Today's Current Affairs-26th September 2022

NATIONAL

Mandaviya to inaugurate Arogya Manthan 2022 as AB-PMJAY completes 4 years

• Arogya Manthan 2022 event was officially launched by the Union Health Minister in Government of India, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya to commemorate four years since the launch of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and one year since the launch of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
• More than 10 crore impoverished people are intended to benefit from the programme, which offers vulnerable families a five lakh rupee health subsidy each year.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2018 announced its debut.This two-day Arogya Manthan 2022 event covered a total of 12 sessions.
• Day 1 of Arogya Manthan 2022 featured a number of sessions on topics like Universal Health Coverage in India, Promoting Interoperability in Digital Health, Improving PM-JAY Efficiency, Adoption of Digital Health, Health Technology Assessment for Evidence-Informed PM-JAY Decisions, and Privacy and Security Issues Related to Digital Health.
• Senior government representatives from the states and UTs, as well as Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, MoS Health Dr. Bharati Pravin, and NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr. VK Paul.

Chandigarh airport to be named after Bhagat Singh

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Sunday during his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme that the Chandigarh international airport would be named after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. The announcement came three days before the martyr’s birth anniversary Wednesday, September 28, ending a seven-year standoff between the Punjab and Haryana governments over the naming of the airport.
• Earlier, Haryana had objected that the airport should be named after Chandigarh only as it is the joint capital of both states. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had agreed with Punjab to name the airport after Bhagat Singh but after the BJP, led by Manohar Lal Khattar, took over the reins in Haryana, in 2015, he put forth his view that it should be named after an RSS ideologue Mangel Sen.
• The Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 2017 passed a resolution that the airport should be named after Bhagat Singh and this led to a debate.

About Punjab:

Capital: Chandigarh

Governor: Banwarilal Purohit

Chief Minister: Bhagwant Mann

About Haryana:

Capital: Chandigarh

Governor: Bandaru Dattatreya

Chief Minister: Manohar Lal Khattar

 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Amazon plans 3 solar farms and 23 solar rooftop projects in India

• Amazon establishing its first solar project in India: Amazon said that its first solar farm would be located in India. Three solar power plants with a combined capacity of 420 megawatts (MW) will be built in Rajasthan by the largest e-commerce company, Amazon. Along with Amp Energy, Amazon has also contracted to 210 MW and 110 MW projects with ReNew Power and Brookfield Renewables, respectively.
• Amp Energy India, a producer of renewable energy (RE), has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to sell RE to Amazon from a 100 MW solar power facility in Rajasthan as part of Amazon’s plans for India.
• By the end of 2023, the facility at Bhadia, Rajasthan, will be completely operational. One gigawatt (GW) of utility size projects are also being developed by Amp. 1,13,645 tonnes of hazardous CO2 emissions will be reduced thanks to this solar power facility.

About Amazon:

Founded: 5 July 1994, Bellevue, Washington, United States

Founder: Jeff Bezos

CEO: Andy Jassy

 APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Former India captain Dilip Tirkey gets elected Hockey India president unopposed

• Former India captain Dilip Tirkey, who was the front-runner for the post of Hockey India president, was elected unopposed for the top job. He was elected after Uttar Pradesh Hockey chief Rakesh Katyal and Hockey Jharkhand’s Bhola Nath Singh, who were in the fray for the president’s post, withdrew their nominations. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has approved Tirkey and his team’s appointments. Bhola Nath has been elected unopposed as secretary general.
• Hockey India elections were scheduled to be held on October 1 but the results were declared in advance as there were no contestants for any of the posts, paving the way for the incumbent candidates to be elected unopposed as per the federation’s Constitution.

About International Hockey Federation:

President: Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra

Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland

CEO: Thierry Weil

Founded: 7 January 1924, Paris, France

Dr M Srinivas appointed as new director of AIIMS New Delhi

• The dean of Employees’ State Insurance Company (ESIC) Hospital and Medical College, Hyderabad, Dr M Srinivas has been appointed the director of New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), nearly six months after the tenure of the previous director, Dr Randeep Guleria, formally ended. The appointment is for a period of five years with effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post, or till attaining the age of 65 years, or until further orders, whichever is the earliest, according to the order.
• Srinivas was on deputation at the ESIC Hospital and continues to be a professor of pediatric surgery at AIIMS. Including Guleria, AIIMS has had 15 directors so far since its foundation in 1956. All former directors have been employees at the institute at the time of their appointment.

About Employees’ State Insurance Company (ESIC):

Founded: 25 February 1952

Owner: Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India

About AIIMS Delhi:

Established: 1956

First Director:  B.B Dikshit

Under: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

About Delhi:

Chief Minister: Arvind Kejriwal

1. Governor: Vinai Kumar Saxena

Capital: New Delhi

 Sanjai Kumar takes over as new CMD of RailTel

• As the new Chairman and Managing Director of RailTel, Sanjai Kumar is in charge. Sanjai Kumar previously held the position of Director (Network Planning & Marketing/NPM) at RailTel, along with the added responsibility of Director (Project, Operations & Maintenance/POM). The University of Allahabad awarded Kumar a Bachelor of Technology in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering, while the Management Development Institute in Gurugram awarded him a Post Graduate Diploma in Management.
• He has around 30 years of varying experience in railroad operations, project management, and marketing. He is an officer of the Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE).
• He stated that he wanted to concentrate on doing business internationally, including exporting services and participating in international bids and contracts.

About Railtel:

Headquarters: India

Founded: 26 September 2000

Key people: Aruna Singh, Chairman & Managing Director

 IMPORTANT DAYS

World Contraception Day 2022: 26^th September

• World Contraception Day is marked on September 26 with a focus on creating awareness about contraceptive knowledge and family planning. To educate the younger generation about contraceptive measures. In this program, people are told about the prevention of conception. It is a global campaign held annually to shed light on birth control methods by asserting the importance of reproductive health. World Contraception Day has become an important event to highlight the need for population control. The day underlines the need for better family planning which can indirectly also help families to lift themselves out of poverty.
• According to the World Health Organisation, the significance of World Contraception Day is captured in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• The first-ever World Contraception Day was observed on September 26 in 2007.

About World Health Organization :

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland

Founded: 7 April 1948

Director-General: Tedros Adhanom

International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons 2022: 26^th September

• The United Nations observes 26 September every year as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. The aim of the day is to enhance public awareness about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination. It provides an opportunity to educate the public and their leaders about the real benefits of eliminating such weapons, and the social and economic costs of perpetuating them.
• In 1946, the General Assembly’s first resolution established that the Atomic Energy Commission has the mandate to make specific proposals for the control of nuclear energy and the elimination of not only atomic weapons but also all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.
• The General Assembly endorsed the objective of general and complete disarmament in 1959. The first Special Session of the General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament, held in 1978.

 BOOKS & AUTHOR

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar released a Book “Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay – Jeevan Darshan Aur Samsamyikta”

• The Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar has released the book titled “Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay – Jeevan Darshan Aur Samsamyikta” (five volumes) in New Delhi and on this occasion highlighted the importance of Pt Deendayal’s thoughts in contemporary times. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, former Union Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and other dignitaries were among those attending the event.
• The Vice President appreciated the efforts of the Chief Editor of the book, Dr Bajrang Lal Gupta and his team for coming out with these well-researched five volumes on one of the foremost leaders of modern India. He also thanked Shri Rajnath Singh and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi for their insightful speeches on the life and work of Pt Deendayal Upadhyay on the occasion.

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

RBI felicitate banker’s for making Leh achieves 100 percent digitization of banking operations

• The highest-located district in India, Leh has achieved 100 per cent digitization of banking operations. Union Territory Level Bankers Committee Ladakh, the Reserve Bank of India has felicitated the bankers of the district. Leh district has completed the digitization of all the operating banks in a short span of a year.
• Digital Banking refers to the electronic banking service provided by a bank for its financial, banking and other transactions through electronic devices online. In 2019 RBI put forward a proposal to make at least one district of every state in the country have 100 per cent digitization of banking operations.
• Thrissur district of Kerala became the first fully digital banking district of the country in August 2021. Kerala is also the first state in India to achieve the target of Financial Inclusion of having at least one bank account in a family.

About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):

Governor: Shaktikanta Das 

Currency: Indian rupee (₹)

Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata

Founder: British Raj

About Ladakh:

Lieutenant Governor : Radha Krishna Mathur

Capital:Leh