Daily Current Affairs 1st February, 2022

Daily Current Affairs 1 February 2022 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

India’s first geological park to come up at Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur
The first ‘geological’ park of country will be built at Lamheta village on the banks of river Narmada in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh.An announcement to this effect was made by BJP MP from Jabalpur Rakesh Singh.

• Approval for the park has been granted by Geological Survey of India, under ministry of mining, Government of India for construction of the park with an investment of Rs 35 crores. GSI has approved an amount of Rs 1.30 crore for preparing its detailed report.
• Significantly, this site is already present in the tentative list of UNESCO’s geo-heritage for the protection of natural heritage.

Govt approves strategic buyer for Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited
Government has approved strategic buyer for Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited located in Odisha.

• Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, Tuhin Kanta Pandey has said that the highest bid of 12,100 crore rupees by Tata Steel Long Products Limited is accepted.
• Finance Ministry said, this is the first instance of privatization of a public sector steel manufacturing enterprise in India. The success of the transaction is a win-win situation for all.

Maharashtra has highest number of SC entrepreneurs 
Maharashtra tops India’s list in the number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) owned by entrepreneurs from the Scheduled Castes with as many as 96,805 enterprises.

• Tamil Nadu with 42,997 enterprises and Rajasthan with 38,517 units occupy the second and third slots, according to the data furnished by the Office of the Development Commissioner in the Union Ministry of MSME.
• The fourth, fifth and sixth slots belong to Uttar Pradesh (36,913 units), Karnataka (28,803 enterprises) and Punjab (24,503 units) respectively. As on January 23, 2022, the number of SC-owned enterprises at the all-India level was 4,53,972, of which micro enterprises accounted for 4,50,835, small – 3,004 and medium – 133.

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer unveils its Elections Mascot
In a bid to spread voter awareness among voters ahead of Punjab Assembly Elections, the office of Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Dr. S. Karuna Raju unveiled its Election Mascot – ‘Shera’ depicting a lion through a Facebook live event.

• The Election Mascot, ‘Shera’ represents the rich cultural heritage of Punjab. Promoted under the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) project, the Mascot aims to increase voter awareness and participation in the elections to increase voter turnout and promote ethical voting.

Home Delivery of medicines begins under SeHAT programme for tri-services personnel and families
Defence Ministry has said that home delivery of medicines begun under Services e-Health Assistance and Teleconsultation, SeHAT.

• As part of the Government’s commitment to Digital India and e-Governance, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had launched SeHAT in May last year.
• SeHAT is the tri-services teleconsultation service of the Ministry of Defence designed for all entitled personnel and their families. The Ministry said, Home Delivery will be started with Base Hospital Delhi Cantt and it will be extended to more and more stations in coming times.

PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission to provide support for 17,788 rural Health & Wellness Centres
PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission which was earlier known as Prime Minister Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, is one of the largest pan-India scheme for strengthening healthcare infrastructure across the country. It is in addition to the National Health Mission.

• It will provide support for 17 thousand 788 rural Health and Wellness Centres in 10 High Focus States.Further, over 11 thousand urban Health and Wellness Centres will be established in all the States.
• The Mission aims to produce robust outcomes in Public Health leapfrogging India to one of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of management of Public Health outbreaks.
• Under the scheme, Critical Care Hospital Blocks will be established in all districts with population of more than 5 lakhs.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Rs 1,38,394 crore gross GST revenue collected for January 2022
The gross GST revenue collected in the month of January, 2022 is one lakh 38 thousand 394 crore rupees. Of which CGST is 24 thousand 674 crore rupees, SGST is over 32 thousand crore rupees, IGST is over 72 thousand crore rupees and cess is nine thousand 674 crore rupees.

• Finance Ministry said, the highest monthly GST collection has been one lakh 39 thousand 708 crore rupees in the month of April 2021.
• The revenues for the month of January this year is 15 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. The Ministry said, this is for the fourth time GST collection has crossed one lakh 30 thousand crore rupees mark.

NITI Aayog, Vice Chairman expresses confidence that India’s GDP will grow between 8.5 to 9 pc in 2022-23
Speaking exclusively to All India Radio News, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Dr. Rajiv Kumar has expressed confidence that India’s GDP will grow between 8.5 to 9 percent in the year 2022-23.

• Stating that the GDP growth rate is poised to be higher than the pre-pandemic levels, Dr. Kumar stressed on the solid foundation for this forecast.
• He said revival in the manufacturing and services sector, increase in private investment and consumption, and increase in capital expenditure in public infrastructure will lead us to this growth projection.

SPORTS

14-year-old Unnati Hooda Claims Women’s Singles Title, Unseeded Kiran George Wins Men’s Competition
Teenager Unnati Hooda became the youngest Indian to win a Super 100 tournament as she beat compatriot Smit Toshniwal in straight games to claim the women’s singles title while unseeded Kiran George emerged triumphant in men’s singles final of Odisha Open badminton tournament. 

• Producing an excellent performance to emerge triumphant in her event, the 14-year-old Unnati won 21-18 21-11 to be crowned champion in the inaugural edition of the USD 75,000 Odisha Open.
• The 21-year-old George prevailed over fellow Indian Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15 14-21 21-18 to clinch the men’s singles title after battling hard for 58 minutes.

Three players from Washim district of Maharashtra win gold medals at Indo-Nepal International Games
Three players from Washim district of Maharashtra won gold medals at Indo-Nepal International Games held in Nepal.

• Umesh Kalapad, Ganesh Khadse and Suraj Gote from the district won gold medals in the 400 by 400 relay event at the Indo-Nepal International Games.

Argentina won 6th Pan American Women Cup Hockey Championship
Argentina has won the 6th women’s field hockey championship title at the 2022 Women’s Pan American Cup. In the final, Argentina defeated Chile 4-2 in Santiago, Chile.

• With this win both Argentina and Chile have sealed automatic qualification spots at the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup, Spain and Netherlands 2022.

CSK becomes country’s first Unicorn sports enterprise
Ahead of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of its most successful franchises, 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.

APPOINTMENTS

Portugal PM Antonio Costa re-elected
Socialist Prime Minister António Costa won re-election to his third consecutive term during the general election in Portugal as the new far-right party Chega took ground in the country’s Parliament.

• The Socialist Party won about 41.7% of the vote, giving them an absolute majority in Parliament for the first time since taking power six years ago, the Portugal Resident reported. The party now controls at least 117 seats in the 230-seat Parliament.

Xiomara Castro sworn in as first female President of Honduras
Leftist Xiomara Castro was sworn in as the first woman President of Honduras, vowing to reform the crime-and poverty-stricken nation into a “socialist and democratic state.”

• The 62-year-old leftist former first lady’s inauguration will put an end to 12 years of right wing National Party rule.
• She replaces President Juan Orlando Hernández, who has held the position for 8 years and has been accused of corruption and drug trade ties.Castro is wife of former president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, who ruled Honduras between 2006 and 2009.

AWARDS

PR Sreejesh wins World Games Athlete of the Year 2021 Award
Veteran Indian Hockey goalkeeper P R Sreejesh has won the prestigious World Games Athlete of the Year for his 2021 performances, becoming only the second Indian to receive the accolade.

• In 2020, Indian Women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal became the first Indian to win the honour for her 2019 show.Sreejesh beat competition from sport climber Alberto Gins Lopez of Spain and Italy’s wushu player Michele Giordano for the award.
• Sreejesh, a former captain of Indian Men’s Hockey Team and part of the Tokyo Olympics-bronze medal winning side, received around one lakh twenty seven thousand votes, whereas Lopez got around sixty seven thousand votes and Giordane accumulated over fifty two thousand votes.

BOOKS & AUTHORS 

Book titled “Fearless Governance” authored by Kiran Bedi launched
The book titled ‘Fearless Governance’ authored by Dr Kiran Bedi has been released recently.

• This book is based on the ground realities of nearly five years of service of Dr Bedi as Lt. Governor of Puducherry and her vast experience of 40 years in the Indian Police Service.

IMPORTANT DAYS

NPCI announces UPI safety and awareness week & month
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’.
• 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.

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