NATIONAL NEWS

DHARA – Annual Meeting of Members of the River Cities Alliance

• The yearly meeting of members of River Cities Alliance (RCA), DHARA was organised in Pune.
• DHARA stands for Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers.
• It was organised by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).
• DHARA 2023 provided a platform for senior officials of the 95-member river cities in India to co-learn and discuss solutions for managing local water bodies.
• DHARA has strong synergies with Urban20 initiative under the ambit of India’s G20 presidency.
• River Cities Alliance (RCA) was launched by Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in November 2021.
• It started with 30 cities and now has 95 cities as members.
• It focuses on three broad themes: Networking, Capacity Building, Technical Support.

Agricultural Credit Societies

• In order to strengthen the cooperative sector, the Union Cabinet on 15 February approved the setting up of a new Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) in two lakh panchayats in the next five years.
• According to the government, 25 different facilities will be made available through the Primary Agricultural Credit Society.
• Dairy and fisheries will also be linked to agricultural cooperatives.
• In the next 5 years, a target has been set to establish 2 lakh multipurpose packs, dairy, fisheries cooperatives.
• The scheme will be implemented with convergence of various schemes.
• PACS are registered under the Co-operative Societies Act and regulated by RBI.

Vibrant Villages Programme

• The Union Cabinet on 15 February approved the Centrally Sponsored Scheme- ‘Vibrant Villages Programme’ (VVP) for the Financial Years 2022-23 to 2025-26 with financial allocation of Rs 4800 Crore.
• This will help encourage people to stay in their native places in border areas.
• This will stop migration from villages and improve border security.
• Funds will be provided under the scheme for development of essential infrastructure and creation of livelihood opportunities.
• The focus areas of the programme are livelihood, road connectivity, housing, rural infrastructure, renewable energy, television and broadband connections.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India and US to Jointly Develop UAVs and Share IP Rights

• India and the United States (US) have moved ahead to jointly develop air-launched unmanned aerial vehicles (ALUAV) that will be used for surveillance missions, in a massive boost to Indo-US defence ties.

• This is the first UAV project under which common intellectual property (IP) rights will be generated, giving the Indian ecosystem a significant technology boost.

• A Project Agreement (PA) for this was inked by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and US Department of Defence under the Joint Working Group Air Systems in the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) on July 2021.

• The ALUAV prototype, being jointly developed by India and the US, could enter the flight-testing phase by September 2023.

• It is being developed to be launched from an aircraft (C130J aircraft).

BANKING

RBI’s Financial Literacy Week

• Financial Literacy Week (FLW) is being organised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from 13 February to 17 February 2023.

• The theme selected for current year Financial Literacy Week (FLW) is ‘Good Financial Behaviour – Your Saviour’.

• Since 2016, the RBI has been organising Financial Literacy Week (FLW) every year to disseminate financial education messages on a particular theme among the public across the country.

• The 2023 theme aligns with the overall strategic objectives of the National Strategy for Financial Education: 2020-2025 which aims at building financial resilience and well-being while creating awareness among members of the public.

• Financial literacy refers to the ability to understand and apply different financial skills effectively, including personal financial management, budgeting and saving.

SPORTS

India’s First Frozen Lake Marathon

• India’s first frozen lake marathon is set to be held on February 20, with the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) tasked with executing a ‘proper action plan’ for the event in Ladakh’s Pangong Tso.

• The frozen lake marathon will take place at an altitude of 13,862 feet.

• 75 selected athletes from India and abroad will be participating in the event, giving them an opportunity to set their names in the Guinness world record for the world’s highest ‘frozen-lake marathon’.
• The 21km run will start from Lukung and end at Maan village.
• The marathon has been titled ‘Last Run’ to highlight the issue of climate change.
• Adventure Sports Foundation of Ladakh (ASFL) will be organizing the event in collaboration with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Leh, the Tourism Department and the Leh district administration.

AWARDS & PRIZES

Global Best M-GOV Awards

• ‘M-Gov Award’ and ‘GovTech Award’ are annual awards organised by the UAE government.

• Egyptian President Abel Fattah Al-Sisi presented Niyati Totala and Neel Kapeshkumar Parikh of IIT Indore Global Best M-Gov Award.

• The students won AED 1 million by winning the gold medal at the World Government Summit 2023 in Dubai.

• These students created ‘Blockbill’ app.

• Blockbill is a blockchain based receipt generation app that creates digital receipts for all transactions of users.
• They are presented as part of the World Government Summit.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

President of Bangladesh

• A former judge and freedom fighter, Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu, has been declared as the next president-elect of Bangladesh by the country’s Election Commission.
• He will be the 22nd President of Bangladesh
• He was nominated for the post by the ruling Awami League (AL) party with all necessary seats, 302 out of 350 seats in the national parliament.
• Chuppu will replace the longest-serving President of Bangladesh Mohammad Abdul Hamid, whose tenure ends on 24 April 2023.

DEFENCE

Indo-US Exercise TARKASH

• The 6th edition of joint exercise Tarkash was concluded in Chennai by the National Security Guard (NSG) and the US Special Operations Force (SOF).
• ‘Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Terror Response’ has been included in this exercise for the first time.
• The objective of the exercise is to neutralize the terrorists, safe release of hostages and neutralization of chemical weapons being carried by the terrorists.
• An exercise to deal with chemical and biological attacks by terrorists was also included in the exercise.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Centre of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

• The Centre has designated All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, also known as AIIMS Delhi as the centre of excellence (CoE) for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare.

• It was announced by the Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya to the Lok Sabha.

• AI tools can support monitoring of physical and financial aspects of programmes including fraud detection, effective disease management, identifying early warning signals as part of surveillance, development of clinical decision support system (CDSS) supporting practitioners in providing quality care, etc

• To detect suspicious transactions/potential frauds in Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri – Jan Arogya Yojna (ABPM – JAY) the National Health Authority, has been using AI technologies.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Superstar Sridevi’s Official Biography

• Westland Books announced the publishing of the official biography of superstar Sridevi.
• Titled ‘Sridevi: The Life of a Legend’, the book draws a complete portrait of the actor, who ruled the commercial cinema space in the ’80s and ’90s.
• It is written by debutant author Dhiraj Kumar and will be released this year.