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By admin: Feb. 12, 2022

Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting

Tags: Popular International News

Australia hosted the third in- person foreign minister’s meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue also known as QUAD in Melbourne on 11 February 2022. Earlier in person foreifn ministers’ meetings were held in Tokyo in October 2020 and the inaugural meeting in New York in September 2019.

The Melbourne meeting was attended by the Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken , Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and the Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payn.

A joint statement was issued after the end of the meeting .The main highlights of the statement were as follows :

• For the  first time the QUAD  mentions the terrorist incident of  2008 Mumbai attack of 26/11 and the attck on Pathankot air base  2016 and   called for bringing the prepartotrs to justice .

• The foreign ministers of India, Australia, Japan and the US reviewed the Quad Vaccine Partnership, which was launched in March last year, during their meeting in Melbourne. The partnership envisages the production of at least 1 billion doses of US-developed vaccines in India with American and Japanese funding. 

• Indian company Biological E is producing corona vaccine developed by  U.S Texas Children’s Hospital scientists Drs Peter Hotez and . Maria Bottazzi. The vaccine is called Corbevax. This vaccine will be supplied to poor countries through Quad Vaccine Partnership. 

• Australia will hold an Indo-Pacific Clean Energy Supply Chain Forum meeting in mid-2022 to establish responsible and resilient clean-energy supply chains

QUAD 

Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a group of four countries US, Japan, Australia and India. The concept of QUAD was given by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007 for maritime cooperation between these countries after the Indian ocean Tsunami disaster in 2004. 

Now the group is  mainly seen as a group to counter the Chinese influence in the region .

• The first virtual summit meeting of the leader of QUAD  was held in March 2021.

• The First in person summit meeting of the leaders of the four countries  was held by the United States in September 2021 in Washington attended by the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga

• The next summit meeting will be held in Japan in 2022.

Diesel to be replaced by renewable energy in Agriculture by 2024

Tags: National News

The Government of India has set a target to replace the use of diesel by renewable energy  in the agriculture sector by 2024.  

• Agriculture sector after transportation sector is the second largest consumer of diesel in India.

• Diesel is used by farmers for running pumps for  irrigation purposes , harvesters, threshers , and running tractors.

• Diesel is the most-popular fuel, accounting for about 40% of India’s petroleum sales.

Green Energy Target 

 According to the Union Power Minister R.K.Singh ,the Government of India has set a target of 500 GigaWatt(GW) of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030 .

It has  also set a target that by 2030 the contribution of the non -renewable  source of energy in total energy production shall be 50 %.

Concept 

Fossil Fuels

 It is a hydrocarbon fuel which is formed due to decomposition of organic  materials like tree, animals over a period of time . Petroleum, Natural Gas, Coal are examples of fossil fuels.  They are  burned for energy production.

Renewable Energy 

The  energy derived from natural processes that are replenished at a rate that is equal to or faster than the rate at which they are consumed. For eg Sun(solar energy,), river  (hydel energy). Wind, hot springs (geothermal energy), biomass(bio-fuels), Tides(tidal energy ).

Non-Renewable Energy 

The energy source which cannot be replenished during human lifetime is called non-renewable energy . Eg. Fossil fuels  If we use  1 kg coal for producing power then the formation of  new 1kg of coal by nature will take millions of years to form to replace the consumed coal.

FACTS 

The total renewable energy installed capacity in India as on 30 September 2021 was 150.54 GW.of which 

• Solar energy was 48.55 GW, 

• Large Hydroelectric energy was  46.51 GW

• Wind energy was 40.03 GW, 

•  Biomass energy was 10.62 GW. and

• Small Hydroelectric energy was  4.83 GW, 

India has the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world after China, U.S and Germany.

Finance minister launches first colured souvenir coin in India

Tags: Economics/Business

Finance Minister Mrs Nirmala Sithraman  launched the first  colour souvenir coin on “Panchtantra” on 11 Feburary 2022 during the 17 th foundation day of the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL).

Concept clearing 

Coins are issued in India by the government of India under the Coinage act 1906( last amended in 2011). 

• The Government of India has the right to mint coins of 50 Paise to upto Rs 1000.

• The circulation of Coins in the market is done by the Reserve Bank of India. Coins to the Reserve Bank of India are provided by the Government of India .

• Coins  upto 50 paise are called 'small coins' and coins of Rupee one and above are called 'Rupee Coins'. 

The Coins are minted by the Government of India at 

• Mumbai, 

• Alipore(Kolkata),

•  Hyderabad  and

•  NOIDA (UP).

Commemorative Coins 

Commemorative coins are released to mark some special events.

Commemorative coins sport a distinct design to talk about the occasion on which they are issued.  

They are  normally not issued for circulation purposes but for collection purposes Unless the government notifies ,it is not a legal tender .

The first commemorative coin in India was issued in 1964 with the image of Jawaharlal Nehru, to commemorate his birth anniversary.

 Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL).

It was set up in 2006 under the administrative control of the Union Finance Ministry. Its headquarters is at New Delhi 

SPMCIL was set up by the government of India to bring all its production units engaged in minting of coins, production of security papers and currency notes printing units under one company.

SPMCIL includes the following units 

 4 Coin minting units , where coins are  minted ;

•   Indian Government Mint Mumbai,

• Indian Government Mint Hyderabad (Telangana) 

• Indian Government Mint Kolkata (West Bengal) 

• Indian Government Mint Noida (Uttar Pradesh) 

 Currency Notes Press ,where currency notes are printed: 

• Currency Notes Press(CNP), Nashik ( Maharashtra)

• Bank Note Press(BNP) ,Dewas (Madhya Pradesh)   

Security Printing Press

• India Security Press (ISP), Nashik (Maharstara) , It is the only organisation in India which prints Passports and other travel documents for the government of India .

• Security Printing Press (SPP),Hyderabad (Telangana), It is engaged in the supply of security documents such as postal stationery items,Central excise stamps ,Non-Judicial Stamps,Court Fee Stamps, Indian Postal Orders etc. 

Security Paper mill 

Security Paper Mill, Narmadapuram ( Madhya Pradesh ) is the only paper mill in the country which produces high quality Bank Note and other Security Papers.

 Papers manufactured by this unit are used for printing of currency notes by CNP, Nashik & BNP, Dewas and for Non-Judicial Stamps being printed by ISP, Nashik & SPP, Hyderabad. 

SEBI fines NSE and its officers in appointment case

Tags: Economics/Business

Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has fined National Stock Exchange (NSE) and its former Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, and others for violating securities contract rules in a case related to the appointment of Anand Subramanian as group operating officer and advisor to MD. 

• The regulator has levied a fine of ₹3 crore on Ramkrishna, ₹2 crore each on the NSE, Narain and Subramanian and ₹6 lakh on V R Narasimhan, who was the chief regulatory officer and chief compliance officer.

•  SEBI  has banned the NSE from launching any new product for a period of six months.

• Ramkrishna was MD and CEO of NSE  from April 2013 to December 2016, Narain was the MD and CEO of the exchange from April 1994 till March 2013. 

Main Functions of SEBI:

• It is the regulator of the Capital markets in India. Stock exchanges like NSE,BSE are part of capital markets in India . 

• It functions to protect the interest of investor in the capital markets

• It works to develop the securities market in India 

Current Chairman : Ajay Tyagi 

Its headquarters : Mumbai 

Bank of Baroda will buy Union Bank stake in India First Life

Tags: Economics/Business

Bank of Baroda has agreed to buy 21%stake of Union Bank of India in the India First Life insurance company . 

After acquisition of 21%stake in the Insurance company , the Bank of Baroda stake will rise to  65 %, Union Bank of India  will hold 9% and Carmel Point Investments India will have the remaining 26% stake in the company .

For Exams  

The headquarters of India First Life Insurance company  was set up in 2009 .

Its headquarters : Mumbai 

Bank of Baroda 

It is the second largest public sector bank after SBI 

Headquarters : Vadodara , Gujarat 

Dena bank and Vijaya Bank merged with Bank of Baroda 0n 1 April 2019.

Chairman : Hasmukh Adhia 

MD and CEO : Sanjiv Chadha 

Union Bank of India 

It is a public sector bank owned by the Government of India .

Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank merged with Union Bank on 1 April 2020.

Its headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra

MD and CEO: Rajkiran Rai G.

RBI Financial Literacy week 2022

Tags: Important Days

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will celebrate Financial Literacy Week between February 14-18, 2022.

• The theme  for financial literacy 2022 is  “Go Digital, Go Secure” 

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been conducting Financial Literacy Week (FLW) every year since 2016 to propagate financial education messages on various themes among members of the public across the country.

Tasnim Mir wins Iran Fajr International Challenges 2022

Tags:

Tasnim Mir won the 30th Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge 2022 title by defeating Yulia Yosephine Susanto of Indonesia in the final .

• Tasnim Mir of Gujarat became the first Indian girl to become  Junior girls World no.1 badminton player in January 2022.

• It was her first title at  the senior level of the BWF(Badminton World Federation) badminton championship.

Australia and India signed an MOU on Tourism

Tags: International News

Australian minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment, Dan Tehan visited India on 10-11 February 2022.

He signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tourism cooperation in the field of Tourism  with Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles  on behalf of the Tourism ministry on  11 February 2022.

India defeat West Indies 3-0 to win ODI series

Tags: Sports News

India has defeated the West Indian Cricket team to win the 3 match One Day International (ODI ) series 3-0. 

Due to Covid all the three matches were played at the Narendra Modi cricket stadium, Ahmedabad ,Gujarat . All the three matches were Day/Night matches.

 First ODI  was held on 6 February 2022. It was won by India by 6 wickets

 Man of the match :Yuzvendra Chahal of India 

Second ODI was held on 9 February  2022. It was won by India by 44 runs .

Man of the match : Prasidh Krishna 

Third ODI was held on 11 February 2022. It was won by India by 96 runs 

Man of the match : Shreyas Iyer 

Man of the Series : Prasidh Krishna 

Captain of Indian cricket Team : Rohit Sharma 

Captain of West Indian Cricket Team : Nicholas Pooran for the 2nd and third match 

Kieorn Pollard was the West Indies captain for the first match.