CURRENT AFFAIRS SNIPPETS --- 17TH FEBRUARY 2022
CURRENT AFFAIRS SNIPPETS
17th February 2022
NATIONAL NEWS
Insurance cover of up to ₹5 lakh for
fishermen: BJP in poll-bound Manipur
BJP chief JP Nadda and Manipur CM N Biren Singh on Thursday released the
party's manifesto for the upcoming state Assembly elections. In the manifesto,
BJP promised that free of cost accidental insurance of up to ₹5,00,000 will be
provided to all fishermen in Manipur. Besides, it promised to increase the
monthly pension of senior citizens from ₹200 to ₹1,000.
Hyd's trade exhibition 'Numaish' to reopen
for public on Feb 25
Hyderabad's annual trade exhibition 'Numaish' will reopen for the public
on February 25 in view of declining COVID-19 cases. The fair was abruptly shut
down a day after its inauguration on January 1 due to a surge in COVID-19
cases. It will be held from 4 pm to 10.30 pm on weekdays and 4 pm to 11 pm on
weekends.
Bihar
ropes in Manoj Tiwari as brand ambassador for Khadi
Bhojpuri singer and BJP MP, Manoj Tiwari will be the brand ambassador of Khadi
and other handicrafts of Bihar. He will be the “brand ambassador” for Khadi and
other handicrafts of Bihar, state minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain announced. Manoj Tiwari will promote the use of Khadi
fabric, which was popularized by Mahatma Gandhi during India’s Independence
movement. Tiwari, who has lent his voice to innumerable foot-tapping numbers,
including the “Gangs of Wasseypur” chartbuster “Jiya ho Bihar ke lala”.
International News
Coup leader Damiba sworn in as Burkina
Faso's President
Weeks after leading the coup in Burkina Faso, Lieutenant-Colonel
Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was sworn in as the President of the country. In a
televised ceremony, Damiba vowed to "preserve, respect, uphold and defend
the Constitution". He also paid tribute to "Burkinabe people, who
have been enduring the scars of terrorism for more than six years."
World Health Organisation launches Quit Tobacco App
World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region (SEAR) has launched a
‘Quit Tobacco App’. This application helps people to give up the use of tobacco
in all forms, including smokeless and other newer products. The App was launched by Dr Poonam Khetrapal
Singh, Regional Director, WHO-SEAR, during WHO’s year-long ‘Commit to quit’
campaign, is the latest tobacco control initiative by the WHO South-East Asia
Region. The app, the first such by WHO,
and the first that targets all forms of tobacco, helps users to identify the
triggers, set their targets, manage cravings, and stay focused to quit tobacco. Tobacco is the world’s leading cause of
preventable death and kills nearly 8 million persons every year. It claims 1.6
million lives in the WHO South-East Asia Region which is amongst the largest
producers and consumers of tobacco products.
Banking, Business and Economy
Yes Bank launches ‘Agri Infinity’ programme
Private sector lender, Yes Bank has launched an ‘Agri Infinity’ programme for
digital financing solutions in the food and agriculture sector ecosystem by
mentoring entrepreneurial ventures in this field. Agri-fintech start-ups working on financial
innovations across the food and agriculture value chain are eligible to apply
under this programme and can work with Yes Bank for digital solutions. Through the initiative, a select cohort of
startups will not only receive mentoring by veteran bankers for experiential
co-development but also get access to YES BANK’s digital banking infrastructure
and network, collaborative opportunities to pilot new solutions and fundraising
advisory. Those involved in
originations, farmer on-boarding, farmer KYC, credit scoring, risk assessment,
monitoring and mitigation, disbursement and recovery solutions and cash
management system, among others, can apply.
India's largest FMCG company HUL hikes
prices twice in 2 months
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), India's largest fast-moving consumer
goods (FMCG) company, has undertaken another round of price hikes across
product categories. This is the second price hike by the company in two months.
The move is in line with the management's commentary after December quarter
earnings, wherein it indicated "calibrated price hikes" as it
expected higher input price inflation.
India, UAE may sign free trade agreement on
Feb 18: Reports
India and UAE may reportedly sign a proposed free trade agreement, which
would give both countries duty-free access to a number of products from
different sectors, on February 18. PM Narendra Modi and the Crown Prince of Abu
Dhabi will hold a Virtual Summit on Friday. This would be second such agreement
to be signed by the current government.
Housing prices rise by 6%, sales rise by 7%
in B'luru in 2021: Report
According to a report by property brokerage firm PropTiger.com, the
housing prices increased by 6% in Bengaluru in 2021. The report 'Real Insight
Residential- Annual Round-up 2021' further stated that the housing sales
increased by 7% in Bengaluru last year. "It seems very likely that we will
see an increase in prices in 2022," said Rajan Sood, PropTiger.com's
Business Head.
50% of our staff from India, country's role
growing: Capgemini CEO
Over 50% staff in Capgemini are from India and the nation's role in the
company is only growing as it becomes a big centre of innovation, said the
French IT firm CEO Aiman Ezzat. As of December 2021, the company's total
headcount stood at 324,700. "In future, there will probably be more Indian
senior executives overall in Capgemini,'' he added.
India's wholesale inflation declines to 12.96% in January
India’s wholesale inflation has eased to 12.96 % in January from 13.56 % in the
previous month. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation has declined
consistently in recent months. It fell
from 14.87 % in November 2021 to 13.56 % in December 2021 and further to 12.96
% in January 2022. However, inflation still remains at an elevated level and is
a matter of concern for economic policymakers.
The high rate of inflation in January 2022 is primarily due to rise in
prices of mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, basic metals,
chemicals, and chemical products, food articles etc as compared the
corresponding month of the previous year”.
Wholesale food inflation hardened during the month of January. The rate
of inflation based on the WPI Food Index increased marginally from 9.24 % in
December 2021 to 9.55 % in January 2022.
Prices of Minerals rose by 11.08 % and non-food articles became costlier
by 0.37 % in January 2022 as compared to December 2021.
Jio Platforms picks up 25% stake in US-based tech startup TWO
Platforms
Jio Platforms has picked up a 25% stake in US-based deep-tech startup company
TWO Platforms for $15 million. Two Platforms is an artificial reality company
that focuses on building interactive and immersive AI experiences. The two companies have joined hands to fast
track the adoption of new technologies and build disruptive technologies such
as AI, metaverse and mixed realities. TWO’s platform enables real-time AI voice
and video calls, digital humans, immersive spaces and lifelike gaming. It plans to bring its interactive AI
technologies first to consumer applications followed by entertainment and
gaming, as well as enterprise solutions including retail, services, education,
health and wellness. The platform was founded by Indian-origin computer
scientist Pranav Mistry.
Sebi makes provision of separation of chairperson & MD/CEO roles
voluntary
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) board has decided to make
provision for separation of the roles of chairperson and MD/CEO as 'voluntary'
against 'mandatory' earlier. The market regulator
had in June 2017 set up a committee on corporate governance under Uday Kotak
with a view to seek recommendations to further enhance corporate governance
norms for listed companies. One of the
recommendations that the Committee came out with was the separation of the
roles of chairperson and MD/CEO of listed companies. This was proposed to
provide a better and more balanced governance structure by enabling more
effective and objective supervision of the management. The Sebi board, in its
meeting in March 2018 approved the proposal for the top 500-listed entities.
Later the deadline for compliance was extended by two years in January 2020.
Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge browsers'
version '100' release may break websites
Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft's Edge browsers are about
to hit version 100 and the triple release is expected to break many websites.
The versions may result in bugs or compatibility issues on some websites that
aren't ready to read triple-digit user-agent strings. "When browsers first
reached version 10 over 12 years ago, many issues were discovered,"
Mozilla said.
CBI questions ex-ABG Shipyard CMD in India's
biggest bank fraud case
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently questioned former ABG
Shipyard Chairman and MD Rishi Agarwal in connection with its probe into the
country's largest bank fraud case. CBI has also issued lookout circulars
against Directors of the company to ensure they do not leave the country. ABG
Shipyard allegedly cheated a consortium of banks of ₹22,842 crore.
President of B'luru's Raghavendra Bank arrested
in money laundering case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested K Ramakrishna, the
President of a Bengaluru-based cooperative bank, Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara
Bank Niyamitha, in a money-laundering case. The case is linked to the alleged
misappropriation of public funds worth ₹1,000 crore. ED alleged the bank
officials siphoned off the money deposited by the public. They reportedly
cheated over 40,000 depositors.
Summits and Conferences News
Union Minister RK Singh co-chairs 4th India-Australia Energy Dialogue
The 4th India-Australia Energy Dialogue was co-chaired by Union Minister for
Power and New & Renewable Energy, RK Singh and Australian Energy and
Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor.
Energy Transition was a major area of discussion in the dialogue and
both the Energy Ministers. Energy Transition activities in their respective
countries with a focus on renewables, energy efficiency, storage, EVs, critical
minerals, mining etc. The need of
Climate Finance was also highlighted by India for meeting the Energy Transition
goals of developing countries. Both the countries signed a Letter of Intent
(LoI) for working towards reducing the cost of new and renewable energy
technologies and scaling up their deployment to reduce global emissions.
GoI forms G20 Secretariat in view India’s G20 Presidency
India will hold the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November
2023 and the G20 Summit will be held in India in 2023 (18th edition). For its
preparation, the government has approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat
and its reporting structures. The G20
Secretariat will be guided by an Apex Committee headed by Prime Minister and it
will have the following members: Finance Minister: Nirmala Sitharaman, Home
Minister: Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister: S. Jaishankar, and G20 Sherpa:
Piyush Goyal. The G20 secretariat will
be responsible for the implementation of overall policy decisions and
arrangements needed for steering India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency. In 2021,
the G20 summits was held in Rome, Italy. In 2022 the G20 summit will be held in
Bali, Indonesia while in 2023 it will be held in New Delhi, India.
TERI’s World Sustainable Development Summit begins
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has delivered the inaugural address at The
Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) World Sustainable Development Summit. Mr Luis Abinader, President of the Dominican
Republic, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of
Guyana, Ms Amina J Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations and Union
Minister Shri Bhupender Yadav were among those present on the occasion. The 21st edition of WSDS is scheduled from
16th-18th February 2022. The theme for this year's summit is Towards a
Resilient Planet: Ensuring a Sustainable and Equitable Future. The Prime Minister recalled that Environment
and sustainable development have
Schemes and Conferences News
Social Justice Ministry launches Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs
Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr Virendra Kumar has
launched a central sector scheme named the Scheme for Economic Empowerment for
DNTs, (SEED) at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi. The total financial outlay for SEED Scheme is
approximately Rs 200 crore to be spent over a period of 5 years starting
Financial Year 2021-22 to 2025-26. The
objective of SEED is the welfare of De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic
tribal Communities (DNT/NT/SNT), which are the most neglected, marginalized and
economically and socially deprived communities.
The scheme will have the following four components:
To provide coaching of good quality for DNT/NT/SNT candidates to enable them to
appear in competitive examinations. To
provide health insurance to DNT/NT/SNT Communities. To facilitate livelihoods initiative at the
community level to build and strengthen small clusters of DNT/NT/SNT
Communities institutions. To provide
financial assistance for the construction of houses to members of the
DNT/NT/SNT Communities.
SPORTS
Canada beat USA 3-2 to win women’s
ice-hockey gold at Winter Olympics
Canada on Thursday beat the USA 3-2 to win the women’s ice-hockey gold
medal at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The USA had beaten Canada in the 2018
Winter Olympics final. Canada ended the tournament undefeated, beating Sweden
11-0 in the quarter-final and Switzerland 10-3 in the semi-final. Canada also
beat the USA 3-2 in the World Championship last year.
Books and Authors News
A book titled ‘Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and
Reinvented War’ released
A new book titled “Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented
War” authored by Samuel Moyn was released. Samuel Moyn is the Professor of
Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and a professor of History at Yale University. This provocative book argues about the
endless wars the USA created in the past including Vietnam War (1955-1975),
Korean War (1950-1953), World War II (1939-1945) etc and this development might
not represent progress at all. The book
highlights the United States of America (USA) strategy on fighting wars and how
armed combat was transformed from an imperfect tool for resolving disputes into
an integral component of the modern condition.
Miscellaneous News
LAHDC launched the “Kunsnyom scheme” for differently-abled persons
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh has launched Kunsnyoms
scheme for differently-abled persons. Kunsnyoms meant Equal for All, Fair for
All, aims inclusive and accessible Ladakh.
Under the new scheme, Leh Hill council is providing assistive devices,
technologies to needy people at 90 per cent subsidy. Launching the new scheme, LAHDC Leh Chief
Executive Councillor and Chairman, Mr Tashi Gyalson and his executive
councillors have handed over 28 tri scooters, battery-run wheelchairs, walking
aids and other aids required for the special needs of the individuals. After becoming Union Territory, financially
empowered with sufficient allocations of budget, the Hill Councils in Ladakh
are utilizing the funds for welfare schemes.
OBITUARY
Malayalam actor Pradeep KR passes away aged
61 in Kerala
Malayalam actor Pradeep KR, popularly known as Kottayam Pradeep, passed
away aged 61 on Thursday after suffering a heart attack. He was rushed to a
hospital in Kerala after complaining of uneasiness and was pronounced dead by
4:00 am, hospital sources said. Pradeep was known for his work in films like
'Oru Vadakkan Selfie' and 'Life of Josutty', among others.
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