Daily Current Affairs 16th April, 2022

Daily Current Affairs 16 April 2022 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Mauritius PM Pravind Jugnauth arrives in Mumbai on 8-day visit to India
Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth arrived in Mumbai on an eight-day visit to India. Mr Jugnauth is accompanied by his wife Kobita Jugnauth and a high-level delegation.

• The visiting dignitary will participate in the Ground-Breaking Ceremony of the WHO-Global Centre for Traditional Medicine at Jamnagar on 19th April and the Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit at Gandhinagar in Gujarat on 20th April, along with the Prime Minister Modi.

IAF ties up with IIT Madras to develop solutions to maintain weapon systems
Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for technology development and finding indigenous solutions towards the sustenance of various weapon systems.

• The joint partnership between IAF and IIT Madras aims to accelerate IAF’s indigenisation efforts for achieving ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
• Under the ambit of MoU, IAF has identified key focus areas involving technology development and finding indigenous solutions towards the sustenance of various weapon systems.

Uttarakhand Government announces ‘Him Prahari’ scheme for ex-servicemen and youngsters
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced a scheme named ‘Him Prahari’ for ex-servicemen and youngsters and is aimed at stopping the migration of people from the state.

• The scheme will focus on areas where migration occurs at a rapid phase, especially the districts which have international borders.
• The state government will provide all necessary assistance to ex-servicemen and the youth, so that people stay put, and not move out.

Rongali Bohag Bihu Festival celebrated in Assam
Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu, one of the biggest festivals of Assam, falls in the second week of April every year, marking the beginning of the harvest period. This year Bohag Bihu is being observed from April 14 to April 16.

• Bihu is observed on the first day of Magh month as per Bengali Panjika. Magh Bihu is the Assam celebration of Sankranti and the celebrations last for a week. The festival of Magh Bihu is dedicated to Agni, the Lord of Fire.

PM Modi dedicates Super-Speciality Hospital in Bhuj; Says
Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated K. K. Patel Super Speciality Hospital in Bhuj to the nation through video conferencing.

• Speaking on the occasion, he said, this hospital will make good quality healthcare accessible to people at an affordable price.
• It will ensure best treatment for the families of soldiers and people of the trading community. He said better healthcare facilities are not limited to the prevention of disease but they also promote social justice.

Centre would establish seaweed park with special economic zone status in Tamil Nadu: MoS Dr. L. Murugan
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Fishing, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Dr L Murugan has said, the Centre would establish a seaweed park with special economic zone status in Tamil Nadu.

• He said the project will be the first of its kind in India and will come up under the PM Kisan Sampada Yojana. He said the state government has been asked to locate the project site and acquire the land, after which the works on the project will start. He further said the Centre has plans to implement projects worth 20-thousand crore rupees, under the PM Kisan Sampada Yojana.

BANKING & FINANCE

Centre infuses ₹5,000 crore into 3 state-run insurance companies
The Centre has raised the authorised capital of three public sector insurance companies – Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL), National Insurance Co. Ltd. (NICL) and United India Insurance Co. Ltd. (UICL) – to enable subscription of capital.

• In the instant case, the government infused ₹5,000 crore, i.e. ₹3,700 crore in NICL, ₹1,200 crore in OICL and Rs 100 crore in UICL, which will be used to subscribe to the share capital of the respective public sector general insurance companies and issuance of shares to the Centre against the subscription.
• A notification issued by the finance ministry on April 13 said that for NICL the authorised capital will now be ₹15,000 crore, for OICL it will be ₹7,500 crore and for UICL, authorised capital has been raised to ₹7,500 crore from ₹5,000 crore.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

IIT Guwahati partners with NTPC for development of plant to capture CO2
The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati has partnered with NTPC to design and develop a highly energy-efficient plant for CO2 capture from power plants.

• This indigenous technology, which may soon be patented, was developed by a research team led by Prof. Bishnupada Mandal, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Guwahati.
• The outcomes of this project will benefit oil, natural gas, biogas industries, and petroleum refineries. It also stands to potentially save forex for India. This project, through its research and education, will support and strengthen the UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well.

Centre surpasses its Fy22 Asset Monetization Target 
Central government has exceeded its asset monetization target of ₹88,000 crore for FY22 and has completed deals worth ₹96,000 crore as per the assessment made at a high-level review meeting, said a person familiar with the development.

• The sectors which contributed in a big way to the asset monetisation include roads, power and mining of coal and minerals. For FY23, the Centre has firmed up asset monetisation target of over ₹1.6 trillion for which proposals from various ministries are at different stages of processing, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity.
• The total asset sale in FY22 could actually go upto ₹1 trillion when the final figures come, said the first person quoted above.

World Bank cuts India’s GDP growth forecast to 8% from 8.7% in FY23
The World Bank has slashed India’s GDP forecast for fiscal year 2022-23 to 8% from 8.7% predicted earlier, citing worsening supply bottlenecks and rising inflation risks caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

• The World Bank lowered its growth estimate for India, the region’s largest economy, to 8% from 8.7% for the current fiscal year to March, 2023 and cut by a full percentage point the growth outlook for South Asia, excluding Afghanistan, to 6.6%.
• The international lender said that in India, household consumption will be constrained by the incomplete recovery of the labour market from Covid-19 and inflationary pressures.

SPORTS

Orleans Masters Super 100: Indian shuttler Mithun Manjunath grabs silver
Indian shuttler Mithun Manjunath had to settle for a silver medal after losing to Toma Junior Popov in the final of the men’s singles event at Orleans Masters 2022 in France.

• The 79th ranked Indian shuttler lost to the home favourite shuttler Popov by 21-11, 21-19 in 50 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

Fino Payments Bank To Buy 12.19% Stake In Paysprint 
Fino Payments Bank said its board has approved a minority strategic investment of up to 12.19% in New Delhi-based fintech Paysprint Pvt Ltd.

• The strategic investment is a first for Fino Payments Bank after its public listing. This is in continuation to several in-house initiatives by the bank that are already underway towards building a digital ecosystem for its customers as part of its Fino 2.0 journey.

AWARDS

Prabhat Patnaik selected for Malcolm Adiseshiah Award 2022
Renowned Indian economist and political commentator Prabhat Patnaik has been selected for the 2022 Malcom Adiseshiah Award. 

• The award is annually given by the Malcolm and Elizabeth Adiseshiah Trust to an outstanding social scientist selected from nominations received by a specially constituted national jury.
• The award comprises a citation and prize money of ₹2 lakh. It will be presented at a function to be held in Chennai, the date of which will be announced later.

Civil Aviation Ministry’s UDAN scheme selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2020
Civil Aviation Ministry flagship Regional Connectivity Scheme –  ‘Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik’, UDAN has been selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 under the category Innovation (General) – Central.

• The government has initiated this award to acknowledge, recognize and reward extraordinary and innovative work done by Districts and Organizations of State and Government.
• The Ministry said, UDAN scheme emphasises on Good Governance, Qualitative achievements, and last mile connectivity rather than only on achievement of quantitative targets. The award consists of a trophy, scroll and an incentive of ten lakh rupees. The Ministry of Civil Aviation will receive the award at Civil Service Day function on 21st of April.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Israel Tests New Laser-based Air Defence System ‘iron Beam‘
In a first of its kind, Israel has successfully tested a new laser missile-defence system ‘Iron Beam’ which can intercept many kind of aerial objects starting from missiles, rockets, anti-tank missiles and even drones.

• The Iron Beam which is developed by the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is using directed-energy weapon system and can go a long way in providing aerial defence.
• Iron Beam works on a fibre laser system to destroy any airborne object.Israel said its Iron Dome defense system has been a great success, with a 90% interception rate against incoming rocket fire. But officials say the system is expensive to deploy.

Kotak Mahindra Bank launches FYN, digital platform exclusively for business banking, corporate clients
Kotak Mahindra Bank announced the launch of Kotak FYN, its new enterprise portal exclusive for business banking and corporate clients.

• Customers can use the portal to carry out all trade and services transactions, adding that by the last quarter of 2022, the Kotak FYN portal will include account services, payments and collections.
• The portal will offer a host of other features like a dashboard which can be customisable, track the utilisation of transaction limits on a real-time basis, access to past transactions, upcoming transaction events etc.

OBITUARIES

Producer-actor Manju Singh passes away
Veteran Hindi television presenter and actor Manju Singh passed away due to cardiac arrest.

• Manju Singh was one of the pioneers in the Indian television industry who produced remarkable shows Swaraj, Ek Kahani, Show Time among others. Fondly called ‘didi’, she was the anchor of the children’s show, Khel Khilone which ran for seven years. Singh had also appeared in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Gol Maal, where she played the role of Ratna.

Philanthropist Bilquis Edhi passes away
Bilquis Bano Edhi, the wife of Pakistan’s renowned and revered humanitarian and philanthropist late Abdul Sattar Edhi, passed away at a private hospital. She was 74.

• Bilquis worked shoulder to shoulder with her husband in establishing the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation, a welfare organisation that gained worldwide fame for its humanitarian work in many areas.
• Dubbed Mother of Pakistan’, she was awarded various national and foreign awards, including the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the Lenin Peace Prize, Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice (2015), and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, which she received along with her husband in 1986.
• Last year, she was also named the Person of the Decade’, along with UN rapporteur on human rights Prof. Yanghee Lee and US ethicist Stephen Soldz by an international organisation.

Click here to read Daily Current Affairs