Current Affairs 4 January 2022

We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs 4 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

PM Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University in Meerut, UP

i.On January 2, 2022, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Damodardas Modi laid the foundation stone of ~ Rs 700 Crore Major Dhyan Chand Sports University in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh (UP). It will be established at Salawa and Kaili villages of Sardhana town in Meerut
ii.The Governor of UP Anandiben Patel and its Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath were also present at the event.
iii.Dedicated to Major Dhyan Chand, an Indian field hockey player, the university will graduate 1,080 students annually.
iv.It should be noted that Meerut is exporting sporting goods to more than 100 countries.
About Uttar Pradesh (UP):
Wildlife Sanctuaries– Katarniya Ghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, National Chambal Sanctuary
Tiger Reserve– Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, Amangarh (buffer of Corbett TR)
Zoological Park– Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, Kanpur Zoological Park
>>Read Full News

Ladakh Celebrates ‘Losar Festival’  the traditional new year of Tibetan Buddhist

The  Losar Festival in Ladakh is celebrated at the onset of the New Year in the traditional schedule of Tibetan Buddhism. It is celebrated by the Buddhist Community in the Ladakh region.

• The Losar is a 15 days festival, from the start of the Tibetan Lunar calendar, marking the 1^st day of the 11 month in Tibetan Calendar.
• Losar is a Tibetan word which means ‘New Year’.

Key points:
i.The celebrations begin with a ‘Metho ceremony’ with the chanting of prayers and carrying flame torches.
ii.Various ancient rituals, cultural events and traditional songs are also performed.
About Ladakh:
Ladakh is also known as “the Land of Passes‟ (La-passes, dakh-many) and also famous for several monasteries like Hemis, Thiksey and Lamayuru Monastery.
National park– Hemis National Park
Rivers– Zanskar River,  Indus River, Shyok River

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched a 100-day Reading Campaign ‘Padhe Bharat’

On 1st January 2022, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Education, launched a 100-day reading campaign “Padhe Bharat” to encourage the reading habit among students and to improve the learning levels of the students with a focus on children studying in Balvatika to Grade 8.

• The 100 days (14 weeks) reading campaign will be organised from January 2022 to April 2022.

Aim:
To promote joyful reading culture for children by ensuring the availability of age-appropriate reading books in Indian Languages including the local/mother tongue/regional/tribal Language.
About Padhe Bharat:
i.The campaign is in line with the National Education Policy(NEP) 2020 which promotes joyful reading culture among students.
ii.It is also aligned with the vision and goals of the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy mission.
iii.International Mother Tongue Day which will be celebrated on 21st February 2022 has also been integrated into the campaign and the day will be celebrated with the activity of “Kahani Padho Apni Bhasa Main” (Reading story in own language) across India.
iv.The Department of School Education & Literacy, under the Ministry of Education(MoE) will invite all the stakeholders to participate in this campaign to build a strong foundation for the children.
About Ministry of Education(MoE):
Union Minister– Dharmendra Pradhan (Rajya Sabha- Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State– Annpurna Devi (Constituency- Kodarma, Jharkhand); Dr Subhas Sarkar (Constituency- Bankura, West Bengal); Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (Constituency- Inner Manipur, Manipur)

PGCIL Celebrates First anniversary of One Nation-One Grid-One Frequency

State-owned Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) celebrated the first anniversary of ‘One Nation-One Grid-One Frequency’ on 31st December, 2021.

• On behalf of the occasion, 70 Sub-stations across India along with Regional Headquarters have been lit up in tricolour to mark this momentous achievement.

Background:
i.At the beginning of Grid management in India, state grids were interconnected to form a regional grid and India was demarcated into 5 regions namely Northern, Eastern, Western, North Eastern and Southern regions.
ii.The state-run Power System Operation Corp Ltd (POSOCO) oversees India’s critical electricity load management functions through the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) and a set of regional load dispatch centres (RLDCs) and state load dispatch centres (SLDCs). 

• India has 33 SLDCs, 5 RLDCs for the five regional grids that form the national grid and 1 NLDC.

Highlights:
‘One Nation-One Grid-One Frequency’ was achieved when the Southern Region was connected to the Central Grid with the commissioning of 765 kV Raichur-Solapur Transmission Line.

• The measures have been taken to ensure that the grid frequency always remains within the 49.90-50.05 Hz (hertz) band.

Note – India’s 5 RLDCs have witnessed cyber-attacks from Red Echo, a hacker group affiliated with the Chinese government, which had repeatedly targeted India’s power grid in 2020.
About Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL):
It is a Maharatna central public sector enterprise &  India’s Largest Electric Power Transmission Utility
Chairman & MD – K Sreekant
Headquarters – Gurugram, Haryana

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Shanghai Opened 2 Driverless Metro Lines; Becomes Longest Metro Line in the World 

Shanghai, the biggest city in China, has opened 2 new driverless metro lines (Line 14 and Phase One of Line 18) and retained its titles as the World’s longest Metro line. With the inclusion of the 2 new driverless lines, the total length of Shanghai’s metro network is extended to 831 km. 
Shanghai Metro Network:
i.The 2 new fully driverless metro lines take the total number of automatic lines in Shanghai to 5.
At present Shanghai operates 167 km of fully automated metro lines, which makes the city the first in the World.
ii.Line 14 of the Shanghai metro network which operates for 38 km, is the first fully automatic metro line for 8-car trains in the city.
iii.With the inclusion of the 2 new metro lines, Shanghai now has 20 metro lines with 508 stations.
Key Points:
i.Shanghai is followed by Beijing(China) and Delhi(India) in the 2nd and 3rd spot on the list of cities with the largest metro network.
ii.Beijing has about 780 km long metro lines with 450 stations.
Additional info:
i.Shanghai has also developed a 122.99 km long expressway of which around an 18 km section goes through the hinterland of the Tengger Desert.
ii.This is the first desert expressway built in Ningxia, an autonomous region located in north-central China.

BANKING & FINANCE

Government Retains the Interest Rate of Small Savings Schemes for Q4 of FY22

Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs (Budget Division), has maintained the status quo and retained the Interest Rate of Small Savings Scheme unchanged for the 4th Quarter (Q4) for the Financial Year 2021-22 (FY22) (i.e. from January 2022 to March 2022) same as Q3 FY22, due to the rising cases of COVID-19 variant Omicron and elevated level of inflation.

• The interest rates on various small savings instruments such as Public Provident Fund (PPF), National Savings Certificate (NSC), term deposits in post offices, etc remain unchanged from Q2 FY21 (around 7 quarters).

Interest Rates on Small Savings Instruments for Q4 FY22:

About Ministry of Finance (MoF):
Union Minister – Nirmala Sitharaman (Constituency – RajyaSabha, Karnataka)
Minister of State – Pankaj Chaudhary (Constituency – Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh); Dr.Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad (Constituency – Rajya sabha Maharashtra)
>>Read Full News

Nippon India MF launches India’s first Auto Exchange Traded Fund

In January 2022, Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited (NAM India), the asset manager of Nippon India Mutual Fund (NIMF) launched a New Fund Offer (NFO) for Nippon India Nifty Auto Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). It is India’s First Auto sector ETF.

• The scheme will provide exposure to top 15 companies of auto sectors such as automobiles 4 wheelers, automobiles 2 & 3 wheelers, auto ancillaries, and tyres.

Key points:
i.The  Nippon Auto ETF will start operation from January 5, 2022 to January 14, 2022. The minimum investment amount required  Rs 1,000 and in multiples of Re 1 aftermath.

• The scheme is the benchmark against Nifty Auto TRI (Total Return Index) of Nippon India.

ii.The ETF will  invest in stocks of the Nifty Auto Index in the same proportion as the Nifty index and analyze the performance of the automobiles sector.
iii.It will also  provide a simple and low-cost portfolio which will lead to more participation in the auto industry sector.
About Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited:
Chief Executive Officer- Sundeep Sikka
Head Office – Mumbai, Maharashtra

RBI Approves Fino Payments Bank for Cross Border RemittancesReserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved Fino Payments Bank for commencing international remittance business under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS). 

• The approval will enable the customers of Fino Payments Bank to receive money sent from foreign countries.

Key Highlights:
i.The money remitted by family members abroad can be directly withdrawn at the nearest micro-ATM or Aadhaar-Enabled Payment Services (AEPS) enabled Fino Bank’s neighbourhood merchant point.
ii.Fino merchants provide services such as new account opening, cash deposit, money transfer, cash withdrawal via micro-ATMs or AEPS mechanisms and collect cash on behalf of various institutional clients.

• The Bank plans to implement the service in its mobile applications as well and it also plans to partner with more leading money transfer operators (MTOs) to improve its cross border remittance.

iii.As of September 30, 2021, the bank’s network has over 8 lakh merchants across India.
Findings of World Bank:
i.The World Bank release in November 2021 reports that India is expected to be the largest recipient of remittances globally with an expected receipt of $87 billion.

• The remittance is also expected to grow by 3 percent in 2022 to $89.6 billion as a large number of workers are expected to return to the Gulf countries.

ii.The major inward remittance corridors in India are Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
About Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS):
i.MTSS is a quick and easy way of transferring personal remittances from abroad to beneficiaries in India.
ii.Only inward personal remittances into India such as remittances towards family maintenance and remittances favouring foreign tourists visiting India are permissible and No outward remittance from India is permissible under MTSS.
iii.A cap of USD 2,500 per transaction and up to 30 remittances in a calendar year has been placed for an individual beneficiary. MTSS involves a tie-up between reputed money transfer companies abroad known as Overseas Principal and agents in India known as Indian Agents. The Indian Agents will further enter into sub-agency agreements with entities, for undertaking money transfer business.
About  Fino Payments Bank Limited:
Establishment – 4th April 2017
CEO & Managing Director (MD) – Rishi Gupta
Headquarters – Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

India’s April-November 2021 Fiscal Deficit narrows to 46.2% of full FY22 target

In accordance with the official data by India’s Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the Central Government’s fiscal deficit at the end of November 2021 (April-November) decreased to 46.2% due to revenues and rise in tax collections. It was 135.1% in November 2020.
Key Figures (at the end of November 2021):
i.In actual terms, the deficit stood at Rs 6.95 lakh crore against the annual estimate of Rs 15.06 lakh crore for FY22 or 6.8% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
ii.The total receipts of the government stood at Rs 13.78 lakh crore or 69.8% of the budget estimates (BE).
iii.The total expenditure of the government stood at Rs 20.74 lakh crore or 59.6% of BE.
iv.The tax (net) revenue so far stood at 73.5% of the BE of FY22. It was only 42.1% of BE FY21 in the corresponding period of last fiscal.
v.The fiscal deficit for 2020-21 stood at 9.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), better than 9.5 per cent projected in the revised estimates in the Budget in February.
Points to be noted:
i.Notably, this was the lowest Central Government’s deficit since FY98 in percentage terms of the full year’s fiscal deficit
ii.India Ratings expects fiscal deficit in FY22 to be 6.6% of GDP.

India’s Q2FY22 CAD is 1.3% of GDP; RBI’s BoP Data

In accordance with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Balance of Payments (BoP) data for July-September 2021 (Q2FY22), India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) was USD 9.6 billion or 1.3% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

• India’s current account surplus stood at USD 6.6 billion or 0.9% of GDP in the April-June 2021 quarter (Q1FY22). In the year-ago period the surplus had stood at USD 15.3 billion or 2.4% of the GDP.
• The current account records the value of exports and imports of both goods and services along with international transfers of capital.

Key Figures:
i.For the first half of the fiscal year (H1FY22), India recorded CAD of 0.2% of GDP as against a surplus of 3% in the year-ago period.

• The foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow during this period was USD 21.2 billion as against USD 23.9 billion for the year-ago period.
• The portfolio investment recorded a net inflow of USD 4.3 billion which was lower than the USD 7.6 billion a year ago.

ii.Private transfer receipts, which mainly represent remittances by Indians employed overseas, increased 3.7% over the year-ago period to USD 21.1 billion.
iii.Net foreign portfolio investment during Q2FY22 was USD 3.9 billion as compared to USD 7 billion in the year-ago period.
iv.External commercial borrowings on a net basis recorded an inflow of USD 4.1 billion in Q2FY22, as against an outflow of USD 3.7 billion a year ago.
v.Non-resident deposits recorded a net outflow of USD 0.8 billion as against an inflow of USD 1.9 billion in the year-ago period
vi.There was an accretion of USD 31.2 billion in the forex reserves on a BoP basis which included Special Drawing Rights allocation of USD 17.86 billion by the International Monetary Fund on August 23, 2021.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS   

Vinay Kumar Tripathi Appointed as New Chairman and CEO of Railway Board

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Vinay Kumar Tripathi as a  Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Railway Board, New Delhi.

• Tripathi is currently working as the General Manager of North-Eastern Railway, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh and has been appointed in place of outgoing Chairman and CEO Suneet Sharma
• The appointment has been made for six months from January 1, 2022, to June 30, 2022 and the ACC has approved a six-month extension to Tripathi’s tenure (i.e.) up to December 2022.

About Vinay Kumar Tripathi:
i.He is a B Tech (Electrical Engineering) graduate and has joined railways through the Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE) batch of 1983.
ii.His first posting was as an Assistant Electrical Engineer on Northern Railway. He played a key role in the commissioning of state of art three-phase locomotives and their indigenization, which are now the workhorse of Indian Railways.

• He has attended higher management training programmes in Switzerland and USA.

iii.Tripathi also held kee posts of Electrical Department on Northern, Central & Western railway; Divisional Railway Manager in North Central Railway, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh; Chief Electrical Locomotive Engineer and Additional General Manager of Western Railway; and Additional Member/Traction in Railway Board.
iv.Under his guidance North Eastern Railway won two Railway Board shields, one in sale management and the other in the running room category.
Composition of Appointments Committee of the Cabinet:
Chairman – Prime Minister
Members – Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation

Sudan’s PM Abdalla Hamdok Resigns amid Political Deadlock

On January 2, 2022 The Prime Minister (PM) of Sudan, Abdalla Hamdok Al-Kinani announced resignation due to political deadlock and protests in the capital city Khartoum, Sudan. This protest comes amid Sudan’s political transition to democracy.
i.Previously, Abdalla Hamdok was appointed as the Prime Minister of Sudan, after the overthrow of Dictator Omar al-Bashir who ruled the country for 30 years.
Protest against the military coup:
i.The protest arose against the deal signed by the PM in November 2021 for  sharing of power with the army.
ii.In October 2021, the army had staged a military coup in Sudan and placed the PM under house arrest. Later the civilian and military leaders had signed a power-sharing agreement.
iii.The Protesters demanded for full civilian rule in Sudan.
About Abdalla Hamdok:
He became the 15th PM of Sudan in 2019, Prior to which, He served as the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
About Sudan:
It  is the third largest country by area in Africa as well as in the Arab League.
Capital- Khartoum
Currency– Sudanese pound

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS 

Tech Mahindra acquires 100% stake in Allyis India & Green Investments LLC

On December 31 2021, Tech Mahindra announced that its subsidiary, Tech Mahindra (Americas) Inc. is set to acquire 100 % equity shares in Allyis India Private Ltd and Green Investments LLC, a holding company for United States (US)  based Allyis Group.
Key points:
i.According to the proposal, Tech Mahindra will pay USD 125 million (~INR 900 crore) including employment and performance earnout.
ii.it will help in improving  marketing, instructional design, engineering: cloud & automation and other technical operations of the company.
About Tech Mahindra:
CEO & MD- C. P. Gurnani
Incorporated- 1986

ENVIRONMENT

Two New Species of Rare Wasp Discovered: Monoceromyia flavoscutata, M. nigra  

Researchers have discovered two new species of very rare wasp-like flower flies such as Monoceromyia flavoscutata and M. nigra from north-eastern India and the Western Ghats.

• The two species belong to the Syrphidae family and only 12 species of that family have been reported from India previously and the new species have been found after 80 years.

Two new plant species Fimbristylis sunilii and Neanotis prabhuii have been discovered in Western Ghats regions of Thiruvananthapuram (Ponmudi hills), and Wayanad (Chembra Peak), Kerala.

• Fimbristylis sunilii is a perennial plant of the Cyperaceae family and  Neanotis prabhuii belong to the family Rubiaceae

>>Read Full News

SPORTS

Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez announces retirement from International Cricket

Veteran Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez (41), who captained his national team in every format of the game, has announced his retirement from international cricket.

• He represented Pakistan in 392 international matches in which he scored 12,789 runs and took 253 wickets.
• He has played 55 Tests, 218 ODIs (One Day International) and 119 T20Is (Twenty20 International) including three ICC (International Cricket Council) ODI World Cups and six T20 World Cups.
• He won 32 Player-of-the-Match awards, the fourth-highest among Pakistan players in all international cricket, after Shahid Afridi (43), Wasim Akram (39) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (33).
• Overall, Hafeez played in three 50-over World Cups (2007, 2011 and 2019), six 20-over World Cups (2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2021) and three ICC Champions Trophies (2006, 2013 and 2017).

Currently he signed up with Lahore Qalandars for the upcoming edition of the Pakistan Super League and will be available for global franchise cricket.

IMPORTANT DAYS

DRDO Celebrated 64th Foundation Day – 1st January 2022

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Research and development (R&D) wing of Ministry of Defence, celebrated its 64th Foundation Day or 64th Raising Day on 1st January 2022. The DRDO was established on 1st January 1958 by amalgamating the Technical Development Establishment (TDEs) of the Indian Army and the Directorate of Technical Development & Production (DTDP) with the Defence Science Organisation (DSO).

DRDO a network of more than 52 laboratories, is India’s largest and most diverse research organisation.

• More than 175 transfers of technologies took place in the year 2021.
• At present, DRDO is working to achieve hypersonic systems and it is also working on the 5th Generation advance combat aircraft.

Chairman– Dr G. Satheesh Reddy
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi

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