DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Feb. 8, 2022

Railways launches Operation AAHT to curb human trafficking

Tags: National News

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) under the Ministry of Railways has launched a nationwide operation to curb human trafficking .

RPF will deploy its special units on important railway stations and trains, especially trains originating in the district bordering Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. 

• Thousands of women and children from these countries are  sold in various parts of the country for sexual exploitation, prostituion,slavery,organ transplant etc .

• Law and order is a responsibility of the state government according to the India constitution . The registration,detection and prevention of crime is the responsibility of the Government Railway Police (GRP) under the respective state governments.

• Railway Protection Force can assist the state government law enforcement agency in curbing human trafficking  as railways is one of the most  preferred network through which human smugglers  uses for trafficking human especially children and women .

• Article 23(1) of the constitution prohibits trafficking in human beings or persons.

First Women Vice-Chancellor of JNU

Tags: Person in news

Santishree Dhulipadi Pandit has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor(VC) of the prestigious JawaharLal Nehru University(JNU) ,New Delhi

• She is the first woman and also a  former student of JNU to be appointed as the Vice -Chancellor of the University.

• She has  replaced Mr Jagdish Kumar who was earlier  appointed as the chairman of the University Grant Commission by the Government of India.

• Santishree Pandit  has been appointed for five years .

Senegal wins maiden Africa Cup of Nation 2021

Tags: Sports News

Senegal defeated Egypt  in a penalty shoot-out to win its first Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2021 on 7 February 2022.

•   The score in the final match was 0-0 even after extra time.  The result was decided by a penalty shoot out which was won by Senegal 4-2 .

• The final was played in the Cameroon  capital . Yaounde’s  Olembé stadium.

• The 31st Africa Cup of Nation football tournament was held in Cameroon from 9 January to 7 February 2022.

• The Africa Cup of Nations football tournament is held every two years and  the first tournament was held in 1957 in Sudan.

• Egypt has won the cup a maximum of 7 times .

• It is located in Western Africa and is also called the “Gateway of Africa" .

  Capital of Senegal : Dakar 

  Currency of Senegal : West African CFA franc . The West African franc is the common currency of eight African countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea- Bissau ,Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

PM-CARES collects around Rs 11,000 crores in the first year of its operations

Tags: National News

The Government of India has disclosed that the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief   in Emergency Situation Fund (PM-CARES) received ₹10,990 crore in its first year till March 2021 as donations. Out of this ₹3,976 crore, or 36.17% of the money  was spent for various relief and capacity building measures.

 Major Utilisation of the Fund 

• For buying 66 million covid vaccines:  Rs 1,392 crore

• For buying 50,000 indian made ventilators : Rs 1,311 crore 

• For welfare of migrants,funds provided to states and Union Territories: Rs 1,000 crore . 

PMCARES 

To deal with the Covid pandemic ,the Government of India set up  “Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund)” in March 2020 as a public charitable trust .

• It was set up to  deal with any type of public health emergency like covids or any other  emergency due to natural /man-made disaster etc 

• It accepts public donations so as to meet its objectives. 

• Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund and  Union Minister of Defence, Union  Minister of Home Affairs and  Union Minister of Finance are the trustees of the fund.

• The headquarters of the fund is at : New Delhi 

Ashok Leyland supply 200 trucks to Bangladesh

Tags: Economics/Business

• Chennai based , Indian multinational  automobile manufacturer Ashok Leyland  will supply 200 trucks to Bangladesh.
• The supply of trucks is part of the $2 billion tied loan provided by the Government of India to Bangladesh.

Tied Loan

• A loan given by a  country(lender) to another country(borrower) on the conditions  that the loaned money will be used by the borrower  to  buy goods and services from the lending country . 
• It helps the lending country as it creates demands for its goods , creates employment, boosts exports and also gets back the loan amount with some interest.

Airtel Payment bank launches cyber insurance for its customer with ICICI Lombard

Tags: National News

India’s first payment bank ,Airtel Payment Bank has launched a cyber insurance policy for its customers in partnership with ICICI Lombard General Insurance company .

• The Airtel payment bank customer can buy the policy from the Airtel Thanks App.

• The bank’s policyholder will be provided financial  protection by ICICI Lombard  in case they are a victim of financial frauds while doing online transactions relating to banking, credit cards, debit cards etc.

Airtel Payment Bank :

• It started its operation January 2017 and is the first payment bank in India 
• Its Headquarters: New Delhi 

ICICI lombard General Insurance 

• It is a joint venture of ICICI bank  and   Canada  based Fairfax Financial Holdings.
• The Headquarters of ICICI Lombard General Insurance : Mumbai . 

Concepts clearing 

What is life  Insurance and General Insurance  

Life Insurance  

• It is a contract between an insurance company and a human being where the company promises to pay a sum  of money in case of the death of the human being .
• Important Life Insurance companies in India are LIC, ICICI Prudential,Max Life Insurance etc.

General Insurance 

• Unlike  life insurance in General Insurance, Non Human beings' life or objects which are not living are insured .
• For example crops insurance , cow insurance,buffallo insurance etc  . They are living but they are non-human hence they will come under General Insurance .
• Some of the examples of non life objects are  houses, cars, jewellery,etc. So if we insure our cars then it will come under General Insurance 

Health Insurance 

• In health insurance a person(human being ) is insured for hospitalisation where the insurance company will pay for hospital bills if the person falls ill.
• In India, Health Insurance can be provided by Life Insurance companies, General Insurance companies or specialised Health Insurance companies .
• It means it can be offered by LIC, ICICI  Lombard  or Star Health.

Insurance sector in India is regulated by the Insurance Regulatory  and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

Headquarters of IRDAI : Hyderabad 

Jammu and Kashmir integrated with the National Single window System

Tags: National News

• Jammu & Kashmir became the first Union Territory to join the National Single Window System (NSWS). 
• NSWS was launched in September 2021 by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade(DPIIT) along with Invest India.
•  It  is a digital platform that serves as a guide for investors to identify and to apply for approvals as per their business requirements.
• At present 14 States/UTs are integrated with the  NSWS. They are  Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Objective of the National Single Window System 

The main objectives of the NSWS are as follows :

1) To establish a single-window mechanism by integrating the services provided by various Central Ministries, Departments, and State Governments

2) To provide a one-stop-shop for procuring pre-establishment and pre-operation approvals and permits required to establish a business in India

3) To provide efficient, convenient, transparent, and integrated electronic service to investors, industries, and businesses

DPIIT 

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) was established in the year 1995 and was reconstituted in the year 2000 with the merger of the Department of Industrial Development. 

The department was earlier called Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion; and was renamed as DPIIT in January, 2019.

It comes under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Important Function of the DPIIT 

• It helps in making the Industrial policy of the Government of India 

• It is the nodal body for  matters related to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) .

• It undertakes promotion of investment for industrial development of the country. 

• It  is  the nodal body for  matters relating to Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)  and administers law related to IPR.

Invest India 

Invest India  is a National Investment and Promotion Agency to promote India as an investment destination  and encourage Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India.

• It was set up as  a company in 2009 and started its operation in 2010 .

• It is a joint venture of the government and the private sector .

• The  Central and State Government  holds  49%  of the shares in Invest India and  the rest 51% is with Industrial bodies ( Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), National Association of Software Services Companies of India (NASSCOM),Confederation of Indian Industries(CII).

India Telecom 2022 inaugurated by the Ashwini Vaishnaw

Tags: Summits

Union Minister of Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railway, Mr Ashwini Vaishnaw  inaugurated the “India Telecom 2022” on 8 Feburary 2022.

• The “India Telecom 2022”  is being organised by by Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC) from February 8th to 10th , 2022 

• It is being held in New Delhi .

• The main aim of the event is to promote Indian telecom equipment to the internal buyer and boost the export of Indian Telecom equipment.

• Buyers from more than 45 countries are attending the event