NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Government appoints two new judges of the
Supreme Court of India: The Government has
cleared the appointment of two new judges of the Supreme Court - Justices
Rajesh Bindal and Aravind Kumar. With this, the Supreme Court has regained
its full strength of 34 judges. Rajesh Bindal: He was the Chief Justice of
Allahabad High Court. Aravind Kumar: He was Chief Justice of Gujarat High
Court. Earlier, the government also appointed five judges - Justices
Pankaj Mithal, Sanjay Karol, PV Sanjay Kumar, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Manoj
Misra
2. Geological Survey of India finds Lithium
and Gold Deposits: The Geological
Survey of India (GSI) has found Lithium inferred resources (G3) of 5.9
million tonnes in the Salal-Haimana area of the Reasi District of Jammu and
Kashmir. The ministry has handed over the 51 mineral blocks, including
Lithium and Gold to the state governments. Out of these 51 mineral
blocks, 5 blocks pertain to gold, and other blocks pertain to commodities
like potash, molybdenum, base metals, etc. Lithium is a Non-ferrous metal.
3. PM Modi inaugurate Uttar Pradesh Global
Investors Summit 2023: PM Narendra
Modi inaugurated the three-day-long Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit
2023 in Lucknow on 10th February 2023. He has also inaugurated Global
Trade Show and launched Invest UP 2.0. It is the flagship investment
summit of the Uttar Pradesh Government. Aim: To bring together
policymakers, industry leaders, academia, think tanks, and leaders from across
the world to collectively explore business opportunities and forge partnerships
4. J&K Govt launches project to promote
sustainable agriculture: The Jammu and
Kashmir government initiated a program to support their
farmers and promote sustainable agriculture in the Union Territory. Reason: Growing
concern for health and increasing demand for organic food The 'alternate
agriculture system for sustainability' project is a part of the
government's efforts to create a sustainable environment for agriculture. Aim:
To create six to seven organic clusters per district, covering a total of
2000 hectares of land.
5. India Health Link signs MoU with UP govt
to set up health ATMs: India Health
Link has signed an MoU with the Uttar Pradesh government under
their InvestUP program to set up a health ATM. It provides screening of
various health parameters at more than 4,600 community and primary health care
centers. It is a self-service, walk-in Health ATM. Individuals can get
their screening done for 20+ vital health parameters including BP, weight,
pulse, temperature, and ECG within 10 minutes followed by an instant report.
6. UP Government launched ‘Family ID’
portal: The Uttar Pradesh government has launched an
online portal “Family ID – One Family One Identity” to make access to
government schemes easier for the families of the state. Objective – To provide
free or subsidized ration to those families who do not have ration cards and
are not eligible for the National Food Security Scheme. Through the portal,
families can create their ID and can avail the benefits of the schemes. For
those who already have an ID, the family ID will be the same as the ration card
ID.
At present, about 3.59
crore families and 14.92 crore people living in Uttar Pradesh are getting the
benefit of the National Food Security Scheme. The ration card number of these
families will serve as ‘family ID’.
7. PM Modi inaugurated Arabic Academy
in Mumbai: Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated Arabic Academy in Mumbai.
The academy belongs to the Dawoodi Bohra community. The Bohras account for
10 percent of the total Muslim population in India. The community, which hails
from South Asia, has ancestral ties to Gujarat. PM Modi also shared the stage
with His Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, the present leader of the
worldwide Dawoodi Bohra community.
8. Defence ministry partnered with
Larsen & Toubro for modular bridges: The Ministry
of Defence has signed a contract with Larsen & Toubro
(L&T) for the procurement of 41 sets of Modular Bridges at an
estimated cost of Rs 2,585 crore for the Corps of Engineers, Indian Army.
Each set of Modular
Bridge shall consist of seven carrier vehicles based on 8×8 Heavy Mobility
Vehicles and two launcher vehicles based on 10×10 Heavy Mobility Vehicles. Each
set shall be capable of mechanically launching a single-span fully decked
46-meter assault bridge. The bridge can be employed over various types of
obstacles like canals & ditches with quick launching and retrieval capabilities.
These modular bridges will replace the manually-launched Medium Girder Bridges
(MGB) that are currently being used in the Indian Army. The new modular bridges
will have additional advantages like increased span, less time for
construction, and mechanical launching with retrieval capability.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Gender Balance Forum and Women in
Govt Forum to be held in Dubai: The Gender Balance Forum and the Women in Government Forum will
be organized at the World Government Summit in Dubai from 13-15
February 2023. Theme: Women in Government Forum: Ready for Leadership:
Shaping the Agenda for the Future World Government Summit 2023: Shaping
Future Governments Aim: To bring together thoughts of leaders from around
the region and the world. The leaders will also discuss new ways to
advance gender equality and women's participation.
2. India's accreditation system ranked
5th globally: According to the recent Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII)
2021, the national accreditation system of India under the Quality
Council of India (QCI) has been ranked 5th in the world. The GQII ranks
the 184 economies in the world on the basis of quality infrastructure
(QI). India’s overall QI system ranking continues to be in the Top 10 at
the 10th position (the standardization system (under BIS) at 9th and the
metrology system (under NPL-CSIR) at 21st).
3. World Pulses Day 2023: 10th February: World Pulses Day is
observed every year on February 10 to spread awareness about the
nutritional and environmental benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food
production.
Theme 2023: Pulses for a Sustainable Future
·
The UN General Assembly
recognized the value of pulses in 2013.
·
The UN has
also adopted the year 2016 as the International Year of Pulses (IYP).
·
The UNGA
dedicated February 10 as World Pulses Day in 2019.
4. 68th India International Garment
Fair inaugurated in Greater Noida: Minister of State for
Textiles, Darshana Jardosh has inaugurated the 68th India
International Garment Fair at India Export Mart of Greater Noida in Uttar
Pradesh. India’s annual textile and apparel export stood at 44.4 billion US
dollars in the financial year 2022 with an increase of 41% compared to 2021.
India is the second
largest textile and clothing exporter in the world.
5. Google introduced AI chatbot ‘Bard’: Google has launched an Artificial Intelligence
(AI) powered chatbot named “Google Bard” to compete with ChatGPT. Bard
is built on Google’s existing language model LaMDA, the language model for the
firm’s Dialog Application System.
Bard has been developed
to compete with the currently fastest growing user application, ChatGPT, which
has overtaken platforms such as Tik Tok and Instagram. Through Bard, users can
access complex information in simple language as before, not only that, but
also get fresh, high-quality and accurate information from Google’s chatbot.
6. Indian-American student named as
‘World’s Brightest’ student: An
Indian-American girl, Natasha Perianayagam has been named in
the world’s brightest students list by the Johns Hopkins Center for
Talented Youth. Perianayagam has been named in the world’s brightest students
list for the second consecutive year. She is 13 years old and is studying at
Florence M Gaudineer Middle School, in New Jersey, the United States. The list
was curated on the basis of the results of the above-grade-level tests of over
15,000 students across 76 countries. Natasha Perianayagam has also taken the
Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth (CTY) test in Spring 2021, when she was
a Grade 5 student.
OTHER UPDATES:
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. Bajaj Finance launches
Insurance Mall: Bajaj Finance has launched an 'Insurance
Mall' portal for its customers to ensure an Easy-buy experience. This new
portal offers a plethora of policies, plans in the core insurance segment,
and Pocket Insurance and Subscription.
Benefits:
·
100% digital process
·
An extensive product list
·
Budget-friendly premiums
·
Exclusively designed plans
·
Bajaj Finance also partnered with some of India's
leading insurers to provide the best products to customers.
2. RBI expands scope of
TReDS platform: The
RBI decided to expand the scope of the Trade Receivable Discounting System
(TReDS) platform allowing the use of insurance facilities. The RBI has
permitted the eligible entities to undertake factoring businesses to
participate as financiers on TReDS and allow secondary market operations on the
platform. Aim: To boost trade of receivables increasing cash flows to
MSMEs TReDS is an electronic platform to facilitate the financing of
trade receivables of MSMEs.
3. Ujjivan SFB launched app
for digitally challenged: Ujjivan Small Finance
Bank has launched Hello Ujjivan, a mobile banking application
with 3 Vs — voice, visual, and vernacular-enabled features — to provide banking
access to individuals with limited reading and writing skills. It aims to
instill banking habits in its micro-banking and rural customers through the
app.
The app is accessible by
voice in eight regional languages: Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati,
Kannada, Oriya, and Assamese Users can speak to the app to perform banking
transactions and access services such as paying loan EMIs, opening FD and RD
accounts, transferring funds and more. The app was co-created with Navana AI.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1. Dr. ABK Prasad selected for PCI’s
excellence in journalism award 2020: Veteran journalist Dr. Anne Bhavani Koteswara Prasad has been selected
for the prestigious PCI's Raja Ram Mohan Roy National Award 2020. Reason: For
his outstanding contribution to the field of journalism. The Chairperson
of the Press Council of India (PCI), Justice Ranjana Prakash
Desai conferred the award. ABK Prasad worked as the editor of
mainstream journals in the State He was the Chairman of the Official Language
Commission (2004 - 2009) in Andhra Pradesh.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
1. ISRO successfully launches second
developmental flight of SSLV-D2: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully
launched the second developmental flight of the Small Satellite
Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D2) with three satellites on February 10,
2023, from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Three satellites: EOS-07,
Janus-1, and AzaadiSAT-2 The first developmental flight of the
SSLV was launched from SDSC on August 7, 2022, but it failed. Reason: Due
to vibration disturbance for a short duration on the equipment bay deck
2. IISc and Samsung Semiconductor India
Research join hands: The Indian
Institute of Science (IISc) and Samsung Semiconductor India Research
(SSIR) have joined hands to promote research and development in the
field of on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. This partnership
seeks to build cutting-edge ESD device solutions to protect
ultra-high-speed serial interfaces in advanced integrated circuits and
system-on-chip products. Solutions arising from this research will be used
in Samsung’s advanced process nodes.
3. Skye Air launched India’s first traffic management system for drones: A Gurugram-based drone solutions provider, Skye Airon has launched the first traffic management system for drones in India. The software will allow drone operators to plan routes, make flight plans and assess risks before running drone-based operations in the country. The solution, called Skye UTM, is a first-of-its-kind for India. The Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, Nitin Gadkari unveiled it. Unmanned traffic management systems will play a key role in how airspace will be managed, allowing multiple beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operations to be run by different firms at the same time. Globally, several companies, such as US-based AirMap and Netherlands-based Airbus, offer such solutions.
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