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 GS SCORE Prelims 2021 Test 5 With Solution PDF

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Kurukshetra Magazine January 2021 Hindi PDF

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📰 CCS okays 83 LCAs worth around ₹47,000 cr. for IAF

1)  Indian Army Day: 15 January

•The Army Day in India is celebrated on 15 January every year, to salute the valiant soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect the country and its citizens. This year marks the 73rd Indian Army Day. The Army Day is celebrated at all Army Command headquarters to honour our country’s soldiers who set the greatest example of selfless service and brotherhood, and above all, love for the country.

2)  DRDO develops India’s first Indigenously-Developed 9mm Machine Pistol

•India’s first indigenous 9mm Machine Pistol has been jointly developed by DRDO and Indian Army. Infantry School, Mhow and DRDO’s Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune have designed and developed this weapon using their respective expertise in the complementary areas. The weapon has been developed in a record time of four months. The weapon is aptly named “Asmi” meaning “Pride”, “Self-Respect” & “Hard Work”.

About the Machine Pistol:

•The Machine Pistol fires the in-service 9mm ammunition and sports an upper receiver made from aircraft-grade Aluminium and lower receiver from carbon fibre.

•The 3D Printing process has been used in designing and prototyping of various parts including trigger components made by metal 3D printing.

•The weapon has huge potential in Armed forces as a personal weapon for heavy weapon detachments, commanders, tank and aircraft crews, drivers/dispatch riders, radio/radar operators, Closed Quarter Battle, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations etc.

•This is also likely to find huge employability with the central and state police organizations as well as VIP protection duties and Policing.

•The Machine Pistol is likely to have a production cost under rupees 50000 each and has potential for exports.

3)  Indian Army inks $20 mn contract to buy SWITCH drones

•The Indian Army has recently signed a contract with Mumbai-based drone manufacturing company, ideaForge, to procure high-altitude variant of SWITCH unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The total cost of the deal is approximately USD 20 million. However, the quantity of UAVs to be procured is not disclosed. These UAVs will be delivered to the Indian Army over a period of one year.

4)  Dushyant Dave resigns as SC Bar Association (SCBA) President

•Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president, Dushyant Dave has resigned from his post with immediate effect, he has forfeited his right to continue. Acting SCBA Secretary Rohit Panday confirmed the development that the senior advocate has resigned with immediate effect.

5)  Donald Trump becomes first U.S. President to be impeached twice

•President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House for a historic second time on January 13, charged with “incitement of insurrection” over the deadly mob siege of the Capitol in a swift and stunning collapse of his final days in office. He was first impeached in 2019 over his Ukraine dealings.

•The House voted 232-197 to impeach Mr Trump. The proceedings moved at lightning speed, with lawmakers voting just one week after violent pro-Mr. Trump loyalists stormed the U.S. Capitol, urged on by the President’s calls for them to “fight like hell” against the election results.

6)  Fitch Ratings Projects GDP of India at -9.4% in FY21

•The Fitch Ratings expect the gross domestic product (GDP) of India to contract by 9.4 per cent in FY21 (April 2020 to March 2021). Fitch further projects the GDP to expand by 11 per cent in FY22 (April 2021 to March 2022).

7)  IFFI 2021 to celebrate the work of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray

•The 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be celebrating the work of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray by screening five of his classics. As part of the tribute, the festival will showcase Ray’s acclaimed “Pather Panchali”, the first film of his The Apu Trilogy, 1964 romantic drama “Charulata”, “Sonar Kella”, his 1977 Hindi directorial debut “Shatranj Ke Khilari” and “Ghare Baire” (1984). 12 films for Festival Kaleidoscope & 50 films for World Panorama section were unveiled too.

8)  Kerala becomes 8th State to complete ease of doing business reforms

•Kerala has become the 8th State in the country to successfully undertake “Ease of Doing Business” reform stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. Kerala has become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources of Rs.2,373 crore through Open Market Borrowings. Permission for the same was issued by the Department of Expenditure on 12th January 2021.

•Kerala has now joined the seven other States namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, who have completed this reform. On completion of reforms facilitating ease of doing business, these eight States have been granted additional borrowing permission of Rs.23,149 crore.

9)  Intel appoints Pat Gelsinger as new CEO

•Intel has appointed Pat Gelsinger as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective Feb. 15, 2021. Gelsinger will also join the Intel board of directors upon assuming the role. He will succeed Bob Swan, who will remain CEO until Feb. 15.

10)  FSS and IPPB join hands to promote financial inclusion

•Financial Software and Systems (FSS), a leading payment processor and provider of integrated payment products, has partnered with India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) to promote financial inclusion among underserved and unbanked segments.

As part of the collaboration:

•IPPB will use FSS’ Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) to deliver interoperable and affordable doorstep banking services to customers across India.

•Customers of any bank can access their Aadhaar-linked bank account by simply using their fingerprint for cash withdrawal, balance enquiry and transfer of funds into an operating IPPB account, right at their doorstep.

•This strategic partnership offers significant opportunities to bring millions of unbanked customers into the financial mainstream. Currently, there are nearly 410 million Jan Dhan accounts in India.

1)  Armed Forces Veterans Day: 14 January

•In India, the Armed Forces Veterans Day is observed each year on 14 January since 2017 to acknowledge and honour the selfless devotion and sacrifice of our veterans in the service of the nation. The day was initially called Armistice Day. 2021 marks the 5th Armed Forces Veterans Day. 

•The day is observed as a mark of respect and recognition of the services rendered by Field Marshal KM Cariappa OBE, the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces who retired on 14 January 1953. 

2)  India ranks 4th in ‘Break Out Economies’

•Rapidly digitalising India was ranked 4th in “Break Out Economies” in the third edition of the Digital Evolution Scorecard developed by Tufts University’s Fletcher School in partnership with Mastercard. China which leads the countries in the “Break Out Economies” group is more evolved digitally due mainly to its combination of rapidly growing demand and innovation.

•Third rank Indonesia, and India, which ranks number four in momentum, have displayed increasing digital momentum suggesting the potential to rapidly digitalise for both post-COVID economic recovery and longer-term transformation. 

3)  Naveen Patnaik inaugurates India’s first ‘Fire Park’ in Bhubaneswar

•The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik virtually inaugurated a first of its kind ‘Fire Park’, to educate and bring awareness on basic fire safety measures among the people, particularly the students. The ‘Fire Park’ is located inside the premises of the Odisha Fire and Disaster Academy in Bhubaneswar.

•The minister also launched an online portal, ‘AgnishamaSeva’ of Odisha Fire Service. The fire park will facilitate demonstrations on use of first aid fire-fighting equipment, rescue and disaster operations, visit the exhibition hall, screening of films and distribution of leaflets on fire safety.

4)  Sadyr Japarov wins the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan

•The frontrunner in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election, Sadyr Japarov, has won by a landslide. According to the Central Election Commission, Mr Japarov had won 79% of votes cast. Mr Japarov, who served time in jail for taking a rival hostage, will also have sweeping new presidential powers after voters by a similar margin opted to amend the constitution in a referendum.

•Kyrgyzstan has been in crisis since parliamentary elections last October. The results of those elections were disputed, leading to protests and the resignation of then-President Sooronbay Jeenbekov.

5)  BofA Securities Projects GDP of India to Contract 6.7% in FY21

•The BofA Securities expects the GDP growth of India for the current financial year 2020-21 to contract by 6.7 per cent. Apart from this, BofA Securities has projected the Indian economy to grow at 9 per cent in 2021-22 if the vaccine distribution is done in the first half of the new fiscal year, but it expects GDP growth prospects at just at 6 per cent if the distribution is delayed to the second half of 2021-22 (October-March).

6)  RBI forms six-member working group to regulate digital lending frauds

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a working group to study digital lending activities of the regulated and unregulated players, due to the growing instances of frauds in digital lending space. The group will suggest steps to regulate digital lending including online lending platform and mobile lending. The group will evaluate digital lending activities and assess the penetration and standards of outsourced digital lending activities in RBI regulated entities.

The six-member panel comprises of following four RBI internal and two external members:

1.Jayant Kumar Dash, Executive Director, RBI (Chairman)

2.Ajay Kumar Choudhary, Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Supervision (Member)

3.P Vasudevan, Chief General Manager, Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, RBI (Member)

4.Manoranjan Mishra, Chief General Manager, Department of Regulation (Member Secretary)

5.Vikram Mehta, Co-founder, Monexo Fintech (External Member)

6.Rahul Sasi, Cyber Security Expert & Founder of CloudSEK (External Member)

7)  UBS Projects GDP of India at -7.5% in 2020-21

•Swiss brokerage major UBS Investment Bank has projected the Indian economy to contract 7.5 per cent in the current fiscal FY21, ending March 2021. UBS further expects the economy to rebound at 11.5 per cent in FY22. For the FY23, GDP growth is expected to stabilise at 6 per cent.

8)  IRDAI sets up panel to examine availability of health insurance products

•Insurance regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has set up a panel of experts called ‘Health Insurance Advisory Committee’ to examine the availability of health insurance products in the country, considering the need of the Indian society and recommend suitable products and processes. The expert committee will be headed by IRDAI Chairperson, Subhash Chandra Khuntia and will have a Member (Non-Life) as the vice-chairperson. The committee, which has a term of one year.

Members of the committee include:

•Nachiket Mor (Visiting Scientist, Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health),

•A K Chand (Professor and Neurosurgeon, Bangalore),

•B K Mohanti (Former Professor and Oncologist, AIIMS),

•K Hari Prasad (Anaesthetist, Hyderabad), and Pankaj Sharma (IRDAI).

9)  Nomura Estimates India’s GDP to contract 6.7% in FY21

•The Japanese brokerage Nomura has revised upward, the GDP forecast for India in 2020-21 and now expects it to contract to 6.7 per cent. Nomura has further projected the GDP of India to rise to 13.5 per cent in FY22 (2021-22).

10)  NITI Aayog and Flipkart collaborate to enhance WEP

•NITI Aayog and Flipkart, have come together to launch the revamped Women Entrepreneurship Platform. The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is a unified access portal which brings together women from different parts of India to realise their entrepreneurial aspirations.

•The idea of the platform was first mooted by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog who announced the setting-up of a Women Entrepreneurship Platform in NITI Aayog at the conclusion of the 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) held in Hyderabad in 2017, with an overarching theme of ‘Women first, prosperity for all’. 

GS SCORE Prelims 2021 Test 4 With Solution PDF

 Rau’s IAS Prelims 2021 Test 2 With Solution PDF