DAILY GK: 01 MAR 2022

  DAILY GK: 01 MAR 2022

1.       GOI HAS LAUNCHED “OPERATION GANGA” TO RESCUE INDIAN CITIZENS FROM UKRAINE 

·         The GoI has planned to help nearly 15,000 Indians to reach India with the help of Air India flights.

·         With the help of International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, the GoI have guided the Indian citizens towards the border of Ukraine.

·         Due to the closing of Ukrainian airspace, the Indian evacuation flights are operating out of Romanian capital Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest.

·         India is evacuating stranded Indians from Ukraine through its land border crossings with Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

·         The GoI will bear all the travel cost of the flights for the Indian citizens.

·         The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also announced a Twitter handle ‘Op Ganga Helpline’ to assist Indian evacuation.

·         Ukraine President – Volodymyr  Zelenskyy , Capital – Kyiv

 

2.       INDIA-JAPAN JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE ‘EX DHARMA GUARDIAN-2022’

·         An annual joint military exercise, ‘EX DHARMA GUARDIAN-2022’, between India and Japan is being conducted at Foreign Training Node, Belagavi (Belgaum, Karnataka)

·         Participants India– 15th Battalion the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment of the Indian Army 

·         Participants Japan– 30th Infantry Regiment of Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces (JGSDF)

·         The exercise is being conducted in India since 2018 to enhance defence co-operation between Indian Army and JGSDF, and to further foster the bilateral relations between the two nations.

 

3.       IIT MADRAS & NIOT JOINTLY ORGANISED OCEANS 2022 IN CHENNAI, TN

·         The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN) and the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, TN jointly hosted, for the first time in India, the OCEANS 2022 conference & Exposition in IIT Madras Research Park, Chennai, TN.

·         ‘Inspire-Innovate-Sustain’ was the main theme of the conference.

·         This event is for global maritime professionals, technologists and engineers, students, policymakers  to learn, innovate, protect and utilise the world’s largest natural resource – oceans.

 

4.       GOVT LAUNCHES DOORSTEP CROP INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION DRIVE ‘MERI POLICY, MERE HATH’

·         Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched the central government’s ‘Meri Policy, Mere Hath’, a doorstep crop insurance policies distribution drive under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in Sanwer tehsil of Indore district, Madhya Pradesh, to deliver crop insurance policies to farmers.

·         PMFBY was launched on 18th February 2016 with an aim to provide financial support to farmers suffering crop loss or damage arising out of natural calamities.

·         The farmer can report crop loss within 72 hours of the occurrence of any event through the Crop Insurance App, Common Service Centre (CSC) or the nearest agriculture officer.

·         In Budget 2022-2023 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the use of drones for crop insurance.

 

5.       UNION CABINET APPROVES FDI OF UP TO 20% IN LIC UNDER AUTOMATIC ROUTE

·         The Union Cabinet approved Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of up to 20 percent under the ‘automatic route’ in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, ahead of the mega initial public offering (IPO) of the LIC of India in mid-March 2022.

·         IPO – An IPO is the selling of securities (shares of the company) to the public in the primary market (usually to institutional investors and retail investors).

·         The current FDI policy which permits 74 percent foreign investment under the automatic route in the insurance sector does not apply for the LIC,  as it is established and governed under the LIC Act, 1956, and the law did not have any specific provision for foreign investment in the insurer.

·         The current FDI policy allows FDI in the insurance sector but as LIC being a statutory corporation, is not covered under either “Insurance Company” or “Intermediaries or Insurance Intermediaries”.

·         LIC Chairperson – M R Kumar

 

6.       IISER’S PROF DEEPAK DHAR BECAME THE  FIRST INDIAN SELECTED FOR BOLTZMANN MEDAL

·         The renowned Indian physicist and Emeritus Professor at the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, Prof Deepak Dhar will be conferred the prestigious Boltzmann Medal 2022  for contribution in the field of statistical physics.

·         He became  the first Indian to be awarded the Boltzmann Medal. He will share  the medal with John J Hopfield of Princeton University.

·         The Boltzmann Medal (or Boltzmann Award) is named after the physicist Ludwig Boltzmann and awarded to physicists for contributing new results in statistical mechanics and it was instituted in 1975.

 

7.       MADHABI PURI - 1ST WOMEN TO BE APPOINTED AS SEBI CHAIRMAN

·         The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Madhabi Puri Buch as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman for an initial period of three years from 1st March 2022.

·         She will be the 1st woman to head the SEBI, securities market regulator and she is also the 1st person from the private sector to head SEBI and also 1st non-IAS to be appointed as the SEBI chairman.

·         She succeeds Ajay Tyagi, who served as a chairman for 5 years.

·         SEBI Establishment – 12th April 1992 ,Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra

 

8.       TENNIS: MEXICAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

·         The legendary Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal defeated Cameron Norris of the United Kingdom in Mexican Open in Acapulco, Mexico.

·         Nadal became the Youngest and the Oldest champion to win the Mexican Open ATP.

·         Mexican Open ATP is also called Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

 

9.       MOSCOW WUSHU STARS CHAMPIONSHIP 2022

·         Indian Wushu player, Sadia Tariq won a gold medal in the Junior Tournament at Moscow Wushu Stars Championship 2022. The Wushu Stars Championship is being held in Moscow, Russia . 

·         Sadia Tariq is 15 year old player hails from Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir.

 

10.    WORLD NGO DAY 2022 – FEBRUARY 27

·         World Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) is dedicated to recognise, celebrate, and honour all non-governmental and non profit organizations that contribute to society.

·         The universal concept of World NGO Day is to ‘Celebrate, Commemorate and Collaborate’ the NGOs across the globe. 

 

11.    NATIONAL  PROTEIN DAY – 27TH FEBRUARY 2022

·         National Protein Day is annually observed across India on 27th February to create public awareness and educate India about the health benefits of protein. 

·         The theme of National Protein Day 2022 is “Food Futurism”. 

 

12.    NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY 2022 – FEBRUARY 28

·         The National Science Day (NSD) is annually observed across India on 28th February to commemorate the day (28th February 1928) on which Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman(CV Raman) discovered the  Raman effect. 

·         He won the Nobel Prize in Physics (1930) for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him, ‘The Raman effect’.

·         The theme of NSD 2022 is “Integrated Approach in S&T for Sustainable Future”.