Table of Contents
Introduction
Current Affairs for banking or other competitive exams
National News
Rashtriya Puruskar Portal Launched by Union Government
- Union Government has launched Rashtriya Puruskar Portal to bring together all the awards of the various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Government of India.
- The Rashtriya Puruskar Portal will make sure that all the awards are under one platform to ensure transparency and public partnership or Jan Bhagidari.
- The portal allows every citizen and organization to nominate individuals and organizations for various categories of Awards instituted by the Government of India.
- Rashtriya Puruskar Portal is the first of its kind in the history of India to provide information about all awards to the public on a single digital platform. The information includes criteria, selection procedure, and details of past awardees
States News
Punjab & Haryana agree to be name Chandigarh airport after Bhagat Singh
- The Punjab and Haryana governments have agreed to name the Chandigarh International Airport in Mohali after Shaheed Bhagat Singh. The decision was taken during a meeting between Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann & Haryana deputy CM Dushyant Chautala.
- The Punjab government has already declared a state holiday on March 23, the martyrdom day of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.
- The Rs 485-crore airport project is a joint venture of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the governments of Punjab and Haryana
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma launched ‘Vidya Rath – School on Wheels’ project
- Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma has launched the ‘Vidya Rath -School on Wheels’ project.
- This project aims at providing economically challenged underprivileged children to access elementary education for a period of 10 months.
- The project was launched at a function held at the premises of Gauhati High Court in Assam.
- The Vidya Rath-School on Wheels will reportedly provide access to elementary education to underprivileged children for 10 months. After 10 months, the children will be integrated into the conventional system of education.
Chhattisgarh government to set up 300 rural industrial parks in the state
- The Chhattisgarh government will set up rural industrial parks in the state. In the first year of the project, there will be 300 such parks. This move aimed to strengthen the rural economy and make the “gauthan” (cattle shed) a centre of livelihood.
- The project will be launched on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2. The first such park in Chhattisgarh came up in Kulgaon, Kanker district, which has been named Gandhi Gram.
- The district administration, along with women’s self-help groups, has developed the park.
- The forest department has started a residential training centre, based on the value addition of minor forest produce. Chhattisgarh has set up 8,404 gauthans of the 10,624 sanctioned.
UP government to build India’s first education township
- The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to build an education township in the state. As per the Yogi Adityanath government, the education township will be developed on the idea of ‘Single Entry, Multiple Exit’.
- The move will provide high-quality education to the youth and equip them with a variety of professional skills in a single place. Besides, it will provide accommodation and many other facilities to both students and teachers.
- The Government’s objective behind the education township is to provide high-quality education to the youth and equip them with a variety of professional skills in one place.
Economy News
Indians Remitted $6 Billion Q1 Of FY23 Under LRS Scheme
- Outward remittances under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) liberalized remittance scheme (LRS) made a strong comeback in the first quarter of FY23 as Indians increased spending on international travel, maintenance of close relatives, and gifts.
- The latest data for Q1-FY23 released by the RBI shows that remittance by Indians under the scheme jumped 64.75 percent to over $6.04 billion from $3.67 billion in Q1FY22. The amount remitted in Q1FY23 is even higher than that in Q4FY22, where outward remittance under LRS was to the tune of $5.8 billion.
Sebi joins the Account Aggregator framework to facilitate access to financial data
- Asset management firms (AMCs) and depositories are examples of stock market intermediaries that have been instructed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to join the account aggregator framework put forward by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
- Additionally, the market regulator, Sebi established regulations that will only apply to participants in the stock market ecosystem who join the aggregator framework.
- The account aggregator framework is a non-banking financial institution (NBFC) governed by the RBI .
- The account aggregator framework makes it easier to obtain or gather financial data about a customer from financial information suppliers (FIP).
Business News
“All things EV”: HDFC Launches India’s First EV Ecosystem
- HDFC has launched India’s first one-stop solution portal for Electric Vehicles Ecosystem, “All things EV”. HDFC EGRO, General Insurance Company, which is a leading private sector general insurance company has claimed that the “All things EV”, fulfills the needs of the existing and potential Electric Vehicles or EV users.
- The company has also launched a dedicated platform for existing and prospective EV ecosystem users as a part of the initiative which also hosts end-to-end information related to the EV sector. This platform welcomes all Indians who have purchased EVs or are planning to buy EVs in the future or are making an earning out of the growing EV sectors.
HPCL starts its first cow dung-based compressed biogas project
- HPCL Compressed Biogas Project: HPCL’s uses first of its kind Waste-to-Energy portfolio, uses 100 tonnes of dung per day to make biogas, which may be used as vehicle fuel. In a year, the HPCL Compressed Biogas Project project is expected to be put into operation.
- The GOBAR-Dhan plan, announced by the Indian government in April 2018 as a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission’s (Grameen) Biodegradable Waste Management component, is the framework under which the HPCL Compressed Biogas Project initiative is being developed.
Adani group targets 55.18% stake in NDTV
- Adani Group founder, Gautam Adani has set the ball rolling to acquire a controlling stake of 55.18% in New Delhi Television (NDTV).
- With a concept to carry 55.18 per cent stake in NDTV, the Adani group has issued an open provide for a 26 per cent stake within the information channel at Rs 294 for a share with a face worth of Rs 4.
- The complete outlay for 26 per cent, or 16,762,530 totally paid up fairness shares of NDTV – if the provide is accepted in full – will likely be about Rs 483 crore for the Adani group.
Science and Technology News
India’s First Observatory To Monitor Space Activity To Come Up In Uttarakhand
- India’s first commercial space situational awareness observatory, to track objects as small as 10 cm in size orbiting the earth, will be set up in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand by Digantara, a space sector start-up.
- The space situational awareness (SSA) observatory will help India track any activity in space including that of space debris and military satellites hovering over the region.
- Currently, the United States is a dominant player in monitoring space debris with observatories in multiple locations and commercial companies providing additional inputs from across the world.
The country’s first indigenous monkeypox test kit launched
- India has developed the first indigenously-developed RT-PCR kit for testing monkeypox disease. The kit is developed by Transasia Bio-Medicals, the kit was unveiled by Principal Scientific Adviser to the Centre Ajay Kumar Sood.
- The kit would help in early detection and better management of the infection which the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern.
Defence News
Govt Grants Permission To Defence Forces To Buy Emergency Weapons Through Make in India
- The Centre has allowed them to purchase critical weapon systems for their operational requirements through an emergency procurement route.
- The approval was given in a meeting of the Defence Ministry which was headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. It is pertinent to note that the defence forces have extensively used the emergency procurement powers in the past and further strengthened their preparedness through these acquisitions.
- The heavy-duty military equipment acquired by the forces in the past, the Indian Air Force, as well as the Indian Army, had used these powers to receive ‘Heron’ unmanned aerial vehicles and also small arms such as the Sig Sauer assault rifles.
- The aerial vehicles have now been deployed for surveillance in Ladakh as well as in the northeast for keeping an eye on Chinese activities.
DRDO And Indian Navy Test Indigenous VL-SRSAM Missile
- Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy successfully flight-tested the indigenously designed and developed Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.
- The flight test was carried out from a naval ship against a high-speed unmanned aerial target for demonstration of vertical launch capability.
- During the test launch, flight path and vehicle performance parameters were monitored using flight data, captured by various range instruments such as radar, electro-optical tracking system (EOTS) and telemetry systems deployed by ITR in Chandipur.
Sports News
FTX Crypto Cup: R Praggnanandhaa defeated world chess champion, Magnus Carlsen
- Indian chess master Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has defeated world champion, Magnus Carlsen, in the FTX Crypto Cup in Miami, an international chess Championship.
- Praggnanandhaa’s winning run came to an end at the hands of China’s Quang Liem Le in the fifth round. He suffered his second loss after he went down to Poland’s Jan-Krzystof Duda via the tie-break in the sixth round.
International News
S. Jaishankar Unveils Bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Paraguay
- External affairs minister S Jaishankar unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Paraguay and visited the historic Casa de la Independencia, from where the South American country’s independence movement started more than two centuries ago.
- Jaishankar arrived in Brazil on the first leg of his six-day visit to South America with an aim to boost overall bilateral ties with the region. Jaishankar, who is on his first-ever official visit to South America, is also visiting Paraguay and Argentina.
South Korea and the United States Began their Largest Joint Military Drills
- South Korea and the United States began their largest joint military drills in years with a resumption of field training. This year, the annual summertime exercise has been renamed ‘Ulchi Freedom Shield’ and it is scheduled to end on 1st September 2022.
- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has vowed to normalize the combined exercises and boost deterrence against the North. South Korea has separately started or launched the four-day Ulchi Civil Defence Drills, which is specially designed to boost the government readiness for the first time after the Coronavirus pandemic occurred.
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17TH TO 22ND AUGUST CURRENT AFFAIRS 2022