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Important Current Affairs 12th January 2022

NATIONAL

Kevadia railway station in Gujarat renamed as Ekta Nagar railway station

• The Ministry of Railways has approved the renaming of the Kevadiya railway station in the Narmada district of Gujarat, as Ekta Nagar railway station. The Statue of Unity’s Kevadiya railway station falls under the Vadodara division. The station code of Ekta Nagar railway station will be EKNR. The numerical code of the station will be 08224620.

• Last year, the Ministry of Railways had said tourists visiting the world’s tallest statue in Gujarat “Statue of Unity” will be able to experience the rich cultural history of the state at the Kevadiya railway station itself. Under the public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, the Vadodara Division of Western Railways had awarded first of its kind contract in the Indian Railways network for the development of an Art Gallery with a Souvenir shop at Gujarat’s Kevadiya Railway station.

Jan Dhan Accounts Deposits Cross ₹ 1.5 lakh Crore By December 2021

• According to the finance ministry, the deposits in bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) scheme have crossed Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark. The total balance in accounts under the Jan Dhan scheme was recorded at Rs 1,50,939.36 crore as of December-end 2021. The data revealed that over 44.23 crore accounts have been opened under the scheme.

• Of this, 34.9 crore accounts were opened with the public sector banks, 8.05 crore with regional rural banks, and the remaining 1.28 crore with private sector banks. RuPay Debit Cards were issued to 31.28 crores PMJDY beneficiaries under this scheme.

Chennai International Airport ranks 8th in the World for ‘On-Time Performance’ for the year 2021

• The Chennai International Airport is one of the top 10 large international airports in the world that ensures ‘on-time’ departures. In a review conducted by Cirium, an organisation that specialises in offering aviation data to travel, finance, aerospace, and aviation industries, the airport has been ranked 8th for ‘on-time performance’ for the year 2021. According to the latest traffic figures of Chennai Airport, it has done recovery of 80 % in domestic traffic. It is the sixth busiest airport in India.

• Besides that, Chennai airport is the only Indian airport to figure in the top 10 positions of the list. The first three positions have been bagged by United State’s Miami Airport, Fukuoka Airport, and Haneda Airport in Japan.

SPORTS

14-yr-old Bharath Subramaniyam becomes India's 73rd chess Grandmaster

• Tamil Nadu’s Bharath Subramaniyam became India’s 73rd chess Grandmaster. He secured the third and final Grandmaster norm at an event at Cattolica in Italy. He scored 6.5 points from nine rounds along with four others and finish seventh in the event. He secured his third GM norm here as well as touched the requisite 2,500 (Elo) mark.

• Fellow Indian player M R Lalith Babu became the winner in the tournament, with seven points. He won the title on the basis of a better tie-break score as he tied with three others including Anton Korobov from Ukraine. In order to become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms as well as cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points.

Five golfers including Aditi Ashok among 10 more athletes added to TOPS

• Mission Olympic Cell under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has added ten athletes to the list of athletes who would be provided support under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Total 10 new entrants, five athletes have been included in the Core group while five have been added to the Development group. Now, the total number of athletes under TOPS has increased to 301, which includes 107 in the Core group while 294 in the Development group.

• TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) is a flagship program of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which was launched in September 2014 and revamped in April 2018.

• The scheme aims to provide all requisite support and assistance to probable athletes identified for the Olympic Games/Paralympic Games and other major international tournaments so that they can win medals.

SUMMIT'S & MOU's

19th Meeting of National Tiger Conservation Authority held

• The 19th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was held under the chairmanship of the union minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav. Currently, there are 51 Tiger Reserves in India and more than 35 rivers originate from those areas which are crucial for water security.

• The environment minister launched an action plan for the reintroduction, protection and conservation of 7 major big cats in India including the cheetah, which has become extinct in independent India.

• Under the action plan, 50 of these big cats will be introduced in the next 5 years in various parks.

OBITURY

David Sassoli European Parliament President, dies aged 65

• European Parliament President, David Sassoli has passed away due to health issues. He had served as the President of the European Parliament from July 2019 until his death in January 2022. He was first elected as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2009.

• Later in July 2014, Sassoli was elected Vice-President of the European Parliament. In the 2019 European Parliament election in Italy, he was elected as new president with 128,533 votes. European Parliament is one of the seven branches of the EU. Its headquarter is at Strasbourg, France.

IMPORTANT DAYS

National Youth Day 2022: 12th January

• In India, the National Youth Day is celebrated on 12 January annually to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The main aim behind this is to make sure that the students across the country can be encouraged to learn about the life, the ideas and philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and apply them in their lives.

• In 2022, we are observing the 159th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand (12 January 1863). The theme for National Youth Day 2022 is The Theme of 2022 is “It’s all in the mind.”

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Kerala Arts & Crafts Village wins international award

• Kerala Arts and Crafts Village Organization (KACV) from Kovalam, Kerala was awarded the ‘International Craft Award for 2021’ for the best craft village in the world by the World Crafts Council International. It is the only award India received in the non-individual category. The KACV was established by the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (UL CCS) for the State Tourism Department of Kerala. In 2021, the Village of the Year award was won by ‘Kraf Komuniti Ku’ in Malaysia.

BANKING AND ECONOMIC

RBL Bank collaborates with Google to enhance customer experience

• RBL Bank and Google announced a strategic collaboration to fuel the Bank’s customer experience strategy. Through this, the bank will expand its value proposition to serve its rapidly growing customer base through the digital platform, Abacus 2.0. It will enable better customer data management, and analytics, enabling effective cross-selling within the Bank’s large customer base. RBL Bank currently has over 4 million urban retail asset and liability customers.

• This collaboration will enable better customer data management, and analytics, enabling effective cross-selling within the Bank’s large customer base and subsequently reducing the cost of customer acquisition, significantly. Through Abacus 2.0, the Bank aims to provide a superior and holistic one-stop solution to its existing and new customers, to seamlessly deliver its different product offerings across channels.

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