1. Hasmukh Adia re appointed Bank of Baroda Chairman
Tags: Popular Person in news
Government of India has reappointed former finance secretary Hasmukh Adia as the non-executive chairman of the Bank of Baroda for the next two years, starting from 1 March 2022.
He retired as the Finance Secretary, Government of India in 2018.
Bank of Baroda
It is the third largest public sector bank in India after State Bank of India (SBI)and Punjab National Bank (PNB).
The banks in which the government of India holds 51% or more equity shares are called public sector banks in India .
Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Sanjiv Chadha
The Headquarters of the bank: Vadodara,Gujarat
Tagline of the Bank : India’s International Bank
2. IPCC warns of irreversible impact of global climate change
Tags: Popular Science and Technology
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned of a grim future for earth if global warming continues and the global temperatures continue to increase beyond 1.5% .
The latest warnings have come in the second part of IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report which talks about climate change impacts, risks and vulnerabilities, and adaptation options. The first part of the report was released in August last year.
The Assessment Reports, the first of which had come out in 1990, are the most comprehensive evaluations of the state of the earth’s climate. Later reports were released in 1995,2001,2007 and 2015.
The report highlights the increasing impacts that are expected as the rise in global temperatures, currently around 1.1C, heads to 1.5Cabove the 1850s level.
Highlights of the report
South Asia is the most vulnerable to severe climate change impacts due to its inequality and poverty .
The Ganga, Indus, Amu Darya river basins in Asia will face severe water scarcity by 2050.It will adversely affect agriculture and drinking water scarcity in the region .
Ahmedabad city faces a risk of urban heat island effect . It means that the average temperature in the city will be higher than the surrounding areas.
Mumbai is at a high risk of rising sea level and consequent flooding
If the temperature increases by 1-4 degree centigrade then rice production in the world can fall by 10-30% and maize production can fall by 25-70%.
If temperatures rise to between 1.7 and 1.8C above the 1850s level, then the report states that half the human population could be exposed to periods of life-threatening climatic conditions arising from heat and humidity.
Rising Sea Level
According to the IPCC report, global sea levels will likely rise 44-76 cm this century if governments meet their current emission-cutting pledges. With faster emission cuts, the increase could be limited to 28-55 cm.
But with higher emissions, and if ice sheets collapse more quickly than expected, sea levels could rise as much as 2 m this century and 5 m by 2150.
Wet Bulb Temperature
Lucknow and Patna ,Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Mumbai, Indore, and Ahmedabad , are among the cities predicted to reach wet-bulb temperature of 35°C if emissions continue to rise.
Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab will be the most severely affected, but if emissions keep rising, all States will have regions that experience wet-bulb temperature of 30°C or more by the end of the century.
IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was set up by the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nation Environment Programme in 1988.
Aim of IPCC
It was set up to prepare a comprehensive review and recommendations with respect to
- the state of knowledge of the science of climate change;
- social and economic impact of climate change,
- potential response strategies and elements for inclusion in a possible future international convention on climate.
Its Headquarters : Geneva, Switzerland
Current Chairman : Hoesung Lee
It shared Nobel Peace Prize with the former American Vice-President Al Gore in 2007
Concept Clearing
What is Wet Bulb Temperature
Human body regulates our body temperature depending upon the external environment of heat and humidity. If the temperature is high then our body tries to lower down our body temperature by sweating. The more we sweat the faster the cooling. However if humidity (water vapour in air ) is high then the ability of our body to cool also reduces . That’s why dry heat feels more tolerable than extreme humidity.
Wet-bulb temperature accounts for both heat and humidity, and reflects what that combination means for the human body’s ability to cool down.
The term wet bulb comes from a way the measurement can be taken, by wrapping a piece of wet cloth around the end of a thermometer to see how much evaporation can decrease the temperature.
35 degree centigrade is considered to be the maximum limit for a wet bulb temperature.
If the wet bulb temperature reaches 35 degree centigrade then a normal healthy human being cannot lose its body heat by sweating and will suffer heat stroke leading to death if they remain outdoors for a considerable period of time.
With the continuous rise in earth temperature the risk of wet bulb temperature phenomena is expected to become common.
3. India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) Signature 2022 inaugurated by Piyush Goyal
The Minister for Commerce & Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution Shri Piyush Goyal inaugurated the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) Signature at Mumbai on 18 February 2022.
The IIJS Signature event is being organised by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).
The event will be held from 18 to 21 February 2022.
The Minister said that the Gems and Jewellery sector is likely to achieve the export target of $40 billion in 2021-22.
The total export of the Gems and Jewellery sector in 2021-22(April to January ) was $32.13 billion(source PIB)
The United States of America is the largest market for Indian Gems and Jewellery .
FACTS
India share in the total world export of Gems and Jewellery in 2020 was 3.5%
India was ranked the 7th Largest exporter of Gems and Jewellery in the world in 2020.
Switzerland is the largest exporter of Gems and Jewellery in the world.
India is the largest exporter of diamonds in the world
India is the largest exporter of cut and polished diamonds in the world . Surat in Gujarat processes about 90% of the cut and polished diamonds of the world .
India is the 4th largest exporter of Gold Jewellery in the world
India is the largest exporter of silver jewellery in the world
Source : Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC)
Note : Gems & Jewellery include Gold, Silver & Pearls, precious & Semi-precious stones.
Know this also
Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC)
It was set by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 1966
It was set up to promote the export of Gems and Jewellery in India Its Headquarters : Mumbai
4. G. Ashok Kumar appointed as the first National Maritime Security Coordinator
Tags: Popular Person in news National News
The Government of India has appointed Vice Admiral (retd) G Ashok Kumar as India’s first National Maritime Security Coordinator(NMSC).
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval to create the post in November 2021.
The NMSC will be responsible for coordinating the various agencies which are involved in coastal security of India like the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, State Police and other agencies.
He will directly report to the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
India has a coastline of 7516.6 Km which encompases 13 States and Union Territory.
Why the need of such a post
On November 26, 2008, 10 Pakistani terrorists sneaked into Mumbai through the sea, arriving by boat from Karachi and created a havoc in Mumbai killing around 166 people. This terrorist incident in Mumbai brought into light the complete lack of coordination amongst the security agencies.
To prevent such security failure in future and for better coordination amongst security agencies this post has been created.
Important Full form for Exams
CCS : Cabinet Committee on Security
NMSC: National Maritime Security Coordinator
NSA: National Security Advisor
5. ISRO launches first satellite of the 2022
Tags: Popular Science and Technology National News
The Indian Space Research Organisation- (ISRO) successfully launched a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle -C52(PSLV-C52) on 14 February 2022 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
The PSLV-C52 rocket carried three satellites EOS-04 ,INSPIR Esat-1and INS-2TD)
Satellites carried by PSLV-C52
ESO-04 Satellite
It is a Radar Imaging Satellite designed to provide high quality images under all weather conditions for applications such as Agriculture, Forestry and Plantations, Soil Moisture and Hydrology and Flood mapping.
It is a 1,710 kg satellite which was built at the UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru.
It will be deployed into a sun synchronous polar orbit of 529 km.
INSPIREsat-1
It is a micro satellite made by students of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology ,Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in association with Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics at University of Colorado, Boulder, Nanyang Technology University (NTU), Singapore and National Central University(NCU),, Taiwan.
INS-2TD
It is a technology demonstrator satellite which is a forerunner to the India-Bhutan satellite INS 2-B
Fact about ISRO PSLV Mission
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is a four stage rocket of ISRO which was launched on 30 September 1993 for the first time .
This was the 80th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota;
It was the 54th flight of PSLV;
It was the 23rd flight of PSLV in the XL configuration (6 strap-on motors).
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
ISRO was set up on 15 August 1969
Chairman of ISRO: S Somnath
Headquarters of ISRO : Bengaluru, Karnataka
Space Station from where ISRO launches rockets
Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Full form for Exam
ISRO: Indian Space Research Organisation
PSLV : Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
EOS : Earth Observation Satellite
SDSC: Satish Dhawan Space Centre
- SHAR :Sriharikota Range
6. 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.
