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Daily Current Affairs 02nd Dec 2020

To prepare for any competitive exam, one of the important sections to read and learn is current affairs. Exams like UPSC, Bank, SSC, RRB or any Government

Centennial Foundation Day of University of Lucknow

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unveiled the University of Lucknow's centennial commemorative coin of Rs 100 over a virtual platform. He also released the commemorative stamp issued by the India Post and its cover at the event organised for the celebration of the 100th Foundation day of the University of Lucknow, Uttarpradesh.

About The University of Lucknow:

  • Established in, 1920
  • Vice-Chancellor- Prof. Alok Kumar Rai

PFC, REC sign MoU with SJVN to provide INR 8,520 Crore loan for Thermal power plant in Buxar, Bihar

  • Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) & REC Limited (formerly known as Rural Electrification Corporation Limited) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SJVN Thermal (P) Limited (STPL) at Power Finance Corporation (PFC), New Delhi for extending Term Loan of INR 8520.46 Crores for 2x660 MegaWatts (MW) Buxar Thermal Power Project, Bihar.
  • The power plant will generate around 9828 Million Units of Energy and will meet the future power requirements of Bihar and other states.
  • It is a joint venture Gol and Government of Himachal Pradesh

About Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC):

  • Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) - Ravinder Singh Dhillon
  • Headquarters - New Delhi

About REC Limited (formerly known as Rural Electrification Corporation Limited):

  • CMD - Sanjay Malhotra
  • Headquarters - New Delhi

UAE: First Arab Country to generate electricity from coal

  • The United Arab Emirates is all set to become the first Arab Gulf country, and probably the last, to generate electricity from coal, as; the Acwa Power of Saudi Arabia is developing a $3.4 billion Hassyan coal plant in Dubai.
  • In this regard, the company has already inked a long time agreement with Japan's Jera Co-founder which the latter will supply coal.
  • The capacity of the plant will be 600 megawatts (MW) initially which will be increased to 2,400 MW by 2023.

About United Arab Emirates (UAE):

  • Capital- Abu Dhabi
  • Currency- UAE dirham

27th APEC Economic Leaders' summit 2020 held virtually; APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 endorsed

  • The 27th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' summit 2020 was virtually hosted by Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur. It was chaired by Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin bin Haji Muhammad Yassin under the 2020 APEC Malaysia theme of "Optimising Human Potential towards a Resilient Future of Shared Prosperity. Pivot. Prioritise. Progress". It was the first virtual APEC meeting amid COVID-19.
  • APEC leaders had endorsed the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 that will make free and fair trade the focus of the APEC agenda for the next two decades. The vision will achieve through following three economic drivers:
  • Trade and Investment
  • Innovation and Digitalisation
  • Strong, Balanced, Secure, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth

About Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC):

  • New Zealand will chair the APEC in 2021.
  • Members- 21 countries
  • Secretariat (Head Quarter)- Singapore
  • Executive Director, APEC Secretariat-Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria

SEBI Launched SMARTs Program to Strengthen Investor Education as a part of World Investor Week 2020

  • The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) launched Securities Market Trainers (SMARTs) program, as a part of World Investor Week (WIW) 2020 being celebrated by SEBI in India from Nov 23, 2020 to Nov 29, 2020.
  • To enhance investor education and awareness.
  • The education programs to be conducted under this will be free of cost to investors. It will be borne from SEBI's Investor Protection and Education Fund (IEPF).
  • The trainers of the programme are termed as SMARTs who also got trained at Maharashtra-based National Institute of Securities Market (NISM). They will conduct investor education programs in their respective geographical areas.

About World Investor Week (WIW):

  • It is a week-long, global campaign promoted by International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to raise awareness about the importance of investor education and protection. It is observed by IOSCO members on six continents.
  • IOSCO Secretary General- Paul P. Andrews
  • IOSCO Headquarters, Madrid, Spain

About Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):

  • Chairman-Ajay Tyagi
  • Headquarters, Mumbai, Maharashtra

India's GDP Q2 2020: Economic contraction narrows to 7.5% from 23.9% in Q1 as per NSO data

  • In accordance with the official data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), India's gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter ended September 30, 2020 (Q2FY21) contracted by 7.5% as compared to the expansion of 4.4% in the corresponding July-September period of 2019-20.
  • However, this shows a significant improvement over a 23.9% contraction in the previous April-June quarter (Q1FY21).

About National Statistics Office (NSO):

  • Parent Ministry, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI)
  • Minister of State (MOS) MOSPI- Rao Inderjit Singh

India-Japan Cooperation Won the OECD's 2019 MAP Award

  • The India-Japan Cooperation won the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s 2019 Mutual Agreement Procedure(MAP) Award in category 4 for pairings of jurisdictions that dealt most effectively with their joint caseload for transfer pricing cases. The award was announced during the virtual event of the 2nd OECD Tax Certainty Day organised by OECD.
  • In category 4, Norway- United States cooperation won the 2019 MAP Awards for other cases".
  • The award represents the commitment of India to provide tax certainty and effective conflict resolution mechanism for the Japanese companies which are doing business in India.
  • The MAP under the tax treaties addresses tax disputes arising from cross border transactions by foregin companies and nonresidents.

OECD 2019 MAP Awards:

  • The 2019 MAP Awards of OECD recognised the efforts of competent authorities in 4 different areas, Category 1: Average Time to close MAP cases.
  • Category 2: Age of Inventory
  • Category 3: Caseload Management Category
  • Category 4: Cooperation
  • All the jurisdictions that joined the inclusive framework before 2020 were accounted for the OECD MAP 2019 awards.

Other Winners:

  • Category 1:
  • For Transfer Pricing Cases: Japan and the United Kingdom for closing more than 50 cases in approximately 21 months.
  • For Other Cases: The United Kingdom for closing more than 20 cases in 6 months(approx)
  • Category 2:
  • Belgium won for the smallest proportion (10%) of pre-2016 cases in ending inventory.
  • Category 3:
  • Large inventory: Belgium Medium Inventory: Norway

Sports Ministry restores Archery Association of India as National Sports Federation

  • The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports restored the Archery Association of India as a National Sports Federation, allowing the promotion and regulation of Archery in India.
  • Eight years ago, the Archery Association of India(AAI) was removed from the National Sports Federation due to its failure to satisfy mandatory election rules set by the National Sports Development Code, 2011 (Sports Code) of India.
  • World Archery (International Federation for Archery Sport) has also lifted the suspension of AAI and as such at present the AAI has the recognition both of Indian Olympic Association and the World Archery
  • Government of India recognition of AAI will be valid for one year.

About Archery Association of India:

  • Headquarters - New Delhi President- Arjun Munda

UT of Ladakh gets the Largest Solar Power Project at a Highest Altitude at Leh IAF Station

  • Leh, in the Union Territory(UT) of Ladakh gets the largest Solar Power Project at a highest altitude. The project has been established at the Leh Indian Air Force(IAF) Station. This Solar power project was inaugurated by Air Marshal V R Chaudhari, Commander-in-chief, Western Air Command.
  • The Rs 122 crores worth Project named "Provision of Solar Photo Voltaic Powerplant 1.5 MW" was conceptualised under the Make in India initiative of the Government of India.
  • To provide sustainable and alternative energy to fossil fuel and other traditional methods of energy generation
  • The Power project at Leh IAF station is the largest installed power project out of the target 300 MW in 3 phases for defence sector and 14 MW for Leh region established by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
  • This project has been completed within 12 months prior to the completion deadline of 31st March 2021.

Cyclone Nivar: 4th cyclone to hit the North Indian Ocean region in 2020

  • The Nivar Cyclone made a landfall near Puducherry, south of Chennai with a wind speed of 85 to 95 kmph. Ambur, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore and Arani also experienced a wind speed of 50 Kmph.
  • The Nivar is the 4th Cyclone to hit the North Indian Ocean Region in 2020. The storm was named "Nivar” based on the guidelines of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). Nivar was selected from the names suggested by Iran.

Uttar Pradesh Cabinet clears Proposal to Rename Ayodhya airport as Maryada Purushottam Sri Ram Airport

  • Uttar Pradesh Cabinet cleared the proposal to rename the Ayodhya airport as Maryada Purushottam Sri Ram Airport, Ayodhya, UP.
  • The proposal for the same will be sent to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt of India after it is passed by the state Assembly.

HDFC Bank's m-cap crosses 8 trillion market cap for the first time

  • The Market Capitalization (m-cap) of HDFC Bank crossed indian rupees 8 Trillion for the first time. It became India's third company and the first bank to achieve this milestone.
  • Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) are the only two companies to have achieved the landmark. RIL is India's most valued company having a market value of indian rupees 13.17 Trillion followed by TCS at indian rupees 10.13 Trillion. Hindustan Unilever is Fourth with indian rupees 5.48 Trillion m-cap followed by Infosys with indian rupees 4.83 m-cap.