Current Affairs is the most important area in all competitive exams. But the difficulty level is very high. That’s why; many aspirants get confused, how to select Current Affairs for Preparation of Competitive Examination? In this Post, Daily Current Affairs 21 January 2023, we have tried to cover each and every point and also included all important facts from National/ International news that are useful for upcoming competitive examinations such as UPSC, SSC, Railway, State Govt. etc.
Current Affairs for Competitive Exam – 21 January 2022
IOA sets up Seven-member Committee to Probe Allegations against WFI chief
IOA sets up Seven-member Committee to Probe Allegations against WFI chief: M C Mary Kom and Yogeshwar Dutt were two of the seven members of the committee the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) created, to probe the allegations of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh by top grapplers. This comes after the agitating wrestlers had earlier in the day reached out to the IOA, demanding formation of an enquiry committee to probe the allegations against Singh, a day after threatening to lodge multiple FIRs against the WFI chief.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
More About This:
In a letter addressed to IOA president, The wrestlers charged the WFI with financial embezzlement and that the national camp’s trainers and sports scientists are “completely incompetent”.
Members of The Probe Committee:
Besides legendary boxer Mary Kom and wrestler Yogeshwar, the panel also includes archer Dola Banerjee and Indian Weightlifting Federation of India (IWLF) president Sahdev Yadav. The choice was made during the IOA’s emergency Executive Council meeting, which Abhinav Bindra and others attended, Yogeshwar along with IOA president PT Usha and joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey. Shiva Keshvan was special invitee in meeting. The committee also has two advocates – Talish Ray and Shlok Chandra – besides former shuttler and IOA joint secretary Alaknanda Ashok as its vice chairperson.
Wayanad is the first district in the nation to offer basic documentation to all tribal
Wayanad is the first district in the nation to offer basic documentation to all tribal: Wayanad in Kerala becomes the first district in the nation to offer all tribespeople access to essential records and services like Aadhaar cards, ration cards, birth and death certificates, election ID cards, bank accounts, and health insurance. Apart from the basic documents, other services such as income certificates, ownership certificates, age certificates, and applications for new pensions are also provided at the camps.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Through this camp:
The Wayanad district administration has attained the meritorious achievement by providing 1,42,563 services to as many as 64,670 tribal beneficiaries as part of the Akshaya Big Campaign for Document Digitisation (ABCD) campaign. As part of the ABCD campaign, ration cards were distributed to 15,796 families, Aadhar cards to 31,252, birth certificates to 11,300, voters’ identity cards to 22,488 people, and digital lockers to 22,888 people. In November 2021, the campaign was introduced in Thondarnadu grama panchayat. The campaign is aimed at ensuring basic documents to all citizens belonging to the Scheduled Tribes communities and these documents are digitalised and saved in DigiLocker accounts opened for them.
Digitalising the documents through DigiLocker will help the beneficiaries easily retrieve the documents in case these are lost or damaged.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
Kerala Capital: Thiruvananthapuram;
Kerala Chief Minister: Pinarayi Vijayan;
Kerala Governor: Arif Mohammad Khan
Jio is India’s Strongest Brand, Ranked Ninth Globally
Jio is India’s Strongest Brand, Ranked Ninth Globally: According to Brand Finance’s most recent research, “Global 500 – 2023,” Reliance Jio is the ninth-strongest brand worldwide and the strongest brand in India. ‘Jio’ was placed ninth among the world’s strongest brands ahead of brands like EY, Coca Cola, Behind companies like Google, YouTube, Deloitte, and Instagram are Accenture and Porsche. With a Brand Strength Index of 90.2, Jio is the only brand of India among the world’s strongest 25 brands, according to the Brand Finance listing.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
About Brand Finance & Brand Strength Index:
London serves as the company’s main office. A “Brand Strength Index,” according to Brand Finance, is essentially a modified Balanced Scorecard divided among the three main components of the “Brand Value Chain”. Brand Equity, Brand Performance, and Brand Inputs. Among these measures are marketing spend, awareness, consideration, reputation, NPS, acquisition, retention, market share, volume, and price premium. This takes into account the relative strength of the brand in the market.
Brand Strength Index, is primarily a quantitative analysis, where scores for the independent measures are informed by market research (functional and emotional drivers), and financial data (marketing investment, price premium, revenue growth).
New Zealand’s prime minister, Chris Hipkins will replace Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister of New Zealand:
Jacinda Ardern will be succeeded as prime minister by Chris Hipkins, a former COVID-19 response minister for New Zealand. Following Ardern’s unexpected departure, the 44-year-old senior politician needs the formal support of Labour lawmakers to become the nation’s 41st prime minister. As leader of the governing party, Hipkins will also become prime minister when Ardern steps down.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Besides holding the education portfolio, Hipkins is also minister for police and the public service, and leader of the House. He is known as a political troubleshooter who has played a number of roles in an effort to resolve issues brought up by other legislators. A lawmaker for 15 years, Hipkins is considered more centrist than Ardern and colleagues hope that he will appeal to a broad range of voters.
What challenges now Hipkins face in future?
Among his biggest challenges during an election year will be convincing voters that his party is managing the economy well. New Zealand’s unemployment rate is relatively low at 3.3%, but inflation is high at 7.2%. New Zealand’s Reserve Bank has hiked the benchmark interest rate to 4.25% as it tries to get inflation under control, and some economists are predicting the country will go into recession this year.
India Extended USD 40 Million for Bolstering Sports Infrastructure in Maldives
India Extended USD 40 Million for Bolstering Sports Infrastructure in Maldives: S. Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, has provided a 40 million dollar line of credit with favourable terms for the development of sports facilities in the Maldives. It is a part of New Delhi’s efforts to include the Neighborhood First Policy in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s key initiatives, such as fit India and Khelo India. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is on a visit to the Maldives to further expand bilateral engagement with the key maritime neighbor of India.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
India Extended USD 40 Million for Bolstering Sports Infrastructure in Maldives- Key Points
- Inaugurating the community centre was External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid.
- Sports infrastructure across islands will be developed through the dedicated concessional USD 40 million Line of Credit.
- Fit India and Khelo India were introduced by the Modi government to revive sporting and fitness culture at the grass root level in India.
- The Shaviyani Foakaidhoo community centre is one of 45 high-impact projects that New Delhi is working on with the Maldives government, 23 of which have already been finished.
- Foakaidhoo is one of the inhabited islands of the Shaviyani Atoll administrative division and is geographically part of Miladhummadulhu Atoll in the Maldives.
- New Delhi’s cooperation in the areas of sports and youth development has expanded rapidly through the gifting of equipment and training of Maldivian athletes in India.
- On 64 islands, including Foakaidhoo, India has started grant projects to build youth centres, bolster sports facilities, and build outdoor gyms.
IIT-incubated firm develops BharOS The Indigenous Operating System
BharOS : An IIT Madras-incubated firm has developed an indigenous mobile operating system called BharOS which is being provided to organisations that have stringent privacy and security requirements and where users handle sensitive information. Such consumers require private 5G networks with access to private cloud services.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops), which was incubated by IIT Madras, created the BharOS. The National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems of the Government of India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) provides funding for the Foundation (NMICPS). It aspires to put India on par with those few countries that currently possess such capabilities.
Features Of BharOS
- BharOS provides access to trusted apps from organisation-specific Private App Store Services (PASS). A PASS provides access to a curated list of apps that have been thoroughly vetted and have met certain security and privacy standards of organisations. Users can be confident that the apps they are installing are secure to use and have been reviewed for any potential privacy or security issues.
- BharOS comes with No Default Apps (NDA). This means that users are not forced to use apps that they may not be familiar with or that they may not trust. Additionally, this approach allows users to have more control over the permissions that apps have on their device, as they can choose to only allow apps that they trust to access certain features or data on their device.
- BharOS offers ‘Native Over The Air’ (NOTA) updates that can help to keep the devices secure. NOTA updates are automatically downloaded and installed on the device, without the need for the user to manually initiate the process. This makes that the computer is always using the most recent operating system, which comes with the most recent security updates and bug fixes. BharOS ensures the reliability of Indian mobile phones with NDA, PASS, and NOTA.
National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS)
NM-ICPS will address the threat to jobs, security and strategic requirements that the new industrial revolution poses. The goal is to ensure opportunity by generating new directions and training. Numerous Major Technologies, including Big Data, Manufacturing, and Quantum Communication, could be the areas of focus. Train youth at all levels, develop Incubators and start-ups in these areas and set up Top Level Challenges. Push commercialisation around innovative MSMEs and ensure diffusion Industry 4.0 through Manufacturing and Services. Where necessary, there will be collaborations internationally.
Renowned Assamese poet Nilamani Phukan passes away
Renowned Assamese poet Nilamani Phukan passes away
Nilamani Phookan, a well-known Assamese poet and Jnapith Award winner, has gone away. He was 89. Phookan, one of Assam’s most well-known poets, has been given the 56th Jnanpith, the highest literary honour in the nation, for the year 2021. The notable works of Phukan are ‘Xurjya Henu Naami Aahe Ei Nodiyedi’, ‘Kabita’, and ‘Gulapi Jamur Lagna’.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Phookan, who was born on September 10, 1933, blended his Assamese poems with French symbolism, which is evident in many of his poems. His collection of poetry, Kavita, won the 1981 Sahitya Akademi Award in Assamese (Kobita). He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1990 and received the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest literary honor in India, given by Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of Letters in 2002. He was selected as an ‘Emeritus Fellow’ for a period of two years by the Cultural Department, Govt. of India in 1998. He was also given the “Sahityacharya” honour by the Assam Sahitya Sabha.
PNB Launches Credit Card Against Fixed Deposit
PNB Launches Credit Card Against Fixed Deposit: Customers who don’t qualify for ordinary credit cards can get credit cards against fixed deposits from the government-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB). Customers of salary account will be able to apply for this facility through the website, Internet Banking Service (IBS), or mobile banking app PNB One, according to the institution. Customers can avail loan without visiting a bank branch, adding there is a concession of 0.25 per cent on the interest rate when applied through digital platforms like PNB One. Get the RuPay or VISA credit card digitally against single or multiple FDs with 80% credit limit, the lender added.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Benefits of PNB credit card against fixed deposit (FD):
1) No document submission
2) No Branch visit
3) NIL joining fees
4) Instant issuance of virtual credit card
5) Comprehensive Insurance Coverage (on RuPay variant)
6) Benefits of UPI linkage on RuPay Credit Card
7) Exciting reward points and offers
Punjab National Bank latest FD rates:
In a bid to attract deposits, PNB has increased the interest rate of fixed deposits across various tenures by 50 basis points. Interest rates on term deposits under Rs. 2 crore with terms of one to three years were raised by 50 basis points from the previous rate of 6.25 percent to 6.75 percent. New rates for FDs, according to the bank, will take effect on January 1, 2023. It has also said that senior citizens will be getting an additional 50 basis points hike in interest rate of fixed deposits on any domestic deposit maturities which is worth less than ₹2 crore.
On PNB Uttam Scheme with no premature withdrawal option, the rate has been revised to 6.80 per cent from 6.30 per cent, it said. In addition to the new interest rates, the bank will continue to provide fixed deposit terms of 666 days at 8.1 percent annual interest rate.
International Cricket Council loses $2.5 million in online scam, Report
International Cricket Council: The International Cricket Council (ICC), the world’s cricket governing body, reportedly lost close to $2.5 million in an internet fraud last year. The phishing incident, which started in the US, took place last year. As per reports, the ICC was repeatedly cheated by the scamster not once, not twice, but four times. Surprisingly, the authorities at the ICC’s Dubai office did not have a clue that they were being cheated.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Overview of the news
- The $2.5 million loss is important because it is equal to four times the ICC grant that an Associate member with ODI status receives each year. The annual income from ICC funds for an ICC associate countries ranges from $500,000 to $1 million.
- As per the report, the ICC is conducting a probe about the incident and has reported it to law enforcement agencies in the US.
- However, the exact manner in which the scam took place is not yet known.
- It is reported that the scamster from the US acted as a vendor of the ICC and emailed the cricket body’s CFO for a payment from an email id that was apparently similar to the ICC.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is an attempt by cybercriminals posing as legitimate institutions, usually via email, to obtain sensitive information from targeted individuals. This is one of the most common scams happening around the world. Phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and often transparently mirror the site being targeted, allowing the attacker to observe everything while the victim is navigating the site, and transverse any additional security boundaries with the victim. The term “phishing” may have initially appeared in the hacker journal 2600 before 1995, when it was first employed in the cracking toolkit AOHell. It is a subset of fishing and refers to the “fish” for confidential information using lures.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
ICC Founded: 15 June 1909;
ICC Chairman: Greg Barclay;
ICC CEO: Geoff Allardice;
ICC Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
RBI new rules for ‘Loan Loss Provision’ by Banks
BI new rules for ‘Loan Loss Provision’ by Banks: In an effort to strengthen the resilience of the banking system, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recommended a new set of regulations controlling loan loss provisioning by banks. The central bank proposes to amend the regulations governing loan loss provisioning to incorporate a more forward looking “expected credit losses approach” as against the current “incurred loss” approach, the RBI says in a discussion paper.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
What is loan-loss provision:
The RBI defines a loan loss provision as an expense that banks set aside for defaulted loans. Banks set aside a portion of the expected loan repayments from all loans in their portfolio to cover the losses either completely or partially. In the case of a loss, the bank may use its loan loss reserves to cover the loss rather than recording a loss in its cash flows.
What is the problem with the incurred loss-based approach:
Banks are required to make provisions under the incurred loss approach for losses that have already happened or been incurred. The delays in recognising loan losses overstated the income generated by the banks which, coupled with dividend payouts, impacted their capital base because of reduced internal accruals — which too, affected the resilience of banks.
Need of The Amendment:
The incurred loss approach used to be the global standard as well till very recently. However, this meant that loan loss provisioning used to happen much later to the increase in credit risk to the banks. Such delays in recognising expected losses under the “incurred loss” approach were found to exacerbate the downswing during the financial crisis of 2007-09, the RBI says.
What The RBI Proposed:
The banking regulator has proposed that each bank will be permitted to design and implement its own models for measuring expected credit losses for the purpose of estimating loss provisions.
The expected credit loss models adopted by the banks should be subject to rigorous validation. Where a bank has outsourced its validation function to an external party, the bank remains responsible for the effectiveness of all model validation work and should ensure that the work done by the external party meets the elements of a sound model validation framework on an ongoing basis.
What are the benefits of this approach:
The forward-looking expected credit losses approach will further enhance the resilience of the banking system in line with globally accepted norms. As demonstrated in the incurred loss approach, it is likely to lead to excess provisions as opposed to a shortfall in provisions.
