National & International Appointments
1. Alka Mittal becomes first woman to head ONGC as CMD
- Alka Mittal has been appointed as the interim chairman and managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) with effect from January 1, 2022, or until further orders.
- She is the first woman to head the country’s largest oil and gas producer.
- She replaced Subhash Kumar, who retired on December 31.
- She has been appointed for a period of six months.
- She was also the first woman to join ONGC’s board on November 27, 2018.
- ONGC's Headquarters: New Delhi.
National & International Appointments
2. Ajay Kumar Choudhary, Deepak Kumar promoted as Executive Directors of RBI
- Deepak Kumar and Ajay Kumar Choudhary have been promoted as new executive directors of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
- Prior to this, Deepak Kumar was heading the Department of Information Technology of RBI, while Choudhary was Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Supervision.
- As executive director, Deepak Kumar will look after Foreign Exchange Dept, Dept of Communication and Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation, wholly owned subsidiary of RBI.
Arts & Culture
3. Ministry of Culture to undertake 1st ever cultural survey of Indian village
- Government-promoted CSC SPV in collaboration with Ministry of Culture, will undertake the first-ever cultural survey of India's villages through mobile application
- The survey is titled as 'Mera Gaon, Meri Dharohar'
- It will document the cultural identity at village level by involving citizens to share what makes their village, block, or district unique
- It builds upon a successful track record of CSCs engaging enumerations like 7th Economic Census and some other surveys
Obituaries
4. Social worker Sindhutai Sapkal passes away
- Renowned social worker Sindhutai Sapkal (74 years) passed away, following a heart attack at a private hospital in Pune
- He is fondly known as 'orphan children's mother'.
- She raised over 1,050 orphan children and could boast of having 207 sons-in-law and 36 daughters-in-law.
- Marathi biopic on her ‘Mee Sindhutai Sapkal’ was released in 2010
- She was awarded Padma Shri, Nari Shakti Puraskar, apart from 750 awards and honours
Banking & Finance
5. IRDAI sets new norms for surety insurance business and market
- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has come out with guidelines, titled ‘IRDAI (Surety Insurance Contracts) Guidelines, 2022’
- Aim: to ensure orderly development of the surety insurance business and surety bonds market.
- It will come into effect from April 1, 2022.
- As per the new guidelines, surety contracts will include advance payment bond, bid bond, contract bonds, customs and court bond, performance bonds and retention money.
International Affairs
6. Apple becomes first company to touch $3 trillion market cap
- Apple Inc. became 1st company with stock-market value above $3 trillion, shattering yet another record
- Its share price has climbed steadily for years, leaving it up more than 200% since Covid lockdown in early 2020 and underlined centrality of technology for work, education, entertainment, etc
- Apple shared $2 trillion market value club with Microsoft Corp, which is now worth $2.5 trillion
- Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com and Tesla Inc have market values above $1 trillion
Banking & Finance
7. Airtel Payments Bank designated as scheduled bank by RBI
- Airtel Payments Bank Ltd. has been included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 which means it has been categorized as a Scheduled Bank.
- With this, bank can now pitch for government-issued Requests for Proposals (RFP) and primary auctions and undertake both Central and State Government business participating in government-operated welfare schemes.
- MD & CEO of Airtel Payments Bank: Anubrata Biswas.
- Headquarters of Airtel Payments Bank: Delhi.
National Affairs
8. India's first index of cryptocurrencies ‘IC15’ launched
- Crypto Superapp, CryptoWire has launched India’s first crypto index titled ‘IC15’, which will track the market capitalization and liquidity of top 15 global digital currencies
- Crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance coin, Solana, Cardano, Ripple, Terra, Dogecoin and Shiba inu will be monitored by this platform
- CryptoWire’s index governance committee will maintain, monitor and administer the index
- Base value of the index is set at 10,000 and base date is 1 April 2018
State Affairs
9. Kerala CM unveils ₹13,265-crore compensation package for SilverLine
- Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has unveiled ₹13,265-crore compensation package that will provide up to four times the market value of land that would be acquired for SilverLine semi-high speed railway project.
- Total estimated cost for the project: ₹63,941 crores.
- One-time incentive of ₹4.6 lakh or ₹1.6 lakh along with a house built under norms of LIFE Mission will also be provided additionally for those who stood to lose their homes.
International Affairs
10. Sri Lanka Cabinet clears Trincomalee oil tank farm deal with India
- Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has given nod for a new deal announced by Energy Minister to jointly develop the Trincomalee oil tank farm with India.
- Cabinet of Ministers also approved a proposal to allocate 24 oil tanks for Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and to implement development project by Trinco Petroleum Terminal Pvt. Ltd.
- Ashok Leyland has won the bid for providing 500 new buses to Sri Lanka, while Sri Lanka Police force will procure 750 jeeps from Mahindra and Mahindra
National Affairs
11. ICMR-NIN and Telangana govt to hold state-wide SARS COV-2 sero survey
- Hyderabad-based ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and Telangana state govt will be holding state-wide SARS COV-2 sero survey
- It will be conducted among general population and health care workers to assess the extent of community spread
- Sero-prevalence will be assessed by examining SARS Cov-2, IgG antibodies in the blood samples to be collected
- It will be a house-to-house survey and will cover about 16,000 population of 330 villages in all the 33 districts.
National Affairs
12. DG NCC formally inaugurates NCC Republic Day Camp 2022
- Director-General of National Cadet Corps, Gurbirpal Singh has formally inaugurated NCC Republic Day Camp 2022 at Delhi Cantt
- It is held at the culmination of one year of training of NCC cadets and is conducted at Parade Ground, Delhi Cantt from 1st to 29th January
- It is attended by around 2,200 cadets, specially selected from all over India.
- Inter Directorate competitions in training, cultural competitions, National Integration awareness programmes are conducted
Banking & Finance
13. RBI unveil framework to enable small value digital payments in offline mode
- RBI has issued framework to enable small value digital payments in offline mode using any channel or instrument such as cards, wallets and mobile devices.
- Under this, offline payments can be made in face-to-face (proximity) mode only
- Payment instruments will be enabled for offline transactions by Authorized Payment System Operators and Participants (Banks, Non-banks).
- Upper limit: ₹200.
- Total limit for offline transactions: ₹2,000 at any point in time.
National Affairs
14. Ayush Ministry makes available ‘Ayush Aahaar’ at its canteen in New Delhi
- Ministry of Ayush has made available ‘Ayush Aahaar’ at its canteen at Ayush Bhawan in New Delhi.
- It started as a pilot project and includes Vegetable Poha, Bhajani Vada, Gajar Ka Halwa and Kokum Drink.
- Ayush diet made available in the canteen is beneficial for health and it is easily digestible.
- Ayush Ministry in 2021 collaborated with various states and did some commendable work under National Ayush Mission.
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