Banks Transfer Jaypee Infratech’s Kapil Kathpal

₹9,234 Crore debt to NARCL

• Lenders have transferred the entire Rs 9,234-crore Jaypee
Infratech loan to newly constituted National Asset Reconstruction
Company.

• Under the arrangement, the NARCL will only acquire Jaypee

Infratech loans that are currently held by 9 public sector banks.

• NARCL is a special purpose asset reconstruction company for

taking over the large value NPA accounts (above 500 crore) from
banks.

• NARCL has shareholding from 15 Indian lenders and Canara

Bank is the sponsor of this Asset Reconstruction Company

• While public sector banks have taken a majority stake in NARCL,

India Debt Resolution Company Ltd will be majorly owned by
private sector banks.
 Kapil Kathpal
AIF raised Rs. 30,000 Crore in Capital for
Agriculture Infrastructure Projects
• According to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, the Agriculture
Infrastructure Fund has raised more than Rs. 30,000 crore in capital for
agricultural infrastructure projects

• AIF is a financing facility that was introduced on July 8, 2020, for the
creation of post-harvest infrastructure and community farm assets across
India.

• This scheme would disburse Rs. 1 lakh crore by the fiscal year 2025-26,
while interest subvention and credit guarantee support will be provided
until 2032-33.

• Under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises
(CGTMSE) scheme, eligible borrowers of this financing facility would have
access to credit guarantee coverage for loans up to Rs. 2 crore.

• There will be a 3% annual interest subsidy on all loans made through this
financing facility, up to a maximum of Rs. 2 crore. This subvention will be
available for a maximum period of 7 years.
 Kapil Kathpal
HDFC to Raise at least Rs 30 Billion
through Issue of 10-year Bonds
• HDFC plans to raise at least 30 billion rupees through
the sale of bonds maturing in 10 years.

• The company has invited bankers and investors to bid

for coupons and commitments.

• The issue will also have a greenshoe option to retain

an additional Rs 20 billion
 Kapil Kathpal
Tata Motors & ICICI Bank tie up to offer
Financing Solutions to its EV Dealers
• Tata Motors has tied up with ICICI Bank to offer
financing solutions to its authorized passenger Electric
Vehicle dealers.

• Under this, the bank will provide inventory funding to

the authorized passenger EV dealers in addition to the
bank’s funding to dealers for diesel and petrol models.
 Kapil Kathpal
APEDA to use River Names for Branding

• The Government of India has been trying to

increase its agricultural exports by exhibiting
agricultural and processed food products in
foreign countries.

• The Agricultural and Processed Food Products

Export Development Authority will use the
names of rivers such as Ganga, Brahmaputra,
Cauvery, Godavari, etc. to name its agricultural
products.
 Kapil Kathpal
Low Carbon Cruise Flagged off
• India Energy Week 2023 is going to be hosted in Bengaluru from
6th to 8th February 2023. The Union Minister of Petroleum and
Natural Gas, Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep S. Puri
inaugurated the demo run of an Inland Water Vessel powered by
Methanol blended Diesel (MD15).

• The boat ride was done on a 50-seater motor launch marine

vessel named 'SB Gangadhar'. The marine vessel is equipped
with two Ruston make diesel engines (each engine of 105 hp).
The boat will be run on MD-15 (15% methanol blended HSD).

• Methanol is a low-carbon hydrogen carrier fuel that is produced

from high-ash coal, agricultural residue, CO2 from thermal power
plants, and natural gas.
 Kapil Kathpal
Himachal Pradesh Celebrated
its 53rd Statehood Day
• Himachal Pradesh celebrates its 53rd Statehood Day on 25th January
2023.

• In 1971, on this day, Himachal Pradesh became the 18th state of

India.

• The state-level function of Full Statehood Day was held at Hamirpur

district

• On 1 November 1956, Himachal Pradesh became a union territory.

• The state of Himachal Pradesh Act was passed by the Parliament on

18th December 1970 and the new state came into being on 25th
January 1971.

• Himachal Pradesh is generally known as Dev Bhoomi or Land of God

and Veer Bhoomi which means Land of Braves in India.
 Kapil Kathpal
Nagaland Orange Festival
• Nagaland is celebrating the Orange Festival for two
days. Nagaland Fruit Festival is being organized in the
state to praise the hard work of orange growers.

• The festival is to be celebrated in Rusoma village near

Kohima. The 2023 Nagaland Fruit festival is the third
edition. The Nagaland Fruit festival was organized by
the Rusoma Village council.
 Kapil Kathpal
AYUSH Ministry signed MoU with ITDC
• The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and
Homoeopathy (AYUSH) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding
with the India Tourism Development Corporation, Ministry of Tourism to
collaborate on the promotion of Medical Value Travel in Ayurveda and
other traditional medical systems.

• Under this MoU, the Ministry of AYUSH will train ITDC officials on the
MVT in Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine.

• It will explore establishing Ayurveda and Yoga centres in ITDC-run hotels

and will organise sensitization workshops in collaboration.
 Kapil Kathpal
NABH and HSSC Signed MoU for Recognition
and Skilling of Healthcare Professionals
• The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals &
Healthcare Providers and Healthcare Sector Skill
Council signed a memorandum of understanding.

• The pact between NABH and HSSC aims at

recognition of the HSSC certificate for NABH
accreditation and develops training programs for
skilling, reskilling, and upskilling required for healthcare
professionals

• The collaboration between HSSC and NABH will help

achieve the goal of enhancing healthcare quality in the
country.
 Kapil Kathpal
Revamped Monument Mitra Scheme
• The government will hand over around 1,000 monuments under
the control of the Archaeological Survey of India to the private
sector for their upkeep under the Monument Mitra Scheme.

• Corporate entities will take over these monuments as part of their

Corporate Social Responsibility. Under the scheme, monument
amenities will be revamped by the private sector.

• The government has set the target to hand over 500 sites under
the revamped Monument Mitra Scheme by the end of Azadi ka
Amrit Mahotsav on15 August 2023

• The scheme is to be implemented by the Ministry of Culture.

• The monuments will be revamped in terms of amenities. The

monuments will get sound and lighting systems. More shops will
be opened. Steps to develop tourism will be implemented.
 Kapil Kathpal
She Feeds the World Programme
• The PEPSICO foundation and CARE joined together and launched the “She
Feeds the World” program in India. The program is to empower women in the
agriculture sector. The program will mainly focus on small-scale women
producers.

• Initially, the program is to be implemented in Cooch Behar district and

Alipurduar district of West Bengal.

• Pepsico and CARE aim to improve the status of more than 48,000 women
through this program. More than 1.5 million people from West Bengal will be
benefitted.

She Feeds the World is structured in six outcome areas:

1.Improving women’s empowerment
2.Improving women’s access to resources
3.Ensuring food security
4.Improving women’s access to markets via inclusive value chains
5.Improving nutrition in communities
6.Multiplying the impact of agriculture through women small-scale producers

• The PepsiCo Foundation is partnering with CARE to tackle gender inequality

in agriculture with an $18.2 million investment in She Feeds the World
 Kapil Kathpal
Food and Agriculture Organization
India elected the Vice Chair
• India will hold the position of Vice Chairperson at the
12th session of the group. The ITWG is to meet at
Rome in January 2023 and discuss animal genetic
resources. USA is the Chair of the session.

• Along with India, other countries will also hold the Vice
Chair position. They are Spain, Saudi Arabia, South
Africa, Tonga, and Brazil. India will also hold the
position of Rapporteur along with the Vice Chair post.
Rapporteur means the reporting officer. Mr. Bhupendra
Nath Tripathi is to represent India and hold these
positions.
 Kapil Kathpal
First India Stack Developer Conference
• Ministry of Electronics and IT recently conducted the India Stack
Developer Conference. This is the first time India is hosting such a
conference. It was held in New Delhi.

• The main objective of the conference was to increase the adoption

of Indian digital goods within the country and also at the global
level.

• India stack is a moniker, meaning a name given to the API of the

product. API is Application Programming Interface. When you
make a money transfer online by logging into your bank account,
you are using an API. The Government of India has launched
several such Stacks. Some of them are UPI, Digi Locker, GSTN,
Co-Win, Arogya Sethu, UMANG, m-Parivahan, and many more.
 Kapil Kathpal
10th Infrastructure Committee Meet held
• The Infrastructure Committee was formed in 2009. The
main objective of the committee formation is to speed
up the government’s decision on infrastructure projects.

• The tenth meeting of the committee was recently

chaired by the Union Minister of Road Transport Shri
Nitin Gadkari.

• During the meeting, the committee discussed upon

issues related to pending environmental clearances,
land approvals, fund releases, etc.
 Kapil Kathpal
ECI Hosts 2nd International Conference on
‘Use of Technology and Elections Integrity’
• The Election Commission of India is hosting the 2nd International
Conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology and Elections
Integrity’ in New Delhi.

• ECI is leading the Cohort on Elections Integrity which was

established as a follow-up to the ‘Summit for Democracy’ held
virtually in December 2021.

• The first international conference of the Cohort was organized

from 31st October to 1st November 2022 in New Delhi on the topic
‘Role, Framework, and Capacity of Election Management Bodies’.

• In the first international conference of the Cohort, nearly 50

representatives from the Election Management Bodies of 11
countries participated.

• The two-day international conference inaugurated by the Chief

Election Commissioner of India Rajiv Kumar.
 Kapil Kathpal
• The Election Commission of India, as the lead for the Cohort on
‘Election Integrity’, took a collaborative approach and invited
Greece, Mauritius & International Foundation for Electoral
Systems to be co-leads for the Cohort.

• Around 43 Participants from 17 Countries and 6 participants from

international organizations joined.

• ‘Summit for Democracy’, was an initiative of the US President

hosted in December 2021. The Prime Minister of India spoke at
the Leaders Plenary Session on 9th December 2021. Following
this Summit, a “Year of Action” was proposed with events and
dialogues on themes related to Democracy.

• The 2nd Summit for Democracy is scheduled to be held on 29- 30

March 2023 and co-hosted by the governments of Costa Rica,
Rep. of Korea, Netherlands, Zambia, and the US.
Aero – India 2023 Kapil Kathpal

• The Defence Ministry has been organizing the Aero – India Show
since 1996.

• Other organizations such as DRDO, the Indian Air Force, Civil

Aviation, and the Department of Space join the ministry to
organize the show.

• The show is one of the largest air shows in Asia.

• It is to be held at the Yelahanka Air Force Base near Bengaluru,

Karnataka.

• Theme: The Runway to a Billion Opportunities

• The first edition of the show was held in 1996.

 Kapil Kathpal
Aska Police Station of Odisha Awarded
as the Best Police Station in India
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah awarded the Aska Police Station of Ganjam, district of
Odisha as the number one police station in the country.

• Aska Police station was awarded in the annual ranking of Police station for 2022.

• The award was given during the DGsP/IGsP Conference 2022 held in New Delhi.

• On this occasion, Aska police station in-charge Inspector Prashant Kumar Sahu was
awarded the prestigious award along with a citation by the Home Minister.

• Gangapur police station in Odisha's Ganjam district has been awarded the second best
police station award.

• Banbasa police station in Champawat district of Uttarakhand has been selected as

the third best station.

• Sadar Bazar police station was adjudged the best police station in the year 2021 while
Gangapur police station was awarded the second best police station award.

• The ranking of Police stations across the country is an annual exercise by the Ministry of
Home Affairs.

• The judgment is done based on 165 different parameters including crime rate,
investigation, disposal of cases, infrastructure, and delivery of public service.
 Kapil Kathpal
NASA to Test Nuclear-Powered Rocket by
2027 that will Make Space Travel Faster
• The United States space agency NASA has said the country plans
to test a spacecraft engine powered with nuclear fission by 2027

• NASA will partner with the US military’s Defense Advanced

Research Projects Agency to develop the nuclear thermal
propulsion engine and launch it into space

• The project has been named the Demonstration Rocket for Agile
Cislunar Operations or DRACO.

• With the help of this new technology, astronauts could journey to

and from deep space faster than ever – a major capability to
prepare for crewed missions to Mars.
 Kapil Kathpal
White Card in Football Match
• A white card was recently introduced in
Football match. The Referee shall use the
white card to recognize fair play. The first white
card was used in a match between Sporting
Lisbon and Benfica (Football teams in
Portuguese) in the city of Lisbon.

• The concept of the white card was started by

Portugal. The country aims to increase the
ethical value in sports by introducing the white
card. As the card encourages fair and just play,
players will be motivated to play ethically.
 Kapil Kathpal
International Customs Day 2023 - 26th January
• The World Customs Organisation marks International Customs
Day on 26th January every year.

• The day is dedicated to spreading awareness about the role

Customs authorities play in the seamless movement of goods
across borders and their importance in the cross-border regulatory
apparatus.

• This year, the theme of International Customs Day is ‘Nurturing the

next generation: Promoting a culture of knowledge-sharing and
professional pride in Customs.’

• The WCO previously known as the Customs Co-operation Council

(CCC), was formed in 1952 in Brussels.

• Secretary General: Kunio Mikuriya