NATIONAL NEWS

TB Elimination Effort of Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

• The government of India owned Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central TB Division under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the states of Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

• This effort of the IOCL is part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.

• The MoU was signed in presence of Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya and Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri in New Delhi.

• Within India Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh share the highest burden of TB cases among large states in India.

• The Indian Government has set a target to eliminate TB in India by 2025.

First International Beach Festival

• The 'Spice Coast' in the north of Kerala, popularly known as North Malabar is to celebrate the 'Bekal International Beach Festival'.

• Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the 10-day first International Beach Festival.

• The festival reflects the essence of the cultural and artistic uniqueness of the state.

• It is organised by Bekal Resorts Development Corporation (BRDC) in association with the District Tourism Promotion Council, Kudumbashree, Asmi Holidays and the local self-government bodies in the district.

Online Request Transfer Portal for Gramin Dak Sevaks

• The Department of Posts has launched an Online request Transfer Portal for Gramin Dak Sevaks.

• The entire transfer process, from the stage of seeking applications, approval and issuing transfer orders, has now been made paperless and simple through this portal.

• The launch of the online request transfer portal is a huge step in bringing transparency and accountability to the governance processes by leveraging technology.

• The online process will also result in saving time and resources.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Air Combat Exercise ‘Veer Guardian 23'

• India and Japan will conduct their first bilateral combat air exercise 'Veer Guardian 23' for 10 days in Japan in January 2023.

• The exercise will be conducted at Hyakuri Air Base north-west of Tokyo.

• Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) will conduct bilateral combat training with the Indian Air Force (IAF).

• The aim of the exercise is to promote mutual understanding and strengthen defence cooperation between the Air Forces.

• The IAF will field its Russian-origin Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft from a squadron under the Western Air Command.

India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement

• India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement comes into force from 29 December 2022.

• ECTA is the first trade agreement of India with a developed country after more than a decade.

• Under this trade agreement, Indian exports will benefit from preferential zero-duty market access in Australia for 100 per cent of its tariff lines.

• It will benefit India’s labour-intensive sectors such as gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, furniture, food and agricultural products, engineering products, and medical devices.

• The total bilateral trade is expected to cross 45 to 50 billion dollar in five years from the existing 31 billion US dollar.

SPORTS

e-Sports as Part of Multisports Events

• The Government of India has officially recognised ‘E-Sports’ (Electronic Sports) as a part of multi-sports events.

• E-sports will be handled by the Department of Sports under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

• This decision was taken by President Draupadi Murmu, using the powers given in provision 3 of Article 77 of the Constitution, after changing the rules related to e-sports.

• The International Olympic Committee is also promoting e-sports and the first Olympic e-sports week will also be celebrated in Singapore in June 2023.

• e-sports or “electronic sports,” transforms online gaming into a spectator sport.

RANKS, INDICES & REPORTS

Top Consulting Firm by the Asian Development Bank

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) released annual Procurement report 2022
• The report has ranked the Government of India owned Water and Power Consultancy Services India Limited (WAPCOS) Company as the top Consulting Services Firm in Water and other Infrastructure Sectors.
• WAPCOS is the only Indian Public Sector to feature in the above categories.
• WAPCOS was established by the government of India in 1969 under the aegis of the Ministry of Water Resources to utilize India’s knowledge and expertise in the field of water resources by sharing and exporting technology to friendly developing nations.

AWARDS & PRIZES

Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Awards 2022

• Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) won Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Awards 2022.

• The best programme awards went to the IIT Madras courses, BS Data Science and NPTEL in partnership with IISc Bangalore.

• The institute has been awarded and its BS in Data Science and Applications is awarded the silver in the best online programme category.

• The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), a joint initiative of IITs and IISc, run by IIT Madras, won the gold in the lifelong learning category.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Chief of Suryoday Bank

• The Reserve Bank of India has approved the re-appointment of Baskar Babu Ramachandran as MD and CEO of Suryoday Small Finance Bank for three years with effect from 23 January 2023.

• Prior to co-founding Suryoday Micro Finance Pvt Ltd, he held various positions with various companies including GE Capital Transportation Financial Services Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd.

• Suryoday Small Finance Bank (Suryoday SFB) is a scheduled commercial bank.

• The Bank was originally incorporated as Suryoday Micro Finance Pvt Ltd at Chennai in 2008 and subsequently got converted into a public limited company as Suryoday Micro Finance Ltd in 2015.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

G20 Science Working Group’s Secretariat

• The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru will function as the secretariat for Science 20 (S20).

• It is a working group set up as part of the G20 which will be presided over by India in 2023.

• The theme of the S20 in 2023 is ‘Disruptive Science for Innovative and Sustainable Development’.

• This broad issue will be discussed throughout the year in different regions of India.

• Apart from the discussions, there will be an inaugural conference in Puducherry and a summit in Coimbatore.

• The main objective of the S20 group is to present consensus-based recommendations for selected topics of interest to policy makers.

MISCELLANEOUS

'Bomb Cyclone' Hits US

• ‘Bomb Cyclone’ has hit the United States, affecting at least 200 million people.

• Temperatures dropped across the United States and heavy snow caused power outages in cities, thousands of flights were cancelled and people were stuck in their homes without food.

• New York's Erie County, which includes Buffalo is one of the areas most affected by the winter storm, which stretches from the Canadian to the Mexican border.

• Bomb cyclone is used by meteorologists to denote a mid-latitude cyclone that rapidly intensifies.

• It is a giant winter storm that hits the coast and brings strong winds, flooding, snow and ice.