VISION

1)  74th Martyrs’ Day observed on 30 January 2022

•Martyr’s Day or Shaheed Diwas is observed every year on January 30 in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, who was assassinated at Gandhi Smriti in the Birla House by Nathuram Godse in 1948. This year nation observed 74th Martyrs’ Day or Shaheed Diwas. The day is observed to remember the sacrifices made by freedom fighters in the struggle for India’s independence and to pay our respects to them. Notably, Martyrs’ Day is also observed in India on March 23 to pay respect to Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar, who was hanged death on this day in 1931.’

2)  World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day observed on 30th January

•World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day (World NTD Day) is observed on January 30 every year to raise awareness about neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as a critical public health challenge so that we can progress towards their elimination. 2022 theme is ‘Achieving health equity to end the neglect of poverty-related diseases’. The 2022 slogan is “From neglect to care”.

3)  World Leprosy Day 2022: 30 January

•World Leprosy Day is observed globally on the last Sunday of January every year. In 2022, the World Leprosy Day falls on January 30, 2022. The day is celebrated to raise global awareness of this deadly ancient disease and call attention to the fact that it can be prevented, treated and cured. In India, World Leprosy Day is celebrated every year on 30 January, the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s death.

•This year theme of World Leprosy Day 2022 is “United for Dignity”.

4)  India tie-up with Israel to convert 150 villages into ‘Villages of Excellence’

•The Government of India has joined hands with the Government of Israel to create 150 ‘Villages of Excellence’ in 12 States of the country, to help farmers to adopt the latest technology in the farm sector. Israel would provide Technical assistance and other expertise to make agriculture a more profitable business.

•The 150 villages that are located around CoEs will be converted into ‘Villages of Excellence.’ Out of which, 75 villages are being taken up in the first year to commemorate the 75th year of India’s independence. Already, the Israeli government has established 29 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in 12 states.

5)  SBI listed the maiden issue of $300 million Formosa bonds on India INX

•State Bank of India (SBI) has issued $300 million Formosa bonds and listed the issuance on India INX GIFT IFSC. The lender is the first Indian entity to raise money through Formosa Bond, which is a bond issued in Taiwan. SBI was the first issuer whose Green bonds were dually listed in November 2021 on Luxembourg Stock Exchange through an MOU that has been entered into by both Exchanges.

•This first successful issuance of Formosa Bond by any Indian commercial bank, is a testimony of the confidence reposed by the overseas investors into India’s growth story and also in SBI.

6)  A book titled “Fearless Governance” authored by Kiran Bedi

•The book titled ‘Fearless Governance’ authored by Dr Kiran Bedi has been released. She is the former Lt Governor of Puducherry and IPS (retd). This book is based on the ground realities of nearly five years of service of Dr Bedi as Lt. Governor of Puducherry and her vast experience of 40 years in the Indian Police Service.

•The author demonstrates the right practises of responsible governance. She brought about team spirit, collaboration, financial prudence, effective policing, bonding in services and decision making through fearless leadership. ‘Fearless Governance’ is a book to read, see, hear and feel for good governance and leadership.

7)  Australian Open 2022: Rafael Nadal beats Daniil Medvedev

•Rafael Nadal (Spain) has defeated Daniill Medvedev (Russia) 2-6,6-7,6-4,6-4,7-5 to win the Men’s Singles title at the Australian Open 2022. This is his 21st Major title, becoming the first male player to do so. In women’s tennis, Margaret Court (Australian) has 24 singles majors, an all-time record. In women’s, World Number 1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia defeated Danielle Collins of the US, 6-3 7-6, to win women’s singles final title at the Australian Open 2022.

8)  Women’s Asia Cup Hockey 2022: India beat China to win Bronze

•India defeated China, 2-0 to win the bronze medal at the 2022 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup tournament. The 2022 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup was the 10th edition of the quadrennial Women’s Hockey Asia Cup. The tournament was held from January 21 to 28, 2022 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman. Japan defeated South Korea 4-2 in the final to win their third title at the Women’s Hockey Asia Cup tournament.

Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has presented Economic Survey 2021-22 in the Parliament on 31st January 2022. The pre-budget Economic Survey, which is tabled in Parliament ahead of the Union Budget to present the state of the economy and suggest policy prescriptions. The pre-Budget Economic Survey is authored by a team led by Chief Economic Advisor (CEA). Days before the presentation, the Centre appointed economist V Anantha Nageswaran as the new CEA.

GS SCORE Best Practice e-Services  For UPSC 2022 PDF

📰 Govt. moots plan to link digital IDs

 APTI PLUS PIB, Kurukshetra, Yojana Monthly Compilation Magazine December 2021

GS SCORE Prelims 2022 Fact File Polity: Important Amendments PDF

 What is the issue?

The National Education Policy, 2020 has highlighted the importance of early childhood care and education (ECCE) but the NFHS-5 finds only 13.6% of children enrolled in pre-primary schools.

What is the significance of early childhood care and education?

According to UNESCO, early childhood is defined as the period from birth to 8 years old, a time of remarkable growth with brain development at its peak.

• During early childhood, children are highly influenced by the environment and the people that surround them.
• Early childhood care and education (ECCE) is more than preparation for primary school.
• It aims at the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing.
• ECCE has the possibility to nurture caring, capable and responsible future citizens.
• For disadvantaged children, ECCE plays an important role in compensating for the disadvantages in the family and combating educational inequalities.
• The Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education by 2030.

Does every child have the access to ECCE?

 Why in news?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the first India-Central Asia Summit in virtual format which was attended by Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

How has the India-Central Asia relation evolved?

History

• Ancient kingdoms like the Kushana Empire had territory in parts of both regions creating historical and civilizational linkages.
• The relationship strengthened in the medieval ages with the advent of Islam and establishment of Muslim rule in India, many of whose rulers had their origins in Central Asia.
• Modern Central Asia consists of five nations: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan which became independent after the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
• The Central Asian region is considered to be the part of India’s “extended neighbourhood.”

Geostrategic importance

• Central Asia is strategically positioned as an access point between Europe and Asia and offers extensive potential for trade, investment, and growth.

Geoeconomic Importance

• The region is richly endowed with commodities such as crude oil, natural gas, cotton, gold, copper, aluminium, and iron.
• India is working to invest in the region in the IT and education sectors as India has a very big IT sector and qualified working professionals.

Geo Security Cooperation

• Security cooperation includes conducting joint research on military-defence issues, coordinating on counterterrorism measures, and a special focus on the issue of Afghanistan.

Soft Power

• The people-to-people contact has been a defining feature of India’s Connect Central Asia Policy.
• Indian cultural products have been extremely popular in the region since the time of the USSR.

What is the summit about?

1)  Data Privacy Day observed on 28 January 2022

•Data Privacy Day is celebrated on January 28, every year across the world. The objective of the day is to sensitize individuals and disseminate privacy practices and principles. It encourages everyone to own their privacy responsibilities to create a culture of privacy. Observance of the day is “an international effort of creating awareness on the importance of respecting privacy, enabling trust and safeguarding data”.

•The theme for this year is ‘Privacy Matters’. It instils a sense of accountability that Privacy is integral to every individual’s life.  Data privacy has been one of the hot topics of discussion in a digitally connected world. The issue has become pertinent at the time of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic when more and more people are forced to spend time in the online world.

2)  PM Narendra Modi Hosts First India-Central Asia Virtual Summit

•Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has hosted the first India-Central Asia Summit, through the virtual platform. It was the first of its kind engagement between India and the Central Asian countries at the level of leaders. The central Asian region has five recognized countries. The Summit was attended by the Presidents of these five Central Asian countries.

•These are the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan. The first India-Central Asia Summit coincided with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Central Asian countries. During the summit, the Leaders agreed to hold the Summit every 2 years (biennial). The summit is symbolic of the importance attached by the leaders of both sides to a comprehensive and enduring India-Central Asia partnership.

3)  Lok Sabha secretariat launches Digital Sansad app

•Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has launched the official mobile application of the Parliament named ‘Digital Sansad App’ on January 27, 2022, to allow citizens to access live proceedings of the House, including the Union Budget 2022 live. The app will make the Parliament and Parliamentary proceedings accessible not only to the members but also to the public of the country.

4)  GoI appoints Anantha Nageshwaran as chief economic advisor

•The Government of India has appointed Dr V Anantha Nageswaran as the new Chief Economic Adviser. The announcement came days ahead of the presentation of the 2022 Union Budget on February 1 and the tabling of the 2021-22 Economic Survey on January 31. This post was lying vacant since December 17, 2021, when KV Subramanian left the office. He is a former member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC).

5)  India’s largest EV charging station opened at Gurgaon

•India’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging station with a capacity of 100 charging points for 4 wheelers, was opened at Delhi-Jaipur National Highway in Gurugram. Previously, India’s largest EV charging station was situated in Navi Mumbai with 16 AC & 4 DC charging ports for EVs. The new EV charging station has been developed by tech-piloting company Alektrify Private Limited.

•This EV charging station will not only boost the electric vehicles industry in the region but will also act as a benchmark for large EV charging stations across the nation in future. The electric vehicle charging station of this size and magnitude is rare and will be instrumental for the industry to experience actual Ease of Doing Business in smooth ‘Certification Compliance’ and ‘Safety Standards’.

6)  World’s-largest canal lock unveiled in Netherlands

•The world’s largest canal lock has been inaugurated at Ijmuiden, a small port city, in the Port of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The sea lock was inaugurated by Dutch King Willen-Alexander. The Ijmuiden sea lock is 500-meter (1,640-feet) long and 70-meter wide. Construction on the massive infrastructure project began in 2016 and was meant to be done by 2019. It also went over the initially planned budget by around €300 million ($338 million).

•The Ijmuiden lock was designed to allow large, modern cargo ships to reach the port of Amsterdam. The structure is also deep enough that ships will no longer have to wait for a favourable water level to enter the canal. With almost nine meters above the sea leave, the structure is also a defence against the threat of flooding.

7)  A new book titled “The $10 Trillion Dream” author by Subhash Garg

•The former finance secretary of India, Subhash Chandra Garg has announced his debut book named “The $10 Trillion Dream”. The book is scheduled to hit stands towards the end of February 2022. The new book explores the critical policy issues that India faces today and suggests reforms for it to become a USD 10 trillion economy by the mid-2030s. It is published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI).

•Garg, a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) for over 36 years, has served in various key positions for both the Union government and the government of Rajasthan. He was designated finance secretary in March 2019.

8)  WGC: Global gold demand rises 10% to 4,021 tonnes

•According to the World Gold Council (WGC) report ‘Gold Demand Trends 2021’ has informed that the global gold demand rose 10 per cent in 2021 to 4,021.3 tonnes. The overall gold demand during 2020, which was impacted following Covid-19 related disruptions, stood at 3,658.8 tonnes.

•The demand for the yellow metal was mainly driven by Central bank buying during the fourth quarter of 2021, recovery in jewellery consumption, mainly in India and China. India’s gold consumption surged to 797.3 tonnes in 2021, on the back of the recovery in consumer sentiments and pent-up demand post Covid-19-related disruptions and the bullish trend is set to continue this year as well.

9)  Pushp Kumar Joshi named to be new chairman and MD of HPCL

•Pushp Kumar Joshi has been named to be the new chairman and managing director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), the nation’s third-largest oil refining and fuel marketing company. Joshi, who is currently Director – Human Resources at HPCL has been on the board of HPCL for almost a decade now. He will replace Mukesh Kumar Surana, who superannuates on April 30 this year.

•The recommendation will now go to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister (PM) of India. ACC will decide on his selection after getting reports from anti-corruption agencies such as CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) and CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation).

10)  ‘A Little Book of India: Celebrating 75 years of Independence’ authored by Ruskin Bond

•A new book titled “A Little Book of India: Celebrating 75 years of Independence” authored by Ruskin Bond was released, marking 75 years of India’s Independence. The book is the blend of “physical and spiritual” attributes of India and also highlights the last 75 years of India’s progress as a nation. It is published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI). It is a record of some of my memories and impressions of this unique land — of its rivers and forests, literature and culture, sights, sounds and colours — an amalgamation of the physical and spiritual.