Current Affairs December 29th 2021| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

India imposes anti-dumping duty on Chinese goods for 5 years

• India has imposed anti-dumping duties on five Chinese products, including certain aluminum goods and some chemicals, for five years to guard local manufacturers from cheap imports from the neighboring country.

List of Products :

• As per separate notifications of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC),

• Flat-rolled products of aluminum
• Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) component R-32
• Silicone sealant (used in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic modules and thermal power applications)
• Sodium hydrosulfite (used in the dye industry)
• Hydrofluorocarbon mixtures (both have found use in the refrigeration industry).

• These duties were imposed following recommendations of the Commerce Ministry’s investigation arm, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).
• DGTR has concluded that these products have been exported to the Indian markets at below normal value, which has resulted in dumping.
• CBIC has also imposed duty for five years on imports of calcined gypsum powder from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Iran.

About Antidumping :

• Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry.

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh e-inaugurates 27 infra projects constructed by BRO:

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has e-inaugurated 27 infra projects constructed by Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
• Its roads, tunnels and bridges have reduced the distance and time between places and the BRO has been playing a significant role in the progress of the nation by building roads, tunnels and other infrastructure in remote areas.
• The Minister added that in the last six-seven years, the achievements made by BRO are unprecedented and there are some special needs for the development of the border areas and the government has worked at the ground level in this direction.
• The circumstances the country had to face in the northern sector in the past and the way it was able to counter the adversary strongly, could not have been possible without proper infrastructural development.
• The road built at an altitude of 19,000 feet on the Umling-La pass in southern Ladakh, has now become the world’s highest motorable road.
• This road will not only facilitate faster dispatch of armed forces but also give a boost to tourism in the region.

Govt to constitute panel to look into AFSPA withdrawal from Nagaland:

• Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, the Centre has decided to constitute a five-member committee to look into the withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 or AFSPA from the northeastern state.
• The committee will be headed by the Ministry of Home Affairs additional secretary (Northeast), and will include the chief secretary and director general of police of Nagaland, besides inspector general of Assam Rifles (North) and a representative of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
• The panel will submit its recommendations within 45 days, based on which the decision on whether to continue designating Nagaland as a “disturbed area” or withdrawing AFSPA from the state will be taken, a joint statement issued by Rio, Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton and Leader of Naga Peoples’ Front Legislature Party T R Zeliang
• The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on December 23 to discuss the present situation in Nagaland.

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Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021:

• The Karnataka legislative assembly has passed the Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 popularly known as the anti-conversion bill amid protests.
• The bill is being opposed, tagging it as “anti-people”, “inhuman”, “unconstitutional”, “anti poor” and “draconian”.
• According to Law & Parliamentary Affairs Minister, J C Madhuswamy, initiation of the bill was started by the Law Commission of Karnataka under the advice of Congress government in 2016.
• This bill provides for protection of the right to freedom of religion as well as prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by force, misrepresentation, coercion, undue influence, allurement or by any fraudulent means.
• It has the provision of imprisonment from three to five years with a fine of Rs 25,000.
• For violation of provisions with respect to minors, SC/ST & women, offenders will be imprisoned from three to 10 years and a not less than Rs 50,000.
• As per bill, accused will require to pay up to Rs five lakh as compensation to those who were made to convert.
• In cases of mass conversion, there is a provision of 3-10 years jail term along with a fine of up to Rs one lakh.

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India to chair Counter Terrorism Committee of UNSC in January 2022 after ten years:

• India will chair the Counter-Terrorism Committee of UNSC in January 2022 after 10 years.
• The Counter-Terrorism Committee was established by Security Council resolution 1373 adopted unanimously on 28 September 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US.
• The Committee was tasked with monitoring implementation of resolution 1373 which requested countries to implement a number of measures aimed at enhancing their legal and institutional ability to counter terrorist activities at home and around the world.
• This includes taking steps to criminalize the financing of terrorism, freezing any funds related to persons involved in acts of terrorism, deny all forms of financial support for terrorist groups, suppress the provision of safe haven, sustenance or support for terrorists and share information with other governments on any groups practicing or planning terrorist acts.
• Besides, the Committee monitors steps taken to cooperate with other governments in the investigation, detection, arrest, extradition and prosecution of those involved in terror acts and criminalizes active and passive assistance for terrorism.

AI Prosecutor: China’s recent AI project:

• As artificial intelligence (AI) technology gathers momentum worldwide, reports claim China has developed an AI “prosecutor” which can charge people using the high-end technology.
• According to Chinese researchers, the AI “prosecutor” can file charges against an accused with over 97 per cent accuracy based on verbal description.
• Researchers in China have developed a machine which can charge people with crimes by using artificial intelligence. This is world’s first developed.
• The AI prosecutor have the capability to file a charge with more than 97 percent accuracy. It will file a charge on the basis of verbal description of the case.
• It was built and tested by Shanghai Pudong People’s Procuratorate, which is China’s largest and busiest district prosecution office
• It could run on a desktop computer. For each suspect, the prosecutor would press a charge based on 1,000 traits, which are obtained from human-generated case description text.
• In between 2015 to 2020, the machine was “trained” using more than 17,000 cases.

Click here to read more;

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND ECONOMY

RBI extends card tokenisation deadline by 6 months till June-end:

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation deadline by six months to June 30, 2022, in view of various representations received from industry bodies.
• Card-on-file, or CoF, refers to card information stored by payment gateway and merchants to process future transactions.
• The earlier deadline was December 31, 2021.
• Under tokenisation services, a unique alternate code is generated to facilitate transactions through cards.
• The RBI in September prohibited merchants from storing customer card details on their servers with effect from January 1, 2022, and mandated the adoption of CoF tokenisation as an alternative to card storage.
• The RBI had in March 2020 had stipulated that authorised payment aggregators and the merchants onboarded by them should not store actual card data with a view to minimise vulnerable points in the system.
• On a request from the industry, it extended the deadline to end-December 2021 as a one-time measure.

About RBI:

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
• Governor: Shaktikanta Das

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India Post Payments Bank partners HDFC Bank for banking products, services in semi-urban and rural areas:

• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and HDFC Bank have signed a memorandum of understanding for offering latter’s various banking products and services to customers of the payments bank in semi-urban and rural areas, focussing on unbanked and underserved segments.
• Over 4.7 crore customers of IPPB of whom nearly 90 per cent are residing in rural areas are expected to benefit from this partnership.
• The strategic alliance will enable IPPB to provide affordable and diversified offerings, including access to finance, to its customers through its innovative Doorstep Banking Service.
• With nearly 2 lakh postal service providers (Postmen and Gramin Dak Sevaks) equipped with micro-ATMs and biometric devices, IPPB caters to the needs and requirements of various customer segments but is also committed to making digital adoption easier at the last mile by enabling an assisted banking model.
• With this partnership, HDFC Bank aims to further strengthen its financial inclusion drive by leveraging the robust and extensive distribution network of IPPBs 650 branches and over 136,000 banking access points across India.

About IPPB:

• CEO: J. Venkatramu
• Headquarters location: New Delhi
• Founded: 1 September 2018

About HDFC:

• CEO: Sashidhar Jagdishan
• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Founded: August 1994, India

IndusInd Bank has announced the launch of ‘Green Fixed Deposits’:

• IndusInd Bank has announced the launch of ‘Green Fixed Deposits’, whereby the deposit proceeds will be used to finance projects and firms supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• These deposits will be offered to both retail and corporate customers.
• The Bank will use the proceeds from these deposits to finance a wide array of sectors falling under the SDG category including, energy efficiency, renewable energy, green transport, sustainable food, agriculture, forestry, waste management, and greenhouse gas reduction.
• It is similar to a regular bank deposit, but in addition, depositors will be issued a ‘Green’ certificate as well as an ‘Assurance’ certificate confirming the end-use of deposit proceeds at the end of the financial year

About IndusInd Bank:

• Headquarters: Mumbai
• CEO: Sumant Kathpalia
• Founder: S. P. Hinduja
• Founded: April 1994, Mumbai

Indian economy likely to maintain 9% GDP growth this fiscal and in FY23: ICRA:

• The Indian economy is expected to maintain real GDP growth of 9 per cent each in FY2022 and FY2023, amidst the uncertainty ignited by the Omicron variant of Covid-19, according to ICRA.
• The credit rating agency has estimated the net loss to the Indian economy from the pandemic at ₹30 lakh crore during FY2021-23.
• ICRA noted that the available data (high frequency indicators) for Q3 (October-December) FY2022 does not offer convincing evidence that the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC’s) criteria of a durable and sustainable growth recovery has been met, to confirm a change in the Monetary Policy stance to neutral in February 2022.
• Rising consumption will push capacity utilisation above the crucial threshold of 75 per cent by the end of 2022, which should then trigger a broad-based pick-up in private sector investment activity in 2023.
• The rating agency also expects the visibility of tax revenue growth to spur faster Government spending in 2022.

Karnataka govt partners with NPCI and SBI for enabling and implementing e-RUPI:

• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), State Bank of India (SBI), and Department of e-Governance, government of Karnataka have partnered for enabling and implementing e-RUPI, a cashless and contactless payment solution for students under the State’s scholarship programme.
• e-RUPI will be used to ensure a leak-proof delivery of education fees of eligible students by paying digitally to the college/institute by Karnataka Government
• Karnataka government will get e-vouchers delivered to the mobiles of eligible students.
• The voucher code can be received on the feature phone also.
• Students will be able to redeem e-RUPI at the identified colleges/institutes for the intended purpose of fees payment.
• e-RUPI is indeed a very powerful tool for governments to use as it allows direct transfer of the benefits to the targeted beneficiary, with safety and security.
• Under this initiative, each transaction is mapped with the beneficiary and the institution, ensuring that the e-voucher can be redeemed by the college where the student has enrolled

About SBI:

• Chairperson: Dinesh Kumar Khara
• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Founded: 1 July 1955

About NPCI:

• The National Payments Corporation of India is the specialised division of Reserve Bank of India which is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance, Government of India.It was created by RBI for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
• Headquarters: Mumbai
• Founded: 2008

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Centre appoints Atul Kumar Goel as new MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank:

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Atul Kumar Goel, MD & CEO of UCO Bank, as MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank (PNB) with effect from February 1 2022.
• Goel will serve as PNB chief until December 31, 2024, which is his attaining the superannuation age.
• He will serve as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in PNB, which is the country’s second-largest public sector bank, until January 31, 2022.
• Goel will replace Mallikarjuna Rao, incumbent MD & CEO of PNB, who is due to demit office at the end of January 2022. Rao was given a three-month extension that will end on January 31, 2022.
• It maybe recalled that the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) had in September this year recommended the name of Atul Kumar Goel as MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank (PNB).
• He will serve as MD & CEO of UCO Bank till the date of attaining the age of superannuation on May 31, 2023.

RBL Bank MD & CEO Vishwavir Ahuja steps down

• RBL Bank’s Vishawvir Ahuja has stepped down as MD & CEO of the bank, and the bank has appointed Rajeev Ahuja as the interim Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank with immediate effect.
• Further, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed Yogesh Dayal as an additional director on the board of RBL Bank for a period of two years till 23 December 2023 or till further orders.

About Vishwavir Ahuja :

• Vishwavir Ahuja was a Managing Director & CEO of the RBL Bank in 2010.
• Prior to joining RBL Bank, he was the Managing Director & CEO of Bank of America, India from 2001 to 2009.
• He has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry.

About RBL Bank :

• Founded : 1943
• MD & CEO : Rajeev Ahuja
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra

CURRENT AFFAIRS : AWARDS & HONORS

Greenman Viral Desai honored with Global Environment and Climate Action Citizen Award 2021

• Surat’s noted industrialist Viral Desai, popularly known as Greenman for his love for the environment, has been awarded the prestigious Global Environment and Climate Action Citizen Award 2021.
• He was awarded the Bharat Gaurav Samman by the Culture Youth Institute at The Palm, Atlantis, in Dubai.
• 28 prominent personalities from 11 countries, including the UK, the US, New Zealand, France, and Malaysia, were felicitated with the prestigious awards on occasion.
• Some of the other awardees include motivational speaker Padma Shri Gaur Gopaldas, polo player Ashvini Kumar Sharma, Akshaya Patra Foundation’s chairman Padma Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa, instrumentalist Padma Bhushan Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Padma Shri Ramkishore Chhipa, Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi, investor banker Saket Mishra, and others.

Note :

• Viral Desai was the only one from India to have won the honour for climate action.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SUMMITS & CONFERENCES

Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri & Dr. Jitendra Singh attends first ever ‘J&K Real Estate Summit- 2021

• Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh addressing the first ever ‘Real Estate Summit- 2021’ at Convention Centre, Jammu.

Purpose :

• To encourage people from across India to invest in real estate and property in Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Summit is organized by the Department of Housing & Urban Development Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

Key People :

• Chief Secretary J&K, Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Vice Chairman NAREDCO, Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, President NAREDCO, Sh. Rajan Bandelkar, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department JK, Sh. Dheeraj Gupta, Mayor Jammu, Sh. Chander Mohan Gupta, Mayor Srinagar, Sh. Junaid Matoo besides senior officers of UT and Central Government & delegates from many states were also present in the summit.
• During the summit, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri e-launched ‘Auction of Assets Portal’, Affordable Rental Housing Complexes Scheme at Sunjwan, Jammu, J&K RERA portal, Housing Schemes and J&K Housing Mission Portal.
• During this, 39 memorandum of understandings (MOUs) were signed, & many MoUs were exchanged between NAREDCO National & NAREDCO J&K Chapter, NAREDCO & LEAD, NAREDCO & NAR, NAREDCO & J&K Housing and Urban Development Department, JK Industry & Commerce Department and Haldiram and JK Housing Board &Central Government Employees Welfare Housing Organization.

About Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs :

• Union Minister : Hardeep Singh Puri
• Minister of State : Kaushal Kishore
• Secretary : Durga Shanker Mishra

CURRENT AFFAIRS : DEFENCE NEWS

INS Sudarshini Deployment to Gulf Region – Sambandh

• Sail Training Ship INS Sudarshini, was deployed to the Gulf as part of the Indian Navy’s endeavor to enhance maritime cooperation with the friendly navies in the region.
• The ship entered Port Rashid, Dubai (UAE) today, after a passage of seven days through the Gulf.
• This marks the second phase of the ship’s deployment in Gulf countries (Oman was from August 5, 2021).
• The month-long deployment, the ship made port calls at Muscat, Dubai and Bandar Abbas and had professional interactions with Royal Oman Navy (RNO), UAE Navy and Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) Navy.
• The Ship built at Goa Shipyard Ltd & discussed bilateral training cooperation, Sail training and other areas of mutual interest.
• During the deployment, undertook various training exchanges, wherein sail training was imparted to trainees from RNO and IRI Navy and sea sorties conducted.
• The ship also participated in Bilateral Maritime Partnership Exercises with RNO and IRI for enhancing interoperability between the Navies.

About Ministry of Defence :

• Formed: 1776
• Headquarters : New Delhi
• Defence Minister : Rajnath Singh
• Minister of State : Ajay Bhatt
• Defence Secretary : Dr. Ajay Kumar

Paras Defence gets DRDO contract for border surveillance tech

• The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) selected Paras Defence and Space Technologies for handing over the technology of border surveillance systems as developed by Instruments Research & Development Establishment and DRDO.
• This technology has been transferred by a licensing agreement for transfer of technology (ToT) for border surveillance systems entered between the company, Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) and Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
• The system will provide all weather surveillance for day and night monitoring of the border areas, it will consist of Radar, EO sensors etc.
• Paras Defence and Space Technologies is primarily engaged in designing, developing, manufacturing and testing of a wide range of defence and space engineering products and solutions.
• Its product offerings cater to four major segments of the Indian defence sector i.e. defence and space optics, defence electronics, electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) protection solution and heavy engineering for defence and niche technologies.

About DRDO :

• Founded: 1958
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chairman : Dr G. Satheesh Reddy
• Defence Minister : Rajnath Singh

About IRDE :

• Located at : Dehradun, Uttarakhand
• Director: Dr. Binay Kumar Das
• Established: February 1960
• Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) is a laboratory of the Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO).

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Japan launches Inmarsat-6 F1 communications satellite into orbit

• Japan launched the Inmarsat-6 F1 satellite launched atop a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-2A rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center.
• The 12,060-pound (5,470 kilograms) Inmarsat-6 F1 is the first of two “I-6” spacecraft that London-based company Inmarsat plans to loft to geostationary orbit, about 22,240 miles (35,790 kilometers) above our planet.
• The I-6 pair “are the largest and most sophisticated commercial communications satellites ever launched.
• Inmarsat’s first dual-payload satellites, the I-6s feature both L-band (ELERA) and Ka-band (Global Xpress) payloads.

About Japan :

• Capital: Tokyo
• Currency: Japanese yen
• Prime minister: Fumio Kishida

About NASA :

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• Founder: Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Founded: 29 July 1958, United States
• Administered by: Steve Jurczyk, Bill Nelson

China launches new camera satellite with high resolution to find resources

• On Dec 26, 2021, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) informed China launched a new satellite with a camera that can take pictures of the ground with a resolution of five meters.
• The satellite, called ”Ziyuan-1 02E” or ”five-meter optical satellite 02,” was launched by a Long March-4C rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in north China’s Shanxi province.

About Ziyuan-1 02E :

• Ziyuan-1 02E weighs about 5 kilograms and is equipped with infrared, near-infrared and hyperspectral cameras.
• The cameras can take full-colour panchromatic images of the Earth.
• The satellite will work with the five-meter optical satellite 01 and shorten the revisit time of Chinese territory from three days to two days.
• Pictures taken by the satellite duo will help engineers survey China’s geological environment and search for minerals.
• It also helps that people working in other areas like transportation, agriculture and disaster mitigation will also receive help from the pictures.
• The Long March-4C carrier rocket also sent into orbit a small satellite that belongs to Beijing 101 Middle School.
• It carries payloads such as a small imaging camera, intelligent processing equipment, and equipment for conducting experiments on semiconductor thermoelectric generation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
• It will carry out auxiliary geography teaching, scientific and technological experiments and other popular science activities for middle school students.

Note :

• This is the 39th launch of the Long March-4C rocket and the 403rd launch of the entire Long March series.

About China :

• Capital: Beijing
• President: Xi Jinping
• Currency: Renminbi

About CNSA :

• Founded: 22 April 1993
• Headquarters: Beijing, China
• Administrator: Zhang Kejian

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SPORTS NEWS

Himachal Pradesh wins Vijay Hazare Trophy  

• Himachal Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu by 11 runs to clinch their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
• Himachal Pradesh skipper Rishi Dhawan won the toss and put Dinesh Karthik-led Tamil Nadu to bat.
• Tamil Nadu had set a target of 315 runs in front of Himachal Pradesh in the final. Himachal had scored 299 for four in 47.3 overs. After this, due to bad light, the umpires gave the result of the match by VJD rule (V Jayadevan rule).
• Youngster Shubham Arora came out all guns blazing with his maiden List A century as Himachal downed five-time champions TamilNadu under the VJD method to win their first ever domestic one-day championship.
• Tamil Nadu have been the best domestic side in the country in white-ball cricket since the 2019-20 season.

About Vijay Hazare Trophy :

• The Vijay Hazare Trophy, officially known as Paytm Vijay Hazare trophy also known as the Ranji One-Day Trophy.
• First edition : 2002–03
• Most Successful : Tamil Nadu (6 titles)

About Himachal Pradesh :

• Capital: Shimla (Summer), Dharamshala (Winter)
• Governor: Rajendra Arlekar
• Chief Minister: Jai Ram Thakur

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES

He-Man’ artist and toy designer T. Mark Taylor Passes away

• Artist and toy designer for the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mark Taylor Passed away at the age of 80.
• He-man was the muscled frontman for toy manufacturer Mattel’s Masters of the Universe franchise, & it was the epitome of hulking superhero warrior but also became an icon within the LGBTQ+ community.

About T. Mark Taylor :

• Mark Taylor was born on June 5, 1941.
• Taylor began his career with El Segundo-based Mattel in 1976 as a packaging designer.
• He works for the U.S. Department of Defense in Pasadena and contributed to projects for submarines, biological and technical sonar technology and seafloor mapping.
• Taylor’s toy work was featured in documentaries, including “Power of Grayskull” and “The Toys That Made Us.”

Daily CA On Dec 29 :

• India has imposed anti-dumping duties on five Chinese products, including certain aluminum goods and some chemicals, for five years to guard local manufacturers from cheap imports from the neighboring country.
• Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, the Centre has decided to constitute a five-member committee to look into the withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 or AFSPA from the northeastern state.
• The Karnataka legislative assembly has passed the Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 popularly known as the anti-conversion bill amid protests.
• India will chair the Counter-Terrorism Committee of UNSC in January 2022 after 10 years.
• As artificial intelligence (AI) technology gathers momentum worldwide, reports claim China has developed an AI “prosecutor” which can charge people using the high-end technology.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation deadline by six months to June 30, 2022, in view of various representations received from industry bodies.
• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and HDFC Bank have signed a memorandum of understanding for offering latter’s various banking products and services to customers of the payments bank in semi-urban and rural areas, focussing on unbanked and underserved segments
• IndusInd Bank has announced the launch of ‘Green Fixed Deposits’, whereby the deposit proceeds will be used to finance projects and firms supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The Indian economy is expected to maintain real GDP growth of 9 per cent each in FY2022 and FY2023, amidst the uncertainty ignited by the Omicron variant of Covid-19, according to ICRA.
• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), State Bank of India (SBI), and Department of e-Governance, government of Karnataka have partnered for enabling and implementing e-RUPI, a cashless and contactless payment solution for students under the State’s scholarship programme.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Atul Kumar Goel, MD & CEO of UCO Bank, as MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank (PNB) with effect from February 1 2022.
• RBL Bank’s Vishawvir Ahuja has stepped down as MD & CEO of the bank, and the bank has appointed Rajeev Ahuja as the interim Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank with immediate effect.
• Surat’s noted industrialist Viral Desai, popularly known as Greenman for his love for the environment, has been awarded the prestigious Global Environment and Climate Action Citizen Award 2021.
• Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh addressing the first ever ‘Real Estate Summit- 2021’ at Convention Centre, Jammu.
• Sail Training Ship INS Sudarshini, was deployed to the Gulf as part of the Indian Navy’s endeavor to enhance maritime cooperation with the friendly navies in the region.
• The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) selected Paras Defence and Space Technologies for handing over the technology of border surveillance systems as developed by Instruments Research & Development Establishment and DRDO.
• Japan launched the Inmarsat-6 F1 satellite launched atop a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-2A rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center.
• On Dec 26, 2021, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) informed China launched a new satellite with a camera that can take pictures of the ground with a resolution of five meters.
• Himachal Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu by 11 runs to clinch their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
• Artist and toy designer for the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mark Taylor Passed away at the age of 80.