Important Current Affairs 28th December 2021

INTERNATIONAL

Docprime launches India’s first ABDM integrated Health Locker

• Docprime tech has launched India’s first health locker integrated with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). ABDM was launched in August 2020 for developing an integrated digital health infrastructure in the country. ABDM integrated Health Locker will provide users a digital and self-consented health data management system without any charges. It will store and manage health records electronically.

• Users can create digital Health IDs for themselves and for their family members on ABDM integrated Health Locker.

NATIONAL

World Sangeet Tansen festival begin in Madhya Pradesh

• In Madhya Pradesh, the 97th edition of the World Sangeet Tansen festival started in Gwalior. A five-day World Sangeet Tansen festival starts from December 25 to December 30 in the city. The stage of the program has been constructed on the theme of the Siddhanath temple situated in Omkareshwar. Many artists not only from India but also from abroad will participate in the music festival.

• The first seven concerts were held at the stage prepared at the mausoleum of Tansen and the tomb of Mohammad Ghaus. The eighth concert will be held on the banks of the Jhilmil river, in Behat (Birthplace of Tansen) on December 30. The last brief concert will be held at Gwalior Fort on the same day.

Stalin goes green by launching 'Meendum Manjappai' scheme

• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has launched the ‘Meendum Manjappai’ scheme to promote the use of cloth bags by the public and discourage the use of plastic bags. This awareness campaign on using ‘yellow’ cloth bag or ‘manjapai’ as it is called in Tamil, is aimed at encouraging the people to return to the use of this eco-friendly bag and discard the plastic bags. The state government had enforced a ban on the production, use, storage, distribution, transportation or sale of 14 types of plastics with effect from January 1, 2019.

• A government committee has identified the single-use plastic (SUP) items to be banned based on an index of their utility and environmental impact. 

• The first category of SUP items proposed to be phased out are plastic sticks used in balloons, flags, candy, ice cream and earbuds, and thermocol that is used in decorations.

APPOINTMENT & RESIGNATION

Kamlesh Gandhi, CMD of MAS Financial Services has been appointed as Co-Chairman, FIDC

• Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC) has announced fresh appointments to its board of directors. Kamlesh Gandhi, CMD of MAS Financial Services has been appointed as Co-Chairman, FIDC in addition to Umesh Revankar, CEO and MD of Shriram Transport Finance Group. Sanjay Chamria has resigned as the Co-Chairman and Director, FIDC.

• Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC), which is a representative body of asset and loan financing NBFCs, has announced fresh appointments to its board of directors. Dinanath Dubhashi, MD and CEO, L&T Finance Holdings has been appointed as an additional Director of FIDC. The appointments were approved at a board meeting of FIDC on December 21.

UAE’s Mohammed Ben Sulayem elected as FIA president

• Mohammed Ben Sulayem of the United Arab Emirates has been elected successor to Jean Todt as the first non-European president of motorsport’s world governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

• The FIA is the governing body for Formula One, the World Rally Championship, World Endurance and Formula E among other series. The 60-year-old Dubai-born former rally driver was standing against British lawyer Graham Stoker, who has been Todt’s deputy president for the sport since 2009.

RBL Bank MD, CEO Vishwavir Ahuja steps aside; Rajeev Ahuja appointed new MD

• The RBL Bank board has appointed Rajeev Ahuja, who’s currently working as the Executive Director at the bank, as interim Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the bank with immediate effect, subject to the regulatory and other approvals. The board of directors at its meeting has accepted the request of Vishwavir Ahuja, Managing Director and CEO of the bank, to proceed on leave with immediate effect.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Anukrti Upadhyay’s Kintsugi wins the Sushila Devi Award 2021 for the best book of fiction by a woman author

• Anukrti Upadhyay has won the Sushila Devi Award 2021 for the Best Book of Fiction for her novel, Kintsugi, which was published by the Fourth Estate imprint. The Ratanlal Foundation and the organizing Committee of the Bhopal Literature and Art Festival announced the winner, for this notable award for fiction written by a woman author and published in 2020. This prize has been instituted by the Shri Ratanlal Foundation.

• Anukrti Upadhyay has post-graduate degrees in Management and Literature, and a graduate degree in Law. She writes in both English and Hindi. She stunned readers and critics alike with the twin novellas Daura and Bhaunri in 2019 and delighted Hindi readers with the short story collection Japani Sarai.

BOOKS & AUTHOR

A new book by the former Indian Army Chief Gen. Nirmal Chander

• A new book by former Indian Army Chief of Staff Gen. Nirmal Chander Vij (ret) claims to offer a “full picture” of the conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and the way forward. The book published by HarperCollins India, the book of General Vij, The riddle of “Kashmir: the quest for peace in a troubled land”.

• In the book, General Vij argues that the conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir are “symptomatic of Indo-Pakistani rivalry” after the partition, and contextualizes the issue by beginning the book with a summary of the history of the region. General Vij had been Director General of Military Operations during the Kargil War. After his retirement in 2005, he was founding vice president of the National Disaster Management Authority and director of the think tank Vivekananda India Foundation.

RANKING

Gujarat tops in composite Good Governance Index 2021

• Good Governance Index 2021 was launched by Union Minister Amit Shah on the occasion of the Good Governance Day on 25 December 2021. GGI 2021 was prepared by the Department of Administration Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The GGI 2021 framework covered 10 sectors and 58 indicators. The aim of the Good Governance Index is to create a tool that can be used uniformly across the states for assessing the impact of various interventions that are taken up by Central and State Governments.

• Good Governance Index is an implementable and comprehensive framework that assesses the state of Governance across the Indian States and Union Territories enabling ranking of States and districts.

BANKING AND ECONOMIC

HDFC Bank wins coveted CII award for ‘Most Innovative Best Practice’ for financial inclusion

• HDFC Bank has been named under ‘Most Innovative Best Practice’ at the coveted Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Digital Transformation Award 2021 or CII DX Award 2021. It will be recognized for the HDFC’s efforts in world-class financial inclusion in Village Level Executive (VLE) centres along with the Government of India’s Common Service Centres (CSC).