Today's Current Affairs14th December 2022

NATIONAL

Prime Minister launches several development projects worth 75,000 crore rupees in Maharashtra

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone and inaugurate projects worth Rs 75,000 crores in Maharashtra. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, PM Modi inaugurated Phase-I of Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, covering a distance of 520 Kms and connecting Nagpur and Shirdi.
• In yet another step that will revolutionise urban mobility, Prime Minister will dedicate ‘Nagpur Metro Phase I’ to the nation. He will flag off two metro trains – from Khapri to Automotive Square (Orange Line) and from Prajapati Nagar to Lokmanya Nagar (Aqua line) – at Khapri Metro Station. Phase I of the Nagpur Metro is developed at a cost of more than Rs 8650 crore. Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of Nagpur Metro Phase- II, which will be developed at a cost of more than Rs 6700 crore.
• Prime Minister’s commitment to strengthen health infrastructure across the country will be strengthened through the dedication of AIIMS Nagpur to the nation. The Hospital, whose foundational stone was also laid by the Prime Minister in July 2017, has been established under the Central sector scheme Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.
• Prime Minister dedicated Government Maintenance Depot, Ajni (Nagpur) and Kohli-Narkher Section of Nagpur- Itarsi Third line project to the Nation. These projects have been developed at a cost of about Rs 110 crore and about Rs 450 crore respectively.

PM addresses programme commemorating Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birth anniversary via video conferencing

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in a programme commemorating Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birth anniversary, on 13th December, 2022. The programme, being held in Kamban Kalai Sangam, Puducherry, under the aegis of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, witnessed the Prime Minister releasing a commemorative coin and postal stamp in honour of Sri Aurobindo.
• He is popularly known as yogi Rishi Aurobindo. He was a revolutionary, nationalist, poet, educationist and philosopher.He was born on August 15, 1872, in Calcutta to Shri Krishnadhan Ghosh.His father was a rich doctor from Calcutta.
• At the age of seven he was taken to England for education. There he studied at St. Paul’s School, London, and at King’s College, Cambridge.

CJI Chandrachud inaugurates 10 district court digitisation hubs in Odisha

• Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud virtually inaugurated 10 district court digitisation hubs (DCDH) in Odisha, and said that modernisation of judiciary is the need of the hour.
• With this inauguration, a total of 15 DCDHs have now become functional in the state, with each catering to a neighbouring district, thus covering all 30 district courts.
• The hubs at Angul, Bhadrak, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh and Sonepur, will take care of digitisation work of all 30 districts of the state. Each DCDH will be assigned the task of digitizing the surrounding districts.
• Initially, four District Court Digitization Centres (DCDC) were set up on a pilot basis in Cuttack, Ganjam, Sambalpur and Balasore districts on April 30, 2021.
• Appreciating the information and communication technology (ICT) measures adopted by the Orissa High Court under the leadership of its Chief Justice S Muralidhar, he said, “Digitisation should be accompanied by a push for e-filing of cases.”

 

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Sir Jeremy Farrar becomes WHO's Chief Scientist

• World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Dr Jeremy Farrar will become its new Chief Scientist. Currently, Director of the Wellcome Trust, Dr Farrar will join WHO in the second quarter of 2023. As WHO’s Chief Scientist, Dr Farrar will oversee the Science Division, bringing together the best brains in science and innovation from around the world to develop and deliver high quality health services to the people who need them most, no matter who they are and where they live.
• Dr Farrar is a clinician scientist who, before joining Wellcome in 2013, spent 17 years as Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Viet Nam where his research interests were in global health with a focus on emerging infectious diseases. Dr Farrar is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences UK, European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), the National Academies USA and a Fellow of The Royal Society.
• Dr Amelia Latu Afuhaamango Tuipulotu will become WHO’s Chief Nursing Officer. Previously Minister for Health of the Kingdom of Tonga, and before that Tonga’s Chief Nursing Officer, Dr Tuipulotu will join WHO in the first quarter of 2023.

 IMPORTANT DAYS

National Energy Conservation Day 2022: History, significance and more

• The National Energy Conservation Day is celebrated every year on 14th December 2022. The purpose is to showcase the achievements of the nation in energy efficiency and conservation. This occasion has been celebrated since 1991 when is led by the Ministry of power. This day is celebrated to raise awareness regarding the conservation of energy as it is the best way to have a greener and brighter future.
• The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under the power ministry of India, launched the National Energy Conservation Awards in 1991 to recognise the contribution of industries and establishments in reducing energy consumption while maintaining their production through awards. The first time the awards were given away was on December 14, 1991. Since then, the day has been declared as National Energy Conservation Day. These awards are given away by eminent dignitaries at a function organised every year on the same day.

 AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Former VP Venkaiah Naidu confers with SIES Award for public leadership

• Former vice president Venkaiah Naidu has been conferred with the 25th Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi National Eminence Award (SIES). The award was presented during the event held at Shanmukhananda auditorium, King’s Circle in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The awards are given in the fields of public leadership, community leadership, science and technology, and social thinkers who have made outstanding contributions in their respective fields. The SIES was set up in 1932 by M. V. Venkateshwaran in Mumbai.
• Venkaiah Naidu was the 13th Vice President of India from 11th August 2017 to 11th August 2022.
• Prior to joining Modi’s Cabinet, he was the minister of housing, urban poverty alleviation, urban development, and information.
• He was a prominent leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its National President from 2002 to 2004.
• He served as Minister for Rural Development in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government from 1996 to 2002.

 RANKING

UIDAI tops Grievance Redressal Index for the fourth month in a row in Nov

• Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) topped the grievance redressal index among all group A ministries, departments and autonomous bodies for resolution of public grievances for the fourth month in a row in November.
• The Electronics and Information Technology Ministry stated that UIDAI has moved towards a centralized grievance handling mechanism through its Open-Source customer relationship management system. UIDAI’s new open-source CRM (customer relationship management) system has enhanced user experience and improved service delivery to the residents.
• UIDAI’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based Chatbot, Aadhaar Mitra is also gaining popularity and soon the conversations happening there on a daily basis are going to cross 50,000 figures.
• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established on 12 July 2016 by the Government of India under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following the provisions of the Aadhaar Act 2016.

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

November retail inflation eases below 6% for the first time this year

• Retail inflation of India has been eased to 5.88% in November 2022 from 6.77% in October. It is the first time in this Financial Year when the inflation rate came within the tolerance band of RBI i.e. 2 to 6%. Food prices, which account for nearly 40% of the CPI basket, eased to 4.67% in November, compared with 7.01% in October.
• Retail inflation has been above the upper end of the Reserve Bank of India’s 2%-6% tolerance band since January, triggering 225 basis points of interest rate rise, so far taking it to 6.25%.
• Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the core inflation is estimated to be between 6% and 6.26% in November, according to three economists’ estimates, compared to 5.9% to 6.3% in October.
• RBI recently wrote a letter to the government explaining the reasons for failing to contain inflation within the set band for three successive quarters. The letter has not been made public so far.
• Cooling vegetable and edible oil prices drove India’s retail inflation down to 5.88% in November from 6.77% in October, the first time since January this year that consumer prices have risen slower than the 6% tolerance threshold set for the central bank.

Banks Wrote Off Bad Loans Worth Over 10 Lakh Crore In Last 5 Financial Years: Minister

• Banks have written off bad loans worth ₹ 10,09,511 crore during the last five financial years, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament. The non-performing assets (NPAs), including those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, are removed from the balance sheet of the bank concerned by way of write-off.
• Banks write off NPAs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance sheet, avail tax benefit and optimise capital, in accordance with RBI guidelines and policy approved by their boards. As per inputs received from RBI, Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) wrote off an amount of ₹ 10,09,511 crore during the last five financial years.
• As borrowers of written-off loans continue to be liable for repayment and the process of recovery of dues from the borrower in written-off loan accounts continues, write-off does not benefit the borrower, she said.
• Banks continue to pursue recovery actions initiated in written-off accounts through various recovery mechanisms available, such as filing of a suit in civil courts or in Debts Recovery Tribunals, filing of cases under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and through sale of non-performing assets.

Bank of Baroda Proposes Sale of Majority Stake in Nainital Bank

• State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) said it plans to sell its majority stake in Nainital Bank. The board of directors of the bank has approved divestment of its majority shareholding in Nainital Bank Limited (NBL), and authorised issuance of an advertisement inviting Expressions of Interest (EOI) through a Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) from interested parties (IPs).
• BoB currently holds 98.57 per cent of the total equity share capital of NBL. Uttarakhand-based Nainital Bank has about 150 branches across Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan. The Mumbai-based BoB had taken over Nainital Bank in 1973 on the directions of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Bank of Baroda is one of the leading commercial public sector banks in India. The Bank is having their head office located at Baroda and their corporate office is located at Mumbai.
• Bank of Baroda is one of India’s largest banks and as on December 2020 the bank has a strong domestic presence spanning 8246 domestic branches and 11553 ATMs & Cash Recyclers supported by self-service channels.