Current Affairs 12 January 2022

We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs 12 January 2022, which have unique updates of Latest Current Affairs 2021 events from all newspapers such as The Hindu, The Economic Times, PIB, Times of India, PTI, Indian Express, Business Standard and all Government official websites.

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NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav releases report on Q2FY22 of Quarterly Employment Survey

i.Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoL&E) virtually released the report of second quarter (Q2FY22- July-September 2021) of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), a part of All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey (AQEES).
ii.In accordance with the report, the estimated total employment in the nine non-farm sectors is 3.10 crore approximately, which is 2 lakhs higher than the estimated employment (3.08 crore) from the first round of QES (Q1FY22- April-June, 2021), released on September 27, 2021.
iii.Also, the overall percentage of female workers stood at 32.1%, higher than Q1FY22 when it was 29.3%.
About Ministry of Labour & Employment(MoL&E):
Union Minister– Bhupender Yadav (Rajya Sabha Rajasthan)
Minister of State– Rameswar Teli (Constituency- Dibrugarh, Assam)
>> Read Full News

BANKING AND FINANCE

RBI extends its Directions for Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank till May 10, 2022

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the validity of its directions by 4 months for Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank Niyamitha, Bengaluru (Karnataka) i.e. till May 10, 2022 from January 11, 2022.

• The directions have been issued under Section 35A read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation (BR) Act, 1949.
• RBI brought the bank under Directions in the interest of depositor protection on January 2, 2020, the validity of which was extended from time to time.

Key Points:
i.The withdrawal limit for depositors of the bank is capped at Rs 1 lakh per depositor during the entire duration.
ii.Without prior approval of RBI, the bank cannot grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment, incur any liability including borrowal of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits, disburse or agree to disburse any payment whether in discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise, enter into any compromise or arrangement and sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of its properties or assets.
About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):
Establishment– April 1, 1935
Governor– Shaktikanta Das
Deputy Governors– Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Debabrata Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T Rabi Sankar
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra

Axis Bank Collaborates with MinkasuPay for Biometric-Based Banking Payments

Axis Bank has partnered with MinkasuPay to offer a biometric authentication solution for net banking payments in merchant apps using Fingerprint or Face ID, without the need for usernames, passwords, and One-Time Passwords (OTPs).

• This Solution will reduce the time of payment from 50-60 seconds to just 2-3 seconds and also increase the transaction success rate.

About Biometric Authentication Solution:
i.MinkasuPay’s biometric authentication solution, which is a 2-Factor-Authentication (FA) solution (mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)), will help in increasing quick and secure digital transactions through device binding and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
ii.For the 1st transaction, customers have to log in to their net banking account and later for all other subsequent transactions, a Fingerprint or Face ID can be used to approve payments.

• This solution will enhance user experience, and also improve security and reduce cyber- fraud

About MinkasuPay India:
Co-Founder & CEO – Anbu Gounder
Headquarters – Coimbatore, TamilNadu

LazyPay Partners with SBM Bank India to Launch LazyCard for Easy Credit

On 11th January 2022 LazyPay, a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) solution by PayU Finance, announced its partnership with SBM Bank India to launch LazyCard, a prepaid payment instrument backed by a credit line that works on the Visa payment network.

• Objective – To empower financially underserved Indians with easy access to credit as their card has limited credit options.
• LazyCard reaches over 62 million pre-approved users of LazyPay, with a credit limit of up to Rs. 5 lakh.
• Consumers could avail the Lazycard at zero joining fee and zero annual fee along with multiple transactional benefits and rewards.

About PayU Finance India Private Limited (PayU Finance):
CEO – Prashanth Ranganathan
Headquarters – Gurugram, Haryana 
About SBM Bank:
CEO & MD – Sidharth Rath
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
>> Read Full News

Axis Bank Issues 1st LC on Govt-backed Platform SLDE

Axis Bank issued industry’s 1st letter of credit (LC) on the Secured Logistics Document Exchange (SLDE), a government-backed blockchain-enabled platform (launched in July 2021).

• The deal, which was executed digitally on the SLDE platform, involved ArcelorMittal Nippon and Lalit Pipes & Pipes Limited (LPPL) (Axis bank’s client). The bank released an LC on behalf of LPPL.
• SLDE: It was launched by the commerce ministry in July 2021 to replace the manual process of generation, exchange and compliance of logistics documents (which takes around 2 weeks of time) with a digitised and secure document exchange system.

SJVN Got Category I Licence for Inter State Power Trading 

Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) got the Category I licence for inter-state trading in electricity in India, which was granted by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). SJVN has a portfolio of more than 16,000 megawatt (MW), out of which 2,016.5 MW is under operation.

• Net worth Requirement: An entity or person applying for a Category `I` trading licence should have net worth of Rs 50 crore and should have maintained minimum current ratio and liquidity ratio of 1:1.
• If the licensee fails to undertake trading power within 1 year (from the date when licence is granted), the licence could be revoked.
• According to CERC, the short-term power market comprised 10 percent of the total electricity procured in India in 2019-20 and the remaining 90 percent of generation was procured by distribution companies.

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Nepal Power Exchange Signs Energy Trading Agreement with India’s Manikaran Power

Nepal Power Exchange Ltd (NPEL) signed an energy trading agreement with India’s Manikaran Power Ltd to sell electricity produced by the domestic private sector to India through India’s Manikaran Power.

• This is the first agreement between the private sectors of India and Nepal to facilitate power trading.
• The agreement was signed between NPEL Managing Director (MD) Ashish Garg and Manikaran Power Ltd MD Navajeet Singh Kalsi in the presence of Nepal’s Energy Minister Pambha Bhushal.
• The agreement was signed during Nepal Power Market Summit 2022, which was held in Kathmandu, Nepal.

About the Agreement:
i.The agreement will allow Nepal to sell 500 Megawatt (MW) of electricity to India in the initial phase.
ii.Under the agreement, India’s Manikaran Power will invest in 15 percent of shares that belong to NPEL, which could be equated to Rs 300 million.

• Nepal aims at exporting its surplus electricity to India by increasing its current electricity generation capacity to around 200 MW.

iii.The agreement was signed after obtaining approval from the Indian government by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to sell its electricity in the Indian Power Exchange market.
Keynote:
i.NEA has been currently exporting electricity to India. Recently, the Indian government is preparing to issue licences to private sector companies for carrying out the cross-border power trade.
ii.Apart from India, Bangladesh has also expressed its interest to sign a power purchase agreement directly with Nepal’s private sector hydropower producers.
Note – NPEL is a subsidiary of the Independent Power Producers’ Association of Nepal (IPPAN), a non-profit, non-government autonomous organisation that works in the area of hydropower in Nepal.
About Manikaran Power Ltd:
Managing Director – Navajeet Singh Kalsi
Established – 2005
Headquarters – New Delhi, Delhi

Citigroup, Ind-Ra, ICICI lower India Growth Projections amid Covid-19 surge & FAE for FY22

Citigroup Inc., India Ratings & Research Private Limited (Ind-Ra), and ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) Bank Ltd., have lowered India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates after the First Advance Estimates (FAE) of National Income at both Constant (2011-12) and Current Prices for FY22 released by National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of statistics and Programme implementation (MOSPI) on January 7, 2022.

• FAE estimated the real GDP for FY22 at 9.2% which is lower than the 9.5% GDP growth projection of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• The downward revision by these three entities is also due to the ongoing Omicron/COVID-19 outbreak.

Table showing the revised estimates by rating agencies for FY22:

Citigroup Inc. also lowered FY23’s expansion at 8.3% from 8.7% earlier.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS      

Overview of 79th Annual Golden Globe Awards® 2022 held in California

On 9th January 2022, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association(HFPA) announced the winners of the 79th edition of the Annual Golden Globe Awards (2022) in Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California, United States of America(USA).
The 2022 awards recognized and honoured the talents of film and television (American production or co-production between the USA and foreign partner) for 2021

• The Golden Globe awards are annually presented by the HFPA.

Highlights:
i.Jane Campion won the Best Director Motion Picture for “The Power of the Dog”. She became the 3rd female director ever to win the Best Director award at the Golden Globes.
ii.The Power of the Dog, West Side Story, and Succession has won three awards each.
iii.Actor Will Smith won the “Best Actor-Motion Picture Drama”, his first-ever Golden Globe, for his performance in “King Richard.”
iv.Michaela Jaé Rodriguez won the Best Television Actress – Drama Series for Pose and became the 1st transgender actress to win a Golden Globe.
>> Read Full News  

Satish Adiga Bestowed With ICMR’s Dr Subhas Mukherjee Award for 2020

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has selected Satish Adiga, Professor in Clinical Embryology at Kasturba Medical College (KMC) under the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), for the Dr Subhas Mukherjee Award for 2020.

He heads the fertility programme at KMC Manipal, Karnataka

• The award recognises his contribution to the field of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
• Subhas Mukherjee was the creator of India’s first child using IVF.Click here to know about all the ICMR awards.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS   

Alikhan Smailov Named As Kazakhstan’s New Prime Minister

On 11th January 2022 Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev nominated Alikhan Smailov, 49 years as the Prime Minister (PM) of Kazakhstan and the lower house of parliament also voted in favour of him during a session that broadcasted live on state television.

• Alikhan Smailov was appointed as the acting Prime Minister on 5 January 2022 following the resignation of the Askar Mamin Cabinet during the ongoing violent 2022 Kazakh protests.

About Alikhan Smailov:
i.Alikhan Smailov has served as First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2019.
ii.During 2014–2015 he served as the chairman of the Committee on Statistics of the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan and in 2015–2018 he was the assistant to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
iii.From September 2018 to February 2019 he served as the Minister of Finance.
Note – On 11th January 2022 Kazakhstan security forces detained 9,900 people over the unrest.
About Kazakhstan:
President – Kassym – Jomart Tokayev
Capital – Nur-Sultan
Currency – Tenge

Daniel Ortega Sworn in for 5th Term as President of Nicaragua 

On 10th January 2022, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), was sworn in for a new presidential term. This marks his 5th term and 4th consecutive term as the President of Nicaragua. He will remain in the office until January 2027. 

• The swearing-in ceremony was held at the Plaza de la Revolucion, Managua, Nicaragua.
• He received the presidential sash from Gustavo Porras, head of the National Assembly.

Note:
Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, the first lady and the Vice President of Nicaragua, were re-elected in the general Election of Nicaragua held in November 2021.
The FSLN party has won more than 75% of the vote in the 2021 elections.
About Daniel Ortega:
i.Daniel Ortega was born on 11th November 1945 in La Libertad, Chontales.
ii.He has been serving as the president of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he served as the president of Nicaragua for the first time from 1985 to 1990.
iii.Between 1979 to 1985 he served as the Coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction.
iv.After the retirement of Fidel Castro (former President of Cuba) in 2008, Daniel Ortega is one of the longest-serving non-royal rulers in the world and the longest-serving non-royal leader in the Americas.
About Nicaragua:
President– Daniel Ortega
Capital– Managua
Currency– Nicaraguan Córdoba

Adani Power Appoints Shersingh B Khyalia as its CEO 

The Board of Directors of Adani Power Limited(APL), a subsidiary of Adani Group, approved the appointment of Shersingh B Khyalia as the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Adani Powers with effect from 11th January 2022.
About Shersingh B Khyalia:
i.Shersingh B Khyalia is a Chartered Accountant, who has served as the Managing Director in Gujarat Power Corporation.
ii.He has also served as Director on the Boards of Power Exchange (India) Ltd; Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd; Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Ltd.; Dakshin Gujarat Company Ltd.; Madhya Gujarat Company Ltd; Dakshin Haryana Distribution Company Ltd; and Gujarat Green Revolution Ltd.
About Adani Power Limited(APL):
CEO– Shersingh B Khyalia
Headquarters– Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Incorporated on 22nd August 1996       

RajKummar Rao Appointed as Brand Ambassador of RenewBuy RenewBuy, an online insurance platform, has appointed RajKummar Rao as the brand ambassador for its 1st 360-degree consumer advertisement campaign that highlights consumer’s insurance needs.

• The campaign was designed and conceptualised by Havas Worldwide India.
• “Smart Tech, Right Advice” is the theme of the campaign.

i.This program aims to increase the spread of insurance policies digitally for the consumers from any part of the country.
About “Smart Tech, Right Advice”:
i.It ensures consumer needs by digital led insurance POSP (Point of Sale Person) advisor network.
ii.The POSP insurance advisors guide the consumers to understand the product, its terms, and conditions, choose the right product as per their specific needs and requirements and most importantly give them assistance at the time of claims.
iii.  Digitally enabled insurance advisors are playing an instrumental role in building awareness along with making insurance accessible.
Other Initiatives:
BikeWo, Hyderabad-based electric two-wheeler charging infra provider appoints movie actor Venkatesh Daggubati as its Strategic Investor and Brand Ambassador, as it aims to install 20,000 Electric Vehicle(Ev) charging points across India by 2025.
About RenewBuy:
Founder – Balachander Sekhar & Indraneel Chatterjee
Established – 2015

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS      

GoI to hold 35.8% Stakes of Vodafone Idea in the form of EquityIndia’s third largest network Vi or Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) has approved the interest on spectrum and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues into government equity.
VIL in the hands of GOI
i.VIL accepted a four-year moratorium as well as accepted the equity conversion.
ii.Which means the Indian government will own almost 35.8% of VIL’s stake followed by Vodafone Group which owns 28.5% and 17.8% by Aditya Birla Group.
iii. The net present value (NPV) of interest is expected to be about Rs 16,000 crore, final confirmation made by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
Rivals of VIL
i.The rivals of VIL, i.e Bharti Airtel have accepted for moratorium and not for equity.
ii.While JIO went for neither.
Note – Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) is the usage and licensing fee that telecom operators are charged by DoT.
About Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL)
Establishment – 31 August 2018 (Vodafone India merged with Idea Cellular)
MD & CEO – Ravinder Takkar
Headquarters – Gandhinagar, Gujarat

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

India Successfully Test-Fires BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile from INS Visakhapatnam 

In January 2022, India successfully test-fired an advanced sea to sea variant of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise missile from INS (Indian Navy Ship) Visakhapatnam warship off the west coast. The missile hit the designated target ship precisely at the maximum range.
Key Points:
About Brahmos Missiles:
i.BrahMos missiles, which has a combination of the names of Brahmaputra (India) and Moskva (Russia) rivers, are designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace, which is an India-Russian joint venture that produces supersonic cruise missiles that could be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms.
ii.BrahMos missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound.
iii.The naval version of the Brahmos has been tested in October and December 2020 from the Indian Navy’s indigenously-built stealth destroyer INS Chennai and Rajput-class destroyer INS Ranvijay, respectively.
iv.BrahMos, which has the capability to hit sea-based targets beyond the radar horizon, was being deployed by the Indian Navy from 2005.
About INS Visakhapatnam:
i.The Indian Navy received its first indigenous INS Visakhapatnam, a P15B (Project 15 Bravo) class stealth guided-missile destroyer from Mazagon Dock shipyard Limited (MDL), Mumbai on October 28 2021. Click here to know more
ii.‘Visakhapatnam’ is the first of the 4 destroyers; the three other upcoming ships in the class are INS Mormugao, INS Imphal and INS Surat.
About Indian Navy:
Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) – Admiral R Hari Kumar
Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Navy) – New Delhi, Delhi

SPORTS

South African Cricket all-rounder Chris Morris announces Retirement South African (Proteas) all-rounder Chris Morris announced retirement from all forms of cricket at the age of 34, he is set to take up coaching role for domestic cricket team – Titans in the CSA T20 Challenge .
About Chris Morris
i.Morris made his International debut for Proteas in 2013 and played his last match in 2019.
ii.He has represented Proteas in 4-tests, 42-ODI and 23 T20I. Made 774 runs and 94 wickets in International formats.
iii.  He has scored one half-century in TEST, ODI and T20I.
iv. He has also played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the following franchises such as Chennai Super kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals.
v.Morris is the most expensive buy in the history of IPL 2021 auction, bagging Rs 16.25 crores by Rajasthan Royal.
About South African Cricket Board of Control (SACBOC)
Director – Graeme Smith
Headquarters – Johannesburg, South Africa
South Africa -3rd test playing Nation (1888-1889) followed by England and Australia

Karnataka to Host Khelo India Games in 2023

Karnataka Minister for Youth Empowerment and Sports, K.C. Narayana Gowda announced that Karnataka will host the next Khelo India Games in 2023. He also announced that over 75 sports students are being trained in the State to take part in the next Olympics.

i.Khelo India Games for 2021 is scheduled to be held in February 2022 at Panchkula, Haryana.

OBITUARY

David Sassoli President of European Parliament Passed Away 

David Sassoli the President of the European Parliament (since 2019), one of three legislative branches of the European Union, has passed away in Aviano, Italy. He was born on 30th May 1956 in Florence, Italy.
He was a member of the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.

• He has worked as a journalist and television anchor for around 3 decades.
• He became a member of the European Parliament in 2009 and later became the speaker in 2019.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

HarperCollins to publish “Indomitable” the Autobiography of Arundhati Bhattacharya

HarperCollins is set to publish “Indomitable: A Working Woman’s Notes on Life, Work and Leadership” the autobiography of Arundhati Bhattacharya, retired Indian banker and former Chairperson of the State Bank of India(SBI).
The book will be published by Harper Business, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
About the book:
i.Indomitable features the story of Arundhati Bhattacharya’s life as a banker and the difficulties she faced in the male-dominated sector.
ii.The book also details her life during early education, college in Kolkata and her tenure in SBI.
About Arundhati Battacharya:
i.Arundhati Bhattacharya is the chairperson and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of salesforce India, a cloud-based Software as a service (SaaS) company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States of America.
ii.She served as the first-ever woman Chairperson of the SBI, India’s largest bank and a Fortune 500 company, from 2013 to 2017.
iii.She was the first chairperson of the SBI to get an extension after the age of retirement.

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