Daily Current Affairs- 2 February

Today's Current Affairs 2nd February 2023

INTERNATIONAL

India Asks Australia To Remain Vigilant On Khalistani Elements, Rejects Referendum .              

• The Ministry of External Affairs said New Delhi has raised the matter with Canberra even as voting for a separate Sikh homeland ‘Khalistan’ was carried out on January 29.  

Former UK PM Boris Johnson's Brother Resigns As Director Of Adani-Linked Firm . 

 Lord Jo Johnson, younger brother of former British prime minister Boris Johnson, has resigned his non-executive directorship of a UK-based investment firm linked with the now-withdrawn Adani Enterprises Follow-on Public Offer (FPO)

 NATIONAL

Legendary Filmmaker K Viswanath Passes Away At 92 .   

Filmmaker Kasinadhuni Viswanath died in the wee hours of Friday at a private hospital in Hyderabad. The director was under treatment for quite some time due to age-related ailments and was recently admitted to a hospital where he breathed his last.

BJP to contest on 20 seats in Nagaland State.                         

"We will contest on 20 out of 60 seats in Nagaland. Rest of the seats have been given to our alliance partner NDPP. We'll contest on all 60 seats in Meghalaya. Our tagline is 'M Power Meghalaya' means Modi-powered Meghalaya and a double-engine government will be formed there," the party informed.    

First G20 Sustainable Financial Working Group meeting to begin in Guwahati                       

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, Waterways and AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal will inaugurate the 1st Sustainable Financial Working Group (SFWG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency on Thursday in Guwahati with the theme ‘One Earth. One Family. One Future’ and with the motto “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”. 

 SPORTS

England's  win in the third and final ODI put a massive dent in South Africa's hopes of qualifying for this year's World Cup. 

England's 59-run win in the third and final ODI put a massive dent in South Africa's hopes of qualifying directly for this year's ICC Mens Cricket World Cup. Skipper Jos Buttler (131 off 127 balls) and Dawid Malan (118 off 114 balls) shared a 232-run partnership for the fourth wicket after the hosts had reduced England to 3/14 in the sixth over. That helped the visitors put up a massive 346/7 in their 50 overs.  Archer collected his best ODI bowling figures of 6-40 in just his second international appearance back from a long injury break as South Africa were bowled out for 287 in 43.1 overs. 

South Africa beat India by 5 wickets in the final of the Women's T20 Tri-Series  .

South Africa beat India by 5 wickets in the final of the Women's T20 Tri-Series in South Africa in what was a low-scoring contest at the Buffalo Park, East London. While the visitors had opted to bat first, they got off to a poor start losing both their openers within the first 7 overs with just 21 runs on the board. 

BCCI is finding it difficult to book hotel for the auction, For WPL .

The inaugural season of the Women's Premier League (WPL) is all set to get underway next month. However, the player's auction before the first season of the much-anticipated tournament hasn't yet taken place. While it is being reported that the WPL Auction will take place either on February 11 in New Delhi or February 13 in Mumbai, there is still no clarity on where the bidding war will actually take place between the five teams- Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, and Bengaluru And now a fresh report has emerged which suggest that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is finding it difficult to book hotel for the auction owing to the ongoing wedding season in India.  

Around 1,000 cricketers have sign up for the WPL auction.    

Days before the Women's Premier League Auction set to happen in the second week of February, a recent media report suggests that around 1,000 cricketers have given their names for the auction. It should be noted that 5 teams are participating in the competition- Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, and Bengaluru. This means that around 100-120 players will be picked by the franchises.         

 ECONOMY

Budget and  More

• The Government has also enhanced the outlay for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by 66 per cent to over 79  thousand crore rupees.   
• The Defence Ministry has been allocated 5.94 lakh crore rupees in Budget 2023-24. This is 13.18 percent of the total budget, and a jump of 13 percent over previous year.     
•  The Government has also decided to continue the 50-year interest free loan to state governments for one more year to spur investment in infrastructure and to incentivize them for complementary policy actions, with a significantly enhanced outlay of 1.3 lakh crore rupees.

SBI Gave Loans Worth $2.6 Billion To Companies Of Adani Group .      

State Bank of India (SBI) gave loans worth as much as $2.6 billion to the Adani Group of companies, reported Bloomberg citing a person familiar with the matter. According to the report, the person said that SBI’s loans to companies in the Adani conglomerate are about half of what is allowed under the rules.

 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

IISc launches new research programme

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in collaboration with Brunel University London has launched a £100,000 (₹1,00,00,000) programme for joint research projects in areas of combustion, manufacturing, design and energy.                                                                                                       

The Brunel–IISc International Collaboration Programme was announced on 1 February during a visit by Brunel’s Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Andrew Jones to IISc’s campus in Bengaluru. The programme is being rolled out in support of the universities’ aim to build long-term research and educational collaboration.

 IMPORTANT DAYS

World Wetlands Day

 Every year on 2nd February, World Wetlands Day is celebrated internationally. This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in Ramsar, Iran. It was first celebrated in 1997.

RA Awareness Day 

RA Awareness Day is Rheumatoid Arthritis Awareness Day and is observed on 2 February to spread awareness for patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.