NATIONAL NEWS

NCPCR Organizes National Level Meet

• National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) organized a national level meeting on Identification, Rescue and Rehabilitation of Children in Street Situations with NGOs/CSOs and UN agencies for seeking assistance from them.

• The meeting was organized in connection with Supreme Court’s directions on the issue of identification and rehabilitation of Children in Street Situations.

NITI Aayog and USAID to Collaborate

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a new partnership under the Sustainable Access to Markets and Resources for Innovative Delivery of Healthcare (SAMRIDH) initiative.

• This will improve access to affordable and quality healthcare for vulnerable populations in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and rural and tribal regions.

Target 817 Giga Watt by March 2030

• Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R.K Singh that the government has planned the installed generation capacity to be around 817 Giga Watt by March 2030.
• By the last month, Installed Generation Capacity of the country has reached 393 Giga Watt.
• National Grid has an inter-regional transmission capacity of 1 lakh 12 thousand 250 Mega Watt and provides seamless power transfer throughout the Electricity Grid.

AAHT OPERATION to Curb Human Trafficking

• Indian Railway Protection Force has launched a nationwide operation “Operation AAHT” to curb human trafficking.

• As part of “Operation AAHT”, special teams will be deployed on all long-distance trains/routes with a focus on rescuing victims, particularly women and children, from trafficking.
• The Indian Railways operate about 21,000 trains across the country daily.
• The RPF have rescued more than 2,000 women and children between 2017-21 from traffickers.
• The National Crime Records Bureau registers about 2,200 cases of Human Trafficking cases on an average each year.

COVID-19 DNA Vaccine

• India has become the first country in the world to administer a DNA vaccine against COVID-19.
• The ZyCoV-D which is the World’s first plasmid DNA vaccine has been produced by Ahmedabad-based vaccine manufacturer Zydus Cadila and it was administered for the first time in Patna.
• It is a Painless and Needleless vaccine given at intervals of 28 days and 56 days.
• It is the second India-made vaccine to get emergency authorization in India after Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, citing initial results from Phase III clinical trials that showed approximately 66 per cent efficacy for symptomatic cases.

IIT-Madras to set up ‘AquaMAP’

• The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) is establishing a new inter-disciplinary Water Management and Policy Centre called ‘AquaMAP’ to solve water related issues in the country.

• This Centre will provide smart solutions for challenging water problems through a consortium approach and setting up a Hydro informatics laboratory.

• The initial funding of Rs.3 crore was provided by IIT-M Alumni Dr Parasuram Balasubramanian, CEO of the Theme Work Analytics and Krishnan Narayanan, President of Itihaasa Research and Digital.

BUSINESS NEWS

L&T, Microsoft Sign Partnership to Develop Cloud Offering

• Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Microsoft India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a regulated sector focused cloud offering to empower customers with the best-of-breed cloud computing and infrastructure services.

• L&T and Microsoft will co-engage to develop architectures and roadmaps to modernize their traditional data centers to potentially hybrid models.

• Under the MoU, the two companies will set up a joint governance group to define future platform designs, investments, and commercial/business models to service the regulated sectors’ emerging technology requirements.

200 Trucks to Bangladesh

• Indian commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland will be supplying 200 trucks to the Bangladesh government as part of the USD 2 billion Line of Credit (LOC) announced by PM of India.

• Ashok Leyland had earlier received an order for 135 built trucks consisting of 3T truck, hydraulic beam lifter and Sewerage sucker based on the tender floated by the government of Bangladesh.

• These have been handed over to the country’s Roads and Highways department in the current financial year.

SPORTS

Interim Head Coach of Indian Cricket Team

• England appointed Cricketer Paul Collingwood as interim head coach for the upcoming Test series in West Indies.

• The appointment comes after former head coach Chris Silverwood and managing director Ashley Giles were terminated, following England's 4-0 Ashes defeat to Australia.

China Wins AFC Women’s Asian Cup

• China defeated South Korea as 3-2, to win the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022, setting record of winning for the 9^th time.

• The AFC Asian Cup tournament held at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

• India is hosting the 20th edition of the football AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 from January 20, 2022, to February 06, 2022.

RANKS, INDICES AND REPORTS

India Press Freedom Report, 2021

• The India Press Freedom Report, 2021 was recently released by the Rights and Risks Analysis Group.

• According to the report, 13 media houses and newspapers were targeted in the country, 108 journalists were attacked, and 6 journalists were killed.

• Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura topped the list of States and Union Territories were reported to be the least performing states, where journalists and media houses were targeted in 2021.
• Assam, Chhattisgarh and Haryana reported minimum number of target with one each.
• 24 journalists were attacked physically, obstructed, threatened, and harassed for doing their work.
• 17 of these attacks were police attacks. 44 FIRs were registered against journalists in 2021. Of this 21 were registered under Section 153 of IPC.

AWARDS AND PRIZES

Karyaksham Khaasdar Award

• The Karyaksham Khaasdar (Efficient Member of Parliament) award for the year 2020-21, given in the memory of late Madhavrao Limaye by Sarvajanik Vachanalay, Nashik, will be conferred on Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.

• The award presentation ceremony will be held on February 10, 2022 Motilal Nehru Marg, New Delhi, at the residence of minister Gadkari.
• Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pawar, MP Dr Subhash Bhamre, MP Hemant Godse and MP Vinay Sahastrabuddhe will be the chief guests at the function.
• The award consists of Rs 50,000 in cash, and a memento.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Director – VSSC

• Scientist and launch vehicle specialist, Dr S Unnikrishnan Nair took charge as the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
• VSSC is a keyspace research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and specialises in rocket and space vehicles for satellite programs.
• Nair, who started his career in VSSC Trivandrum in 1985, has made significant contributions in launch vehicle mechanisms, acoustic protection systems and payload fairing areas during his tenure.

First Woman Vice-Chancellor of JNU

• The Ministry of Education (MoE) has appointed Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit as the new Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
• She is the first women Vice-Chancellor of JNU.
• The 59-year-old Pandit has been appointed for a period of five years.
• She replaces M Jagadesh Kumar, who has been appointed as Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• Before this appointment, she was serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Savitribai Phule University in Maharashtra.

Sri Lankan Fast Bowler Announces Retirement

• Veteran Sri Lankan fast bowler Suranga Lakmal has announced to retire from international cricket, after Sri Lanka’s upcoming tour of India.
• The 34-year-old right-arm fast bowler and right-handed batsman aim to join the English county club Derbyshire after retirement. The Derbyshire County Cricket Club has signed up Lakmal on a two-year contract.
• Suranga Lakmal has represented Sri Lanka in 165 international matches across formats, in his international career spanning over 12 years.