Latest Current Affairs For Friday 27th May, 2022

Ruskin's book titled 'Listen to Your Heart: The London Adventure' released

Ruskin Bond has released his latest book titled "Listen to Your Heart: The London Adventure" on his 88th birthday (19th May 2022).

Published by: Penguin Random House India (PRHI).

The book highlighted how he spent four years of his life in the Channel Islands and England.

Ruskin Bond was born in 1934, in Kasauli, and he grew up in Dehradun, Shimla, Jamnagar, and New Delhi.

His first novel: The Room on the Roof

Awards: Padma Shri (1999) and Padma Bhushan (2014).

GIC buys 7.5% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail

GIC (sovereign wealth fund) is acquiring a 7.5% equity stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) for Rs 2,195 crore.

The investment will be made by way of preferential equity and warrants.

In the first tranche, the GIC will invest Rs 770 crore, while the rest amount of Rs 1,425 crore would be infused within 18 months.

After the investment, Aditya Birla Group will hold a controlling stake of 51.9% in the company.

Aditya Birla Group Chairman: Kumar Mangalam Birla

UCO Bank ties up with NBFC Paisalo Digital for agriculture loan

UCO Bank has signed a co-lending agreement with NBFC Paisalo Digital Limited for agriculture business to capitalize the underbanked and under-serviced population.

The tie-up will give a boost to the agriculture advance of the bank and it is a win-win situation for the bank as well as the NBFC.

The Government of India aims to help agriculture and other small borrowers who are the backbone of the Indian economy.

UCO Bank MD & CEO: Soma Sankara Prasad

IndusInd Bank ties up with Mahagram to develop digital payments system

Mahagram (Rural NEO Bank) has signed a partnership with the IndusInd Bank to digitize the nation's payment ecosystem and provide a wider scope to transact for its customers in rural India.

Aim: To boost financial inclusion, encourage socio-economic development, mitigate the risks of a shadow economy, and accelerate the growth of a cashless society.

Mahagram was founded in 2015 to enable rural women to save money at the local Kirana stores.

Mahagram CEO: Ram Shriram

WEF का यात्रा और पर्यटन विकास सूचकांक 2021 जारी

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) has released the Travel & Tourism Development Index which comprises 117 countries.

Top 10: Japan, United States, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, United Kingdom, Singapore, Italy. 

India is the top scorer in South Asia and placed at 54th (fall by 8 rankings).

The WEF's index has shown various positive trends but the tourism and travel industry is still facing hurdles to recover properly. 

World Tourism Day: 27 September

Gaurav Sachdeva appointed as CEO of e-commerce venture JSW One Platform

JSW group has appointed Gaurav Sachdeva as the CEO of e-commerce venture of the group JSW One Platforms.

He will be responsible for creating a strong and healthy transparent platform that will ease buying and selling of steel and other products for manufacturing and construction MSMEs in the country.

Prior to joining JSW Ventures, he worked in leading institutions like Citibank, Bank of America and Infosys.

JSW group Founder: Sajjan Jindal; 

headquarters: Mumbai

मणिपुर के उखरूल में शिरुई लिली उत्सव शुरू

The fourth edition of the Shirui Lily Festival has began at Shirui village in Ukhrul district, Manipur.

The four-day festival was inaugurated by the Governor La Ganesan, which is taking place after a gap of two years.

The Shirui Lily blooms from late May to early June only on the Shirui village hilltop.

Aim of festival: To spread awareness about the rare Shirui flower and encourage tourism in Manipur.

Chief Minister: N Biren Singh

PM Modi inaugurates India’s biggest drone festival

PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate India’s biggest drone festival at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi and interact with kisan drone pilots as well as witness open-air drone demonstrations.

‘Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022’ is a two-day event and being held on May 27 and 28.

Many government officials, foreign diplomats, armed forces, public sector undertakings, private companies, central armed police forces, and drone startups will participate in the event.

National Achievement Survey 2021 report released by the Education Ministry

Department of School Education and Literacy has released the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 report to assesses the health of school education system in the country.

The survey has evaluated the children’s learning competencies at classes 3, 5, 8 and 10th with a cycle period of three years.

The survey conducted in 22 regional language.

About 34 lakh students of 1.18 lakh schools in 720 districts from both rural and urban areas have participated in NAS 2021.

NMCG signs quadripartite agreement for Sewage Infrastructure Development

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has signed two quadripartite agreements for development of sewage infrastructure.

First agreement: NMCG, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, M/s. Maheshtala Waste Water Management Private Limited and Union Bank of India, to stop the flow of sewerage into River Ganga from the town.

The other agreement is a Substitution Agreement between NMCG, KMDA, MWWMPL and Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank.

India launching Project WARDEC AI-powered wargame centre

The Army Training Command has signed an MoU with Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) to develop first-of-its-kind simulation-based training centre ‘Wargame Research and Development Centre’ in New Delhi.

A prototype name ‘WARDEC’ has been gove to this project and use artificial intelligence (AI) to design virtual reality wargames.

The centre will be used by the Army to train its soldiers and test their strategies through “metaverse-enabled gameplay”. 

Exercise Bongosagar begins at Mongla port

The third edition of Indian Navy and Bangladesh Navy Bilateral exercise, Bongosagar has commenced at Port Mongla, Bangladesh.

Aim: Developing a high degree of interoperability and joint operational skills.

The exercise includes two phases: Harbour Phase and Sea Phase

The harbour phase includes professional and social interactions and friendly sporting fixtures.

The sea phase facilitate ships from both the navies to participate in intensive surface warfare drills.

Captain Abhilasha Barak becomes first woman combat pilot in Indian Army

Captain Abhilasha Barak from Haryana, has become the first woman officer to join the Army Aviation Corps as a combat aviator after successfully completing her training.

She was awarded the coveted wings along with 36 other army pilots by the DG and Colonel Commandant of Army Aviation in Nashik.

She was commissioned into the Indian Army from the Officers Training Academy, Chennai in 2018.

She has been assigned to the second flight of 2072 Army Aviation Squadron.

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.