Daily Current Affairs January 31

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January 31 | Daily Current Affairs 2022

Important Days – Daily Current Affairs January 31

1. World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day:

• World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day was observed on January 30 to raise awareness for neglected tropical diseases.
• This year’s commemoration of World NTD Day was commemorated under the theme ‘Achieving health equity to end the neglect of poverty-related diseases’.
• The focus was to strengthen interventions in order to promote equitable health services globally.
• India joined over 40 other countries as it illuminated the iconic railway station in the nation’s capital and some other landmarks in purple and orange hues.
• The day was observed as the third World NTD Day, which is deemed as a key moment to highlight the global community’s commitment to ending NTDs.
• This year, India lit up the New Delhi Railway Station, which is one of the busiest railway stations in the country.

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2. Mahatma Gandhi’s 74th death anniversary: The history, significance behind observing Shaheed Diwas

• Shaheed Diwas 2022: Martyrs’ Day, which is also known as Shaheed Diwas or Sarvodaya Day is observed on January 30 all over the country to pay homage to all those who sacrificed their lives to make India an independent nation.
• The day also marks the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
• In 1948, this day was the saddest day of the nation as Gandhiji, fondly known as Bapu, was assassinated by Nathuram Godse during the evening prayers at Gandhi Smriti in the Birla House.
• This is known to all that Mahatma Gandhi played an important role to free India from the British rule.
• He used peaceful and non-violent ways to achieve freedom.
• India got independence in 1947 after which Gandhiji promoted brotherhood and peace in the nation.
• As Mahatama Gandhi died on January 30, the Government of India announced that the day will be known as Shaheed Diwas.

Martyrs’ Day 2022: How Shaheed Diwas is observed?

• On this day, the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, and the Defence Minister together assemble at the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat memorial and pay respects to Indian martyrs and Mahatma Gandhi. People observe a two-minute silence in the memory Indian martyrs.
• According to central government directions, two minutes’ of silence should be observed at 11 am throughout the country remembering those who sacrificed their lives during India’s freedom struggle.

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Sports – Daily Current Affairs January 31

3. IPL 2022: Lucknow Super Giants unveils team logo:

• Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), the new Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise revealed the logo of the side ahead of the 2022 mega auction.
• The franchise said that its brand identity draws inspiration from ancient Indian mythology.
• “The mythical bird Garuda- who is a protector and enthroned with the power to move swiftly, has inspired us to create the winged emblem of the team.
• Garuda is omnipresent in every Indian culture and sub-culture,” LSG said in a statement.
• “The tri-colour wings of the entity, symbolically represent Lucknow Super Giants’ Pan -India appeal.
• The body of the bird has been formed by a blue coloured bat to signify the game of cricket, there is a red ball with an orange seam too.
• It is like an auspicious ‘Jay tilak’,” it added.
• Lucknow Super Giants said the identity, as a whole, is endowed with strong positive energy to soar higher and higher and achieve success.
• Lucknow has opted to go with KL Rahul (Rs 17 crore), Marcus Stoinis (Rs 9.2 crore), and Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 4 crore) for the IPL 2022. KL Rahul will don the captaincy hat.
• Andy Flower has already been named the coach of the Lucknow franchise while former India batter Gautam Gambhir will serve as the mentor of the franchise.

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4. Former England all-rounder Tim Bresnan announces retirement from cricket:

• Former England all-rounder Tim Bresnan has announced his retirement from cricket, his County Club Warwickshire Cricket confirmed.
• The 36-year-old had received his Warwickshire Cap in April last year and the player became a key part of the team through key contributions with bat and ball.
• At the international level, the right-hander went on to represent England in 142 matches, including 23 Tests, forming part of the team that won the 2010/11 Ashes in Australia and went to the top of the Test rankings in 2011.

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5. Nadal wins Australian Open for record 21st major title:

• Rafael Nadal got to 21 first, breaking the men’s record for most Grand Slam singles titles and doing it the hard way by coming back from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev in an almost 5 1/2-hour Australian Open final.
• Nadal was broken when serving for the championship for the first time at 5-4 in the fifth set, but he made no mistake two games later by serving an ace to earn three championship points and converted it on the first attempt.
• Nadal won his first Australian Open title in 2009 and lost four other finals at Melbourne Park before his dramatic win over U.S. Open champion Medvedev.
• His conversion rate in major finals is now 21 out of 29.
• Federer and Djokovic each have 20 majors from 31 finals appearances.
• Medvedev, who was aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win his second Grand Slam title at the very next major, was ever-so-close to spoiling another 21st celebration.
• Djokovic was chasing the same record at the U.S. Open last year, and a calendar-year Grand Slam, when Medvedev beat him in straight sets in the final.
• Federer also had his chance at 21, but Djokovic stopped that when he saved match points before winning the 2019 Wimbledon final.
• Medvedev now joins Andy Murray among those who’ve lost the final at the next major tournament after their career breakthrough at the highest level.
• It was just the fourth time Nadal has rallied from two sets down to win a best-of-five-set match, and the first since a fourth-round victory in 2007 at Wimbledon over Mikhail Youzhny.
• He’s is the first Australian Open champion to come back to win after dropping the first two sets of the final since Roy Emerson in 1965.

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6. Argentina secure sixth straight title at Women’s Pan American Cup:

• Argentina beat hosts Chile to clinch their sixth straight Women’s Pan American Cup title in Santiago as Canada edged out the United States to qualify for this year’s World Cup.
• A 4-2 victory in the final maintained Argentina’s record of having won every edition of the event since it was first staged in 2001.
• Canada had earlier claimed bronze – and the third ticket to the World Cup on offer at the continental tournament – with a cagey 1-0 win over the US.
• Argentina and Chile had already booked their places at the 2022 World Cup, scheduled to take place in Spain and The Netherlands in July, by reaching the final in the Chilean capital.
• Maria Granatto put Olympic silver medallists Argentina in front in the 15th minute of the final before Denise Losada equalised early in the second half.

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Banking and Finance – Daily Current Affairs January 31

7. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance launches new term insurance plan: ICICI Pru iProtect Return of Premium:

• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has launched an innovative term insurance product ‘ICICI Pru iProtect Return of Premium’, a customer-centric proposition offering life-stage based cover wherein the quantum of life cover is automatically adjusted based on the customer’s life stages.
• The ICICI Pru iProtect Return of Premium offers a return of 105% of all premiums paid on survival, besides providing cover against 64 critical illnesses, one of the highest in the industry.
• It offers two variants – Life Stage Cover and Level Cover.
• The Life-stage Cover is an innovative feature that auto-adjusts the sum assured or life cover based on the life-stage of customers.
• It enables customers to increase their life cover when it matters the most as responsibilities grow in the initial stages.
• Also, it automatically reduces the life cover as responsibilities reduce in the later life stages.
• Importantly, the premium remains constant throughout the tenure of the policy.
• This is ideally suited for customers who seek adequate life cover across their life stages.
• Also, it offers customers the flexibility to get 105% of the premiums paid back at an early age of 60 or 70 years with continued protection till the end of the policy term or at maturity, as per the customer’s choice.
• The Level Cover variant is ideal for individuals looking for a term insurance plan that offers a survival benefit along with a fixed death benefit.

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8. NPCI Announces UPI Safety and Awareness Week & Month:

• With an aim to create awareness amongst consumers, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the UPI ecosystem have announced the UPI Safety and Awareness initiative.
• NPCI and the ecosystem comprising of leading banks and fintechs will observe February 1-7 as ‘UPI Safety and Awareness Week’ and the whole of February as ‘UPI Safety and Awareness Month’.
• Under this programme, NPCI urges all the customers to follow the concept of UPI Safety Shield, which the company has derived to educate customers all about UPI payments.
• The UPI Safety and Awareness initiative will help vulnerable and first-time customers in overcoming their fears of adopting digital payments and guide them to pursue safe payments on the UPI platform.
• The safety awareness initiative which will run continuously shall pave the way to make India a less-cash society as per the vision of Government of India and Reserve Bank of India.
• It will aid the journey of onboarding the next 300 Mn users on digital payments and processing Billion transactions a day on UPI platform over the next 3 to 5 years.
• Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has also recently cautioned members of public against unscrupulous elements that are defrauding and urged the public to practice safe digital payments by taking all due precautions while carrying out financial transactions.

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Business and Economy – Daily Current Affairs January 31

9. Samsung launches new security IC solution for biometric payment cards:

• Samsung unveiled a new fingerprint security IC solution with enhanced security features for biometric payment cards.
• The new solution – S3B512C – combines a fingerprint sensor, Secure Element and Secure Processor in one chip, thereby reducing the number of chips required and optimizing card design processes for biometric payment cards.
• With biometric authentication, the new Samsung solution eliminates the need to enter a PIN on a keypad and also prevents fraudulent transactions made with lost or stolen cards as it verifies the cardholder’s identity using a unique and securely stored fingerprint.
• The Samsung S3B512C is EMVCo and Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level (CC EAL) 6+ certified and performs in line with Mastercard’s latest Biometric Evaluation Plan Summary (BEPS) specifications for biometric payment cards.

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Acquisitions and Mergers – Daily Current Affairs January 31

10. Airtel buys around 25% equity stake in startup Lavelle Networks:

• Telecom operator Bharti Airtel announced an agreement to acquire about 25 per cent equity stake in Bengaluru-based technology startup Lavelle Networks.
• The agreement is subject to statutory approvals.
• Financial details about the deal were not disclosed.
• Lavelle Networks specialises in software-defined Wide Area Network solutions and it serves a range of industry segments.

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Appointments – Daily Current Affairs January 31

11. IAS officer Usha Sharma becomes R’than’s second woman chief secy:

• Senior IAS officer Usha Sharma was appointed as the chief secretary of Rajasthan.
• The 1985 batch officer is only the second woman to occupy the top-most bureaucratic position in the state.
• She succeeded Niranjan Arya, who retired from the service.
• As the chief secretary, Sharma will invariably also be the chief advisor to the chief minister.
• The Ashok Gehlot government had in 2009 appointed Kushal Singh as the first woman chief secretary of the state.
• Until now, Sharma was the secretary of the Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry in New Delhi on deputation.
• She has been in Delhi on deputation since May 2012 during which she also served as the Additional Director General of Tourism, Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, and Additional Secretary of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances.
• In Rajasthan, Sharma has held the posts of Principal Secretary (Tourism), Commissioner (Tourism), Commissioner (Industries) and Secretary (Urban Development and Housing) among others.

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Awards – Daily Current Affairs January 31

12. Maharashtra NCC Directorate wins prestigious PM banner at RDC 2022:

• The Maharashtra National Cadet Corps (NCC) Directorate won the prestigious Prime Minister Banner at the Republic Day Camp (RDC) 2022.
• In PM’s Rally held at Carriappa Parade Ground on 28 January 2022, PM Narendra Modi presented the prestigious PM Banner to Major General Y P Khanduri, ADG, NCC Directorate, Maharashtra. SUO Siddhesh Jadhav was the Banner Bearer and Cadet captain Nikita Khot was the Trophy bearer,” the release added.

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International Affairs – Daily Current Affairs January 31

13. 11th meeting of India-Oman Joint Military Cooperation Committee held:

• Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and Mohammed Bin Nasser Bin Ali AL Zaabi, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defence of Oman attended the 11th meeting of the India-Oman Joint Military Cooperation Committee.
• Kumar, from the Indian side, said that India is keeping records of all vaccinated individuals digitally with the help of the Aadhar identification system.
• Notably, Oman is a strategic partner of India and an important interlocutor at Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Arab League and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) for a, said MEA in a statement.

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14. Australia to host ‘Quad’ meeting of foreign ministers:

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to Australia in February to meet counterparts from Japan, India and Australia to discuss Indo-Pacific coordination, the Australian government said.
• The two-day meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) foreign ministers comes amid the Biden administration’s concerns about China, even as tensions with Russia over Ukraine rachet up in Europe.
• China has previously denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique “targeting other countries”.
• Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne did not specify a date for the meeting, but said in a statement she looked forward to welcoming the Quad foreign ministers to Australia in coming weeks.
• Japanese media had previously reported the Quad meeting could be held virtually because of pandemic restrictions surrounding international travel.

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National Affairs – Daily Current Affairs January 31

15. Adani Total Gas Ltd to invest Rs 20,000 cr in city gas:

• Adani Total Gas Ltd (ATGL), the joint venture between Adani Group and TotalEnergies of France, said it will invest Rs 20,000 crore in setting up city gas infrastructure across the country over the next 8 years, with 60 percent of the money going into the 14 licenses it won recently.
• With the addition of 14 geographical areas or GAs it won in the latest bid round for city gas distribution (CGD) licenses, Adani Total Gas now has a footprint in 95 districts spread across 12 states, catering to more than 9 million households.
• The company is now the largest CGD player, retailing CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to households in 33 GAs.
• PNGRB had last week declared winners for 52 out of the 61 GAs that received bids in the latest bidding round.
• ATGL won the maximum of 14 GAs, followed by Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) winning license for 13 GAs and state-owned IOC for 8 GAs.
• The bid round is part of the government strategy to increase the share of natural gas in the country’s energy basket to 15 percent by 2030 from the current 6.2 percent.
• ATGL won three GAs each in Assam and Chhattisgarh, four in Maharashtra including Amravati, one each in Jharkhand and Odisha, and two in Madhya Pradesh.

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16. Govt approves NINL sale to Tata Steel Long Products for Rs 12,100 cr:

• The government said it has approved sale of loss-making Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) to Tata Steel Long Products Ltd for Rs 12,100 crore.
• NINL is a joint venture of four CPSEs, namely MMTC, NMDC, BHEL, MECON and two Odisha Government PSUs, namely OMC and IPICOL.
• NINL has an integrated steel plant with a capacity of 1.1 million tonnes (MT), at Kalinganagar, Odisha.
• The company has been running in huge losses and plant is closed since March 30, 2020.
• Three companies — Consortium of Jindal Steel & Power Limited and Nalwa Steel and Power Ltd; JSW Steel Limited; and Tata Steel Long Products Limited (TSLP) — had put in financial bids for buying NINL.
• TSLP emerged as H-1 bidder, whose bid has been accepted.
• Letter of Intent (LoI) is being issued to TSLP inviting them to sign the share purchase agreement (SPA).
• At this stage, 10 per cent of the bid amount shall be paid by the successful bidder into the escrow account.
• The government approves strategic buyer for NINL located in Odisha.
• The highest bid of Rs 12,100 crore by M /s Tata Steel Long Products Ltd is accepted, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted.
• NINL has huge debt and liabilities exceeding Rs 6,600 crore as on March 31, 2021, including huge overdues of promoters (Rs 4,116 crore), banks (Rs 1,741 crore), other creditors and employees.
• The company has negative networth of Rs 3,487 crore and accumulated losses of Rs 4,228 crore as of March 31, 2021.
• Notably, earlier this month the government handed over ownership in loss-making national carrier Air India to Tata Group for Rs 18,000 crore.

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17. Spituk Gustor Festival 2022 begins in Ladakh:

• Spituk Gustor, the annual celebrations of Ladakhi culture and traditional heritage began on Sunday as the hostile weather condition prevailed in the Union Territory.
• People thronged the Spituk Monastery to witness the Spituk Monastery’s yearly enchanting colourful festival of the Monastery. Spituk Monastery is 8 kilometres from Leh.
• The main attraction of the festival was the colourful mask dance locally called Chams performed by the monks of the monastery in their best robes depicting different deities such Mahakala (Gonbo), Paldan Lhamo (Shridevi), White Mahakala, Protector Deity.
• The mask dance began with Serskam followed by Hashang Hatuk, Six Arms Mahakala, Paldan Lhamo, Shawa, Janak Chams.
• For the general public to watch, a large Thangka (painting) of Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of Gelukspa Sect of the Mahayana Buddhism was displayed in the courtyard during the festival.

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18. India’s first geo park to come up in MP’s Jabalpur district:

• The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has approved the setting up of the country’s first geo park at Lamheta village on the banks of the Narmada river in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, local MP Rakesh Singh said.
• He said the GSI has sanctioned Rs 1.30 crore to prepare a detailed project report of the geological rock formations in five acres in the Lamheta village, located 20 km away from the Jabalpur district headquarter, where the park will come up.
• The estimated cost of this project is Rs 35 crore and there is a provision to sanction additional funds if required, as the area around the upcoming geo park will be developed, Singh told reporters.
• A geopark is a unified area that advances the protection and use of geological heritage in a sustainable way and promotes the economic well-being of the people who live there.
• In 1828, the first dinosaur fossil was collected from the Lameta Bed by Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer William Sleeman, he said.

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19. Arunachal Pradesh: Three-day Torgya Festival of Monpa community begins at Tawang Monastery

• The traditional Torgya Festival of the Monpa community in Arunachal Pradesh has begun.
• The three-day long Torgya Festival began at the Tawang Monastery
  Khandu was accompanied by Rev Gyabung Tulku Rinpoche of the Tawang Monastery, MLA Tsering Tashis and Brigadier NM Bendigeri.
• Torgya Festival of the Monpa community in Arunachal Pradesh is a festival that welcomes a healthy and prosperous new year.
• The three-day Torgya Festival is celebrated during the first month of the year i.e January.

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20. Israel to help India convert 150 villages into ‘Villages of Excellence’:

• India and Israel will work together to create 150 ‘Villages of Excellence’ that will help farmers to adopt latest technology in the farm sector.
• The 150 villages that are located around Centres of Excellence (CoEs) will be converted into ‘Villages of Excellence, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in a statement.
• Israel has set up 29 CoEs in 12 states, which are producing more than 25 million vegetable plants, over 3,87,000 quality fruit plants per year.
• Besides, these centres are equipped to train 1.2 lakh farmers every year.

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