Dear Readers, Here we have given the list of Important Weekly Current Affairs of Feb 01st to 07th Feb 2023. Candidates those who are preparing for Upcoming SBI Clerk 2023 and other competitive exams can make use of it.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

• The ICG Day or Indian Coast Guard Day is celebrated on 01st February every year.
• World Wetlands Day is celebrated on 2nd February every year
• World Cancer Day is an international day marked on 4 February to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
• International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation 2023 is observed on the 6th of February 2023
• International Development Week is celebrated on 6th - 12th February every year.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

• The Union Ministry of Education released data from the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), 2020-2021, which showed a 7.5% increase in student enrolments across the country compared to 2019-20, with total student enrolments reaching 4.13 crore.
• Total toll collection through FASTag on fee plazas, including state highway toll plazas, increased 46 per cent to Rs 50,855 crore in 2022, state-owned NHAI.
• Chennai is all set to host the first G20 Education Working Group meeting on February 1 and 2 and as a precursor a seminar on the ‘Role of Digital Technology in Education’ - a unique initiative under India’s Presidency, is held at the IIT Madras Research Park.
• The Union government choosing to confer Padma Shri on him in the art category is an honour to the Etikoppaka wooden toy craft, and it will go a long way in promoting the art.
• The railways has received a record budgetary push of over Rs 2. 4 lakh crore to accelerate projects like introducing hydrogen-powered wagons and trains, laying of additional tracks, electrification of network, and revamping stations with better amenities for passengers
• Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman provided an outlay of ₹ 35,000 crore to achieve energy transition and net zero objectives and listed green growth among seven priorities of the government.
• Regional aerial connectivity will soon get a boost with the government going to revive old, unused airstrips across the country.
• The people have high expectations from the Rail Budget as the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her fifth Budget and the Centre is going to increase the Railway Budget this time by up to 20 per cent
• Reinforcing its push towards green mobility, the government has nearly doubled its budgetary allocation for the FAME (faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles) scheme to subsidise the purchase of electric vehicles.
• The Union Budget 2023-24 has increased the allocation for some key export-boosting schemes, at a time when tepid external demand from developed economies are weighing on outbound shipments from India.
• The Cente has specified a higher minimum download speed of 2 Mbps (megabits per second).
• The road transport ministry has asked states to register vehicles owned by people with disabilities under the ownership category of “Divyangjan” and extend necessary tax benefits, instead of insisting on only new and adapted vehicles for extending these benefits to them.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a solar cooking system and garments made of recycled plastic bottles, both developed by the Indian Oil Corporation's research lab, at the India Energy Week on February 6 in Bengaluru.
• Delhi Environment minister Gopal Rai opened the Neeli Jheel ecotourism site in the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary to the public

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov & Foreign Minister of the State of Eritrea Osman Saleh announced that the 15th BRICS ( Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit is set to take place in South Africa's Durban in late August, 2023.
• The first International Financial Architecture Working Group meeting of G-20 under the chairmanship of India will be held in Chandigarh on 30-31 January 2023.
• The first G20 Energy Transition Working Group (ETWG) meeting under India's presidency will be held in Bengaluru, Karnataka from Feb 5 to 7, 2023.
• The 11th edition of the International Plastics Exhibition, conference and convention - PlastIndia 2023 will be held at the revamped Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from February 1 to 5, 2023.
• National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan formally launched the United States (US)-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in Washington, US
• The US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) plan to strengthen public-private collaboration in the chip ecosystem by forming a private-sector task force.
• The Ambassador of Spain to the country Jose Maria Ridao announced that India will be invited as the focal country at the Madrid International Book Fair in 2025.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE NEWS

• First Jharkhand Migrant Survey (JMS), a key exercise to draft state-level policy has been launched by Jharkhand for a better understanding of the migrant population, and their numbers.
• Andhra Pradesh (AP) Chief Minister (CM) Shri YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that Visakhapatnam popularly known as Vizag will be the new capital of the AP at the International Diplomatic Alliance meeting in New Delhi.
• India's first green energy based solar panel factory will be built by Delhi-based Luminous Power Technologies in

• The Marathi patriotic and iconic song - ‘Jai Jai Maharashtra Maza, Garja Maharashtra Maza’ - has been designated as the ‘state song’ and would be played at all official functions and ceremonial events.
• The Tamil Nadu (TN) government has proposed to construct a museum for the late Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, in addition to the under-construction superstructure of the memorial on the Marina, TN.
• Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal has inaugurated a “super site” and a mobile van which will collect pollution data in real-time and tell its constituents.
• The Haryana state vigilance bureau has been renamed as Anti-Corruption Bureau.
• Chennai,Tamil Nadu (TN)  is all set to host the first G20 (Group of Twenty) Education Working Group (EWG) meeting held at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Research Park.
• Chief Minister (CM) of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Yogi Adityanath has launched the 'Aarohini Initiative Training Programme' for the safety and security of girls in all 746 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) in UP.
• Uttarakhand, Asia’s second and country’s first cable suspension bridge “Bajrang Setu” is being constructed at Rishikesh.
• A proposal was made at the District Panchayat Board meeting in Etawah to change the name of Etawah district to Mulayam Nagar in the memory of the Samajwadi Party (SP) founder and former Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Mr Mulayam Singh. 
• Delhi Deputy Chief Minister (CM) Manish Sisodia launched the WhatsApp chatbot named Bal Mitra developed by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR).
• The 4-day Jaisalmer ‘Desert Festival’, locally called Maru Mahotsav’, is celebrated in Rajasthan during February every year.
• One of India's leading unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) training and manufacturing groups, Delhi-based Drone Destination (DD) Private Limited, has signed a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna to open Bihar’s first government-approved drone training hub.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

• India is no longer among the top-five nations in terms of market capitalisation (m-cap) as the close to $70 billion rout in Adani Group stocks has seen the domestic market slip to sixth position in the world
• The GST collection in January surged to over ₹55 lakh crore, the second highest-ever mop-up, the finance ministry.
• The Economic Survey projected the Indian economy to slow to a three-year low of 6.5% in FY24, slowing from the estimated 7% growth for the current year due to global economic uncertainty impacting exports.
• In the current fiscal year the exports of Indian leather and footwear sector is expected to touch USD 6 billion, said Sanjay Leekha, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports.
• Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL), the FMCG arm and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), has entered into a strategic partnership with Sri Lanka-headquartered Maliban Biscuit Manufactories (Maliban).
• The business trusts including Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) will need to review mode of their
• income distribution to unitholders as the Union Budget for 2023-24 has proposed to tax such distribution through repayment of debt.
• The country's sugar production rose 3.42 per cent to 19.35 million tonnes in the first four months of the ongoing marketing year ending September, on rise in output in key producing states, industry body ISMA
• The Commerce and Industry Ministry is working on implementing the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) on April 1, 2023, with officials giving the draft a final go-through, but a decision on its duration is yet to be taken
• The US has emerged as India's top destination for merchandise exports during April-December this fiscal at USD 59.7 billion.
• Maharashtra has so far seen the highest number of electric vehicle (EV) sales in the country under the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND ECONOMY

• The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) has raised Rs 9,718 crore through its second infrastructure bond issuance at a coupon rate of 7.70% per annum for the 15-year money.
• The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele launched a domestic card scheme AfriGo to boost the cashless economy & rival foreign cards like Mastercard and Visa.
• RenewBuy has launched its first line of customised health insurance products, the RenewBuy Health Wellness plan with a focus on the large uninsured segment beyond the tier 1 markets.
• According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy is expected to grow by 1% in 2023 and 6.8% in 2024.
• Infibeam Avenues’s flagship payments brand - CCAvenue, has become the first payment gateway player to process Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or Digital Rupee transactions for online retail merchants.
• Canara HSBC Life Insurance has launched “Wealth Edge”, a Unit-Linked Individual Savings Insurance Plan (ULIP).
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has partially relaxed the restrictions it had imposed on SBM Bank (India) Ltd to stop all transactions under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS).
• As per Reserve Bank of India’s  (RBI) index that measures the adoption of online transactions, Digital payments across the country registered a growth of13% in a year through September 2022.
• Australia plans to drop the head of the British royal family from its five-dollar ($5 banknote in favour of a design that honours the culture of the country’s Indigenous people.
• New India Assurance (NIA) has launched a ‘Pay as You Drive’ (PAYD) policy, which offers a comprehensive motor insurance policy that charges a premium based on the usage of the vehicle.
• One of India’s premier public sector banks, Bank of Baroda (BoB), announced the establishment of the ‘Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman’.
• Edelweiss Mutual Fund has launched India’s first open-ended passive short-duration index scheme, called Edelweiss CRISIL IBX 50:50 Gilt Plus SDL Short Duration Index Fund.
• Reliance Retail has become the first Indian retailer to introduce Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), also known as the digital rupee (e₹-R) at its stores.
• According to the data by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based transactions hit 03 billion in January 2023 a substantial increase from the 7.82 billion transactions recorded in December 2022.
• The 49th meeting of the Goods & Service Tax (GST) Council is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on February 18, 2023.
• The National Bank for Agriculture and rural development (NABARD) has estimated a credit potential of Rs 34082 crore under the priority sector for the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) for the year 2023-24.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹50 lahks on North East Small Finance Bank Limited.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹00 lakh on the Bank of Baroda (BoB) for non-compliance with certain provisions of the ‘Reserve Bank of India – (Know Your Customer (KYC)) Direction, 2016’ and Reserve Bank of India (Interest Rate on Deposits) Directions, 2016.
• Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) strengthened the framework for green bonds by introducing the concept of 'blue' and 'yellow' bonds as new modes of sustainable finance.
• As on 31st December 2022, under the Fund of Funds Scheme (FFS) for startups, Rs. 7,980 crore has been committed to 99 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs).
• Money management platform Fi Money has launched its lending services to offer users instant credit, in partnership with Federal Bank.
• RailTel Corporation of India Ltd (RailTel), a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways, has received a Work Order from the State Bank of India (SBI) for providing 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) connectivity to 15,000 offsite Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) spread across India.
• Country's largest public lender State Bank of India (SBI) has given loans of as much as Rs 21,000 crore ($2.6 billion) to Adani Group firms.
• Bajaj Allianz General Insurance announced the launch of its modular health insurance product ‘My Health Care Plan’, an umbrella product for customizable packages.
• The board of IDFC Limited gave its in-principle approval to infuse ₹2,200 crore into IDFC First Bank, providing growth capital to the lender.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

• The Union government choosing to confer Padma Shri on him in the art category is an honour to the Etikoppaka wooden toy craft, and it will go a long way in promoting the art, says C.V. Raju.
• The Hindu Group has bagged four awards at the WAN-IFRA Digital Media South Asia Awards 2022 for its various products and services

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

• The Washington State Democrats have elected Indian-American political consultant Ms Shasti Conrad as the new chair of the Washington State Democrats at its Reorganisation Meeting and Officer Elections event.
• Morgan Stanley has named Mr Arun Kohli as its new country head for India & he will be replacing Mr Sanjay Shah, a veteran of 26 years at the firm, who is retiring.
• Consumer goods giant Unilever appointed Mr Hein Schumacher as its new chief executive officer (CEO , set to take on the role on July 1, 2023.
• Air Marshal A P Singh has been appointed as the new Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has taken over the chairmanship of Supreme Audit Institutions 20 (SAI20) with India assuming the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed Mr V. Ramachandra as a member of the Advisory Committee of Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd. (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd. (SEFL)
• The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has recommended Dr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi as the new Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
• Equatorial Guinea’s President Mr Teodoro Obiang Nguema appointed Ms Manuela Roka Botey, as Prime Minister (PM), of Equatorial Guinea.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING AND REPORTS

• Bengaluru topped the startup funding chart in India with $10.8 billion in 2022, followed by Mumbai at $3.9 billion, and Gurugram at a distant $2.6 billion.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE NEWS

• The Indian Army's 'Exercise Topchi', annual firepower demonstration and training exercise of the Regiment of Artillery was conducted by the School of Artillery at Devlali Field Firing Ranges in Nashik’s Devlali, Maharashtra.

• The Indian military concluded exercise Trishakti Prahar - 10-day joint training exercise in the strategically vital Siliguri corridor, in North Bengal.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• For the first time in the history of India, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch a scientific mission to study the sun - Aditya-L1 mission in June or July, 2023.
• Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), a Bengaluru, Karnataka lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has developed an UnFurlable Reflector Antenna (UFRA), major subsystem for a space radar,

CURRENT AFFAIRS: ACQUISITION AND MERGERS

• The Adani Group acquired the strategic Israeli port of Haifa for USD 1.2 billion and will beautify the Mediterranean city’s skyline as part of its decision to invest more in the Jewish nation, including opening an artificial intelligence lab in Tel Aviv.
• IndusInd International Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of the Hinduja Group has received a go-ahead from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to increase its stake in IndusInd Bank Limited to 26% from the current 15.16%.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWS

• Germany beat Belgium 5-4 in the penalty shootout to win the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India.
• India's tennis ace Sania Mirza signed off her career with six Grand Slam titles after failing to win the Australian Open mixed doubles trophy with compatriot Rohan Bopanna at the Rod Laver Arna in Melbourne.
• In an all-Indonesian final, he defeated Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo 21-15, 21-13 in 44 minutes for his maiden BWF Badminton Tour title on home soil inside Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno Sports Palace.
• Australia's Usman Khawaja bagged the inaugural Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year award following brilliant performances in the last 12 months.
• The champions of the RuPay Prime Volleyball league will compete in the Club World Championship in 2023 and 2024 against some of the top teams from countries like Italy, Brazil and Iran.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES

• Former Union Law Minister and veteran lawyer Shanti Bhushan who was a strong voice against corruption and a defender of civil liberties passed away at the age of 97.
• Veteran film director and Dadasaheb Phalke award winner Kasinathuni Vishwanath passed away at the age of 92 in Hyderabad, Telangana.
• Former Indian National Team footballer Parimal Dey passed away at the age of 81.
• A legendary playback singer & Padma Bhushan awardee Vani Jairam passed away at the age of 78 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN).