National Voters Day celebrated on January 25
India observes “National Voters’ Day” every year on January 25 to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process. Election Commission of India is celebrating 12th National Voters Day on 25th January 2022. The theme for this year’s NVD, ‘Making Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative’, envisages focus on ECI’s commitment to facilitate the active participation of voters during the elections and to make the complete process hassle-free and a memorable experience for all categories of voters.
History of the day:
Since 2011, National Voters’ Day has been celebrated on January 25 every year, all across the country to mark the foundation day of the Election Commission of India, i.e. 25th January 1950. The main purpose of the NVD celebration is to encourage, facilitate and maximise enrolment, especially for the new voters. Dedicated to the voters of the country, the day is utilized to spread awareness among voters and for promoting informed participation in the electoral process.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- 1st Chief Election Commissioner of Independent India- Sukumar Sen.
- Sushil Chandra is the current 24th Chief Election Commissioner.
Eminent archaeologist Thiru R. Nagaswamy passes away
Noted Indian historian, archaeologist and epigraphist from Tamil Nadu, Ramachandran Nagaswamy, has passed away. He was 91. He first director of the Tamil Nadu government’s Department of Archaeology. Nagaswamy was known for his work on temple inscriptions and art history of Tamil Nadu.
In 2018, Nagaswamy was conferred with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award. He has authored more than 100 books and his latest book was ‘Senthamizh Naadum Pandbum’, published in January 2022.
International Cricket Council announced ICC Awards 2021
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the winners of the 17th edition of ICC Awards for the year 2021 to recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months, between January 01, 2021, and December 31, 2021. Notably, these awards honour players for their performances for their respective national side in a year. The apex international cricket governing body has named the winners in the different categories such as: Emerging Cricketer of the Year, T20I Cricketer of the Year and Associate Cricketer of the Year for both men’s and women’s cricket.
Winners are listed below:
| Category | Winners |
| Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year | Smriti Mandhana (India) |
| Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year | Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan) |
| ICC Umpire of the Year | Marais Erasmus |
| ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year | Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan) |
| ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year | Tammy Beaumont (England) |
| ICC Emerging Men’s Cricketer of the Year | Janneman Malan (South Africa) |
| ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year | Fatima Sana (Pakistan) |
| ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year | Zeeshan Maqsood (Oman) |
| ICC Women’s Associate Cricketer of the Year | Andrea-Mae Zepeda (Austria) |
| ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year | Babar Azam (Pakistan) |
| ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year | Lizelle Lee (South Africa) |
| ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year | Joe Root (England) |
Ladakh team wins 9th Women National Ice Hockey Championship 2022
The women’s team from Ladakh has lifted the 9th National Women’s Ice Hockey Championship in Himachal Pradesh. The championship was organised by the Ice Hockey Association of India at Kaza area in the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. A total of six teams participated in the championship from Delhi, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Telangana and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Ice Hockey Association of India President: Dr Surinder Mohan Bali.
Govt appoints Vinodanand Jha as new chairperson to PMLA Adjudicating Authority
Vinodanand Jha has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Adjudicating Authority, for a period of 5 years. Jha is a 1983-batch retired IRS officer, who was serving as the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax in Pune before this.
About the PMLA Adjudicating Authority:
The PMLA Adjudicating Authority is a three-member body whose mandated is to adjudicate the cases of attachment of assets orders issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and order for its continuity and further confiscation or release, considering the merits of the investigation.
Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted by the NDA government to prevent money laundering and to provide for confiscation of property derived from money laundering. PMLA and the Rules notified there under came into force with effect from July 1, 2005.
29 Children Awarded Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2022
Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP) for the year 2022 has been conferred to 29 children. These winners include 15 Boys and 14 Girls, belonging to 21 States and UTs. The PMRBP award is given by the Government of India to children with exceptional abilities and outstanding accomplishments in 6 categories. The award carries a cash prize of Rs.1,00,000/-.
Category wise distribution of awards is given below:
- Innovation: 7
- Social Service: 4
- Scholastic: 1
- Sports: 8
- Art & Culture: 6
- Bravery: 3
List of the winners of PMRBP 2022 is given below:
| Name | Category | State |
| Gauri Maheshwari | Art & Culture | Rajasthan |
| Remona Evette Pereira | Art & Culture | Karnataka |
| Deviprasad | Art & Culture | Kerala |
| Syed Fateen Ahmed | Art & Culture | Karnataka |
| Daulas Lambamayum | Art & Culture | Manipur |
| Dhritishman Chakraborty | Art & Culture | Assam |
| Gurugu Himapriya | Bravery | Andhra Pradesh |
| Shivangi Kale | Bravery | Maharashtra |
| Dhiraj Kumar | Bravery | Bihar |
| Shivam Rawat | Innovation | Uttarakhand |
| Vishalini N C | Innovation | Tamil Nadu |
| Jui Abhijit Keskar | Innovation | Maharashtra |
| Puhabi Chakraborti | Innovation | Tripura |
| Aswatha Biju | Innovation | Tamil Nadu |
| Banita Dash | Innovation | Odisha |
| Tanish Sethi | Innovation | Haryana |
| Avi Sharma | Scholastic | Madhya Pradesh |
| Meedhansh Kumar Gupta | Social Service | Punjab |
| Abhinav Kumar Choudhary | Social Service | Uttar Pradesh |
| Pal Sakshi | Social Service | Bihar |
| Aakarsh Kaushal | Social Service | Haryana |
| Arushi Kotwal | Sports | Jammu & Kashmir |
| Shriya Lohia | Sports | Himachal Pradesh |
| Telukunta Virat Chandra | Sports | Telangana |
| Chandhary Singh Choudhary | Sports | Uttar Pradesh |
| Jiya Rai | Sports | Uttar Pradesh |
| Swayam Patil | Sports | Maharashtra |
| Tarushi Gaur | Sports | Chandigarh |
| Anvi Vijay Zanzarukia | Sports | Gujarat |
Swiggy turns decacorn with valuation of $10.7 billion
Food-ordering and instant grocery delivery platform, Swiggy has signed a $700 million funding round led by asset manager Invesco. With this, the total valuation of Swiggy has reached to $10.7 billion i.e. it is now a decacorn. A decacorn is a startup with a valuation of more than $10 billion. Swiggy’s latest valuation is almost double that of Zomato before the latter went for its initial public offering. Zomato was valued at $5.4 billion before its IPO.
Bengaluru-based Swiggy has overtaken budget hospitality company Oyo, whose valuation dropped to $8 billion in 2020 from $10 billion in 2019, and then increased to $9 billion in 2021. Swiggy has overtaken sports technology company Dream Sports, the parent firm of fantasy sports platform Dream11. This investment in Swiggy comes at a time when the adoption of food and online grocery is accelerating and consumer demand for Swiggy’s many services continues to grow.
Fullerton India partners with Paytm to expand digital lending to MSMEs
Fullerton India and One97 Communications Limited, which owns the brand Paytm, have announced a partnership to provide lending products to merchant partners and consumers. With the partnership, the two established institutions will leverage data-driven insights and wide reach to bring credit to new-to-credit users. They aim to co-create innovative merchant loan products using customer payment behaviour and Fullerton’s years of experience of understanding of this segment.
About the program:
- The program will offer Paytm Postpaid (buy-now-pay-later) to millions of consumers on the Paytm platform while utilizing Fullerton’s deep risk assessment capabilities and scale.
- Fullerton India and Paytm will further expand their product offerings to include instant personal loans, which are end-to-end digitally originated and disbursed using Paytm’s technology and Fullerton’s pan India presence.
- The two institutions would establish a wide network, specifically catering to MSMEs across small cities and towns and help them grow their business.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Fullerton India CEO: Shantanu Mitra;
- Fullerton India Founded: 1994;
- Fullerton India Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank launched ‘Platina Fixed Deposit’ Scheme
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB) has launched ‘Platina Fixed Deposit’, offering interest of 15 basis points (bps) higher than the regular term deposit rates provided by Ujjivan SFB. The Platina FD is a non-callable deposit, where partial & premature withdrawal is not applicable. While the interest amount can be received on monthly, quarterly or at the end of the maturity period.
About the Platina Fixed Deposit:
- The general FD for 990 days tenure gives 6.75% interest for general citizens and 7.50% for senior citizens, while Platina FD offers 6.90% & 7.65% interest rates
- FD limit: the minimum amount is Rs 20 lakh and the maximum amount is Rs 2 crores, with tenure ranging from 1 year to 5 years.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Founded: 2017;
- Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Headquarters: Bengaluru;
- Ujjivan Small Finance Bank MD & CEO: Ittira Davis.
AIIB invests USD 150 million in data center development to serve emerging Asia
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral development bank has committed USD 150 million to invest in the development of data centres that mostly serve emerging Asia. This project is being AIIB’s 1st data centre project. India is a key founding member of AIIB. AIIB’s investment of USD 100 million through a parallel fund structure and USD 50 million through co-investments mark the final close of KDCF II, a development fund making strategic investments in the fast-growing data center sector with a focus on the Asia Pacific.
The project is aligned with AIIB’s thematic priorities of Connectivity and Regional Cooperation, Green Infrastructure and Private Capital Mobilization. It will also support Alpha in developing climate finance monitoring indicators, incorporating the joint MDB methodology for tracking climate finance and an Environmental and Social Management System at the Fund level. This partnership benefits AIIB’s geographical diversification given the diverse pipeline covering Southeast Asia and East Asia, among other regions across Asia Pacific.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- AIIB Headquarters: Beijing, China;
- AIIB Membership: 105 Members;
- AIIB Formation: 16 January 2016;
- AIIB Head: Jin Liqun.
India’s Koozhangal gets the best film award at Dhaka International Film Festival
P S Vinothraj directed film Koozhangal from India won the best film award in the Asian Film Competition section at the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival. Information and Broadcasting Minister of Bangladesh Hasan Mahmud gave away the awards as Chief Guest during the concluding session organised at the National Museum auditorium in Dhaka.
The list of the award for different categories are:
- The best actor award was given to Jayasurya for Ranjith Sankar-directed film Sunny.
- The Best Script Writer Award went to Indranil Roychowdhury and Sugata Sinha for Indranil Roychowdhury-directed India-Bangladesh film Mayar Jonjal.
- The special audience award was given to Aimee Baruah Directed film Semkhor.
- Sujit Bidari directed film Aina Jhyal Ko Putali from Nepal got the best director award.
- In the Women film maker’s section, the best feature film award was given to Maryam Bahrololumi directed film Shahrbanoo (Lady from the City) from Iran.
- Two Bangladeshi films, Nurul Alam Atique directed Lal Moroger Jhuti and N Rashed Chowdhury directed Chandrabati Kotha got the Audience Award.
CDRI Develops Omicron Testing Kit named “OM”
CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) has developed an indigenous RT-PCR diagnostic kit, ‘Om’, for the testing of the Omicron variant of coronavirus. It is the first kit made by any government institution, and the third to be made indigenously, for specific testing of Omicron. Currently, two more such kits developed by private players are available in the market. The kit will give test results in around two hours.
About “Om”
- Om enables quick and cost-effective detection of omicron variants over genome sequencing for a large population. It was made within two months and will cost around Rs 150.
- Further, it will give the test results in around two hours. According to the scientists, it can also be aligned for the detection of other emerging variants of Covid infection and other respiratory infections.
- Once the kit gets approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), it will be launched by mid-February. The kit has been referred to the ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV) and is yet to be validated.
Jai Bhim & Marakkar shortlisted for the Oscars 2022
Indian Movie’s Jai Bhim and Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham have been officially shortlisted for the Oscars 2022. Jai Bhim is the fourth Indian film to get nominated for Oscars after Mother India, Salaam Bombay, and Lagaan. Marakkar Arabikadalinte Simham has been also nominated for the Global Community Oscar Awards 2021. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has released the list of 276 films eligible for the awards this year.
Not just Jai Bhim and Marakkar, directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s Writing with Fire, a film about a newspaper run by Dalit women, has been shortlisted in the Best Documentary Feature category at the Oscars 2022. The voting for the nominations will begin on January 27 and conclude on February 1. The nominations will be announced on February 8. The 94th Academy Awards will be held on March 27.
Himachal Pradesh and Haryana govts tie-up for construction of Adi Badri Dam
Governments of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana have signed an MoU at Panchkula, for the construction of Adi Badri Dam that would come upon 77 acres in Himachal Pradesh near the Adi Badri area of Yamuna Nagar district of Haryana. The proposed dam aims for the rejuvenation of the Saraswati river with an estimated cost of Rs 215.35 crore.
About the Dam:
The Dam would get 224-hectare metre water from Himachal Pradesh’s Somb River that falls in the Yamuna near Adi Badri in Yamuna Nagar district. The executing agency for the construction of Adi Badri Dam would be Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited. Adi Badri, also Sri Sarasvati Udgam Tirath, is located in the foothills of the Sivalik Hills in the Bhabar area. It is situated in the northern part of Haryana’s Yamunanagar district.
