Current Affairs - 01 Feb 2022

Daily Current Affairs of 01 Feb 2022. Follow Current Affairs on daily Basis in on post. Current Affairs PDF for Competitive Exams

PR Sreejesh wins World Games Athlete of the Year award 2021

Indian men’s hockey player PR Sreejesh has won the World Games Athlete of the Year award for 2021. He is the second Indian after Rani Rampal to win this award. In 2020, Indian women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal became the first Indian to win the honour for her performances in 2019.

A total of 24 athletes from 17 countries were nominated for the annual awards based on individual or team performance. Alberto Ginés López of Spain and wushu player Michele Giordano of Italy are the runner-ups. In the FIH Stars Awards in October, Sreejesh was named the goalkeeper of the year for 2021.

Xiomara Castro sworn in as first female President of Honduras

In Honduras, the Freedom and Refoundation Party (Libre) member Xiomara Castro has been sworn in as the first female President of the country. The 62-year-old Castro replaces President Juan Orlando Hernández, as 56th President of Honduras. Hernández has held the position for eight years from 27 January 2014 to 27 January 2022. Castro announced part of her cabinet Thursday, with her son Hector Zelaya as private secretary and Jose Manuel Zelaya — her husband’s nephew — as defence minister.

The oath was sworn before Judge Karla Romero, flanked by Castro’s choice of Congress president, Luis Redondo, who draped the presidential sash over his new boss before a crowd of some 29,000. The guests included US Vice President Kamala Harris, King Felipe VI of Spain and Taiwan Vice President William Lai.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

Honduras Capital: Tegucigalpa
Currency: Honduran lempira
Continent: North America

Chennai Super Kings becomes India’s First Unicorn Sports Enterprise

Chennai Super Kings (CSK), has become the country’s first sports Unicorn with its market cap having touched a high of Rs 7,600 crores and its share in the grey market trading in the Rs 210-225 price band. The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led CSK, which won its fourth IPL title in Dubai last year, now has a market cap more than its parent entity, India Cements. India Cements’ market cap stood at Rs 6,869 crores.

Two key reasons which have led CSK’s market cap to go past its parent entity are the team winning its fourth IPL title in Dubai, and two new franchises being added to the upcoming season at record prices.

Union budget 2022 is being presented by FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting the Union Budget 2022 for the 4th time in a row. She will be presenting the financial statements and tax proposals for the fiscal year 2022-23 (April 2022 to March 2023). A Made in India tablet has replaced the traditional ‘Bahi Khata’ as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman leaves the Finance Ministry’s office to go to the Parliament to present the Budget.

The Economic Survey 2021-22 was released on 31st January 2022 by the Chief Economic Advisor of India, V Anantha Nageswaran. The government sees the Indian economy growing at 8-8.5 per cent in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23).

Budget and Constitutional Provisions

The Union Budget is the yearly financial report estimating the income and expenditure presented to outline future policies to be adopted by the government for sustainable growth and development.
According to Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, the Union Budget of a year is referred to as the Annual Financial Statement (AFS).
It is a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government in a Financial Year (which begins on 1^st April of the current year and ends on 31^st March of the following year).
The Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance is the nodal body responsible for preparing the Budget.
The first Budget of Independent India was presented in 1947.

Here are the key highlights from the Union Budget 2022-23:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Budget, said that the country is expected to grow at 9.27 per cent.
Two parallel tracks for the next 25 years: public investments in infrastructure and a budget that is inclusive and futuristic.
7 focus areas: PM Gati Shakti, Inclusive Development, Productivity Enhancement, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition, Climate Action and Financing of investments.
This Union Budget seeks to lay the foundation & give a blueprint of the economy over ‘Amrit Kal’ of next 25 years – from India at 75 to India at 100.
Production Linked Incentive schemes in 14 sectors with the potential to create 60 lakh new jobs, and the additional new production of Rs 30 lakh crore.
Startups will be promoted to facilitate Drone Shakti to make drone a service. In select ITIs in all states, courses will be started.
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme to be extended up to March 2023, guaranteed cover extended by another Rs 50,000 crore. The total cover under the scheme is now Rs 5 lakh crore. An additional amount has been earmarked for the hospitality sector.
Announcement of Ken Betwa river linking project worth Rs 44,605 crore to be beneficial for capital goods players.
Govt continuously encouraging digital banking. Taking forward, 75 digital banking units will be set up in 75 districts.
PM Modi’s development initiatives for the North East will be implemented by the North Eastern Council. This will enable livelihood activities for the youth and women. This scheme is not a substitute for the existing Centre or state schemes.
Issuance of e-passports will be rolled out in 2022-23 to make it easier for citizens. Ease of business 2.0 will be launched.
5G spectrum auctions to be carried out in calendar 2022 to enable the launch of services within FY22-23.
Animation, visual effects, gaming and comics sector offers immense potential to employ youth. An AVGC promotion task force with all stakeholders will be set up to recommend ways to realise this and build domestic capacity for serving our markets and the global demand.
Special Economic Zones Act will be replaced with new legislation for the development of enterprises and hubs. It will cover the existing industrial enclaves and enhance the competitiveness of exports.
Effective capital expenditure of the Central government is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23, about 4.1% of GDP.
To facilitate domestic manufacturing of 280 gigawatts of installed solar capacity by 2030, an additional allocation of Rs 19,500 crore for PLI for manufacturing of high-efficiency modules with priority to fully integrate manufacturing units to solar PV modules will be made.
Digital rupee to be issued using blockchain and other technologies and will be issued by RBI starting 2022-23. This will give a big boost to the economy. This will give a big boost to the economy. Introduction of central bank digital currency to boost digital economy, and lays down a solid plan of the government to have a public digital currency.
For 2022-23, an allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore has been made to assist the states in catalysing overall investments in the economy. These 50-year interest-free loans are over and above normal borrowings allowed to states. It’ll be used for PM Gati Shakti-related and other productive capital investments of states.
Aims to lower the winding up of companies to 6 months from 2 years currently.

Tax Proposals:

Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new tax rule for taxpayers where a taxpayer can file an updated return on payment of taxes within two years from the end of the relevant assessment year.
Both Centre and States govt employees’ tax deduction limit to be increased from 10% to 14% to help the social security benefits of state government employees and bring them at par with the Central govt employees.
Income from transfer of digital assets (Cryptocurrency) to be charged 30% tax, plus 1% tax on the transaction.
Existing tax benefits for startups, which were offered redemption of taxes for 3 consecutive years, to be extended by 1 more year.
Income from Long Term Capital Gains will be taxed at 15%, the Finance Minister said.
The gross GST collections for the month of January 2022 are Rs 1,40,986 crore —the highest since the inception of the tax.
Duty concessions are being given to promote electronics manufacturing, wearables and hearables devices included. Duty concessions to [parts of mobile phones including camera modules etc.
Customs on polished diamonds, gemstones cut to 5%. Simply sawn diamonds will be exempted. To facilitate the export of jewellery through e-commerce, simplified regulations will be in place by June this year.
Deduction for employer contribution to NPS increased to 14% from 10% earlier for State govt employees on par with central govt employees.
No set off permitted against other income.
Alternate Minimum Tax for cooperative societies to be cut to 15%. The proposal will reduce the surcharge on cooperative societies to be reduced from 12% to 7%, for those whose income is between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore.
Unblended fuel to get an additional duty of 2 rupees per litre from October 2022.
Finance Minister announced a reduction of surcharge on unlisted shares from 28.5 per cent to 23 per cent.

Deficit/Expenditure:

Proposes fiscal deficit of 4.5% of GDP by 2025/26
Projects fiscal deficit of 6.4% of GDP in 2022/23
Revised fiscal deficit for 2021/22 at 6.9% of GDP
Total expenditure in 2022/23 seen at 39.45 trillion rupees
States will be allowed 4% fiscal deficit to GDP in FY23
50 year interest free loans over and above normal borrowing allocated to states
Scheme for financial assistance to states for capital investment outlay to be 1 trillion rupees in 2022/23

Financial inclusion:

100% of 1.5 lakh post offices will come on the core banking system, enabling financial inclusion and access to accounts through net banking, mobile banking, ATMs, and also providing online transfer of funds between post office accounts and bank accounts.
This will be helpful especially for farmers and senior citizens in rural areas, enabling interoperability, and financial inclusion.

Fiscal Deficit target set at 6.4% for FY23:

FY23 total expenditure seen at Rs 39.45 lakh crore.
Total Receipts other than borrowing seen at Rs 22.84 lakh crore.
Revised Fiscal Deficit 6.9% of GDP in FY22 as against 6.8% in Budget estimates.
Fiscal Deficit target set at 6.4% for FY23.

National Telehealth programme:

Sitharaman announced a National telehealth programme in Budget 2022. An open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem will be rolled out. It will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities The pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages.

Education sector:

States will be encouraged to revise syllabi of agricultural universities to meet needs of natural, zero-budget & organic farming, modern-day agriculture. One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12.

Indian Railways:

PM Gati Shakti plans one of the four pillars of growth. 25,000 km of national highways to be built in 2022-23.
400 new-generation Vande Bharat trains with higher efficiency and better facilities for passengers will be developed in the next three years. Over 2,000 km of the rail network to be brought under the indigenous world-class technology KAWACH, for safety and capacity augmentation.

India’s farmers

Procurement of wheat in Rabi season 2021-22 and the estimated procurement of paddy in Kharif season 2021-22 will cover 1,208 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and paddy from 163 lakh farmers & Rs 2.37 lakh crores will be the direct payment of MSP value to their accounts.
Chemical-free natural farming to be promoted in India
Use of drones to be promoted for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients. Fund to be facilitated through NABARD to finance start-ups for agriculture and rural enterprise which are relevant for the farm produce value chain.

Infrastructure: PM Awas Yojana

In 2022-23, 80 lakh houses will be completed for identified beneficiaries of PM Awas Yojana; 60,000 houses will be identified as beneficiaries for PM Awas Yojana in rural & urban areas.
60,000 crore allocated for providing access to tap water to 3.8 crore households. In 2022-23, 80 lakh households will be identified for the affordable housing scheme.

Defence:

68% of the capital procurement budget for Defence to be earmarked for domestic industry to promote Aatmanirbharta and reduce dependence on imports.
This is up from 58% last fiscal. Defense R&D will be opened up for industry, startups and academia with 25% of the defence R&D budget.

National Ropeways Development Program:

National Ropeways Development Program, Parvatmala to be taken up on PPP mode.
Contracts to be awarded in 2022-23 for 8 ropeway projects of 60 Km length.

Skill Development:

Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack e-portal) will be launched to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through on-line training.
Startups will be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS).

Tata group acquires Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd for Rs 12,100 crore

Tata Group company, Tata Steel Long Products Ltd’s (TSLP) has acquired Odisha-based Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) for Rs 12,100 crore. Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) is a steel plant located in Kalinganagar in Odisha and was shut in March 2020 due to continued losses. It has a capacity of 1.1 million tonnes a year. This is the 1st instance of privatisation of a public sector steel manufacturing enterprise in India.

NINL is a joint venture of four central public sector companies — Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and MECON — and Odisha government entities OMC and IPICOL. NINL’s plant has been shut since March 2020. The Odisha government has 32.47 per cent stake in NINL through IPICOL and OMC, whereas the MMTC holds the 49.78 per cent share.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

Tata Steel Founded: 25 August 1907, Jamshedpur;
Tata Steel CEO: T. V. Narendran (31 Oct 2017–);
Tata Steel Founder: Jamsetji Tata;
Tata Steel Headquarters: Mumbai.

NPCI announces UPI safety and awareness week

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the UPI ecosystem (comprising of leading banks and fintechs) have announced the UPI Safety and Awareness initiative, to create awareness amongst consumers. Under this initiative, NPCI and the UPI ecosystem will observe February 1-7 as ‘UPI Safety and Awareness Week’ and the whole of February as ‘UPI Safety and Awareness Month’.

NPCI has urged users to follow the concept of UPI Safety Shield which mentions 5 tips for safe UPI transactions. With an aim to create awareness amongst consumers, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the UPI ecosystem have announced the UPI Safety and Awareness initiative.

Under this programme, NPCI urges all the customers to follow the concept of UPI Safety Shield, which the company has derived to educate customers all about UPI payments. The UPI Safety and Awareness initiative will help vulnerable and first-time customers in overcoming their fears of adopting digital payments and guide them to pursue safe payments on the UPI platform.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

NPCI Founded: 2008;
NPCI Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra;
NPCI MD & CEO: Dilip Asbe.

Ministry of Defence begins Home Delivery of medicines under SeHAT scheme

Ministry of Defence had launched the Services e-Health Assistance and Teleconsultation (SeHAT) medical teleconsultation service for all entitled armed forces personnel and their families in May 2021. To add further to this initiative, the Home Delivery or Self Pickup of Medicines to patients seeking consultation on SeHAT will be started w.e.f February 01, 2022.

About the SeHAT scheme:

SeHAT stay home OPD is a patient-to-doctor system where the patient can consult a doctor remotely through the internet using his Smartphone, laptop, Desktop or Tablet.
The consultation occurs through video, audio and chat at the same time. It aims to provide quality healthcare services to patients from the comfort of their homes.
Safe and structured video-based clinical consultations between a doctor in a hospital, and a patient within the confines of his or her home anywhere in the country, have been enabled. It is designed to be extremely simple and easy to use, which requires minimal effort from the users.
The user does not need to pay anything to seek teleconsultation & can simply access the services by visiting https://sehatopd.gov.in, or by using the SeHAT apps available on the Play store & App Stores.

PM Modi addresses 30th National Commission for Women Foundation Day

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has addressed 30th National Commission for Women Foundation Day programme on January 31, 2022, via video conference. The event was organised to celebrate the achievements of women in different fields. The theme of the programme was ‘She The Change Maker’.

The Prime Minister remarked that today, in changing India, the role of women is continuously expanding. Therefore, he said, the expansion of the role of the National Commission for Women is also the need of the hour. All the women’s commissions of the country will also have to increase their scope and give a new direction to the women of their states.

National Commission for Women (NCW):

The National Commission for Women (NCW) is the statutory body of the Government of India. NCW was set up on 31 January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990. Its basic objective is to advise the government on all policy matters affecting women. The incumbent Chairperson of NCW is Rekha Sharma since 30 November 2018. Its first head was Jayanti Patnaik.

A book titled ‘Operation Khatma’ authored by R C Ganjoo & Ashwini Bhatnagar

A book titled ‘Operation Khatma’ has been released which is authored by journalists RC Ganjoo and Ashwini Bhatnagar. The book is based upon the operation by the Special Operations Group of Jammu & Kashmir Police which led to the killing of 22 terrorists of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). It is a graphic first-hand thriller on terrorism in Kashmir. The blood-splattered rivalry between JKLF and HM, and the short, sharp surgical strike -OPERATION KHATMA- that broke the back of terrorism in the Valley.

Unnati Hooda and Kiran George wins 2022 Odisha Open

Indian teenager Unnati Hooda beat compatriot Smit Toshniwal, 21-18, 21-11, to claim the women’s singles title at the 2022 Odisha Open badminton tournament. The 14-year old Unnati is the youngest Indian to win the tournament. In men’s singles, India’s 21-year-old Kiran George beat Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15, 14-21, 21-18 to emerge as the winner. The 2022 Odisha Open is a BWF Super 100 tournament, organized at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack, Odisha.

RBI imposed restrictions on Indian Mercantile Cooperative Bank Ltd

Reserve Bank of India has imposed several restrictions on Indian Mercantile Cooperative Bank Ltd, Lucknow, including a cap of Rs 1 lakh on withdrawals. The restrictions came into force from the closure of business hours on January 28, 2022. RBI said the Lucknow-based co-operative bank will not, without its prior approval, grant or renew any loans and advances, or make any investment. The restrictions would remain in force for six months and are subject to review.

The RBI has imposed the above restriction in the exercise of powers vested in it under sub-section (1) of Section 35 A read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (AACS). In particular, a sum not exceeding Rs 1 lakh of the total balance across all savings bank or current accounts or any other account of a depositor, may be allowed to be withdrawn, subject to certain conditions.

Tata Steel Chess 2022: Magnus Carlsen beats Fabiano Caruana

World Champion Grand Master Magnus Carlsen has secured his victory in Wijk Aan Zee (Netherlands) with a round to spare. The world champion defeated GM Fabiano Caruana and now leads the 2022 Tata Steel Chess Tournament by a full point. It was his 8th win, a unique achievement. Erigaisi Arjun (India) has won the Tata Steel Challengers. By doing so he has earned a spot in the Tata Steel Masters next year. The 85th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place from 13 – 29 January 2023.

Samsung Surpasses Intel as World’s top semiconductor company in 2021

South Korean electronics manufacturing giant, Samsung Electronics surpassed U.S chipmaker Intel to become the world’s leading chipmaker by revenue in 2021, according to a report released by research firm Counterpoint Technology Market Research. While Intel posted relatively flattish results, Samsung took the lead with a strong DRAM and NAND flash market performance in 2021. Samsung also saw solid momentum in logic chips this year.

Memory vendors continued to lead the industry with SK Hynix and Micron taking the third and fourth positions, followed by IC design vendors, including Qualcomm and NVIDIA. The year saw 19% YoY revenue growth.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

Samsung Electronics Headquarters: Suwon-si, South Korea;
Samsung Electronics Founder: Lee Byung-chul;
Samsung Electronics Founded: 13 January 1969.
Samsung Electronics CEO: Kim Hyun Suk, Kim Ki Nam & Koh Dong-Jin.

Prime Minister Modi launches Pandit Jasraj Cultural Foundation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Pandit Jasraj Cultural Foundation on the occasion of the 92nd birth anniversary of the Indian classical vocalist. Prime Minister Modi said that the World is entitled to benefit from Indian music like they have from Yoga. Durga Jasraj and Pandit Shaarang Dev keep alive the glorious legacy of the maestro. Yoga, Indian music has the capacity to stir the depth of the human mind and the world is entitled to be benefited from it.

About the Pandit Jasraj Cultural Foundation:

The Pandit Jasraj Cultural Foundation has been founded by Pandit Jasraj’s son Shaarang Dev Pandit, and his daughter, Durga Jasraj. The main objective of the fluctuation is to protect, preserve, develop and promote the National Heritage, Art & Culture of India. Pandit Jasraj’s career spanned over 75 years resulting in national and international fame, respect, and numerous major awards and accolades. He passed away on August 17, 2020, after he suffered from cardiac arrest at his home in New Jersey.