NATIONAL NEWS

India’s First AI-based Job Platform

• The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Hyderabad) has launched the beta version of ‘Swarajability’, a job portal powered by artificial intelligence.

• The portal helps people with disabilities acquire relevant skills of job seekers and find the suitable jobs.

• IIT-H offers its expertise in AI, Visual Quest India has developed the platform in association with Youth4Jobs.

• The project is funded by Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Hydrogen in the Decarbonizing Mix

• National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd., is setting up a floating solar panel system, renewable energy-powered, fuel cell-based 50 kW microgrid as a pilot at its 2,000 MW Simhadri Thermal Power Plant near Visakhapatnam.

• This project is the India’s 1^st green hydrogen-based energy storage system and one of the largest in the world.

• The floating solar panels generated power is utilized to electrolyse water during the day to produce hydrogen which is stored under high pressure and will be used for power generation during the night.

ICRISAT - 50th Anniversary

• Prime Minister has inaugurated the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Patancheru, Hyderabad.

• Tow research facilities of ICRISAT, Climate Change Research Facility on Plant Protection and Rapid Generation Advancement Facility were inaugurated by the PM during the event.

• Prime Minister also unveiled a specially designed logo of ICRISAT and launched a commemorative stamp issued on the occasion.

• Its objective is to conduct agricultural research for rural development, in Asia & sub-Saharan Africa.

Paray Shikshalaya Programme

• West Bengal government is set to launch an open-air classroom programme ‘Paray Shikshalaya’ (Neighbourhood Schools) for primary and pre-primary students on February 7.

• Under the ‘Paray Shikshalaya’ project, the students will be taught in open spaces.

• The para teachers and primary school teachers would be part of the project to provide elementary education to children of Class 1to 5.

• The state government has also decided to provide mid-day meals to the students of ‘Paray Shikshalaya’.

GoI Approval for Renaming Places In MP

• The Indian government has approved the renaming of three locations in Madhya Pradesh.

• The “Hoshangabad Nagar” will be renamed “Narmadapuram”, “Shivpuri” will be renamed “Kundeshwar Dham” and “Babai” will be renamed “Makhan Nagar”.

• The MP government, led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, proposed the renaming of the three locations in Madhya Pradesh in 2021 and granted approval by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Conference on Renewable Energy

• The ASEAN-India High-Level Virtual Conference on Renewable Energy being organized by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Ministry of External Affairs.

• The High-Level Conference, will focus on the theme of Experience and Innovations for Integrated Renewables Market.

BANKING

LIC Tie-up with Policy bazaar

• Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has tied up with Policy bazaar to digitally offer a wide range of Life Insurance and investment products to its customers across India.

• This is LIC’s first association with a private insurance aggregator, which has mainly relied on its 1.33 million agents for distributing products.

• The alliance will provide insurance services in smaller cities to ensure financial inclusion and social security.

ABOUT LIC

• LIC HQ: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• LIC Chairperson: M R Kumar.

GOI Conversion Switch Operation

• The Government of India has done a Conversion Switch Transaction of its securities with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for an amount of Rs. 1,19,701 crores.

• The GOI undertakes switch operations with RBI and also with market participants to smoothen the liability profile as well as for market development.

• The transaction involved buying back securities that are being matured in FY 2022-23, FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25 from the RBI and also issuing fresh securities for equivalent market value, to make the transaction cash neutral.

• The transactions were carried out using Financial Benchmarks India Private Limited (FBIL) prices as of January 28, 2022.

ABOUT Government securities:

• They are the debt instruments issued by GoI through auctions conducted by RBI.

• The two categories of government securities are short term instruments (Treasury Bills) mature in 91 days, 182 days or 364 days and long-term instrument matures within 5 years to 40 years.

SPORTS

World’s Third Largest Cricket Stadium

• Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly laid the foundation stone virtually, for the world’s third-largest cricket stadium to be built in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

• It will be the second- largest cricket stadium in India and the third-largest in the world that it would seat capacity of 75,000 spectators to be built by Rajasthan Cricket Academy (RCA).

• Currently, Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is the world’s largest stadium with a capacity of 132,000 spectators.

AFCON Football Championship

• Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) football championship title won by Senegal beating the Egypt in the final.

• The final ended 0-0 after 120 minutes with penalty round of 4-2.

AWARDS

Digital Transformation Award

• Karnataka Bank has been awarded the digital transformation award by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for Best Practice in Digital Transformation.

• The award was given in recognition of the “innovative” best practice ‘KBL VIKAAS’,

• ‘KBL VIKAAS’, a wholistic transformation journey, launched by the bank in 2017.

• The bank recently launched the digital transformation journey ‘KBL NxT’ as part of wave 2.0 of ‘KBL VIKAAS’.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

IndiGo’s First MD of the Company

• The low-cost Indian airline, IndiGo has appointed its co-founder and promoter Rahul Bhatia as the Managing Director (MD) of the company with immediate effect.

• He is the first-ever MD of Indigo, because before this the company never had a managing director.

• Ronojoy Dutta is the CEO of the Indigo.

First Woman Director on IOC Board

• Sukla Mistry took over as the first woman functional director (Refineries) on the board of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

• IOC is the Nation’s largest oil refining and fuel marketing company and India’s highest ranked public sector enterprise.

• A graduate in metallurgical engineering from Bengal College of Engineering, Calcutta University, joined IOC in 1987.

TVS Motor Chairman

• Non-Executive Director of TVS Motor, Ralf Dieter Speth, has been appointed as the Chairman of the company replacing veteran Venu Srinivasan.

• He will be taking charge as the chairman of the company from April 1, 2022.

• Venu Srinivasan would continue to be the Managing Director of the company designated as Chairman Emeritus

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Atharva: The Origin

• Virzu Studios in association with MIDAS Deals Pvt Ltd has released the motion poster of its upcoming graphic novel, Atharva – The Origin.

• Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been portrayed as the superhero Atharva in this graphic novel.

• The graphic novel authored by Ramesh Thamilmani.

OBITUARY

Former Greek president Christos Sartzetakis

• Former Greek president Christos Sartzetakis passed away in a hospital in Athens due to respiratory failure in Athens. He was 92.

• He served as the President of Greece for a four-year term (1985-1990), after getting nominated by the socialist PASOK party.