Daily GK Update: 8th August 2021

 National & International Appointments

1. Rekha Sharma re-appointed as Chairperson of NCW

• Rekha Sharma has been reappointed as the Chairperson of National Commission for Women (NCW) for another three years with effect from 7th August 2021.
• Her appointment is approved by Women and Child Development Ministry of India.
• She assumed the charge of NCW chairperson on August 7, 2018 and has been associated with the Commission as a member since August 2015.
• NCW was established as statutory body in January 1992 under National Commission for Women Act, 1990.

 Honours & Awards

2. Telangana’s IT dept wins NASSCOM’s ‘AI Gamechanger’ award

• Telangana Government’s Information Technology, Electronics and Communication (IT,E&C) department has won ‘AI Gamechanger’ Award in the Xperience-AI Summit.
• The summit was organised by National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM).
• NASSCOM AI Gamechangers was conceptualised to seed awareness and enthusiasm around this wonderful technology and encourage others to emulate the successes in the ecosystem.

 Summits & Conferences

3. DRDO organises Virtual IEEE International Conference on range technology

• DRDO’s Chairman G Satheesh Reddy has inaugurated the 2nd Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Range Technology (ICORT-2021) via videoconferencing.
• Organised by: Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur
• Speakers from across the globe participated in event to present their technological achievements in multiple subjects related to Test and Evaluation of defence systems
• ICORT held biennially was first organised by ITR in 2019

 National Affairs

4. Civil Aviation Ministry grants drone use permission to NISER, Bhubaneswar

• Ministry of Civil Aviation has granted drone use permission to National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar
• It is a condition exemption from Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021
• The decision allows use of drones for aerial survey and photogrammetry of centrally protected monuments in collaboration with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) using drones.
• This exemption is valid for a period of one year.

 National Affairs

5. Reform and Regulatory Knowledge base for Power Sector launched

• Union Power Minister R.K Singh has launched ‘Reform and regulatory knowledge base for power sector’ through virtual mode.
• It is an e certification program to provide regulatory training to the practitioners from diverse backgrounds.
• He also launched Regulatory Data Dashboard which is an e-compendium of data containing State-wise details of tariff and DISCOM performance.
• They have been developed by IIT Kanpur.

 Banking & Finance

6. RBI keeps Repo Rate unchanged at 4% in MPC August 2021

• RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept the key policy rate or Repo rate or the RBI’s lending rate to banks unchanged at 4% for the seventh time in a row
• Reverse repo rate: 3.35%
• MPC has raised the inflation target for fiscal 2001-22 from to 5.7% from 5.1% but maintained the growth forecast at 9.5%.
• Although the target is below the RBI’s upper band of inflation target of 6%, input prices are rising across manufacturing and services sectors.

 Banking & Finance

7. ICICI Prudential Life ties up with NPCI for UPI Autopay

• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has partnered with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to provide the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) AUTOPAY facility to customers.
• It will allow customers to buy insurance policies and make premium payments digitally, from their homes - a facility that assumes relevance amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• With this tie-up, ICICI Prudential Life has become the first such life insurance company to provide the UPI AUTOPAY facility.

 Banking & Finance

8. SBI General ties up with SahiPay to expand insurance in rural areas

• SBI General Insurance has partnered with Manipal Business Solutions, to tap customers of fintech platform SahiPay, in a bid to increase its non-life insurance penetration in the rural market.
• Manipal Business Solutions is the promoter of SahiPay, which provides digital and financial services in the semi-urban and rural parts of the country, to different business entities.
• Under this, SBI General will provide a range of non-life insurance solutions to SahiPay customers

 Obituaries

9. India’s Olympian footballer SS ‘Babu’ Narayan passes away

• Former Indian footballer Subramaniam Sankar Narayan (86 years) passed away at his home in Thane, Maharashtra
• He played at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics
• He was famously known as S. S. Babu Narayan and had represented India as a goalkeeper at the 1956 (Melbourne) and 1960 (Rome) Olympic Games.
• He was also a part of Maharashtra’s Santosh Trophy-winning campaign in 1964
• He managed to earn nine caps with India over 10 years at the international stage.

 Defense

10. India’s aircraft carrier Vikrant successfully completes maiden sea voyage

• India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) Vikrant has completed its five-day maiden sea trials from August 4, 2021 from Kochi to 8, 2021.
• Vikrant is expected to be commissioned into Indian Navy in 2022
• Once it enters service with Indian Navy, warship will be called as INS Vikrant
• This is the first as well as largest and most complex aircraft carrier designed and built in India
• Currently, India has only one aircraft carrier, namely INS Vikramaditya made by Russia