NATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launches NEAT 3.0: Union Minister of
Education, Dharmendra Pradhan has launched National Educational Alliance for
Technology (NEAT 3.0), and regional language textbooks prescribed by the All
India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). NEAT 3.0 aims to provide the
best-developed ed-tech solutions and courses to students on a single platform.
It will be beneficial especially among the economically disadvantaged students.
It is a Public-Private Partnership model between the Government (through its
implementing agency AICTE) and the Education Technology companies.
58 global and Indian ed-tech startup
companies have come together for this solution and are offering 100 courses and
e-resources to enhance learning outcomes, developing employable skills as well
as overcome learning loss. The collaboration of global ed-tech companies and
Indian start-ups by way of NEAT will help to build on the digital education
bedrock of India.
2.
Sushmita Dev in 31-member Panel to examine bill on raising legal age of
marriage: The
parliamentary standing committee constituted to examine “The Prohibition of
Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021” comprise of a total of 31 members,
including only one women representative. Out of the total 31 members, TMC MP
Sushmita Dev is the sole woman representative in the committee. The Bill seeks
to raise the legal age of marriage for women in India from 18 to 21 to bring it
at par with men.
About the Bill: The Prohibition of
Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2021 seeks to amend the “Prohibition of Child
Marriage Act, 2006” and seven personal laws, which are: Indian Christian
Marriage Act; the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act; the Muslim Personal Law
(Shariat) Application Act; the Special Marriage Act; the Hindu Marriage Act;
and the Foreign Marriage Act.
3.
Telangana tops in highest number of ODF villages: Telangana stood
first in the country in the list of the highest number of open defecation free
(ODF Plus) villages under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase-II
programme till December 31, 2021. As many as 13,737 out of 14,200 villages in
the State are on the ODF Plus list, which is 96.74%. This was followed by Tamil
Nadu with 4,432 villages (35.39%) and Karnataka with 1,511 villages (5.59%).
Gujarat took the 17th position with only 83 villages (0.45%).
The State government has enacted a new
Telangana Panchayat Raj Act to ensure the holistic development of villages. A
secretary has been posted in every panchayat for smooth execution of welfare
programmes, close monitoring, digital reporting and to ensure the prevalence of
good governance in villages. Multi-purpose workers have been appointed to
maintain proper sanitation in villages. There are 12,769 dedicated compost
sheds in all gram panchayats. Tankers have also been provided to water the
plants for greenery in villages.
4.
Vinod Kannan named as next CEO of Vistara airline: Vinod Kannan took
over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vistara Airlines. He replaced
Leslie Thng who was the CEO from July 16, 2017, to December 31, 2021. It added
that Deepak Rajawat has been elevated to take up the role of Vistara’s Chief
Commercial Officer. Vistara, is a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons Private
Limited and Singapore Airlines.
Kannan spent over two decades working with
SIA and has held several senior positions in the airline’s head office in
Singapore as well as overseas. He holds a Master’s degree in Business
Administration from the National University of Singapore and the University of
California, Los Angeles.
5.
Ladakh celebrated traditional new year ‘Losar Festival’: The Losar Festival
in Ladakh is celebrated at the onset of the New Year in the traditional
schedule of Tibetan Buddhism. It is celebrated by the Buddhist Community in the
Ladakh region. The Losar is a 15 days festival, from the start of the Tibetan
Lunar calendar, marking the 1st day of the 11 months in the Tibetan Calendar.
Losar is a Tibetan word that means ‘New Year’.
The festivities began with the celebration
of Birth and Nirvana Anniversary Je Tsongkhapa with illuminations of religious
places like Monasteries, Stupas,
residential and other places. The eve of the Losar festival is also celebrated
with memorial food offerings for the departed loved ones.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
Ex-UK PM Tony Blair joins top royal order 2022: Former British
Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Baroness Amos are to be
appointed as members of the Order of the Garter, England’s oldest and most
senior order of chivalry. The former prime minister now will be known as ‘Sir
Tony’. The appointments are the personal choice of the Queen, who has up to 24
“knight and lady companions”. The ceremonial order, founded in 1348, is a
recognition of significant public service and made without prime ministerial
advice.
Under Sir Tony’s leadership, the UK joined
the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan – an official inquiry into the
2003 Iraq war was strongly critical of his government and UK military chiefs.
He famously referred to Diana, Princess of Wales, as the “people’s princess”
after her death.
2.
Russia’s test-fires new hypersonic Tsirkon missiles 2022: Russia successfully
test-fired around 10 new Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missiles from a
frigate and other two missiles from a submarine. The Zircon missile would be
capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 1,000
kilometres (620 miles). The Tsirkon Cruise Missile will join Avangard glide
vehicles and the air-launched Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles in Russia’s hypersonic
arsenal. Zircon is intended to arm Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines.
It is one of several hypersonic missiles under development in Russia. The
launch was the latest in a series of tests of Zircon, which is set to enter
service next year.
Note: Russia Capital: Moscow; Russia
Currency: Rouble; Russia President: Vladimir Putin.
OTHER UPDATES:
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
SEBI reconstitutes its primary market advisory committee: Capital markets
regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India has restructured its primary
market advisory committee on data. The committee aims to measure pertaining to
areas such as securities market data access and privacy. Sebi has appointed
Professor at National Law University, Delhi and former chairperson, Insolvency
and Bankruptcy Board of India S Sahoo as Panel Head. Earlier this panel was
headed by Madhabi Puri Buch, an ex-whole time member of Sebi.
The objective of the Committee: The scope of the
work of the committee includes identifying segment-wise data perimeters, data
needs and gaps, recommending data privacy and data access regulations
applicable to market data. It is responsible for recommending appropriate
policy for access to securities market data. In addition, the committee
recommends standardization of data definitions; data identification logic (
usage of uniform codes for identifying and storing data – raw data and derived
data) and data validation techniques (single source of truth, validation).
Other members of the committee: Members of the
committee include Ashlesh Gosain, Regional Head South Asia, Bloomberg LP,
Mumbai; Reena Garg Scientist F & Head (Electronic & Information
Technology Department) at BIS; Kiran Shetty, CEO and Regional Head – India
& South Asia at SWIFT India; Ganesh Ramakishnan Professor, Department of
Computer Science and Engineering in IIT Bombay.
Also, BSE Managing Director and CEO
Ashishkumar Chauhan; NSE MD and CEO Vikram Limaye; Mahesh Vyas, MD of CMIE; Prithvi
Haldea, chairman at Prime Database; and Anuj Kumar, CEO of CAMS are also the
members.
2.
RBI named Ajay Kumar Choudhary and Deepak Kumar as new Executive Directors: The Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) has appointed Deepak Kumar and Ajay Kumar Choudhary as new
executive directors (ED) with effect from 03 January. Prior to being promoted
as ED, Deepak Kumar was heading the department of information technology of
RBI, while Ajay Choudhary was Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of
Supervision.
About the Deepak Kumar: Kumar has over a
span of three decades working in RBI’s central office departments covering
policy making and project management functions in the areas of information
technology, cyber security, payment systems, currency management, human
resource management, banking supervision, foreign exchange management.
About the Ajay Kumar Choudhary: Meanwhile,
Choudhary has, over a span of three decades, served in supervision, regulation,
currency management, payments and settlements, and other areas in the Reserve
Bank, in its Central Office as well as Regional Offices. He will look after the
fintech department, risk monitoring department and inspection department.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1.
NTPC plans to buy 5% equity in Power Exchange of India Ltd: State-owned power
generation company NTPC Ltd. is set to acquire a 5 per cent equity stake in
Power Exchange of India Ltd (PXIL). It must be noted that the government is
planning to expand the share of the spot power market in the total electricity
supply in India to 25 per cent by 2023-24. At present, the size of short-term
power trading is about 5 per cent.
About Power Exchange of India Ltd:
(1) It was incorporated on February 20,
2008, as India’s first institutionally promoted power exchange.
(2) PXIL provides various electricity
trading solutions and helps in connecting buyers with sellers.
(3) The authorised share capital of the
PXIL is Rs 120 crore and the paid-up capital is Rs 58.47 crore.
2.
Indian-origin Ashok Elluswamy was first employee to be hired for Tesla’s: Tesla founder and
CEO Elon Musk, who has been using social media to recruit people, has disclosed
that Indian-origin Ashok Elluswamy was the first employee to be hired for his
electric vehicle company’s Autopilot team. Before joining Tesla, Mr Elluswamy
was associated with Volkswagen Electronic Research Lab and WABCO Vehicle
Control System.
Ashok Elluswamy holds a bachelor’s degree
in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the College of Engineering
Guindy, Chennai and a Master’s degree in Robotics System Development from
Carnegie Mellon University.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1.
Zishaan A Latif won Ramnath Goenka Award in Photo journalism: Zishaan A Latif won
Ramnath Goenka Award in the Photo Journalism category. He won the award for his
photo essay, The arduous struggle for inclusion in the NRC, which was published
in The Caravan in October 2019. He documented the plight of people who were
dropped from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and put a face to an
untold human story. About a month after the NRC list was released, Latif made
his way through four districts in Assam, documenting people’s struggle for
inclusion in the NRC.
OBITUARIES
1.
Legendary Kenyan Conservationist and Fossil-hunter Richard Leaky passes away: World-renowned
Kenyan politician, conservationist and fossil hunter Richard Leakey has passed
away. The legendary paleoanthropologist is credited for the discovery of
‘Turkana Boy’ in 1984 which led to groundbreaking discoveries proving that
humankind evolved in Africa. Turkana boy is the most complete fossil Skelton of
a human ancestor ever found. Paleoanthropology is the study of human evolution
through fossil and archaeological records. Leakey is also known to spearhead
campaigns against the ivory trade to save the population of African elephants.
2. Indian Navy’s 1971 war veteran Vice Admiral S H Sarma passes away: The Indian Navy’s 1971 Indo-Pak war veteran Vice Admiral S.H. Sarma has passed away, at the age of 100. He was the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet during the 1971 war. India had defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war leading to the creation of Bangladesh. Vice Admiral Sarma had celebrated his 100th birthday on December 1 last year. He also took part in the Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav celebration in Delhi recently. Sarma was the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet during the 1971 war. India had defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war leading to the creation of Bangladesh.
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