Bank offers digital personal loans up to ₹25 lakh with simple online documentation and quick processing.
v.The Bank offers industry-first medical education loans up to ₹1 crore called ‘Doctor Select iSMART Education Loan’.
vi.The Bank offers auto loans up to ₹50 lakh for doctors. The Bank has curated a special repayment scheme called ‘Flexi EMI’, which provides customers with the flexibility of selecting low EMI for the first six months; thereafter the EMI is higher.

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