Daily Current Affairs and GK | 14 June 2023

Topic: Geography

1. Mayon volcano erupts in Philippines.

• The 2,460-metre, cone-shaped Mayon volcano began erupting on June 8.
• Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said that the Mayon volcano has "effusive eruption". Lava coming out from the vent is slowly moving.
• More than 14,000 villagers within the danger zone have been evacuated. Philippine authorities also evacuated more than 10,000 farm animals, including cows, goats and pigs.
• In the past 24 hours, the Mayon Volcano Network recorded 21 weak volcanic earthquakes.
• Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines. It last erupted in January 2018.
• The alert level of the Mayon volcano eruption is 3 out of 5.
• Mayon volcano is located on Luzon Island about 330 kilometers (205 miles) southeast of Manila.

Most Active Volcanoes in the World:

Topic: Sports

2. In the U-17 Asian Wrestling Championships, India won one Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals.

• Ankush won India’s only gold medal in the freestyle 55kg weight category by defeating Iran's Amirreza Ali Teymorizad.
• Dhanraj Bharat Shirke lost to Iran's Ahora Farhad Khateri.
• Rupesh won the other silver after losing to Iran’s Sam Reza Sayar in the freestyle 48kg final.
• Rohit lost to Leo Akagi of Japan and won the silver medal.
• Tushar (60kg freestyle), Vinay (92 kg freestyle) and Jaspooran Singh (110kg freestyle) won three bronze medals for India.
• All 10 freestyle wrestlers won medals in the competition.
• India finished second in the freestyle team rankings behind Iran.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

3. Telangana government and Vande Bharath Trust confer Vinay Addagiri and Suresh Nagala with the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2023.

• Jagan Mohan Rao, chairman of Telangana State Technology Services, and Dr. Ramesh Eppallapalli, Chairman of Vande Bharat Trust presented them the award.
• Vinay Addagiri is Co-Founder and Director at Aertsen Living.
• Suresh Nagala is Co-Founder and Vice-President at Aertsen Living.
• Vandhe Bharat Bheeshma Vashista Puraskar honours outstanding achievements by people in various domains.
• They were honoured with the award for their innovative contribution and success in home interior solutions and modular furniture.
• Aertsen Living is a home interior solution provider.

Topic: Sports

4. First Janjatiya Khel Mahotsav concluded in Bhubaneswar.

• Odisha emerged as the overall champion in both the men’s and women’s categories.
• The government of India’s Ministry of Culture and the Odisha government in collaboration with KIIT University jointly hosted the Mahotsav.
• 5,000 tribal athletes and 1,000 officials from 26 states took part in the first edition.
• Karnataka was the 1st runner-up in the overall event. Jharkhand was second runner-up in the overall event.
• Team Odisha won the Gold in men’s and women’s categories in Rugby as well as in Hockey.

• Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik gave awards to the winners at the end of the Khel Mahotsav.
• Odisha hosted the first edition of Janjatiya Khel Mahotsav.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

5. Rs 8,000-crore disaster management schemes announced by Amit Shah.

• On 13 June, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah chaired the meeting of State and Union Territories Disaster Management Ministers at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
• Three major disaster management plans worth over Rs 8,000 crore were announced for the country.
  • 1. Expansion and modernization of fire services in states at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore.
  • 2. ₹2,500 crore project for the seven most populous metros - Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune - to reduce the risk of flooding in cities
  • 3. ₹825 crore National Landslide Risk Mitigation Project in 17 States and Union Territories for landslide mitigation.
• He said that comparing the nine years from 2005-06 to 2013-14 and the nine years from 2014-15 to 2022-23, the fund release to SDRF has almost tripled to Rs.1,04,704 crore.
• In addition, the amount of funds released to NDRF has almost tripled from Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 77,000 crore.
• He said that in the year 2021, the National Disaster Mitigation Fund was constituted under the Central Government with Rs 16,700 crore and under SDMF Rs 32,000 crore has been kept for mitigation activities.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: National News

6. FSSAI has awarded ‘Eat Right Station’ certification to Guwahati Railway Station.

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has awarded the 'Eat Right Station' certification to the Guwahati railway station in Assam for providing high-quality nutritious food to passengers.
• The station has been able to meet the guidelines set by FSSAI and has become the first station on North Eastern Railway to get this status.
• Railway stations that follow standard food storage and hygiene are awarded 'Eat Right Station' certification by FSSAI.
• The certification is part of the 'Eat Right India' movement and a massive effort by the FSSAI to transform the country's food system to ensure safe, healthy and sustainable food for all Indians.

Topic: Reports and Indices/Ranking

7. Walk Free, a human rights organization, released Global Slavery Index (GSI).

• This is the fifth edition of the Global Slavery Index (GSI). Earlier editions were released in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2018.
• The data for the index is based on the data provided by the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery.
• According to the report, 49.6 million people are living in modern slavery. In India, 11 million people of living in modern slavery.
• The number of people living in modern slavery has increased by 10 million since 2016.
• Out of the total of around 50 million, 28 million are forced labour and 22 million from forced marriages.
• As per the index, “modern slavery” means a situation of exploitation in which a person cannot refuse because of threats, violence, coercion, abuses of power.
• Modern slavery is less prevalent in Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland, Japan, and Finland.
• North Korea, Eritrea, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Tajikistan, the UAE, Russia, Afghanistan, and Kuwait are most affected from modern slavery.
• Forced labour, forced marriage, debt bondage, sexual exploitation, human trafficking, etc. are part of Modern slavery.
• Modern slavery is linked to global challenges such as climate degradation, gender inequality, COVID-19, and conflict.
• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Target 8.7 aims to end modern slavery, forced labour and human trafficking.

Topic: State News/ Karnataka

8. Ishad mango from Karnataka gets geographical indicator (GI) tag.

• A delicious Ishad mango from Uttara Kannada gets a much-awaited geographical indicator (GI) tag.
• Ishad mango is mainly grown around Ankola. It is very tasty and contains a lot of pulp.
• In addition to Ankola, the mango is grown in Karwar and to a certain extent in Kumta of Uttara Kannada.
• Ankola-based Matha Totagars Farmers Producer Company (MTFPC) Ltd had applied for the GI tag.
• This mango variety is being cultivated for the last 400 years.
• The Ishad mango has two variants — Kari Ishad and Bili Ishad.
• A well-grown tree produces/bears up to 2,000 fruits in a season.

Topic: Art and Culture

9. An exhibition titled "Hamari Bhasha, Hamari Virasat" organised by the National Archives of India.

• The exhibition was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Culture, Smt. Meenakashi Lekhi on 09 June 2023.
• The exhibition was organised to celebrate the 75th International Archives Day (09 June 2023).
• The exhibition is an attempt to commemorate the heritage of India’s linguistic diversity as a Nation.
• An estimated 788 languages are spoken in India alone, out of the 7,111 languages spoken globally.
• Therefore, India is one of the four most linguistically diversified countries in the world after Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Nigeria.
• The Gilgit Manuscripts are the oldest surviving manuscript collection in India. They were written between the 5-6 centuries CE.
• Mrs. Meenakashi Lekhi said, “On the occasion of International Archives Day, the National Archives of India has made available these Gilgit Manuscripts.
• The Exhibition presents the birch-bark Gilgit manuscripts, Tattvartha Sutra, Ramayana, and Srimad Bhagwad Gita, among others.
• The Gilgit Manuscripts were discovered in Naupur village (Gilgit region) in three phases, and were first announced in 1931 by archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein.
• National Archives of India:
  • It was set up on 11 March 1891 at Kolkata (Calcutta) as the Imperial Record Department.
  • It is the nodal agency for the implementation of the Public Records Act, 1993 and Public Record Rules, 1997.
  • It functions as an Attached Office of the Department of Culture under the Ministry of Culture.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

10. A loan agreement worth $130 million has been signed by the Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

• This loan agreement has been signed to promote horticulture in Himachal Pradesh.
• It will increase agricultural productivity, improve access to irrigation and promote horticulture agribusinesses to raise farmers’ income in Himachal Pradesh.
• The project will help increase the resilience to the effects of climate change of at least 15,000 farm households across seven districts of the state.
• These districts are Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Sirmour, Solan, and Una.
• Further, it will improve on-farm irrigation and water management in about 6,000 hectares of farmland.
• The farmers will be organized into cluster-wide community horticulture production and marketing associations (CHPMAs).
• They will also be organized into district-wide CHPMA cooperative societies. 

Topic: Economy/Banking/Finance

11. India has made a big record in terms of digital payments and ranked on top.

• According to MyGovIndia data, in the year 2022, 89.5 million digital transactions have been done.
• According to statistics, global real-time payments accounted for 46 percent of India's total digital transactions in 2022.
• MyGovIndia has said that the large scale adoption of innovative solutions has brought about this change and the country is moving towards a cashless economy.
• India is followed by Brazil with 29.2 million, China with 17.6 million, Thailand with 16.5 million and South Korea with 8 million.
• Even if the figures of the other four countries are combined, India is ahead of them.
• The first online payment platform in India was from 'Billdesk'.It started its operation in 2000.
• in just 23 years India is on top of the world in terms of digital payments.
• After the year 2014, there has been a significant increase in it, because the central government has done a lot of work on Digital India.
• On July 1, 2015, Digital India was launched by PM Modi with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
• RBI also launched a pilot project of E-Rupee in 2022.
• MyGovIndia is a citizen-government engagement platform that started in 2014 and owned by the Government of India.

(Source: News on Air)

Topic: Sports

12. Uruguay beat Italy 1-0 to win their maiden the FIFA U20 World Cup title.

• Luciano Rodríguez scored the winning goal in the 86th minute with a header from close range.
• Uruguay lost the final of the tournament in 1997 and 2013.
• Brazil was the last winner from South America in 2011.
• The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup was hosted by Argentina.
• The tournament was initially supposed to be hosted by Indonesia, but the Muslim-majority country did not accept Israel's participation.

Topic: Indian Economy

13. Central government released Rs 1.18 trillion as tax devolution to state governments.

• Central government released the third tranche amounting Rs 1.18 trillion of tax devolution to state governments to speed up capital spending.
• It is significantly higher than the normal monthly devolution of Rs 59,140 crore.
• This transfer of money is a part of transferring federal taxes to states. It will help states in meeting their development and welfare-related expenditures.
• Uttar Pradesh received the highest share of Rs 21,218 crore and Goa the least at Rs 457 crore.
• Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat were allocated ₹3,700 crore, ₹11,897 crore, ₹4,030 crore, and ₹4,114 crore, respectively.
• Andhra Pradesh received ₹4,787 crore, while Arunachal Pradesh received ₹2,078 crore.
• The funds have been given to states based on a predefined formula that is based on various factors such as population, area, and fiscal capacity.
• At present, 41 per cent of taxes collected by the Centre is devolved in 14 instalments to states during a fiscal year.

Topic: Defence

14. 12th edition of joint military exercise “Ekuverin” begin at Chaubatia, Uttarakhand.

• A joint military exercise “Ekuverin” between India and Maldives is scheduled to take place from 11 to 24 June 2023 in Uttarakhand.
• Ekuverin which means ‘Friends’ is a bilateral annual exercise conducted alternatively in India and Maldives.
• Indian Army and Maldives National Defence Force will participate in the exercise for 14 days.
• The main aim of the exercise is to enhance interoperability in Counter Insurgency/ Counter Terrorism Operations and to carry out joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations.
• The focus of the exercise is to share best practices and enhance cooperation between both the forces at tactical level.
• Both countries have very close and friendly relations in economic, cultural and military cooperation.
• The 11th edition of the exercise was held in Maldives in December 2021.