DAILY GK: 29-31 MAY

 DAILY GK: 29-31 MAY 

1.         ‘GATISAKTHI’ TRAINS – INDIA’S 1ST SEMI-HIGH SPEED FREIGHT TRAINS

•          Indian Railways announced its plan of introducing India’s 1st Semi-High Speed Freight Trains by December 2022.

•          The trains mocked as ‘Gati Shakti’ trains are capable of operating at a speed of 160 km/hour carrying 16-coach is based on the  Vande Bharat platform, and currently being manufactured at the  Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai.

•          Indian Railways is set to increase its capacity in freight transportation to 45% in 2030, from the current 27%.

•          At present, the overall target is set to 25 such freight trains, with 2 of them to be delivered by ICF in December 2022.

•          As of now,  74 new ‘Gati-Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT) locations’ across India (with 20 from South India) were identified by the Indian Railways under the ‘Gati-Shakti Multi Model Cargo Terminal’ policy.

 

2.         KUWAIT TO BUILD WORLD’S LARGEST PETROLEUM RESEARCH CENTRE

•          Kuwait is set to build the world’s largest petroleum research centre in al-Ahmadi, south of Kuwait City by the end of 2022. The estimated cost of the projects is around USD 120 million.

 

3.         RBI REDUCES MINIMUM NETWORTH NORM FOR NON-BANK BBPOU TO RS 25CR

•          The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) eased norms for non-bank entities to set up BBPOU (Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units) by reducing the net-worth requirement to Rs 25 crore from Rs 100 crore.

•          Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is an interoperable platform for bill payments.

•          Users of BBPS enjoy benefits like standardised bill payment experience, centralised customer grievance redressal mechanism and prescribed customer convenience fee.

 

4.         2022 WILLIAM E. COLBY AWARD

•          William E. Colby Military Writers’ Award 2022 for military and intelligence writing went to Canadian born author and journalist Wesley Francis Morgan. H

•          e was conferred with this award for his work The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan’s PechValley.

•          The Colby award is given by Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont for major contributions to the understanding of military history, intelligence operations or international affairs.

 

5.         WORLD HUNGER DAY 2022 OBSERVED ON 28TH MAY

•          Every year, 28th of May is observed across the globe as World Hunger Day, to highlight the importance of ending hunger.

•          World Hunger Day 2022 is observed under the broader theme — #EndHunger #YouthEndingHunger.

•          As per the ‘Global Report on Food Crises 2022’ released by Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC), Over 193 million people in 53 countries or territories experienced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels in 2021.

 

6.         HUNGARY BECAME NEW MEMBER OF ISA

•          PeterSzijjarto, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, paid an official visit to India

•          The India-Hungary Business Forum 2022 was inaugurated in New Delhi (Delhi

•          Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in which Hungary became the newest member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

•          Hungary President – Katalin Novák ,Prime Minister – Viktor Orban ,Capital – Budapest

 

7.         WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ANNUAL MEETING - DAVOS, SWITZERLAND

•          The 52nd Annual World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting was held in Davos-Klosters, Graubunden, Switzerland on the theme ‘Working Together, Restoring Trust’.

•          In accordance with the ‘Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: The Geopolitical Business’, Indian companies have emerged as the most trusted by the domestic population, followed by China, Canada, the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK).

•          The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) and WEF signed an agreement to launch a new initiative to boost flows of digital foreign direct investments globally.

•          WEF Headquarter – Geneva, Switzerland

 

8.         US OVERTAKES CHINA AS INDIA’S LARGEST TRADING PARTNER IN FY22

•          The United States (US) has surpassed China to become India’s top trading partner in 2021-22, showing the growth of India-US economic ties.

•          According to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, bilateral trade between the United States and India reached USD 119.42 billion in 2021-22, up from USD 80.51 billion in 2020-21.

•          Exports to the United States soared to USD 76.11 billion in 2021-22, up from USD 51.62 billion in 2020-21,

•          Imports increased to USD 43.31 billion in 2021-22, up from USD 29 billion the 2020-21 fiscal year.

•          The US is one of the few countries with whom India enjoys a trade surplus. India had a trade surplus of USD 32.8 billion with the US in 2021-22.

•          In 2021-22, the UAE) is India’s third largest trading partner with USD 72.9 billion. It is followed by Saudi Arabia (USD 42.85 billion) as 4th, Iraq (USD 34.33 billion) as 5th, & Singapore (USD 30 billion) as its 6th largest trading partner.

 

9.         7TH FORBES 30 UNDER 30 ASIA LIST 2022

•          Forbes magazine has released the 7th edition of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List 2022, featuring 10 categories each honouring 30 individuals under the age of 30.

•          India tops the list in terms of the number of entries with 61, followed by Singapore (34)

•          The average age of the 2022 list is 26.8 and the youngest honouree on the list is 14-year old Japanese Olympics skateboarding gold-medalist MomijiNishiya.

•          Categories in the 30 Under 30 Asia list 2022 are The Arts (Art & Style, Food & Drink); Entertainment & Sports; Finance & Venture Capital; Media, Marketing & Advertising; Retail & Ecommerce; Enterprise Technology; Industry, Manufacturing & Energy; Healthcare & Science; Social Impact; and Consumer Technology.

•          Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju, is one of India’s first openly transgender doctors who advocates the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.

 

10.      IMMUNISATION CHAMPION AWARD BY UNICEF

•          Radio Jockey Umar Nisar (RJ Umar) from South Kashmir, has been awarded the ’01 Best Content Award’ and the Immunization Champion award by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) at the annual Radio4Child 2022 Awards in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

•          The Radio4Child felicitated radio professionals from private FM and All India Radio from across the country for their commendable work during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as for routine vaccination. 

 

11.      RUSSIA SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRES ZIRCON HYPERSONIC MISSILE

•          Russia had successfully test fired its Zircon Hypersonic Cruise Missile, from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate of the Northern fleet in the Barents Sea of Arctic Ocean.

•          The missile hits the sea target in the White Sea, travelling 1,000 kilometres (540 nautical miles).

•          The Hypersonic missile has capacity to travel more than five times the speed of Sound and manoeuvre in mid-flight, making it harder to track and intercept than traditional projectiles.

 

12.      INS GOMATI DECOMMISSIONED

•          The Indian Navy Ship (INS) Gomati was decommissioned from the naval dockyard at Mumbai,Maharashtra.

•          The ship is the third of the Godavari class guided-missile frigates and is the oldest warrior of the Western Fleet.

•          The warship was inducted on April 16, 1988

•          INS Gomati would be displayed in an open-air museum on the picturesque banks of river Gomati in Lucknow, where many of its combat systems would be displayed as military and war relics.

 

13.      MONACO F1 GRAND PRIX 2022

•          The Red Bull racing driver Sergio Perez (Mexican) has won the Formula 1 (F1) Grand Prix (GP) De Monaco 2022 with 25 points, held at Circuit de Monaco, Monaco, Europe.

•          With this victory, Sergio Pérez becomes the first Mexican to win the Monaco Grand Prix, and the first North American to win it since Gilles Villeneuve in 1981.

 

14.      INTERNATIONAL DAY OF UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPERS 2022 – MAY 29

•          The United Nations(UN)’s International Day of UN Peacekeepers is annually observed across the globe on 29th May to pay tribute to the uniformed and civilian personnel who contributed to the work of the UN.

•          The day also aims to honour around 4200 peacekeepers who lost their lives in the line of duty under the UN since 1948.

•          The theme of International Day of UN Peacekeepers 2022 is “People. Peace. Progress. The Power of Partnerships”.