Rapid Fire
Rapid Fire Current Affairs
- 13 Feb 2023
- 5 min read
Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Jayanti
Recently, the Prime Minister of India inaugurated the year-long (two-year) celebrations commemorating the 200th birth anniversary of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati. He also released a logo for commemoration.
Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Jayanti is celebrated every year to mark the birth anniversary of the Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati.
He was born on 12th February 1824 in Tankara, Gujarat in a Brahmin family. Dayananda’s views were published in his famous work, Satyarth Prakash (The True Exposition).
He was an Indian philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj. His vision of India included a classless and casteless society. He took inspiration from the Vedas and considered them to be ‘India’s Rock of Ages’. He also gave the slogan “Back to the Vedas”.
The DAV (Dayanand Anglo Vedic) schools came into existence in 1886 to realize the vision of Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
Read More: Arya Samaj
AMRITPEX 2023
Recently, the Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology inaugurated AMRITPEX 2023 - National Philatelic Exhibition. This five-day Mahakumbh of Stamps (11th to 15th February 2023) in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, is being organized as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Celebrations.
The exhibition will feature stamps and photographic collections on the country’s history and culture. It is based on five themes – Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and New India, Yuva Shakti, Nari Shakti, Nature and Wildlife, and India’s Culture and History.
For the first time in India, new Technology like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality has been used to showcase the cultural heritage, history, nature and wildlife by narrating the stories of stamps.
Read More: Initiatives on 75th Independence Day, Virtual Reality
Deendayal Upadhyaya
The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Ji on his Punya Tithi (Death Anniversary).
He was born in 1916 in Nagla Chandrabhan village, now called Deendayal Dham in Uttar Pradesh. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and dedicated himself to full-time work in RSS from 1942. He started a monthly magazine “Rashtra Dharma”, a weekly ‘Panchajanya’, and a daily ‘Swadesh’.
In 2019, Prime Minister unveiled a 63-feet tall statue of Pandit Upadhyaya while inaugurating the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Memorial Centre in Padao on the Varanasi-Chandauli border.
Read More: Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons (PDUNWFS)
NRIs and G-20 Countries to have Access to UPI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted all inbound travellers from the Group of Twenty (G-20) countries and Non-resident Indians (NRIs) to access Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for their merchant payments/ Person to Merchant (P2M) at select airports while they are in the country.
According to the RBI, banks and non-banks authorised to issue Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) can issue rupee-denominated full-KYC PPIs to foreign nationals and NRIs visiting India. The conversion to the Indian rupee can be carried out only by entities authorised to deal in foreign exchange under Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
PPIs are payment instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services against the value stored on such instruments. The value stored on such instruments represents the value paid for by the holder, by cash, by debit to a bank account, or by credit card
