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By admin: Oct. 16, 2022

Harshada Garud sole Indian medal winner at the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2022

Tags: place in news Sports Person in news

Junior world champion Harshada Garud was India’s sole medallist among the 12-member Indian contingent at the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2022 tournament which concluded on 16 October 2022 at Manama, Bahrain.

She won the bronze medals in the snatch section and the overall section of the women’s 45kg category. This was Harshada Garud’s first international medal at the senior level.

The Asian Weightlifting Championships was organized by the Asian Weightlifting Federation at Manama, Bahrain from 6 to 16 October 2022.

Asian Weightlifting Federation 

It was set up in 1958 in Tokyo, Japan.

It governs the weightlifting sports in Asia.

45 countries of Asia are its member

Headquarters: Bangkok, Thailand  

Avinash Sable wins the Indian Elite race at the Delhi Half Marathon 2022 in a photo finish

Tags: Sports Person in news

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games men’s 3000m steeplechase silver medal winner Avinash Sable, won the Indian elite race at the Delhi Half Marathon 2022 on 16 October 2022, beating Kartik Kumar by a margin of 0.04 seconds. Both Sable and Kartik clocked 1:04:00 seconds. Avinash Sable was eventually declared the winner by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) technical officials after reviewing the footage.

Avinash Sable also won the last Delhi half marathon held in 2020. The distance in the Delhi half marathon is 21.097 Kilometers, while in the normal marathon the distance is 42.195 Kilometers.

In the Indian women’s elite race, Sanjivani Jadhav bagged the crown with a timing of 1:17:53.

Ethiopia’s Chala Regasa and Kenya’s Irine Cheptai, won the international men’s and women’s elite races, respectively.

Esha Singh, Udhayveer Sidhu win gold medals at the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Championship 2022

Tags: Sports Person in news

Udhayveer Sidhu and Esha Singh won gold medals at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Rifle/Pistol World Championship 2022 in Cairo, Egypt on 15 October 2022.   Earlier Rudrankksh Patil won gold at the men's 10m air rifle event yesterday.

Medal winners. 

Today India won three gold and one bronze medal.

Esha Singh won the gold in the junior women’s 25m pistol.

Udhayveer Sidhu won two gold medals on the day. He won a gold medal in the junior men’s 25m pistol and another one in the junior men’s 25m standard pistol titles.

Another medal was won for India by Tejaswini. She won the bronze medal in the junior women’s 25m standard pistol.

At the moment, India is at the second place on the medals table with seven medals - four gold and three bronze. China leads the tally with 16 medals.

The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championships Rifle/Pistol is being held in Cairo, Egypt from 12 -25 October 2022.

Indian Army signs agreement with 11 banks for 'Agniveer salary package'

Tags: Economy/Finance Defence

The Union Ministry of Defence in a statement released on 15 October 2022 has said that the Indian Army has signed an agreement with 11 scheduled commercial banks for providing banking facilities to Agniveers.

These  Banks are ;State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDFC First Bank and Bandhan Bank. These banks will open the salary account of the newly recruited Agniveers of the Indian Army.

Agnipath Scheme 

In a major reform in the defence sector human resource policy the government of India introduced “Agnipath scheme’ for Army, Air Force and Navy. 

Under the scheme the government will recruit personnel below officer rank in the three services called Agniveers for a period of 4 years.

The Agniveers will form a distinct rank in the three services, and will also wear a distinct insignia as part of their uniform.

The banks will offer soft loans to existing Agniveers to promote and enhance their entrepreneurial skills.

The first batch of Agniveers under “Agnipath Scheme” will be joining Training Centres by January 2023,

Union Minister for Defence: Rajnath Singh

Union Home Minister Amit Shah launches Hindi version of MBBS book in Bhopal

Tags: place in news Science and Technology State News

Union Minister for Home Affairs and Cooperation Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a day-long visit to Madhya Pradesh launched India’s first Hindi version of MBBS course books in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on 16 October 2022. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, was also present during the launch event.

First medical college to offer bilingual MBBS course

Gandhi Medical College Bhopal became the first medical college in Madhya Pradesh and India to offer MBBS courses in both Hindi as well as in English medium, starting 2022-23 session. The book which has been launched in will be first used in the Gandhi Medical College.

Initially, three subjects have been selected to be studied in Hindi which includes anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry. 

First State to offer bilingual MMBS course 

Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to start the MBBS course in Hindi language. The state government intends to extend the bilingual medium of education in the medical field to all the medical colleges in the state.  

In 2021 on a visit to Assam Prime Minister Modi has called to establish at least one medical college and one technical college in every Indian state which would impart higher education in regional languages.

Madhya Pradesh State 

• Madhya Pradesh, with an area of 3, 08, 000 sq.km. Is the second largest state in India after Rajasthan.
• After Independence 25 princely states were merged to create a Madhya Bharat State on May 28, 1948. 
• After the reorganization of states in 1956 it was renamed as Madhya Pradesh on 1 November 1956.
• On 1 November 2000, Chhattisgarh state was formed by dividing the state of Madhya Pradesh 
• It is bounded by the states of Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the southeast, Maharashtra to the south, Gujarat to the southwest, and Rajasthan to the northwest.

Capital: Bhopal 

• State Symbol of the Madhya Pradesh 
• The State bird of Madhya Pradesh is “Dhudraj” the Asian Paradise Flycatcher.
• The State tree of Madhya Pradesh is the “Banyan”.
• The State animal of Madhya Pradesh in the “Barasingha” also called swamp deer.
• The State fish of Madhya Pradesh is “Mahasheer”, locally known as Mahasheer Baudas. 

Prime Minister Modi dedicates 75 Digital Banking Units to the country

Tags: Economy/Finance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 districts of the country on 16 October 2022 virtually. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das also participated virtually. DBU is a joint initiative of the Government of India, the RBI, the Indian Banks Association and the participating banks.

Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech 2022-23 announced the setting up of 75 Digital Banking Units (DBU) in the 75 districts of the country to commemorate the 75 years of Independence. 

The setting up of the DBU is a step in strengthening financial inclusion in the country. DBUs will enable customers to have cost-effective, convenient access and enhanced digital experience of banking products and services throughout the year.

How many banks are involved in the project? 

11 Public Sector Banks, 12 Private Sector Banks and one Small Finance Bank are participating in the endeavour. 

What is a Digital Banking Unit?

• A digital banking unit (DBU) is a specialised business unit of a bank that houses certain minimum digital banking products and services.
• The products and services in these Units will be provided in two modes, namely, self-service and assisted modes (bank staff will help the customer), with self-service mode being available 24x7.
• According to the RBI, banks are also free to engage the services of digital business facilitators and business correspondents to expand the footprint of the DBUs.

Service provided by DBU 

According to the RBI the DBU units can provide following services;

• It will provide certain minimum digital banking products and services including account opening, providing digital kits to customers and merchants, as well as cash withdrawal and deposit services. insurance, investment facilities  to its customers,
• It will  onboard retail and MSME(Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) loan customers,
• It will  provide end-to-end digital processing of small ticket retail and MSME loans, starting from online applications to disbursals, 
•  The DBUs will also provide services related to certain identified government sponsored schemes,
• They will spread Digital Financial Literacy and special emphasis will be given to customer education on cyber security awareness and safeguards. 

Indian Bank Association

• The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) was formed on September 26, 1946 with 22 members. As of April, 2018 the total Membership of the Association is 239.
• It includes Public sector Bank, Private Sector Banks, Foreign Banks, Co-operatives, Regional Rural Bank, and All India Financial Institutions.
•  It is a representative body of banks in India to promote and develop in India sound and progressive banking principles, practises and conventions and to contribute to the developments of creative banking.
• It helps the government in formulating Human Resources policy for the banking sector.

Current Chairman:  Punjab National Bank’s  MD & CEO Atul Kumar Goel is the chairman of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) 

Headquarters of IBA: Mumbai 

World Food Day

Tags: Important Days

Every year 16 October is observed as World Food Day. This day marks the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).in 1945. The day is observed to draw the attention of the world to the issue of hunger and equitable access to food amongst the poor in the world.  

Background to the Day

World Food Day was established at the 20th Session of the Conference of FAO 1979, held in Rome, on the suggestion of the former Hungarian minister of agriculture and food Dr Pal Romany.

It gradually became a way to raise awareness about hunger, malnutrition, sustainability and food production in the world.

Theme of the World Food Day 2022

The theme of the world food day 2022 is: Leave no one Behind 

The theme reflects the current global hunger situation in the world due to climate change, covid pandemic and war in Ukraine has led to sharp increase in the prices of food energy and fertilizer prices. This has led to sharp deteriorating global food security crises and all-time high numbers of people at risk of experiencing serious levels of hunger in Asia and Africa. 

The recently released Global Hunger Index 2022 has put India into a severe risk category.

The world food day calls upon the leaders of the world and the civil society to take urgent action so that no one is left behind toi face hunger and food insecurity. 

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

 It is a specialised agency of the United Nations.

It was set up on 16 October 1945.

It’s Headquarters: Rome, Italy

It was conferred with the Nobel Peace Prize 2020. 

Director-General: QU Dongyu