Daily Current Affairs November 15 2022

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS : NATIONAL NEWS

Cochin Shipyard to build India’s first hydrogen fuel cell catamaran vessel in Varanasi

• A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was inked between the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) to build India’s first hydrogen fuel cell catamaran vessel for operation in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and electric hybrid vessels for UP and

Key Highlights :

• The air-conditioned hydrogen fuel cell catamaran vessel will have a seating capacity for 100 passengers.
• The vessel will be deployed at Varanasi after test and trial runs in Kochi.
• It will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 250 MT annually.
• The design and development of the vessel will be undertaken by CSL in collaboration with M/s KPIT, Pune.
• The technology can be adopted for greening of cargo vessels and small country crafts, enabling significant reduction in pollution levels in the national waterways.
• The introduction of zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell passenger catamaran vessels in Kashi will pave the way for a reduction in the usage of fossil fuels and thereby reduce emissions in our national waterways.
• CSL has also signed an MoU for the construction of 6 electric catamaran vessels for Uttar Pradesh and another 2 for Guwahati in Assam.

About CSL :

• Founded : 29 April 1972
• Headquarters : Kochi, Kerala, India
• Chairman & MD : Madhu S. Nair

About IWAI :

• Established : 27 October 1986
• Headquarters : Noida, Uttar Pradesh
• Chairman : Sanjay Bandopadhyay

Govt to launch world’s longest river cruise of 4,000 km from Varanasi

• The Union government and the Uttar Pradesh state government is set to launch the world’s longest luxury river cruise between Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Assam’s Dibrugarh in Jan 2023 in a bid to provide impetus to inland waterways development in

Key Highlights :

• The Varanasi-Dibrugarh cruise is expected to be run on a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
• The 50-day cruise will set sail from Varanasi on 10 January and cover 4,000 km, passing through Kolkata and Dhaka before reaching Bogibeel in Dibrugarh district of Assam on 1 March.
• Ganga Vilas cruise will sail from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in a longest river journey of 50 days covering 27 river systems and visit over 50 tourist sites including World Heritage Sites.
• This will be the single largest river journey by a single river ship in the world and would put both India and Bangladesh on the river cruise map of the world
• The cruise is the first set of cruise liners that will run on a PPP model with the memorandum of understanding signed between the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Antara Luxury River Cruises and JM Baxi River Cruises.

Aquaconnect becomes first Indian fisheries start-up gets ISO 27001 certification

• Aquaconnect, a technology-driven full-stack aquaculture inputs and outputs platform with embedded fintech, supported by a physical & digital (phygital) distribution network, has received the ISO 27001 certification for information security management (ISM).
• The certification comes on the back of an ISMS (Information Security Management System) implementation which makes Aquaconnect the first Indian fisheries startup to earn this recognition.

Key Highlights :

• Aquaconnect has implemented an Information Security Management System (ISMS) and achieved conformity with the requirements for the platform development, operations, security, and delivery of various services to aquaculture stakeholders across the globe.
• ISO/IEC 27001 is the leading international standard focused on information security
• ISO 27001 certification is a significant step towards reassuring farmers, aqua partners, buyers, and financial institution partners that Aquaconnect takes information security management seriously.

About Aquaconnect :

• Founded : 2017
• Headquarters : Chennai, Tamil Nadu
• Aquaconnect has also been recognized as the ‘Best Agri Startup in Application of Digital Technologies 2021’& the ‘Most Innovative AgTech Start-up (Mature Stage) 2022’ by FICCI.
• It uses satellite remote sensing andartificial intelligenceto enable aquaculture farmers, retailers, and seafood buyers to increase access to formal credit, farm inputs and post-harvest markets.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : INTERNATIONAL NEWS

US Treasury removes India from its Currency Monitoring List

• The United States Department of Treasury removed India along with Italy, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam from its Currency Monitoring List of major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices and macroeconomic policies.
• Along with India, Italy, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam have also been removed from the list.
• India had been on the list for the last two years.
• The move came on a day when Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen visited New Delhi and held talks with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Key Highlights :

• In its biannual report to the US Congress, the country’s Department of Treasury stated that China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are the seven economies that are part of the current monitoring list.
• In this report, Treasury reviewed and assessed the policies of major US trading partners, comprising roughly 80% of US foreign trade in goods and services, during the four quarters through June 2022.

Currency Monitoring List: Three Criteria

1. A “significant” bilateral trade surplus with the US – at least $20 billion in 12 months.
2. A material current account surplus equivalent to at least 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) over a 12-month period.
3. “Persistent”, one-sided intervention – when net purchases of foreign currency totalling at least 2% of the country’s GDP over a 12-month period are conducted repeatedly, in at least 6 out of 12 months.

• Once a country meets all three criteria, it is labelled as a ‘currency manipulator’ by the US Department of Treasury.
• Notably, Switzerland once again exceeded the thresholds for all three criteria, which is a parameter for being labelled as a “Currency Manipulator”.
• A country that meets two of the three criteria in the US’ Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 is put under the Currency Monitoring List.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING & FINANCE

HDFC Bank partners with Arzooo to offer Purchase Cards to Retailers with up to Rs 1 Cr credit

• HDFC Bank (India’s largest Private sector Bank) partners with Arzooo (India’s fastest-growing Retail Tech Platform) to launch Purchase cards that have been exclusively designed for offline retailers.

Aim :

• To roll out over one lakh such credit cards over the next 12 months.

Key features :

• The card offers interest-free credit for up to a month and a credit limit of up to Rs 1 crore.
• Also, it is integrated with the Arzooo mobile application for ease of use during checkout.
• In 2022, Arzooo disbursed Rs 100 Crore worth of credit to retailers.
• There was a growth of 800% in the number of retailers that took credit this year through Arzooo Credit.
• Also, the sales on the platform grew by 400% due to access to capital headroom and an increase in demand.
• Over 40,000 retail partnerswho are already on the Arzooo platform will now be able to manage their working capital much more efficiently.
• The Purchase Card will play a pivotal role in mobilizing the economy by providing impetus to small and mid-sized retailers with easy access to capital.

About HDFC Bank :

• Founded : August 1994
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• MD & CEO : Sashidhar Jagdishan

About Arzooo :

• Founded : 2018
• Headquarters : Bengaluru, Karnataka

Union Bank of India launches Union Vyom app & various new products on the occasion of 104th Foundation Day

• Union Bank of India, the country’s 5th largest public sector bank, marked its 104th foundation day at Mumbai, Maharashtra after being founded on 11 November 1919 and having its first head office inaugurated by the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi in
• On this occasion, Bank launched a super app – the Union Vyom app& various other digital products.

About Union Vyom App :

• Union Vyom App is the super app of the Bank, is a one-stop solution for all financial products.
• It is empowered to deliver a unique experience of banking to customers where customers can do transactions beyond traditional banking.
• Apart from online transactions, customers can avail of Retail, MSME loan, and credit card, make investments in 5000+ mutual fund schemes, and buy insurance products without any assistance.

Other Launches :

• Union Sparsh- Touch debit card, specially designed for the visually impaired.
• Union Muskaan– Zero balance saving account for children of 0-18 years ago, having facility of term insurance, accidental death insurance, SMS banking, NEFT, and IMPS at no cost.
• Also, avail of education loans at a concessional rate.
• Union Channel Finance- A fully automated financing solution for finance to dealers.
• Union Digi-Sahaj- An online account opening platform to open a savings account instantly.
• Union SARAS- A portal named Stressed Asset Recovery Automated Solution, developed for early resolution and effective management of stressed assets having end-to-end processing automation of all recovery and legal proceedings.

About UBI :

• Founded : 11 November 1919
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• MD & CEO : A Manimekhalai
• Tagline : Good People to Bank With

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Greg Barclay re-elected as ICC Chairman for two-year term

• The ICC board has unanimously re-elected Greg Barclay as the Independent Chair of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a second two-year term.
• Barclay was unopposed following the withdrawal of Tavengwa Mukuhlani from the process, and the Board reaffirmed its full support of him to continue as Chair for a further two years.

About Greg Barclay :

• Barclay, an Auckland-based commercial lawyer.
• He was originally appointed as the ICC Chair in November 2020.
• He has been the Chair of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) since 2016.
• He was a director of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2015.

About ICC :

• Founded : 15 June 1909
• Headquarters : Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• CEO : Geoff Allardice
• Membership : 108 member

CURRENT AFFAIRS : AWARDS & HONORS

Bhopal Railway Station awarded ‘Eat Right Station’ certification with a 4-star rating by FSSAI

• The Food Safety and Standard Association of India (FSSAI) awarded Bhopal Railway Station a 4-star ‘Eat Right Station’ certification for providing ‘”high-quality, nutritious food to passengers”.
• The other railway stations with this certification include
• Anand Vihar Terminal Railway Station; (Delhi)
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus; (Mumbai)
• Mumbai Central Railway Station; (Mumbai)
• Vadodara Railway Station (Gujarat)
• Chandigarh Railway Station (September 2021)

About Eat Right Station :

• The ‘Eat Right Station’ certification is awarded by FSSAI to railway stations that set benchmarks in providing safe and wholesome food to passengers.
• Its tagline is ‘Sahi Bhojan, Behtar Jeevan’.
• The station is awarded a certificate upon a conclusion of an FSSAI-empanelled third-party audit agency with ratings from 1 to 5.
• The 4-star rating indicates full compliance by the station to ensure safe and hygienic food is available to passengers.
• The certification is part of the ‘Eat Right India’ movement- a large-scale effort by FSSAI to transform the country’s food system to ensure safe, healthy and sustainable food for all Indians.
• Eat Right India adopts a judicious mix of regulatory, capacity building, collaborative, and empowerment approaches to ensure that our food is suitable both for the people and the planet

About FSSAI :

• Founded : 5 September 2008
• Headquarters : New Delhi, Delhi, India
• Chairperson : Rajesh Bhusan
• CEO : S Gopalakrishnan
• The FSSAI is a statutory body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPS & PORTALS

President Droupadi Murmu launches e-KUMBH portal in Bhubaneswar

• President of India Droupadi Murmu launched e-KUMBH (Knowledge Unleashed in Multiple Bharatiya Languages) portal in which engineering courses and books would be available in 12 scheduled Indian languages from Jayadev Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• Murmu also released engineering books of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in Odia language and glossary of 50,000 technical terms in Odia language developed by Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT).
• Engineering books have been translated in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Kannada, Punjabi, Odia and Assamese while book translation in Urdu and Malayalam languages is

Union Minister for Labour and Employment Shri Bhupender Yadav Launches ESIC Online Maternity Benefit Claim Portal

• Shri Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Labour & Employment and Environment, Forest & Climate Change launched the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation’s (ESIC) online maternity benefit claim facility for insured women in New Delhi, Delhi, India.
• The portal was launched at the 102 birth anniversary of Dattopant Thengadi , a social reformer and the founder of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh , organized by the National Labour Education and Development Board.
• Maternity Benefit is given to the insured women in the form of cash benefit in case of certain contingencies such as in the advanced stage of pregnancy, after delivery / in the unfortunate event of confinement or miscarriage and who meet the eligibility conditions.
• Payment at the rate of 100% of wages is paid for 26 weeks as maternity benefit to the insured woman by ESIC to compensate for the loss of income during her childbirth.
• A total of 18.69 lakh women beneficiaries have been provided maternity benefits of Rs 37.37 crore during the year 2021-22.

About Ministry of Labour & Employment :

• Cabinet Minister : Bhupender Yadav
• Minister of State : Rameswar Teli
• Director General of ESIC : Dr. Rajendra Kumar

Krishify Integrates With E-NAM’s Platform Of Platforms

• Krishify, a Gurugram-based agritech start-up platform, has integrated with the Platform of Platforms (PoPs) by the electronic National Agricultural Market (eNAM).
• e-NAM, a unit of the portal Ministry of Agriculture, is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks existing agricultural produce market committees’ (APMC) yards to create a unified national market for agrarian commodities for farmers, traders, and other intermediaries.
• The e-NAM platform will direct its users to Krishify, where they can get assistance from its pool of professionals for assistance
• Union Agriculture Minister, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, launched the Platform of Platforms (PoPs) under e-NAM in July 2022
• The PoP offers transportation, warehousing, quality assaying, storage, fintech, sorting and grading and agri-advisory services to its stakeholders.
• The initiative is part of the Centre’s plans to widen the scope of e-NAM in which 41 other entities, including 9 trading  platforms, will offer their services.
• It is expected to boost e-trading too.

About Krishify :

• Founded : 2019
• Headquarters : Gurgaon, Haryana
• CEO : Rajesh Ranjan

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

China Successfully Launches Cargo Spacecraft For Its Space Station In Orbit

• China successfully launched its cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-5 to deliver supplies for its space station, the construction of which is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
• The Long March-7 Y6 rocket, carrying Tianzhou-5 which blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan.
• The launch of the Tianzhou-5 is the 200th launch mission for Xichang Satellite Launch Center in 2022, as well as the last for Wenchang launch site in 2022.

About Tianzhou-5 :

• The Tianzhou-5 is a fully sealed cargo spacecraft that carried a total of 6.7 tonnes of supplies, including about 5.2 tonnes of life supplies and equipment, as well as 1.4 tonnes of propellant.
• The cargo will serve the demand of the upcoming Shenzhou-15 crew for six months and the construction of the space station.
• The Tianzhou-5 has expanded its storage capability with 8 storage tanks as previous models only had 4 .
• China will carry out two more missions after the launch of the Tianzhou-5 cargo craft the Shenzhou-15 crewed spaceship and bringing the Shenzhou-14 crew back to Earth – before it fully completes the in-orbit construction of the space station by the end of 2022.
• For the first time, the cargo craft carried fuel cells for use in space experiments designed to discover how they will perform in a microgravity environment.
• On October 31,2022 China launched the second lab called Mengtian module to be part of its Tiangong space station taking its construction into the final stage.

About China :

• Capital: Beijing
• Currency : Renminbi

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SPORTS NEWS

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Mumbai beat Himachal Pradesh to win maiden title

• Domestic giants Mumbai produced a near perfect performance to beat Himachal Pradesh by three wickets in the final and won their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy title at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
• Himachal posted a total of 143/8 in 20 overs with Ekant Sen (37 off 29) top-scoring for them.
• In reply, Mumbai chased down the target in 3 overs with 3 wickets in hand.
• Sarfaraz Khan scored 36 runs and Tanush Kotian claimed three wickets, which paved the way to win the trophy.

About Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy:

• The 15th edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a Twenty20(T20) competition that is played in India, was held from 11th October 2022 to 5th November 2022.
• The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a domestic T-20 cricket championship in India, organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), among the teams from the Ranji Trophy.
• The tournament is named after a former Indian test cricketer Syed Mushtaq Ali.

West Midlands to host Kabaddi World Cup in 2025

• The West Midlands in England will host the 2025 Kabaddi World Cup, announced by the World Kabaddi Federation (WKF)
• This will be the first time that the Kabaddi World Cup will be held outside Asia.
• The UK region will become the first destination outside of Asia to host the sport’s most prestigious global tournament, which will feature the world’s best kabaddi players from leading men’s and women’s teams, including India, Iran and
• The 2025 Kabaddi World Cup will be organized by England Kabaddi, Scottish Kabaddi, and the British Kabaddi League.
• The tournament will feature at least 16 teams (men and women), including from India, Iran and Pakistan and will be held across the West Midlands during the first quarter of 2025.
• The Indian men’s kabaddi team has dominated the sport over the years, claiming 9 out of 10 titles at the World Cups, which have been mostly organised in Asia under the aegis of the International Kabaddi federation (IKF).

About World Kabaddi Federation :

• Founded : 2003.
• It was incorporated under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 on September 30, 2005.
• President : Ashok Das

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES

Renowned Indian mathematician and Padma Shri Awardee, Shri RL Kashyap passes away

• Renowned Indian mathematician and Padma Shri Awardee, Shri Rangasami Lakshminarayan Kashyap passed away at the age of 84 in Karnataka.

About Shri RL Kashyap :

• Shri RL Kashyap was born 28 March 1938 in Mysore, Karnataka.
• He worked as a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computers for three decades at Purdue University in America.
• He developed the Ho-Kashyap rule, A pivotal algorithm in Pattern recognition, with another professor in Harvard, Yu-Chi Ho.
• He was the founder of a spiritual organization called Sakshi Trust.
• Kashyap is the only person in the world to translate all the 4 vedas.
• He has translated around 25,000 Shlokas/Mantras of Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvaveda into English.
• He also wrote more than 250 research papers.

Awards & Honors :

• He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2021 by the central government for his considerable service in the field of studying the Vedas.
• His accolades and achievements include Karnataka Rajyotsava Award, Visvesvaraya Science Award, Veda Brahma Award.

TV Actor Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi passes away

• Famous television actor Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi also known as Anand Suryavanshi,passed away at the age of 46 while working out at a gym.

About Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi :

• He appeared in over 25 Hindi television shows during his 21-year career.
• He was best known for his roles in shows like ‘Kkusum’ and ‘Kasautii Zindagi Kay’.
• He started his career as a model and then made his debut with ‘Kkusum’.
• He was also a part of several other TV shows including, ‘Kasautii Zindagii Kay’, ‘Sufiyana Ishq Mera’, ‘Ziddi Dil Maane Na’ and ‘Waaris’.
• His last projects include TV shows Kyun Rishton Mein Katti Batti and Ziddi Dil.

Daily CA on Nov 15 :

• A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was inked between the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) to build the India’s first hydrogen fuel cell catamaran vessel for operation in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and electric hybrid vessels for UP and
• The Union government and the Uttar Pradesh state government is set to launch the world’s longest luxury river cruise between Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Assam’s Dibrugarh in Jan 2023 in a bid to provide impetus to inland waterways development in
• Aquaconnect, a technology-driven full-stack aquaculture inputs and outputs platform with embedded fintech, supported by a physical & digital (phygital) distribution network, has received the ISO 27001 certification for information security management (ISM).
• The United States Department of Treasury removed India along with Italy, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam from its Currency Monitoring List of major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices and macroeconomic policies.
• HDFC Bank (India’s largest Private sector Bank) partners with Arzooo (India’s fastest-growing Retail Tech Platform) to launch Purchase cards that have been exclusively designed for offline retailers.
• Union Bank of India, the country’s 5th largest public sector bank, marked its 104th foundation day at Mumbai, Maharashtra after being founded on 11 November 1919 and having its first head office inaugurated by the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi in
• The ICC board has unanimously re-elected Greg Barclay as the Independent Chair of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a second two-year term.
• The Food Safety and Standard Association of India (FSSAI) awarded Bhopal Railway Station a 4-star ‘Eat Right Station’ certification for providing ‘”high-quality, nutritious food to passengers”.
• President of India Droupadi Murmu launched e-KUMBH (Knowledge Unleashed in Multiple Bharatiya Languages) portal in which engineering courses and books would be available in 12 scheduled Indian languages from Jayadev Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• Shri Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Labour & Employment and Environment, Forest & Climate Change launched the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation’s (ESIC) online maternity benefit claim facility for insured women in New Delhi, Delhi, India.
• Krishify, a Gurugram-based agritech start-up platform, has integrated with the Platform of Platforms (PoPs) by the electronic National Agricultural Market (eNAM).
• China successfully launched its cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-5 to deliver supplies for its space station, the construction of which is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
• Domestic giants Mumbai produced a near perfect performance to beat Himachal Pradesh by three wickets in the final and won their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy title at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
• The West Midlands in England will host the 2025 Kabaddi World Cup, announced by the World Kabaddi Federation (WKF)
• Renowned Indian mathematician and Padma Shri Awardee, Shri Rangasami Lakshminarayan Kashyap passed away at the age of 84 in Karnataka.
• Famous television actor Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi also known as Anand Suryavanshi,passed away at the age of 46 while working out at a gym.