Today Current Affairs for Competitive Exams
Current Affairs 5th January 2022
Airtel Payments Bank gets scheduled bank status
from RBI
 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Jan 05,
2022 announced the inclusion of Airtel
Payments Bank in the second schedule of the
Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
 RBI also said that SBI, ICICI and HDFC
banks will continue to be identified as
Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-
SIBs).
 The RBI had issued the Framework for
dealing with D-SIBs on July 22, 2014.
Odisha's Ganjam district declared as Child Marriage
Free
 Odisha's Ganjam has declared itself a child
marriage free district on Jan 05, 2022.
 The district has 3,309 number of child
marriage free villages and 503 child marriage
free Gram Panchayats.
 To control child marriages, the Ganjam
administration with the help of UNICEF and
ActionAid India had launched the Nirbhaya
Kadhi programme in 2019.
New coronavirus variant 'IHU' identified in France
 Scientists have identified a new strain of the
COVID-19 in France, named 'IHU' or
B.1.640.2 variant in January 2022.
 The IHU variant has been reported by
researchers at institute IHU Mediterranee
Infection in at least 12 cases and linked to
travel to African country Cameroon.
 Fourteen amino acid substitutions, including
N501Y and E484K, and nine deletions are
located in the spike protein.
UJALA scheme completes 7 years; 36 Cr LEDs
distributed across India
 The Ministry of Power has completed seven
years of distributing and selling LED lights
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under its flagship UJALA programme on 05
Jan, 2022.
 Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All
(UJALA) was launched by the Prime Minister
on 5 January 2015.
 As of today, more than 36.78 crore LEDs
have been distributed across the country.
 UJALA programme saved 47,778 Million kWh
energy per annum.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched
SAAR program
 Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
(MoHUA) has launched “Smart cities and
Academia Towards Action & Research
(SAAR)” program.
 Under the program, 15 premier architecture &
planning institutes of the country will be
working with Smart Cities to document
landmark projects undertaken by the Smart
Cities Mission.
Deepak Kumar, A.K Choudhary appointed as new
executive director of RBI
 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
appointed Ajay Kumar Choudhary and
Deepak Kumar as the new executive directors
(ED) on Jan 05, 2022.
 Ajay Choudhary was serving as the Chief
General Manager-in-Charge, Department of
Supervision of the Central Bank.
 While Deepak Kumar was serving as the chief
of the Information Technology department of
RBI.
India's TS Tirumurti assumes chair of UN Counter
Terrorism Committee
 TS Tirumurti, India's permanent
representative to the UN was named the new
Chair of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee
(CTC) on 05 Jan, 22.
 He was appointed as Permanent
Representative of India to the United Nations,
in May 2020.
 India will chair the Counter-Terrorism
Committee of the UNSC in Jan, 22.
 This Committee was formed in Sept, 2001,
while India had chaired this Committee in
2012.
SBI General Insurance launches awareness
campaign on tax saving
 SBI General Insurance has announced the
launch of a campaign to increase awareness
of Indians around the need to buy health
insurance to save tax on 05 Jan 2022.
 The health insurance awareness campaign
will also help save tax under section 80 D of
Income Tax laws of India.
 The campaign #BahaneChhodoTaxBachao
will also underline other benefits of opting for
health insurance.
China's artificial Sun sets world record, runs 70
million°C for 17mins
 China's 'artificial sun' nuclear fusion reactor
has set a new world record after running at
126 million°F (70 million°C) for 1,056 seconds
– more than 17 minutes.
 Nuclear fusion power works by colliding heavy
hydrogen atoms to form helium, releasing
vast amounts of energy.
 Plasma, the fourth state of matter after solid,
liquid and gas – is produced when the atoms
in a gas become ionised.
Antigua and Barbuda becomes 102nd country to
join ISA
 Caribbean nation Antigua and Barbuda has
become the 102nd country to join
International Solar Alliance.
 The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
Gaston Browne signed the International Solar
Alliance Framework Agreement in the
presence of Indian High Commissioner Dr K J
Srinivasa on 4 Jan 2022.
 ISA was launched by India and France in
2015.
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Ambassador Atul Keshap appointed head of US-
India Business Council
 The US Chamber of Commerce appointed
ambassador Atul Keshap as president of the
US-India Business Council (USIBC) on 4 Jan
2022.
 Currently, he is serving as United States
Chargé d’Affaires to India.
 Nisha Biswal, Keshap’s predecessor as
USIBC head, will remain the US Chamber of
Commerce’s Senior Vice President of
International Strategy and Global Initiatives.
‘OmiSure' becomes first RT-PCR kit approved by
ICMR to detect Omicron
 The Indian Council of Medical Research
(ICMR) has approved a kit that will be used to
detect Omicron.
 The kit is manufactured by Tata Medical and
Diagnostics and is named OmiSure.
 Currently, the kit developed by US-based
scientific instrumentation company Thermo
Fisher is being used in India to
detect Omicron variants.
 It uses the S Gene Target Failure (SGTF)
strategy to detect the variant.
PM Narendra Modi inaugurates airport building in
Agartala
 PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the New
Integrated Terminal Building at Maharaja Bir
Bikram Airport in Agartala.
 Prime Minister also launched key initiatives
including Mukhyamantri Tripura Gram
Samriddhi Yojana and Project Mission 100 of
Vidyajyoti Schools in the state.
 Tripura is improving its connectivity based on
the HIRA model -- H (highway), I (internet
way), R (railways), and A (Airways).
Amy Bauernschmidt: First woman to lead a nuclear
carrier in US Navy
 Amy Bauernschmidt, Navy captain has
become the first woman to command US
nuclear carrier in US Navy history.
 Bauernschmidt, who previously served as
Abraham Lincoln’s executive officer from
 2016 to 2019, took over command from Capt
Walt Slaughter in August 2021.
 The US ship USS Abraham Lincoln was
deployed on January 3, 2022, from San
Diego under the command of Captain Amy
Bauernschmidt.
PM to lay foundation stone of projects worth
₹42,750 crore in Punjab
 PM Narendra Modi will lay the foundation
stones of development projects worth over
₹42,750 cr in Ferozpur, Punjab.
 The road projects include the 669 km long
Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, to be
developed at a cost of ₹39,500 cr, which is
set to halve the travel time from Delhi to
Amritsar and Delhi to Katra.
 He also laid the foundation stone of 100
bedded PGI Satellite Centre at Ferozepur.
Himachal Pradesh has become the 1st LPG enabled
and smokes free state
 Himachal Pradesh has become the first state
in the country to have 100% LPG gas
coverage.
 After launching the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala
Yojana to provide clean fuel to women below
the poverty line, a similar scheme of the State
Government - “Himachal Grihini Suvidha
Yojana” (launched in 2018) helped in covering
the remaining households of PM Ujjwala
Yojana.
 PMUY was launched on May 1, 2016.
Harpreet becomes 1st Indian-origin woman to trek
solo to South Pole
 Captain Harpreet Chandi, an Indian-origin
British Sikh Army officer, and physiotherapist
also known as Polar Preet, has created
history by becoming the 'first woman of color'
to complete a solo unsupported trek to the
South Pole.
 Chandi made history on 4 Jan 2022 after
travelling 700 miles (1,127 km) and battling
temperatures of minus 50 degrees Celsius
and wind speeds of around 60mph.
RBI cancels authorisation certificates of two
payment system operators
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 RBI has canceled the authorization
certificates of Muthoot Vehicle and Asset
Finance Ltd and Eko India Financial Services
Private Ltd for non-compliance with regulatory
requirements.
 Both the Payment System Operators (PSOs)
had authorization for the issuance and
operation of prepaid payment instruments
(PPI).
 The Certificate of Authorisation (CoA) was
canceled on December 31, 2021.
SBI, ICICI and HDFC Bank continue to be
systemically important banks
 RBI announced that SBI, HDFC Bank, and
ICICI Bank will remain as Domestic
Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) and
will have to maintain additional common
equity tier 1 (CET1) capital ratios as in 2020.
 For SBI, the additional CET1 requirement
is 0.6% of its risk-weighted assets, while for
HDFC Bank & ICICI Bank, is 0.2%.
 The additional CET1 is effective from April 1,
2019.
Padma Shri awardee Sindhutai Sapkal, `orphan
children's mother', dies
 Renowned social worker Sindhutai Sapkal,
known as orphan children's mother, died.
 She had received the Padma Shri last
year. She adopted and took care of more than
one thousand orphan kids in 40 years.
 She received more than 750 awards. She
used the award money to build shelters for
orphans.
 PM Narendra Modi said ''Dr. Sindhutai Sapkal
will be remembered for her noble service to
society.
State Bank of India makes online IMPS transactions
upto Rs 5 lakh free
 The country's largest lender State Bank of
India has decided to enhance the free IMPS
online transactions limit to Rs 5 lakh from the
Rs 2 lakh in order to encourage customers to
adopt digital banking.
 SBI will not levy any service charge on
Immediate Payment Service (IMPS)
 transactions up to Rs 5 lakh done through
Internet banking/Mobile Banking including
YONO.
 IMPS was launched in 2010.
Starlink India head Sanjay Bhargava resigns
 Sanjay Bhargava, the head of Elon Musk-led
Starlink’s India operation, has resigned in the
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backdrop of the Department of
Telecommunications (DoT).
 He resigned after the government stated that
Starlink Internet Services is not licensed to
offer satellite-based internet services in India.
 Bhargava had taken charge of Starlink’s India
operation on October 1, 2021, as its country
director.
