NATIONAL NEWS
India’s first heli-hub to be set up in Gurugram with many aviation facilitiesHaryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala announced that Gurugram will get India’s first heli-hub with all aviation facilities.The heli-hub will be the first of its kind in the country to have all facilities at one place for helicopters.
- The heli-hub is proposed to be built in Gurugram and would be near the metro facility along with easy connectivity to industrial areas like Noida and Bhiwadi.
- All kinds of aviation facilities for helicopters such as heliport, hangars, maintenance of air taxis and charted helicopters will be available.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) in Kolkata via video conference.
- The second campus of CNCI has been built at a cost of over Rs 530 crore.
- The campus is a 460-bed comprehensive cancer centre unit with cutting-edge infrastructure for cancer diagnosis, staging, treatment and care.
In its ongoing efforts to strengthen the Hospitality & Tourism Industry in Jammu & Kashmir, the Union Territory government has signed a MoU with UAE’s pioneering financial services company, Century Financial that will invest 100 million dollars in the UT.
- Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha said that Global business & industry are waking up to the vistas of opportunity in J&K. He added that despite challenges of global pandemic, the pace of economic and policy reforms and the implementation of key infrastructure projects is going on smoothly in the UT.
Cabinet has approved the signing of MoU between India and Turkmenistan on Cooperation in the field of Disaster Management.
- The MoU seeks to put in place a system under which both India and Turkmenistan will benefit from the Disaster Management mechanisms of each other. It will help in strengthening the areas of preparedness, response and capacity building in the field of Disaster Management.
Finance ministry released monthly Post Devolution Revenue Deficit (PDRD) Grant of 9,871 crore rupees to 17 States. This was the 10th installment of the PDRD grant released to the States. So far, an amount of 98,710 crore rupees has been released to eligible States as Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant in the current financial year.
- The Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grants are provided to the States under Article 275 of the Constitution. The grants are released to the States as per the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission to meet the gap in Revenue Accounts of the States post devolution.
- The Commission has recommended PDRD grants to 17 States and the same is being released in monthly installments.
Government has said that drinking water supply schemes of over six thousand 872 crore rupees were approved for Rajasthan under Jal Jeevan Mission.
- The Ministry said, to ensure clean tap water in every rural household and relieving women and girls from drudgery of fetching water from a distance, it has released over two thousand 345 crore rupees Central grant-in-aid to Rajasthan in the current financial year.
- The Ministry has assured full assistance to the State for making provision of tap water supply in every rural home by December, 2024.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Five of world’s most powerful nations pledge to avoid nuclear warFive of the world's nuclear powers viz. China, France, Russia, UK and the US have jointly pledged to prevent the proliferation of nuclear arms agreeing that nuclear war is not an option.
- The parties have vouched to prevent further spread nuclear weapons and such weapons should only serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war.
- The joint pledge was issued ahead of the latest review of the Treaty of the Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT).
BANKING & FINANCE
NPCI sets standardised limits for cash withdrawals and mini statements on AePS transactionsThe National Payments Corporation of India has introduced limits for cash withdrawals and mini statements.
- According to the guidelines, acquiring banks will have to implement a maximum limit of five approved cash withdrawal transactions per customer per terminal per day.These limits have to be implemented by January 15 this year.
- Issuers will implement a standardised limit of a minimum of five approved cash withdrawal transactions per month for every customer.Further, issuers will also implement a standardised limit of a minimum of five mini statement transactions per customer per month.
- It has also said that acquirers must implement two-factor authentication for login of business correspondents, agents and merchants at least once a day with one of the factors as Aadhaar based biometric authentication.
The Reserve Bank released the eligibility criteria for entities to be categorised as 'Specified User' of Credit Information Companies (CICs).The criteria sets out the requirements for the entities to become eligible as Specified User of CIC under the Credit Information Companies (Amendment) Regulations, 2021, RBI said in a release.
- As per the requirements, a 'specified user' should be a company incorporated in India or a statutory corporation established in the country.Also, the company should have a net worth of not less than Rs 2 crore as per the latest audited balance sheet, and should meet the requirement on a continuing basis.
- Further, in case the entity is a company, it should have not less than three years of experience in running the business/activity of processing information for the support or benefit of credit institutions and shall have a clean track record.
- Also, the company, its promoter(s) and director(s) should not have been convicted of any offence involving moral turpitude or any economic offence.
- Besides, the entity should have a certification from CISA certified auditor that it has a robust and secure information technology (IT) system in place for preserving and protecting the data relating to the credit information.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
FY22 GDP growth could be revised to 9.5 per cent: SBI EcowrapState Bank of India’s economic research team expects GDP numbers for FY22 to be revised upwards to around 9.5 per cent as going forward, it believes even if rising infections impact mobility, the economic activity is not expected to get affected much.
- The first advance estimate of GDP growth by the National Statistical Office (NSO) has pegged India’s FY22 GDP growth at9.2 per cent.
India’s total coal production registered a growth of 6.74 per cent in the last month. A total of 74.78 million tonnes were produced during December 2021 as compared to the same period in 2019.
- The Coal Ministry said, captive blocks registered a growth of around 41 per cent by producing 8.91 million tonnes of coal during the period. These growths were registered despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Coal based power generation has registered a growth of 11.84 per cent in the last year. The overall power generation in December 2021 has been 8.32 per cent higher than the power generated in the same period in 2019.
India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to rise 9.2 per cent in the current fiscal as compared to a contraction of 7.3 per cent in the financial year 2020-21.
- This was stated by the Statistics and Programme Implementation Ministry in its First Advance Estimates of National Income for the financial year 2021-22.It has also been stated that real GDP or GDP at Constant Prices in the current fiscal year is estimated at 147.54 lakh crore rupees as against the Provisional Estimate of GDP for the year 2020-21 of 135.13 lakh crore rupees.
- Second Advance Estimates of National Income for the year 2021-22 and quarterly GDP estimate for the quarter October-December, 2021 will be released next month.
SPORTS
Rohan Bopanna-Ramkumar Ramanathan win Adelaide International doubles trophyIn Tennis, unseeded pair of Rohan Bopanna-Ramkumar Ramanathan has won the Adelaide International doubles trophy in Australia.
- Teaming up for the first-time on the ATP Tour, the Indian pair beat top seed Ivan Dodig-Marcelo Mela in straight sets 7-6, 6-1 to win the trophy.
- It was Bopanna’s 20th ATP doubles title and first for Ramkumar.
Fourteen-year-old Bharath Subramaniyam has become the73rd Grandmaster of India, the All India Chess Federation confirmed.
- The Chennai-based teenager completed his final GM Norm and crossed the requisite 2500 rating at Vergani Cup Open in Italy. Subramaniyam finished seventh overall in the event held at Cattolica by scoring 6.5 points from nine rounds.
- To achieve the Grandmaster (GM) title, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points.
In Tennis, 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal defeated American Maxime Cressy, 7-6, 6-3 in the Men's Singles final of the Melbourne Summer Set ATP 250 event.
- The World No. 6 Nadal showed no signs of rustiness as he did not lose a set en route to the title in Melbourne.
- It was Nadal's 89th tour-level crown as the Spaniard saved a set point in the first set tie-break and rallied from a game down in the 2nd set against Cressy.
- Former world number one Simona Halep clinched the Melbourne Summer Set 1 women’s singles title after beating Number 3 seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 6-3 in the final, in Melbourne. It was the 23rd career WTA singles title for Halep.
Sri Lanka’s aggressive opening batter, Danushka Gunathilaka, has decided to retire from Test cricket at the age of 30 to focus on the white ball formats, the country’s apex cricket body said.
- Gunathilaka, who stated that he has taken the decision after evaluating all aspects, hasn’t played a Test since 2018, with his eight appearances getting him 299 runs, two half-centuries and a career-best score of 61.
- In 44 ODIs, he has scored 1520 runs at an average of 36.19, while in T20Is, he has 568 runs in 30 matches at a strike rate of 121.62.
In Tennis, World No.1 Ash Barty won the Adelaide International by crushing world No. 14 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 in Women's Singles final at Cannebara.
- This was Barty’s 14th career singles title and second in Adelaide.
- Barty defeated 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and 2020 French Open winner Iga Swiatek of Poland en route to the title in Adelaide, without dropping a set or a service game against Rybakina, Kenin or Swiatek.
APPOINTMENTS
Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel appointed vice-president of Beijing based AIIB, to take charge on 1st FebruaryFormer Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel has been appointed as a vice-president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a Beijing based multilateral development bank.
- He will succeed outgoing Vice President D J Pandian, who is in charge of sovereign and non-sovereign lending of the AIIB in South Asia, the Pacific Islands and South-East Asia.
- Urjit Patel is currently the chairman of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. He had taken over as the 24th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) succeeding Raghuram Rajan in September 2016 and was with RBI till December 2018.
AWARDS
Kerala Arts and Crafts Village wins International AwardThe Kerala Arts and Crafts Village near Kovalam has won the 2021 International Craft Award for the best craft village of the year.
- The Kerala Arts and Crafts Village is an institution established by the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society for the state tourism department.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Telangana forest Minister launches Mobile App On Urban Forest ParksTelangana Forest Minister A Indrakaran Reddy launched the first of its kind mobile app “Urban Forest Parks”, which gives all information about theme based Urban Forest Parks and facilitate the visitors to plan their visits and journey.
- The app provides all the information about the parks, including entry ticket fee, special features of the park, distance from the app user, route app etc.
- Urban Forest Parks app has been developed by PamTen Software Solutions Private Limited. Initially, the app discloses information pertaining to 39 parks developed under HMDA, Medchal, Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad limits. In the second phase, information pertaining to all other parks across the State would be incorporated.
OBITUARIES
Former FIFA Referee Madhav G Suvarna passes awayFormer FIFA referee, AFC referee instructor and AIFF & AFC match commissioner, Madhav G Suvarna, passed away after a brief illness at his Mumbai residence. He was 78.
- A Bombay Referees’ Association member, Suvarna officiated in many prestigious tournaments in India and was later appointed as match commissioner.
- He also had the distinction of officiating in several international tournaments. Suvarna also served as honorary secretary of AIFF Referees Board.
Veteran singer and actor Pandit Ramdas Kamat passed away at his residence in Vile Parle, in Mumbai. He was 90 years old.
- Pandit Ramdas Kamat started his career in the musical theater with the play 'Sangeet Sanshay Kallol' by The Goa Hindu Association. He had since acted in eighteen musical dramas.
BOOKS & AUTHORS
On the occasion of Mamata Banerjee's birthday HarperCollins announces the forthcoming release of Mamata: Beyond 2021 by Jayanta GhosalHarperCollins Publishers India is set to publish a new book titled “Mamata: Beyond 2021”, authored by political journalist Jayanta Ghosal and translated by Arunava Sinha.
- The announcement about the release of the book was made on 5th January 2022, the birthday of Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister (CM) of West Bengal and the leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party.
- The book explores and examines why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the 2021 West Bengal Election.
No comments:
Post a Comment