NATIONAL NEWS

SPMCIL Signs MoU with TERI

• The Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) and the Energy Resources Institute (TERI) have signed an MoU with an estimated cost of Rs 525.49 lakh for the integrated development of village Model.
• This MoU has been entered into under the CSR initiative of SPMCIL for the development of Model Village.
• TERI is engaged in research and development in the field of energy, environment, climate change and sustainability.
• The Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) is a Mini Ratna, wholly owned by the Government of India.

Jal Jan Abhiyan in Rajasthan

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the Jal Jan Abhiyan in Abu Road in Sirohi district of Rajasthan.
• The main objective of this campaign is to plant trees along with water harvesting and motivate people for water conservation.
• This campaign has been started by the Brahma Kumari organisation and the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• The Jal-Jan campaign is being launched at a time when water scarcity is being seen as a future crisis all over the world.

Indian Rice Congress in Cuttack

• President inaugurates 2nd edition of Indian Rice Congress in Cuttack.
• The Indian Rice Congress-2023 at ICAR- National Rice Research Institute was inaugurated by President Smt. Draupadi Murmu.
• Rice production in India has increased from 89 million tonnes in 2010 to 130 MT in 2022.
• India is the second-largest producer of rice and the largest exporter of rice.
• President announced that rice is the basis of food security in India and also a major factor for our economy.
• West Bengal is the highest rice-producing state in India.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

MoU Between India and Chile

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of India and the Government of Chile for cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors.

• This MoU provides for cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors.

• Under the MoU, a Chile-India Agricultural Working Group will be set up.

• This group will be responsible for supervision, review and evaluation of the implementation of the MoU as well as for establishing frequent communication and coordination.

• Thereafter it will be automatically renewed for a period of 5 years.

India and Fiji Sign MoU on Visa Exemption

• India and Fiji signed a Memorandum of Understanding on visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders in presence of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
• Under this agreement, holders of diplomatic and official passports will be able to enter, transit and stay in each other's territory without a visa for a period of 90 days.
• India and Fiji share close and long-standing relations and the two countries also reviewed bilateral relations.
• The Visa Waiver Agreement will be helpful in encouraging greater travel between the two countries.

India and Spain Signed MoU

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez agreed to collaborate on issues such as digital infrastructure, climate action, clean energy and sustainable development.

• They also discussed several bilateral and international issues of mutual interest.

• They reviewed bilateral initiatives and expressed satisfaction at the growing cooperation in the defence, economic and commercial sectors.

• Spain is India's 7th largest trading partner in the European Union.

BANKING

SBI Opens 3rd Specialised Startup Branch

• State Bank of India (SBI) has started its 3rd specialised branch for start-ups in the country at Gurugram to support and provide all banking services required by Start-ups under one roof.
• Gurugram has the 3rd highest number of unicorns – startups valued at $100 billion or more in India, behind Bengaluru and Mumbai.
• It is to provide end-to-end support to startups at every stage of their journey, starting from the formation of the entity till their IPOs and FPOs.
• In addition to start-ups, the bank also aims to meet the needs of private equity (PE), venture capital (VC) and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs).
• The startup branch in Gurugram has also entered into Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at IIT-Delhi and other entities.

BoM Launches Its Own Private Cloud Infrastructure

• Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has launched its own private cloud infrastructure, Mahabank Nakshatra, to facilitate high-performance cloud capabilities for digital infrastructure and hosting applications of the bank.

• BoM also launched a mobile app, Arjun (Automated Remote Junction for Monitoring of Assets Under Stress), to give a snapshot of stressed asset (SMA & Slippages) portfolio to bank staff and feet on street (FOT).

• The app will also give analysis to identify the daily variation in stressed asset portfolios with recovery suggestions.

• The bank launched Mykase, a legal case tracking software which will be able to fetch all the cases in various courts of India which are online where BoM.
• The Bank launched Video-know-your-customer (KYC), which allows customers to open an account digitally by providing KYC details online.
• The bank has developed ‘Pension slip facility’ using Digi locker, which is a flagship initiative of Ministry of Electronics & IT under Digital India programme.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

President and Vice President of ICAI

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has elected Chartered Accountant (CA) Mr Aniket Sunil Talati as President of ICAI and CA Mr Ranjit Kumar Agaarwal as Vice President (VP) for the year 2023-24.

• Both will be responsible for organising the three-tiered CA exam and looking after all administrative affairs.

• Currently, Mr Aniket Sunil Talati is the Director of the ICAI Accounting Research Foundation (ICAI ARF), Indian Institute of Insolvency Professionals of ICAI (IIIPI) as well as Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) India.

Chairman of West End Housing Finance

• Mumbai-based affordable housing finance company, West End Housing Finance Ltd., has appointed reputed banker Mr. Jagdish Capoor as its Chairman.
• The appointment was made by the board at its meeting held in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• Jagdish has had an illustrious career in the finance sector, having served as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• He has also been the Chairman of HDFC Bank and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
• He has served on the boards of several leading banks like State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, National Housing Bank, NABARD and EXIM Bank, among others.

AWARDS & PRIZES

President’s Colour Award to Haryana Police

• Union Home Minister will present the President’s Colour Award to the state police at a ceremony at the Haryana Police Academy.

• The President’s Colour is one of the highest honour that can be awarded to any military unit, military training establishments, and state/UT Police Forces of India.

• It is bestowed upon in recognition of exceptional service rendered to the Nation, both in peace and in war.

• It is also known as ‘Rashtrapati ka Nishaan’ in Hindi.

• The flag may also contain the motto, important achievements, and battle participation of those military units to which the award is bestowed.

DEFENCE

Joint Training Exercise ‘Dharma Guardian’

• The 4th edition of the joint military exercise between India and Japan, ‘Dharma Guardians’ will be conducted from 17 February to 02 March 2023 at Camp Imazu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

• Soldiers from the Garhwal Rifles Regiment of the Indian Army and an infantry regiment from the Japan Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) are participating in the exercise this year.

• They will share experiences gained during operations in order to enhance inter-operability in planning and execution.

• The training will mainly focus on high level of physical fitness and sharing of exercises at tactical level.

• During the exercise, the participants will engage in various missions including joint planning, joint tactical exercise, integrated surveillance grid.