SM CURRENT AFFAIRS
1ST & 2ND MAY 2021
UK: 1ST NATION TO ANNOUNCE SELF DRIVING CARS
- The United Kingdom has become the first country to announce regulation for the use of self-driving vehicles at low speeds.
- The UK wants to be at the forefront in rolling out autonomous driving technology. The Government of the UK forecasts that around 40% of UK cars will have self-driving capabilities by 2035.
- This will create 38,000 jobs in the country. The speed limit of the ALKS is to be set at 37 miles per hour. The ALKS shall drive itself in a single lane.
- A self-driving vehicle is fully autonomous. No driver is required for the safe operation of the vehicle. Self-driving technologies have been developed by Uber, Google, Nissan, Tesla.
- Most of the self-driving systems maintain an internal map. They use lasers, sensors and radars to map their surroundings. Based on the map created, instructions are delivered to the actuators of the vehicle.
TRIFED INKS MOU WITH 'THE LINK FUND' FOR TRIBALS
- Tribal Co-operative Marketing Federation of India (TRIFED), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The LINK Fund, for a collaborative project titled “Sustainable Livelihoods for Tribal Households in India”. Under the project, both the organisations will work together towards:
- Tribal Development and Employment Generation, by providing support to tribals for increasing value addition in their produce and products.
- Sustainable livelihoods and value addition, for the increase in income and employment generation through technological intervention for efficiency in value addition for MFPs, produce and crafts diversification, skill training and enhancement of value additions in minor forest produce.
- LINK Fund: The LINK Fund is a Geneva, Switzerland based philanthropic operational foundation and practitioner-led fund, working towards eradicating extreme poverty and mitigating the effects of climate change.
- TRIFED: TRIFED is a nodal agency under the administrative control of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, working for the empowerment of the tribals community in India.
RBI APPOINTED T RABI SANKAR AS DEPUTY GOVERNOR
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) executive director T Rabi Sankar has been named as the fourth Deputy Governor of the central bank.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved his appointment. He is in charge of the payments system, fintech, information technology and risk management at the RBI.
- He succeeds BP Kanungo as the deputy governor, who retired on April 2 after getting a one-year extension in his position.
- Sankar has long experience across a wide spectrum of central banking functions, particularly, exchange rate management, reserves portfolio management, public debt management, monetary operations, development, regulation and surveillance of financial markets and of payment systems, and managing the Bank’s IT infrastructure.
1ST WOMAN COMMANDING OFFICER IN BRO
- Vaishali S Hiwase became the first woman officer to be appointed as officer commanding in the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) where she will be responsible for providing connectivity through an Indo-China border road.
- Vaishali is from Wardha, Maharashtra, and has completed a successful demanding tenure in Kargil.
- In a first, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has appointed a woman officer to command a Road Construction Company (RCC) tasked to provide connectivity in a high-altitude area along the India-China border.
- Director-General of BRO: Gen. Rajeev Chaudhary.
- BRO Headquarters: New Delhi.
- BRO Founded: 7 May 1960.
LIC AS MOST VALUABLE INSURANCE BRAND GLOBALLY
- The state-owned insurance behemoth ‘Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)’ has emerged as the third strongest and the tenth most valuable insurance brand globally, in Brand Finance Insurance 100 report for 2021.
- The annual report is released by London-based brand valuation consultancy firm Brand Finance, to identify the most valuable and strongest insurance brands globally.
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- Most Valuable Indian Insurance Brand – LIC (10th)
- Most Strongest Indian Insurance Brand – LIC (3rd)
- Most Valuable Global Insurance Brand – Ping An Insurance, China
- Most Strongest Global Insurance Brand – Poste Italiane, Italy
- The brand value of LIC increased by almost 7 per cent to $8.65 billion in 2021. Chinese firm ‘Ping An Insurance’ emerged as the world’s most valuable insurance brand, despite recording a 26 per cent drop in brand value in 2021 over the previous year.
- In the strongest insurance brands category, Italy’s Poste Italiane was at the top position, followed by Mapfre of the US and LIC of India.
- However, the total brand value of the world’s top 100 most valuable insurance brands declined by 6 per cent from $462.4 billion in 2020 to $433.0 billion in 2021.
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY OBSERVED ON MAY 1ST
- International Labour Day (also known as May Day or International Workers’ Day) is celebrated across the world on the 1st of May every year.
- The day celebrates the struggle, dedication and commitment of the working class and is an annual public holiday in several countries.
- On 1 May 1886, Chicago and a few other cities were the sites of a major union demonstration in support of the eight-hour workday demand.
- In 1889, the International Socialist Conference declared that in commemoration of the Haymarket affair, 1 May would be an international holiday for the labour force, now known as International Workers’ Day.
- Headquarters of International Labour Organization: Geneva, Switzerland.
- President of International Labour Organization: Guy Ryder.
- International Labour Organization Founded:
WORLD TUNA DAY OBSERVED ON MAY 2ND
- World Tuna Day is observed globally on 2nd May every year. This day is established by the United Nations (UN) to raise awareness about the importance of tuna fish.
- It is observed for the first time in 2017. According to the UN, an outsized number of nations worldwide depend upon tuna for both food security and nutrition.
- At the same time, more than 96 countries have tuna fisheries, and their capacity is constantly growing.
- The World Tuna Day was officially proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) by adopting resolution 71/124 in December 2016.
- Its aim was to spotlight the importance of conservation management and make sure that a system is required in place to prevent tuna stocks from crashing. The primary internationally recognized World Tuna Day was observed on 2 May 2017.
NATIONAL PANCHAYAT AWARDS CONFERRED BY PM MODI
- The National Panchayat Awards 2021 was conferred by PM Modi. Prime Minister will transfer the award money (as Grants-in-Aid) through the click of a button, ranging from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.50 lakh.
- The amount will be directly transferred to the bank account of the Panchayats concerned in real-time. This is being done for the first time.
- The National Panchayat Awards 2021 are being conferred under the following categories:
- Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar to 224 panchayats,
- Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar to 30-gram panchayats, Gram
- Panchayat Development Plan Award to 29-gram panchayats, Child-friendly Gram
- Panchayat Award to 30 Gram Panchayats and e-Panchayat Puraskar to 12 states.
ANAND MAHINDRA LAUNCHED 'OXYGEN ON WHEELS'
- The Mahindra Group Chairman, Anand Mahindra has rolled out a project titled ‘Oxygen on Wheels’ to ease the transportation of oxygen from producing plants to hospitals and homes, following acute oxygen shortage amid a severe second wave of coronavirus.
- The ‘Oxygen on Wheels’ initiative will bridge the gap between oxygen production and its transportation in India, especially in Maharashtra.
- Mahindra has lined up around 70 Bolero pickup trucks to connect oxygen producers with hospitals and homes, to deliver oxygen cylinders. The project is being implemented through Mahindra Logistics.
- Apart from this, an operations control centre has been established and the storage location is replenished from the local refilling plant. A direct-to-consumer model is also being conceived.
- Mahindra Group CEO: Pawan Kumar Goenka.
- Mahindra Group Founded: 2 October 1945, Ludhiana.
NATO LAUNCHED EXERCISE 'DEFENDER EUROPE-21'
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has launched joint military exercises “DEFENDER-Europe 21” in Albania with thousands of military forces from the United States and other countries in the first such large-scale drills since World War II in the Western Balkans.
- Albania is playing a critical part in the DEFENDER-Europe 21 exercise with Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore operations taking place.
- DEFENDER-Europe is an annual large-scale U.S. Army-led, multinational exercise, defensive in nature and focused on deterring aggression, which this year focuses on building operational readiness and interoperability with NATO and a greater number of allies and partners over a wider area of operations than ever before.
- Around 28,000 U.S., allied and partner forces from 26 nations will conduct nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas in more than a dozen nations from the Baltics and Africa to the critical Black Sea and Balkan regions.
