Daily GK Update- 29th Jan, 2023

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. NMDC appoints boxer Nikhat Zareen as brand ambassador: National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with World Boxing Champion, Nikhat Zareen to represent NMDC as its brand ambassador. She won a gold medal at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2022 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships (52 kg category). She became the fifth Indian woman to win a gold medal at the IBA World Boxing Championships.

·       CMD, NMDC: Sumit Deb

·       Headquarters: Hyderabad

 

2. Mughal Gardens renamed as Amrit Udyan: The iconic Mughal Gardens in Rashtrapati Bhavan has been renamed as the Amrit Udyan. It would be open to the public from 31st January to 26 March 2023. This decision is said to be part of the government of India’s ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'. The cluster of about 15 gardens will collectively be known as Amrit Udyan. Individual gardens within the sprawling Presidential Estate - Herbal Garden, Musical Garden, and Spiritual Garden - will retain their names.

 

3. Suzuki to use cow dung for its CNG cars: India’s largest car manufacturer company, Suzuki Motor Corporation announced that it will use cow dung to power its CNG cars. Suzuki signed an MoU with Asia’s largest dairy manufacturer, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Suzuki has invested in Fujisan Asagiri Biomass which generates power from biogas derived from cow dung in Japan. The biogas could be used for Suzuki’s CNG models which account for approximately 70 percent of the CNG car market in India.

 

4. Luminous to build India’s first green solar panel factory in Uttarakhand: Luminous Power Technologies has announced its plan to build the country’s first green energy-based solar panel manufacturing factory in Uttarakhand. The new manufacturing plant located in Rudrapur is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2023. This state-of-the-art facility will be equipped with the latest technology to design and produce high-quality solar panels that will be used for both residential and commercial applications. Once operational, the facility, spread across 4.5 lakh square feet/10 acres will help enable a solar production capacity of 500 MW per annum, expandable up to 1 GW, producing a range of solar panels with a power output of 40W to 600W. This solar panel facility is fully robotic and will use 100 percent energy from solar power, he noted. CEO and Managing Director of Luminous Power Technologies – Preeti Bajaj

 

5. Woxsen University launched Project Aspiration in Telangana for girls: Woxsen University has launched Project Aspiration to empower adolescent girls of standards IX-XII of Model Schools and Junior Colleges of Telangana. Under the Project, the school principal selected a few deserving students to participate in the ‘Train the Trainer’ workshop, which commenced in Dec 2022. Over 3 weeks of training sessions, the girls were exposed to different aspects of future, developing SMART goals & learnt how to work towards achieving them. Professors from different schools at Woxsen briefed the students on various avenues of higher education and career opportunities. Anubha Jain, Counsellor at Woxsen University acquainted them with important concepts of mental health and counselling. The Project Aspiration team has organized various debates and discussed crucial social issues to open up young minds.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. MeitY, Meta announced list of 120 startups for XR Startup Programme: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Meta have jointly released the list of 120 startups and innovators for the XR Startup Programme. It includes an Accelerator and a Grand Challenge. Aim: To boost the emerging Tech ecosystem Out of the startups selected in the Accelerator Programme, over 30% are from tier II or tier III cities across India. It will discover, nurture, and accelerate Extended Reality (XR) Technology startups and innovators.

 

2. Former NATO general Petr Pavel becomes new President of Czech Republic: A former chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) military committee, Petr Pavel has become the new president of the Czech Republic. He succeeded the former President of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman. In a run-off vote, he defeated billionaire Andrej Babis. He has been a vocal supporter of the European Union and NATO, seeing the Czech Republic’s future as inextricably linked to their membership.

Czech Republic Capital: Prague

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. India wins the inaugural Women’s U19 T20 World Cup title: India women's cricket team defeated England by 7 wickets in the final to win the first-ever ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, held in Potchefstroom, South Africa. BCCI secretary, Jay Shah announced a whopping cash reward of ₹5 crores for the entire India squad. England captain and stellar all-rounder, Grace Scrivens has been named Player of the Tournament.

·       Player of the Match: Titas Sadhu (India)

·       India's Captain for U-19 Women’s T20: Shafali Verma

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. India’s forex reserves rise by $1.727 bn to $573.727 bn: As per the Reserve Bank of India release, India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.727 billion to $573.727 billion in the week ended January 20, 2023. As on January 13, 2023, the forex reserves of India stood at $561.583 billion. The Foreign Currency Assets (FCA) stood at $503.65 billion. FCA includes the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound, and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

 

2. Star Health and Allied Insurance, PNB enter into bancassurance tie-up: Star Health and Allied Insurance has renewed its strategic corporate agency tie-up for bancassurance with Punjab National Bank (PNB) for a long-term period. PNB will continue to distribute Star Health’s insurance products across all their branches pan India. It is a testament to Star Health’s customer service, and track record. Bancassurance: Contract between bank and insurance company to allow the insurance company to sell its products to the bank's client base.

 

3. NPST launched UPI API engine TimePay Evok for PAPG: Network People Services Technologies Ltd (NPST) has unveiled "Timepay Evok" as a UPI API engine to articulate its mission and relationship with digital merchants. With unique API services, UPI as a payment gateway can be integrated for both websites and App driven solutions for large-scale merchants. UPI has been identified as a revolutionary product in the payment ecosystem. It was launched in 2016. Co-founder, NPST: Deepak Chand Thakur

 

OBITUARIES

 

1. Veteran actress and former MP Jamuna passes away: Veteran film actress, Jamuna passed away in Hyderabad at the age of 86 due to health issues. She was born in 1936 in Hampi in Karnataka and started her career as a stage artist, debuting with Puttillu on Silver Screen. She acted in about 200 Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi films. She was identified with her role in ‘Satyabhama’ and became a household name for the mythological character. She was a former Lok Sabha MP from Rajahmundry in 1989 from the Congress.