Top Current Affairs 27 August 2021

Top Current Affairs 27 August 2021

Top Current Affairs 27 August 2021: This post contains the latest current affairs for 27 August 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

Govt replaces UAS Rules, 2021 with the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021

• Ministry of Civil Aviation has repealed the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Rules, 2021 and replace the same with the liberalized Drone Rules, 2021.
• The step has been taken as the earlier UAS Rules 2021 was perceived by academia, Startups, end-users and other stakeholders as being restrictive in nature as they involved considerable paperwork, required permissions for every drone flight and very few “free to fly” green zones were available.
• Important features of liberalized Drone Rules, 2021 from exam point of view:
  1. Number of forms reduced from 25 to 5. 
  2. Types of fee reduced from 72 to 4. 
  3. Quantum of fee reduced to nominal levels and delinked with size of drone. 
  4. No permission required for operating drones in green zones. 
  5. Maximum penalty for violations reduced to INR 1 lakh. 
  6. Drone promotion council to be set up by Government with participation from academia, startups and other stakeholders to facilitate a growth-oriented regulatory regime.

Government approves increase of Bank Employees Family Pension to 30% of last salary drawn

• Central Government has approved the Indian Banks’ Association’s (IBA) proposal to increase the family pension to 30% of the last salary drawn.
• After this, the family pension would go up to as much as Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 per family of bank employees.
• The Government has also approved the proposal to increase employers’ contribution under the NPS to 14% from the existing 10%. 

Defence

India Pavilion inaugurated at ‘ARMY-2021’ International Military and Technical Forum in Moscow

• The International Military and Technical Forum ‘ARMY 2021’ has been organised in Moscow, Russia from August 22 to 28, 2021, at Patriot Expo, Kubinka Air Base and Alabino military training grounds.
• The forum is being organised by the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation since 2015.
• The ARMY 2021 is the 7th edition of the annual International Military-Technical Forum.
• The International Military and Technical Forum ‘ARMY’ is the world’s leading exhibition of armament and military equipment and the authoritative platform for discussing innovative ideas and developments for the armed forces by various foreign exhibitors, delegations and visitors.

Apps & Services

NITI Aayog and Cisco launches Women Entrepreneurship Platform named “WEP Nxt”

• NITI Aayog in partnership with Cisco has launched the next phase of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) titled “WEP Nxt” to foster women entrepreneurship in India.
• WEP, which was launched by NITI Aayog in 2017, is a first-of-its-kind, unified portal that brings together women from diverse backgrounds and offers them access to a multitude of resources, support, and learning.
• WEPNxt Platform is the next phase of this WEP and will be driven by evidence-based decision-making based on a focused study of Indian women entrepreneurs and their most urgent needs across six key verticals – community and networking, skilling and mentorship, incubation and acceleration programs, and financial, compliance, and marketing assistance.

Banking & Economy

Finance Minister unveils 4th edition of Public Sector Bank Reforms Agenda (EASE 4.0)

• Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has unveiled the fourth edition of the Public Sector Bank (PSB) Reforms Agenda ‘EASE 4.0’ for 2021-22. The major theme for EASE 4.0 is “Technology-enabled, simplified, and collaborative banking.”
• EASE stands for- Enhanced Access & Service Excellence (EASE).
• Aim: EASE 4.0 aims to further the agenda of customer-centric digital transformation and deeply embed digital and data into PSBs’ ways of working. EASE 4.0 sets the agenda and roadmap to transform all PSBs into digital-attacker banks working hand-in-hand with key constituents of the financial services ecosystem to offer industry-best customer experience.
• Key Initiatives under EASE 4.0:
  • Smart Lending for Aspiring India
  • New Age 24×7 banking with resilient technology
  • Collaborative banking for synergistic outcomes
  • Tech-enabled Ease of Banking
  • Institutionalizing Prudent Banking
  • Governance and Outcome Centric HR

RBI extends the Scope of Permitted Devices under Tokenisation – Card Transactions

• In 2019, RBI had permitted authorized card payment networks to offer card tokenisation services to any token requestor (i.e., third-party app provider) through mobile phones and tablets.
• Now RBI has extended the scope of tokenization to include consumer devices – laptops, desktops, wearables (wrist watches, bands, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc.
• The permission for tokenization extends to various channels [e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC) / Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) based contactless transactions, in-app payments, QR code-based payments, etc.] or token storage mechanisms (cloud, secure element, trusted execution environment, etc.).
• The ultimate responsibility for the card tokenization services rendered rests with the authorized card networks.

RBI includes PM SVANidhi Scheme beneficiaries under PIDF Scheme

• The Reserve Bank of India has announced to include street vendors of tier-1 and tier-2 centres, identified as part of the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi Scheme) as beneficiaries under the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme.
• Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme was launched by RBI to encourage deployment of Points of Sale (PoS) infrastructure (both physical and digital modes) in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and north eastern states.
• So now RBI has specifically allowed street vendors of Tier-1 and Tier-2 centres, to be part of PIDF Scheme. The street vendors in tier-3 to tier-6 centres will continue to be covered under the Scheme by default.
• PIDF presently has a corpus of Rs. 345 crore. 

SBI becomes the Overall winner of the EASE Reforms Index Award 2021

• Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the EASE 3.0 Awards.
• State Bank of India is the Overall winner of the EASE Reforms Index Award 2021 (EASE 3.0 Awards). Bank of Baroda is second and Union Bank of India is third.
• Apart from the overall award, there were awards for various themes. The winners of these themes are given below:

Theme	Winner Bank
Top bank in improvement from March Baseline	Indian Bank
Theme 1: Smart Lending for Aspiring India	Bank of Baroda
Theme 2: Tech-enabled ease of Banking	SBI
Theme 3: Institutionalised Prudent Banking	Bank of Baroda
Theme 4: Governance and Outcome centric HR	Union Bank of India
Theme 5: Deepening FI and Customer Protection	Union Bank of India

Appointment

RBI clears appointment of Hitendra Dave as CEO of HSBC India

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of Hitendra Dave as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HSBC India.
• RBI has accorded the approval for a period of three years with effect from August 24, 2021.
• In June 2021, HSBC had announced the appointment of Hitendra Dave as the Chief Executive Officer of HSBC India.

Carol Furtado named interim CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank

• Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has named Carol Furtado as the interim CEO of the bank after the whole time CEO Nitin Chugh resigned recently.
• She has also been appointed as the officer on special duty (OSD) of the bank. Furtado is currently serving as the CEO of Ujjivan Financial Services, the holding company of the bank.
• The appointment is subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India.

Agreement

India & Maldives inks pact on mega Greater Male Connectivity Project

• The Government of India and Maldives inked the contract for the mega Greater Male Connectivity project (GMCP), on August 26, 2021.
• The Greater Male Connectivity project (GMCP) is the largest-ever civilian infrastructure project in Maldives.
• The Government of India is funding the implementation of GMCP through a USD 400 million Line of Credit (LoC) and USD 100 million grant.
• The USD 400 million LoC will be provided by Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank).
• The project will be developed by Indian construction and engineering firm, AFCONS, based in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• The Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) comprise of 6.74 km long bridge and causeway link that will connect the national capital Male with three neighbouring islands namely. Villingili, Gulhifahu and Thilafushi.

Book & Author

Former Union Minister K J Alphons presents his book ‘Accelerating India: 7 Years of Modi Government’ to PM Modi

• Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi received a book titled ‘Accelerating India: 7 Years of Modi Government’, on August 26, 2021, by former Union Minister, Shri K J Alphons.
• The book is about all the areas of India’s reform journey, written by Mr. Alphons.
• K J Alphons is the former Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge), in office from 3 September 2017 to May 2019.