DAILY GK 16-18 APRIL
1. APPI & WORLD BANK FUNDED AHSSOH
·
The Union Minister ParshottamRupala,
Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (MoFAHD), launched
projects, ‘Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative’ (APPI) and World
Bank (WB)-funded ‘Animal Health System Support for One Health’ (AHSSOH),
under the aegis of National One Health Mission to improve India’s
preparedness and response to potential animal pandemics.
·
AHSSOH is India’s first animal pandemic
response plan in collaboration with the World Bank.
·
The collaborative project will be
implemented in 5 states over a five-year period as Central sector scheme with a
financial provision of Rs 1228.70 Crore.
·
The project aims to cover 151 districts in
five participating states, wherein it will target upgradation of 75
district/regional laboratories, upgradation/strengthening 300 veterinary
hospitals/dispensaries.
2.
INDIA
SIGNS MOU WITH UN WFP FOR SENDING WHEAT TO AFGHANISTAN
·
Government of India (GoI) has signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations (UN) World Food
Programme(WFP), clearing the way for the delivery of 10,000 metric tonnes
(the fifth tranche) of wheat for the people of Afghanistan.
·
The fifth tranche [to be supplied through
Iran’s Chahbahar port] builds on aid already provided by the WFP for people in
need in Afghanistan.
3.
GHANA
BECOMES 1ST COUNTRY TO APPROVE OXFORD MALARIA VACCINE
·
The Republic of Ghana has become the 1st
country to approve a highly effective malaria vaccine “R21/Matrix-M”
developed at Oxford University in the United Kingdom (UK).
·
The vaccine was approved by Ghana’s Food
and Drug Authority (FDA).
·
The R21/Matrix-M vaccine has been
licenced for use in children aged 5-36 months, who are most at risk of dying
from malaria.
·
WHO estimates that 619,000 people died
from malaria in 2021, the majority of whom were children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
4.
SBI
REINTRODUCED RETAIL TERM DEPOSIT SCHEME ‘AMRIT KALASH’
·
The State Bank of India (SBI) decided to
reintroduce the retail term deposit scheme ‘AMRIT KALASH’.
·
It is a special scheme of 400 days
tenor with an interest rate of 7.6% for senior citizens and 7.1% for others.
·
In February 2023, the SBI launched
‘AMRIT KALASH’, the retail term deposit scheme with a specific duration with
validity from February 15, 2023, to March 31, 2023.
·
Now the Scheme was reintroduced with
validity from April 12, 2023, to June 30, 2023.
·
Domestic retail term deposits, including
non-resident Indian (NRI) rupee term deposits (less than Rs.2 crore), new and
renewals, term deposits, and special term deposits are eligible for this
specific tenure deposit scheme.
5.
INDIAN
OIL & US-BASED LANZAJET TO SET UP INDIA’S 1ST GREEN AVIATION FUEL FIRM
·
Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) is
to set up a joint venture(JV) with United States of America (USA)-based clean
energy technology company LanzaJetInc, and multiple domestic airlines for the
manufacturing ofSustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
·
The proposed venture will build a plant
to manufacture SAF using alcohol-to-jet technology at the Panipat refinery in
Haryana at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore.
·
IOCL will hold a 50% stake while
LanzaJetInc will hold 25%. The remaining 25% stake would be offered to a bunch
of airline companies.
6.
BUSINESS
LEADER OF THE DECADE AWARD OF AIMA
·
Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of
Aditya Birla Group, received the Business Leader of the
Decade Award at All India Management Association’s (AIMA) 13th Managing India
Awards ceremony in New Delhi
·
T V Narendran,
Chairman of Tata Steel Limited, was facilitated with the “AIMA-JRD Tata
Corporate Leadership” award.
·
ABB India,
the leading engineering services company, bagged the “MNC in India of the
Year” award.
·
The National Payments Corporation
of India (NPCI) received the ‘Outstanding PSU of
the Year’ award.
·
Sanjiv Bajaj,
MD of Bajaj Finserv received the Transformational Business Leader Award
·
Venu Srinivasan,
Chairman Emeritus, TVS Motor Company was given the Outstanding
Institution Builder Award.
7.
RUSSIA
CONDUCTS TEST LAUNCH OF ‘ADVANCED’ INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE
·
The Russian Defense Ministry executed a
successful test launch of an “advanced” Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
(ICBM) of a mobile ground-based missile system from the Kapustin Yar test
site in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region.
·
The purpose of the launch was to test
the advanced combat equipment of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
8.
ASIAN
WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2023
·
AmanSehrawat,
a freestyle wrestler, won India’s 1st gold medal, under the men’s 57kg
freestyle category, at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023.
·
36th edition of Asian Wrestling
Championships was held in Astana, Kazakhstan
·
AmanSehrawat won the gold medal by defeating
Kyrgyzstan’s AlmazSmanbekov
·
India has won 14 medals(one
gold, three silvers and 10 bronze) and is ranked 7th in overall medal tally.
·
Kazakhstan was topped in medal
tally followed by Japan and Iran.
9.
NATIONAL
FIRE SERVICE DAY 2023 – APRIL 14
·
14th April is annually observed as
National Fire Service (NFS) Day across India to pay homage to the firefighters
who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty and emphasize the importance of
fire service.
·
The day is also commemorated as a
Martyr’s Day to pay homage to the Fire Service personnel who lost their lives
on 14th April 1944 during the massive Bombay explosion at the
Victoria Dock in the Mumbai Port.
·
April 14 to 20
is observed as “Fire Service Week”.
·
The theme
of National Fire Service Day/week 2023 is “Awareness in Fire Safety for
Growth of National Infrastructure” (AGNI)”.
10. THE
STATUS OF WOMEN IN AGRIFOOD SYSTEMS REPORT BY FAO
·
As per the ‘The Status Of Women In
Agrifood Systems‘ released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO), tackling gender inequality in agri-food systems can
reduce hunger, boost the economy and reinforce resilience to shocks like
climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
·
There would be increase in the global
gross domestic product (GDP) by 1% or nearly $1 trillion if there is no
gender gap in farm productivity and the wage gap in agri-food-system
employment.
·
Currently, Women earn 82 cents for every
dollar earned by men.
·
Globally, 36% of working women are
employed in agrifood systems, along with 38% of working men.
·
Prioritizing women in development interventions
for small-scale producers could benefit 58 million people with increased
income and 235 million people with greater resilience.
·
This could also reduce global food
insecurity by 2%, impacting 45 million individuals.
·
Nearly 4 billion individuals depend
on agri-food systems as their main source of livelihoods
11.
SRI
LANKAN DEBT RESTRUCTURING PROGRAMME
·
India, Japan, and France announced
a common platform for talks among creditors to address the debt restructuring
programme of Sri Lanka
·
It was announced on April 13, 2023,
while the representatives of the three creditor countries, i.e. the Finance
Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman (India), FM Shunichi Suzuki (Japan), French
Director General of the Treasury Emmanuel Moulin, held a press briefing on the
margins of the annual spring meetings of the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC , United States.
·
In March 20, 2023, IMF cleared a US$ 3
billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) (with a 48-month extended arrangement) for
Sri Lanka, potentially unlocking more loans for the debt-ridden nation.
·
India, Japan (as a member of the Paris
Club group of creditors), and China were Sri Lanka’s top three bilateral
creditors.
12.
CGTMSE
INCREASED GUARANTEE COVERAGE FOR MSES FROM RS 2 CRORE TO RS 5 CRORE
·
The Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for
Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) increased the
guarantee coverage ceiling under its Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for MSEs
from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore per borrower for credit facilities extended
by lending institutions to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).
·
The changes are made with respect to the
reduction in the loan growth to the MSE segment to 13.2% year-on-year (y-o-y)
(as on February 24, 2023) from 24% y-o-y (as on February 25, 2022).
·
Threshold for waiver of legal action was
enhanced to Rs10 lakhs from the existing Rs 5 lakhs.
13.
US
BECAME INDIA’S BIGGEST TRADING PARTNER IN FY23
·
According to the data of the Ministry of
Commerce, the United States (US) has emerged as India’s biggest trading
partner in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) at USD 128.55 billion followed
by China in the second position at USD 113.83 billion.
·
The bilateral trade between India and
the US has increased by 7.65% in FY23 due to increasing economic co-operation
as against USD 119.5 billion in FY22. It was USD 80.51 billion in FY21.
·
The UAE with US$76.16 billion,
was the third largest trading partner of India.
·
Exports to China decreased by about 28
per cent to USD 15.32 billion in 2022-23,whereas the imports increased by 4.16%
to $98.51 billion in FY23.
14.
MISS
INDIA WORLD 2023
·
Nandini Gupta,
from (Kota)Rajasthan, won the 59th edition of Femina Miss India World 2023
crown in the grand ceremony held at KhumanLampak Stadium, Imphal, Manipur.
·
Nandini Gupta will now represent India
at the 71st edition of Miss World (2023), which is to be held in the United
Arab Emirates (UAE).
·
Shreya Poonja of Delhi became the
1st runner-up and ThounaojamStrelaLuwang of Manipur
was crowned the 2nd runner-up.
15.
FENGYUN-3G:
CHINA LAUNCHES 1ST SATELLITE DEDICATED TO MONITORING HEAVY RAINFALLS
·
China launched Fengyun-3G(FY-3G), its
first satellite allowing scientists to monitor the Earth’s precipitation
from space.
·
With a lifespan of 6 years (2023 –
2029), FY 3G is dedicated to monitoring heavy rainfalls during catastrophic
weather conditions in global regions of low- and mid-latitude i.e. it will
forecast global meteorological disasters through its powerful tool.
·
This satellite is a continuation of the
Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) which is led by Japan and the
United States of America(USA).
16.
TAIFA-1:
KENYA LAUNCHES FIRST OPERATIONAL SATELLITE INTO SPACE
·
Kenya successfully launched its
inaugural operational 3U Earth Observation Satellite (EOS) ‘Taifa-1’ (Nation-1,
in the Swahili language), using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Base
in California, United States of America (USA).
·
KenyaPresident–
William Ruto
·
Capital–
Nairobi
17.
EUROPE
SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES JUICE MISSION TO STUDY JUPITER’S ICY MOONS
·
The European Space Agency (ESA)
successfully launched the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), via the Ariane-5
rocket from Europe’s Spaceport from Kourou, French Guiana.
·
Juice, a robotic explorer’s, mission was
to make detailed observations of the solar system’s biggest planet, Jupiter and
three ice-encrusted moons which scientists believed to have underground oceans
where sea life could exist.
18.
UNDERWATER
NUCLEAR ATTACK DRONE “HAEIL-2” TESTED BY NORTH KOREA
·
North Korea made a claim of conducting a
test of an underwater nuclear attack drone, which notably had the ability
to unleash a “radioactive tsunami”.
·
The “Unmanned Underwater Nuclear Attack
Craft” was the name given to the drone, also known as “Haeil” (meaning
tsunami).
·
As a sequel,Haeil-2, which is the second
underwater nuclear attack drone of North Korea was tested from April 4 to April
7.
·
North KoreaCapital – Pyongyang
·
President/Supreme Leader- Kim Jong Un
19.
WORLD
HEMOPHILIA DAY 2023 – APRIL 17
·
World Hemophilia Day is annually
observed across the globe on 17th April to create awareness about Hemophilia,
an inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot properly.
·
17th April 2023 marks the 34th World
Hemophilia Day.
·
The themeof World Hemophilia Day 2023 is “Access for
All: Prevention of bleeds as the global standard of care”.