1. Government makes helmet mandatory for children below 4 year on Motorcycle
Tags: National News
The Union Road Transport and Highways has made helmet and safety belt mandatory for children between nine months and upto 4 years sitting on the back of the motorcycle.
According to the new rule the speed of a motorcycle with a child up to the age of four years being carried on the pillion will not be more than 40 kmph.
These new rules were made by the Government by amending the section Rule 138 of Central Motor Vehicle Rule (CMVR), 1989.
Points to Know
Section 129 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1989, provides that any person who is not a Sikh wearing a turban, has to wear a protective headgear (helmet) while driving or sitting on a motorcycle or vehicle as notified by the government.
Full Form for Exam
CMVR : Central Motor Vehicle Rule
2. 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
3. Prime Minister Inaugurates TERI's World Sustainable Development Summit 2022
Tags: National News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) World Sustainable Development Summit on 16th February, 2022 through video conferencing.
The theme for this year’s Summit is ‘Towards a Resilient Planet: Ensuring a Sustainable and Equitable Future’.
The Summit will be held from 16 -18 February 2022.
The summit was also addressed by the President of Guyana Dr Irfaan Ali, Environment minister Bhupendra Yadav.
TERI
- TERI was set up as a Tata Energy Research Institute by the Tata group in 1974.
- It was renamed The Energy Research Institute in 2003.
- The Headquarters of TERI : New Delhi
- Director -General of TERI: Vibha Dhawan.
- TERI is engaged in research and development in the field of energy, environment, climate change and sustainability.
4. Highway Construction fell to a four year low in 2021-22
Tags: National News
- Highway construction fell to a four-year low of 22.2 km per day during the April-January period of the current financial year, mainly because multiple cyclones and heavy rains affected construction in the southern states in recent months.
- India built highways at a pace of 30.4 km/day in the same period in the last financial year, despite the pandemic.
- The government has also lowered the target for highway construction for the year to 33 km/day from 40 km/day set earlier.
- The government of India has set a target to construct 12,000 Km of National Highway in 2021-22.
- The target for construction of national highways for 2022-23 is 25,000 km.
IMPORTANT FACTS :
India has the second largest road network in the world after the United States of America .
The total road network in India at the end of 31 December 2021 was around 63.72 lakh Km.
This comprises National Highways 1,40,995 km, State Highways 1,71,039 km, and Expressway,District Roads and Village roads combining 60,59,813 km.
States Having Largest Network of National Highways as on 31 December 2021.
Rank | State | Length of National Highways |
1 | Maharashtra | 18,317 Km |
2 | Uttar Pradesh | 12,245 |
3 | Rajasthan | 10,477 Km |
4 | Madhya Pradesh | 8,772 Km |
5. | Karnataka | 7,335 Km |
State which has the shortest National Highway (length wise) Goa. It has 293 Km of National Highways.
Source of Data: Annual Report 2020-21, Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways : Nitin Gadkari
5. Indian IT sector to grow to $227 billion in 2022: NASSCOM
Tags: Economics/Business National News
National Association of Software and Services Companies(NASSCOM) expects the Indian Information Technology(IT) sector to cross $ 200 billion revenue for the first time and is expected to touch $227 billion in 2021-22.
The expected growth rate of 15.5% in 2021-22 will be the highest growth rate since 2011 in the revenue of the IT sector .
It has set a target of $ 350 billion revenue by 2026.
The IT sector in India created 4.5 lakh new jobs in 2021-22 of which about 44% were women employees. Around 18 lakh women work in the sector .
Exports from India grew by 17.2% and it was $178 billion which is over 51 % of India’s total service sector exports.
Ecommerce recorded a growth of 39 per cent to reach $79 billion in 2021-22.
The new age digital service sector saw a 25% growth in revenue to reach $13 billion and now contributes to around 32 per cent of the total IT sector revenue .
India has emerged as a global hub for digital talent with over five million tech workers.
Around one out of three employees already digitally skilled, the digital tech talent pool is at 16 lakhs.
NASSCOM
The National Association of Software and Services Companies(NASSCOM) was set up in 1988
It is a non profit organisation of IT sector companies in India
It is a lobby group which works for the promotion of the IT sector and its companies in India and abroad.
Chairman of NASSCOM : U.B.Pravin Rao
President : Debjani Ghosh
Important for Exam
FULL FORM
NASSCOM : The National Association of Software and Services Companies
6. Emergency declared in Canada
Tags: International News
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on 14 February 2022, declared an emergency in the country in an effort to end protests that have shut important trade routes with the United States and paralyzed parts of the capital, Ottawa.
Protest started in Canada when a new rule was introduced last month that all truckers must be vaccinated to cross the US-Canada border.
The truckers started protesting against that and started a convoy of trucks, cars and other vehicles to block the key Ambassador Bridge.
It is a vital trade route between Canada and the United States. It carries around 25% of the total merchandise trade between the two countries.
The protest became popular as “Freedom Convoy”. It soon drew people who were opposed to Trudeau's policies on everything from pandemic restrictions to a carbon tax. Similar protests also emerged in New Zealand, Australia, Israel and France.
The protest was broken up by the police on 13 February after the United States government expressed concern at the blockade which was affecting the auto industry in Detroit, US.
The Canadian government accused the protesters of getting foreign funding and the protest was detrimental to the economy and public safety of Canada. Under the Emergency act the Canadian police and law enforcement agencies will have power to block foreign funding of the protesters.
Important for Exam
Ambassador Bridge
The Ambassador Bridge is an international suspension bridge on the river Detroit. It connects the Detroit city of Michigan, United States with the Windsor city of Ontario, Canada.
It is the largest suspension bridge in the world.
Detroit
It is known as the automobile capital of the world. It is also called Motor City.
It is the home of the automobile giants of the United States , General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
It is the birthplace of the modern automobile industry. For the first time an assembly line production technique was used by Henry Ford to mass produce cars for the people. It was the famous T model.
India’s Detroit : Chennai is considered to be India’s Detroit.
Fact Files Canada
It is the second largest country in the world area wise after Russia.
It shares 8,890-km ,the longest land boundary in the world with the United States.
The British monarch is the head of the State of Canada.
Prime Minister of Canada : Justin Trudeau
Capital “ Ottawa
- Currency : Canadian Dollar .
7. S.Jaishankar visit to Philippines
Tags: International News
Indian external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar visited the Philippines from February 13 to 15 2022. It was his first visit to the Philippines after becoming the External Affairs Minister.
He met his counterpart, Teddy Locsin Jr ,Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines (Foreign Minister of Philippines).
Philippines became the first country in the world to buy India -Russia developed Brahmos missiles from India.
The $375 million deal was signed between the two countries on January 28, 2022. The Philippines Navy will receive the first of these missiles by the end of 2022.
Fact File
Philippines
It is an archipelago consisting of more than 7000 islands . It is a part of South East Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean.
Capital : Manila
Currency : Philippine Peso
President: Rodrigo Duterte
Asian Development Bank has its headquarter at Manila
8. First Global Summit on Reimagining Museums in India
Tags: Summits National News
Minister of Culture, Tourism and Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER), Govt. of India Mr G. Kishan Reddy ,inaugurated the two day Global Summit on ‘Reimagining Museums in India” in Hyderabad on 15 Janaury 2022.
The summit will be held on 15 and 16 February 2022.
The global summit is being organised by the Union Ministry of Culture
The summit is being attended by the delegates of India, Australia, France, Italy, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom online .
9. India improves its rank on Democracy Index 2021
Tags: National News
India has improved its ranks by 7 places to move to 46 rank in the Democracy Index 2021 released by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) on 10 February 2022. It was ranked 53rd in the Democracy Index 2020.
India was categorised as aflawed democracy along with the U.S.
Highlights of the Index 2021
The Democracy Index 2021 ranks167 countries and territories of the world .
The EIU democracy Index ranks the country on the rating of 0 to 10. Country which scores 10 is a perfect democracy and a country scoring 0 is an Authoritarian country.
The top ranked country was Norway with a score of 9.75 and Afghanistan was ranked at the bottom,167th with a score of 0.32.
India is ranked 46 on the global index with an overall score of 6.91. It has the lowest score of 5 on political culture and the highest score of 8.67 on electoral process and pluralism. It scores 6.18 on civil liberties, 7.22 on political participation.
Economic Intelligence Unit has divided the world into four types; Full democracy, Flawed democracies, Hybrid regimes, Authoritarian regimes.
The top ranked Democratic countries were (rank wise ); Norway, New Zealand,Finland , Sweden , Iceland.
The bottom ranked countries: 167 ranked Afghanistan , 166 th Myanmar ,165th ranked North Korea, 164 ranked Congo and 163 ranked Central African Republic.
Full form for Exams
EIU : Economic Intelligence Unit
10. Germany’s President Steinmeier re-elected for second five-year term
Tags: International News
Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected to a second term as Germany's president on Sunday after a special assembly vote on 13 February 2022.
He has been elected for a five year term.
The President in Germany has little power and the real power is with the Chancellor of Germany.
Currently the German Chancellor is Olaf Scholz
The German president is elected by members of the German parliament Bundestag and the members of the Parliament of the 16 states of Germany
