Current Affairs January 02nd & 03rd 2022| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

PM releases 10th instalment of PM-KISAN:

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi released 10th instalment of financial benefit under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme via video conferencing.
• This enabled the transfer of an amount of more than Rs. 20,000 crore to more than 10 crore beneficiary farmer families.
• During the programme, Prime Minister also released equity grant of more than 14 crore to about 351 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), which will benefit more than 1.24 lakh farmers.
• Prime Minister interacted with FPOs during the event. Union Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar and Chief Ministers, LGs, Agriculture Ministers and farmers from several states were linked to the event.
• Interacting with FPO from Uttarakhand, the Prime Minister inquired about the choice of organic farming by them and the ways of certification of the organic products.

Dharmendra Pradhan launched ‘Padhe Bharat’, 100 days reading campaign:

• Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched 100 days reading campaign ‘Padhe Bharat’.
• The launch of 100 Days Reading Campaign is in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which emphasises on promotion of joyful reading culture for children by ensuring availability of age-appropriate reading books for children in local/mother tongue/regional/tribal Language.
• Padhe Bharat campaign will focus on children studying in Balvatika to Grade 8.
• The reading campaign will be organised for 100 days (14 weeks) starting from 1st January 2022 to 10th April 2022.
• The reading campaign aims to have participation of all stakeholders at national and state level including children, teachers, parents, community, educational administrators etc.
• One activity per week per group has been designed with the focus on making reading enjoyable and build lifelong association with the joy of reading.
• This campaign has also been aligned with the vision and goals of foundational Literacy and Numeracy mission.

Click here to read more;

MoHUA opens ‘Urban Geospatial Data Stories Challenge-2022’:

• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has announced the opening of Urban Geospatial Data Stories Challenge to foster adoption of geospatial technologies & to promote innovation in India’s urban ecosystem.
• The challenge has been organized with select Smart Cities that will be publishing high quality GIS datasets.
• More than 1000 geospatial datasets have been made available to the registered participants from national geospatial agencies, private sector enterprises, scientific and academic institutions, businesses, consumer services & start-ups to analyse this data and create insightful data stories.
• Leading up to the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav- Smart Cities: Smart Urbanization’ conference scheduled to be held in Surat, during February 2022, the Urban Geospatial Data Stories Challenge is part of a series of pre-event initiatives being undertaken by MoHUA to foster adoption of geospatial technologies & to promote innovation in India’s urban ecosystem.
• The challenge will commence for the registered participants on 1st January, 2022 and conclude by end of January 2022.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

Interest rates on Small Savings Schemes kept unchanged for fourth quarter of FY22:

• The interest rates on various Small Savings Schemes have been kept unchanged for the fourth quarter of this financial year.
• The rates of interest on Small Savings Schemes from 1st January to 31st March, 2022, will remain unchanged.

Compound annual growth rate of digital transaction gone up by 50%:

• Government has stated that the compound annual growth rate of digital transaction has gone up by fifty per cent.
• Electronics and Information Technology Ministry, the number of digital transactions has increased from one thousand 85 crore rupees in 2016-17 to five thousand 554 crore in 2020-21.
• Recognizing the importance of a cashless economy, the government announced setting up of Digi Dhan Mission with a target of two thousand 500 crore digital payment transactions during the Financial Year 2017-18 through Unified Payment Interface, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, Aadhaar Pay, Immediate Payment Service and Debit cards.
• As a result of coordinated efforts of all stakeholders, the number of digital transactions has increased manifolds as of now.
• In the last financial year, the mission was given a target of five thousand 500 crore digital payment transactions, which it has surpassed achieving five thousand 554 crore transactions.

Click here to read more;

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOUS AND AGREEMENT

TRIFED signs MoU with Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini to leverage knowledge, expertise & institutional strengths:

• In a bid to expand its activities and help more tribals, TRIFED has signed an Memorandum of Understanding with Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini- Nation First Policy Research Centre on 29th of December for a collaborative effort in leveraging knowledge, expertise and institutional strengths.
• A major game changing initiative- Van Dhan Programme, has been implemented by TRIFED in the recent past which is spearheading in 25 states and 307 districts with availability of MFPs as well as significant forest dwelling tribal population.
• TRIFED is exploring convergences with organizations, government and non-government and academic, to continue its mission towards tribal empowerment.
• TRIFED continues to work towards generating income and livelihoods for tribal people through various schemes including the Van Dhan Yojana.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENT AND RESIGNATION:

Vinay Kumar Tripathi appointed as new chairman, CEO of Railway Board:

• Vinay Kumar Tripathi has been appointed as new Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Railway Board.
• The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Mr Tripathi who is presently working as General Manager, North Eastern Railway to the post of Chairman of Railway Board.
• Mr Tripathi belongs to 1983 Batch of Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers.

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ITBP DG Sanjay  Arora Gets Additional Charge Of Sashastra Seema Bal Chief

• According to the order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) chief Sanjay Arora was given additional charge of the post of Director General Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
• He has replaced Kumar Rajesh Chandra, a 1985-batch IPS officer of the Bihar cadre, who had taken over as the SSB DG in January, 2019 and superannuated on December 31, 2021.
• Arora will serve as SSB DG till the appointment and joining of the regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

About Sanjay Arora :

• Shri Sanjay Arora is an Indian Police Service officer, 1988 batch, Tamil Nadu cadre.
• He assumed the charge of DG ITBP on 31 August, 2021 as the 31st Chief of the Force.
• He took charge of the India-China LAC guarding force on September 1.

Awards & Honors :

• He has been awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2004, President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2014, Police Special Duty Medal , Antrik Suraksha Padak and UN Peacekeeping Medal among others.

About Sashastra Seema Bal :

• Founded: 1963
• Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi, India.
• Motto: Service, Security and Brotherhood
• Director General : Sanjay Arora
• Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) is a border guarding force of India deployed along its border with Nepal and Bhutan.
• It is one of the five Central Armed Police Forces under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

About Ministry of Home Affairs :

• Union Minister : Amit Shah
• Minister of State : Nityanand Rai, Nisith Pramanik, Ajay Kumar Mishra

Director General VS Pathania takes over as DG of Indian Coast Guard

• VS Pathania took charge as the Director-General of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
• He replaced Director General Krishnaswamy Natarajan, who served as the Chief of the ICG from July 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021.
• V S Pathania is the 24th and the current Director General of the Indian Coast Guard & he is the first helicopter pilot to hold this position.

About VS Pathania :

• He has also undergone specialisation in search and rescue and port operations with the US Coast Guard.
• He was elevated to the rank of additional director general in November 2019 and took over the reins as Coast Guard Commander (Eastern Seaboard) at Visakhapatnam.
• Director General Pathania is also recipient of President’s Tatrakshak Medal for Distinguished service, Tatrakshak Medal for gallantry and Director General Indian Coast Guard Commendation.

About Indian Coast Guard :

• Founded: 1 February 1977
• Director General: Virender Singh Pathania
• Headquarters : New Delhi, Delhi, India

About Ministry of Defence :

• Headquarters : New Delhi, Delhi, India
• Union Minister : Rajnath Singh
• Minister of State : Ajay Bhatt
• Defence Secretary : Dr. Ajay Kumar

CURRENT AFFAIRS : ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS;

SBI To Acquire 10% Stake In India International Clearing Corporation

• State Bank of India (SBI) will acquire about 10 percent stake in the India International Clearing Corporation (IICC).
• It clears and settles index and single stock derivatives, currency derivatives and debt securities.
• SBI is expected to complete up to 9.95 per cent stake, subject to a maximum investment of ₹03 crore, by March 32, 2022, in IICC.
• The strategic investment in IICC is aimed at strengthening the financial markets infrastructure.

About SBI :

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

About IICC :

• Founded : 2016
• IICC is the first international clearing corporation set up at GIFT-IFSC that acts as a central counterparty providing clearing and settlement and risk management services.

CCI approves acquisition of 96.42% equity shareholding in Jindal Power Limited by Worldone Private Limited

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved Worldone’s acquisition of 96.42 percent stake in Jindal Power Limited (JPL) from Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL).
• The proposed combination is in line with JSPL’s strategic objective to bring down its debt and to reduce the firm’s carbon footprint as part of its broader ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) objectives.
• The relevant markets associated with the transaction are (i) Market for coal-based thermal power generation in India (ii) Market for power transmission in India.

Note :

• Earlier in July 2021, Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) had announced receiving the Rs 7,401-crore revised offer from Worldone Private Limited to acquire the 96.42 per cent stake in Jindal Power Ltd (JPL).
• The company had informed that out of the Rs 7,401 crore, Rs 3,015 crore will be paid in cash, while the balance Rs 4,386 crore will be settled by way of assumption and takeover of liabilities and obligations of JSPL in relation to inter-corporate deposits and the capital advances extended by JPL to JSPL.

About CCI :

• Founded: 14 October 2003
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chairperson : Ashok Kumar Gupta
• Secretary : P K Singh
• First executive: Dhanendra Kumar

About Jindal Power Limited :

• Jindal Power Limited (JPL) is primarily engaged in the business of generating thermal power by using coal as a fuel source.
• Headquarters : New Delhi, Delhi, India.
• Chairman : Anil Kumar Jha
• Part of O P Jindal Group, JSPL is an industrial powerhouse with a dominant presence in steel, power, mining and infrastructure sectors.

About Worldone Private Limited :

• Worldone Private Limited (Worldone) is an investment holding company which has investments in various listed and unlisted companies.
• Located at : New Delhi
• Directors : Chandra Prakash Sharma, Rajeev Jain

Click here to read more;

CURRENT AFFAIRS : DEFENCE NEWS

Russia test-fires Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missiles from frigate, submarine

• Russia test-fired around 10 new Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missiles from a frigate and two more from a submarine.
• It was a substantial step in increasing Russia’s defense capabilities.
• The Missile is capable of flying at 9 times the speed of sound and has a range of 1000 km.

About Russia :

• Capital: Moscow
• President: Vladimir Putin
• Currency: Russian ruble

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES

Bollywood Producer Vijay Galani Passes Away 

• Famous Bollywood producer Vijay Galani passed away in his late 50s.
• Vijay’s filmography as a producer includes films like Salman Khan’s Suryavanshi (1992), Govinda and Manisha Koirala’s Achanak (1998), Akshay Kumar’s Ajnabee (2001), Paresh Rawal and Mallika Sherawat’s Bachke Rehna Re Baba (2005), Salman Khan’s Veer (2010).
• His last production venture was Vidyut Jammwal and Shruti Haasan’s The Power (2021).

UNION GOVERNMENT SCHEME

Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme

Launched on:

On June 29, 2020, Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, launched a Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme, under the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ and ‘Vocal for Local’ campaigns, to provide technical, financial and business support to micro food processing units in the country.

Ministry involved :

The scheme is under the administrative control of ministry of food processing industries.

Minister of food processing industries- Pashupati Kumar Paras (constituency-Hajipur, Bihar).

Minister of state for  food processing industries- Pralha Singh Patel ( constituency- Damoh, MP).

Objective:

The objectives of scheme are to build capability of microenterprises to enable:

Increased access to credit by existing micro food processing entrepreneurs, FPOs, Self Help Groups and Co-operatives.

Integration with organized supply chain by strengthening branding & marketing.

Support for transition of existing 2,00,000 enterprises into formal framework.

Increased access to common services like common processing facility, laboratories, storage, packaging, marketing and incubation services.

Strengthening of institutions, research and training in the food processing sector.

Increased access for the enterprises, to professional and technical support.

Aims 

The scheme aims to:

Enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and promote formalization of the sector; and 1NSSO, 2015 5

1. ii) Support Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Producers Cooperatives along their entire value chain.

Eligibility Criteria:

Existing micro food processing units in operations;

Existing units should be those identified in the SLUP for ODOP products or by the Resource Person on physical verification. In case of units using electrical power, electricity bill would support it being in operations. For others units, existing operations, inventory, machines and sales would form the basis

The enterprise should be unincorporated and should employ less than 10 workers.

The enterprise should preferably be involved in the product identified in the ODOP of the district. Other micro enterprises could also be considered.

The applicant should have ownership right of the enterprise.

Ownership status of enterprise could be proprietary / partnership firm.

The applicant should be above 18 years of age and should possess at least VIII standard pass educational qualification.

Only one person from one family would be eligible for obtaining financial assistance. The “family” for this purpose would include self, spouseand children.

Willingness to formalize and contribute10% of project cost and obtain Bank loan.

Cost of the land should not be included in the Project cost. Cost of the ready built as well as long lease or rental workshed could be included in the project cost. Lease rental of workshed to be included in the project cost should be for a maximum period of 3 years only.

Benefits:

Launched on 29th June 2020, the PMFME Scheme is currently being implemented in 35 States and Union Territories. The online portal for the application of the PMFME Scheme was made live on 25th January 2021.

More than 9000 individual beneficiaries have registered on the portal, out of which more than 3500 applications have been successfully submitted under the scheme.

The unorganized food processing industry in India faces challenges that limit its development and weakens performance.

These challenges include:

lack of productivity and innovation due to limited skills and access to modern technology and machinery for production and packaging.

deficient quality and food safety control systems, including lack of basic awareness on good hygienic and manufacturing practices.

lack of branding & marketing skills and inability to integrate with the supply chains.

capital deficiency and low bank credit.

This scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme that is designed to address the challenges faced by the micro enterprises and to tap the potential of groups and cooperatives in supporting the upgradation and formalization of these enterprises.

Coverage:

Under the scheme, 2,00,000 micro food processing units will be directly assisted with credit linked subsidy.

Adequate supportive common infrastructure and institutional architecture will be supported to accelerate growth of the sector.

Corpus :

The scheme envisages an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crore over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The expenditure under the scheme would to be shared in 60:40 ratio between Central and State Governments, in 90:10 ratio with North Eastern and Himalayan States, 60:40 ratio with UTs with legislature and 100% by the Center for other UTs.

Daily CA on Jan 02 & 03 :

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi released 10th instalment of financial benefit under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme via video conferencing.
• Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched 100 days reading campaign ‘Padhe Bharat’.
• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has announced the opening of Urban Geospatial Data Stories Challenge to foster adoption of geospatial technologies & to promote innovation in India’s urban ecosystem.
• The interest rates on various Small Savings Schemes have been kept unchanged for the fourth quarter of this financial year.
• Government has stated that the compound annual growth rate of digital transaction has gone up by fifty per cent.
• In a bid to expand its activities and help more tribals, TRIFED has signed an Memorandum of Understanding with Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini- Nation First Policy Research Centre on 29th of December for a collaborative effort in leveraging knowledge, expertise and institutional strengths.
• Vinay Kumar Tripathi has been appointed as new Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Railway Board.
• According to the order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) chief Sanjay Arora was given additional charge of the post of Director General Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) & he has replaced Kumar Rajesh Chandra.
• VS Pathania took charge as the Director-General of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) & he replaced Director General Krishnaswamy Natarajan.
• State Bank of India (SBI) will acquire about 10 percent stake in the India International Clearing Corporation (IICC).
• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved Worldone’s acquisition of 96.42 percent stake in Jindal Power Limited (JPL) from Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL).

• Russia test-fired around 10 new Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missiles from a frigate and two more from a submarine.
• Famous Bollywood producer Vijay Galani passed away in his late 50s.