current affairs 18 february 2022

World Health Organisation launches Quit Tobacco App.

The World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region (SEAR) has launched Quit Tobacco App.
This application helps people to quit using tobacco in all forms including non-smoking and other innovative products.
The App was launched by Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO-SEAR, on February 15, 2022 during WHO’s year-long Commit to quit campaign.
This latest tobacco control initiative in the form of app will help users to identify the triggers, set their targets, manage cravings, and stay focused to quit tobacco.
Tobacco is the world’s leading cause of preventable death and kills nearly 8 million persons every year.
It claims 1.6 million lives in the WHO South-East Asia Region which is amongst the largest producers and consumers of tobacco products.

The 4th India-Australia Energy Dialogue was on February 15, 2022 through video-conferencing.
The dialogue was co-chaired by Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, RK Singh and Australian Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor.
The main topic of discussion during the dialogue was, energy transition, with focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, storage, electronic vehicles, critical minerals among others.
Both the countries signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for working towards reducing the cost of new and renewable energy technologies and scaling up their deployment to reduce global emissions.

India's wholesale inflation declined to 12.96% in January from 13.56% in the previous month.
Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) has shown a steady decline in recent months.
It fell from 14.87% in November 2021 to 13.56% in December 2021 and 12.96% in January 2022.
However, inflation continues to remain elevated and is a cause of concern for economic policy makers.

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched the Waste to Wealth Creation programme for women in the Sundarbans in West Bengal.
In this, the women will make ornaments and showpieces from the fish scales.
SIDBI will extend benefits to 50 women in directly generating revenues from alternate livelihoods.
Later, these women are expected to become a trainer for replicating and disseminating the knowledge among other aspirants.
This is a part of mission Swavalamban of SIDBI that aims to support artisans to become sustainable.

A new book titled Humans: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War by Samuel Moyen was released.
Samuel Moyen is Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and Professor of History at Yale University.
This provocative book argues about the endless wars the USA created in the past including Vietnam War (1955-1975), Korean War (1950-1953), World War II (1939-1945) etc and this development might not represent progress at all.
The book sheds light on the strategy of the United States of America (USA) on fighting wars and how armed warfare was transformed from an imperfect tool for resolving disputes to an integral part of the modern situation.