Kapil Kathpal

UN slashes India’s Economic Growth

Forecast by 20 bps to 5.8% for 2023 GDP forecast

• The United Nations has cut its GDP growth forecast for
India for calendar year 2023 to 5.8 percent

• Growth in India is expected to remain strong at 5.8

percent, albeit slightly lower than the estimated 6.4
percent in 2022,

• UN report said headline retail inflation is expected to

average 5.5 percent in 2023, down from 6.7 percent in
2022.

• As per the UN report’s latest forecast, global economic

growth is seen slowing down to 1.9 percent in 2023
from 3.1 percent previously forecast. The UN estimates
that global growth in 2022 was 3 percent.
 Kapil Kathpal
BOB Financial Solutions Limited launches
Vikram Credit Card Dedicated to Soldiers Banking

• BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL), a wholly

owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda, launched ‘Vikram
– the contactless RuPay credit card’ dedicated to the
Indian defence, paramilitary, and police personnel

• It will be offered as Lifetime Free

BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL):

• MD & CEO– Shailendra Singh

• Headquarters – Mumbai
• Tagline– Credit Reimagined
 Kapil Kathpal
PNB & Aadhar Housing Finance Enters into
Co-Lending Partnership to offer home loans Banking

• Punjab National Bank and Aadhar

Housing Finance Limited have entered
into a co-lending agreement to offer
home loans at competitive interest rates.
 Kapil Kathpal
Visakhapatnam Railway Station awarded
‘Green Railway Station Certificate’ National

• East Coast Railways‘ Visakhapatnam railway station has received the

prestigious ‘Green Railway Station Certification’ with the highest Platinum
rating.

• The certificate has been awarded by the Indian Green Building Council for
adopting green concepts.

• The Environment Directorate of Indian Railways, with the support of the

IGBC, has developed the Green Railway Station rating system. It
addresses national priorities such as water conservation, handling of
waste, energy efficiency, reduced use of fossil fuel

• Visakhapatnam railway station falls under the Waltair division of the East
Coast Railway.

Indian Green Building Council (IGBC):

• Chairman- Gurmit Singh Arora
• Headquarters- Hyderabad
• The Indian Green Building Council was formed by the Confederation of
Indian Industry
 Kapil Kathpal
Veer Gatha 2.0 Contest
• The Government of India presents Gallantry Awards to
honor the brave acts of the army personnel in the
Armed Forces.

• Under the Veer Gatha Project, the school students are

encouraged to do projects on the gallantry award
winners. This is done to inculcate patriotism among
them.

• Recently, Defence Minister Raj Nath Singh distributed

prizes to the winners of the Veer Gatha 2.0 contest.

• The contest is jointly conducted by the Ministry of

Defence and the Ministry of Education. It is in line with
National Education Policy, 2020.
 Kapil Kathpal
Aditya – L1 Solar Mission
• The Indian Space Research Organization is working on a space
project that will study the sun. The name of the project is Aditya
L1. Recently, the ISRO chairman announced that the spacecraft is
to be launched in June or July this year. The Aditya spacecraft will
study solar magnetic storms and the impact of the solar
atmosphere on the earth.

The spacecraft is to study the following:

• Solar Winds: These winds are created due to the expansion of the
sun’s plasma
• Photosphere and Chromosphere of the sun
• Corona of the sun
• Energetic particles of the sun
 Kapil Kathpal
Union Cabinet approves Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022
• Union Cabinet has approved the reworked Competition
(Amendment) Bill, 2022 that seeks to introduce changes in the
governing structure of the Competition Commission of India (CCI),
and modify the substantive, procedural and institutional provisions
in the current competition law to address the needs of new age
market.

• The bill was introduced in Parliament on August 5, 2022.

Reworking has been done since the Standing Committee on
Finance gave its report on the Bill in December 2022.

• The Parliamentary Panel headed by Jayant Sinha had made

recommendations to the Bill.

• This is the first time the government is going in for comprehensive

changes to the Competition law since its coming into force in
2009.
 Kapil Kathpal
India to get more than 100 Cheetahs from South Africa
• South Africa said that it had reached a deal to transfer
more than 100 cheetahs to India as part of an
ambitious project to reintroduce the spotted cats in the
south Asian country.

• The environment ministry said an initial batch of 12

cheetahs would be flown to India next month, after
eight cheetahs arrived from Namibia last September.

• India was once home to the Asiatic cheetah but the

animal was declared extinct there by 1952
 Kapil Kathpal
China building dam on Mabja
Zangbo river near Indian border
• Satellite images show that China is constructing a new dam on the Mabja
Zangbo river. The dam will be sitting just a few kilometres north of the
Indian-Nepali-Chinese border trijunction.

• Satellite images show work is being done on the Mabja Zangbo river in
Tibet’s Burang County

• The new dam is located around 16 km north of the tri-junction and is

opposite the Kalapani area of Uttarakhand.

• The Mabja Zangbo river flows downstream into the Ghaghara or Karnali
river before eventually meeting the Ganges in India.

• Mabja Zangbo originates from Mount Kailash, but is not a major tributary
of the critically important water of the Karnali. The Karnali river is the
second biggest tributary by length of the Ganges, after River Yamuna,
and the biggest tributary of the Ganges by volume.

• The river flows past cities like Ayodhya and Faizabad, where it is known
as the legendary Sarayu River
 Kapil Kathpal
India International Science
Festival 2022 held in Bhopal Confrences

• The India International Science Festival 2022 was held

at the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology,
Bhopal

• The IISF 2022 marks the 8th edition of IISF since its
inception in 2015.

• The theme of the IISF 2022 is “Marching towards Amrit

Kaal with Science, Technology, and Innovation”.

• IISF is an initiative of the Ministry of Science and

Technology and the Ministry of Earth Science in
association with Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA).
 Kapil Kathpal
India Signed MoU Between Prasar Bharati
and National Media Authority of Egypt MOUs

• India and Egypt signed an MOU to facilitate content exchange,

capacity building, and Co-Productions between Prasar Bharati and
the National Media Authority of Egypt.

• Under the MoU, both broadcasters will exchange their programs of

different genres like Sports, News, Culture, Entertainment, and
many more areas on a bilateral basis and these programs will be
telecast on their Radio and Television platforms.

• The MOU which will be valid for three years

• Prasar Bharati currently has 39 Memorandum of Understanding

with foreign broadcasters for cooperation and collaboration in the
field of broadcasting.
 Kapil Kathpal
Padma Awards
Awards
• The award is presented in three categories
namely Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan,
and Padma Shri. Padma Awards are presented
by the President of India.

• The list comprises 6 Padma Vibhushan, 9

Padma Bhushan and 91 Padma Shri Awards.
19 of the awardees are women and the list also
includes 2 persons from the category of
Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 7 Posthumous
awardees. Total 106 Awards
 Kapil Kathpal

Padma Vibhushan:

• Mulayam Singh Yadav (Posthumous): Former Defence Minister of

India; her served as the CM of UP for three years, founder of the
Samajwadi Party

• SM Krishna (Posthumous): Served as the External Affairs Minister

of India between 2009 and 2012; was part of BJP, from Karnataka

• Zakir Hussain: Musician, table player

• Balkrishna Doshi (Posthumous): An Architect. Played huge roles in

the evolution of architectural discourse in India

• Dillip Mahalanabis (posthumous): Indian pediatrician, known for

effective use of Oral Rehydration Therapy in treating Diarrhoea

• Srinivas Vardhan: From USA in the field of Science and

Engineering. He is a mathematician
 Kapil Kathpal

Padma Bhushan:
• Bhyrappa: Novelist
• Kumar Mangalam Birla: Businessman
• Deepak Dhar: Physicist
• Vani Jayaram: Singer
• Chinna Jeeyar: Religious Guru and ascetic
• Suman Kalyanpur: Playback Singer
• Kapil Kapoor: Former VC of JNU
• Sudha Murthy: Wife of Infosys CEO Narayana Murthy for Social
Works
• Kamlesh D Patel: In the field of Spiritualism; written several books
on yoga
• Ghazal Singers of Rajasthan: Mohammad Hussain and Ahmed
Hussain
 Kapil Kathpal
Gallantry Awards
• President of India, Droupadi Murmu has approved 412 Gallantry awards and other Defence
decorations to Armed Forces personnel and others. These include six Kirti Chakras, including
four posthumous, and 15 Shaurya Chakras including two posthumous. These include one Bar
to Sena Medal (Gallantry), 92 Sena Medals, including four posthumous, one Nao Sena Medal
(Gallantry), seven Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry) and 29 Param Vishisht Seva Medals.

• President has also awarded President’s Tatrakshak Medal and Tatrakshak Medal to Indian
Coast Guard Personnel

Kirti Chakra Awardees:

• Major Shubhang of the Dogra Regiment from Indian Army
• Naik Jitendra Singh of the Rajput Regiment from Indian Army
• Jammu and Kashmir police constable Rohit Kumar (Posthumous)
• Sub Inspector Deepak Bhardwaj (Posthumous)
• Head constable Sodhi Narayan (Posthumous)
• Head constable Shrawan Kashyap (Posthumous)

Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry)

• Major Rakesh Kumar, Indian Army

Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry)

• Late CDR Nishant Singh (Posthumous), Navy

President’s Tatrakshak Medal (Distinguished Service)

• IG Anand Prakash Badola, TM (0248-M)
 Kapil Kathpal
India Likely to Surpass China as the
Most Populous Country by 2023 Reports

• India, which presently has 1.38 billion people, is on track to overtake China, which
currently has 1.4 billion people, as the world’s most populous country in 2023.

• India’s population is expected to reach 1.668 billion in 2050, surpassing China’s

1.317 billion at the time.

• This can be attributable to the fact that China’s population began to decline in
2022, for the first time in six decades since 1962.

• Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India, with an estimated 230 million
people.

• Lakshadweep has the least population, with only 68,000 people.

• India is one of the world’s youngest countries, with 27.3% of its population aged 15
– 29 years.

• According to the United Nations- India is one of the 8 countries estimated to

account for more than half of the projected increase in the global population up to
2050.

• The 8 countries are: The Philippines, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
 Kapil Kathpal
‘TROPEX 2023’: Indian Navy Conducts
Mega Naval Wargame in IOR Defence

• The Indian Navy is conducting the 2023 edition of “Theatre Level

Operational Readiness Exercise” (TROPEX), a significant biennial
maritime exercise, in the Indian Ocean region

• As part of Exercise “TROPEX 2023,” all surface combatants of the

Indian Navy, including destroyers, frigates, and corvettes, as well
as submarines and aircraft, are subjected to complex maritime
operational deployments.

• The maritime exercise also features and facilitates operational-

level interaction with the Indian Army, Indian Air Force (IAF), and
Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
 Kapil Kathpal
RBI Approves Appointment of Prabdev
Singh as New CEO of JP Morgan Chase Appointment

• India’s Central Bank has approved JP Morgan Chase &

Co. to appoint Prabdev Singh as the lender’s Chief
Executive Officer in the Country.

• He has replaced Madhav Kalyan who was named as

the head of payments in the Asia Pacific.

• JPMorgan has four commercial bank branches in the

country.

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational

financial services company headquartered in New York
City. It is the largest bank in the United States and the
world’s largest bank by market capitalization.
 Kapil Kathpal
GoI Extends tenure of Sangeeta
Verma as Acting Chairperson of CCI
• The Government of India has extended the tenure of
Sangeeta Verma as acting Chairperson of the
Competition Commission of India

• In October 2022, She was appointed as the acting

Chairperson of CCI for a period of 3 months following
the retirement of Full time chairman Ashok Kumar
Gupta
 Kapil Kathpal
Toyota names Koji Sato new CEO
International

• The chief executive of Toyota Motor Corp, Akio

Toyoda will step down as head of the company

• Koji Sato, the chief branding officer, who is also

president of Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus, will
take over as chief executive from April 1, as
Akio Toyoda becomes chairman.

• The current chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada will

drop his chairman title but remain on the board.

• Founder: Kiichiro Toyoda.

 Kapil Kathpal
ICC annual awards 2022
Sports
• The International Cricket Council has announced its
first individual award winners in the ICC Awards 2022

• Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy: Babar Azam (Pakistan)

• Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy: Nat Sciver (England)

• Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year: Ben Stokes (England)

• Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year: Babar Azam

• Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year: Nat Sciver

 Kapil Kathpal

• Men’s T20 International Cricketer of the Year: Suryakumar Yadav

(India)

• Women’s T20 International Cricketer of the Year: Tahlia McGrath

(Australia)

• Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Marco Jansen (South

Africa)

• Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Renuka Singh (India)

• Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year: Gerhard Erasmus

(Namibia)

• Women’s Associate Cricketer of the Year: Esha Oza (India)

• David Shepherd Trophy: Richard Illingworth (England)

• Spirit of Cricket Award: Aasif Sheikh (Nepal)

 Kapil Kathpal
Sabir Ali, Iron Man of India passes away
Obituary
• ‘Ironman of India’ Sabir Ali, who won the
decathlon gold at the 1981 Asian Athletics
Championships in Tokyo, passed away.

• He also won two silver medals at the South

Asian Federation Games held in Kathmandu
and Dhaka.

• Ali was honoured with the Arjuna Award in

1981.
 Kapil Kathpal
Veteran Telugu actor J Jamuna passes away

• Veteran Telugu film actor and former

parliamentarian J Jamuna passed away.

• Jamuna was an actress, director and

politician. She made her acting debut
when she was 16 years old.
 Kapil Kathpal
International Holocaust Remembrance Day - 27th January
Important Days
• Every year, International Holocaust Remembrance Day
is observed on January 27 to reflect on the atrocities
inflicted by Adolf Hitler, which resulted in the deaths of
an estimated six million Jews.

• The day commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz-

Birkenau in January 1945 from Nazi control.

• The theme “Home and Belonging” guides United

Nations Holocaust remembrance and education in
2023