DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Feb. 9, 2022

Praveen kumar Sobti “Bheem” no more

Tags: Person in news

Noted athlete and famous TV actor Praveen Kumar Sobti passed away on 8 February 2022 at the age of 74 in Delhi .

Praveen Kumar who started his career as an athlete shot to fame with the portrayal of the character “Bheem” in the B.R Chopra’s Television Serial Mahabharat telecasted in 1988.

• Praveen Kumar Sobti  became the second Indian athlete after Milkha Singh  to win a medal in the Commonwealth games when he won the silver medal in the hammer  throw event at the Commonwealth Games held in  Kingston, Jamaica 1966.

•  He also won the gold medal in discus throw and Bronze medal in the hammer throw at the 1966 Asian Games  held at Bangkok, Thailand .

• Sobti went on to add another gold and silver in discus in successive Asian Games in 1970 Bangkok and 1974 Tehran ,respectively. 

• He also participated in the 1968 Mexico city Olympics and the Munich 1972 Olympics .

Manoj Ahuja to be the new Agriculture Secretary

Tags: Person in news

The Appointment committee of the Cabinet,Government of India headed by the Prime Minister has approved the appointment of Manoj Ahuja as the new Agriculture Secretary .

At present he is the chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) and he will take over the post in April 2022.

The committee also approved the appointment of 

•  Mr. S. Kishore  is the  Chairman of the Staff Selection Commission(SSC).
•  Mrs. Arti Ahuja  as the new Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals. 
•  Mr. Sanjay Malhotra as the new Secretary, Department of Financial Services.

Important secretary of the Government of India, important for Exam

• Finance Secretary : T.V.Somanathan
• Foreign Secretary :   Harsh Vardhan Shringla
• Home Secretary : Ajay Kumar Bhalla 
• Defence Secretary : Ajay Kumar 

Gautam Adani richest person in Asia

Tags: Person in news

• Gautam Adani, the chairman of the Adani group, has overtaken  Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani to become the richest man in Asia .
• According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ,Gautam Adani net worth was $88.5 billion while Mukesh Ambani was $87.9 billion.
• Gautam Adani founded the company in 1968 and started  with a commodity trading business. Now the company is engaged in the business of ports, airports, coal mining, power sector, renewable energy, and defence.

Sri Lanka Foreign Minister G.L Peiris visit India

Tags: International News

Sri Lankan foreign Minister  G.L Peiris was on a three  day state visit to India from 6 to 8 February 2022.

It was his first Indian visit after assuming office ,he met Indian Foreign Minister Mr. S. Jaishankar ,the Indian Foreign Secretary Mr. Harsh  Vardhan Shringla and the National Security Advisor Mr Ajit Kumar Doval.

Both countries agreed to schedule a meeting of the  “Joint Working Group on Fisheries” to  discuss the Palk Bay fisheries conflict.

Sri Lanka, which is facing a severe economic crisis has been helped by India recently . They are :

• India has extended  a  $400 million currency swap facility to Sri Lanka 

• , It has deferred a $500 million loan repayment by Sri Lanka,

• It has provided a Line of Credit for $500 million for fuel imports and another $1 billion is currently under negotiation.

Western Railways’ Mumbai Division operate 100th Textile Express

Tags: National News

The 100th Textile express was flagged off from the Chalthan (Surat area )in the Mumbai Central Division  of the Western Railways to Sankrail (Kharagpur Division) of the South- Eastern Railway.

• The first Textile express train was  launched on 1 September 2021 by the Union Minister of State for Railways and Textiles Smt. Darshana Jardosh from Udhna (Surat ) to Danapur near Patna and Ram Dayalu Nagar near Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

• Textile express trains are special goods trains of Indian Railways which were launched to carry the textile material from Surat, Gujarat  to various parts of India.  It was launched to provide a cost efficient transportation of Textile materials to various parts of countries from the textile hubs of Surat. 

• Transportation of goods through railways is more economical than the road sector .

 The Gujarati city of Surat is famous for its textile industries . It is also known as the Diamond city of the world as around 90%of the world's rough diamond cutting and polishing is done in Surat. 

Other Special Train of Railways 

Indian Railways has also launched a special Kisan train for transportation of perishable agricultural commodities like fruits,vegetables,meat,poultry, fishery and dairy products.

• The first kisan  train was launched on 7 August 2020 from  Devlali (Maharashtra) to  Danapur (Bihar).

• The 100th Kisan Rail was run on 28 December 2020 from Sangola (Maharashtra) to Shalimar (WestBengal).