Daily GK Update: 4th August 2022

 National & International Appointments

1. Suresh N Patel Sworn-in as the Central Vigilance Commissioner

• Vigilance Commissioner, Suresh N Patel has been appointed as the Central Vigilance Commissioner, after a post fell vacant for a year.
• He has been working as the acting Central Vigilance Commissioner since June 2022.
• CVC Patel has administered the oath of office to Arvind Kumar (former IB chief) and Praveen Kumar Srivastava (ex-IAS officer) as vigilance commissioners.
• The tenure of a CVC and vigilance commissioner: Four years or till attains the age of 65 years.

 International Affairs

2. India to host special meeting of UNSC members on counter-terrorism in Oct

• India will host the special meeting of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on counter-terrorism on October 29, 2022.
• The tenure of India as a non-permanent member at the UN Security Council will be ended on December 2022.
• Theme: Mindful of the increasing threat posed by the misuse of new and emerging technologies
• Non- permanent members: Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway and the UAE
• India's envoy to the UN: Ruchira Kamboj

 Banking & Finance

3. PSBs write off loans worth Rs 10 lakh crore in last 5 years

• Banks have written off loans worth of Rs 10 lakh crore in the last five financial years (2017-18 to 2021-22).
• The write-off amount has come down to Rs 1,57,096 crore (2021-22) as compared to Rs 2,02,781 crore (2020-21).
• In 2019-20, the write-off has also come down from Rs 2,36,265 crore to Rs 2,34,170 crore.
• The commercial banks and financial institutions have reported credit information of all borrowers having aggregate credit exposure of Rs 5 crore and above to RBI.

 Banking & Finance

4. RBI's Financial Inclusion Index shows growth

• The financial inclusion (FI) index of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) has increased to 56.4 in March 2022 from 53.9 in March 2021.
• It shows growth in across all sectors across the country.
• Financial inclusion index was constructed to capture the extent of financial inclusion across the country.
• Sectors: Banking, investments, insurance, postal, pension sector
• This index has been created without any base year, and published in July every year.

 Defense

5. India and the US to hold mega military exercise in Uttarakhand in October

• The 18th edition of India and US mega military exercise “Yudh Abhyas” will be held in Auli, Uttarakhand from October 14 to 31, 2022.
• Aim: To build the understanding, cooperation and interoperability between the two armies.
• The 17th edition of the exercise was held in Alaska in US.
• India - the US ties:
  • The US has designated India a “Major Defence Partner”(2016).
  • India and the US sealed Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) in 2020.

 Agreement

6. Bangladesh signs MoU with IOCL for emergency supply of petroleum goods

• The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has signed an MoU with the Bangladesh Roads and Highways department in Dhaka for the emergency supply of petroleum goods.
• As per the MoU, the petroleum tankers will enter from Meghalaya and will go to Tripura crossing through the Bangladesh territory.
• The IOCL will carry all the administrative fees, charges and local taxes including road usage fee for use of the Bangladeshi territory.
• IOCL Chairman: Shrikant Madhav Vaidya

 National Affairs

7. India's Trade Deficit triples to record $31 Billion in July

• The Trade deficit of India has been increased to $31 Billion in July 2022, with decline in exports and increase in imports.
• According to the data released by the commerce ministry, the merchandise exports have been declined to a five-month low at $35.2 billion in July 2022 while imports eased sequentially to $66 billion.
• It has almost tripled from USD 10.63 billion in the same month of the previous fiscal.
• Minister of Commerce and Industry:  Piyush Goyal

 National & International Appointments

8. IFS officer Shweta Singh appointed as Director in PMO

• IFS Shweta Singh, a 2008-batch IFS officer, has been appointed as a director in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
• Her appointment has been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for a period of three years from the date of her joining.
• The ACC has also cancelled the appointment of Aniket Govind Mandavgane, a 2009-batch IFS officer, as the Deputy Secretary in the PMO, who was appointed on July 18.

 Banking & Finance

9. GST e-invoicing mandatory for entities with Rs 10 cr turnover from Oct 1

• The government has lowered the mandatory turnover threshold from Rs 20 crore to Rs 10 crore under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime from October 1, 2022.
• Aim: Digitising a higher volume of transactions, transparency in sales reporting, reducing errors and mismatches, automating data entry work, and improving compliance.
• E-invoicing (electronic billing) has been started in October 2020.
• GST Day: July 1

 Banking & Finance

10. Sebi restructures advisory committee on market data

• Sebi has restructured advisory committee on market data, that recommends policy measures pertaining to securities market data access and privacy.
• The market data advisory committee will now have 20 members (earlier 21 members).
• Sebi has replaced former MD and CEO of NSE, Vikram Limaye by NSE current chief, Ashishkumar Chauhan.
• The committee is chaired by S Sahoo Professor at National Law University.
• SEBI Chairperson: Madhabi Puri Buch

 National & International Organizations

11. LIC breaks into Fortune 500 list

• According to the latest Fortune Global 500 list, LIC has broken into Fortune Global 500 list, was ranked 98th with revenue of USD 97.26 billion and a profit of USD 553.8 million.
• While Reliance Industries has jumped 51 places to 104 on the 2022 list. The list has been topped by US retailer, Walmart.
• Indian companies: IOC (142nd); ONGC (190th); Tata Motors (370th); Tata Steel (435th); Rajesh Exports (437th); SBI (236th) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (295th).

 Honours & Awards

12. Agri Infra Fund awards presented by Union Agriculture Minister

• Narendra Singh Tomar ( Minister for Agriculture) has presented Agri Infra Fund awards under various categories to honour Banks and State Governments.
• Best Performing Banks: SBI, PNB and Bank of India
• Banks valuable contribution category: Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, Canara Bank and Kotak Mahindra
• Best performing State: Madhya Pradesh
• PACS application:
  • Best performer in sanction : Andhra Pradesh
  • Best performer in faster disposal: Karnataka

 National & International Appointments

13. CJI NV Ramana recommends Justice UU Lalit as his successor

• CJI, NV Ramana has recommended the name of the senior-most SC judge, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit as the new CJI of India.
• CJI Ramana is retiring on August 26, 2022, who had become the 48th CJI of the country on April 24, 2021.
• Justice UU Lalit hails from Maharashtra, was a senior advocate in the Supreme Court before he was promoted as judge.
• If the Centre accepts recommendation of CJI Ramana then Justice Lalit will become the CJI for a period of three months.

 Sports

14. Indian Judoka Tulika Maan won silver in 2022 CWG

• Indian Judoka, Tulika Maan has claimed Silver medal in women's 78 kg category at Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.
• This is India's third medal in Judo this Commonwealth Games.
• Other winners:
  • Indian weightlifter, Gurdeep Singh won bronze medal in the men's 109-plus kg final.
  • Indian Saurav Ghosal won bronze medal in squash men's singles.
  • India’s Tejaswin Shankar won bronze, India's first medal in athletics at CWG 2022 in the men’s high jump.