Daily GK Update- 12th Feb, 2022

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. India’s first biomass-based hydrogen plant to come up at Madhya Pradesh: India’s first commercial-scale biomass-based hydrogen plant will come up at the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. Every day this plant will produce one tonne of hydrogen, from 30 tonnes of biomass feedstock. The plant is being put up by a joint venture of Watomo Energies Ltd and Biezel Green Energy with an investment of Rs 24 crore.

The company owns the technology for a ‘thermally accelerated anerobic digestion (TAD) reactor’ that can produce hydrogen, methane and biochar from biomass. Biezel Green will own 50 per cent in the yet-to-be-named joint venture; the other 50 per cent will come from interested farmers.

 

2. Gujarat unveils new IT/ITeS policy to generate 1 lakh direct jobs: Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel has announced a new IT/ITeS policy for the next five years. This policy will provide financial incentives up to Rs 200 crore to the entities willing to incur capital expenditures. It will also generate employment of about 1 lakh youths. It also seeks to increase IT-ITeS exports from the current Rs 3000 crores annually to 25,000 crores over the next five years. Its operative period will start from the day of notification to 31st March 2027.

About the policy: The policy launched at a formal event at a club in GIFT City in Gandhinagar replaces the 2016-2021 policy that had set an ambitious target to increase exports up to USD two billion (Rs 13,000 crore), IT turnover to USD 15 billion (Rs 75,000 crore) and create 10 lakh direct jobs. The policy provides support for both capital (CAPEX) and operational (OPEX) expenditures. “This is a unique model that gives flexibility to industries to plan their expenditures and addresses the viability concerns.

Note: Gujarat Capital: Gandhinagar; Gujarat Governor: Acharya Devvrat; Gujarat Chief minister: Bhupendrabhai Patel.

 

3. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launches Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 4.0: Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 4.0 virtually. The IMI 4.0 will be conducted in 416 districts across 33 states/UTs. The programme will be implemented in three rounds, of 7 days each. The first round will begin from 7th February 2022, second round from 7th March 2022, and the third round from 4th April 2022. In the first round 11 states will be covered. These are Assam, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura and Chhattisgarh. Till date, ten phases of Mission Indradhanush have been completed covering 701 districts across the country.

 

4. J&K becomes the first Union Territory to be integrated with National Single Window System: Jammu & Kashmir has become the first Union Territory to be integrated with the National Single Window System (NSWS). National Single Window System (NSWS) was launched in September 2021 by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. It is a digital platform that serves as a guide for investors to identify and to apply for approvals as per their business requirements. NSWS will eliminate the need for investors to visit multiple platforms/offices to gather information and obtain clearances from different stakeholders. As on date 14 States/UTs have been onboarded on NSWS These are- Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

 

5. Power Minister R K Singh launched Powerthon-2022: Union Minister of Power, R K Singh has launched Powerthon-2022, a hackathon competition to find technology-driven solutions to solve the complex problems in power distribution and to ensure quality and reliable power supply. The competition will bring together qualified mentors with TSPs, innovators, and other participants to create teams for efficient electricity networks. He also encouraged technologists to come forward not only with solutions to existing problems but also with other problem statements and ideas for reliable power supply.

In this hackathon:

(1) Technology Solution Providers (TSPs), start-ups, educational institutions, research institutes, equipment manufacturers, state power utilities and other state and central power sector entities, shall be briefed on the current challenges/ problem statements faced across the power distribution sector and invited to showcase their technology-driven solutions to solve the complex problems.

(2) The hackathon will task participants to find innovative solutions based on advanced emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and the Internet of Things on nine themes that have been identified after various discussions with 14 discoms across nine states.

 

6. Senior bureaucrat S. Kishore appointed as new SSC Chairman: According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Kishore to the post in the rank and pay of Secretary to Government of India by temporarily upgrading the post and keeping the Recruitment Rules of the post in abeyance. Presently, he is serving as Special Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

 

7. Sanjay Malhotra named DFS Secretary in Finance Ministry: Sanjay Malhotra has been named as Secretary in the Department of Financial Services in the Ministry of Finance. He is a 1990 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre. Before this, Sanjay Malhotra was Chairman and Managing Director of REC Ltd. He has succeeded Debashish Panda, who completed his term as DFS Secretary on January 31, 2022.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. PM Narendra Modi address high-level segment of One Ocean Summit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed the high-level segment of the One Ocean Summit. The high-level segment of the summit will also be addressed by several other heads of states and governments including Germany, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan and Canada.

About the summit: The One Ocean summit is organised by France from 9-11 February in Brest in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank. The objective of the summit is to mobilise the international community to take tangible action towards preserving and supporting healthy and sustainable ocean ecosystems.

 

2. India ranked 46th in EIU’s Democracy Index: India has ranked 46th position in the 2021 Democracy Index’s global ranking, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit. With the highest score of 9.75, Norway topped the Democracy Index 2021 by Economist Intelligence. The list was published on February 10, 2022. India scored 6.91 to rank 46th on the list. Our neighbour Pakistan has been placed further below in the hybrid regime with a rank of 104.

Top 10 countries in the list:

1. Norway: Overall score of 9.75.

2. New Zealand: Overall score of 9.37.

3. Finland:  Overall score of 9.27.

4. Sweden:  It had an overall score of 9.26.

5. Iceland: Overall score 9.18.

6. Denmark: Overall score of 9.09.

7. Ireland:  Overall score of 9.

8. Taiwan: Overall score of 8.99.

9. Australia: Overall score of 8.90.

10. Switzerland: Overall score of 8.90.

Note: Economist Intelligence Unit Headquarters: London, United Kingdom; Economist Intelligence Unit Founded: 1946; Economist Intelligence Unit MD: Robin Bew.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. SEBI restructured Advisory Committee on Investor Protection and Education Fund: Securities and Exchange Board of India has restructured its advisory committee on Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF), under the chairmanship of G Mahalingam. The advisory committee on IPEF is an eight-member committee that will take G Mahalingam, former Whole Time Member of SEBI, as its new Chairperson. Members of Committee: Vijay Kumar Venkataraman, Mrin Agarwal, A Balasubramanian, M G Parameswaran, GP Garg, N Hariharan and Jayanta Jash.

About the committee: In 2013, the committee was established by the SEBI to find out ways and means to best utilize the investor protection and education fund. Earlier the committee was headed by Abraham Koshy, former professor of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Gujarat. The committee is mandated to recommend investor education and protection activities for the utilization of the SEBI Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF).

Note: Securities and Exchange Board of India Founded: 12 April 1992; Securities and Exchange Board of India Headquarters: Mumbai; Securities and Exchange Board of India Agency executive: Ajay Tyagi.

 

2. SEBI directs AMCs to set up audit committee with minimum three directors: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has directed the mutual fund (MF) industry to set up an audit committee at the asset management company (AMC) level. The audit committee will require a minimum of three directors and at least two-third of them shall be independent directors of the AMC. Currently, such a committee is set up by the trustee of a fund house.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Gautam Adani overtook Mukesh Ambani: In accordance with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Gautam Adani net worth reached $88.5 billion overtaking Mukesh Ambani’s $87.9 billion becoming Asia’s richest person as on 8th February 2022. With a nearly $12 billion jump in his personal wealth, he has become the 10th richest person in the world. Globally Elon Musk was named as the world’s richest person with a total net worth of $235 Billion. He was followed by Jeff Bezos with a total net worth of $183 Billion & Bernard Arnault with a total net worth of $168 Billion.

 

2. L&T and Microsoft ink partnership to develop regulated sector cloud offering: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Microsoft India have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop a regulated sector focused cloud offering to empower customers with the cloud computing and infrastructure services. Under the MoU, the two companies will setup a joint governance group to define future platform designs, investments, and commercial/business models to service the regulated sectors’ emerging technology requirements. Senior leadership teams of both the organizations will be engaged collectively on this as the association evolves.

 

DEFENCE

 

1. India’s Goa Shipyard Ltd delivered the 5th vessel ICGS ‘Saksham’: India’s Goa Shipyard Ltd delivered the 5th and final vessel of the 5 Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vehicle (CGOPV) Project ahead of contractual schedule. The vessel was named ICGS ‘Saksham’. The point to be underlined- all 5 vessels have been delivered before time to the Indian Coast Guard. The contract for 5 CGOPVs was signed by GSL with the Ministry of Defence on 26 August 2016.

About the vessels: All the five CGOPVs will be the most advanced patrol vessels in service with the coast guard. Also, the 2,400 tonnes vessels are fitted with additional features including quick response boats for rescue and anti-piracy and gunnery simulators. The hull is designed to provide fuel efficiency, crew comfort and enhanced sea keeping qualities. With computerised control systems, they are the most advanced patrol vessels in service with the Coast Guard. It has an indigenous content of about 70% and weighs around 2400 tonnes.