National
Henley Passport Index 2022
⇒ The Indian passport now ranked at 83rd position on the Henley Passport Index 2022.
- Indian passport rank climbed seven places from the 90th rank last year.
» Henley Passport Index 2022 released the rankings for the first quarter of 2022. The index is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – the largest, most accurate travel information database – and enhanced by Henley & Partners’ research team.
» The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different destinations.
Key Points:
- As per the report, Japan and Singapore top the list of being the most powerful passports in the world for the year 2022. The visa-free score of both countries is at 192.
- Afghanistan (rank 111) and Iraq (rank 110) continue to be in the ‘worst passports to hold’ category having a visa-free score of 26 and 28 respectively.
About:
- The Henley Passport Index is the original, authoritative ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. It was launched in 2006.
- Henley & Partners is the London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm.
Agri Nutri Garden Week
⇒ Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) has observed ‘Agri Nutri Garden Week’ from 10th to 17th January, 2022 through awareness campaign and encouraging establishment of ‘Agri Nutri Gardens’ in the rural households.
It is the Mission’s agenda to support every rural poor household to have Agri Nutri Garden to fulfill the need of the family’s nutrition and any excess production can also be sold for income generation.
A total of 76,664 ‘Agri Nuti Gardens’ were established in this week against the target of 7500.
DAY-NRLM aims to encourage every poor rural household to create an Agri Nutri Garden.
Mobile COVID testing facility for Northeast
⇒ Union Minister of State (I/C) Science & Technology; Minister of State (I/C) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh launched Mobile COVID testing facility for Northeast, beginning with Mizoram.
Mizoram Chief Minister Pu Zoramthanga also attended the online launch ceremony on 20 January 2022.
The first of its kind Mobile Diagnostic Laboratory (I-LAB) is capable of performing both RT-PCR and ELISA.
Union Minister said, Mobile Lab Technology will be rolled out gradually in other States of North-East as the region has unique climatic and topographical conditions.
International
Vice President of AIIB
⇒ Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel has been appointed as a Vice President of the Beijing-based multilateral funding institution Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on 11 January 2022. The appointment of Patel is effective from February 1, 2022.
AIIB’s Board of Directors has appointed Dr Urjit Patel to the position of Vice President for Investment Operations Region 1 – South Asia, the Pacific Islands and South East Asia.
About AIIB:
- India is a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with the second-highest voting share after China.
- It is headed by the former Chinese vice-minister for finance Jin Liqun.
- AIIB began operations in Beijing in January 2016.
IMF’s Chief Economist
⇒ The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has appointed French-born University of California-Berkeley economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas as the Fund’s next chief economist in January 2022.
As Economic Counsellor, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas will serve as director of the IMF’s Research Department.
Sports
2022 Adelaide International 1
⇒ The 2022 Adelaide International 1 was a tennis tournament held on 3-9 January 2022 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
It was a combined 2022 ATP Tour 250 and 2022 WTA 500 tournaments. This was the third edition of the tournament for the women and the second edition for the men.
Winners:
Men’s Singles:
Gaël Monfils (France) defeated Karen Khachanov (Russia)
Women’s Singles:
Ashleigh Barty (Australia) defeated Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina
Men’s Doubles:
Rohan Bopanna (India) & Ramkumar Ramanathan (India) defeated Ivan Dodig (Croatia) & Marcelo Melo (Brazil)
Women’s Doubles:
Ashleigh Barty (Australia) & Storm Sanders (Australia) defeated Darija Jurak Schreiber (Croatia) & Andreja Klepač (Slovenia)
Death
Noted Kannada writer and literary critic Professor Chandrashekar Patil
⇒ Noted Kannada writer and literary critic Professor Chandrashekar Patil, popularly known as Champa, passed away on 10 January 2022 in Bengaluru. He was 83.
Champa was known for his revolutionary literature (Bandaya Sahithya). He was the editor of ‘Sankramana’, a Kannada literary publication. He had also served as the head of the Kannada Development Authority and Kannada Sahitya Parishat.