Daily Current Affairs January 21 2022

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

Finance Minister authorizes release of advance installment of tax devolution to State Governments amounting to Rs. 47,541 crores:

• Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has authorised the release of an advance installment of tax devolution to State Governments amounting to 47,541 crore.
• This is in addition to the regular devolution for the month of January 2022, also being released today.
• Thus, States would receive a total of Rs. 95,082 crore or double their respective entitlement during January 2022.
• It is pertinent to mention that the Government of India had released the first advance instalment of tax devolution amounting to 47,541 crore to States on 22nd November 2021.
• With the release of the second advance installment today, the States would have received an additional amount of Rs. 90,082 crore under tax devolution over and above what has been budgeted to be released till January, 2022.

69th meeting of Governing Body of National Water Development Agency held:

• The 69th meeting of Governing Body of National Water Development Agency, NWDA was held through video conferencing.
• The meeting was chaired by Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
• The Annual Report and Annual Accounts of NWDA for 2020-21 were approved by the Governing Body.
• During the meeting, programme and progress of works of NWDA for the year 2021-22, the status and review of progress of works and studies of various interlinking of river projects and constitution of National Interlinking of Rivers Authority were deliberated.

PM Modi to host first meeting of India-Central Asia Summit:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hosting the first meeting of the India-Central Asia Summit in a virtual format on 27th January.
• Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will participate.
• This will be the first engagement of its kind between India and the Central Asian countries at the level of leaders.
• The first India-Central Asia Summit is a reflection of India’s growing engagement with the Central Asian countries, which are a part of India’s “Extended Neighbourhood”.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a historic visit to all Central Asian countries in 2015. Subsequently, there have been exchanges at high levels at bilateral and multilateral forums.
• During the first India-Central Asia Summit, the leaders are expected to discuss steps to take forward India-Central Asia relations to newer heights.
• The Summit is symbolic of the importance attached by the Leaders of India and the Central Asian countries to a comprehensive and enduring India-Central Asia partnership.

IFFCO reaches to Kuttanad farmers to promote nano urea liquid:

• IFFCO, the cooperative fertiliser company, has reached out to farmers in Kuttanad – the rice bowl of Kerala – through a boat campaign to popularise its nano urea liquid.
• The Kuttanad Below Sea-level Farming System (KBSFS) is unique and it is the only system in India that practices rice cultivation at around 1.2-3 metre below sea level.
• IFFCO’s awareness campaign in Kerala is part of the cooperatives’ plan to reach out to farmers across the country for the promotion of IFFCO Nano Urea – its revolutionary fertiliser product.
• IFFCO is serving the farmers across the country.
• The awareness campaign is to reach to farmers for IFFCO Nano Urea, water-soluble fertilisers and Sagarika by boat on the backwaters of Kayal regions of Kuttanad, Alappuzha
• The company has also started a similar campaign among farmers in many villages in Palakkad by road to familiarise the product among paddy farmers where the Rabi season is on.

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Joint inauguration and launch of projects by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth will jointly inaugurate the India-assisted Social Housing Units project in Mauritius virtually on 20 January, 2022.
• The two dignitaries will also launch the Civil Service College and 8MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius that are being undertaken under India’s development support.
• An Agreement on extending a US$ 190 mn Line of Credit (LoC) from India to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects; and MoU on the implementation of Small Development Projects will also be exchanged.

HAL Signs Contract for Export of ALH to Mauritius:

• In-line with Government’s vision to boost defence exports to friendly foreign countries, HAL signed a contract with Govt. of Mauritius (GoM) for export of one Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH Mk III) for Mauritius Police Force.
• The Govt. of Mauritius already operates HAL built ALH and Do-228 aircraft. With this contract, HAL and GoM have further strengthened the long standing business relations spanning over three decades.
• The contract was signed by Mr. BK Tripathy, General Manager, Helicopter Division-HAL and Mr. OK Dabidin, Secretary of Home Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office, Govt. of the Republic of Mauritius recently at HAL’s Transport Aircraft Division, Kanpur in the presence
• The ALH Mk III is a multi-role, multi-mission versatile helicopter in 5.5 tonne category.
• It has proven its mettle in various utility role including numerous lifesaving missions during natural calamities in India and abroad.
• More than 335 ALHs have been produced till date logging around 3,40,000 cumulative flying hours.
• HAL also ensures technical assistance and product support to the customer to ensure healthy serviceability of the helicopter.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE NEWS

Gujarat govt launches helpline toll-free number 14567 for senior citizens:

• Gujarat government has launched a helpline for senior citizens. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Pradip Parmar has launched this helpline with a toll-free number 14567.
• This helpline known as Elder Line has been activated with immediate effect.
• Senior Citizens will get information related to various government schemes, different social issues, details of Old-age homes and Senior Citizens Act 2007 through this helpline number.

Meghalaya cabinet approves extension of upper age limit for recruitment in all State Government services:

• Meghalaya cabinet has approved the extension of the upper age limit for recruitment in all State Government services from 27 years to 32 years and the same has been extended to 37 years for Schedule tribes.
• However, this relaxation will not be applicable in the jobs of State police, civil defence
• Home Guards and other services which require physical activities.

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND ECONOMY

Ind-Ra estimates GDP growth at 7.6 per cent:

• India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) expects Gross Domestic Products (GDP) to grow by 7.6 per cent in the fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23)
• After a gap of two years, the growth will be meaningful,” Sunil Kumar Sinha, Principal Economist with Ind-Ra
• Now, all eyes will be on the Economic Survey, which is scheduled to be tabled in the Parliament on January 31 and that will give the government’s estimate for FY23.
• The government expects GDP growth in the current fiscal to be 9.2 per cent.
• According to Ind-Ra, though the real GDP in FY23 will be 9.1 per cent higher than the FY20 (pre-Covid level) GDP level.
• However, the size of the Indian economy in FY23 will be 10.2 per cent lower than the FY23 GDP trend value.

SEBI launches Saa₹thi mobile app on investor education:

• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has launched Saa₹thi, a mobile app on investor education.
• The new app aims to empower investors with accurate knowledge about the securities market.
• The app will cater largely to individual investors, who have recently entered the markets and carry out trading via their mobile phones
• The app will be popular among young investors in the times to come and it will be helpful in easily accessing all the relevant information like the basic concepts of Securities Market, KYC Process, trading and settlement, mutual funds, recent market developments, investor grievances redressal mechanism, etc.
• It is currently available in Hindi and English.
• The Android and iOS versions of the App can be downloaded from Play Store and App Store

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India Post Payments Bank’s customer base crosses 5 crore mark:

• India Post Payments Bank, IPPB, has crossed the five-crore customer mark in just 3 years of commencement of its operations to become one of the fastest growing digital payments bank in the country.
• It has opened up these five crore accounts in digital and paperless mode through its one lakh 36 thousand Post Offices.
• Out of these post offices, one lakh 20 thousand are in rural areas.
• About one lakh 47 thousand doorstep banking service providers helped in opening up of these accounts.
• With this, IPPB has achieved the world’s largest digital financial literacy programme by building a financially aware and empowered customer-base, leveraging the strength of two lakh 80 thousand Post Office employees.
• IPPB has further stated that it has taken digital banking to the grassroots levels through Interoperable Payments and Settlement Systems of NPCI, RBI and UIDAI offering services in over 13 languages.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOUS AND AGREEMENT

MoU between NCGG, Government of India and National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad:

• In order to promote inclusive good governance, strengthening of local institutions and effective implementation of government programmers, the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Government of India and National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD & PR), Hyderabad signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
• The main purpose of having this agreement is to focus on different collaborative activities by drawing upon the strengths of these two national institutions for bringing better good governance mechanisms into practice across all programmes and schemes.
• Both the institutions agreed to exchange knowledge and take up capacity building of functionaries at all levels of government, including Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs).
• The MoU will not only help in application of good governance principles in true spirit but will also ensure their effective implementation in terms of transparency and accountability in utilisation of public funds in intended manner for delivering services to benefit rural communities.

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Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship signs an MoU with IGNOU to link vocational education and training with higher education:

• To further strengthen the vocational and technical training framework, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU).
• The partnership aims to link vocational education and training with higher education, making India’s youth employable by creating avenues for them to access better work opportunities.
• The trainees attached to National Skill Training Institutes (NSTI), Industrial Training Institutes (ITI), Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKK) and Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSS) will benefit from the programme, aimed at creating upward mobility of these students to be able to attain higher education for better livelihood opportunities.
• This MoU is in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal 4.4 and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 for increasing Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education including vocational education to 50 % by 2035.

NIF Incubation Council ties up with Amazon India to boost Grassroot Innovation:

• National Innovation Foundation’s Incubation and Entrepreneurship Council and Amazon India have signed an MoU for online distribution of product of grassroots innovations, student innovations, and outstanding traditional knowledge-based products.
• The MoU will make innovations from rural parts of India available universally.
• Since these innovations have their genesis in addressing an unmet need in a particular locality, it can initiate a journey towards providing inclusive innovations to the world at large.
• Through this MoU capacity building of grassroots innovators by engaging industry and subject matter experts would be ensured.
• This MoU follows just couple of days after the declaration of 16th January 2022 as the National Start-up Day by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the announcement that the current decade would be the ‘techade’ of India to take the start-up culture to the far-flung areas of the country.

IFSCA inks MOU with Insurance Institute of India (III):

• The International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA), with an objective of capacity building of professionals in the insurance sector in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Insurance Institute of India (III).
• The Insurance Institute of India (III) in involved in devising and continuously upgrading the curriculums and imparting the training programs for the professionals in the insurance industry in India and abroad, to meet the needs of the ever-dynamic insurance sector.
• The certification by the institute is recognized by the insurance industry, regulators, and other internationally reputed insurance education
• The Institute is also the member of the Institute of Global Insurance Education (IGIE).

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Roberta Metsola elected as European Parliament New president        

• Maltese center-right MEP Roberta Metsola was elected president of the European Union Parliament.
• She succeeded David Sassoli, who passed away on 11 January.
• Roberta Metsola won the election in the first voting round, where she received an absolute majority of 458 votes out of 690 cast in the remote secret vote, among three candidates.
• Swedish Green MEP Alice Bah Kuhnke received 101 votes, while The Left’s Sira Rego of Spain secured 57 votes.

About Roberta Metsola :

• Roberta Metsola Born in Malta in 1979.
• She has been an MEP since 2013, is the youngest EP President ever elected.
• She became First Vice-President in November 2020.
• She is a former civil servant first elected in 2013, she is the first person from Malta, the smallest member state, to lead any EU institution.
• She is the third female President of the European Parliament, after Simone Veil (1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999- 2002).

About European Parliament :

• Headquarters: Strasbourg, France
• President : Roberta Metsola
• Founded: 10 September 1952, Europe

Vikram Dev Dutt appointed new CMD of Air India

• The Ministry of Civil Aviation appointed Vikram Dev Dutt as Chairman and Managing Director of Air India as part of a senior-level bureaucratic reshuffle.
• He has been appointed as the Air India chief in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary.
• He succeeded Rajiv Bansal at the helm of the national carrier, after the latter took over as the secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).

About Vikram Dev Dutt :

• Dutt is a senior bureaucrat and a 1993-batch IAS officer of AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre.
• Before this appointment, in 2020, he served as Principal Secretary for the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Delhi government.
• Later, in 2021 he was transferred and posted as Principal Secretary of the Services department.
• In Oct 2021,the Center had accepted Tata Sons’ bid of Rs 18,000 crore to acquire 100 percent of the debt-laden state-run carrier.
• Talace Pvt Ltd, a unit of the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, had made the winning bid of Rs 2,700 crore cash and Rs 15,300 crore debt takeover.

Key Points :

• Manish Kumar Gupta ( a 1991-batch IAS officer, is currently Principal Commissioner in the DDA ) has been appointed as the Vice Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
• Ashish Srivastava, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development will now be Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
• Hari Ranjan Rao, Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunications has been appointed as Administrator, Universal Service Obligation Fund, Department of Telecommunications.
• V L Kantha Rao, Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition), Ministry of Defence has been named as Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunications in place of Rao.
• Pankaj Agrawal, Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, will be the new Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition), Ministry of Defence in place of Rao.
• Santosh Kumar Sarangi, a 1994-batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre, will be Director General, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
• Chanchal Kumar, a 1992 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, presently principal secretary to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been appointed as Managing Director, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd.
• B V Umadevi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
• Anuradha Thakur, Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
• Shashank Goel and Shailesh Kumar Singh have been appointed as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labor and Employment and Development Commissioner, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, respectively.
• Naresh Pal Gangwar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change will be Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.

About Air India :

• Founded: 1932, Mumbai
• Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi, India
• Chairperson & MD : Rajiv Bansal
• Founders: Tata Group, J. R. D. Tata

About Ministry of Civil Aviation :

• Cabinet Minister : Jyotiraditya Scindia
• Minister of State : V. K. Singh

Gujarat’s former cabinet minister Dileep Sanghani elected as IFFCO Chairman

• The Board of Directors of IFFCO unanimously elected Dileep Sanghani, a former cabinet minister in the Government of Gujarat and senior co-operator, became the 17th chairman of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO).
• The election of the new chairman was held due to the demise of incumbent Chairman Balvinder Singh Nakai earlier on 11th October 2021.

About Dileep Sanghani :

• Sanghani is a senior co-operator from Gujarat and he is also the chairman of Gujarat State Cooperative Marketing Federation Ltd, a post he has held since 2017.
• He is also a former minister of Agriculture, Co-operation Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Cow-Breeding, Prison, Excise Law & Justice, Legislative & Parliamentary Affairs in the cabinet of the Government of Gujarat.
• He was elected as the vice-chairman of IFFCO in 2019.
• In 2021, Sanghani was elected to the position of the President of the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), the apex body of the Cooperatives in India.

About IFFCO :

• Founded: 3 November 1967
• Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi, India
• Chairman : Dileep Sanghani
• MD & CEO : Dr. U.S Awasthi
• IFFCO, is a multi-state cooperative society engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of fertilizers.

PayTm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma as UA Ambassador

• Global internet body ICANN-supported Universal Acceptance Steering Group has roped in Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma as UA Ambassador.
• Universal Acceptance Steering Group works on developing and recommending standards for languages script that are not currently used to access the internet.

About Vijay Shekhar Sharma :

• Vijay Shekhar was born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh on 7 June 1978.
• He is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of financial technology company Paytm.
• In 2017, he was included in Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” list and was named Entrepreneur of the Year at The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence in 2016.
• Sharma is the founder and CEO of One97 Communications and its consumer brand Paytm.
• In 2020, he was ranked as the #62nd richest person in India, with a net worth of US$2.35 billion, according to Forbes.

Awards & Honors :

• He is the recipient of Yash Bharati, the highest civilian honor of the Government of Uttar Pradesh.

About ICANN :

• Founded: 18 September 1998
• Headquarters: Los Angeles, California, United States
• CEO & President : Göran Marby
• Chair of the Board : Maarten Botterman
• Founders: Jon Postel, Esther Dyson

About PayTm :

• Founded: August 2010
• Founder & CEO: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
• President : Amit Nayyar
• Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
• Paytm is an Indian multinational technology company that specializes in digital payment system, e-commerce and financial services.
• Paytm is currently available in 11 Indian languages with the goal of integrating Indian financial, social, and consumer services into its network.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

Reliance Acquires 54% Stake in Noida-based Robotics Firm Addverb for $132 million

• Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, the retail unit of Reliance Industries Ltd, has acquired 54% stake in Addverb Technologies for $132 million ( ₹983 crore approximately).
• Reliance will own around 54 percent of Addverb as a result of this investment, becoming the company’s largest shareholder.
• Post-acquisition the co-founders will own around 24-25 percent of the company.
• Addverb had previously raised $11 million in a round led by Jalaj Dani, co-promoter of Asian Paints.
• Founded by Sangeet Kumar, Prateek Jain, Bir Singh, Satish Kumar Shukla and Amit Kumar in 2016, the Noida-based Addverb counts Flipkart, HUL, Asian Paints, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, ITC and Marico among its customers.

About Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd :

• Founded: 2006
• Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) will have four directors on the board of Addverb of a total of eight directors.

About Addverb Technologies :

• Co-founder and chief executive : Sangeet Kumar
• Headquarters : Noida, Uttar Pradesh

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BOOKS & AUTHORS

ICAAP and NCDC Jointly Release a Handbook on Global Good Practices for Cooperatives

• ICAAP President Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav and NCUI President Dileep Sanghanion jointly released a policy recommendation handbook on SAHAKAR PRAGYA Good Practices for Cooperatives.
• The handbook has been developed by LINAC-NCDC in consultation with eminent experts and leading organizations in the domain of cooperatives.

Key People :

• MD NCDC Sundeep Nayak and National President Sahakar Bharati DN Thakur were also present in the function held at NCDC headquarters.

About the Book :

• The book is based on a ‘Brainstorming Session on International Good Practices Platform for Cooperatives’ conducted earlier by Laxmanrao Inamdar National Academy for Cooperative Research and Development (LINAC) of NCDC.
• The book is a compendium of guidelines, resources, methodologies, key learning, case studies of the best performing cooperatives in India and abroad and the outcome and impact.
• It would serve as an action plan that can help these entities to achieve the goal of self-reliance.
• Some of the best practices were from milk, credit and banking co-operatives in the handbook, details which are aligned with the Government’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
• India has more than 8 lakh registered cooperative societies, especially in the agricultural and agri-allied sector, banking and housing sectors. The cooperative movement in the country has regained focus after the Union Government recently created the Ministry of Cooperation to provide a separate administrative legal and policy framework for streamlining the cooperatives.

Note :

• In this regard, NCDC-LINAC and ICAAP signed an agreement intending to assimilate and develop further on the core strengths, experience and institutional objectives of the respective parties in the interest of advancement of research, study, documentation and training for development of the cooperative sector.
• On behalf of LINAC, Lt Col Dr Baljit Singh, Chief Director, LINAC, Gurugram signed the pact while Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director, ICA AP represented the other party.

About Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying :

• Union Minister : Parshottam Rupala
• Minister of State : Sanjeev Balyan, L. Murugan

UNION GOVERNMENT SCHEME

PRADHAN MANTRA AWAS YOJANA – HOUSING FOR ALL

Launched on:

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Mission launched on 25th June 2015 which intends to provide housing for all in urban areas by year 2022.

The Mission provides Central Assistance to the implementing agencies through States/Union Territories (UTs) and Central Nodal Agencies (CNAs) for providing houses to all eligible families/ beneficiaries against the validated demand for houses for about 1.12 cr.

As per PMAY(U) guidelines, the size of a house for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) could be upto 30 sq. mt. carpet area, however States/UTs have the flexibility to enhance the size of houses in consultation and approval of the Ministry.

Ministry involved :

The mission is under ministry of housing and urban affairs

Minster of housing and urban affairs- hardeep singh puri.

Objectives :

Building and/ or enhancing the houses led by legatees

Promotion of ‘Affordable Housing’ for weaker section through credit linked subsidy

Rehabilitation of existing slum dwellers with private sector participation using land as resource

Affordable housing in association with private and government funding.

Eligibility :

People belonging to low-income group families, middle income groups and economically weaker section of the society is elgibole for PMAY.

Moreover, if you fulfill the stated eligibility and if your family comprises of husband, wife and unmarried children you can avail this PMYA benefits.

In order to avail the benefits of PMYA scheme the person should not own a pucca house either in his name or in the name of any member of your family in any part of India to receive central assistance under the Mission.

Income criteria

The income criteria will be considered to provide the PMYA benefits. The income group of EWS, MIG, LIG will be only taken into account to get the benefits of this scheme.

The households with an annual income up to Rs. 3 Lakh will be considered as Economically Weaker Section- EWS.

The households with an annual income between Rs. 3 Lakh to Rs. 6 Lakh will fall under Lower Income Group-LIG.

Whereas the families annual incomes of above Rs 6 lakhs to Rs 18 lakhs will fall under the bracket of Middle-Income Groups- MIG.

Only the families fall under the above-given income group are eligible for interest subsidy on housing loans under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).

Benefits :

Interest subsidy of 6.5 percent on housing loan will be provided for 15 years to the beneficiaries.

Older and Differently abled persons will be given preference in the allotment of ground floors under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme.

Eco friendly and sustainable technologies will be used during the construction process.

The scheme will cover entire urban area consisting of 4041 statutory towns with initial focus on 500 Class I cities in three phases.

Credit linked subsidy component of the scheme would be implemented across the country in all statutory towns right from the beginning.

Corpus :

At the time of launch, The government has approved an investment of ₹43,922 crore for construction of 6,83,724 houses for urban poor including central assistance commitment of ₹10,050 crore.

Recent news:

A virtual event was conducted on June 25, 2021, to mark 6 years of successful completion of the three transformative Urban Missions vis. Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U)

A short movie that encapsulated the Mission’s journey of six glorious years was showcased during the event, that focussed on the various achievements under the scheme, in line with the vision of Prime Minister- ‘Housing for All’ by 2022

Daily CA On  21^st Jan:

• Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has authorised the release of an advance installment of tax devolution to State Governments amounting to 47,541 crore.
• The 69th meeting of Governing Body of National Water Development Agency, NWDA was held through video conferencing.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hosting the first meeting of the India-Central Asia Summit in a virtual format on 27th January.
• IFFCO, the cooperative fertiliser company, has reached out to farmers in Kuttanad – the rice bowl of Kerala – through a boat campaign to popularise its nano urea liquid.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth will jointly inaugurate the India-assisted Social Housing Units project in Mauritius virtually on 20 January, 2022.
• In-line with Government’s vision to boost defence exports to friendly foreign countries, HAL signed a contract with of Mauritius (GoM) for export of one Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH Mk III) for Mauritius Police Force.
• Gujarat government has launched a helpline for senior citizens. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Pradip Parmar has launched this helpline with a toll-free number 14567.
• Meghalaya cabinet has approved the extension of the upper age limit for recruitment in all State Government services from 27 years to 32 years and the same has been extended to 37 years for Schedule tribes.
• India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) expects Gross Domestic Products (GDP) to grow by 7.6 per cent in the fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23)
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has launched Saa₹thi, a mobile app on investor education.
• India Post Payments Bank, IPPB, has crossed the five-crore customer mark in just 3 years of commencement of its operations to become one of the fastest growing digital payments bank in the country.
• In order to promote inclusive good governance, strengthening of local institutions and effective implementation of government programmers, the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Government of India and National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD & PR), Hyderabad signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
• To further strengthen the vocational and technical training framework, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU).
• National Innovation Foundation’s Incubation and Entrepreneurship Council and Amazon India have signed an MoU for online distribution of product of grassroots innovations, student innovations, and outstanding traditional knowledge-based products.
• The International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA), with an objective of capacity building of professionals in the insurance sector in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Insurance Institute of India (III).
• Maltese center-right MEP Roberta Metsola was elected president of the European Union Parliament.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation appointed Vikram Dev Dutt as Chairman and Managing Director of Air India as part of a senior-level bureaucratic reshuffle.
• The Board of Directors of IFFCO unanimously elected Dileep Sanghani, a former cabinet minister in the Government of Gujarat and senior co-operator, became the 17th chairman of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO).
• Global internet body ICANN-supported Universal Acceptance Steering Group has roped in Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma as UA Ambassador.
• Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, the retail unit of Reliance Industries Ltd, has acquired 54% stake in Addverb Technologies for $132 million ( ₹983 crore approximately).
• ICAAP President Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav and NCUI President Dileep Sanghanion jointly released a policy recommendation handbook on SAHAKAR PRAGYA Good Practices for Cooperatives.