Weekly Current Affairs 9th March- 15th March 2022

FINANCE AND BANKING

• RBI comes up with UPI123 pay for feature phones and DigiSaathi 2022
  • Reserve Bank of India has launched two initiatives- UPI123pay and DigiSaathi.
  • UPI123pay provides a UPI payment facility on feature phones.
  • DigiSaathi is a 24×7 Helpline for Digital Payments.

• RBI extends Interest subsidy scheme for exporters
  • Reserve Bank of India extended the interest equalisation scheme for pre and post-shipment rupee loans for MSME exporters through March 2024.
  • It will expand export shipments.
  • The ‘Interest Equalisation Scheme for pre and post-shipment Rupee Export Credit’ provides a subsidy to exporters. The scheme was first extended until the end of June last year, and then again until September 2021.

• NaBFID to be regulated as AIFI under RBI Act
  • Reserve Bank of India has announced that National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) will be regulated and supervised by it as an All India Financial Institution (AIFI) under the Sections 45L and 45N of RBI Act, 1934.
  • Presently RBI has four AIFIs under it namely EXIM Bank, NABARD, NHB and SIDBI. NaBFID will be the fifth AIFI under RBI.

ECONOMY

• Russia is now world’s most sanctioned country 2022
  • New York-based sanctions watchlist site Castellum.AI said that Russia has become the most sanctioned country in the world, due to its invasion on Ukraine.
  • Russia faced 2,778 new sanctions since February 22, 2022, led by the US and European nations, bringing the total sanctions to 5,530.

• IMF board approves $1.4 billion emergency support for Ukraine
  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $1.4 billion in emergency support for Ukraine to finance expenditures and shore up the balance of payments.
  • The disbursement under the IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), equivalent to 50% of Ukraine’s quota in the IMF.

• CRISIL projected GDP growth forecast at 7.8% for 2022-23
  • CRISIL has retained its real GDP growth forecast at 7.8% for the fiscal year 2023.
  • GDP growth of 8.5% is expected by the Economic Survey.

NATIONAL

• IIT Roorkee gets Petascale Supercomputer ‘PARAM Ganga’ under National Supercomputing Mission
  • The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) has deployed PARAM Ganga-a High-Performance Computational (HPC) facility at IIT Roorkee, with a supercomputing capacity of 1.66 Petaflops. 
  • Supercomputer PARAM Ganga has been established by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the approach of NSM. 

• National sportswoman selected for Climate-Force Antarctica Expedition
  • Aarushie Verma, a national level shooter in Pistol and trap shooting, a multi-time State & Northern India Champion & National medalist, and an active environmentalist, has been selected to represent India at the 2041 Climate Force Antarctica Expedition to be held in March 2022.

• The expedition aims to raise awareness and work for the preservation of Antarctica through the promotion of recycling, renewable energy and sustainability solutions to combat the effects of climate change. 

• India's largest reclining statue of Lord Buddha to be open for devotees next year
  • India's largest reclining statue of Lord Buddha is being built in Bodh Gaya. 
  • Built by Buddha International Welfare Mission, the statue will be 100 feet long and 30 feet high.
  • Lord Buddha is in the sleeping posture in the statue. It is being made with fiberglass and built by sculptors from Kolkata.

INTERNATIONAL

• Hungary elects Katalin Novak, first-ever female president
  • The Hungarian parliament has elected Katalin Novak, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as the EU member’s first-ever female president.
  • She was elected to the role by 137 votes to 51 in the parliament.

• South Korea: Conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol elected president
  • South Korea has chosen a conservative opposition candidate, Yoon Suk-yeol, as the country's next president.
  • Mr Yoon, a political novice, edged out a victory over the Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung.

• Gabriel Boric becomes Chile’s youngest president
  • Chile’s Left-leaning former student leader Gabriel Boric became the youngest president in the South American country’s history. 

STATES

• Sikkim government will implement 'Aama Yojna' and ‘Bahini scheme’
  • The Sikkim government will give Rs 20,000 each to all non-working mothers and free sanitary napkins to all girl students of class 9 and above in the state.
  • The state government will implement the 'Aama Yojna' for non-working mothers and Bahini scheme for girl students.

• Haryana CM Announces Sushma Swaraj Award
  • The Haryana government presented a Rs 1.77-lakh-crore Budget for the financial year 2022-23 against the Rs 1.53-lakh-crore Budget in 2021-22.
  • While presenting the Budget in the state's Assembly, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced the 'Sushma Swaraj Award' for women for their significant contribution or achievements in different walks of life in national and international spheres.

• Karnataka govt launches programme to provide 5 lakh jobs to women
  • Karnataka Minister of Higher Education, Electronics, IT-BT, S&T and Skill Development Dr C N Aswath Narayan launched Women@Work (W@W) programme with an aim to provide five lakh jobs within 2026 to women with necessary employable skills.
  • Dr Narayan said as part of the Women@Work programme, free certificate courses will be run for women to get them technically trained in various disciplines. 

REPORTS AND INDEXES

• Freedom in the World 2022 – The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule
  • A report titled “Freedom in the World 2022 – The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule" is released by Freedom House, a US-based NGO.
  • For the second consecutive year, India has been termed 'partly free' in terms of democracy and free society. India scored 66 out of 100 this year.

• SKOCH State of Governance Rankings 2021
  • Andhra Pradesh has retained its number one spot in the SKOCH State of Governance rankings for the second consecutive year.
  • The SKOCH State of Governance-2021 document said that AP has been a ‘Star’ in the rankings for the fourth year in a row. Star is a category given to the States ranked from 1 to 5.
  • West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat and Maharashtra are the other Star States.

• India gets 2nd Rank in Global Investment in Digital Shopping 2021
  • Global Investment in Digital Shopping 2021 has been published by London & Partners.
  • India is the second-largest global venture capital investment hub for digital shopping companies, growing by a whopping 175% from $8 billion in 2020 to $22 billion in 2021, as per the index.
  • USA, India, China and UK are the top 4 nations in the Index.

EVENTS

• Germany to host G7 meeting on Ukraine invasion's impact on food security
  • Germany will host a virtual meeting of agricultural ministers from G7 countries to discuss the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on global food security and how to best stabilize food markets.
  • Germany holds the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven most advanced economies this year.

• 3rd edition of National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) 
  • The 3rd edition of National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) was inaugurated in the Central Hall of Parliament, New Delhi. 
  • Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports Anurag Thakur will address the inaugural session of National round of National Youth Parliament Festival 2022. 

AWARDS AND REWARDS

• International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award for 2022
  • Bangladeshi environmental lawyer Rizwana Hasan has been selected for the International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award for 2022.
  • She is among the 12 women from around the world who will be honoured by the US department of State with the award for showing exceptional courage and leadership to make a difference in their communities. 

• Nari Shakti Puraskar – 2020 and 2021
  • President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’ – 2020 and 2021, at a special ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. 
  • The award was conferred on 29 outstanding and exceptional women achievers for the years 2020 and 2021. Twenty-eight awards – (14 each for the Year 2020 and 2021)- were presented to 29 women in recognition of their exceptional work towards empowerment of women, especially the vulnerable and marginalised.

• Six Indian airports adjudged at best airports by ACI in Asia Pacific region
  • Seven Airports Authority of India's (AAI) airports namely Chennai, Kolkata, Goa, Pune, Patna, Bhubaneswar & Chandigarh that participated in ACI-ASQ survey in 2021 have been chosen for 'voice of customer recognition' under ACI World’s voice of the customer initiative. 

SPORTS

• Shreyas Iyer and Amelia Kerr voted ICC Players of the Month for February 2022
  • The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced India’s star all-format batter Shreyas Iyer and New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr were voted ICC Players of the Month for February 2022.

• S Sreesanth announces retirement from all forms of first-class cricket
  • India pacer S Sreesanth announced his retirement from all forms of domestic cricket. 
  • Sreesanth played 27 Tests and 53 ODIs for India, taking 87 and 75 wickets respectively. He has also taken seven wickets in 10 T20 Internationals.

• Mondo Duplantis sets pole vault world record of 6.19m 
  • Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis broke his own world pole vault record with a 6.19-meter clearance at the Belgrade Indoor Meeting.
  • Duplantis set the record of 6.18 in February 2020 indoors in Glasgow.