Latest Current Affairs For Tuesday 11th January, 2022

Rajnath Singh flags-in India’s 1st Multidimensional Adventure Expedition

Rajnath Singh flagged-in India’s 1st multi-dimensional Adventure Sports Expedition. 

It was conducted by National Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports in France.

The expedition was conducted in Nov 21.

The team comprising 12 people - eight Army personnel and four youths of Arunachal Pradesh.

The expedition team carried out over 250 Km of winter trekking in the Alps Mountain Ranges. 

The expedition was organised as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

RBL Bank collaborates with Google to advance next-gen 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. 

The Bank aims to provide a holistic one-stop solution to its existing and new customers.

Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan win doubles title in Adelaide

India's Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan won the men's doubles title at the Adelaide International ATP 250 event.

The unseeded pair beat top seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in the final to mark a victorious debut on the ATP Tour.

This is Ramkumar's first ATP Tour title while Bopanna won his 20th.

The Adelaide tournament is a warm-up for the Australian Open, the season's first Grand Slam.

Canada win ATP Cup with 2-0 win in singles over Spain

Felix Auger-Aliassime won the ATP Cup title for Canada with a victory over Roberto Bautista Agut to give his country an insurmountable 2-0 lead against Spain.

Denis Shapovalov opened the match for Canada with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Pablo Carreno Busta.

Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov won a deciding doubles against Russia in the semifinals to knock out the defending champions.

And with the title on the line, they played their best tennis to defeat 2-time finalists of Spain. 

Oscar-winning composer Marilyn Bergman passes away

Oscar-winning lyricist and composer, Marilyn Bergman (93) passed away in Los Angeles.

Bergman and her collaborator husband Alan, was nominated for 16 Academy Awards over the course of her career, winning three.

The song “The Way We Were” from the Barbara Streisand movie of the same name was one of those Oscar wins, which also won two Grammys.

The collaborating team of the Bergmans also won two other Oscars for their songs. 

World Hindi Day 2022: 10th January

World Hindi Day is celebrated every year on January 10 to mark the first World Hindi Conference that was held in 1975.

It is celebrated across the world to promote the use of the Hindi language.

The first World Hindi Conference was held in Nagpur on January 10 in 1975.

1st World Hindi Day was celebrated in the year 2006.

The theme of this day is to make Hindi a part of public opinion, although it doesn’t necessarily mean that one has to leave their mother tongue.

December 26 to be observed as Veer Baal Diwas

Center has announced that Dec 26 will be observed as 'Veer Baal Diwas' as a tribute to guru Gobind Singh's four sons who were executed by the Mughals.

This was announced by PM Modi on the occasion of the 365th birth anniversary of the 10th Sikh guru.

Veer Baal Diwas will be on the same day Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji and Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji attained martyrdom after being sealed alive in a wall.

Children’s Day in India is observed on November 14. 

India's first indigenous aircraft carrier begins another phase of sea trial

India's 1st indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) Vikrant began another set of sea trials.

It is planned to be inducted in Aug 22.

The 40,000-tonne aircraft carrier is the largest and most complex warship to be built in India. 

It successfully completed a five-day maiden sea voyage in Aug and underwent 10-day sea trials in Oct 2021.

IAC-1 will operate the MiG-29K, Kamov-31 helicopters; Advanced Light Helicopters and the soon-to-be-inducted MH-60R multirole helicopters.

Rafael Nadal wins Melbourne Summer Set 1 ATP 250 tennis title

20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal won the Men’s Singles title in the Melbourne Summer Set ATP 250 event.

He defeated Maxime Cressy of US in final. 

It was Nadal’s 89th tour-level crown. 

Nadal playing his first competitive tournament since Aug, was largely untroubled as he wrapped up the win in an hour 48 minutes.

In women category, former world number one Simona Halep defeated Veronika Kudermetova at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 final to claim her 23rd career title.

PM Modi to inaugurate 25th National Youth Festival on Jan 12

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing and inaugurating the five-day National Youth Festival on Jan 12, 2022

National Youth Festival will be held to celebrate the 159th birth anniversary of spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda.

The five-day festival will be held in the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The festival aims to ignite, unit, motivate and activate the youth of India towards nation building.

CM of Puducherry: N. Rangaswamy 

First-ever Startup India Innovation Week to be held from today

DPIIT is organizing the first-ever Startup India Innovation Week from 10th to 16th January 2022.

This virtual week-long innovation celebration aims to commemorate the 75th year of India’s independence ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.

This is designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship across India.

India is emerging as a global innovation hub, boasting the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem.

DPIIT has recognised more than 61 thousand startups as on date.

Bharath Subramaniyam becomes India’s 73rd Chess Grandmaster

Fourteen-year-old Bharath Subramaniyam has become the 73rd Grandmaster of India.

The Chennai-based teenager completed his final GM Norm and crossed the requisite 2500 rating at Vergani Cup Open in Italy.

Subramaniyam finished seventh overall in the event held at Cattolica by scoring 6.5 points from nine rounds.

To achieve the Grandmaster (GM) title, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points.

PM Narendra Modi to be awarded prestigious Lokmanya Tilak Award 2023

The Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust (Hind Swaraj Sangh) would confer the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak National Award 2023 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Pune on August 1, 2023.

Reason: This award recognizes PM Modi's supreme leadership under which India has climbed the ladder of progress

It is presented annually on the occasion of Lokmanya Tilak's death anniversary.

Other awardees: Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sharad Pawar, Cyrus Poonawalla, and Manmohan Singh. 

J&K Bank wins award for Best Performance in CASA

Jammu & Kashmir Bank has been felicitated for the Best Performance in CASA-India (1st Runner up in Small Bank Category) at ICC Emerging Asia Banking Conclave & Awards 2022.

The event was participated by banks from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & Myanmar.

The function was organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Goa.

Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group headquartered in Calcutta.

India poised to become world’s 2nd-largest economy by 2075: Goldman Sachs

According to the Investment Bank Goldman Sachs, India is poised to become the world’s second-largest economy by 2075.

As per the report, India would cross Japan, Germany, and the US With a population of 1.4 billion people.

India’s GDP is estimated to expand remarkably, reaching 52.5 trillion dollars surpassing the US GDP projection.

The labour force participation set to make India the second-largest economy in the world by 2075.

L&T and Spain's Navantia sign agreement for submarine project

L&T has signed a teaming agreement with Spanish-based Navantia for the submission of a techno-commercial bid for the Indian Navy’s prestigious P75 (India) submarine program.

P75 (India) Submarine Project is expected to be valued at €4.8 billion.

Navantia would carry out the design of P75(I) submarines based on its S80 class of submarines.

The first S80 class submarine was launched in 2021 and is undergoing sea trials prior to its delivery to Spanish Navy. 

India overtakes China as most attractive emerging market for investing

According to a study by Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management, India has overtaken China to become the most attractive emerging market for investing in sovereign wealth funds this year.

Reason: This is due to its solid demographics, political stability, and proactive regulation. 

Positives for the nation also include the rapidly expanding demography, strong regulatory actions, and a welcoming climate for sovereign investors.

World Population Day 2023: 11 July

World Population Day is observed every year on July 11 in order to raise awareness about global population issues, including population control.

2023 theme: Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities. 

It was established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1989, after the day the world approximately reached a population of five billion, which was observed on 11 July 1987.

MoHUA conducts SBM-U 2.0 Planning & Implementation Review-cum-Workshop

The Housing Ministry organized a review-cum-workshop to evaluate and accelerate the planning and implementation of the SBM-Urban 2.0.

PM Modi launched the 2.0 versions of SBM-U and AMRUT on October 1, 2021.

SBM-U 2.0: Achieving 100% waste segregation in all households and premises and 100% door-to-door collection of segregated waste from each. 

AMRUT 2.0: To provide complete coverage of water supply to all households and sewerage and septage in 500 AMRUT cities. 

Gujarat CM launches pilot project of ‘Antyodaya Shramik Suraksha Yojana’

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel launched the Antyodaya Shram Suraksha Accident Insurance Scheme from Kheda

All those registered under the e-Shram portal from Nadiad will benefit from the scheme.

It is being implemented through the Indian Postal Department, the IPPB, and the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Under this scheme, insurance with a premium of Rs. 289 and Rs. 499 per year will be a big support to workers in the event of death or partial disability.

OCA elects Sheikh Talal as the new President

Kuwait’s Sheikh Talal Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah has been elected as the new President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

He replaced his older brother Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who led the OCA for 30 years until 2021.

The OCA was founded in 1982 by his father Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who led it until 1990.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a governing body of sports in Asia, currently with 45 member National Olympic Committees.

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance wins Insurer Innovation Award 2023

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has won the Insurer Innovation Award 2023 for the APAC region at the 8th World Digital Insurance Awards, hosted by TDI - The Digital Insurer.

Recognition: Bajaj Allianz Life's ground-breaking WhatsApp Conversational Platform - empowering customers to digitally services their policies seamlessly. 

The award entries were shortlisted by industry experts and the winner was selected by the community through pre-voting and live event voting.