Important Current Affairs 12th September 2021

INTERNATIONAL

El Salvador becomes Worlds1st country to adopt Bitcoin as National Currency

• El Salvador has become the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. The government of El Salvador claimed that the move will give many citizens of the country access to bank services for the first time. In addition, trading in cryptocurrency will help the country save around $400 million in fees that is levied by banks and financial institutions on the money sent home by expats.

• The acceptance of Bitcoin as a legal currency by El Salvador follows a law approved by the country’s parliament in June. At the time, the country allowed Bitcoin to be accepted as tender for all goods and services. The bill was approved within 24 hours of being presented to Congress by President Nayib Bukele.

NATIONAL

NPCI and Fiserv launch RuPay credit card stack for fintechs and banks

• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in partnership with Fiserv Inc. to launch the plug-and-play RuPay credit card stack, ‘nFiNi’. nFiNi is a ready stack of services required for fintechs and banks to issue RuPay credit cards and will enable fintech to co-create bank-sponsored credit cards. It is a BaaS (banking-as-a-service) programme.

• The nFiNi platform will power RuPay cards (including National Common Mobility Card) by offering access to needed services through the NPCI network combined with FirstVisionTM cloud-based open API integrations from Fiserv.

• This will bring significant efficiencies for banking and fintech institutions at various levels in terms of operations and customer management. The programme will further enable these institutions to expand their market base to new-to-credit customers.

APPOINTMENT & RESIGNATION

Sardar Iqbal Singh Lalpura takes charges as the chairman of National Commission for Minorities

• Former IPS officer Iqbal Singh Lalpura has been appointed chairman of the National Commission for Minorities. He hails from Punjab and has authored several books on Sikh philosophy. He has also won several awards such as the president’s police medal, police medal for meritorious services, Shiromani Sikh Sahitkar Award and Sikh scholar award.

• Lalpura, during his tenure as IPS officer, served as SSP Amritsar, SSP Tarantaran, and Additional inspector general CID Amritsar. He joined BJP in 2012 after retirement. Lalpura has written nearly 14 books on Sikh philosophy and history, such as ‘Japji Sahib ek vichaar’, Gurbaani ek vichaar’, and ‘Raj Karega Khalsa’.

Vijay Rupani quits as Gujarat Chief Minister

• Vijay Rupani has resigned as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He submitted his resignation to governor Acharya Devvrat. The resignation comes following a flurry of developments in Gujarat following a meeting in Gandhinagar. He reached the Raj Bhavan shortly after PM Modi inaugurated Sardardham Bhavan in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad and performed ‘bhoomi pujan’ of Sardardham Phase-II Kanya Chhatralaya (girls’ hostel) through video conferencing.

• Mr Rupani is the fourth BJP chief minister to step down in recent months; in July BS Yediyurappa resigned as Chief Minister of Karnataka in July and the double whammy in Uttarakhand, where Tirath Singh Rawat quit barely four months after replacing Trivendra Rawat.

CAG of India gets elected as ASOSAI chairman

• The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, GC Murmu was elected as the chairman of the assembly of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for a period of three years from 2024 to 2027. Murmu was elected by the 56th governing board of ASOSAI and approval for the same was conveyed by the 15th assembly of ASOSAI. India will host the 16th assembly of ASOSAI in 2024.

• The CAG, as the chairman, will be the chief executive of ASOSAI and represent ASOSAI in its dealings with national and international organisations. After the election, the CAG assured the members that during SAI India’s three-year term as chair of the ASOSAI, they will focus on the areas of environmental audit and leveraging emerging technologies for audit.

• The ASOSAI is one of the regional groups of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) which aims to promote understanding and cooperation among member institutions through the exchange of ideas and experiences in the field of public audit.

IMPORTANT DAYS

United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation 2021: 12th September

• International Day for South-South Cooperation is observed globally on 12th September every year. The day celebrates the economic, social and political developments made in recent years by regions and countries in the south. It also highlights the UN’s efforts to work on technical cooperation among developing countries.

• The history of the South-South cooperation begins in 1949 with the establishment of the UN technical aid programme by the Economic and Social Council and the creation of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1969. In the year 1978, the conference of the Global South on TCDC adopted the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA) for promoting and implementing technical cooperation among developing countries. This was one of the main pillars for South-South cooperation.

World First Aid Day: 11th September

• World First Aid Day is observed on the second Saturday of September every year. In 2021 the day is being observed on September 11, 2021. The day is an annual campaign aimed at promoting the importance of first aid training and increasing its accessibility to save more lives in a crisis. When a person suffers from minor or serious injury or illness, the first and immediate assistance given to the patient is termed as ‘First Aid’.

• The theme for World First Aid Day 2021 is ‘First aid and road safety’, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

• In 2000, World First Aid Day was established by the IFRC and for more than 100 years, this organisation has been providing first aid services to people. The history of this day dates back to 1859 when a young businessman, Henry Dunant, saw the carnage at the battle of Solfrino.

BOOKS & AUTHOR

Book “Bullets Over Bombay: Satya and the Hindi Film Gangster” written by Uday Bhatia

• A new book has titled “Bullets Over Bombay: Satya and the Hindi Film Gangster” authored by Uday Bhatia. The Book deals with the testimonies from Ram Gopal Varma, Anurag Kashyap, Manoj Bajpayee, Vishal Bhardwaj, Saurabh Shukla.

• Uday Bhatia is a film critic with Mint Lounge in Delhi. He has previously worked with Time Out Delhi and The Sunday Guardian. His writing has appeared in The Caravan, GQ, The Indian Quarterly, The Indian Express and The Hindu Business Line.

Book titled ‘Haryana Environment and Pollution Code’ by Smt. Dheera Khandelwal

• Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal released the book ‘Haryana Environment and Pollution Code’ compiled by former IAS officer and famous poet Smt. Dheera Khandelwal.

• The book will prove useful to the entrepreneurs, who were deprived of complete knowledge of laws and regulations related to the environment for setting up new ventures. Students, law researchers and practitioners will also benefit from this book.