Daily GK Update: 21st February 2022

Defense

President Ram Nath Kovind reviews the Indian Naval Fleet comprising over 60 ships and submarines, and 55 aircraft.
The 12th edition of President’s Fleet Review is being conducted at Visakhapatnam as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was also present at the event.
This is the second time that Visakhapatnam has been hosting the PFR, the first being in the year 2006 by the then President of India A P J Abdul Kalam.

International Affairs

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is leading a Parliamentary delegation to the UAE from today to 25th February.
This is the first-ever visit under the bilateral exchange of Parliamentary Delegations from either side.
The Lok Sabha Speaker will have the rare honour of addressing the Federal National Council of UAE on the 22nd of this month.
The Delegation will also visit places of cultural and historical importance in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Important Dates

The International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is observed annually on the 21st of February to raise awareness regarding linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism.
The IMLD day was announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999 and formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2002.
2022 theme: “Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities”.

Obituaries

Gandhian leader Padma Shree awardee Shakuntala Chaudhary (102-years) passed away in Guwahati.
She worked towards the welfare and empowerment of women.
Shakuntala Chaudhary spent a large portion of her life at the Kasturba Ashram, since 1947.
She was a recipient of Vayoshestha Samman - National Awards For Senior Citizens 2021, from the government of India.

Schemes

In a big boost to regional air connectivity, the first direct flight between Delhi and heritage city of Khajuraho was flagged-off.
With this, 405 routes would be operationalized under the UDAN-RCS (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik- Regional Connectivity Scheme).
The Delhi-Khajuraho-Delhi route was awarded to SpiceJet airline under the UDAN 3.0.
At present, SpiceJet services Gwalior and Jabalpur airports in Madhya Pradesh.
With Khajuraho, it will be their 15th UDAN destination.

International Affairs

The UNEP has released its annual Frontiers report.
In report titled "Noise, Blazes and Mismatches: Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern", UNEP has warned that Wildfires are predicted to worsen in the coming years and decades.
Wildfires are a natural phenomenon, but are becoming more dangerous and affecting larger areas
The UN report has attributed this to climate change and human activities.
Report said, in 2021 Africa was the most affected region due to wildfires

Obituaries

Veteran Trinamool Congress leader and senior West Bengal minister Sadhan Pande passed away.
Pandey represented Kolkata’s Burtolla assembly constituency 5 times since 1987, when he was in the Congress, and the Manicktala constituency 3 times since 2011.
He joined the TMC after its formation in 1998.

Honours & Awards

Coal India Ltd has been awarded the 'India's Most Trusted Public Sector Company' award.
CIL received this honor at the “Energy Meet and Excellence Award” function organized by Industry Chamber “ASSOCHAM” in Kolkata.
Minister of state for Coal, Mines and Railways Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve also complimented CIL for bagging the coveted award.
CIL is a Maharatna company of the Government of India.

Banking & Finance

According to the Council for Leather Exports (CLE), country's leather and footwear exports are expected cross $6 billion in 2022-23.
This is due to increasing demand in the US and new markets such as Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
During April-January this fiscal, leather and leather products exports rose by 33 per cent to $3.6 billion.
The exports stood at $3.3 billion in 2020-21 and $4.7 billion in 2019-20.
Chairman of CLE: Sanjay Leekha

Agreement

Bank of Baroda has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Assam Rifles to provide 'Central Forces Salary Package'.
Under the agreement, Bank of Baroda will offer the Baroda Central Forces Salary Package to all personnel of the Assam Rifles, both serving and retired.
Further, the Bank will also provide special benefits, including Personal Accident Insurance and a co-branded credit card.
Assam Rifles is country's oldest paramilitary force.

Agreement

Tata Power has collaborated with Germany-based RWE Renewable GmbH to explore potential for a joint development of offshore wind projects in India.
A corresponding MoU has been signed between Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd and RWE Renewables GmbH, one of the world's leaders in offshore wind.
The MoU between Tata Power Renewable Energy and RWE becomes significant in the light of the Central govt’s announcement of achieving 30GW of offshore wind installations by 2030.

Banking & Finance

Bharti Airtel has joined the SEA-ME-WE-6 undersea cable consortium to scale up its high-speed global network capacity to serve India’s fast growing digital economy.
The 19,200 Rkm SEA-ME-WE-6 will connect Singapore and France, and will be amongst the largest undersea cable systems globally.
Through SEA-ME-WE-6, Airtel will add 100 TBps capacity to its global network.
Airtel will land the SEA-ME-WE-6 cable system in India at new landing stations in Mumbai and Chennai.