current affairs 18 November 2022

Govt appoints Dr Arvind Virmani as full-time member of NITI Aayog.

• The government of India has appointed Dr Arvind Virmani as a full time member of NITI Aayog with immediate effect.
• He was Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry from 2007-09.
• He had also worked as the Executive Director at IMF till 2012.
• He served as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of RBI on monetary policy from 2013 to 2016.
• Other existing Members: VK Saraswat, Ramesh Chand and VK Paul.
• Vice Chairman of NITI: Suman Bery
• CEO: Parameswaran Iyer

Arunachal Pradesh launches drone-based livestock vaccines delivery service.

• TechEagle (drone delivery startup) has organised the world’s first vaccine delivery for Animal Husbandry in Arunachal Pradesh, India.
• This service was carried out by TechEagle in collaboration with the Animal Husbandry department and EY.
• Aim: To robust Healthcare ecosystem of the animals.
• The flight took off from Roing to Paglam, which covered aerial distance of 29 km (road distance:120 km) in 20 minutes.
• It has used its hybrid drone Vertiplane X3 for the maiden flight.

US imposes $1.4 mn fine on Air  India  over delay in refunds.

• The US Department of Transportation has fined Air India $1.4 million (around Rs 11.3 crore) for delaying refunds worth $121.5 million (around Rs 985 crore) to passengers whose flights were cancelled during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Air India is among the six airlines that were probed by the US government.
• Totally, over $600 million in refunds were paid and $7.25 million penalties imposed against six airlines for extreme delays in providing refunds.

SBI and Germany's KfW sign agreement for solar projects.

• SBI has signed a 150 million euro (Rs 1,240 crore) loan agreement with the German development bank KfW for funding solar projects.
• This loan will facilitate new and upcoming capacities in the solar sector and further contribute to the goals announced during the COP26.
• India and Germany had signed an MoU in 2015 to foster solar energy through technical as well as financial cooperation.
• This is the second loan from KFW to SBI as part of the solar partnership with India.

Global Skill Summit co-chaired by Dharmendra Pradhan and Piyush Goyal.

• The first virtual Global Skill Summit was co-chaired by Dharmendra Pradhan (Education Minister) and Piyush Goyal (Union Minister of Commerce and Industry).
• The summit was jointly organised by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).
• Aim: To facilitate overseas mobility of the skilled workforce.