Current Affairs in English – February 8 2023

February 8, 2022

National Events:

LCA & MiG-29K aircraft:

• The Indian Navy’s light combat aircraft (LCA) and MiG-29K aircraft have successfully conducted maiden landing and take-off operations aboard indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) INS Vikrant on 6 February 2023.
• INS Vikrant was commissioned into the Navy by PM Narendra Modi on 2 September 2022 at the Kochi Shipyard. It has been designed by the Warship Design Bureau.

Arabic Academy:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Arabic Academy in Mumbai on 10 February 2023. The academy belongs to Dawoodi Bohra community.
• PM Modi will share the stage with His Holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, the present leader of worldwide Dawoodi Bohra community. The event will be attended by guests from across the world.

Integrative Medicine Centers:

• The government will open Integrative Medicine Centres in all government hospitals across the country. The Centers will treat patients using both ayurveda and modern medicine.
• This was announced during the inauguration of Integrative Medicine Centre at Safdarjang Hospital in New Delhi on 7 Feb 2023. Both Health and Ayush Ministries have joined hands for this initiative.

RBI:

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the repo rate by 25 Basis points to 6.5%. Since May 2022, the RBI has increased the repo rate by 2.5%. The decision was taken in Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
• Standing Deposit Facility Rate has been revised to 6.25%. Marginal Standing Facility Rate and Bank Rate revised to 6.75%. RBI said, Inflation for 2022-23 is projected at 6.5%.

Global milk production:

• India ranks first, contributes 24% of global milk production. India is the largest milk producer in the world. It contributed 24% to global milk production in the year 2021-22.
• India’s milk production has registered a growth of 51% during the last eight years – 2014-15 and 2021-22. Production has increased to 220 million tonnes in 2021-22.
• The data was released by Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistics Database (FAOSTAT).

GSMA:

• Reliance Jio in collaboration with GSMA has unveiled a nationwide Digital Skill initiative. This collaborative effort intends to provide rural women and people from low-income groups with training based on their specific needs.
• Based on research on digital skill gaps, India-specific digital skills training toolkits have been created. Initiative is currently being implemented in 10 states.

PhonePe:

• PhonePe announced the debut of a service that will enable its Indian users to pay foreign businesses using the UPI. ‘UPI international’ supports merchant outlets in UAE, Singapore, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan that have a local QR code.
• Users will be able to make direct payments in a foreign currency from their Indian bank. PhonePe is the first Indian fintech app to launch the service.

VP Nandakumar:

• VP Nandakumar, Managing Director & CEO of Manappuram Finance Ltd has been awarded the Hurun India’s award 2022 for his remarkable achievements in the world of business.
• While V.K. Mathews, founder, and executive chairman, of IBS Software, has been conferred the Hurun Industry Achievement Award 2022.
• K. Mathews was nominated on the basis of the research made by the Hurun global team.

Bharat Rang Mahotsav:

• National School of Drama (NSD) will organize the 22nd edition of the Bharat Rang Mahotsav (BRM), from 16th to 26th February, 2023.
• The International Theater Festival will be held in Delhi, Rajahmundry, Jaipur, Ranchi, Jammu, Guwahati, Srinagar, Bhopal, Nashik and Kevadia.
• The plays will be performed in 16 different Indian languages. BRM is the largest theater festival in Asia.

Digital Green:

• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare signed an MoU on 6 February 2023, with Digital Green under a public-private partnership framework to build a national-level digital extension platform.
• The platform will operate a digital library having material available in different languages and in different formats which will be helpful to the extension functionaries.

Visva-Bharati University:

• Visva-Bharati University, founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1921, is set to become the world’s first “living heritage university”.
• The university is expected to receive the heritage tag from UNESCO in April or May 2023.
• The institute was granted the status of a Central University in the year 1951 through a Central Act. It is the only university whose Chancellor is the PM of India.

‘Save Wetlands’:

• Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav in February 2023, launched the ‘Save Wetlands Campaign”.
• The campaign is based on a “whole of society” approach to wetland conservation. It provides an opportunity to sensitise people about the value of wetlands, increase the coverage of wetlands and citizen participation for wetland conservation.

Namma Clinics:

• Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai launched 108 Namma Clinics within the municipal limits of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on 7 Feburary 2023.
• It aims is to integrate promotive, preventive and curative healthcare services under one roof and provide quality primary care to people in their neighbourhood.
• Around 438 clinics are being set up in the urban areas across the state.

Green Hydrogen:

• The Kerala government announced in February 2023, a scheme of Rs 200 crore for developing green hydrogen hubs at Trivandrum and Kochi.
• Kerala aims to become a 100 percent renewable energy-dependent state by 2040 and a net carbon-neutral state by 2050.
• An electric vehicle (EV) industrial park will also be developed with the support of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).

International Events:

Golden Book Awards 2023: Winners announced:

• Golden Book Awards recognises the exceptional literary works. It is sponsored by Wings Publication International. They were announced on 4 Feb 2023.

Winners & Their work:

J.K Rowling – Fantastic Beasts.

Gaur Gopal Das – Energize Your Mind.

Deepak Chopra – The Seven Spiritual Law Of Success.

Ashneer Grover – Doglapan.

Namita Thapar – The Dolphin And The Shark: Stories On Entrepreneurship.

Kamlesh Patel -The Wisdom Bridge.

Jeff Kinney Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Diper Overlode.

Sneh Desai, Sunil Tulsiani & Brian Tracy – Ultimate Secrets To Wealth.

Raj Shamani -Build, Don’t Talk –Things.

You Wish You Were Taught In School.

Bhupendra Singh Rathore -Magic Of Thinking Rich.

Deepak Bajaj -Network Marketing In 60 Minutes.

Ruskin Bond How To Live Your Life.

Dr K. Sreekumar –Buddhavelicham.

Jupiter >> Saturn:

• Jupiter has overtaken Saturn as planet with most known moons in the Solar System. Saturn got the tag, when it overtook Jupiter in 2019. Astronomers have counted 12 previously unknown moons in orbit around Jupiter, bringing the known total to 92.
• Saturn with just 83 moons, is left behind. The observations were led by astronomer Scott Sheppard of Carnegie Institution for Science.

World’s first ‘super’ magnets:

• World’s first ‘super’ magnets for testing in nuclear fusion plant developed by UK’s Tokamak Energy in February 2023.
• Tokamak Energy announced that the Demo4 magnet has a magnetic field strength that is nearly a million times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field, making it capable of confining and controlling the extremely hot plasma created during the nuclear fusion process.

‘Now You Breathe’:

• Author Rakhi Kapoor has been awarded the Golden Book Awards 2023 for her book ‘Now You Breathe’ on 6 February 2023.
• The Golden Book Awards is one of Asia’s prestigious award programs which celebrates best works on literature.
• She was also awarded the author of the year at the National Achievers Award in December 2022 at the Constitution Club of India.