NATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
India pays $29.9 million in UN regular budget assessments for 2022: India has paid USD
29.9 million in UN regular budget assessments for the year 2022. As of January
21, 2022, 24 Member States have paid their regular budget assessments in full.
India is currently a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council and
its two-year term will end on December 31, 2022. “#India proud to pay again in
full! India joins the 2022 Honour Roll of 24 Member States out of 193 that have
paid their @UN RegularBudget Assessments in full,” India’s Permanent Mission to
the UN tweeted.
2.
Govt notifies Certification Scheme for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Drones): The Government of
India has notified the Certification Scheme for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)
commonly known as Drones to ensure minimum safety and quality requirements of drones.
It was notified on January 26, 2022 and it will boost indigenous manufacturing
of Drones. It has been notified under Rule 7 of the liberalized Drone Rules,
2021, which replaced Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) 2021. The Government of
India has formulated the Digital Sky Platform for registration and operation of
drones with an all-digital process. These initiatives like Certification
Scheme, PLI (production-linked incentive) Scheme, Liberalised drone rules,
airspace map and DigitalSky Platform, will help the drone manufacturing
industries in India. Ministry of Civil Aviation in September 2021 had approved
a PLI scheme for drones and drone components with an allocation of Rs 120 crore
spread over three financial years.
3.
India’s first graphene innovation center to be established in Kerala: India’s first
innovation centre for graphene will be set up in Kerala by the Digital
University Kerala (DUK), along with the Centre for Materials for Electronics
Technology (C-MET) in Thrissur, for Rs 86.41 crore. This will be the first
graphene Research and Development (R&D) incubation centre in the country.
Tata Steel Limited is set to be the industrial partner of the centre. The
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, has
given approval for the project. The project, which will be implemented with the
support of the Kerala government, is expected to accelerate the state’s growth
in the knowledge industry sector.
Graphene: Graphene is known
for its extraordinary electrical and electronic properties, and as per latest
research, it could replace indium and thereby bring down the cost of OLED
(organic light-emitting diode) screens in smartphones. Graphene has good
chemical stability, high electrical conductivity and a large surface area while
being transparent and lightweight.
4.
India’s largest EV charging station opened at Gurgaon: India’s largest
electric vehicle (EV) charging station with a capacity of 100 charging points
for 4 wheelers, was opened at Delhi-Jaipur National Highway in Gurugram.
Previously, India’s largest EV charging station was situated in Navi Mumbai
with 16 AC & 4 DC charging ports for EVs. The new EV charging station has
been developed by tech-piloting company Alektrify Private Limited.
This EV charging station will not only
boost the electric vehicles industry in the region but will also act as a
benchmark for large EV charging stations across the nation in future. The
electric vehicle charging station of this size and magnitude is rare and will
be instrumental for the industry to experience actual Ease of Doing Business in
smooth ‘Certification Compliance’ and ‘Safety Standards’.
5. ‘A
Little Book of India: Celebrating 75 years of Independence’ authored by Ruskin
Bond: A
new book titled “A Little Book of India: Celebrating 75 years of Independence”
authored by Ruskin Bond was released, marking 75 years of India’s Independence.
The book is the blend of “physical and spiritual” attributes of India and also
highlights the last 75 years of India’s progress as a nation. It is published
by Penguin Random House India (PRHI). It is a record of some of my memories and
impressions of this unique land — of its rivers and forests, literature and
culture, sights, sounds and colours — an amalgamation of the physical and
spiritual.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
World’s-largest canal lock unveiled in Netherlands: The world’s largest
canal lock has been inaugurated at Ijmuiden, a small port city, in the Port of
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The sea lock was inaugurated by Dutch King Willen-Alexander.
The Ijmuiden sea lock is 500-meter (1,640-feet) long and 70-meter wide.
Construction on the massive infrastructure project began in 2016 and was meant
to be done by 2019. It also went over the initially planned budget by around
€300 million ($338 million).
The Ijmuiden lock was designed to allow
large, modern cargo ships to reach the port of Amsterdam. The structure is also
deep enough that ships will no longer have to wait for a favourable water level
to enter the canal. With almost nine meters above the sea leave, the structure
is also a defence against the threat of flooding.
Note: The Netherlands Capital: Amsterdam;
The Netherlands Currency: Euro; The Netherlands Prime minister: Mark Rutte.
2. PM
Narendra Modi Hosts First India-Central Asia Virtual Summit: Prime Minister of
India Narendra Modi has hosted the first India-Central Asia Summit, through the
virtual platform. It was the first of its kind engagement between India and the
Central Asian countries at the level of leaders. The central Asian region has
five recognized countries. The Summit was attended by the Presidents of these
five Central Asian countries.
These are the Republic of Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Republic
of Uzbekistan. The first India-Central Asia Summit coincided with the 30th
anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and
Central Asian countries. During the summit, the Leaders agreed to hold the
Summit every 2 years (biennial). The summit is symbolic of the importance
attached by the leaders of both sides to a comprehensive and enduring
India-Central Asia partnership.
During the summit, PM Modi outlines
3 goals:
(1) Elaborating on the first goal, the
Prime Minister said the mutual cooperation between India and central Asia was
necessary for regional security and prosperity.
(2) Outlining the second goal, Modi said,
“Today’s meeting is to give an effective structure to our cooperation, which
will pave the way for the establishment of a platform for regular interaction
among all stakeholders.”
(3) For the third goal, Modi said it was
crucial to prepare an ambitious roadmap for the cooperation between India and
Central Asian countries which, he added, will enable the nations to adopt an
integrated approach for regional connectivity and cooperation.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1.
Women’s Asia Cup Hockey 2022: India beat China to win Bronze: India defeated
China, 2-0 to win the bronze medal at the 2022 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup
tournament. The 2022 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup was the 10th edition of the
quadrennial Women’s Hockey Asia Cup. The tournament was held from January 21 to
28, 2022 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman. Japan defeated
South Korea 4-2 in the final to win their third title at the Women’s Hockey
Asia Cup tournament.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
TerraPay tie-up with NPCI International to boost cashless transactions: TerraPay has signed
MoU with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) to allow Indian customers
with an active UPI ID to receive real-time, international payments into their
bank accounts via TerraPay’s secure payments technology. It will enable a
seamless and convenient cross-border remittances experience. NIPL is an
international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
This association with NIPL will allow
Indians with an active UPI ID to receive real-time, international payments into
their bank accounts via TerraPay’s adaptive and secure payments technology. The
intended collaboration will now further empower UPI users to leverage
TerraPay’s agile interoperable payments infrastructure to receive payments on a
fully regulated, secure, scalable, and efficient channel.
About TerraPay: Globally,
TerraPay processes payouts into 4.5 billion+ bank accounts and 1.5 billion+
mobile wallets. With the vision to foster financial inclusion, residents,
POI’s, Indian diaspora will be able to send money to India by using TerraPay’s
agile, transparent and real-time payment channel.
Note: NPCI Founded: 2008; NPCI
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra; NPCI MD & CEO: Dilip Asbe.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1.
WGC: Global gold demand rises 10% to 4,021 tonnes: According to the
World Gold Council (WGC) report ‘Gold Demand Trends 2021’ has informed that the
global gold demand rose 10 per cent in 2021 to 4,021.3 tonnes. The overall gold
demand during 2020, which was impacted following Covid-19 related disruptions, stood
at 3,658.8 tonnes.
The demand for the yellow metal was mainly
driven by Central bank buying during the fourth quarter of 2021, recovery in
jewellery consumption, mainly in India and China. India’s gold consumption
surged to 797.3 tonnes in 2021, on the back of the recovery in consumer
sentiments and pent-up demand post Covid-19-related disruptions and the bullish
trend is set to continue this year as well.
Note: World Gold Council CEO: David Tait;
World Gold Council Headquarters: London, United Kingdom; World Gold Council
Founded: 1987; World Gold Council President: Kelvin Dushnisky.
2.
Google to invest upto $1 Billion in Bharti Airtel: Bharti Airtel and
Google have announced a long-term partnership agreement, to accelerate the
growth of India’s digital ecosystem. Under the deal, Google will invest USD 1
billion in Airtel. From the total investment, Google will invest USD 700
million to acquire a 1.28 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel Ltd. The remaining
USD 300 million will go toward multi-year commercial agreements with Airtel,
including devices built together by the two tech giants.
The USD 1 billion funding is part of
Google’s USD 10 billion ‘Google for India Digitization Fund’, launched in 2020.
This is Google second investment in an Indian telecom service provider (after
Reliance Jio). Discussion between the two companies had been going on since the
first half of 2021 and culminated in an announcement.
Note: Bharti Airtel CEO: Gopal Vittal;
Bharti Airtel Founder: Sunil Bharti Mittal; Bharti Airtel Founded: 7 July 1995.
Google CEO: Sundar Pichai; Google Founded: 4 September 1998, California, United States; Google Founders: Larry Page, Sergey Brin.
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