Daily Current Affairs Quiz 28th July 2024

” Notes:researchers have discovered magnetofossils, fossil remains of magnetic particles produced by magnetotactic bacteria, in rock varnish layers in ladakh, india. these prokaryotic organisms align with the earth’s magnetic field and are found in freshwater and marine habitats. they use the magnetic field to locate optimal oxygen levels. the bacteria contain iron-rich particles in small sacs acting as compasses, forming tiny crystals of magnetite or greigite. these crystals help them navigate changing oxygen levels in water. these microbes are believed to be among earth’s earliest inhabitants.”

” Notes:
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) received $215.6 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for financing mitigation and adaptation projects (FMAP). The GCF, the world’s largest dedicated climate fund, was established at COP 16 in 2010 and operates under the UNFCCC. It supports transformative climate action in developing countries using flexible financing solutions. The FMAP will provide nearly 10,000 concessional loans to MSMEs for low-emission, climate-resilient technologies, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35.3 million tonnes. This is SIDBI’s second GCF-approved project, following the Avaana Sustainability Fund.”

” Notes:the ministry of steel launched the ‘steel import monitoring system’ (sims) 2.0 portal, featuring a robust data entry system for consistent and authentic data, promoting transparency and accountability. union minister of steel and heavy industries released the second volume of “safety guidelines for iron and steel sector,” aiming to enhance safety standards and reduce accidents. sims, introduced in 2019, provides detailed steel import data, aiding policy-making and industry growth. sims 2.0, with api integration and database connections, improves quality control, risk management, and customs’ analysis of steel imports, benefiting the domestic steel industry.”

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” Notes:external affairs minister s. jaishankar attended the asean post-ministerial conference with india in vientiane, lao pdr, on july 26, 2024. his three-day visit from july 25-27 included participation in asean-india, east asia summit (eas), and asean regional forum (arf) meetings. the lao pdr, as asean chairman, hosted these events. saleumxay kommasith, lao pdr’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, also attended. the conference saw foreign ministers from the 10 asean member states and reaffirmed commitments to enhancing the asean-india comprehensive strategic partnership (csp) over the next five years.”

” Notes:the chief economic advisor emphasized the need for private investors to prioritize sustainable investments, noting the low “greenium” from india’s sovereign green bond offerings. greenium, or green-premium, refers to the savings issuers gain on coupon payments for green bonds, which have lower yields than conventional bonds due to their sustainable appeal. green bonds finance green projects like renewable energy, electric buses, and energy efficiency. these bonds attract investors willing to accept lower returns for sustainability benefits, reducing both physical and financial risks. this makes green projects financially attractive for issuers.”

” Paytm, india’s digital payments and financial services brand owned by the  one97 communications limited (ocl), has partnered with mumbai(maharashtra) based axis bank, one of india’s largest private sector banks to provide point-of-sale (pos) solutions and electronic data capture (edc) devices or card machines to the bank and its merchant network.i.aim: to transform the merchant-acquiring business through advanced technology, optimising business operations, and elevating customer satisfaction.ii.through this partnership, paytm’s cutting-edge technology will reach a wider merchant base via axis bank, thereby enhancing the capabilities of both entities”

” The insurance regulatory and development authority of india (irdai) has revised its guidelines regarding the commission for long-term motor insurance policies. these revised guidelines align these policies with the standard motor insurance policies having validity of 1 year. with this, insurers are now allowed to offer commissions within the expense management framework for long-term policies. long term motor insurance policies have minimum 5-year cover for 2-wheelers and 3-year cover for 4-wheelers.”

” According to the food and agriculture organisation (fao)’s report “the state of the world’s forest 2024(sofo 2024): forest-sector innovations towards a more sustainable future”, india secured 3rd spot among the top 3 countries with most significant forest area gains during 2010 to 2020 period. as per the report, india has gained 2.66 lakh hectares (ha) of forest area annually from 2010 to 2020. while, china topped among the top 10 countries with the maximum forest area gain of 19.37 lakh ha, followed australia with forest area gain of 4.46 lakh ha. as per the report, the global forest covered is about 4.1 billion ha or 31% of the land area in 2020. the report noted that the global mangrove area was recorded to be 14.8 million ha. the report estimated that nearly 420 million ha of forest were converted to land use between 1990 and 2020.click here to read more”

” London, the United Kingdom(UK) based TerraPay, a leading global payments infrastructure company has partnered with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), to enable financial institutions can send money directly to over 2.1 billion mobile wallets around the world using their Swift connectivity.i.It aims to improve financial inclusion by providing a more easily accessible cross-border payment option in areas where the use of mobile wallets is common.ii.Swift payments made by financial institutions will be integrated into TerraPay’s infrastructure, ensuring transparent and fast transfers of funds from accounts to wallets and this can be achieved by Swift’s tracking capabilities that offer end-to-end visibility.”

” On 20th july 2024, indian public sector bank (psb), bank of baroda (bob) launched various new digital initiatives including a generative artificial intelligence (ai)-powered virtual relationship manager (vrm) and a new payment app, among 11 new initiatives on occasion of its 117th foundation day.i.the theme for the bank’s 117th year is “trusted today, transforming tomorrow”.ii.generative ai-powered vrm, first-of-its-kind initiative among psbs, designed specifically to enhance digital customer service by providing real-time information about various range of products and services of the bank to the customers.iii.bobइpay upi payments public service providers (psp) app, equipped with features like: scan to pay, send or receive money, upi lite, rupay credit card on unified payments interface (upi) which also include, international payments.iv.bob has launched the bob credit line on upi initiative and this feature will initially be available on baroda kisan credit card (bkcc) for customers. click here to read more”

” Gandhinagar (gujarat) based rashtriya raksha university (rru), nse international exchange (nse ix) and national stock exchange international clearing (nseicc) has signed memorandum of understanding (mou) to enhance cooperation in economic and financial security.i.through this mou, rru and nse ix will combine to carry out training and upskilling initiatives in areas like financial laws, economic crimes, forensic accounting, cybercrimes, and technological innovation.ii.it also aims to conduct collaborative research initiatives, design and implement combined online and offline certification programs, and support capacity building for students and faculty.”

” The steering committee on greenfield airports of the union government has granted approval of site clearance to the tamil nadu industrial development corporation limited (tidco) for the development of a greenfield airport at parandur, kancheepuram, tamil nadu (tn). the chennai city’s second airport, which is 70km away from chennai. according to tidco’s plan, the greenfield airport will be constructed in four phases at an estimated cost of rs 32,704 crore. the airport, which consists of 3 terminal buildings, will have the capacity to cater to 100 million passengers annually.”

” Abhinav bindra, a former indian rifle shooter, and the 1st indian to win individual gold at the olympics, has been honoured with the olympic order by the international olympic committee (ioc) for his outstanding contributions to the olympic movement. the olympic order is the highest award of the ioc, given for exceptional services to the olympic movement. bindra, a member of the ioc athletes’ commission (ac), is the 1st indian to receive this prestigious award. the award ceremony will take place during the 142nd ioc session in paris, france on 10 august 2024. he is india’s 1st individual gold medalist at the olympics, securing the gold at the 2008 olympics held in beijing, china in the men’s 10m air rifle event. in 2009, the government of india (goi) honoured him with the padma bhushan for sports.”

” The board of the green climate fund (gcf), which is an entity set up by the united nations framework convention on climate change (unfccc), has approved usd 200 million loan and usd 15.6 million grant i.e. a total of usd 215.6 million for capacity building to small industries development bank of india’s (sidbi) financing mitigation and adaptation projects (fmap) in indian micro, small, and medium enterprises (msmes).  aim: to help msmes adopt low-emission and climate-resilient technologies. this loan by gcf to sidbi is part of a formers’ funding approval of usd 1 billion for 17 projects across 35 developing countries. on the other hand, sidbi will also create a corpus of usd 1 billion for fmap by contributing another usd 800 million to this funding. the fmap facility aims to provide nearly 10,000 concessional loans to msmes to promote low-emission, climate-resilient technologies. the fmap program is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35.3 million tonnes”

” According to a bloomberg economics index, the reserve bank of india (rbi) has sold rs 34 billion (usd 406 million) worth of bonds in the secondary market in july, 2024 to absorb excess cash in the banking system. this action followed india’s recent inclusion in jpmorgan chase & co.’s  government bond index-emerging markets (gbi-em) in june 2024, which spurred significant foreign investment of over usd 1 billion into indian bonds within the month​. the rbi sold bonds to manage the excess liquidity resulting from the increased foreign investments. this helped stabilize the financial system by absorbing the surplus funds as rbi added usd 9.7 billion to its reserves. India became the 25th market to be included in the index since its inception in june 2005.”