DAILY GK 19-20 APRIL

DAILY GK 19-20 APRIL 

1.       INDIA ACQUIRES WEAPONS WORTH USD 300 MILLION FROM US

·         India is set to clear the proposal to acquire armaments worth over USD 300 million from the United States of America(USA) to arm the Indian Navy’s MH 60 “Romeo” chopper, the multi-role helicopters which will enhance its capabilities to counter enemy warships and submarines.

·         Under this, the fleet of 24 choppers will get additional Hellfire missiles and Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes.

·         The Hellfire missiles are a potent anti-shipping weapon and can be used to take down the targets like tanks, and command posts.

·         Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes are a very effective anti-submarine weapon. They are also equipped onboard the P8I maritime aircraft.

 

2.       INDIAN NAVY CONDUCTS OFFSHORE SECURITY EXERCISE ‘PRASTHAN‘

·         Indian Navy conducted the offshore security exercise Prasthan, a bi-annual co-ordinated exercise along with other defence, state and civilian agencies on the GreatdrillChaaya platform about 30 nautical miles(nm) South West of Mumbai harbour, Maharashtra.

·         The exercise is held every six months, to verify the policies and methods for handling potential emergencies on oil production platforms.

 

3.       ‘SANGATHAN SE SAMRIDDHI’ CAMPAIGN TO BRING MARGINALISED RURAL WOMEN INTO SHGS

·         “Sangathan Se Samriddhi” campaign will empower marginalised rural households by bringing all eligible rural women into Self Help Groups (SHGs).

·         The government is targeting to bring 10 crore women under the purview of SHGs from the existing 9 crores. The number of members has now crossed 9 crores from just over 2.3 crores in 2014.

 

4.       1ST EDITION OF DOGRI VERSION OF CONSTITUTION OF INDIA RELEASED

·         Union Minister KirenRijiju, Ministry of Law and Justice (MoL&J), released the 1st edition of the Dogri version of the Constitution of India at the University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

·         Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Jammu region of J&K and is one of the 22 official languages recognized by the Indian Constitution.

 

5.       EXERCISE ORION: MULTILATERAL MILITARY EXERCISE

·         Exercise Orion, a Multilateral Military Exercise, was initiated at Mont-de-Marsan, an Air Force base of the French Air and Space Force (FASF) in France.

·         Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent will take part in the exercise

·         Along with IAF and FASF, Air Forces from Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain and the United States of America (USA) also participates in the exercise.

 

6.       INDIA DIGITAL PAYMENTS ANNUAL REPORT 2022

·         According to the report by Worldline India titled ‘India Digital Payments Annual Report 2022‘ Unified Payments Interface (UPI) continued to be the most preferred medium for digital payments in 2022 in India with a 70% increase in the number of transactions to over 74.05 billion and a 54% increase in the value of transactions to Rs 126 trillion.

·         A total of 8,792 crore digital payments were undertaken in 2022 worth Rs 149.5 lakh crore.

·         Bengaluru (Karnataka) recorded 29 million transactions valued at Rs 6,500 crore, the highest number of digital transactions across 12 cities in India in 2022.

 

7.       INDIA GIVES USD 500,000 TO UN WOMEN FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

·         India has made a contribution of USD 500,000 (Rs 4.09 crore) to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, for women empowerment.

·         The cheque for the same was handed over by Ruchira Kamboj, the Permanent Representative of India to the UN, supporting UN Women’s core voluntary budget.

·         UN WomenHeadquarters– New York, United States

 

8.       NATIONAL PANCHAYAT AWARDS 2023

·         The President of India, DroupadiMurmu conferred the National Panchayat Awards 2023 and inaugurated the ‘National Conference on Incentivisation of Panchayats’ in New Delhi, Delhi.

·         The National Panchayat Awards under different categories are conferred annually by the MoPR since 2011 to acknowledge and incentivize the best-performing Panchayats (local self-government bodies) across the country.

·         All the Panchayats will be ranked based on their performance under 9 Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) themes aggregating 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

·         GS NIRNAY App: Union Minister Giriraj Singh launched a mobile application GS NIRNAY (National Initiative for Rural India to Navigate, InnovAte and Resolve PanchaYat decisions), for empowering rural communities during the National Conference.

 

9.       PRAVASI BHARATIYA SAMMAN

·         An Indian-American Rajesh Subramaniam, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FedEx Corporation, the world’s largest express transportation company, has been awarded the PravasiBharatiyaSamman Award 2023, by Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India’s Ambassador to the US, for his contribution to Business.

·         The award was conferred by DroupadiMurmu, President of India, on 10 January 2023, as a part of the celebration of PravasiBharatiya Divas (PBD) 2023 at Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

·         27 Indians living abroad received the PravasiBharatiyaSamman Award in 2023.

·         The PravasiBharatiyaSamman Award is the highest honour conferred on a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) to recognise their achievements and honour their contributions to various fields, both in India and abroad.

 

10.    ‘YUVA PORTAL’ LAUNCHED TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL YOUNG START-UPS

·         “YUVA Portal” and One Week- One Programmelaunched at National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in New Delhi, Delhi, to help in connecting and identifying potential young Start-Ups.

·         YUVA- Young, Upcoming and Versatile Authors.

·         DrJitendra Singh highlighted the 37 Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) Labs spread across India as examples of India’s excellence in technology, innovation, and start-ups.

·         The One Week – One Lab programme will offer the opportunity for the CSIR labs to showcase the work being done by them so that others can avail of it.

 

11.    WORLD’S WEALTHIEST CITIES REPORT 2023

·         The investment migration firm Henley & Partners released its annual ‘World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2023‘ which is again topped by New York, United States of America (USA) with 340,000 millionaires, 724 centi-millionaires, and 58 billionaires in 2022.

·         New York followed by Tokyo (Japan), California’s Bay Area (USA), London (United Kingdom) and Singapore.

·         The list also featured Mumbai (Maharashtra) at 21st rank with 59,400 millionaires, 238 Centi-millionaires, and 29 Billionaires.

 

12.    UNFPA’S SOWP 2023: INDIA’S POPULATION PEGGED AT 142.8 CRORE

·         According to the State of World Population (SOWP) 2023 titled “8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: the case for Rights and Choices” published by theUnited Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), India overtakes China to become the most populous nation in the world

·         The population of India has grown by 1.56% in the past year and it is estimated to be 142.86 crore.

·         The population of China is estimated to be 142.57 crore.

·         UNFPAHeadquarters– New York

 

13.    HURUN’S GLOBAL UNICORN INDEX 2023

·         According to the Global Unicorn Index 2023 published by Hurun Research Institute, India is ranked 3rd on the index with 68 unicorns (up 14 compared to 2022).

·         Online educator BYJU’S worth USD 22 billion topped the list of Indian Unicorns, followed by on-demand delivery start-up Swiggy and fantasy sports platform travel-stay finder Dream11 (USD 8 billion each).

·         The United States of America(USA) topped the index with 666 unicorns, up 179 compared to 2022, followed by China in 2nd spot with 316 unicorns (up 15).