NATIONAL NEWS

World's First Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate World's first Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant in Gujarat.
• The Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant has been built at the cost of around 175 crore rupees in an effort to further provide farmers the means to boost productivity and help increase their income.
• The ultramodern Nano Fertilizer Plant has been established to increase in crop yield through the use of Nano Urea.
• The Plant will produce about 1.5 lakh bottles of 500 ml per day.

Indian Business Portal

• Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel launched the Indian Business Portal in New Delhi.

• The portal will serve as an international trade hub for Indian exporters and foreign buyers.

• The portal is a business-to-business digital marketplace to empower small medium enterprises exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and grow their sales globally.
• the Indian Business Portal has been developed by Federation of Indian Export Organisations.
• The portal will act as e-commerce marketplace to help Indian exporters get global visibility.

Nirdeshak-Indian Navy Survey Vessel

• Nirdeshak the second of the four Survey Vessels Large (SVL) was launched at Kattupalli, Chennai.

• Project is built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) in collaboration with L&T shipbuilding for Indian Navy.
• The ship has taken its name from Nirdeshak which was also an Indian Naval Survey ship and was decommissioned after 32 years of service in December 2014.
• The contract for building four SVL ships was signed between MoD and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.
• The first of class ship ‘Sandhayak’ was launched on 05 December 2021 at GRSE, Kolkata.
• The SVL ships will replace the existing Sandhayak Class survey ships with new generation hydrographic equipment to collect oceanographic data.
• The primary role of the ships would be to undertake full scale coastal and deep-water hydrographic surveys of Ports and navigational channels.

First Lavender Festival

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated India’s ‘First Lavender Festival' in Bhaderwah.
• The 2 days Lavender Festival 2022 is conducted under Union Government’s Aroma Mission 2.
• Bhaderwah is the birthplace of India's Purple Revolution and said that Bhaderwah is the potential destination of Agri-tech StartUps of the country.
• India’s first National Institute of High-Altitude Medicine is also being built in Bhaderwah.
• CSIR-AROMA Mission, under the Ministry of Science & Technology aims to develop and disseminate the aroma-related science and technology to reach the end user or clients of CSIR.

Ministry of Ayush and Department of Biotechnology

• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of Ayush and Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for mutual collaboration.

• It is aimed to explore the possibility of cooperation, convergence and to bring out the expertise under one platform toward evidence-based biotechnological interventions in Ayush sector.

• There is a need of multi-technological ways for the exploration and application of this ancient scientific system of health care into the public health care domain.

BANKING

Reliance General Insurance Launches New Health Policy

• Reliance General Insurance Company announced the launch of its new health insurance policy – Reliance Health Gain.
• Customers can customise their health insurance policy by choosing features as per their needs and paying only for what they choose.
• ‘Make your own policy’ is a futuristic model as it is aimed to bring greater transparency and enhanced trust.
• Customers between the age of 18 to 65 years can choose any features with any sum-insured from ₹ 3 lakhs to ₹1 crore.
• There is no age limit in this policy for a sum insured of up to ₹3 lakhs.

Committee to Rebuild Insurance Sector

• Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has formed various committees through the General Insurance Council (GIC) to mend the insurance sector.

• These panels include heads of private and public sector insurance companies, members of IRDAI and representatives from the GIC to suggest reforms in several areas of general, reinsurance and life insurance such as regulation, product, distribution, among others.
• GIC was formed by IRDAI to act as a link between the insurance regulator and the non-life insurance industry.
• The representatives of the Insurance industry were asked to highlight the issues they face and suggest steps that can be taken.

AU Small Finance Bank Introduces New Services

• AU Small Finance Bank has launched two new products under its affluent banking programme, AU Royale – ‘AU Royale Salary’ and ‘AU Royale Business’ current account.
• The Bank had launched the Royale programme designed to meet the everyday banking requirements of the affluent segment.
• The AU Royale Salary Savings account offers family banking for up to five family members and cashback of up to 1% on signature debit card spends.
• The AU Royale Business Current Account offers family banking, which allows the grouping of business and family accounts. The account is said to offer a card called - Rich Royale Business Signature Debit Card.

SPORTS

International Jumping Meet

• Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar won the gold medal at the 12th International Jumping Meeting in Kallithea, Greece with a jump of 8.31m.
• Sreeshankar was followed by Swede Thobias Montler, who claimed silver with an 8.27m jump and Jules Pommery of France, who bagged bronze with an 8.17m jump in the 10-man field.
• Sreeshankar also created a record with a jump of 8.36m and he is the national record holder at present.

Asia Cup 2022 Hockey Tournament

• Indian men's hockey team defeated Indonesia in a Pool A game of the Asia Cup 2022 in the final quarter to qualify for the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup.

• India joined Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea in the Super 4 round of the Asia Cup.
• This was India’s first win in the ongoing edition of the Asia Cup.

AWARDS & PRIZES

Excellence in Cinema Award

• Bollywood actor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui was presented the award for Excellence in Cinema at the French Riviera Film Festival that took place in Cannes.

• The award was presented by Emmy-winning star Vincent De Paul.

• Siddiqui received this award for his contribution to cinema.

SKOCH Award in Education

• West Bengal has bagged the ‘Star of Governance-SKOCH Award in Education.
• West Bengal has topped in the Education sector nationally in the SKOCH State of Governance Report 2021′.
• The ‘Star of Governance-SKOCH Award in Education’ will be conferred to West Bengal on 18 June 2022 at New Delhi as a part of India Governance Forum’.
• SKOCH Award instituted in 2003 aims to recognize people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

First Dalit Female Mayor of London Council

• Councilor Mohinder K Midha, an Indian-Origin Politician from the UK’s Opposition Labour Party has been elected mayor of the Council in West London.

• Mohinder K Midha was elected for the next year’s term of 2022-23 at a council meet.

• She has become the first female mayor of a local London Council belonging to the Dalit Community.
• Prior to this, she had been serving as the Deputy Mayor for the council.

OBITUTARY

Veteran Journalist Sat Soni

• Veteran journalist and author Sat Soni has died in Gurugram. He was at the age 89.

• He was born in Mandalay in Myanmar, he had moved to Punjab in 1944 in the wake of the Japanese invasion during the Second World War.

• He began his career in language journalism in 1951 by joining the Urdu daily, "Milap".
• He authored many books including the biography of ex-President Giani Zail Singh -"From Mudhouse to Rashtrapati Bhawan".