Daily GK Update: 24th May 2021

National & International Appointments

Narinder Batra has been re-elected as the President of International Hockey Federation (FIH) for the 2nd term
He was elected during the virtual 47th Congress of FIH, where he defeated Marc Coudron, Chief of Belgium Hockey Federation
He will hold the office till 2024 for three years.
He is the only Asian to be appointed to this post.
He is also the President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Member of International Olympic Committee
FIH HQs: Lausanne, Switzerland

International Affairs

China has successfully launched a new ocean-monitoring satellite titled as ‘Haiyang-2D (HY-2D)’ into orbit on Long March-4B rocket, from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, China
HY-2D will form a constellation with HY-2B and HY-2C satellites to build an all-weather and round-the-clock dynamic ocean environment monitoring system of high frequency and medium and large scale to provide early warning on marine disasters, ocean resources, climate change, etc.

Banking & Finance

HyperVerge has partnered with SBI to provide convenient digital banking services to the customers of SBI with one of its flagship products, Video Banking solution
Under this, SBI customers can instantly open savings account using Video Banking process, during COVID, with minimal ID documents
It will help to achieve ten times improvement in account openings per day per agent, over regular video KYC checks as they will be assisted by AI engines with an accuracy of 99.5%

National Affairs

Govt has appointed 12 eminent artistes and musicians to the board of Kalakshetra Foundation (Arts and cultural academy, especially Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music)
Kuchipudi exponents Pasumarthy Kesava Prasad and Veena Murthy Vijay have also been nominated to the board.
Kalakshetra Foundation:
- It is based in Chennai
- Founded: 1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale and George Arundale
- It is recognised as an Institute of National Importance in 1994.

National Affairs

Union Minister of Rural Development, Narendra Singh Tomar has launched National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) app and Area officer monitoring App.
NMMS App: real time attendance of workers at MNREGS worksites along with geotagged photograph to increase citizen oversight of the programme.
Area Officer Monitoring App: It facilitates them to record their findings online, time stamped and go-coordinate tagged photograph for all the schemes (MNREGS, PMAYG, PMGSY)

Sports

Phil Mickelson (50 years) won the PGA Golf Championship by two shots over Brooks Koepka and South African Louis Oosthuizen
He became the oldest major winner in history.
He sealed the deal with a one-over-par 73 at the Ocean Course that left him at six under on the week.
Victory by Mickelson marked the sixth major championship win of his career and first since the 2013 British Open.

National Affairs

Govt has notified and revised the rate of Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) to provide relief to different category of workers of scheduled central sector
It will benefit about 1.5 crore workers
It will be effective from 1st April 2021
VDA is revised on the basis of average Consumer Price Index for industrial workers
Fixed rates are applicable Central Govt, Railway Admin, Mines, Oil fields, etc
These rates are equally applicable to contract and casual employees

Honours & Awards

Ninth season of Tata Consultancy Services' programming contest (TCS CodeVita) has won Guinness World Records title for the world's largest computer programming competition.
The contest comprises of 136,054 participants from 34 countries.
Top three CodeVita finishers received cash prizes of USD 10,000, 7000 and 3,000
Ben Alexander Mirtchouk of Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey is the competitions first ever US winner.

National Affairs

E-Committee of Supreme Court has released manual for its free e-Courts Services Mobile App in 14 languages.
SC’s app is available in English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Guajarati, Kannada, Khasi, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.
App is aimed to benefit Litigants, Citizens, Lawyers, Law firms, Police, Govt Agencies and other institutions with screenshots for easy understanding
It can be downloaded free of cost from the official website

Banking & Finance

Finance Ministry has notified rules for increased FDI in the insurance sector.
Insurance Amendment Bill 2021 has increase the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector to 74% from 49%.
Parliament passed the Bill 2021 on March 22.
New norms will apply to all insurers, irrespective of the stake held by the foreign partner.
Further amendments are now expected in Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 and IRDAI guidelines

Banking & Finance

IDBI Bank has announced the launch of its fully digitised loan processing system, offering over 50 products to MSME and agriculture sector with over 35 interface touch points
Loan Processing System (LPS) for MSME and agri products seamlessly integrates with data fintechs, bureau validations, document storage, account management and customer notifications among others.
IDBI's Headquarters: Mumbai
CEO of IDBI: Rakesh Sharma