Excellence by Saikat Sir: Daily Current Affairs June 29 2022

Daily Current Affairs June 29 2022

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan completes two years:

Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) has completed two years.
The government of India launched GKRA in 2020 for 125 days with a resource envelope of 50,000 crore rupees to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for returnee migrant workers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 12 Ministries and Departments of the Government of India participated in the Abhiyaan.
A total of 50.78 crore person-days employment was generated during the Abhiyaan.
During the COVID-19 pandemic period, Union Government has taken several additional measures for the benefit of workers, such as an increase of wage under MGNREGA to 202 rupees a day from 182 rupees to benefit nearly 13.62 crore families.

The Objective:

The objectives of the Abhiyaan were to provide immediate employment and livelihood opportunities to the distressed, saturate the villages with public infrastructure and create public assets to boost the income generation activities and enhance long-term livelihood opportunities by giving focus on 25 works in 116 selected districts across six states Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
The Government also created 39.51 lakh new job opportunities by crediting 2,583 crores in EPF accounts under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana (ABRY).

Centre mandates 3-yr health insurance plan for surrogate mothers:

The government has issued fresh surrogacy rules, making it mandatory for couples who wish to become parents through surrogacy to buy health insurance plans for surrogate mothers for 36 months.

Under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules 2022, the Union Health Ministry has published a new notification:

The intended partners must get a general health insurance policy from an insurer accredited by India’s Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority for 36 months in favor of a surrogate mother.
It must include a sum large enough to pay for all costs associated with pregnancy-related difficulties as well as postpartum delivery-related issues.
The government has also made sure that no surrogacy process may be attempted more than three times on the surrogate mother.
According to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971, a surrogate mother may be permitted to have an abortion during the surrogacy process if a medical professional recommends it.
Every private surrogacy clinic is required to submit an application for registration along with a fee of 2 lakh, which is non-refundable.
Facilities owned and operated by government-run institutions are free from these charges.
If a woman has an atypical or absent uterus, or if the uterus has been surgically removed due to a medical illness such as gynecological cancer, she may choose surrogacy.

About Surrogacy:

A woman (the surrogate) agrees to bear and give birth to a child on behalf of another person or couple (the intended parent(s), or parents), under the terms of a surrogacy agreement.
Surrogate moms suffer some difficulties, including exploitation, unsanitary living circumstances, and unjust treatment, hence surrogacy has to be regulated.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

West African states Gabon & Togo join Commonwealth Group of Nations

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2022, the Commonwealth has admitted two West African states Gabon and Togo as its 55th and 56th members respectively held in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali with new chairperson Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Both countries are former French colonies & they were never British colonies.
The Central African nation’s process of formally joining the Commonwealth started in 2017, while Togo, located in West Africa, began in 2014.
Rwanda became a member of the group in 2009.
While the Commonwealth is an association of former British colonies, Rwanda, like Mozambique, which joined in 1995, also was never colonized by the British.
Gabon is a sparsely populated country of 2 million people, bordering Cameroon, also a member of the Commonwealth and Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo.
Togo is bordered by Ghana, a Commonwealth member, and Benin and Burkina Faso. It has a population of approximately 7.8 million people.

About CHOGM 2022 :

The 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, also known as CHOGM 2022, was the 26th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations.
It is held under the theme: “Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming,”.

Note :

Commonwealth Secretary-General: Rt Hon Patricia Scotland

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING & FINANCE

RBI approves SBI’s establishment of operations support subsidiary

The State Bank of India (SBI) has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its proposed operations support subsidiary aimed at bringing down the cost-to-income ratio.
The pilot will be launched soon within a quarter or so in a few circles and once the results are seen, it would be rolled out across India.
This subsidiary is expected to provide support services mainly for agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprises, other micro-loans, data entry operations, and activities that can be undertaken as allowed for Business Correspondents, among others.

Key Highlights :

SBI’s cost-to-income ratio stood at 53.3 percent in FY22, an improvement of 240 basis points over FY19 levels.
In comparison, the cost-to-income ratio of the top 3 private banks is well below SBIs, at 35-40 percent.
The subsidiary aimed at bettering the operating efficiencies can help India’s largest bank significantly improve its profitability over time.
In FY22, SBI’s net interest margin stood at 3.15 percent, while the average for private banks topped 4 percent in FY22.
The cost-to-income ratio of SBI has declined to 53.31 percent in 2021-22 from 53.5 percent in 2020-21 and 55.7 percent in 2018-19.

About RBI :

Founded: 1 April 1935
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Governor: Shaktikanta Das
Deputy governors: Mahesh Kumar Jain, M. Rajeshwar Rao, Michael Patra, and T. Rabi Shankar

Bajaj Finance partners with Worldline India for POS payments

Bajaj Finance Limited, the lending arm of Bajaj Finserv Limited, has partnered with Worldline, a global firm in payment services, to develop point-of-sales (POS) payments acquiring solutions for its merchant network.

About the Partnership :

Aim :

To enhance its relationship with both existing and new networks of merchant partners, by providing point-of-sale terminals and enabling acceptance of a wide range of payment instruments such as equated monthly installments (EMI) cards, credit cards, UPI, and wallets on those terminals.
The tie-up will provide services like billing integrations, EMI offerings, transactions processing, data analytics, and fraud management services

About Bajaj Finance :

Founded: 1987
Headquarters: Pune, Maharashtra, India
Chairman & Managing Director: Sanjiv Bajaj

About Worldline India Pvt. Ltd :

Worldline India Pvt. Ltd., is a global leader in the payments industry and the technology partner of choice for merchants, banks, and acquirers.
It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Worldline and is a partner to over 40 banks and over 5000 marquee clients comprising e-commerce giants, leading insurance players, and D2C players across sectors.

SEBI imposes a Rs 30 lakh fine on RIL and two of its compliance officers

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has imposed a penalty of ₹30 lakh on Reliance Industries (RIL) and two of its compliance officers, Savithri Parekh and K. Sethuraman, for failing to clarify on news or promptly disclose information about stake purchases in the company’s subsidiary Jio Platforms by FaceBook, Silver Lake and Vista equity partners.
The fine need to be paid jointly and severally by them within 45 days
Accordingly, Sebi held them liable for the violation of the provisions of principles of fair disclosure for purposes of the code of practices and procedures for Fair Disclosure of unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) under Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) Regulations.

About SEBI :

Established: 12 April 1988 and given Statutory Powers on 30 January 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Chairman : Madhabi Puri Buch
SEBI is the regulatory body for securities and commodity markets in India under the ownership of the Ministry of Finance, GoI.

IRDAI Reduces Solvency Margin Requirement For General Insurers doing Crop Business

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) reduced the solvency margin requirement for general insurers providing crop insurance, a decision expected to unlock Rs 1,400 crore of funds for them to undertake more business.
The decision is part of a series of reforms it has undertaken to increase insurance penetration in the country.
Since fiscal 2017-18, it has been relaxing the period of admissibility of premium due from the government for solvency calculation purposes from 180 days to 365 days.
It has been decided to extend the above relaxations from FY 2022-23 onwards till further orders.

About IRDAI :

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is a regulatory body under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, GoI.
It is tasked with regulating and licensing the insurance and re-insurance industries in India.
IRDAI is a 10-member body including the chairman, five full-time and four part-time members appointed by the GoI.
Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana
Chairperson: Debasish Panda

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Tata Power commissions India’s largest floating solar power project:

In Kayamkulam, Kerala, Tata Power Solar Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power, has achieved an amazing achievement by putting India’s largest floating solar power plant online.
The backwaters region has a 101.6-Megawatt Peak installed capacity on a 350-acre water body.
To make the complete solar plant float on water, Tata Power Solar successfully constructed a scaffolding platform on the water body.

About The Project:

The Floating Solar Photovoltaic (FSPV) via Power Purchase Agreement initiative is the first of its kind.
This facility has a platform for floating inverters with a 5-Megawatt (MW) capacity.
The solar modules were subjected to strong gusts and gushing tides that frequently reached a height of roughly 3.5 meters while being hauled for 3 kilometers on a sea-linked National canal that was 15 meters deep.
To operationalize the project, Tata Power Solar‘s execution team was successfully able to synchronize the 33/220 Kilovolts Air Insulated Substation (AIS) with 220 Kilovolts existing Gas Insulated Substation (GIS).

About Tata Power Solar Systems

Headquarters: Mumbai;
Founded: 1989.

NASSCOM: By 2025, AI can boost GDP by $500 billion:

An integrated AI and data usage strategy, according to NASSCOM, an Indian non-governmental trade organization and advocacy group, may increase India’s GDP by $500 billion by 2025.
The Nasscom has created an AI Adoption Index to measure sectoral progress on AI adoption in the country, with help from EY, Microsoft, EXL, and Capgemini.

About NASSCOM:

India’s non-governmental National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) strives to advance the technology industry there.
NASSCOM is a nonprofit organization that was established in 1988.
By 2023, 10,000 Indian enterprises will get help under a program that NASSCOM established in 2013.
Activities focused on Indian startups are supported by NASSCOM.

Key Points:

The index, which began with four significant industries—banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, healthcare, and industrials & automotive—was the first thorough review of AI adoption trends in India.
By 2025, when the GDP of the country is expected to reach between $450 and $500 billion, these sectors might together provide more than 60% of the potential value that AI could offer to the economy.
The top organization claims that over the last two years, investments in AI have grown dramatically, going from $36 billion in 2020 to a peak of $77 billion in 2021.
Even though it was predicted that India’s current rate of AI investments would increase at a CAGR of 30.8 percent and reach $881 million by 2023, it would still only represent 2.5 percent of the $340 billion in total global AI expenditures.
Encouraging equal growth across all sectors would create a significant opportunity for Indian enterprises to enhance their investments in and use AI.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

IRS officer Mr. Nitin Gupta appointed as the new CBDT Chairman

The Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of Shri Nitin Gupta as Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
He will replace Ms. Sangeeta Singh.
Sangeeta Singh is a 1986 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer who had been given additional charge of Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), after incumbent JB Mohapatra retired as the head of the direct taxes administration body on April 30.

About Shri Nitin Gupta :

Shri Nitin Gupta is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the 1986 batch of the Income Tax cadre.
He is currently a Member of CBDT handling the charge of Investigation.
Shri Gupta is the first CBDT Member after 3 years who gets the independent charge of Investigation.

About CBDT :

Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi, India
CBDT is the administrative body for the Income Tax department.
It is a statutory body established as per the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963.
It is administered by the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance.
It is headed by a Chairman and can have six members who are in the rank of special secretary.
There are five members on the Board at present with 1985-batch IRS officer Anuja Sarangi being the senior-most.
The other members are Pragya Sahay Saksena and Subashree Anantkrishnan, both from the 1987 batch of the IRS.

Mr. Mohammed Jalood was elected as the new President of the International Weightlifting Federation

Mohammed Jalood was elected as the new President of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) at the 2022 IWF Special & Electoral Congress in Tirana, Albania.
He Succeeds the incumbent interim leader, Michael Irani.

Note :

Mohammed Jalood is the first Asian became President of IWF.

Other Members of IWF :

General Secretary-Treasurer

José Quinones (Peru)*

1st Female Vice President

Ursula Papandrea (United States) ( She is the first & only woman to attain USA Weightlifting’s highest coaching level)

Vice Presidents

Attila Ádámfi (Hungary)
Doris Marrero (Venezuela)
Petr Krol (Czech Republic)
Pyrros Dimas (Greece)

Executive Board Members

Fathi Masmoudi (Tunisia)
Florian Sperl (Germany)
Gardencia Du Plooy (South Africa)
Hiromi Miyake (Japan)
Matthew Curtain (Great Britain)
Mohammed Ahmed Alharbi (Saudi Arabia)
Sam Coffa (Australia)
Tom Liaw (Singapore)
Wen Shin Chang (Chinese Taipei)
Yassiny Esquivel (Costa Rica)
Forrester Christopher Osei (Ghana)

About IWF :

Founded: 1905
Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland
The IWF is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA successfully launches 1st commercial rocket from the Australian spaceport

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) successfully launched a rocket from the Arnhem Space Center on the Dhupuma Plateau, near the township of Nhulunbuy, Australia.
It is NASA’s first launch from a commercial spaceport outside the United States and Australia’s first launch in more than 27 years.
NASA launched rockets from Australia in 1995, from the Royal Australian Air Force Woomera range complex in South Australia.
The inaugural launch was the first of three scheduled launches to take place in June and July 2021, and the next rocket launch is expected to blast off on July 4, 2022.

About the rocket :

The rocket is expected to travel more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) into space on its mission to observe the Alpha Centauri A and B constellations, the nearest star systems to the Earth.
It will enable astrophysics studies that are only possible in the Southern Hemisphere.
The rocket is carrying an X-ray quantum calorimeter, which will help scientists at the University of Michigan to measure interstellar X-rays with precision.
It will provide new data on the structure and evolution of the cosmos.
The mission’s X-ray camera at that time will help illuminate the secrets of Alpha Centauri A and B, the closest double-star system to Earth that is located just 3 light-years away.

About Arnhem Space Centre :

The Arnhem Space Centre is being operated by Equatorial Launch Australia.
It is the first and only commercially owned and run equatorial launch site in the world.

About NASA :

Established: July 29
Headquarters: Washington, D.C, US
Administrator: Bill Nelson
NASA is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKS & REPORTS

SRS Data: India’s life expectancy at birth rose to 69.7

According to the data from the sample registration system (SRS) abridged life tables, 2015-19 shows India’s life expectancy at birth has increased up to 69.7 in the 2015-2019 period.
However, India’s life expectancy at birth, which has inched up after 10 years, is still well below the global average of 72.6.
The data was released by the demographic survey.

Key Highlights :

The Data suggests that high infant mortality and under-five mortality could be one of the reasons India finds it difficult to raise life expectancy at birth.
The gap between life expectancy at birth and life expectancy at age one or age five is biggest in states with the highest infant mortality rate (IMR) – Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
In Madhya Pradesh, which has the highest IMR of 43, surviving the first year after birth raises life expectancy by 2.7 years.
In Uttar Pradesh, with the second-highest IMR of 38, life expectancy jumps the highest, by 3.4 years, on completion of the first year.
Gaps between life expectancy at birth and year one can also be witnessed in states like Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Assam, Gujarat, and Odisha.

Top 5 Performers in state-wise :

Delhi – 74.3 years
Kerala – 75.2 years
J&K – 74.2 years
Himachal Pradesh – 73.1 years
Punjab – 72.8 years

Life expectancy at birth :

The highest life expectancy at birth has been estimated for the NCT of Delhi at 75.9 years.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh has the lowest life expectancy at birth with 65.3.
India has added 20 years to its life expectancy at birth from 49.7 in 1970-75 to 69.7 in 2015-2019.
Among states, Odisha has seen the highest rise from 45.7 to 69.8, followed by Tamil Nadu, which has increased from 49.6 to 72.6.
Uttar Pradesh, having had the lowest life expectancy at birth of just 43 years in 1970-75 has increased to 65.6 in 2015-2019.

Rural and Urban Divide :

Urban women from Himachal Pradesh had the highest life expectancy at birth at 3 years.
Rural men of Chhattisgarh had the lowest life expectancy at birth, just 8 years.
There is a gap of 8 years in life expectancy between rural and urban areas of Assam.
It is followed by Himachal Pradesh with a gap of five years.
Kerala is the only state where rural life expectancy at birth is higher as compared to urban life for both women and men.
Bihar and Jharkhand are the only states where male life expectancy is higher than women in both urban and rural areas.

About SRS :

SRS is a large-scale demographic sample survey based on the mechanism of a dual record system

Objective :

To provide reliable estimates of fertility and mortality indicators at state and national levels for rural and urban areas respectively.
In India, life expectancy in various broad age groups has been estimated through the Sample Registration System from 1970-75.

CRISIL Report: India’s data center capacity to double by fiscal 2025

According to the CRISIL Report Data center capacity in India is expected to double to 1,700-1,800 megawatt (MW) by fiscal 2025 from 870 MW in fiscal 2022 powered by the data boom, digital adoption, and local data storage mandates.
This will require investments of over Rs 40,000 crore.
Of the Rs 40,000 crore investments, a third will be to acquire land, a fifth for substations, and the balance for civil work, purchase of equipment, and fit-outs.
As per the agency, electricity accounts for 45-50 percent of the operating cost of data centers.
The share of renewables in data center power consumption is expected to increase to 35-40 percent by FY25 from under 15 percent in fiscal 2022.
This will help improve the operators’ margins by 200-300 basis points by FY25, which will help sustain returns on capital employed at 13-15 percent.

About CRISIL :

Founded: 1987
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Managing Director: Gurpreet Chhatwal
Director: Nitesh Jain
CRISIL is an Indian analytical company providing ratings, research, and risk and policy advisory services and is a subsidiary of American company S&P Global
It was the first credit rating agency in India.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOUR

Award program for Hindi-language authors of books Results for 2020–21:

An award scheme for writing books originally in Hindi on Economics/Banking/Financial issues was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India.
Its results are declared.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a press release inviting applications for the program described in the caption.
It was decided to honor both Sagar Sanwariya, an assistant professor at Government Girl’s College in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, and Professor Renu Jatana, a former dean of Mohanlal Sukhadia University in Udaipur, Rajasthan, for their book Vittiye Prabhand.