1) Sanctuaries in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh listed as Ramsar sites
•The Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary near Jamnagar in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh have been listed as Wetlands of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention. With this, the total number of Ramsar sites in India goes up to 49. Khijadiya has become the fourth wetland of Gujarat to get the Ramsar tag. Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary, Thol Wildlife Sanctuary and Wadhwana wetland are the other Ramsar sites in the state. The last two were included in April last year.
2) Khelo India 2022 Scheme Allocation Increases by 48% in Budget
•The Government has decided to continue the scheme of ‘Khelo India – National Programme for Development of Sports’ over the 15th Finance Commission Cycle — 2021-22 to 2025-26 — at an outlay of Rs 3165.50 crore. Khelo India Scheme Allocation increases by 48 per cent in Budget 2022 and includes it in the Prime Minister’s Award Scheme.”
3) India’s 1st-ever season style book written by Akash Kansal
•India’s first-ever season style book titled ‘The Class of 2006: Sneak Peek into the Misadventures of the Great Indian Engineering Life’, written by Akash Kansal a management professional. The book was virtually launched at one of the biggest book launch ceremonies at IIT Kanpur, & Delhi Technological University. “The Class of 2006” consists of 18 different episodes that recall the times spent in College. The book was released on Amazon Kindle by R. Madhavan, an Indian film actor, writer, director, and producer.
4) Banks to transfer 15 NPA accounts worth Rs 50,000 crores to NARCL in FY22
•As per SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) or bad bank and IndiaDebt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL) are ready to commence operations. A total of 38 Non-Performing Asset (NPA) accounts worth Rs 82,845 crore have been identified to be transferred to NARCL initially.
•In Phase I, 15 stressed assets (i.e. Non-Performing Asset accounts) worth Rs 50,000 crore will be transferred to NARCL in the current financial year. Public Sector Banks have taken a majority stake in NARCL, IDRCL will be majorly owned by private sector banks.
5) Vedanta tied up with Union Bank of India to take over syndicated facility
•Vedanta Ltd has tied up a facility of Rs 8,000 crores (replacement facility) with Union Bank of India at 7.75% to take over the majority of the syndicated facility after discussions with lenders. During 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vedanta Ltd had tied up a syndicated facility of ₹10K crores with the State Bank of India as the lead bank at a running cost of 10.5 per cent.
•This replacement facility was availed on December 28, 2021, to take over the existing Syndicated facility to reduce the overall interest cost of the company and to prepay high-cost debt raised at over 10% two years ago.
6) Dr. Madan Mohan Tripathi joins as Director General, NIELIT
•Dr. Madan Mohan Tripathi has joined as Director-General of the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT). Before joining NIELIT, Dr Madan Mohan Tripathi was working as Professor at Delhi Technological University (DTU), New Delhi. In DTU he also worked as Director Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) and Coordinator of Intellectual Property Rights Cell.
