Current Affairs Quiz 10th February 2022 : Daily GK Update Quiz

Exp. India’s 1st biomass-based hydrogen plant will be inaugurated in Madhya Pradesh

India’s first commercial-scale biomass-based hydrogen plant will soon be inaugurated at Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.

The plant will produce one tonne of hydrogen, from 30 tonnes of biomass feedstock on daily basis.

It is being established by a joint venture of Watomo Energies Ltd and Biezel Green Energy.

The technology used by the plant is ‘Thermally accelerated anaerobic digestion (TAD) reactor’ that can produce hydrogen, methane and biochar from biomass.

Exp. J&K became first Union Territory to be integrated with NSWS

Jammu & Kashmir became the first Union Territory to integrate with the National Single Window System (NSWS) which marks a major leap in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) in the UT.

Lieutenant Governor of J&K Manoj Sinha launched the J&K Single Window Clearance System integrated with NSWS in the presence of Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, Government of J&K, Sumita Dawra, Additional Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ranjan Thakur, Principal Secretary Industries & Commerce, Government of J&K.

NSWS is linked with India Industrial Land Bank (IILB) which hosts 45 industrial parks of J&K that will help Investors to discover available land parcels in J&K.

Exp. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged off NITI Aayog’s Fintech Open Summit

NITI Aayog, in collaboration with PhonePe, AWS and EY has organized a three-week virtual summit, titled ‘Fintech Open’ to showcase importance of fintech industry. The summit will be held from 7 to 28 February.

The summit was inaugurated by Union Minister for Railways, Communications, and Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw in the presence of NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar.

It will bring together regulators, fintech professionals, enthusiasts, industry leaders, start-up community, developers to collaborate, exchange ideas and innovate.

It has three objectives:

Encourage an open ecosystem

Foster innovation and growth

Ensure financial inclusion

Exp. Government continued RYSK Scheme for another 5 years with an outlay of Rs. 2,710 crores

The Central Government has decided to continue the Scheme of “Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram (RYSK) for another 5 years from 2021 -22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs. 2,710.65 crore.

Aim; To develop the personality and leadership qualities of the youth and to engage them in nation building activities.

Beneficiaries of this scheme are the youth in the age-group of 15 to 29 years (according to the definition of ‘youth’ in the National Youth Policy, 2014).

Exp. Instagram launched ‘Take a Break’ campaign to encourage breaks from social media

Instagram has launched ‘Take a Break’ campaign that will alert users scrolling on Instagram to periodically take breaks from the platform and focus on other things.

It has been launched by Instagram in India and various other countries. The campaign will also alert users of the new inclusion with a notification.

It was first launched in US, UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia. User can spend a certain amount of time on app after they joined campaign.

Exp. RBI emerged as the 2nd largest buyer of Gold among world’s central banks in 2021

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has emerged as the second-largest buyer of Gold among Central Banks of the world in 2021. RBI bought record 77.5 metric tonnes in 2021 taking its total gold reserve to 754.1 tonnes at the end of December 2021.

Highest buyer of Gold in 2021 is the Central Bank of Thailand (Bank of Thailand) and bought 90 metric tonnes of gold. As per World Gold Council website’s Goldhub, India’s official gold reserves is ninth largest in the world.

Exp. RBL Bank partnered with Creditas Solutions to automate loan collections

RBL Bank has partnered with Creditas Solutions for its SaaS (software as a service)-based ‘Neo Collections’ platform to automate loan collections.

This platform, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technology, is a Do It Yourself (DIY) debt management platform that helps customers to monitor, manage and pay their dues.

Creditas Solutions is a global technology company in the field of delinquency management.

Exp. Razorpay acquired Malaysian fintech startup “Curlec”

Razorpay has expanded into South-East Asia with the acquisition of a majority stake in a Malaysian fintech firm Curlec, valuing the company between $19-20 million.

Razorpay expects to complete the full acquisition in the next one-and-a-half years. The Kuala Lumpur-based, Curlec builds solutions for recurring payments for businesses. This marks Razorpay’s fourth acquisition overall and its first in the international markets.

This acquisition will allow the company to quickly ramp up and start scaling in Southeast Asia as a market. Curlec has been powering recurring payments for multiple companies in the Malaysian market.

Exp. Sanjay Malhotra appointed as DFS Secretary in Ministry of Finance

Sanjay Malhotra, a 1990 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan Cadre, has been appointed as Secretary in Department of Financial Services (DFS) in the Ministry of Finance.

Prior to this, he was serving as the Chairman and Managing Director of REC Ltd. He succeeded Debashish Panda, who completed his term as DFS Secretary on Jan 31, 2022

DFS covers functioning of Banks, Financial Institutions, Insurance Companies, National Pension System, International banking.

Exp. Pradip Shah named as chairman of Pfizer India

Pfizer India has appointed Pradip Shah as the chairman of its board following the resignation of RA Shah.

He is the ex-managing director and a founding member of CRISIL Prior to founding Crisil, he assisted in founding HDFC in 1977. He has also served as a consultant to USAID, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.

He is presently the Chairman of Indasia Fund Advisors. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and is also a chartered accountant and a cost accountant.

Exp. Atal Tunnel recognized as ‘Longest Highway Tunnel above 10,000 feet’ by World Book of Records

Atal Tunnel has been officially certified as ‘World’s Longest Highway Tunnel above 10,000 Feet’ by World Book of Records.

Atal tunnel is a Highway tunnel built under Rohtang Pass in eastern Pir Panjal Himalayan range on Leh-Manali Highway. It is the longest highway single-tube tunnel above 10,000 feet in the world with length of about 9.02 km.

World Book of Records, UK is an organization that catalogues, verifies extraordinary records with authentic certification around the globe.

Exp. 8 February: Safer Internet Day 2022

Safer Internet Day is observed every year on the second day of the second week of February with the aim of providing a safer and better internet, where every user gets to use the internet responsibly and without getting their data leaked.

This year February 8 is being celebrated as Safer Internet Day across the world. This year marks the 19th edition of Safer Internet Day with actions taking place right across the globe.

In 2004, Safer Internet Day began as an initiative of the European Union’s (EU’s) SafeBorders project. A year later, it was taken up by the Insafe network as one of its earliest actions.

Theme 2022: ‘Together for a better internet’

Exp. 10 February: World Pulses Day

World Pulses Day is celebrated every year on 10 February to recognise Pulses as a global food.

The day has been established by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to recognize the importance of pulses (dry beans, lentils, dry peas, chickpeas, lupins) as a global food.

In 2018, the UN General Assembly decided to mark 10 February as World Pulses Day. The first WPD was held on February 10, 2019. On 20 December 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution (A/RES/68/231) proclaiming 2016 as the International Year of Pulses (IYP).

Theme 2021: “Pulses to empower youth in achieving sustainable agrifood systems”.

Exp. Mahabharat’s actor Praveen Kumar Sobti who played Bheem passed away

Actor-athlete Praveen Kumar Sobti, best known for playing Bheem in the TV series “Mahabharat” and for winning an Asian Games gold medal, passed away.

He represented the country across various athletic events in hammer and discus throw and even won four medals at the Asian Games, including two gold medals in 1966 and 1970.

Praveen Kumar Sobti also won a silver medal in Hammer Throw during the 1966 Commonwealth Games. The athlete gained further popularity after he began his acting career and was featured as Bheem in BR Chopra’s classic “Mahabharat” in 1988.