• Amid calls of boycott for Beijing Winter Olympics, the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE)  has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an investigation into the genocide and other crimes against humanity being committed by Chinese officials against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan.

• Lawyers for the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement had filed a formal legal complaint to the ICC on July 6, 2020.

• The legal team was in Istanbul to collect further evidence and testimony from victims and survivors in the Uyghur diaspora community of Istanbul.

• The East Turkistan Government in Exile, Human Rights Watch Association of East Turkistan, the Association of Turkic World Solidarity and Cooperation, a legal team led by British lawyer Rodney Dixon QC as well as the Uyghur diaspora residing in Turkey held a news conference at a hotel in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul.

• The ETGE in unison with several NGOs and the victims from East Turkistan also urged Turkey to recognize the genocide in East Turkistan.

• Turkish lawyer Gulden Sonmez, who is heading East Turkistanis legal complaint against China at the Istanbul Court of Justice, also urged Turkey's Government to act and come to the aid of East Turkistan.

• She also urged Turkey to release Uyghurs who are being held in immigration detention centres across Turkey, as well as helping Uyghurs like Idris Hasan, who has been extra-judicially detained upon arrival in Morocco since July 2021.

• Halit Kanak, the head of the Association of Turkic World Solidarity and Cooperation, said the group urged the ICC to investigate China which will host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing

• British Lawyer Rodney QC said available evidence suggested that the number of Uyghurs deported from China's neighbour, Tajikistan, rose sharply from 2016 to 2018, and their population residing there declined by 85 per cent.

• Since the Chinese government was awarded the 2022 Winter Games in 2015, non-governmental organizations and media outlets have documented numerous serious human rights violations by Chinese authorities.

• These include arbitrary detention, torture, and forced labour of millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic groups in Xinjiang (the Uyghur region); the decimation of independent media, democratic institutions, and rule of law in Hong Kong; high-tech surveillance systems enabling authorities to track and unjustly prosecute peaceful conduct, including criticism shared through apps and many other human rights violations.

• As the Union Budget has given immense thrust in building infrastructure across the sectors, the South Western Railway has got Rs 6,900 crore, including the Karnataka government's share of Rs 780 crore, to take up its ongoing works related to railway infrastructure as well as passenger amenities. The allocation for the financial year 2022-23 is 40 per cent more compared to that of Rs 4,900 crore in the previous year.

• The government on Feb 4 has decided to provide 'Z' category security by commandos of the CRPF to prominent Muslim leader and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

• The decision to grant 'Z' category security to the chief of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) came a day after his car was allegedly fired upon in Hapur while he was returning to Delhi after attending election-related events in western Uttar Pradesh.

• US President Joe Biden joined Pope Francis and a leading Sunni imam on Feb 4  in calling for greater global cooperation to fight the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and other world crises on the second anniversary of a landmark Christian-Muslim peace initiative.

• The Vatican released a statement from Biden marking the International Day of Human Fraternity, a U.N.-designated celebration of interfaith and multicultural understanding inspired by a landmark document signed on February 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi by Francis and Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayyeb, the imam of the Al-Azhar center for Sunni learning in Cairo.

• The document called for greater mutual understanding and solidarity to confront the problems facing the world.

• A day after the Budget 2022-23 was presented in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore apart criticism that there was nothing for the poor, farmers and the middle class. In his virtual address to BJP workers across the country, Modi said the Budget has taken public investment to record levels to create more infrastructure, which will lead to faster growth and more jobs.

• Highlighting the Budget announcements for farmers, Modi said the river linking project under which Rs 60,000 crore has been allocated for Ken-Betwa project will meet the irrigation needs of farmers in Madhya Pradesh. And, Rs 68,000 crore has been earmarked for direct assistance to farmers under the Kisan Samman Nidhi, he added. Besides, a digital platform has been created to help farmers get the best price for their produce, he noted adding that a separate agriculture corridor will also be created for farmers’ benefit.

• Modi said there is a scheme to make annadatas (food providers) into ujradatas (energy providers). Under this, farmers will be provided solar pumps through which they would be able to sell their excess power. They will also be provided with drones to efficiently handle crops. He claimed the government has made record procurement under minimum support price.

• The Budget has a large number of schemes for the poor and youth, the PM said, adding that over nine crore households have piped water, and 80 lakh pucca houses are being constructed for the poor. This, he said, is being done with the aim of providing housing for all.

• He said the government’s focus is to develope remote areas, adding that all the villages of the country will soon be connected with optical fibre cable, which will take high-speed intenet to the villages. This, he said, will open doors to development in villages. The PM said the Project Parvatmala will take government’s development schemes to the remote Himalayan villages.

• The Budget has laid foundation for providing growth avenues for the youth of the country, Modi said. He added that startups have been given further tax benefits and asked youth to start their own business. The digital university, announced in the Budget, will soon be established and India should move towards gaming hub. Underlining the huge size of the gaming market, he said India should develop its own games in order to reduce dependence on foreign games. 

• Income tax return forms from next year will have a separate column for making disclosures on gains made from cryptocurrencies and paying taxes, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said. From April 1st, 30% tax plus cess and surcharges will be applied on crypto income

LIC IPO in March

• Draft LIC IPO prospectus to be filed by next week, issue in March, says Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secy to the Dept of Investment and Public Asset Management

• Moving further to become  a total collision-free national mode of transportation for both the passengers and freights services, the Indian Railways has started working on a comprehensive safety plan  to commission  the country's indigenously developed SIL-4 certified "Train Collision Avoidance System" (TCAS), known as 'Kawach', on almost all the prominent  rail routes by 2024.

• According to the Railways, the Kawach has been developed basically as an effective technology system to work as an anti-collision device. It has been indigenously developed by the Research Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO) and others associated research firms with a capacity of ensuring the highest degree of accuracy in preventing collision between two trains.

• Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "Indigenously developed anti-collision technology called Kawach, (TCAS) is SIL-4(Safety Integrity Level) certified. That means there is the probability of a single error in 10,000 years in its efficient working results."

• And the Train Collision Avoidance System or Kawach after an on-going initial test in the South Central Railway as on a pilot basis, near Hyderabad, would get a wider installation on more than 2000 routes km of railway networks by 2024.

• After the announcement of bringing 2000 km of the rail network under the application of the Kawach safety system as a part of India's Atmanirbhar Bharat, the railways has finally geared up to go on a mission mode for the Kawach installation.

• All the 400 new-generation Vande Bharat trains to be rolled out during the next three years would be equipped with world class safety  and comfort facilities with an enhanced running capacity up to 180kmp on strengthen tracks.

• Designed under Make In India concept in 2018, the two Vande Bharat trains of version-I are currently running between New Delhi and Varanasi and the Delhi and Katra in Kashmir with 95 per cent of occupancy.

• Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has  said that when the first prototype of version-I Vande Bharat train was developed and designed under the 'Make In India' initiative to run at the speed of 180 kmph in 2018, it has taken the entire world by utter surprise as how the Indian railway engineers succeed in designing and developing this train.

• He said that after the successful test-run of second version of Vande Bharat train, the Indian railway will start manufacturing 7 to 8 such trains every month.

• In reply to a specific query, the railway minister said that new 400 new -generation Vande Bharat trains will create separate segment with the expectation of people, who afford to undertake journey in the premier trains.

• The railway increased the number of Vande Bharat trains from 75  the prime minister had announced in 2021 to 400 during the next three years.

• The railway minister further said that the Vande Bharat trains as an excellent example of Make In India concept would be include India I the club of eight other countries which have had developed trains like that to run up to 180 kmph apart from the bullet trains.

• He further said that almost all important cities of country would be linked with the operating services of Vande Bharat trains in future.