General Knowledge(GK) (or) General Awareness

The 1st train operated by a private operator between Coimbatore and Shirdi under the Indian Railways' 'Bharat Gaurav' scheme was flagged off.

Indian Railways had launched the operation of the theme-based Bharat Gaurav train in the month of November 2021. 

Aim : to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the people of India and the world.  

South Star Rail is the registered service provider that operates this Bharat Gaurav train.

Source  : Mint

* Indian javelin thrower "Neeraj Chopra" on Tuesday(14th June 2022) set a new national record with a throw of 89.30 metres at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland. This was his first competitive event since winning the historic gold at the Tokyo Olympics 2021.

 

* He shattered his previous record of 88.07 m which he had set in Patiala in March last year.

 

* Neeraj began the contest with an impressive 86.92m before sending the spear to 89.30m. However, his next three attempts were fouls. He came up with 85.85m in his sixth and final throw.

 

* Despite setting a new record, Neeraj couldn’t take the gold as he ended up second in the contest. Finland’s Oliver Helander went ahead with a throw of 89.83 metres.

 

* 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago was fourth with a best throw of 84.02m, followed by Germany’s Julian Weber (84.02m) and Czech Republic’s Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch (83.91m), who had won silver in Doha with a throw of 90.88m..

Source : News18

Rajesh Exports, a gold retailer based in Bangalore, has announced plans to invest $3 billion to build India’s first display manufacturing plant. This is a major revolutionary investment as Display manufacturing Industry has traditionally been absent from India’s diverse electronics manufacturing industry. As the world steadily recovers from the chip shortage, countries all around the world are enacting measures to stimulate domestic semiconductor manufacturing investment.

Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao along with Chairman of Rajesh Exports Rajesh Mehta announced setting up of Generation 6 AMOLED Display FAB, an official release said here on Sunday(12th June 2022).

 

* Telangana’s government has declared that a business called Rajesh Exports will build India’s first display manufacturing plant in the state. They have put around $3 billion on this.

* The facility will be set up by Elest, a business that makes screens for cellphones and electric vehicles.

* Many programmes, such as the PLI plan, have been created by the Indian government to encourage enterprises to produce domestically in India.

* Telangana has positioned India as a global leader in advanced high-tech manufacturing.

* The things that was previously only possible in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan will now be possible in Telangana, to build a large-scale ecosystem of partners and ancillaries capable of supplying world-class television, smartphone, and tablet manufacturers.

 

Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao tweeted : "Historic day for Telangana. Rajesh Exports (Elest), a Fortune-500 company, to setup India's first Display FAB to manufacture the most advanced AMOLED displays, with an investment of Rs 24,000 crore, making it one of the largest investments in high-tech manufacturing sector in India."..

Source : Business Standard

OmniCard has announced that it became the 1st RBI licensed PPI (Prepaid Payment Instrument) to launch cash withdrawal using a RuPay-powered card from any ATMs across the country. The move came in after RBI permitted the non-bank licensed entities to enable cash withdrawals from the digital wallets. 

 

OmniCard users can withdraw cash from any ATM at their convenience with full security from frauds like card theft, card cloning, and PIN skimming as the withdrawal facility comes with high safety & secure features and protects the user from exposing their money and bank account details, an official statement said.

 

Commenting on the announcement, Nalin Bansal, Chief of Corporate, Fintech Relationships and Key Initiatives, NPCI stated, "We are happy to partner with OmniCard in this endeavour of creating a more expanded line of available payments experiences for the RuPay customers. Prepaid RuPay cards act as a boon in augmenting the customer's financial inclusion, security, and convenience.

 

Sanjeev Pandey, Co-Founder & CEO, OmniCard, said, “OmniCard provides a compelling alternative platform for users today to keep their bank account safe where life savings are stored from cyber frauds using digital wallet linked with Rupay Card and UPI where the user can store money as per his spending needs. Cash withdrawal is an attempt further to enable customer needs in case of unforeseen spending requirements. I would like to thank RBI and NPCI for their direction and support.”.

Source : Zeebiz

The largest electronic manufacturing services (EMS) provider in India, Bharat FIH has received market regulator Sebi's approval for an initial public offering (IPO) aggregating to ₹5,000 crore.

 

Bharat FIH is a subsidiary of FIH Mobile a leading manufacturing services provider for the mobile handset industry, which is a part of Foxconn Technology Group. The company makes devices for Xiaomi and Nokia.

 

Bharat FIH had filed its draft prospectus in December last year, to raise ₹5,003.8 crore from the IPO. The IPO size comprises a fresh issue worth ₹2,501.9 crore and an offer for sale up to ₹2,501.9 crore by Wonderful Stars.

 

As per Sebi's latest update, the regulator issued an observation letter on June 10, to Bharat FIH.

 

Under the IPO, 75% of the offer is reserved for qualified institutional buyers, while 15% of the size is allotted for non-institutional investors and the remaining 10% for retail individual investors.

 

Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citigroup Global Markets, BNP Paribas, and HSBC Securities and Capital Markets are acting as the book-running lead managers..

Source : Mint

* Railway Minister "Ashwini Vaishnaw" launched the Indian Railway Innovation Portal with a start-up policy for railways.

* Promoting Indian innovators and entrepreneurs through a series of innovative start-ups. 

* Railways will continue supporting the innovative start-ups, by all means, even granting up to Rs 1.5 cr to innovative start-ups.

* Platform should be used with getting support from Indian Railways in form of a 50% capital grant, assured market, scale and ecosystem.

Source : Indian Express

The Indian govt has introduced the Agnipath Military recruitment scheme, a 4-year tenure scheme for the defense troops.

The scheme will facilitate the induction of more troops for shorter-term tenures.

The scheme has been planned and is being implemented by the Department of Military Affairs.

Under the scheme, candidates will join the defense forces and continue for a period of four years only.

The scheme also aims to induct younger candidates..

Source : India TV News

Indian Bank launched its KCC Digital Renewal scheme, enabling eligible customers to renew their Kisan Credit Card accounts via digital modes.  

The initiative is part of the bank’s digital transformation under project ‘WAVE’ - World of Advanced Virtual Experience. 

The account renewals can be done using Indian Bank’s IndOASIS mobile app and internet banking.

Out of the total agriculture portfolio of ₹88,100 cr, KCC constitutes ₹22,300 cr with 15.84 lakh customers. 

Source : The Hindu Businessline

Hosts Haryana won the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) 2021 title with 52 gold medals, of which, 10 came in boxing on the final day on Monday(13th June 2022). The late surge helped Haryana leapfrog the 2020 champions Maharashtra on the KIYG medals table.

 

Haryana also won 39 silver and 46 bronze medals, taking their overall medal tally to 137 medals - the highest cumulative haul by any state. 

 

Maharashtra, meanwhile, managed 45 gold, 40 silver and 40 bronze medals to come second with 125 medals.

Karnataka, with 22 gold, 17 silver and 28 bronze, finished third with 67 medals.

 

The Khelo India Youth Games 2021 started on June 4 across multiple venues with Haryana’s Panchkula hosting the bulk of the events. The Games, which are a part of the Indian government’s Khelo India initiative, concluded on June 13, 2022.

 

Earlier, Haryana won 16 gold medals in wrestling which proved vital in the title race. Haryana’s swimmers and weightlifters also contributed with four gold medals each..

Source : Olympics

* The 38th India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (IND-INDO CORPAT) between the Indian Navy Units of Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC) and Indonesian Navy is being conducted from June 13 to 24 2022 in the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca.  

 

* The 38th CORPAT is the first post pandemic Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) between the two countries. It includes a visit by the Indonesian Navy units to ANC at Port Blair from June 13 to 15, 2022 followed by a Sea Phase in the Andaman Sea and visit by IN Units to Sabang (Indonesia) from June 23 to 24, 2022. 

 

* As part of Government of India’s vision of SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region), Naval Component under the aegis of HQ ANC undertakes coordinated patrols with other littoral countries of the Andaman Sea along respective Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) towards enhancing regional maritime security.

 

* India and Indonesia have enjoyed especially close relations, covering a wide spectrum of activities and interactions which have strengthened over the years. The two Navies have been carrying out CORPAT along their International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) since 2002. 

 

* This has helped build understanding and interoperability between both the Navies and has facilitated measures to prevent and suppress Illegal Unreported Unregulated (IUU) fishing, drug trafficking, maritime terrorism, armed robbery and piracy, etc.

 

* The IND-INDO CORPAT contributes towards forging strong bonds of friendship across the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca.

Source : PIB