current affairs 16 january 2022

15 January - Indian Army Day

18th Kachai Lemon Festival is starting in Manipur.

• The 18th edition of Kachai Lemon Festival was held in Manipur on 13th and 14th January, 2022 at the local ground of Kachai village in Ukhrul district.
• The theme of the two-day long festival was Organic Kachai Lemon for Safe Environment and Rural Transformation.
• Kachai Lemon Festival is an annual festival organized in Manipur to promote its unique lemon fruit and to encourage lemon farmers.
• The Kachai lemon of Manipur has been given the Geographical Indication (GI) registration tag as it is a rich source of ascorbic acid and is famous for its juice content.
• It is widely grown in Kachai village of Ukhrul district.

Philippines to purchase BrahMos cruise missiles from India for its navy.

• Philippines has become the 1st foreign country to place an order for the purchase of BrahMos Shore-based cruise missile systems for its navy.
• This agreement will give a big boost to India’s defence manufacturing system.
• The estimated deal cost is worth $374,9 million.
• BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited will supply the missile for the Philippine Navy as part of the Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile System acquisition project.

India to host 1st World Deaf T20 Cricket championship in 2023.

• The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) has given its approval to the All India Sports Council for the Deaf (AISCD) to organize the World T20 Cricket Championship for the Deaf in 2023.
• The 1st World Deaf T20 Cricket Championship will be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from 10 January to 20 January 2023.
• India will host such an international event for the 1st time with the approval of the ICSD.
• At least eight countries are expected to participate in the championship.

IndiFi joins hands with Jeepay to provide instant digital credit to SMEs.

• Small businesses-focused online lending platform Indifi Technologies has collaborated with Google Pay to provide instant loans to eligible MSME merchants through the Google Pay platform.
• Google Pay merchants will be given the option to avail a pre-approved loan from IndiFi within the app itself, largely based on their payment receivables data.
• The loan limit will be between Rs 2.5 to Rs 3 lakh.

India grants loan of $900 million to Sri Lanka to overcome forex crisis.

• India has announced financial assistance of USD 900 million line of credit to Sri Lanka to build up its dwindling foreign reserves and food imports.
• It should be noted that Sri Lanka is currently facing shortage of almost all essential commodities due to paucity of dollars to pay for imports.
• India is extending support through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).