• The 13th Edition of the Indo-US Joint Special Forces exercise, “Ex Vajra Prahar 2022” has started at Bakloh of Himachal Pradesh.
• Aim: To share best practices and experiences and also improve interoperability.
• The 12th edition was held at Joint Base Lewis Mcchord, Washington (USA) in October 2021.
• During the exercise, both armies would jointly train, plan and execute a series of Special Operations, Counter Terrorist Operations, Air Borne operations.

• Japan commemorates the 9th of August every year as Nagasaki day. On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. It was code-named “Fat Man” due to the design of the bomb as it had a wide, round shape. On August 9, 1945, a US B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the city, killing nearly 20,000 people. The year 2022 will mark the 77th anniversary of the incident and will pay tribute to all those who lost their lives in the attack or were left alive to die slowly in the horrible nuclear radiation.
• Nagasaki Day is also an important day to remember the survivors of the bombing. Because of the atomic bomb, many people were left with radiation sickness or cancer. Today, they continue to work to help others learn from the tragedy and prevent future deaths from nuclear weapons.

• HM Amit Shah has e-launched the onboarding of cooperatives on GeM portal, now all eligible cooperatives will be able to place orders on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal.
• Total 589 cooperatives have been shortlisted as eligible for onboarding.
• National Cooperative Union of India has prepared data of cooperatives with turnover and deposits of 100 crore rupees.
• GeM has been set up as the National procurement portal to provide an end-to-end online marketplace.

• As per the Ministry data, as many as 27 states/UTs out of 36 are providing subsidised electricity to consumers.
• The state of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka are among the top states providing the highest power subsidy bill, accounting for ₹48,248 crores (36.4%).
• Madhya Pradesh spent ₹47,932 crores between 2018-19 and 2020-21 and Rajasthan spent ₹40,278 crores.
• About 1,70,000MW of electricity generation has been added since 2014.

• RBI has announced that all scheduled small finance banks (SFBs) will be eligible for an authorised dealer (AD) category-I licence after completion of at least two years of operations as AD Category-II.
• Eligibility norms for Small Finance Banks:
• It should have included in the Second Schedule to RBI Act 1934.
• It should have a minimum net worth of ₹500 crores.
• Its CRAR should not be less than 15%.
• The net NPAs of the bank should not exceed 6% (last four quarters).

• American Express has launched its cross-border payments platform for small to medium-sized businesses named Global Pay.
• It will work as a digital solution that will let U.S. businesses make secure domestic and international B2B payments.
• In addition to this, the eligible customers can earn rewards points on foreign exchange payments.
• Global Pay is available to all eligible American Express Small Business Card Members in the U.S.
• American Express HQ:  New York, US

• Indian Bank has signed an MoU with Hatchlab Research Centre, TBI of SRM University-AP to launch ‘IND Spring Board’.
• It is an initiative for financing start-ups and MSMEs.
• The bank will extend financial aid of up to Rs 50 crore to start-ups incubated at SRM Hatchlab for their working capital requirements.
• This collaboration is one of its kind in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

• 14th Dalai Lama (Tibetan spiritual leader) has been honoured with the 'dPal rNgam Duston' award, the highest civilian honour of Ladakh.
• Reason: For his immense contribution to humanity, especially towards the union territory.
• The sixth award was conferred by Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh.
• The 'dPal rNgam Duston' is the celebration of the remarkable contribution and achievement of the heroes of Ladakh.

• Telangana Government has launched ‘Nethanna Ku Bima’ Scheme, an insurance scheme, which covers handloom and power loom weavers in the State.
• This scheme was launched by Telangana Handlooms Minister, KT Rama Rao virtually on the occasion of National Handloom Day.
• The insurance coverage scheme will be implemented in association with LIC.
• In case of natural or accidental death of a weaver, Rs. 5 lakh would be deposited into the nominees’ account within 10 days.

• An Indian professor, Ramadhar Singh has been marked on the 'Heritage Wall of Fame' of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) in the United States.
• Currently, he is a professor at the Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad.
• The Ohio State University, Columbus had nominated Ramadhar Singh for induction to the 'Heritage Wall of Fame'.
• SPSP was established in 1974, is the world's largest organisation of personality and social psychologist.

Download Daily GK PDF of 09 August 2022