DAILY GK 21-22 JAN 2026
1.
SUNITA WILLIAMS RETIRES
·
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced
that Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Lyn Williams retired from
service effective December 27, 2025, marking the end of a 27-year illustrious career in human space exploration.
·
In 2008, she was conferred with the Padma
Bhushan, the third highest
civilian award, in the field of Science and Engineering.
·
She completed three
space missions during her 27-year career: Expedition 14/15, Expedition
32/33 aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test mission.
·
She has logged 608 days in space across her
three missions, making her second on
NASA’s list for cumulative time in orbit.
·
She is jointly ranked
sixth for the longest single spaceflight by an American, alongside NASA
astronaut Butch Wilmore, with both
spending 286 days in space during the Boeing Starliner and
SpaceX Crew-9 missions.
·
She performed nine spacewalks
totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes, the most spacewalk time by a woman and fourth overall in NASA history.
·
During her first mission, she ran the first marathon ever in space on a treadmill aboard the ISS,
completing the Boston Marathon distance of 42.195 kilometers (kms).
2.
CONTINUATION OF ATAL PENSION
YOJANA TILL 2030-31
·
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister (PM)
Narendra Modi approved the continuation of Atal Pension Yojana (APY) up
to Financial Year 2030-31 (FY31) along with
extension of funding support for promotional and developmental activities and
gap funding.
·
The Government of India (GoI)
launched the APY on 9th May 2015 to create a universal social security system for
all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged
and the workers in the unorganised sector.
·
The Scheme is being implemented with effect from 1st
June 2015.
·
The APY is
administered by the Pension Fund
Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) under the
overall administrative and institutional architecture of the National Pension
System (NPS).
·
The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years
(Yrs) and maximum age is 40 Yrs.
·
Each subscriber under APY shall receive a Central Government guaranteed minimum pension
ranging from Rs. 1000 per month to Rs.
5000 per month, after the
age of 60 years until death.
·
As of 19th January, 2026, APY has enrolled more
than 8.66 crore (Cr) subscribers, emerging as a key
pillar of India’s inclusive social security system.
·
PSBs have
dominated enrolments, accounting for approximately 70.44% of
total subscriptions, whilst RRBs contributed 19.80%.
3.
RS. 5,000 CR EQUITY INFUSION
TO SIDBI FOR MSMES
·
The Union Cabinet, chaired by
Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, approved an equity infusion of Rs
5,000 crore into the Small
Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to expand credit availability for Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and support employment
generation.
·
The equity capital of Rs 5,000 crore will be infused
into SIDBI by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance
(MoF), in three distinct tranches in
Financial Year (FY) 2026-2028.
·
Tranche
1:
Rs 3,000 crore in FY 2025-26 at a book value of Rs 568.65 per share (as of 31st
March 2025).
·
Tranche
2:
Rs 1,000 crore in FY 2026-27 at the book value as of 31st March 2026.
·
Tranche
3:
Rs 1,000 crore in FY 2027-28 at the book value as of 31st March 2027.
·
Financial assistance will grow from 76.26 lakh MSMEs in FY25 to 1.02 crore by FY28, adding
25.74 lakh units, generating 1.12 crore new jobs, while 6.90 crore existing
MSMEs have created 30.16 crore jobs (as of 30th September 2025).
·
The equity infusion will help maintain SIDBI’s Capital to Risk-weighted Assets
Ratio (CRAR) above 10.50% under
stress and 14.50% under Pillar 1 and 2 norms, protect its credit rating,
and provide a higher capital cushion as directed credit and venture debt
increase Risk-weighted Assets (RWAs).
·
SIDBI Headquarters –
Lucknow, UP.
·
Established – 1990.
4.
86TH ALL INDIA PRESIDING OFFICERS’
CONFERENCE
·
Anandiben Patel, Governor of Uttar Pradesh
(UP), inaugurated the 86th All India Presiding
Officers’ Conference (AIPOC 2026), in Lucknow, UP.
·
The AIPOC 2026,
marked UP’s fourth time hosting the conference, after 1961, 1985, and 2015.
·
The AIPOC 2026 was held under the theme titled “Strong Legislature-Prosperous Nation”.
·
Adoption of six key resolutions:
Viksit Bharat 2047- All presiding officers resolved to re-dedicate themselves to conduct the
proceedings of their respective Legislatures in ways that contribute to the
national goal of a developed India by 2047.
·
Legislative Sittings per year: All
political parties, State legislative bodies, should hold at least 30
sittings annually, and legislative time effectively to ensure
accountability to the people.
·
Technology: Agreed
to strengthen the use of technology to make legislative work easier, more
transparent, and more citizen focused.
·
Leadership and Democracy: To
continue strong leadership to deepen and strengthen democratic traditions.
·
Capacity Building: To
support the capacity building of Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of
Legislative Assemblies (MLAs), particularly in using digital technologies and
research for effective participation.
·
National Legislative Index: Create
a benchmark to assess and improve legislative performance and accountability.
5.
SUKANYA SAMRIDDHI YOJANA COMPLETES
11 YEARS
·
The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY), a
Government of India (GoI) backed small
savings scheme launched under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)
Campaign, completed 11 years.
·
As of December
2025, 4.53 crore accounts have been opened and total deposits amount to more than
Rs 3.33 lakh crore.
·
The SSY was launched by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra
Modi on 22 January 2015 under the BBBP Campaign.
·
Parents or legal
guardians can open an account for their Indian girl child at any India Post office or branch of any Public Sector Bank (PSB) and
authorised Private Sector Banks (HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and IDBI
Bank).
·
The minimum initial
deposit of Rs 250 in
the SSA, and subsequent deposits can be made in multiples of Rs 50, provided
that at least Rs 250 is deposited in a
financial year (FY).
·
The
total annual deposit limit is capped at Rs 1,50,000,
any excess amount will not earn interest and will be returned.
·
Deposits can be made
for a period of up
to 15 years from the account opening date.
·
The SSY
currently offers an interest rate of 8.2% per annum(p.a), with
rates reviewed quarterly and interest credited annually.
·
The SSA matures
upon the completion of 21 years of its opening
date.
6.
SPAIN FM VISIT TO INDIA
·
Jose Manuel Albares, Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation,
Spain undertook a one-day official visit to India.
·
The visit
coincides with the 70th anniversary of
diplomatic relations between India and Spain, which were established in 1956.
·
Indo‑Pacific Oceans Initiative
(IPOI): During
the visit, Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares presented the ‘Declaration of Accession’ to External
Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, formally joining the IPOI.
·
As part of the joining procedure, Spain
and India agreed to upgrade their relationship to a “strategic association”, which is the highest level of diplomatic
partnership accorded by India.
·
Logo for the India-Spain Dual Year of
Culture, Tourism and Artificial Intelligence (AI), commemorating 70 years of
diplomatic relations between India and Spain was unveiled.
7.
PUNJAB
LAUNCHES ‘MUKHYA MANTRI SEHAT YOJANA’
·
Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab,
launched a state-wide universal healthcare scheme ‘Mukhya Mantri
Sehat Yojna(MMSY)’, to provide free
cashless medical treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh to
every family in the state.
·
The scheme provides
free cashless medical treatment of up to Rs.10 lakh per family per year at both government and empanelled
private hospitals throughout Punjab.
·
Any resident of
Punjab with a valid Aadhaar card or voter Identification (ID) card is
eligible to avail the benefits of the scheme.
·
Ayushman Bharat Top-Up: Existing beneficiaries receive
an additional Rs.5 lakh, bringing total coverage to Rs.10 lakh.
8.
ILO’S EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL TRENDS
2026
·
The International
Labour Organisation (ILO) released
its latest report titled ‘Employment and Social Trends 2026: World of
Work Series’ in Geneva,
Switzerland.
·
The global unemployment rate is projected to remain unchanged
at 4.9% in 2026 which is equivalent to 186 million people/workers worldwide still lacking access to quality jobs and also, this global unemployment
rate will continue to be the same till 2027.
·
The report has further highlighted
the wider global jobs gap (i.e. capturing people who want paid work but cannot
access it) is expected to reach 408 million in 2026.
·
As per the report, the share
of workers living in extreme poverty declined by 3.1 percentage points to 7.9% between
2015 and 2025.
·
Nearly 300 million workers continue
to live in extreme working poverty, earning less than USD 3 per day.
·
Between 2015 and 2025, the global rate of informality increased by 0.3 percentage points,
after having declined in the previous decade (2005-2015).
·
Globally, 2.1 billion workers are projected
to be informally employed in 2026.
·
The report has projected that the global Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) will decline by nearly
0.2 percentage points each year, reaching 60.5% in 2027.
·
The Global employment
growth rate is estimated at 1.0% in 2026, which is
slightly below the average of the previous decade.
·
It also projected job
growth will be 0.5% in upper middle-income countries compared to 1.8% in lower middle-income countries,
and 3.1% in low-income countries.
9. SAGAR MAITRI V
(SM-5)
·
India’s oceanographic research
vessel, Indian
Navy Ship (INS) Sagardhwani, operated by the Naval Physical
and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) under Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO), was flagged off from Southern
Naval Command, Kochi, Kerala, for the fifth edition of the Sagar Maitri (SM-5) initiative.
·
The Marine & Allied
Interdisciplinary Training and Research Initiative (MAITRI) acts as the scientific pillar for
long-term ocean research partnerships.
·
INS Sagardhwani is a specialised
Marine Acoustic Research Ship (MARS) for oceanographic and acoustic
studies.
10.
TRILATERAL COAST GUARD EXERCISE
‘DOSTI 17’
·
The 17th edition of the biennial trilateral
Coast Guard exercise ‘DOSTI 17’ involving the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Sri Lanka Coast Guard(SLCG), and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF)
Coast Guard, commenced in Male, Maldives.
·
Exercise DOSTI was
initiated in 1991 as a bilateral exercise between the ICG and the MNDF
Coast Guard, and expanded into a trilateral
exercise including Sri Lanka in 2012.
·
The exercise is held in two phases
-Harbour Phase and Sea Phase.
·
The exercise supports India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision and
Neighbourhood First policy.
