Government sets up National Dam Safety Authority.

• The Parliament of India had passed the Dam Safety Act 2021 on December 8, 2021, which seeks to provide an institutional architecture for dam safety in the country.
• Following this, the Central Government has established an Authority, which shall known as the National Dam Safety Authority, to discharge the powers and functions of the National Authority under the Dam Safety Act.
• The Authority came into force with effect from February 18, 2022.
• The headquarter of the Authority will be located in the national capital region, and have four regional offices.

PM Modi inaugurates 550-tonne capacity Gobar-Dhan (Bio-CNG) Plant in Indore.

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated a 550-tonne capacity “Gobar-Dhan (Bio-CNG) Plant” in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on February 19, 2022, through video conferencing.
• This is the biggest Bio-CNG plant in Asia. It has been set up at a cost of Rs 150 crore.
• The gobardhan plant is based on the concept of waste-to-wealth innovation.
• It is proposed that such Gober Dhan Bio CNG plants will be established in 75 big Municipal bodies in coming two years.

Mumbai to host International Olympic Committee session in 2023.

• Mumbai, India will host the International Olympic Committee session in 2023. The IOC Session for 2023 will be held at Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai.
• The last such session was hosted by India in the year 1983 in New Delhi. In 2022, the IOC session was held in Beijing, China.
• What is IOC Session: it is the annual meeting of the members of the IOC i.e 101 voting members and 45 honorary members.
• Nita Ambani is the representative of India on this committee.

Dollar-millionaire households in India increased by 11% in 2021: Hurun India Wealth Report.

• According to the latest Hurun India Wealth Report 2021, the number of dollar-millionaire households in India increased by 11 percent to 4,58,000 households in 2021, as compared to 2020,
• Household having a net worth of at least INR 7 crore ($1 million), is referred to as a dollar-millionaire household.
• The report has estimated that the number of dollar-millionaire households in the country shall increase by 30% over the next five years to reach 6,00,000 households in 2026.
• Meanwhile, in the list of cities with most millionaires, Mumbai has topped with 20,300 millionaires households.
• Mumbai is followed by Delhi with 17,400 and Kolkata with 10,500 millionaire households, respectively.
• The report is based on survey on 350 Indian ‘millionaires’ (individuals with a personal wealth of $1 million).

India-UAE inks free trade agreement (FTA) to raise bilateral trade to $100 billion in 5 years.

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held a Virtual Summit on February 18, 2022, with the aim to further strengthen the bilateral relations in all sectors.
• A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed between Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal and Minister of Economy of UAE, H.E. Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri.
• The CEPA, is a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries to increase the bilateral trade from the current USD 60 billion to USD 100 billion in the next 5 years.
• This CEPA is India’s first bilateral trade agreement in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.

SBI, PNB, BoB, UBI, Canara Bank and BoM acquires stake in IDRCL.

State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BoB), Union Bank of India (UBI), Canara Bank, and Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) have announced their subscription to the shares of India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL). Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Public FIs will hold a maximum of 49% in stake of IDRCL while the remaining stake will be with private-sector lenders. The NARCL has been incorporated under the Companies Act, and public sector banks will hold 51 per cent in NARCL.

Equitas Small Finance Bank raises Rs 550 crore from Central Bank of Singapore, Government of Singapore, others.

• Equitas Small Finance Bank has raised Rs 550 crore in total from the government of Singapore, Singapore’s central bank (Monetary Authority of Singapore) and a host of local mutual funds in the qualified institutional placement of equities.
• The amount of investments from these entities is bifurcated below:
• Government of Singapore-about Rs 155 crore
• Monetary Authority of Singapore -Rs 36 crore.
• Mutual funds (Nippon Life India Trustee, SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential, HDFC Mutual Fund and HDFC Trustee Company)- Rs 359 crore.

JPMorgan becomes the First Bank Into the Metaverse.

• JPMorgan (largest bank in the U.S.) announced that it has become the first bank to enter in the metaverse. It has opened a lounge in Decentralandi.e. a virtual world based on blockchain technology.
• The lounge has been named as Onyx lounge and has an image of CEO of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon.

TransUnion CIBIL Partners with FICCI for a Nation-wide MSME Consumer Education Program.

• TransUnion CIBIL has partnered with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to launch a unique nationwide MSME consumer education program to support MSME.
• Objective: The program will help MSMEs in gaining awareness of credit management, CIBIL Rank and commercial credit information. It will teach them on how to build a good credit history and CIBIL Rank to avail easier and faster loans.
• This program will kick off with MSME clusters in Maharashtra, Assam and Tripura and aims to reach thousands of MSMEs across key MSME clusters in India.

India Observed 7th Soil Health Card Day on 19 February 2022.

• In India, 19 February is marked as the Soil Health Card Day to commemorate the launch of the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme, and create awareness about the benefits of the scheme.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme on 19th February, 2015 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan.
• 2022 marks the seventh year of the launch of the SHC Scheme.
• Purpose of the scheme is to issue soil health cards to farmers every two years so as to provide a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in soil. The scheme ensures additional income to farmers by an increase in yields and it also promotes sustainable farming.