1. Saudi-led coalition launches deadly air raids in Yemen’s Sanaa
Tags: International News
The Saudi-led coalition carried out air raids in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on 18 January 2022, killing more than 12 people. This attack comes after the Houthi rebels launched a drone and missile attack on a United Arab Emirates oil facility on 17 January killing three people. Two Indians and a Pakistani were killed in the Houthi Attack.
- Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 to restore the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled after Houthi rebels took over the capital and parts of northern Yemen in late 2014.
- The Houthi rebels are backed by Iran.
Capital of Yemen: Sanna
President: Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi
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2. Central Government released operational guidelines for PM-MITRA
Tags: National News
The Union Ministry of Textiles has released operational guidelines for PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks scheme.
- As per the scheme, the state government will transfer land to the Special Purpose Vehicle- a legal entity with 51% equity shareholding of the state and 49% of the centre.
As per the guidelines released by the textiles ministry, the sites for the parks will be selected based on five metrics-
- connectivity to the site (25% weightage)
- existing ecosystem for textiles (25% weightage)
- availability of utility services at the site (20% weightage)
- state industrial /textile policy
- environmental and social impact.
With a budget outlay of Rs 4,445 crore, the scheme includes administrative expenses of Rs 30 crore over a seven-year period up to 2027-28.
For incentivizing manufacturing units to get established early in PM MITRA Park, there is a Competitive Incentive Support (CIS) provision of Rs 300 crore per park.
The CIS will be fund-limited and will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis.
The incentives will only be available to those manufacturing companies who are not availing benefits of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) for the textile scheme.
Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana expressed interest to set up PM MITRA Parks.
Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
A special purpose vehicle (SPV) is a legal entity created by a parent company but managed as a separate organization. It is designed to isolate the financial risk of certain assets or ventures of the parent company. Companies create SPVs to securitize assets, make it easier to transfer assets, spread the risk of assets or new ventures, or protect assets from risks associated with the parent company.
Its legal status as a separate company makes its obligations secure even if the parent company goes bankrupt.
3. India Post Payments Bank's customer base crosses 5 Crore Mark
Tags: National News
India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), a ‘Digital-First Bank’ announced that it has crossed the five-crore customer mark in 3 years of commencement of operations to become one of the fastest-growing digital payments bank in the country.
- IPPB opened up these five crore accounts in digital and paperless mode through its 1.36 lakh Post Offices, out of which 1.20 lakh are in rural areas, with the help of about 1.47 lakhs doorstep banking service providers. With this, IPPB has achieved the world’s largest digital financial literacy programme by building a financially aware and empowered customer-base
- Out of the total account holders, around 48% were women account holders indicating the Bank’s focus on bringing women customers under the banking network. Out of those about 98% of accounts of women were opened at the doorsteps and over 68% of women were availing DBT benefits.
- In yet another milestone, IPPB revealed that it attracted youths to avail of digital banking services. Over 41% of account holders were in the age group of 18 to 35 years.
India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by the Government of India.
- IPPB was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on September 1, 2018.
- IPPB delivers simple and affordable banking solutions through intuitive interfaces available in 13 languages.
4. Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) launched its first bi-monthly E-Newsletter
Tags: National News
Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) (DEPwD) launched its first bi-monthly E-Newsletter on 18th January 2022.
- It was launched virtually by Dr. Virendra Kumar, Hon'ble Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India
- The E-Newsletter will be helpful in the continuity of the flow of information and to bridge the gap with Divyangjan’s target audience. It would be a gateway to know about the department’s activities. It will also keep track of the performance of various departmental schemes.
5. Rising sea levels prompt Indonesia to relocate the capital
Tags: International News
On 18th January 2022 Indonesia’s parliament passed a law approving the relocation of its capital from slowly sinking Jakarta to a site 2,000 kilometers away on the jungle-clad Borneo island.
- The new capital will be named “Nusantara”
- The new capital will cover about 56,180 hectares in East Kalimantan province on the Indonesian part of Borneo.
- This was first proposed by President Joko Widodo in April 2019, citing rising sea levels due to climate change and severe congestion on densely populated Java island.
About Indonesia
Indonesia officially the Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian Ocean and Pacific ocean.
- It consists of over 17,000 islands, making it the world's largest island country
- Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world .
- Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population.
- Indonesia is a presidential, constitutional republic with an elected legislature.
- The country's capital, Jakarta, is the world's second-most populous urban agglomeration after Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan.
- Delhi, India is the third-most populous urban agglomeration in the world.
- Official language - Indonesian
- Legislature - People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
- Currency - Indonesian Rupiah
6. 11 cities win Centre’s “Streets for People Challenge”
Tags: National News
Eleven cities have been selected as the winners of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)’s “Streets for People Challenge” for their pilot projects to make roads more pedestrian-friendly.
- The list of selected cities includes Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Kochi, Kohima, Nagpur, Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune, Udaipur, Ujjain, and Vijayawada.
- All the selected cities would be given 50 lakh each to scale up their proposals.
- The Ministry also announced 10 winners of the pilot stage of the “Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge” which included 70 pilot projects by 25 cities.
- Among the winners were Bengaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Jabalpur, Indore, Kakinada, Kochi, Kohima, Rourkela, Vadodara, and Warangal.
7. Explosion on Naval Ship INS Ranvir
Tags: National News
Three Navy personnel were killed and 11 injured in an explosion on board the ageing destroyer INS Ranvir at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai on 18th January 2022.
- Adm R Hari Kumar, CNS and all personnel of Indian Navy extend heartfelt condolences to the families of Krishan Kumar MCPO I, Surinder Kumar MCPO II & AK Singh MCPO II, who succumbed to injuries caused by the unfortunate incident onboard INS Ranvir.
- INS Ranvir, among the oldest warships in the Navy, is a Soviet-era destroyer and was commissioned in April 1986.
- The fourth destroyer of the Rajput class, it is the first of the Ranvir class. The other Ranvir class destroyer is INS Ranvijay.
8. No Foreign Chief Guest at the Republic day 2022
Tags: National News
There will be no foreign chief guest on Republic Day this year due to the coronavirus crisis and the Omicron threat. Earlier, the government of India had sent invitations to the Head of the Government of the five Central Asian Republics of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan to be the Chief Guest at the Republic day parade in 2022. .
Last year's invited Chief Guest, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had to cancel his visit due to coronavirus.
The Government of India has decided that this year on, Republic Day celebrations will begin from January 23, in order to include Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary.
The first foreign Guest at Republic Day was Indonesia President Sukarno in 1950.
There were no foreign chief guests in the years 1952, 1953, 1966, 2021, 2022.
9. Oxfam Report on Poverty in India
Tags: National News
The non-profit group Oxfam International published its latest report titled “Inequality Kills” on January 17th, 2022 ahead of the World Economic Forum’s Davos agenda.
- Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.
- It is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.
- Gabriela Butcher is the present director of Oxfam.
- Oxfam describes itself as a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice.
Highlights from the latest report-
- The income of 84 percent of households in the country declined in 2021, but at the same time, the number of Indian billionaires grew from 102 to 142.
- Oxfam’s analysis during the coronavirus pandemic (March 2020 to November 2021) showed that the wealth of Indian billionaires rose from Rs 23.14 lakh crore to Rs 53.16 lakh crore. In contrast, more than 4.6 crore Indians were estimated to have fallen into extreme poverty in 2020 alone, which was nearly half of the global new poor according to the United Nations
- Oxfam says that a 1% Wealth Tax on India’s Super Rich families could fund its entire vaccination program cost of Rs 50,000 crore, and a 4% wealth tax on just the 98 richest families of India could account for the Union health ministry’s budget for two years and the mid-day meal program for 17 years.
- The budgetary allocation for social security schemes declined from 1.5% of the total Union budget to 0.6%. There was a 6% cut in allocation for education and in the health sector, even though covid continued to ravage India, the country's healthcare budget saw a 10% decline from RE (revised estimates) of 2020-21.
- Lowering corporate taxes from 30 percent to 22 percent to attract investment last year resulted in a loss of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, which contributed to the increase in India’s fiscal deficit.
- As a remedy to the growing wealth inequality in India, Oxfam suggested imposing a wealth tax on the super-rich population of India.
10. CSIR’s UV-C Disinfection Technology to combat the pandemic
Tags: National News
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh trolled out CSIR's newly developed Disinfection technology for use by the common masses.
- The UV-C technology is developed by the Ministry of Science & Technology through CSIR-CSIO (Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research - Central Scientific Instruments Organisation) and is totally effective for mitigation of airborne transmission of SARS-COV-2 and will also remain relevant in the post-COVID era.
- The technology has been successfully tried in Railways, AC Buses, and even the Parliament House
- UV-C deactivates viruses, bacteria, fungus, and other bioaerosols, etc. with appropriate dosages using 254nm UV light.
- UV-C air duct disinfection system can be used in auditoriums, large conference rooms, classrooms, malls, etc. which provides a relatively safer environment for indoor activities in the current pandemic.
