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Current Affairs 21 July 2021
Daily Current Affairs 21 July 2021: This post contains the latest current affairs for 21 July 2021 that are important for all competitive exams like Bank, SSC, IBPS, SBI exams. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.
National
Centre extends ‘Stand Up India Scheme’ up to 2025
- The Government of India has extended the duration of ‘Stand Up India Scheme’ up to the year 2025.
- The scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on 05 April, 2016 to facilitate loans to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and women borrowers, to promotes entrepreneurship among them.
- The scheme offers bank loans to women and SC & ST communities for to encourage them in setting up a green field enterprise, outside of the farm sector, that is in manufacturing, services or trading sector.
- A total of 1,16,266 loans amounting to Rs. 26204.49 crore has been extended under the Scheme since its inception.
- The loan under Stand Up India Scheme are extended by Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) between Rs. 10 lakh and Rs.1 Crore.
IOC to set up first ‘green hydrogen’ plant at Mathura
- State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), India’s largest oil firm, will build the first ‘green hydrogen’ plant of the country at its Mathura refinery, to meet the growing demand for both oil and cleaner forms of energy.
- For this, the company will make use of 250 MW of electricity which it produces from renewable sources like solar power, to produce absolutely green hydrogen through electrolysis.
Maharashtra set to become first state to issue educational documents using blockchain technology
- The Government of Maharashtra has decided to issue educational documents to students of educational institutions using blockchain technology.
- With this Maharashtra will become the first state in the country and world’s largest user of Blockchain for educational certificates.
- Currently only Singapore, Malta and Bahrain are the only other countries using this technology.
- For this, Maharashtra government has partnered with LegitDoc, Bengaluru-based blockchain startup, owned by Crossforge Solutions Pvt. Ltd. It is a unique SaaS-based platform that leverages a combination of Ethereum blockchain and cryptographic techniques.
- As per the Maharashtra Skill Development Board, one million (10 lakh) diploma certificates will be issued using this blockchain technology, to diploma holders of a total of eight academic years.
- Each student will receive a “certficate_LegitDoc.zip” digital file containing the original PDF diploma certificate and its corresponding blockchain proof file. It can be verified within 10 seconds from anywhere around the world and does not require human intervention.
First-ever elections of Balika Panchayat successfully held at Kunariya village of Gujarat
- In Gujarat, the Kunariya village of Kutch district has formed a first-of-its-kind, Balika Panchayat, that will work towards addressing female adolescents’ issues, of the girls, by the girls, for the girls!
- Young females from the village, aged between 10 and 21 years will contest elections for this unique panchayat.
- The first-ever elections of this Balika Panchayat was successfully held on July 19, 2021.
- Balika Panchayat is inspired by the famous TV series, Balika Vadhu, and aims to develop leadership qualities in the girls for Future Panchayat polls.
- This initiative is in line with PM Modi’s vision of enhancing young women’s participation in the political process.
IIT Ropar develops first-of-its-kind Oxygen Rationing Device ‘AMLEX’
- The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar has developed a first-of-its-kind Oxygen Rationing Device called AMLEX, to save the oxygen which otherwise gets wasted unnecessarily, and in turn increase the life of medical oxygen cylinders three folds.
- The device will supply a required volume of oxygen to the patient during inhalation and will trip when the patient exhales carbon dioxide.
Banking & Economy
India’s economic growth forecast projected at 10% in FY22 and 7.5% in FY23: ADB
- The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has downgraded India’s economic growth forecast for the financial year 2021-22 (FY22) to 10 percent, in its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) Supplement for July. Earlier this was estimated at 11%.
- The multilateral funding agency, has lowered the GDP growth forecast on account of the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Further, ADB has projected the GDP growth rate for FY2022 (2022-23) to 7.5 percent from earlier projection of 7 percent.
Centre Raises FDI limit in NPS Fund Managers from 49% to 74%
- The Government has increased the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in pension fund management (PFM) to 74% from the present 49% under the national pension system (NPS).
- For this, an amendment has been made to Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Act, 2013 to rename PFRDA (National Pension System Trust) Regulations 2015 as PFRDA Regulation 2021.
International
Russia successfully test-fires S-500 missile system
- Russia successfully test-fired its new S-500 air defence missile systems, from a southern training range, Kapustin Yar, on July 20, 2021. It hit a high-speed ballistic target as planned.
- The S-500, also known as Prometey or 55R6M “Triumfator-M”, is a Russian surface-to-air missile/anti-ballistic missile system which is the most advanced anti-missile system in the world and is capable of countering attacks from space.
- The S-500 missile system is under development by the Almaz-Antey Air Defence Concern.
- It has a maximum firing range of 600 kilometres.
Sports
Mongolia, Tajikistan and Switzerland inducted as new Associate Members of ICC
- The International Cricket Council (ICC) has inducted Mongolia, Tajikistan and Switzerland as its newest member countries on July 18, 2021 at the ICC’s 78th Annual General Meeting, which was held virtually.
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With this, ICC now comprise of total 106 Members including 94 Associates. The three newly inducted countries are now among ICC’s 94 Associate Members
- Region-wise, Mongolia and Tajikistan have been inducted as the 22nd and 23rd Members from the Asia region while Switzerland is 35th Member from Europe region.
Viswanathan Anand Defeats Vladimir Kramnik to win Sparkassen Trophy
- Former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand defeated Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, to win the Sparkassen Trophy at Dortmund in Germany on July 18, 2021. It is a brand new format of four-game chess match.
- The Chennai Chess maestro Anand needed only a draw in the final of No-Castling Chess event and finally settled for a draw in 40 moves, to win the match 2.5-1.5.
