India's 1st Wetland Conservation Centre to be set up at Chennai

• Minister of State for Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC), Babul Supriyo announced the establishment of India's 1st Centre for Wetland Conservation and Management (CWCM) at Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is being set up as a part of the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) Institute, a research institute under MOEFCC.

• It was launched on occasion of the World Wetland Day observed on February 2, 2020.

• Wetlands occupy 4.6% of Total Land area in India and cover an area of 15.26 Million Hectares

• At Present, 42 sites in India (Highest in South Asia) have been designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites) covering an area of 1.08 Million hectares.

• On Occasion of World Wetlands Day, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) launched community-based programmes to raise awareness about conservation and rejuvenation of 10 wetlands in around 50 districts along River Ganga.

• NMCG is the 1st of its kind program where Wetland Conservation has been integrated with Basin Management Plan.

RBI to adopt "One Nation One Ombudsman" approach

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that it will integrate the consumer grievances redressal under a single ombudsman as opposed to the three grievance redressal schemes working at present.

• Currently, there are dedicated ombudsman schemes for the consumer grievance redressal in the banking, non bank finance companies and digital transactions.

• Now, the bank has decided to integrate the three Ombudsman schemes.

• The central bank has also operationalized the complaint management system (CMS) portal as a one stop solution. This portal will be used for the alternate dispute resolution of the customer complaints which are not resolved by regulated entities.

• RBI will adopt the 'One Nation One Ombudsman' approach to make the alternate dispute redress mechanism simple and more responsive to the users.

• The mechanism will cater to all the customers from banks, NBFCs and the non-bank issuers of prepaid payment instruments.

• The Ombudsman Scheme will be rolled out in June 2021.

• RBI to adopt "One Nation One Ombudsman" approach

Banking Ombudsman

• It is a quasi-judicial authority that was created in the year 2006 under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006. The authority was created to enable the resolution of complaints of bank customers.

Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 2006

• The Banking Ombudsman Scheme is an inexpensive forum for the redressal of grievances of bank customers. Banking Ombudsman Scheme was first introduced in the year 1995. The scheme was revised in the year 2002. Currently, the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006 is operating.

First women team of COBRA commando unit

• A maiden contingent of 34 CRPF women personnel were inducted into the specialized jungle warfare commando force called CoBRA. The contingent would now be deployed in the anti-naxal operations grid of India.

• COBRA is a special operation unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) of India.

• It established in the year 2009 to counter the Naxalite problem.

• Till now, the battalions were an all-male unit. First time, a contingent of women personnel has been inducted into it.

• The induction of the first women COBRA Unit was marked by a ceremony that was held in Kadarpur village.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)

• It is largest Central Armed Police Force in India. The force works under Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It assists the State or Union Territories in the police operations to maintain the law & order and counter insurgency. It was established as the Crown Representative's Police in July 1939. After Indian Independence, it was renamed as CRPF in accordance with the CRPF Act.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Inaugurates 2nd Exclusive LCA Tejas Production Plant in Bengaluru

• Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's (HAL) 2nd Exclusive Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Tejas Fighter Jets Production Plant at Doddanekundi, Bangalore, Karnataka

• The Plant will double HAL's production capacity of LCA Tejas to 16 LCA Tejas Aircrafts a year (at present it is 8).

• The Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, indigenously designed by Aircraft Development Agency (ADA) under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

• The delivery of the Tejas LCA will begin from March 2024.

• India has set a target of achieving a turnover of INR 1.75 Lakh Crore (USD 25 Billion) in Defence Manufacturing by 2025.

About Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL):

• Chairman and Managing Director - R Madhavan
• Headquarters - Bengaluru, Karnataka

PGIMER Launched India's First Amputee Clinic in Chandigarh

• The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) launched India's first Amputee Clinic, "PGI Amputee Clinic" in Chandigarh.

• The PGI Amputee clinic was inaugurated by PGIMER Director Prof Jagat Ram.

• To improve the amputation patients, care by providing collection of services in one place with significant coordination.

UP's Shravasti Tops Niti Aayog's Aspirational Districts Ranking in December 2020

• The Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh(UP) topped the Aspirational Districts Ranking of Niti Aayog in December 2020, the ranking is done every month. Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure were the development areas that were considered for the ranking.

• The aspirational district programme was launched in January 2018 with an aim to transform the districts with lesser progress in the key social areas and have identified pockets of under development.

• Dhalai of Tripura secured the 2nd position followed by Garhwa of Jharkhand, Baksa of Assam and Bokaro of Jharkhand in 3rd, 4th and 5th position respectively.

India slips to 53rd Rank in EIU's Democracy Index 2020; Norway tops the Index

• According to the Democracy Index 2020 released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), India with a score of 6.61 slipped two places to 53rd Rank (out of 167 countries) in the Index due to decline in Civil Liberties

• The Rankings are based on 5 Categories
• Electoral Process & Pluralism
• Functioning of Government
• Political Participation
• Political Culture Civil Liberties

• India along with the US, France, Belgium & Brazil have been classified under 'Flawed Democracy Category. Based on scores on 60 Indicators,

• Countries have been classified into one of the four types of regime. They are
• Full Democracy - 23 Countries
• Flawed Democracy - 52 Countries,
• Hybrid Regime - 35 Countries Authoritarian regimes - 57 regimes

• Japan & South Korea marked improvements as they returned to 'Full Democracy for the first time since 2014.

• Taiwan attained the status of 'Full Democracy' for the First Time.

About Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU):

• Managing Director - Robin Bew
• Headquarters - London, United Kingdom

RBI Appointed External Professional IT Firm to Audit HDFC Bank's IT Infrastructure

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed an external professional IT firm to carry out a special audit of the entire IT infrastructure of HDFC bank under Section 30 (1-B) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The audit will be conducted at the cost of the bank under Section 30 (1-C) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The name of the IT firm was not disclosed.

• This appointment is part of RBI's check to examine whether the bank has improved its digital capabilities following recent issues.

• HDFC bank had multiple outages in its internet banking/mobile banking/payment utilities over the past 2 years.

About HDFC Bank:

• Headquarters - Mumbai, Maharashtra

• Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO)- Sashidhar Jagdishan(Succeeds Aditya Puri)
• Tagline- We understand your world

Federal Bank Launched FedFirst, a Special Savings Account for Children

• Federal Bank Ltd launched FedFirst, a special savings account for children up to age of 18 years (both Resident and Non Resident Indians-NRIs). The account is designed to help children learn about the importance of money management. FedFirst contactless Debit Card is given to this account holder.

• The daily cash withdrawal limit at Automated Teller Machines(ATMs) is Rs 2,500.

• The daily shopping limit at Point of Sale-PoS / E-com is Rs 10,000 (includes Daily Contactless transaction limit of Rs 5000)

About Federal Bank Ltd:

• Founder- Late Kulangara Paulo(K.P.) Hormis
• Headquarters, Aluva, Kerala

• Managing Director(MD) & Chief Executive Officer(CEO)- Mr. Shyam Srinivasan Tagline - Your Perfect Banking Partner
• Incorporated- April 23, 1931 as the Travancore Federal Bank Limited, Nedumpuram, Kerala under the Travancore Companies Regulation, 1916. It became a scheduled commercial bank under the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 on July 20, 1970.

"Aatmanirbharta" named Oxford Hindi Word of 2020

• The Oxford Languages has named "Aatmanirbharta or Self-Reliance" as the Hindi Word of the year 2020 since it validated the day-to-day achievements of the countless Indians who dealt with and survived the perils of a pandemic.

• The major success of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign is the large-scale production of the COVID-19 vaccine in India.

• The word was chosen by the advisory panel of language experts: Kritika Agrawal, Poonam Nigam Sahay and Imogen Foxell.

• In 2017, Aadhar was chosen as the first Hindi World of the year and Hindi Word of the Year 2019 was "Samvidhaan or the Constitution" and 2018 was "Nari Shakti or women empowerment".

Jeff Bezos to Step Down as CEO of Amazon; Andy Jassy Succeeds Jeff Bezoz

• Jeff Bezos, the Founder and CEO of Amazon, will step down as the CEO of Amazon in the third quarter October 2021 and Andy Jassy, the lead of Amazon Web Services(AWS), the cloud computing unit of Amazon will take over as the New CEO.

• Jeff Bezos will be taking up the role of executive chair of the Amazon's Board of Directors.

About Amazon:

• CEO- Jeff Bezos (Will be Succeeded by Andy Jassy)

• Headquarters Seattle, Washington, USA

Punjab's First Central Water Treatment Plant' at Moga starts Drinking Water Supply

• Punjab's First Central Water Treatment Plant' set up at Village Daudhar of Moga, Punjab began to supply Clean Drinking Water to 85 Villages of Moga district. This plant was built with a financial assistance worth INR 232 Crores from World Bank.

• The plant is capable of purifying 50 MLD (Millions of Liter per Day) of water from Abohar Canal Branch.

• Villages Covered - one in Moga, 47 villages of Bagha Purana and 37 villages of Nihal Singh Wala.

• The plant will provide 24 hours safe drinking water facility through underground pipelines to the homes of 4.5 lakh people.

• The Project was developed by Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which will be responsible for operation & maintenance of the project for the next 10 years.

About World Bank:

• Headquarters- Washington, D.C., United States
• President- David Malpass

Indian Cricketer Ashok Dinda Announced His Retirement From All Forms Of Cricket

• Indian bowler Ashok Dinda announced his retirement from all formats of Cricket at the age of 36. He Hails from West Bengal.

• He made his One Day International (ODI) debut in May 2010 against Zimbabwe.