DAILY GK 1-2 APRIL

 DAILY GK 1-2 APRIL

1.         WHO LAUNCHES COVINET TO MONITOR EMERGING CORONAVIRUSES

·           The World Health Organisation (WHO) has launched the Coronavirus Network (CoViNet), a global network which will ensure timely detection, monitoring, and assessment of coronaviruses of public health importance.
The CoViNet aims to facilitate early and accurate detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)  and novel coronaviruses of public health importance.
CoViNet includes 36 laboratories from 21 countries across all 6 WHO regions.

·           This includes 3 Indian laboratories.Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

·           Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV), Pune, Maharashtra.

·           Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad, Haryana.

·           WHO Director-General – Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

·           Headquarters – Geneva, Switzerland

·           Establishment – 7 April 1948

 

2.         RBI: RESERVE ASSETS SURGE BY USD34.8 BILLION

·           India’s International Investment Position (IIP) as of December 2023 showed a decline in net claims of Non-Residents on India by USD12.2 billion during the period from October to December 2023 to USD370.4 billion as the end of December 2023.

·           Main reason for the decline is the increase in reserve assets, surging by USD34.8 billion during Q3 FY24

·           As per the RBI data, decline in net claims was due to an exponential increase in financial assets of overseas Indian residents which amounts to USD40.7 billion as compared to the increase in foreign-owned assets in India which is USD28.5 billion.

·           The increase in reserve assets which accounted for over 85% of increase in foreign assets held by India residents.

·           Reserve assets accounted for 63.9% of India’s international financial assets.

·           The share of debt liabilities in total external liabilities has remained same, maintaining its position at 50.4%.

·           As per RBI data, ratio of India’s international financial assets to international financial liabilities increased from 70.9%, a quarter ago to 72.4% in December 2023.

 

3.         BADMINTON- ORLEN POLISH OPEN 2024

·           India’s Anupama Upadhyaya defeats Tanya Hemanth (India) to win the women’s singles title of the Orlen Polish Open 2024, held in Wilanow Sports Centre, Warsaw, Poland.

·           The Indian pair M.R. Arjun and DhruvKapila won the men’s doubles title by defeating Denmark’s William KrygerBoe and Christian Faust Kjær in the finals.

·           Denmark’s Victor Ording Kauffmann won the men’s singles title by defeating JiaHeng Jason Teh (Singapore) in the finals.

 

4.         YOUTH BOXING WORLD CUP 2024

·           The Indian boxing contingent won 26 medals (5 gold, 9 silver, and 12 bronze) in the Youth World Boxing Cup 2024 (33rd Adriatic Pearl tournament) held  in Budva, Montenegro

·           Russia topped the medal tally with eight gold medals.

·           India finished second while Poland was in the third position with three gold medals.

·           Chanchal Chaudhary won a gold medal in the Women’s Youth Light Fly (50kg) category by defeating Valeria Amparan of Mexico.

·           Nikita Chand clinched a gold medal in the Women’s Youth Light (60kg) category by defeating ArailymAlimbergen of Kazakhstan.

·           Parthavi Grewal won the gold medal in the Women’s Youth Welter (66kg) category.

·           Phalaswal Akansha clinched gold medals for India in the Women’s Youth Light Middle (70kg) category.

·           BrajeshTamta won a gold medal for India in the 48kg youth men’s category.

·           Best male boxer of the tournament: Torekhan Sabyrkhan (Kazakhstan)

·           Best female boxer of the tournament: Nikita Chand (India)

 

5.         GI TAGS AWARDED TO 19 GOODS FROM ASSAM

·           The Government of India’s (GoI) Geographical Indication Registry granted Geographical Indication (GI) tags to 19 traditional crafts of Assam, 2 from Tripura, and 4 from Meghalaya.

·           Apart from the Six GI tags, thirteen Assamese products were associated with the Bodo people, the state’s largest indigenous population, have also been granted GI tags.

·           Tripura’s Rignai Pachra textile, Tripureswari temple’s ‘Pera’ get GI tag.

·           Geographical Indications Registry has been established in Chennai to administer the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registrationand Protection) Act, 1999 under the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM).

·           Headquarters– Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN)

 

6.         NHAI’S ONE VEHICLE, ONE FASTAG‘ RULES COME INTO FORCE ON 1 APRIL 2024

·           The National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI)‘One Vehicle, One FASTag‘ norm to discourage the practice of using a single FASTag for multiple vehicles or linking multiple FASTags to one vehicle has come into force from 1 April 2024.

·           NHAI has introduced One Vehicle, One FASTag to streamline the electronic toll-collection process, enhance the efficiency of the electronic toll-collection system, and alleviate congestion at toll plazas.

·           FASTag, an electronic toll collection system operated by NHAI, utilises Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

 

7.         NEW SATELLITE-BASED TOLL COLLECTION SYSTEM

·           Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) announced a new satellite-based toll collection system will be introduced to replace the existing toll collection system in India.

·           The satellite-based toll collection will utilise the Global Positioning System (GPS) and cameras to deduct money directly from bank accounts based on road usage (distance covered).

·           The new system will help reduce toll tax and through this, the time, money, and fuel usage of the travelers can also be saved.

 

8.         RBI TO SET UP DIGITAL INDIA TRUST AGENCY

·           The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will establish a Digital India Trust Agency (DIGITA) to combat the proliferation of illegal lending apps.

·           Apps lacking the ‘verified’ mark from DIGITA would be deemed unauthorized for law enforcement purposes.

·           The agency aims to vet digital lending apps for compliance and maintain a public register of verified apps.

·           The RBI has provided a list of 442 digital lending apps to Google for whitelisting, over 2,200 apps were removed from the PlayStore.

 

9.         HOCKEY INDIA 6TH ANNUAL AWARDS

·           Indian Field Hockey Player & Vice- captain of the Indian Hockey men’s team, Hardik Singh was honored with the Hockey India Balbir Singh Sr. Award for Player of the Year 2023 (Men) at the Hockey India 6th Annual Awards 2023 event held in New Delhi

·           Indian field hockey player Salima Tete was honoured with Hockey India Balbir Singh  Sr. Award for the Player of the year 2023 ( women).

·           Ashok Kumar won the prestigious Hockey India Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award, with a cash prize of Rs 30 Lakh and a trophy.

·           Hockey India Baljit Singh Award for Goalkeeper of the Year- PR Sreejesh

 

10.      MIAMI OPEN TENNIS 2024

·           Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner won the Men’s Singles title at the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Miami Open 2024 by defeating  Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the finals held at the Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, USA.

·           He became the first Italian to win the Miami Open.

·           Daniel Collins of the USA won the Miami Open 2024 Women’s singles title by defeating Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.

·           India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Ebden won the men’s doubles title defeating Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and USA’s Austin Krajicek.