DAILY GK 1,2 MAR

 DAILY GK 1,2 MAR

1.       INDIA’S 1ST CONTAINER FEEDER SERVICE LAUNCHED

·         A short-haul coastal container feeder service, first of its kind in India, was launched between Chennai – Puducherry ports.

·         The container feeder ship, Hope Seven, with a container capacity of 106 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), was flagged off by service between Chennai and Puducherry ports

·         The coastal feeder service is a step forward towards the ambitious Sagarmala Project of the government of India.

·         Under the Sagarmala programme, the government of India decided to develop Puducherry port as a satellite port to Chennai port for container cargo

·         The Sagarmala programme is the Ministry of Shipping’s flagship initiative to encourage port-led development in India by using its 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways, 7,500 km of coastline, and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.

·         Sagarmala Programme was approved by the Union Cabinet in March 2015.

 

2.       GRIEVANCE APPELLATE COMMITTEE PORTAL LAUNCHED

·         Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) portal is a dispute resolution mechanism, to ensure accountability of social media platforms to their users.

·         The portal is launched under Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules 2021).

·         The GAC platform will automatically segregate the complaints made to the Grievance Appellate Committees and escalate those that require intervention by one of the three Committees constituted by the government.

·         The IT Rules 2021, were amended in 2022 to require social media companies to “respect all the rights accorded to the citizens under the Constitution, including in the articles 14, 19 and 21.”

·         The IT Rules already require platforms to have a procedure in place for receiving user complaints about content and appeals against takedowns; however, companies’ decisions regarding these appeals will now ultimately be subject to the GACs’ orders.

·         The platform is operational from 1st March 2023.

·         Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) is established under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 [“IT Rules”], made under the Information Technology Act, 2000.

·         This enables individuals who are dissatisfied with complaints to social media companies on content takedown requests to have their cases heard by 1 to 3 Government-established Committees.

 

3.       1ST FOREIGN UNIVERSITY TO HAVE CAMPUS IN INDIA

·         Deakin University from Australia is set to become the first foreign university to set up a campus in India.

·         The independent campus will be established in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.

·         The International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) has received an application from Deakin University regarding setting up its campus in India.

·         According to the QS World University Rankings, Deakin University is ranked 266 overall and  It is one of the top 50 young universities worldwide.

 

4.       2022 BEST FIFA FOOTBALL AWARDS

·         The Fédération Internationale De Football Association (FIFA) announced the winners of the 2022 Best FIFA Football Awards at the award ceremony held in Paris, France.

·         Lionel Messi was named Best FIFA Men’s player 2022

·         Spains midfielder Alexia Putellas was named Best FIFA Women’s player 2022 awards.

·         Messi wins Best FIFA Men’s Player:

·         Lionel Messi won the FIFA Best Men’s player for the 2nd time.He previously won the award in 2019.

·         The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper - Emiliano Martinez,Argentina

·         The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper-Mary Earps,England

·         The Best FIFA Men’s Coach-Lionel Scaloni,Argentina

·         The Best FIFA Women’s Coach-Sarina Wiegman,England

·         The Best FIFA Fair Play Award-Luka Lochoshvili,Georgia

 

5.       NEW FICCI SECRETARY GENERAL

·         The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India’s apex business chamber, announced the appointment of Shailesh Pathak as the new Secretary General of FICCI

·         Shailesh Pathak succeeds Dilip Chenoy, who stepped down as Secretary General of FICCI in October 2021.

·         FICCI-President- Subhrakant Panda,Headquarters- New Delhi, Delhi

 

6.       NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY 2023 – FEBRUARY 28

·         National Science Day (NSD) is annually observed across India on February 28 in commemoration of the discovery of the Raman Effect (28th February 1928) by the Indian scientist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (CV Raman).

·         CV Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (1930) for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him, the Raman Effect.

·         Theme “Global Science for Global Wellbeing”.

 

7.       GST COUNCIL AGREED TO REDUCE GST RATES FOR PENCIL SHARPENERS, JAGGERY AND EXAMINATION INSTITUTIONS

·         GST (Goods and Service Tax) Council, chaired by Nirmala Sitaraman, Union Minister of Finance, has agreed to reduce the GST rate on pencil sharpeners, liquid jaggery and examination institutions during its 49th meeting on February 18, 2023.

·         GST rate on pencil sharpeners has been reduced to 12% from 18% earlier, with effect from March 1, 2023.

·         GST on Jaggery will attract GST at the rate of 5% from 18% earlier.

·         If it is sold loose, GST will be NIL.

·         GST on Testing Agencies: The GST council has extended the exemption given to educational institutions and Central/state educational boards to any authority, board or bodies set up by the Central/state governments, for conducting entrance examinations. The National Testing Agency(NTA), which administers entrance exams for central and other universities, as well as engineering and medical institutes, was exempt from the scope of the levy.

·         Prior to this, the students has to pay 18% GST on the fees for writing the tests conducted by NTA and state testing agencies

·         GST on tags tracking devices or data loggers which are affixed on durable containers are also reduced from 18% to nil, subject to some conditions.

 

8.       UTTARAKHAND TO SET UP INDIA’S 1ST GOVERNMENT MOTHER MILK BANK

·         The government of Uttarakhand is set to establish India’s first government mother milk bank, a facility that can ensure to provide the nutritional elements of mothers’ milk to newborns.

·         Through this milk bank, milk will be made available to those newborn babies whose mother dies during delivery.

·         The infant mortality rate for India in 2022 was 27.695 deaths per 1000 live births, a 3.74% decline from 2021.

 

9.       INDIA’S GDP GROWS AT 4.4% IN Q3FY23-NSO

·         As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MOSPI), India’s gross domestic product (GDP) decelerated to 4.4% in the 3rd quarter of 2022 i.e. October-December(Q3FY23) due to a contraction in the manufacturing sector.

·         NSO also released it Second Advance Estimates (SAE) of National Income, 2021-22 which pegged India’s growth at 7% for FY23, same as first advanced estimate that was released in January 2023.

·         Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI): is the nodal agency for the planned and organized development of the statistical system in India.

 

10.    GSMA’S 2023 GLOBAL MOBILE (GLOMO) AWARDS

·         The Government of India was honoured with the “Government Leadership Award 2023” – GSMA’s 2023 Global Mobile (GLOMO) Awards at the Mobile World Congress(MWC) 2023 held in Barcelona, Spain.

·         India received the “Government Leadership Award 2023” for the implementation of best practices in telecom policy and regulation.

·         GSMA is Groupe Speciale Mobile Association represents mobile operators and the global mobile industry, and the organizer of the MWC.

·         In May 2022, the Central Government launched the Gati Shakti Sanchar Portal for centralized RoW (Right of Way) approvals to facilitate the efficient deployment of network infrastructure.

 

11.    PEN/NABOKOV AWARD 2023

·         Indian Short story writer, novelist, poet, and essayist, Vinod Kumar Shukla, one of the greatest contemporary writers in the Hindi language won the 2023 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, the award is conferred annually by PEN America.

·         Erika Dickerson-Despenza, American playwright, will receive the 2023 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award.

·         Tina Fey, a comedy writers, will receive the 2023 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award.

·         Vinod Kumar Shukla first collection of poems Lagbhag Jai Hind was published in 1971. Naukar Ki Kameez(The Servant’s Shirt) was his first novel

 

12.    WORLD CIVIL DEFENCE DAY – MARCH 1 2023

·         World Civil Defence Day is annually observed across the globe on 1st March to honour the significance of Civil Defence and the personnel who have sacrificed their lives for it. T

·         The theme of World Civil Defence Day 2023 is “The Role of Information Technology in Risk Assessment”.

·         World Civil Defence Day was established by the International Civil Defence Organisation (ICDO), based in Geneva, Switzerland.