03rd February, 2023

1. Law and Justice Ministry has constituted a working committee, under the chairmanship of former Law Secretary PK Malhotra, for the drafting of rules and standards for mediation in India.
2. US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (UISPF) has launched the US-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment.
3. First International Financial Architecture Working Group under the Indian G20 Presidency concluded in Chandigarh.
4. Telangana State Road Transport Corporation has signed an MOU with Nalsoft Pvt Ltd for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation.
5. Nagaland government and Patanjali Foods Limited have signed an MoU for development and area expansion under palm oil cultivation under the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP).
6. Maharashtra cabinet has designated ‘Jai jai Maharashtra majha’ as the state song.
7. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal hosted “Me-Dam-Me-Phi”, a festival of Assam’s Tai Ahom community to worship and pay respect to the ancestors.
8. Uttar Pradesh govt launched the Aarohini Initiative Training Programme for the safety and security of girls in all 746 Kasturba Gandhi residential girls’ schools in the state.
9. Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced Visakhapatnam as the new state capital.
10. Indian Army has organized the ‘Exercise Topchi’, an annual firepower demonstration and training exercise conducted at the School of Artillery in Devlali, Nasik district, Maharashtra.
11. Indian military concluded exercise Trishakti Prahar — a joint training exercise — which began in North Bengal.
12. Indian Air Force has started its annual mega exercise ‘Poorvi Aakash’ in the north-eastern region to check its combat preparedness.
13. Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) has signed an MoU with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to collaborate on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes.
14. India has been invited as the theme country at the Madrid International Book Fair in 2025.
15. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has released the “Asia-Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 – Urban Food Systems and Nutrition” report.
16. Eminent Air, a drone start-up, that was founded with an aim to leverage drone technology to transform and revolutionize the logistics industry, has created India’s first ever one-of-its-kind Drone with Parachute Integrated System.
17. New India Assurance (NIA) has launched its “Pay as You Drive” (PAYD) policy with features like discounts on renewals, coverage beyond distance limit, and enhanced protections such as nil depreciation, roadside help, return to invoice, etc.
18. According to RBI’s data, there were 14.19 lakh micro-ATMs across the country as of December 2022.
19. Infibeam Avenues’s flagship payments brand – CCAvenue, has become the first payment gateway player to process Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or Digital Rupee transactions for online retail merchants.
20. IDFC FIRST Bank has partnered with ToneTag, a global proximity and voice tech solution provider, to enable acceptance of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) at merchant outlets.
21. ONGC’s Sagar Samrat has been converted as a Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU), which will handle up to 20,000 barrels per day (BPD) of crude oil and is expected to add 6,000 BPD to India’s production.
22. Mobicule, a niche player and expert in debt collection, has launched mCollect Repossession module, an industry first for banks and NBFCs.
23. Reserve Bank of India’s Digital Payments Index rose to 46 in September 2022 from 349.30 in March.
24. RBI has partially relaxed the restrictions it had imposed on SBM Bank (India) ltd to stop all transactions under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS).
25. RBI has appointed Ramachandra (former Chief General Manager, Canara Bank) as a member of the Advisory Committee of Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd. (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd. (SEFL) with immediate effect.
26. Morgan Stanley has appointed Arun Kohli as the India country head. Kohli is already the chief operating officer for the firm’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) operations.
27. Unilever (headquartered in London) has named Hein Schumacher as its next chief executive officer.
28. Puma India appoints Harmanpreet Kaur (captain of Indian women’s cricket team) as its brand ambassador.
29. February 1 – Indian Coast Guard Raising Day (47th edition)
30. The India UK Achievers Honours has been given to 75 Indian achievers , marking India’s 75th independence anniversary.

National News

1. Law and Justice Ministry has constituted a working committee, under the chairmanship of former Law Secretary PK Malhotra, for the drafting of rules and standards for mediation in India.
   • The committee would provide drafts of the rules and regulations as envisaged under the Mediation Bill/Act and, also to provide suggestions regarding the setting of various standards including, certifications, accreditation, grading, criteria etc, for various stakeholders under the Mediation Bill.
2. US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (UISPF) has launched the US-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment.
   • The US-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment is a public-private partnership between the State Department, USAID, USISPF, and George Washington University designed to catalyse transformational commitments to foster women’s economic advancement and inclusion in India.
3. First International Financial Architecture Working Group under the Indian G20 Presidency concluded in Chandigarh.

State News

1. Telangana State Road Transport Corporation has signed an MOU with Nalsoft Pvt Ltd for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation.

2. Nagaland government and Patanjali Foods Limited have signed an MoU for development and area expansion under palm oil cultivation under the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP).

3. Maharashtra cabinet has designated ‘Jai jai Maharashtra majha’ as the state song.
   • It will gain the formal position on February 19, the birth anniversary of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji.
   • Presently, 12 other states have an official state song — Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand.
   • The song was written by poet Raja Badhe and sung by Shahir Sable, a popular folk singer.
4. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal hosted “Me-Dam-Me-Phi”, a festival of Assam’s Tai Ahom community to worship and pay respect to the ancestors.
5. Uttar Pradesh govt launched the Aarohini Initiative Training Programme for the safety and security of girls in all 746 Kasturba Gandhi residential girls’ schools in the state.
   • The initiative has been undertaken by Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, Uttar Pradesh, in association with non-governmental organisations (NGO).

6. Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced Visakhapatnam as the new state capital.
   • The state will organize the Global Investment Summit (GIS) in Visakhapatnam in March first week.

Defence News

1. Indian Army has organized the ‘Exercise Topchi’, an annual firepower demonstration and training exercise conducted at the School of Artillery in Devlali, Nasik district, Maharashtra.
2. Indian military concluded exercise Trishakti Prahar — a joint training exercise — which began in North Bengal.
   • Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and CAPFs participated in the exercise.
3. Indian Air Force has started its annual mega exercise ‘Poorvi Aakash’ in the north-eastern region to check its combat preparedness.

Memorandum of Understanding

1. Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) has signed an MoU with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to collaborate on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes.
   • The MoU will focus on Australian training standards and delivery in sectors ranging across automotive, allied health, mining, IT, cyber security, renewable energy, logistics, supply chain and water management.
   • Austrade’s Australia-India Future Skills Initiative team in India will execute on these actions with CII.

International News

1. India has been invited as the theme country at the Madrid International Book Fair in 2025.

Reports and Indices

1. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has released the “Asia-Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 – Urban Food Systems and Nutrition” report.
   • The 5F crisis – lack of food, feed, fuel, fertilizer and finance pushing millions more people in the world’s most populous region into hunger and poverty.
   • A healthy diet is unaffordable in most countries of Asia and the Pacific for nearly two billion inhabitants (1.9 billion persons, which is 44.5% of the region’s population).

Banking and Economy

1. Eminent Air, a drone start-up, that was founded with an aim to leverage drone technology to transform and revolutionize the logistics industry, has created India’s first ever one-of-its-kind Drone with Parachute Integrated System.
2. New India Assurance (NIA) has launched its “Pay as You Drive” (PAYD) policy with features like discounts on renewals, coverage beyond distance limit, and enhanced protections such as nil depreciation, roadside help, return to invoice, etc.
   • The policy buyer can include add-ons with an additional payment for enhanced safeguards, such as zero depreciation, engine protection, return to invoice, roadside assistance, etc.

3. According to RBI’s data, there were 19 lakh micro-ATMs across the country as of December 2022.
   • Fino Payments Bank owns 3.55 lakh micro-ATMs, over a quarter of total ATMs.
   • SBM Bank India owns the second highest micro-ATMs, followed by NSDL Payments Bank.
4. Infibeam Avenues’s flagship payments brand – CCAvenue, has become the first payment gateway player to process Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or Digital Rupee transactions for online retail merchants.

5. IDFC FIRST Bank has partnered with ToneTag, a global proximity and voice tech solution provider, to enable acceptance of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) at merchant outlets.

6. ONGC’s Sagar Samrat has been converted as a Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU), which will handle up to 20,000 barrels per day (BPD) of crude oil and is expected to add 6,000 BPD to India’s production.
   • ONGC’s Sagar Samrat is an offshore drilling rig facility located in Arabian Sea.
   • Chairman of ONGC – Arun Kumar Singh

7. Mobicule, a niche player and expert in debt collection, has launched mCollect Repossession module, an industry first for banks and NBFCs.
   • The revolutionary Asset Repossession Solution is a comprehension solution that maps all the complex processes in repossession of an asset, as a part of its debt collection and recovery product.
8. Reserve Bank of India’s Digital Payments Index rose to 46 in September 2022 from 349.30 in March.
   • Parameters – (i) Payment Enablers (weight 25%), (ii) Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors (10%), (iii) Payment Infrastructure – Supply-side factors (15%), (iv) Payment Performance (45%) and (v) Consumer Centricity (5%).

9. RBI has partially relaxed the restrictions it had imposed on SBM Bank (India) ltd to stop all transactions under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS).
   • RBI has allowed the SBM Bank to allow ATM/PoS transactions under LRS through KYC-compliant internationally active debit cards issued by the bank.

10. RBI has appointed Ramachandra (former Chief General Manager, Canara Bank) as a member of the Advisory Committee of Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd. (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd. (SEFL) with immediate effect.
    • The Advisory Committee will comprise of Venkat Nageshwar Chalasani, former Deputy Managing Director, State Bank of India, and T. T. Srinivasaraghavan, former Managing Director, Sundaram Finance Ltd.

Appointments

1. Morgan Stanley has appointed Arun Kohli as the India country head. Kohli is already the chief operating officer for the firm’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) operations.
2. Unilever (headquartered in London) has named Hein Schumacher as its next chief executive officer.
3. Puma India appoints Harmanpreet Kaur (captain of Indian women’s cricket team) as its brand ambassador.

Important Days

1. February 1 – Indian Coast Guard Raising Day (47th edition)

Awards

1. The India UK Achievers Honours has been given to 75 Indian achievers, marking India’s 75th independence anniversary.
   • Important awardees –

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