Daily Current Affairs 21st & 22nd August, 2022

Daily Current Affairs 21 & 22 August 2022 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

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NATIONAL NEWS

India’s first portal on arrested narco offenders ‘NIDAAN’ gets operational
A first-of-its kind database of arrested narcotics offenders has been made operational for use by various central and state prosecution agencies tasked to enforce anti-drugs laws in the country, officials said.

• The portal ‘NIDAAN or the National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco-offenders’ has been developed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
• It is part of the narcotics coordination mechanism (NCORD) portal that was launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on July 30 in Chandigarh during the national conference on ‘Drug trafficking and national security’.

BRO to build first steel slag road on border
The Border Road Organization (BRO) has planned to build Steel Slag Road in Arunachal Pradesh on a Pilot project basis.

• According to reports, the Steel Slag Road, which can survive heavy rain and adverse weather conditions, is the first of its kind project of the BRO.
• Arunachal Pradesh has some treacherous areas and locations which suffer from heavy rain and adverse climatic conditions, the Steel Slag Road project will help to resolve the connection between the help centres and the affected areas.

Ratan Tata launches Goodfellows which helps senior citizens make friends
Industry leader Ratan Tata, launched Goodfellows, a senior companionship startup that provides companionship services to senior citizens.

• The platform raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Ratan Tata, the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons.
• Over the past 6 months, Goodfellows has taken the time to complete a successful beta and will now be available in Mumbai with Pune, Chennai and Bangalore as the next target cities,” the company said.

Maharashtra declares ‘Dahi Handi’ an official sport
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the popular entertainment event of “Dahi Handi” would be officially recognised under the state’s sports category.

• Shinde said Maharashtra would introduce the discipline “Pro Dahi Handi” and “Govindas” who participated in the tournament would get jobs under the sportMaharashtras quota.
• “Dahi Handi”, meaning “curd in an earthen pot”, is a popular event in the state associated with Lord Krishna’s birthday, Janmashtami.

BSF signs MoU with IRCTC to ensure safety and security of booking data, other facilities
The Border Security Force (BSF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to ensure the safety and security of booking data under its air e-ticket service for the troops of India’s border guarding force.

• Besides, the pact will ensure facility of extra baggage, lounge, cargo and less cancellation or reschedule charges for authorised BSF personnel.
• This service will provide a dedicated online portal with a credit facility of 60 days, mentions the statement.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Scotland first in world to make period products free
The Scottish government said it became the first in the world to legally protect the right to access free period products when its Period Products Act came into force.

• Under the new law, schools, colleges and universities as well as local government bodies must make a range of period products available for free in their bathrooms.
• The Scottish government already invested millions of pounds since 2017 to fund free period products in educational institutions, but the law makes it a legal requirement.

BANKING & FINANCE

Edelweiss MF to launch India’s first gold and silver fund
Asset management company (AMC) Edelweiss Mutual Fund is scheduled to launch India’s first scheme that offers exposure to gold and silver via a single fund.

• The new fund offer for Edelweiss Gold and Silver ETF Fund of Fund (FoF) will close on 7 September. The fund’s managers for the scheme are Bhavesh Jain and Bharat Lahoti.
• India’s first gold fund, Nippon India ETF Gold BeES, was launched in March 2007, while silver-based mutual funds were first introduced in January this year.

Five Star Bank Partners with TCS to Drive Digital Transformation and Enhance Customer Experience
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has partnered with a subsidiary of Financial Institutions, Inc. ‘Five Star Bank’ on its digital transformation journey, enabling it to determine lending risk and deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences using the TCS Customer Intelligence & Insights (CI&I) analytics platform.

• TCS will leverage the AI-powered CI&I platform’s real-time contextual engagement capabilities to help the bank gain insights to avoid attrition blind spots and drive omnichannel customer personalization.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Vistara emerges second largest domestic airline by market share in July
Full service Vistara emerged as the second biggest airline by domestic market share in July with a 10.4% pie of the sky, distantly second to the market leader IndiGo at 58.8%, according to DGCA data.

• SpiceJet had the highest occupancy on domestic flights at 84.7% in June, followed by Vistara at 84.3%. Other big airlines had load factors in seventies.
• In the past few months, the number two slot had kept shuffling between SpiceJet, Go and AI. Over 97 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in July, 7.6% lower than the 1.05 crore in June, DGCA data showed.

SPORTS

Mastercard partners with leading badminton players to promote digital payments in India
Financial services company Mastercard has announced badminton players Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as brand ambassadors in India. This partnership is in line with the efforts of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Digital India.

• The new ambassadors will partner with the company to spread awareness about the safety, security, and convenience of digital payments in India.
• The badminton stars will be a part of the company’s ‘Team Cashless India’ campaign, which works with merchants and cardholders to create awareness of the safety, security and convenience of digital payments.

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