Current Affairs February 17th 2022| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

International Childhood Cancer Day: 15 Feb

• International Childhood Cancer Day is observed on 15^th February Everyyear is a global collaborative campaign to raise awareness about childhood cancer, and to express support for children and adolescents with cancer, the survivors and their families.
• The second year of three-year campaign for ICCD (2021-2023) under the theme of ‘Better Survival’ is achievable #throughyourhands “Right care at the right time by the right team” is underway and with your support we are going to celebrate this important milestone on 15th of February in collaboration with CCI.
• This annual event was created in 2002 by Childhood Cancer International, a global network of 176 parent organizations, childhood cancer survivor associations, childhood cancer support groups, and cancer societies, in over 93 countries, across 5 continents.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

Govt launches scheme for economic empowerment for DNTs:

• Government has launched a Scheme for Economic Empowerment for DNTs, SEED for the welfare of De-notified, Nomadic and semi-nomadic communities in New Delhi.
• De-notified Tribes communities are the most neglected, marginalized and economically and socially deprived communities.
• Historically, these communities never had access to private land or home ownership and used forests and grazing lands as a mean for their livelihood and residential use.
• This scheme with free education opportunity, health insurance worth five lakh rupees under Ayushman Bharat, better facilities for livelihood and financial assistance for construction of houses, will prove to be a game changer towards empowering the De-notified Tribes communities.

Jal Jeevan Mission Achieves Milestone of Providing Tap Water To 9 Crore Rural Homes:

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of providing clean tap water to every home in the country by 2024, in a short span of two and half years and despite COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown disruptions, Jal Jeevan Mission, has provided tap water supply to more than 5.77 Crore rural households.
• As a result, 9 Crore rural households in the country are enjoying benefits of clean tap water supply.
• To achieve the mammoth task of providing tap water supply to every rural household in a span of five years, Rs 3.60 lakh Crore has been allocated. Rs. 60,000 Crore has been allocated to ‘Har Ghar Jal’ in Union Budget 2022-23 to provide tap water to 8 Crore households.
• Jal Jeevan Mission leverages the use of technology to ensure transparency, accountability, proper utilization of funds and service delivery.

Arjun Ram Meghwal Launches the Career Counselling Workshop ‘Pramarsh 2022’:

• The Minister of State for Culture & Parliamentary Affairs Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal launched the career counselling workshop ‘Pramarsh 2022’ for the students of the Bikaner, Rajasthan
• In this workshop one lakh students participated from more than thousands of schools of Bikaner district mainly from rural area.
• Workshop conducted with the support of The National Institute of Career Services (NICS) which comes under the Ministry of Labour & Employment and educational start-up Edumilestones.
• Directorate of Education, Rajasthan also extended the support and facilitation for this workshop.
• Under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the central government has taken various initiatives to bring out the full potential of the Youth in Nation Building Process.

NITI Aayog in association with PhonePe launches the Fintech Open Hackathon:

• NITI Aayog in association with PhonePe will be hosting the first-ever open-to-all Hackathon event for ideating and coming up with the most creative solutions for the FinTech space.
• The Hackathon will provide an opportunity for innovators, digital creators and developers from all over India to think, ideate and code
• Participants at the hackathon need to use any open-data APIs like PhonePe Pulse along with frameworks such as Account Aggregator as a foundation to power the following use cases:
• Alternate risk models for Lending, Insurance or Investments with focus on financial Inclusion
• Innovative Products that use the power data signals for various demographics and Geos for broader adoption of financial services
• Improved Visualisation and Derived intelligence based on the Digital payments data
• The final app that participants come up with must incorporate one of the above.

Cabinet approves preparations for India’s G20 Presidency and setting up and staffing of the G20 Secretariat:

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat and its reporting structures, which will be responsible for implementation of overall policy decisions and arrangements needed for steering India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency.
• India will hold the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India in 2023.
• G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation that plays an important role in global economic governance.
• As per practice, a G20 Secretariat is being established to handle work relating to substantive / knowledge / content, technical, media, security and logistical aspects of India’s G20 Presidency.
• The Secretariat will be functional till February 2024.

MoHUA, chairs 58th meeting of CSMC under PMAY(U):

• Project proposals for more than 60,000 houses were approved for construction in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan at the 58th meeting of Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
• The meeting, held in video conference mode, was chaired by Shri Manoj Joshi, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
• The total number of sanctioned houses under PMAY(U) is now 114.04 Lakh; of which around 93.25 Lakh have been grounded for construction and around 54.78 Lakh have been completed and delivered to the beneficiaries.
• The total investment under the Mission is ₹52 Lakh crore, with Central Assistance of ₹ 1.87 Lakh Cr.
• So far, Central Assistance amounting to ₹21 Lakh Cr has already been released.
• A booklet on ‘Transformative Reforms Towards Housing for All’ was also released by Secretary, MoHUA.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : STATE NEWS

Delhi Tourism facilitates Mughal Garden visits via app – Dekho Meri Dilli

• Delhi government’s mobile app Dekho Meri Dilli can now be used to book a visit to Mughal Garden and other major tourist spots.

About the app :

• The app will provide users with a link to the Mughal Garden ticketing site and help them with details such as how to reach the area and what facilities are available nearby.
• The app was launched by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on September 27 2021.
• Recently the app added details of the biodiversity parks developed and maintained by Delhi Development Authority and the Bharat Darshan Park developed by South Delhi Municipal Corporation to give users a holistic experience of Delhi.
• It offers unique ways to discover Delhi, including helping tourists plan a city tour from half a day to six days.
• It also provides directions to a tourist attraction via Google Maps, its operational days and timings and even lists nearest public and paid toilet facilities.

Jaisalmer Desert Festival begins in Rajasthan

• The world-famous Jaisalmer Desert Festival, also known as Maru Mahotsav of the Golden City began at Pokaran village in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan from 13 to 16 February 2022.

Aim :

• To showcase the rich cultural heritage of Rajasthan.
• The four-day-long festival started with a colourful grand procession followed by Miss Pokaran and Mister Pokran competitions.
• Rajasthan Minority Affairs Minister, Shale Mohammad flagged off the event
• Organised by Rajasthan Tourism and District Administration, Jaisalmer, the festival will begin in Pokhran, with a ceremonial procession on February 13.
• The festival is celebrated amidst the beautiful dunes of the Thar Desert in the Sam dunes (42 kilometres from Jaisalmer).
• Festival will conclude with Horse race, Camel dance and an attractive firework display on 16 th of February.

About Rajasthan :

• Governor: Kalraj Mishra
• Capital: Jaipur
• Chief minister: Ashok Gehlot
• Wildlife Sanctuaries : Bassi Wildlife Sanctuary, Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary, Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary, Sita Mata Wildlife Sanctuary, Tal Chhapar Sanctuary
• National Parks : Darrah National Park, Desert National Park, Keoladeo National Park, Khichan Bird Sanctuary, Nahargarh Biological Park, Ranthambore National Park, Sajjangarh Biological Park
• Tiger Reserve : Sariska Tiger Reserve

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING & FINANCE

PayU announces integration with BigCommerce to boost SMB digitalization

• PayU announced its integration with BigCommerce, an Open SaaS e-commerce platform for fast-growing and established brands.
• PayU can provide payment infrastructure & solutions to BigCommerce’s small-to-medium-sized merchants in
• The BigCommerce platform provides e-commerce services to retailers, including online store creation, search engine optimization, hosting, marketing and
• Businesses can directly integrate their BigCommerce store with PayU to offer India-specific online payment methods like UPI and more.

Key benefits of the integration :

• Global BigCommerce merchants will get access to over 100-plus local payment methods in India including credit cards, debit cards, UPI, wallet, net banking, etc.
• Merchants can initiate refunds directly from their BigCommerce store and get real-time updates on refund status without switching to PayU infrastructure.
• Merchants get easy access to all transaction data like sales & refunds, view graphical representation of trends and reports of transactions processed over a period of time.

Additional Info :

• PayU is regulated under the Reserve Bank of India and has solutions to meet the digital payment needs of Indian merchants.
• It provides online payment solutions to businesses through local payment methods.
• PayU also developed LazyPay in 2017, an alternate lending platform to offer credit solutions.

About PayU :

• Founded : 2002
• CEO : Laurent Le Moal

About BigCommerce :

• Founded: 2021, Sydney, Australia
• Headquarters: Austin, Texas, United States
• CEO : Brent Bellm
• Co-Founder, Executive Chairman : Eddie Machaalani
• BigCommerce is a NASDAQ-listed ecommerce platform that provides software as a service to retailers.

KVB & UNANU Technologies tie-up for digital freight finance

• Karur Vysya Bank has joined hands with the Chennai-based UNANU Technologies for digital freight finance to fund transport contractors using the end-to-end logistics technology platform.
• KVB is the first bank to introduce digital freight financing through marketplace in the banking sector.
• UNANU has built the Freight Financing System within their suite of software platforms.
• Using the module “U-Turbo – a marketplace”, one can on-board logistics companies and shippers to Freight Financing programme.
• The platform has a complete visibility right from picking up the material from shipper (Proof of Pick up) until it reaches the destination (Proof of Delivery).
• In transit, tracking of the truck is also provided with the associated software/hardware.
• The digitised document at each stage is captured using the platform helping the bank to verify its authenticity.
• The platform also has features to raise invoices to the shipper by the transport contractors seamlessly capturing the digital freight finance system.
• These features will enable Karur Vysya Bank to fund, based on the invoice and other mandatory documents that are available in the system.

About KVB :

• Founded: 1916
• Headquarters: Karur, Tamil Nadu
• Chairman : Mr. N. S. Srinath
• MD & CEO : Mr. Ramesh Babu

About UNANU Technologies Private Ltd :

• Headquarters : Chennai, Tamil Nadu
• CEO : Srini Sundar

DMI Finance to provide digital personal loans to Google Pay users

• DMI Finance, a credit platform, announced the launch of a personal loan product on Google Pay to offer credit to pre-qualified users of the digital wallet platform.
• This product leverages the dual advantages of Google Pay’s customer experience and the digital loan disbursal process of DMI.
• It will also help bring new-to-credit users into the ambit.
• The programme will disburse up to Rs 1 lakh per loan which would be repayable over a maximum of 36 months.
• This partnership is being launched in over 15,000 pin codes.
• Eligible users are pre-qualified using criteria set by DMI Finance and the product offer is made available to them via Google Pay.
• These users will have their application processed in near real-time with access to the money in their bank accounts.

About DMI Finance :

• Founded: 2008
• Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi, India
• Co-founder and joint MD : Shivashish Chatterjee

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

CBSE appoints Vineet Joshi as new CBSE chairman

• According to the order released by the Ministry of Education’s Department of School Education and Literacy, IAS Vineet Joshi, Additional Secretary, Department of Higher Education, has been appointed as new chairman of Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE with effect from Feb 14, 2022.
• Joshi would be replacing IAS Manoj Ahuja.

About Vineet Joshi :

• Joshi is a 1992 batch IAS officer of Manipur batch.
• He became the private secretary in 1999 under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and became the private secretary in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries from 2000 to 2001
• He is also the Director-General of the National Testing Agency (NTA).

About Manoj Ahuja :

• He was appointed as CBSE’s chairman on May 12, 2020.
• Ahuja has served as Special Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Department of Personnel and Training.

About CBSE :

• Formation : 2 July 1929
• Headquarters : New Delhi, Delhi,India
• Parent organisation : Ministry of Education
• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : AWARDS & HONORS

ICICI Bank’s Sandeep Bakhshi is Business Standard Banker of the Year 2020-21

• Sandeep Bakhshi, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank, is the Business Standard Banker of the Year 2020-21.
• The unanimous decision was taken by a high-profile jury of five, chaired by former Reserve Bank of India deputy governor S S Mundra.

Other members :

• Keki Mistry, vice-chairman and CEO of Housing Development Finance Corporation
• Anil Singhvi, chairman of Ican Investment Advisors
• P S Jayakumar, former MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda who is also non-executive chairman of VBHC Value Homes and Northern ARC Capital
• A Balasubramanian, MD and CEO of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC.

The criteria used for selecting the contenders were the following:

1. Banks with an asset size of Rs 50,000 crore and above as of March 2021
2. 10 percent or more growth in profits prior to provisioning in the past one-, two- and three-year periods. Only 10 banks qualified, and that was further brought down to seven.

About Sandeep Bakhshi :

• Bakhshi, an employee of ICICI since 1986, was appointed as MD & CEO in June 2018.
• Prior to this, he was the managing director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance from August 2010 to June 2018 & MD and CEO for ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company in April 2002.
• In August 2019 he was reported to be one of the highest paid CEOs of any Indian bank with a monthly salary of ₹22 lakh (US$29,000)

About ICICI Bank :

• Founded: 1994
• Chairperson : Girish Chandra Chaturvedi
• MD & CEO: Sandeep Bakhshi
• Headquarters: Vadodara
• For 2020-21, ICICI Bank reported a net profit of Rs 16,193 crore against Rs 7,931 crore during the previous financial year.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : MOU & AGREEMENTS

LKP Securities ties up with HDFC Bank Ltd to launch 3-in-1 account            

• LKP Securities Ltd has entered into an arrangement with HDFC Bank Ltd to offer a special 3-in-1 online account.
• Under this facility, customers of LKP Securities Ltd. can complete thier bank account opening formalities and gain added benefits of broking and demat account.
• The 3-in-1 account offers a host of benefits including no annual maintenance charges (AMC) for one year from the trading account opening date and waiver on brokerage charges of up to Rs 500 for one month from the date of demat account opening.
• The demat and trading accounts also provide the facility to trade in other segments like commodities and currency.

Aim :

• To deliver an enhanced customer experience by offering ease of opening trading, demat and bank account digitally with a single journey in a seamless manner.
• The 3-in-1 account facilitates swift fund transfer between the bank account and trading account as clients no longer have to go through a lengthy authentication process.
• They can start trading in NSE, BSE and MCX shares using the mobile trading app GETSETGROW@LKP which can be downloaded from Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
• The clients of LKP Securities Ltd. can also monitor their trading portfolio, transact in mutual funds, apply for all IPOs using the app with E-IPO and trade in the futures and options market.
• The clients can access their account details on desktops and smartphones to track their investment portfolio as well.

About LKP Securities Ltd :

• Managing Director : Mr. Pratik M Doshi
• LKP Securities Limited is a well-established and spirited Indian broking house with over seven decades of experience in the capital markets, bringing to the table a slew of modern systems and innovative processes which has been crafting wealth and trust to its clients.

About HDFC Bank Ltd :

• Founded: August 1994
• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Chairman : Atanu Chakraborty
• CEO: Sashidhar Jagdishan

Gujarat government signs MoU with QX Global group                        

• The Gujarat government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with global business process management company QX Global Group Limited, for the holistic development of the IT and ITeS sector in the State.

About the MoU :

• The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.
• Under the MoU, signed in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, around 2,000 jobs will be generated in the IT sector.
• The Gujarat government’s Department of Science and Technology had announced a new IT/ ITeS policy for the next five years in a push to develop a robust ecosystem for the IT and digital sector.

About QX Global Group :

• CEO : Frank Robbins

About Gujarat:

• Chief minister: Bhupendrabhai Patel
• Governor: Acharya Devvrat
• Capital: Gandhinagar
• National Parks: Gir National Park, Velavadar National Park, Marine National Park, Vansda National Park
• Wildlife Sanctuaries: Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary, Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, Gaga Wildlife Sanctuary, Mitiyala Wildlife Sanctuary, Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary

Vedanta signs pact with Foxconn to manufacture semiconductors in India         

• Vedanta and Taiwan-based Hon Hai Technology Group, also known as Foxconn, announced signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture company that will manufacture semiconductors in India.

About the MOU :

• According to the MOU signed between the two companies, Vedanta will hold the majority of the equity in the joint venture, while Foxconn will be the minority shareholder.
• The targeted project plans to invest in manufacturing semiconductors.
• It will provide a significant boost to domestic manufacturing of electronics in India.
• In December 2021, the central government approved ₹76000 crore for development of semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem in India.
• Now, Vedanta has become the first company to announce investment in semiconductor manufacturing in India.

About Vedanta Limited :

• Founded: 1979
• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Chairman : Anil Agarwal

About Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd :

• Founded: 20 February 1974
• Headquarters: Taipei, Taiwan
• Founder: Terry Gou
• Chairman & President : Young Liu

CURRENT AFFAIRS : DEFENCE NEWS

Indian Army Conducts First Hackathon Sainya Ranakshetram

• The Indian Army had conducted a first-of-its-kind Hackathon named “Sainya Ranakshetram” from 01 Oct 2021 to 31 Dec 2021.
• The Hackathon was conducted at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), Mhow under the overall guidance of the Shimla based Army Training Command (ARTRAC).

Purpose :

• To showcase the technological side of the Army and promote proficiency and expertise in the use of emerging technologies.
• The virtual event witnessed the participation of over 15,000 participants and comprised a number of challenges based on Secure Coding, Software Defined Radio exploitation and Cyber Offensive skills.

About Ministry of Defence :

• Defence Minister : Rajnath Singh
• Minister of State : Ajay Bhatt
• Defence Secretary : Dr. Ajay Kumar

About Indian Army :

• Founded: 1 April 1895, India
• Headquarters : New Delhi
• Motto(s): Service Before Self
• Commander-in-Chief : President Ram Nath Kovind
• Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee : General Manoj Mukund Naravane
• Chief of the Army Staff : General Manoj Mukund Naravane
• Vice Chief of the Army Staff : Lieutenant General Manoj Pande

3rd India-Maldives Defence Cooperation Dialogue held in Maldives

• Indian Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar co-chaired ‘3rd India Maldives Defence Cooperation Dialogue’ with Chief of Defence Force (CDF) of Maldives National Defence Force Major General Abdulla Shamaal.
• Both sides discussed joint efforts and capacity building initiatives being taken by both the countries to deter trans-national crimes and bolster national security in the region.
• India’s Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar visited the Maldives on February 13-14, for discussions with the Maldives National Defence Force as part of the second Defence Cooperation Dialogue.
• In that meeting they discussed the immense and expanding India-Maldives defence cooperation in the past three years.
• The Defence Secretary also inaugurated the Phase -I extension of the Composite Training Centre (CTC) of the MNDF located in Maafilaafushi, which was built using $1.07 million in grant assistance provided by India
• Development cooperation has been an imperative pillar of the Indo-Maldives relationship with New Delhi providing Lines of Credit of over USD 1.2 billion (one billion is equal to Rs 100 crore) for infrastructure and grants for community development projects in the island nation.

Note :

• The first Defence Cooperation Dialogue was held in July 2016 during the presidency of Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and the second DCD was held in January 2019.

About Maldives :

• Capital: Malé
• President: Ibrahim Mohamed Solih
• Currency : Maldivian rufiyaa

BHEL bags order to supply compact heat exchanger sets for Tejas aircraft

• Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), the country’s largest power equipment manufacturer, has received a prestigious order from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the supply of compact heat exchanger sets for 83 Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) MK1A aircraft.
• The BHEL’s Heavy Plates and Vessels Plant (HPVP), Visakhapatnam is the sole supplier of heat exchangers for LCA Tejas to HAL since 1996.
• The BHEL-HPVP and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Bangalore have jointly designed and developed 13 different types of compact heat exchangers for Environmental Control System (ECS) and Secondary Power System (SPS) of LCA MK-1 programme.
• The BHEL is also currently working with DRDO for the development of Air Cycle Machine based Liquid Cooling System (LCS) for Aircraft POD application for LCA MK-2.
• The BHEL-HPVP has dedicated, intricate manufacturing and inspection facilities for manufacturing of state-of-the-art Compact Heat Exchangers for different types of aircraft manufactured by HAL
• The same are progressively being augmented to meet International Aero Standards (AS9100) and BHEL is ready to meet the requirements of future programs of LCA, ALH, Sukhoi and AMCA.
• It has been a reliable supplier of critical equipment and services in the defence and aerospace sector for over three decades

About BHEL :

• Founded : 1956
• Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi, India
• Chairman & MD : Nalin Shinghal
• Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is an Indian government owned engineering and manufacturing enterprise.
• It is under the ownership of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India.

About HAL:

• Established : 23 December 1940
• Headquarters : Bangalore, Karnataka, India
• Chairman : R Madhavan

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Strict anti-doxxing policies for Meta                                                                    

• Meta’s oversight board suggested Facebook and Instagram to make strict doxxing rules.
• It urged Meta to consider doxxing as “severe,” that should prompt temporary account suspension.
• It has asked Meta to implement strict regulations on publishing and sharing personal information like an individual’s residential address that can easily identify people and make them targets for those with malicious intent.

About doxxing :

• Doxxing is publishing and analysing others’ personal information on the internet with a malicious intent that can reveal the person’s real identity making them victims of harassments and cyber attacks.
• The firm highlighted how doxxing is used to shame or punish people who would rather stay anonymous, because of their controversial beliefs or other types of non-mainstream activity.
• The board noted that publishing private or identifying information of an individual like their residential address and images on Meta’s platforms with malicious intent can lead to harassment or stalking.
• It recommended Meta to remove the exception that allows the sharing of private residential information when it is considered “publicly available.”
• It has asked the Facebook-parent to allow sharing of private residential addresses only when posted by the user to promote charitable causes, find missing people, animals, objects, or for contacting business service providers.
• By default, users should be considered not to have given such consent. Meta must ensure that users have a quick and effective mechanism to request the removal of private information posted by others.
• It has also highlighted the need to create a specific communications channel for victims of doxxing, easily available to both people who use Meta’s platforms and those who do not.
• This should allow the victim to explain their situation and the risks the illegally posted content creates for them, and prompt swift action from the company.
• Meta should prioritize action when the victim says they belong to a group facing heightened risk to their safety in the region where the private residence is located, the oversight board noted.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

Ministry of Finance grants Rs 1154.90 crore to Urban Local Bodies of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, and Sikkim:

• Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has released an amount of 90 crore rupees to four states for providing grants to Urban Local Bodies.
• The States to which grants are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, and Sikkim.
• The grants released are meant for Non-Million Plus cities including Cantonment Boards.
• The 15th Finance Commission in its report for the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 has divided the Urban Local Bodies into two categories.
• These are Million-Plus urban agglomerations and cities excluding Delhi and Srinagar, and all other cities and towns with less than one million population.
• The 15th Finance Commission has recommended separate grants for them. Out of the total grants recommended by the Commission for Non-Million Plus cities, 40 percent is a basic grant and the remaining 60 percent is a tied grant.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWS

Heather Knight and Keegan Petersen voted ICC Players of the Month for January:

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced Heather Knight and Keegan Petersen as the winners of the ICC Players of the Month Award for January 2022.
• South Africa’s Test sensation Keegan Petersen and England women’s team captain Heather Knight were voted ICC Players of the Month for January 2022.
• In the men’s category, South African batter Keegan Petersen was a sensation during the home Test series against India.
• He ended the series as the highest run-scorer with 276 runs and was named the Player of the Series.

110th Australian Open Tennis 2022 held at Melbourne, Australia:

• Rafael Nadal achieved his record-breaking 21st Grand Slam Men’s Singles Title at the first Grand Slam of 2022e. the 2022 Australian Open was held at Melbourne Park, Melbourne in Australia.
• Organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), it was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, and the 54th in the Open Era.
• Rafael Nadal Parera of Spain by defeating Russia’s Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev in Men’s Single
• Ashleigh Barty of Australia by defeating the United States’ Danielle Rose Collins in Women’s single
• Australian pair Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nicholas Hilmy Kyrgios defeated Australia’s Matthew Ebden and Australia Max Purcell in Men’s Doubles
• Czech Republic’s pair Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova defeated Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina and Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in Women’s Doubles
• France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig defeated Australia’s Jaimee Fourlis and Australia’s Jason Kubler in Mixed Doubles

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES

Legendary Bollywood music composer and singer Bappi Lahiri passes away in Mumbai:

• Music composer and singer Bappi Lahiri passed away at a Mumbai hospital.
• He was 69.
• Bappi Lahiri, whose real name was Alokesh, was known for delivering popular songs in several films of the late 1970s-80s like Chalte Chalte, Disco Dancer, and Sharaabi.
• Bappi Lahiri ruled the music industry for several years and had given many hits.
• Bappi da as he was fondly called by film fraternity can be called as the father of Disco music in India.
• Foot tapping music of Bappi Lahiri ruled the airwaves of India in the 70s and 80s.
• Although most of his songs were written for discotheques and dance numbers, yet to his credits, there are several melodious songs as well from a list of movies like Chalte Chalte.
• Bappi Lahiri’s last Bollywood song was Bhankas for the 2020 film Baaghi 3.

Veteran Singer Sandhya Mukherjee Passes Away At 91:

• Singing legend Sandhya Mukherjee, also known as Sandhya Mukhopadhyay passed away at the age of 91 after a cardiac arrest.
• The information of her demise was shared by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shantanu Sen.
• The veteran Bengali singer suffered a massive cardiac arrest earlier in the day and despite extensive efforts to revive her, she passed away
• Gitashree received Banga Bibhushan, the highest civilian honour of the Indian state of West Bengal in 2011, and in 1970, she won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her songs in the films Jay Jayanti and Nishi Padma.
• The music icon, who was also a celebrated composer, was born at Dhakuria in Kolkata on October 4, 1931.

Daily CA On Feb 17 :

• International Childhood Cancer Day is observed on 15^th February Everyyear is a global collaborative campaign to raise awareness about childhood cancer, and to express support for children and adolescents with cancer, the survivors and their families.
• Government has launched a Scheme for Economic Empowerment for DNTs, SEED for the welfare of De-notified, Nomadic and semi-nomadic communities in New Delhi.
• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of providing clean tap water to every home in the country by 2024, in a short span of two and half years and despite COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown disruptions, Jal Jeevan Mission, has provided tap water supply to more than 5.77 Crore rural households.

• The Minister of State for Culture & Parliamentary Affairs Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal launched the career counselling workshop ‘Pramarsh 2022’ for the students of the Bikaner, Rajasthan
• NITI Aayog in association with PhonePe will be hosting the first-ever open-to-all Hackathon event for ideating and coming up with the most creative solutions for the FinTech space.
• The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat and its reporting structures, which will be responsible for implementation of overall policy decisions and arrangements needed for steering India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency.
• Project proposals for more than 60,000 houses were approved for construction in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan at the 58th meeting of Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
• Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has released an amount of 90 crore rupees to four states for providing grants to Urban Local Bodies.
• Delhi government’s mobile app Dekho Meri Dilli can now be used to book a visit to Mughal Garden and other major tourist spots.
• The world-famous Jaisalmer Desert Festival, also known as Maru Mahotsav of the Golden City began at Pokaran village in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan from 13 to 16 February 2022.
• PayU announced its integration with BigCommerce, an Open SaaS e-commerce platform for fast-growing and established brands.
• Karur Vysya Bank has joined hands with the Chennai-based UNANU Technologies for digital freight finance to fund transport contractors using the end-to-end logistics technology platform.
• DMI Finance, a credit platform, announced the launch of a personal loan product on Google Pay to offer credit to pre-qualified users of the digital wallet platform.
• According to the order released by the Ministry of Education’s Department of School Education and Literacy, IAS Vineet Joshi, Additional Secretary, Department of Higher Education, has been appointed as new chairman of Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE with effect from Feb 14, 2022.
• Sandeep Bakhshi, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank, is the Business Standard Banker of the Year 2020-21.
• LKP Securities Ltd has entered into an arrangement with HDFC Bank Ltd to offer a special 3-in-1 online account.
• The Gujarat government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with global business process management company QX Global Group Limited, for the holistic development of the IT and ITeS sector in the State.
• Vedanta and Taiwan-based Hon Hai Technology Group, also known as Foxconn, announced signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture company that will manufacture semiconductors in India.
• The Indian Army had conducted a first-of-its-kind Hackathon named “Sainya Ranakshetram” from 01 Oct 2021 to 31 Dec 2021 & the Hackathon was conducted at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), Mhow under the overall guidance of the Shimla based Army Training Command (ARTRAC).
• Indian Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar co-chaired ‘3rd India Maldives Defence Cooperation Dialogue’ with Chief of Defence Force (CDF) of Maldives National Defence Force Major General Abdulla Shamaal.
• Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), the country’s largest power equipment manufacturer, has received a prestigious order from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the supply of compact heat exchanger sets for 83 Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) MK1A aircraft.
• Meta’s oversight board suggested Facebook and Instagram to make strict doxxing rules.
• The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced Heather Knight and Keegan Petersen as the winners of the ICC Players of the Month Award for January 2022.
• Rafael Nadal achieved his record-breaking 21st Grand Slam Men’s Singles Title at the first Grand Slam of 2022e. the 2022 Australian Open was held at Melbourne Park, Melbourne in Australia.
• Music composer and singer Bappi Lahiri passed away at a Mumbai hospital.
• Singing legend Sandhya Mukherjee, also known as Sandhya Mukhopadhyay passed away at the age of 91 after a cardiac arrest.