Daily Current Affairs and GK | 1 October 2022

Topic: Awards and Prizes

1. The Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) 42^nd Annual Awards ceremony for Excellence in Book Production 2022 held in New Delhi.

• Directorate of Publications Division won nine awards in various categories for Excellence in Book Production 2022.
• DPD won first prizes in the categories of the following:
  • General and Trade Books (English) for ‘Balancing the Wisdom Tree’
  • General and Trade Books (Hindi) for ‘Bharat Vibhajan Ki Kahani'
  • Art and Coffee Table Books (Regional Languages) for ‘Courts of India' (Marathi)
  • Reference Books (English) for ‘India 2022’
  • Scientific/Technical/Medical Books (Hindi) for ‘Covid-19: Vaishik Mahamari'
  • Journals and House Magazines (Hindi) for ‘Kurukshetra’
• In the category of General and Trade Books (Hindi) for ‘Loktantra ke Swar’, DPD won the second Prize.
• Directorate of Publications Division was awarded two Third Prizes in the categories of - Children Books (General Interest) (0-10 Years) (Hindi) for ‘Pinushi’ and Journals and House Magazines (Regional Languages) for ‘Ajkal' (Urdu).
• In 2021, Directorate of Publications Division won ten awards for its various publications.
• Directorate of Publications Division:
  • It was established in 1941.
  • It is a publishing house of the Government of India.
  • It publishes books in different languages with diverse themes.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

2. President Droupadi Murmu presented 68^th National Film Awards in New Delhi.

• President Droupadi Murmu presented the Dada Saheb Phalke award for 2020 to actress Asha Parekh.
• In the 68th National Film Awards ceremony, Hindi film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior’ has been selected for ‘Best Popular Film’.
• Ajay Devgn for the film, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior and Suriya for film Soorarai Pottru received the best actor award.
• Aparna Balamurali received the Best Actress Award for Soorarai Pottru.
• Sachidanandan KR got the Best Director Award for Malayalam Film AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
• Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur invited winners to guide the future filmmakers selected through 75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow.
• He also said that Cinema is a catalyst for social change and India has now become a content hub.
• The List of Winners is as follows:

Topic: Important Days

3. Pension System Diwas (NPS Diwas): 1 October

• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) observed Pension System Diwas (NPS Diwas) on 1 October.
• The main aim of the day is to promote pension and retirement planning among citizens.
• The main objective of PFRDA is to encourage citizens to create a pension corpus to remain financially sound post retirement.
• National Pension Scheme subscriber also enjoys tax benefits on contribution.
• As of 24th September, the total NPS subscriber is 571.86 lakhs and total Assets Under Management (AUM) is 7,99,467 crore.
• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority:
  • It was established by the Government of India on 23rd August 2003.
  • It is a regulatory body under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance.
  • Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority Act was passed on 19 September 2013.
  • It is responsible for the supervision and regulation of pensions in India.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

4. Srishti Bakshi from India wins ‘Changemaker’ award at UN SDG Action Awards.

• Srishti Bakshi, who travelled 3,800km in less than a year, has won prestigious honour at the UN SDG Action Awards.
• She travelled 3800 km to raise awareness on gender-based violence and inequality.
• She has got the award for “confronting gender-based violence and advocating for safe access to public spaces.
• The finalists have been selected from more than 3,000 applications from 150 countries.
• The other award winners are ‘SUPvivors say NO MORE’ in the Mobilise category for empowering sexual abuse survivors in Ecuador and ‘The Masungi Story’ in the Inspire category.
• A documentary titled ‘WOMB: Women Of My Billion’ has showcased her journey.
• The winners have been announced at a ceremony in Bonn, Germany.

Topic: Reports and Indices/ Rankings

5. India jumps to 40^th rank in the Global Innovation Index 2022.

• In 2022, India climbed to 40^th position among 132 countries in the WIPO’s Global Innovation Index.
• In 2015, India’s rank was 81 in Global Innovation Index. In 2021, India ranked 46 in the index.
• In Global Innovation Index 2022, Switzerland has topped and emerged as the world’s most innovative economy for 12^th consecutive time.
• Switzerland is followed by US, Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Germany, Finland and Denmark.
• Rank of India’s neighbouring countries in 2022 GII: China (11^th), Sri Lanka (85^th), Pakistan (87^th), Bangladesh (102^nd), Nepal (111^th).
• In terms of income group, India has topped in the lower-middle income countries group in the index.
• The Global Innovation Index 2022 announced the biggest science and tech innovation clusters in the world with the highest density of inventors and scientific authors.
• In 2022, Tokyo–Yokohama is the top science and tech hub in the world, followed by Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (China and Hong Kong, China), Beijing (China), Seoul (Republic of Korea) and San Jose–San Francisco (United States).
• Global Innovation Index 2022 is the 15^th edition of Global Innovation Index. The theme of 2022 index is “What is the future of innovation-driven growth?”
• Global Innovation Index (GII):
  • It is annually published and compiled by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization.
  • For a second year, the GII is published by WIPO in partnership with the Portulans Institute, with the support of partners- the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI, Brazil), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII, India), Ecopetrol (Colombia) and the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM, Türkiye).
  • Overall GII score is the average of the Innovation Input Sub-Index and Innovation Output Sub-Index. While Innovation Input Sub-Index comprises of five pillars, Innovation Output Sub-Index comprises of two pillars.

(Source: DPIIT)

Topic: State News/ Gujarat

6. PM Modi inaugurated “Swarnim Gujarat Sports University” in Desar.

• He also declared the 36^th National Games open at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on 29 September 2022.
• He recited the National Games Anthem’s words “Judega India-Jeetega India”.
• The official mascot of 36^th National Games 2022 is Savaj, the Asiatic Lion.
• He highlighted that the sports budget of India has increased by almost 70% in the last 8 years.
• Games like Kalaripayattu and Yogasan have been included in the National Games 2022.
• For the first time, the national games are being organized in Gujarat. The games are being held from 29 September to 12 October 2022.
• The sporting events will be organised in six cities of Gujarat viz. Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar.

Topic: National News

7. 5G Service in India launched at 6^th India Mobile Congress 2022.

• Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi launched 5G Services on 1 October at the 6^th edition of Indian Mobile Congress 2022.
• In the recent auction, 51,236 MHz was allocated to Telecom Service Providers with total revenue of Rs. 1,50,173 Crores.
• 5G will create new economic opportunities and has the potential to transform Indian society. The economic impact of 5G on India is likely to reach $450 Billion by 2035.
• Department of Telecommunication had established 5G Testbed with help of IITs, IISc Bengaluru and SAMEER to develop technology in 2018.
• To promote 5G technology, a 5G Hackathon was commenced in 2020. Since 2021, an inter-ministerial committee on 5G use-cases has been functioning.
• Indigenous 5G Non-Stand Alone (NSA) core has been developed by C-DOT. C-DOT is also developing 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) in collaboration with local industry and start-ups.
• ‘Encapsulate, Engage and Experience a New Digital Universe’ is the theme of the 6th India Mobile Congress 2022.
• The main objective of the Indian Mobile Congress is to promote new technologies, foster international regional cooperation, promote entrepreneurship and innovation, etc.

Topic: Defence

8. South Korea Naval ships OKS Hansando and ROKS Daecheong visited Chennai.

• OKS Hansando and ROKS Daecheong reached Chennai on 28 September on a three-day visit.
• Capt Ko Dae-jong, Commanding Officer ROKS Daecheong, Cdr Park Jin-sung, Commanding Officer ROKS Hansando hold discussion with Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Naval Area.
• ROKS Hansando is the first training ship of South Korea and ROKS Daecheong is the logistics support ship.
• The goodwill visits of ships will strengthen the ties between the navies of both countries.

Topic: Banking System

9. RBI increases repo rate by 50 basis points.

• The Monetary Policy Committee of RBI has hiked the repo rate for the fourth time in a row.
• The repo rate has been increased by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.9% which is the highest in last three years.
• The real GDP growth rate has been projected to be 7%.
• RBI governor Shaktikant Das highlighted that inflation is moving around 7% and is expected to remain around 6% in the second half of 2022-23.
• The standing deposit facility (SDF) rate will be now 5.65% and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate stands at 6.15%.
• Repo rate is the rate at which RBI lends money to commercial banks.
• RBI governor also announced four additional measures:
  • Discussion paper on Expected Loss-Based Approach to be released for loan-loss provisioning by banks
  • Discussion paper on securitization of Stressed Assets Framework (SSAF) to be released.
  • Internet banking facility for customers of Regional Rural Banks.
  • Regulation of offline payment aggregators.

Topic: Indian Economy

10. Index of Eight Core Industries for August 2022 has increased by 3.3%.

• The combined index of eight core industries increased by 3.3% (provisional) compared to Index of August 2021.
• Index of Eight Core Industries measures combined and individual performance of production in 8 core industries- Coal, Crude Oil, Cement, Fertilisers, Refinery Products, Electricity, Natural Gas, and Steel.
• The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
• Final growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for May 2022 has been revised to 19.3% from its provisional level 18.1%.

Topic: National News

11. PM Modi inaugurated ‘Lata Mangeshkar Chowk’ on 28 September 2022.

• The renowned Naya Ghat crossing of Ayodhya has been named “Lata Mangeshkar Chowk”.
• The ghat was named Lata Mangeshkar Chowk on the occasion of the 93^rd birth anniversary of Late Lata Mangeshkar.
• PM Modi highlighted that the huge Veena of Maa Saraswati that has been installed at the chowk.
• The giant sculpture is 40ft long, 20m high and weighs 14 tonnes. It has been made by Padma Shri awardee Ram Sutar.
• Lata Mangeshkar Chowk is the first place in India where such a huge musical instrument has been installed.

Topic: National News

12. PM Modi flagged off Gandhinagar- Mumbai Vande Bharat Express at Gandhinagar Station.

• Prime Minister Modi flagged off the upgraded version of Vande Bharat Express between Gandhinagar and Mumbai.
• Vande Bharat Express 2.0 is equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features including KAVACH (indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System).
• Vande Bharat Express 2.0 will be equipped with more advanced and improved features such as reaching the speed of 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in just 52 seconds, and a maximum speed up to 180 kilometres per hour.
• New design of Vande Bharat express has a photo-catalytic ultraviolet air purification system in the Roof-Mounted Package Unit (RMPU) for air purification. 
• PM Modi also flagged off the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project. The entire Phase 1 project is built at a cost of more than ₹12,900 crores.
• Ahmedabad Metro train set is equipped with an energy-efficient propulsion system that can save about 30-35% of energy consumption.