Current Affairs 25 February 2022

We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs 25 February 2022, which have unique updates of Latest Current Affairs 2022 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 Health Minister releases two reports, highlighting India’s COVID-19 Vaccination Journey

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, 
released two reports  titled ‘COVID-19-India’s Vaccine Development Story’ and ‘India’s COVID – 19 Vaccination Administration Journey’ of the Institute for Competitiveness. 

• Institute for Competitiveness, India  is a  part of the global network of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness and affiliated to Harvard Business School. 

Key points:
i.It highlights the success of the COVID-19 vaccination development journey of India. 
ii.It marks the contribution of  administration, frontline workers and healthcare professionals which include manufacturing of indigenous vaccines and protocols for approvals for  the safe administration of vaccinations.
iii.The reports also acknowledge the significant challenges for  delivering and administering vaccines to a majority of 1.3 billion eligible people for the COVID-19 vaccines. 

• Digital technology used-the adoption of mobile apps like Co-WIN and Aarogya Setu worked as a catalyst while delivering vaccination drives. 

Other initiatives-
i.The Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020 (DDH2020),- it was launched on 2nd July, 2020 and was  India’s first ever national initiative for supporting the drug discovery process.
ii.The govt. spends  INR100 crores allocation from the PM-CARES fund and “Mission COVID Suraksha’’ to provide boost to vaccination drive in India.
About Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW):
Union Minister – Mansukh Mandaviya (Constituency Gujarat) 
Minister of State – Bharati Pravin Pawar (Constituency – Dindori, Maharashtra)

GoI Celebrates 3rd Anniversary of PM-KISAN

24th February 2022, marks the 3rd anniversary of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme. It was launched on 24th February in 2019 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.

• It is 100% Funded by the central government under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW)
• Objective – To provide income support to all landholding farmer’s families irrespective of the land size in order to meet their expenses related to agriculture and domestic needs.

About PM-KISAN scheme:
i.Under the Scheme, Farmers will receive an amount of Rs.6000 per year in 3 equal instalments of Rs.2000 directly into their bank accounts.

• So far, ~1.80 lakh crore rupees have been transferred directly into the bank accounts of the farmer families under the PM -KISAN Scheme.

ii.Initially, the Scheme provided income support to all families of Small and Marginal Farmers having cultivable land up to 2 hectares which was then expanded to cover farmers irrespective of the size of their landholdings.
Budget Allocation 2022-23:
Government of India(GoI) has allocated Rs 68,000 Crore for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) in the Union Budget 2022-23, which is just 4.6 per cent higher than the Budget Estimates of Rs 65,000 crore for 2021-22 and only 0.74 per cent higher than the revised estimates of Rs 67,500 crore for the current financial year(FY22).
About Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW):
Union Minister –  Narendra Singh Tomar (Constituency – Morena, Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State (MoS) – Shobha Karandlaje (Constituency – Udupi Chikmagalur, Karnataka) ;Kailash Choudhary (Constituency – Barmer, Rajasthan)

Indian Railways and BHEL Joins to Create India’s First Railway Solar Power PlantIndian Railways along Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), has Successfully commissioned India’s first Solar Photovoltaic Plant of 1.7-MegaWatt (MW) at Bina, Madhya Pradesh. The plant is under extensive testing and will be in operation for Indian Railways.
i.The solar plant will be directly connected to the overhead traction system. And will produce approximately 25 lakh units of energy annually.
ii.The plant has 5800 solar modules, mounted on 145 sets of modular mounting structure.
iii.The construction of a solar plant by Indian Railways is a step to fulfil its self-sufficient energy needs by ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
iv.The solar power plant has been installed on vacant unused lands for Renewable Energy (RE) projects of Indian Railways.
Aim:
i.The installation of the solar plants is to achieve conversion of Indian Railways to ‘Net Zero’ Carbon Emission and ‘Go Green’ by 2030.
ii.Aiming to reduce 2,160 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission every year.
iii.Aims to save around Rs 1.37 crore every year.
Other Solar Projects of Indian Railways:
i.Indian Railways has started procuring energy from solar projects by installing 3 Megawatts-peak (MWp) plant at Modern Coach Factory (MCF) Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh. 
ii.The 100 MW of rooftop solar systems have already been commissioned at various stations and buildings of Indian Railways. 
Technology Involved:
i.The solar plant converts Direct Current (DC) into Single Phase Alternating Current (AC) to feed directly to the Overhead Traction System of Railways.
ii.It has been set up near Bina Traction SubStation (TSS)
iii.The high capacity inverters were used to convert DC energy to AC energy of 25 kilovolts (kV) AC-1 power to run electric trains.
About Indian Railways:
Union Minister – Ashwini Vaishnaw, (Constituency – Odisha)
Minister of State – Raosaheb Patil Danve, Darshana Jardosh.

DAD Signed MoU with CSC SPV to Onboard Pension Services Under SPARSH

Defence Accounts Department (DAD) under the Ministry of Defence has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CSC (Common Service Centres) e-Governance Services India Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY) to onboard pension services under the SPARSH (System for Pension Administration (Raksha)) Initiative across more than 4 lakh CSCs across India. 

• SPARSH, an online pension disbursing model, is an initiative of the Defence Ministry that aims to provide a comprehensive solution to the administration of pension to the Defence pensioners.  

Objective: 
To ensure that the pension-related online services are accessible to former servicemen residing in remote parts of India. 
Signatories: 
Sham Dev, Controller of Defence Accounts (CDA) Pensions and Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, CEO of CSC e-Governance Services India Limited signed the MoU in the presence of Dr Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary of India, in New Delhi, Delhi. 
Features of the MoU:
i.Under this MoU, the last mile connectivity to pensioners, particularly for the pensioners who live in remote areas of India and those who do not have the means or technical resources to log on to SPARSH, will be provided. 
ii.The service centres will become the interface for SPARSH and provide a medium for these pensioners to get access to pension-related services. 
DAD signed MoU with Kota Mahindra Bank:
DAD has also signed an MoU with Kotak Mahindra Bank to set up service centres across 14 branches in the region with high ex-servicemen density. 
About System for Pension Administration (Raksha) – SPARSH:
i.The system is administered by DAD through the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions), Prayagraj and caters to all the three Services and allied organisation.
ii.SPARSH is being implemented for meeting the pension sanction and disbursement requirements for Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force and Defence Civilians). 
iii.SPARSH has re-engineered the process of pension disbursement from the generation of the Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) to Direct Benefit Transfer of pensions. 

Environment Ministry Notified EPR Guidelines for Plastic Packaging Waste

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has amended the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016, to accelerate the elimination of single-use plastic and promote alternatives.
The Ministry has notified comprehensive Guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic packaging under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. 

• Following the amendment, these rules are called the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022.
• The guidelines on EPR along with the prohibition of identified single-use plastic items with effect from 1st July 2022 will play a major role in reducing pollution caused due to littering of plastic waste in India. 

>> Read Full News

Indian Railway constructing India’s first-ever Cable-Stayed Rail Bridge in J&K

India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge called ‘Anji Khad bridge’ (Rs 21,653-crore) is being constructed in Reasi, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). 

• The Anji Khad bridge, situated over Anji river, will connect Katra and Reasi,  a part of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway link (USBRL).

• It will also provide connectivity of Kashmir with the rest of India by train within the upcoming year.

Highlights:
i.The height of the single pylon of Anji Khad bridge is around  331 meters above the river bed. It is a milestone project of Indian Railways of Udhampur -Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) in J&K.
ii.The under-construction rail bridge, once ready, will stand tall at a height of 331 meters above the river bed ( higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris). The total length of the bridge is 473.25 meters and it is supported by 96 cables.

• The Railways uses the Pump Concreting System to increase efficiency and give greater safety to workers.

Note- World’s Highest Railway Bridge will be constructed over Chenab river in J&K.
Other linkage work:
Indian Railways also connected the main and the longest tunnel of T-49 between Sumber village  and Arpinchala station of the Katra-Banihal section of the USBRL project.

• T-49 is the 12.758 Km long tunnel and it is going to be the longest tunnel of Indian Railway surpassing the Peer Panjal Tunnel of 11.2 Km.

Udhampur -Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL):
i.The  rail-link project  connects Baramulla in north Kashmir with Udhampur in Jammu.
ii.Under this project, the 11-km long  Pir Panjal railway tunnel was constructed through the Pir Panjal range. It connects Kashmir to  Srinagar through a rail grid. Trains will take 6.6 minutes to travel from Banihal to Qazigund through this tunnel.

Indian Railway to Set up India’s Biggest World-Class Wrestling Academy at Kishanganj, Delhi

The Ministry of Railways has approved to set up India’s biggest world Class wrestling academy at Indian Railways, Kishanganj, Delhi. 
The state of the art wrestling academy will be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 30.76 crores. The academy will be equipped with advanced training facilities

• Indian Railways promotes sports in India through the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB).
• Sushil Kumar (Bronze in 2008 Beijing Olympic and 2012 London Olympic); Sakshi Malik (Bronze in 2016 Rio Olympic); Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (Silver); Ravi Kumar Dahiya (Bronze) and Bajrang Punia (Bronze) of 2020 Tokyo Olympics were all associated with Indian Railways.

Sainya Ranakshetram – 2021: Indian Army Conducts first-of-its-kind Hackathon to Boost Cyber Warfare

Indian Army conducted the first of its kind Hackathon “Sainya Ranakshetram – 2021” from 1st October to 31st December 2021, to promote proficiency and expertise in the use of emerging technologies, and showcase the technological side of the Indian Army. The event was conducted in collaboration with Rashtriya Raksha University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. 

• The Hackathon to boost the Cyber Warfare was conducted at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), Mhow (Military Headquarters Of War), Madhya Pradesh under the guidance of Army Training Command (ARTRAC), Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. 
• The event comprised of challenges on Secure Coding, Software Defined Radio exploitation and Cyber Offensive skills. 

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Highlights of EAM S.Jaishankar’s visit to Germany and France External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar paid a 6-day visit to Germany and France from February 18 to 23, 2022.
Key Points:
i.India and France have committed to promoting cooperation between the European Union (EU) and India on the blue economy and ocean governance, in the framework of the common roadmap “EU-India Strategic Partnership: A Roadmap to 2025” and the EU strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
ii.S Jaishankar has attend the EU Ministerial Forum on Indo-Pacific in Paris, France and while addressing the forum, he called for the EU’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific for a stable multipolar region and the world.
iii.S Jaishankar met with Ireland Foreign Minister Simon Coveney during the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2022, which was held in Munich, Germany from 18 February – 20 February 2022.
iv.He met with French Defence Minister Florence Parly and discussed current developments and pledged to work towards new and emerging security challenges.
About Ministry of External Affairs (MEA):
Union Minister – Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (Rajya Sabha Gujarat)
Minister of State – V Muraleedharan (Rajya sabha – Maharashtra); Meenakashi Lekhi (New Delhi, NCT of Delhi); Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (Inner Manipur, Manipur)
>> Read Full News

The 2nd edition of Hurun India Wealth Report 2021 released; India to have  6 lakh dollar-millionaire households in 5 years

According to Hurun India Wealth Report 2021, the number of dollar-millionaire households in India increased by 11% to 4,58,000 households compared to 2020. The report was released by Hurun Report.
Hurun India Wealth Report 2021:
i.Hurun Report, released the second edition of both Hurun India Wealth Report 2021 and  Hurun Indian Luxury Consumer Survey 2021 (survey on more than 50 data points).
ii.The report also provides  insights into Indian millionaire brand preferences, consumption habits and lifestyle trends. 
iii.The Hurun Research Institute surveyed 350 Indian ‘millionaires’, individuals with a personal wealth of $1 million (or about Rs 7 crore). 
Key findings:
i.According to Hurun Indian Luxury Consumer Survey 2021, 36% of Indian millionaires use e-wallets or UPI as their preferred payment method as compared to the 18% last year.
ii.According to the report, the number of Indian dollar millionaire households is estimated to increase by 30% over the next five years and the number will reach upto 6,00,000 households by 2026. 
iii.Maharashtra’s  Mumbai became India’s millionaire capital, with 20,300 millionaires households. It is followed by Delhi and Kolkata with 17,400 and 10,500 millionaire households, respectively. 
iv.The  report also shows the number of individuals who classify themselves as happy in personal and professional lives (Happiness Index) decreased to 66 per cent in 2021, as compared to 72 per cent in 2020.
Brand preferences:

• Taj Hotel-  most preferred hospitality brand, followed by Oberoi and Leela
• Rolex- is the most preferred luxury watch brand, followed by Cartier and Audemars Piguet.

About Hurun Report:
It  recognized and evaluated the wealthiest individuals across the globe. Hurun Report is the largest compiler of the rich list globally.
Established-1998
Headquarters- London, United Kingdom
MD & Chief Researcher-Anas Rahman Junaid (Hurun India)

BANKING & FINANCE

EaseMyTrip Partners with Toffee to Provide Travel Insurance Solutions

EaseMyTrip has partnered with Toffee Insurance, one of the fastest-growing InsurTech companies, to offer a first-of-its-kind, free-of-charge, full refund medical policy that provides the additional travel flexibility for customers.

• Through the free of charge policy, the customers will get a complete refund including the money deducted by airlines.
• The policy can be claimed by uploading a doctor’s prescription citing the medical illness.

About the policy:
i.Toffee Insurance will manage all travel insurance products for EaseMyTrip customer’s cancelling flight bookings caused due to medical emergencies.

• This is an end-to-end digital integration that enables the digitization of the entire insurance process.

ii.To avail this service, a customer has to choose this policy while booking their ticket on EaseMyTrip’s website and app.
About EaseMyTrip:
Establishment – 2008
Headquarters – New Delhi, Delhi
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Nishant Pitti

RBI Directed NBFCs to Implement CFSS by September 2025

On 23rd February 2022 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed certain Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)  to mandatorily implement ‘Core Financial Services Solution (CFSS)’ by 30th September 2025.

• Background: In October 2021, RBI introduced the ‘Scale Based Regulation’ (SBR) framework for NBFCs and mandated NBFCs with 10 and more branches to adopt Core Banking Solution with effect from October 01, 2022.

Timeline for implementation of CFSS:
i.As per the framework, currently RBI has directed the NBFCs – Middle Layer and NBFCs – Upper Layer with 10 and more ‘fixed point service delivery units’ as on 1st October 2022 to implement CFSS (similar to the Core Banking Solution (CBS) adopted by banks) on or before September 30, 2025.

• Special Timeline for NBFC-Upper Layer: NBFC – Upper Layer should implement CFSS at least in 70 percent of ‘fixed point service delivery units’ on or before September 30, 2024.

ii.The implementation of CFSS is not mandatory in NBFC – Base Layer and NBFC – Middle and Upper Layers with fewer than 10 fixed point service delivery units.
About Reserve Bank of India:
Establishment – 1st April 1935
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
Governor – Shaktikanta Das
Deputy Governors – T. Rabi Sankar, M. Rajeshwar Rao, Dr. M. D. Patra, M. K. Jain
>> Read Full News

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

India Ratings pegs FY22 GDP growth of India at 8.6% 

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised downwards its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth forecast of the Indian economy for 2021-22 to 8.6% from the consensus 9.2% projected earlier. 

• As per it, the National Statistical Organisation (NSO) will likely peg the FY22 real GDP growth at Rs 147.2 lakh crore i.e. 8.6% in its second advance estimate of national income. NSO forecasted 9.2% in the first advance estimate released on January 7, 2022.

Key Points:
i.IRR estimates Q1 and Q2 of FY22 may decline by 90-110 basis points than estimated earlier and the Q3 and Q4 may come in at 5.6% and 5.1%, respectively, down from 6% and 5.7% estimated earlier.
ii.The major reason for this downward revision is the upward revision of FY21 GDP to Rs 135.6 lakh crore in the first revised estimate of national income for FY21, which was released on January 31, 2022. As a result, GDP for FY21 is improved to (-) 6.6% from the provisional estimate of (-) 7.3% released on May 31, 2021.
iii.Earlier, foreign brokerage Barclays has projected a GDP growth of 6.6% for the quarter ended December, 2021 (Q3FY22) and 10% growth for the full financial year 2021-22.

Moody’s Rises India’s GDP Forecast to 9.5% for 2022, 8.4% for FY23 

On 24th February 2022 Moody’s Investors Service raised India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast to 8.4 percent for FY23 (1st April 2022 – 31st March 2023) and 9.5 percent for 2022 though higher oil prices and supply issues will reflect in growth.

• It also estimated that the GDP growth forecast for 2023 stands at 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent for FY24 (1st April 2023 – 31st March 2024).
• Earlier they had projected the growth for 2022 as 7 percent.

Highlights:
i.Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection, retail activity and Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) becomes the core reason for the projection in GDP.
ii.The Union budget 2022-23 has prioritised growth, with a 36 percent increase in allocation to capital expenditure (compared to Budget Estimates of 2021-22) to 2.9 percent of GDP for FY23.

• Note – The Economic Survey of India has projected India’s GDP to expand between 8 percent and 8.5 percent in 2022-23 whereas the Budget has projected GDP growth between 7.6 percent and 8.1 percent in real terms.

iii.Other projections – Moody’s collective estimation of the G-20 economies shows reduced estimates of 4.3 percent in 2022 from 5.9 percent in 2021.
About Moody’s Corporation:
Headquarters – New York, United States (US)
President & CEO – Rob Fauber

IATA & Standard Chartered Bank Launch New Payment Platform in Indian Airlines IndustryThe International Air Transport Association (IATA) joins hands with Global banking group ‘Standard Chartered Bank’ to launch its new payment platform “IATA Pay” for the Indian airline industry to enable instant airline payment.
i.IATA Pay in India is based on Standard Chartered’s Straight2Bank Pay.
ii.Straight2Bank Pay is a multiple payment options mode, made through a single global connectivity.
About IATA Pay
i.In addition to credit card payment the IATA Pay will be a another payment option for fast money transfer.
ii.IATA Pay provides instant payment options such as Unified Payment Interface (UPI) Scan and Pay and UPI Collect.
iii.The IATA Pay simplifies the payment process and provides industry-wide e-commerce solutions.
iv.It eliminates the acquiring fee to card acquirers and also avoids bilateral integrations with multiple service providers.
v.It focuses on open banking and real-time payment solutions that will serve as a cost-effective alternative to conventional payment methods.
vi.The service is also available in European markets, and boosts the UPI.
Note:
In 2021, the two partners – IATA and Standard Chartered had launched IATA EasyPay in India, a pay-as-you-go payments solution.

• IATA EasyPay is a voluntary payment option that is available to all accredited Agents provided they have an IATA EasyPay Account open with available funds.

About Standard Chartered Bank India: 
CEO – Zarin Daruwala
Headquarters –   Mumbai, Maharashtra

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS    

Sanjeev Sanyal inducted as full time member into Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council 

Renowned economist and historian Sanjeev Sanyal was appointed as a full time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). The council is chaired by Bibek Debroy (Former member of Niti Aayog).The appointment is for a tenure of two years.

•  EAC-PM is an independent body constituted by the central government. It advises the Prime Minister (PM) on economic and related issues.

About Sanjeev Sanyal:
i.Currently, he is serving as the Principal Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance . He also served as the global strategist and managing director at Deutsche Bank, Germany.
ii.In 2007, he was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship for his work on urban issues and was also honored by the Singapore government at the World Cities Summit 2014.
Books  authored by Sanjeev Sanyal-

•  ‘Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India’s Geography’
• ‘The Indian Renaissance: India’s Rise After a Thousand Years of Decline’ 
• ‘The Incredible History of India’s Geography’.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Astronomers Detect Largest Ever Giant Radio Galaxy; Named as Alcyoneus

European astronomers, led by Martijn S.S.L. Oei of Leiden University, the Netherlands, have reported the detection of a new giant radio galaxy (GRG) as part of the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) Two-meter Sky Survey (LoTSS). The newly found GRG, dubbed GRG Alcyoneus, is the largest ever known Radio Galaxy. It is situated around 3 billion light-years away.
GRG Alcyoneus:
i.The Radio Galaxy has been named Alcyoneus, taken from Greek mythology.

• Alcyoneus who is considered to be one of the Gigantes (Giants) is the son of Ouranos(Uranus), the Greek primordial god of the sky. 

ii.The Alcyoneus spans ~16.3 million light-years making it four times the size of IC 1101and 160 times the size of the Milky Way galaxy
iii.It is surrounded by a cosmic web over 240 billion times the mass of the sun. 
iv.The giant radio galaxies span the largest cosmic distances among many types of galaxies in the Universe like spirals, ellipticals, ring galaxies, irregulars. 
What are Radio Galaxies?
Radio galaxies are the galaxies that emit a high rate of radio waves. 
They are said to consist of a host galaxy, that has a supermassive black hole at its galactic centre with star clusters orbiting it.
About LOFAR: 
Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), located mainly in the Netherlands, is the world’s largest radio telescope network. It is a network of 20,000 radio telescopes across 52 areas in Europe.

DRDO Successfully Tests India’s 1st QKD Technology in 2 cities of Uttar Pradesh 

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi for the 1st time successfully demonstrated India’s indegenious technology,  Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link between Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Vindhyachal, UP, a distance of more than 100 kilometres (km).

• It is developed by the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), Bengaluru, and Mumbai-based DRDO Young Scientists’ Laboratory– Quantum Technology (DYSL-QT).

Key Points:
i.With this success, the country has demonstrated indigenous technology of secure key transfer for bootstrapping military grade communication security key hierarchy. 
ii.The performance parameters have been measured and have been found to be repetitively within the reported international standards at sifted key rates of up to 10 KHz.
Background:
In December 2020 DRDO first tested the QKD technology between two DRDO facilities in Hyderabad – the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and Research Centre Imarat (RCI) for over a distance of 12 km.
About QKD technology:
QKD is a secure communication method between defence and strategic agencies using cryptography that can be achieved over a commercial grade optical fibre.

• It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to them, which can then be used to encrypt and decrypt messages.
• The QKD technology also serves in a unified Cipher Policy Committee (CPC) framework for secured management for current and future military cryptographic systems.

About Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO):
Parent Ministry – Ministry of Defence (MoD)
Headquarters – New Delhi, Delhi
Chairman – G Satheesh Reddy

IMPORTANT DAYS

Central Excise Day 2022 – February 24 The Central Excise Day is annually observed across India on 24th February to honour the contributions of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), a part of the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance. 

• The day also commemorates the anniversary of the enactment of the Central Excise and Salt Act on 24th February 1944.

The day is annually organised and celebrated by the CBIC. 
Objective: 
To encourage the employees of the excise department to carry out the duties of central excise across India in a better way in order to prevent corruption in the goods manufacturing business. 
About Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC):
Chairman– Vivek Johri
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
Motto– “Desh Sevarth Kar Sanchay” Tax collection in Service of the Nation
>> Read Full News

STATE NEWS

CM Ashok Gehlot presented Rajasthan’s Budget 2022-23 with 1st separate Agriculture Budgeti.The Chief Minister (CM) of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot who also holds the finance portfolio of state presented the State Budget for 2022-23 (FY23) in his almost three-hour-long speech in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly located in its capital Jaipur.
ii.The main focus of the budget is on sectors like health, education, infrastructure, social security and tourism.
iii.No new taxes were levied in the budget in view of the pandemic’s impact on all sectors of economic activities.
iv.The CM also presented Rajasthan’s first-ever agriculture budget separately, with a provision of Rs 4,127.12 crore for the Agriculture Department.
v.The state budget saw an announcement of Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme with the proposed allocation of Rs 800 crore. The scheme will be implemented by the state’s urban development department. It aims to provide 100 days of employment in urban areas.
About Rajasthan:
Governor– Kalraj Mishra
National Park– Desert National Park, Keoladeo Ghana National Park
Wildlife Sanctuaries– Jaisamand Wildlife Sanctuary, Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Phulwari ki nal Sanctuary
>> Read Full News

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