Current Affairs Quiz 18th August 2022 : Daily GK Update

Exp. BRO to build first steel slag road in Arunachal Pradesh

The Border Road Organization (BRO) will construct a pilot road using steel slag in Arunachal Pradesh, which can withstand heavy rains and adverse climatic conditions.

The project was developed with the aim to “convert waste to wealth” and around one lakh tones of processed steel slag aggregates have been utilized here substituting the natural aggregate.

If this is found successful, then this can become a big solution for building durable roads along strategic areas.

This project has been initiated after the success of using 100% steel slag on a port connectivity road in Gujarat, which has longer life and built at low cost.

About Arunachal Pradesh

• Capital –Itanagar
• Chief Minister– Pema Khandu
• Governor – D. Mishra

About Border Roads Organization (BRO)

Formation – 7 May 1960

Headquarters – New Delhi

Director General – Rajeev Chaudhary

Exp. ONGC signed an agreement with ExxonMobil for deep-water exploration in India

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed an agreement with global petroleum giant ExxonMobil for deep-water exploration on the east and the west coasts of India.

The two companies will focus on the Krishna-Godavari and Cauvery basins in the eastern offshore and the Kutch-Mumbai region in the western offshore.

ExxonMobil is an American multinational oil and gas corporation.

India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, ships in over 85% of its oil needs from overseas. The country wants to quickly monetize its oil and gas resources to reduce its reliance on costly imports.

India’s crude oil production fell 1.6% to about 600,000 barrels per day (2.44 million tonnes) in June, dipping over 4% versus the previous month.

About Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)

Founded – 1956

Headquarters – New Delhi

Chairman – Alka Mittal

Owner – Government of India (60.40%)

Life Insurance Corporation of India (9.69%)

Gas Authority of India Limited (5.45%)

Indian Oil Corporation (5.45%)

Exp. India’s first electric double-decker bus launched in Mumbai

Union Minister of Road, Transport & Highway Nitin Gadkari has launched India’s first electric double-decker bus in Mumbai.

Two new electric buses, including the first air-conditioned double-decker bus in the country, will join the fleet of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).

A single-decker electric bus for app-based premium bus service and a double-decker air-conditioned bus was launched at a function held at NCPA in south Mumbai.

About Maharashtra

Capital – Mumbai

Chief Minister – Eknath Sindhe

Governor – Bhagat Singh Koshyari

Exp. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal launched ‘Make India No. 1’ mission

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has launched the ‘Make India No. 1’ mission to make India the number one country in the world.

The five-point vision of this initiative-

Free education

Free treatment

Employment for youth

Equal rights, dignity and security for women

Fair price to farmers for their produce

This mission was launched at the Talkatora Stadium in Delhi.

During the launch, he urged every citizen to join this mission and make India No. 1 in the world.

Exp. Kerala launched lucky bill app to curb GST evasion

The Kerala government has launched an app named ‘Lucky Bill App’ to curb Goods and Service Tax (GST) evasion.

The app was launched by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Aim – To encourage the citizen to ask for a bill every time they make a purchase.

The users need to upload original bills of their purchases to win prizes, including a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh.

The app will also offer rewards such as gift packs from Kudumbashree and Vanashree as well as KTDC tour packages.

About Kerala

Capital – Thiruvananthapuram

Chief Minister – Pinarayi Vijayan

Governor – Arif Mohammad Khan

Exp. Bank of Baroda introduced a new deposit scheme

Bank of Baroda (BoB) has launched the ‘Baroda Tiranga Deposit Scheme’, a special retail term deposit product that offers interest rates of 5.75% for 444 days and 6% for 555 days.

This scheme is applicable on retail deposits below Rs 2 crore and remains in force till December 31, 2022.

Senior citizens will earn an additional interest rate of 0.50%, while non-callable deposits will get 0.15% extra.

About Bank of Baroda (BOB)

Founded – 1908

Headquarters – Vadodara, Gujarat

MD & CEO – Sanjiv Chadha

Tagline – India’s International Bank

Exp. Yes Bank partnered with SellerApp to facilitate adoption of ONDC

Yes Bank has partnered with SellerApp (a seller-centric intelligence platform) to adopt Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC).

This partnership will help them to expand their digital commerce footprint.

ONDC is a strategic initiative of the Indian government with an aim to democratize the entire digital commerce space.

The network is also being built as an alternative to e-tailers like Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon in the Indian ecommerce market.

About Yes Bank

Founded – 2004

Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra

MD & CEO – Prashant Kumar

Tagline – Experience our Expertise

Recent Agreements

• Paytm partnered with Piramal Finance to offer loans
• IDFC FIRST Bank partnered with LetsVenture to support startups
• HDFC Bank partnered with M1xchange for Trade receivables Discounting System (TReDs)
• Indian Bank signed an MoU with SRM University-AP for starts up
• SVC Bank signed an agreement with SIDBI for empowering MSMEs

Exp. Karnataka Bank launched new Term Deposit Scheme named KBL Amrit Samriddhi

Karnataka Bank has launched a new Term Deposit Scheme named KBL Amrit Samriddhi under Abhyudaya Cash Certificate (ACC) and Fixed Deposit for a tenure of 75 weeks (525 days).

The interest rate for this Deposit Scheme is 6.10% per annum.

With the new product, KBL Amrit Samriddhi, the bank has extended the benefit of increase in the interest rates to customers.

About Karnataka Bank

Founded- 18 February 1924

Headquarters– Mangalore, Karnataka

MD & CEO- Mahabaleshwara M S

Exp. Paytm partnered with Samsung stores to deploy smart PoS devices

Paytm has partnered with Samsung stores across India to provide smart payments as well as its loan service Paytm Postpaid through deployment of point-of-sale devices.

The partnership will enable consumers purchasing Samsung devices- laptops, smartphones, television, smart watches, etc.- from any authorized store in the country to pay through Paytm payment instruments, including UPI, wallet, buy now pay later scheme, debit cards, and credit cards.

Paytm through its Postpaid service will provide credit limit of up to Rs 60,000 per month.

It will also give customers an option to avail personal loan of up to Rs 2 lakh through financial institution partners of Paytm.

Exp. Axis Bank signed an MoU with FCI to provide “Ultima Salary Package”

Axis Bank has signed an MoU with Food Corporation of India (FCI) to provide “Ultima Salary Package” with exclusive benefits & features to all its employees.

Through this exclusive Ultima Salary package, the Bank will offer numerous benefits such as –

Personal Accidental cover of up to Rs.20 lakhs

Additional Education Grantupto Rs. 8 lakhs

Total Permanent Disability Cover benefit up to Rs. 20 lakhs

Permanent Partial disability cover of up to Rs.20 lakhs

Air Accident cover of Rs. 1 Crore

Free additional debit card for a family member

12 EMI waiver on Home loan

3 zero balance accounts for family member

About Axis Bank

Founded – 1993

Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra

Chairman – Rakesh Makhija

MD & CEO – Amitabh Chaudhary

Tagline – Badhti Ka naam Zindag

Recent MoUs

• The Telangana government has joined hands with the United Nations Development
• NASSCOM partnered with Google for DigiVaani Call Center
• RBI and Bank Indonesia signed an MoU to improve mutual cooperation
• RIL partnered with Athletics Federation of India to support Indian Athlete
• Vedanta partners with IIT Madras incubated startup

Exp. Simon Stiell appointed as Executive Secretary of UNFCCC

Secretary of United Nations General Antonio Guterres has appointed Simon Stiell, the former environment minister of Grenada, as the new executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

He will replace Patricia Espinosa of Mexico.

Work – Keeping countries on track to meet international climate goals.

Recent Appointments

MD of NaBFID – Rajkiran Rai

Part-time non-official directors on the central board of the RBI – Satish Kashinath Marathe, Swaminathan Gurumurthy, Revathy Iyer, and Sachin Chaturvedi

Deputy President of FIDE – Viswanathan Anand

First woman Director General of CSIR – Nallathamby Kalaiselvi

MD & CEO of Unity SF Bank – Inderjit Camotra

Exp. Government extended tenure of DCGI chief VG Somani by three months

The Union government has extended the tenure of Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) VG Somani by 3 months.

In 2019, the government appointed Dr. Somani as DCGI for a period of three years to head India’s apex drug regulatory agency Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).

Dr. Somani played a key role in the approval of Covid-19 vaccines.

Recent Appointments

• Central Vigilance Commissioner – Suresh N Patel
• Chairman of Vodafone Idea – Ravinder Takkar
• Additional charge of DG of ITBP – Sujoy Lal Thaosen
• Delhi police commissioner – Sanjay Arora
• Principal DG of PIB – Satyendra Prakash

Exp. FSIB recommended Mohammad Mustafa as a Chairman of NABARD

The Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) has recommended Mohammad Mustafa for the post of NABARD Chairman.

Mustafa, a 1995 batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, served as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Prior to this, he had served as a Joint Secretary in the Department of Financial Services and also as a director. He had also served as CMD of National Housing Bank between 2014-15 and as MD of CERSAI in 2016.

The Appointments Committee of the cabinet headed by PM Modi will take the final decision.

About National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

Founded – 12 July 1982

Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra

Chairman – Govinda Rajulu Chintala

NABARD established on the recommendations of B. Sivaramman Committee

Exp. Anuj Poddar appointed as MD & CEO of Bajaj Electricals elevates

Consumer durable products maker Bajaj Electricals has elevated its Executive Director Anuj Poddar to Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The company has separated the post of Chairman & Managing Director and its patron Shekhar Bajaj will continue as Executive Chairman of the company.

Bajaj Electricals is a part of the business conglomerate Bajaj Group

Bajaj Electricals, part of business conglomerate Bajaj Group, had a turnover of Rs 4,813 crore in FY22.

Recent Appointments

Managing Director of Tata Projects – Vinayak Pai

Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Limited – Rajarshi Gupta

Member of UPSC – Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla

MD of RattanIndia Power – Brijesh Gupta

Director (Technical) of REC – VK Singh

Exp. MasterCard partnered with badminton players to promote digital payments in India

Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, and Chirag Shetty have been signed as the brand ambassadors of MasterCard to promote digital payment in India.

To spread awareness about safety, security, and convenience of digital payments in India.

This partnership will build up the efforts of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and PM Modi’s vision of Digital India.

The company had also signed Shiv Kapur and Anirban Lahiri as brand ambassador in 2021.

Recent Brand ambassadors

• KL Rahul- Realme, Innerwear Brand XYXX
• Vidya Balan- Bharti AXA Life Insurance
• Shahid Kapoor – PokerBaazi.com, Furo Sports Shoes, Aramusk
• Aamir Khan – Pharmeasy, Phone Pe, Samsung, Dustin India, Vivo, CEAT Limited, Vedantu
• Sonam A Kapoor – The Moms Co.