Daily Current Affairs and GK | 14 September 2022

Topic: Reports and Indices/Ranking

1. International Labour Organisation (ILO) released a report titled ‘The Global Estimates of Modern Slavery’.

• As per the report, around 50 million people globally were living in "modern slavery" in 2021.
• Out of 50 million, 28 million are in forced labour and 22 million are trapped in forced marriage.
• Around 2/3^rd of the total forced marriages take place in Asia and the Pacific countries. It is followed by Africa (14.5 percent) and Europe and Central Asia (10.4 percent).
• The report states that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of forced marriages in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Egypt.
• As per the report, the number of people in modern slavery has significantly increased in the last five years.
• Around half of the total forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriage cases have been found in upper-middle-income or high-income countries.
• 86% of the forced labour cases were found in the private sector. Almost one in eight of all those in forced labour are children.
• Child marriage is also considered forced marriage. The number of people under forced marriage has increased by 6.6 million since 2016.
• The report recommended actions to be taken to end modern slavery. Its recommendations are given below:
  • Improve and enforcement of laws
  • Ending state-imposed forced labour
  • Extending social protection
  • Raising the legal age of marriage to 18
  • Stronger measures to combat forced labour

Topic: Important Days

2. Hindi Diwas is observed on 14 September.

• On 14 September 1949, Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi in Devanagari script as official language of Indian union (Article 343).
• Since 1953, it was announced to celebrate 14 September every year as Hindi Diwas throughout the country.
• The day also marks the birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha. He was born on 14 September 1900.
• He played a crucial role in getting Hindi in Devanagari script approved as an official language of India.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah took part in All-India Official Language Conference in Gujarat's Surat city on the occasion of Hindi Day (14 September 2022).
• He said that ‘LILA Hindi Pravah’ application has been developed to learn Hindi easily.
• Hindi was the 3^rd most spoken language of the world in 2019 with 615 million speakers.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Indian Economy

3. India’s overall export of agricultural and processed food products increased from USD 7397 million in April-July 2021 to USD 9598 million in April-July 2022.

• This is according to the provisional data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S).
• The agricultural and processed food products exports increased by 30% in April-July of the FY 2022-23 in comparison to FY 2021-22.
• For the year 2022-23, the export target for agricultural and processed food products is USD 23.56 billion.
• Export of USD 9.59 billion has been achieved in the first four months of the Financial Year 2022-23.
• Government’s initiatives have helped in achieving 40% of the total export target for the year 2022-23 in the first four months of the Financial Year 2022-23.
• Exports of processed food products like cereals in April-July 2022 reported a growth of 37.75% in comparison to the first four months of the previous year (April-July, 2021).
• Miscellaneous processed items exports in April-July, 2022 reported a growth of 35.26% in comparison to the first four months of the previous year (April-July, 2021).

• As per the DGCI&S data, India’s agricultural products exports had increased by 19.92% during 2021-22 to reach USD 50.21 billion.
• In 2021–2022, India exported agricultural and processed food products worth USD 25.6 billion.
• This was around 51% of the country's total USD 50 billion exports of agricultural goods.

Topic: Defence

4. Sixth edition of Japan India Maritime Exercise 2022 (JIMEX 22) commenced in the Bay of Bengal on 11 September 2022.

• It is being hosted by the Indian Navy. R Adm Hirata Toshiyuki, Commander Escort Flotilla Four is leading the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) ships.
• R Adm Sanjay Bhalla, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet is leading Indian Naval ships.
• Indian Naval ships welcomed Izumo, a Helicopter Carrier, and Takanami, a Guided Missile Destroyer.
• The Indian Navy is being represented by three indigenously designed and built warships - Sahyadri, a multi-purpose stealth frigate and Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes Kadmatt and Kavaratti.
• Guided Missile Destroyer Ranvijay, Fleet Tanker Jyoti, and Offshore Patrol Vessel Sukanya are also taking part in the exercise.
• JIMEX 22 involves two Phases. One phase involves exercises at sea and another phase involves a harbour phase at Visakhapatnam.
• JIMEX began in Japan in 2012. This edition marks the 10th anniversary of JIMEX.
• This edition also coincides with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Japan.

Topic: National News

5. Under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), the government has added 34 new medicines.

• On 13 September, Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya released the updated version of NLEM 2022 at an event in New Delhi.
• Under the Prime Minister's vision of "Sabko Dawai, Sasti Dawai", the Union Health Ministry is implementing several actions.
• NLEM plays a vital role in ensuring access to affordable quality medicines at all levels of healthcare.
• In the issued 384 drugs list, 34 new drugs were added, while 26 drugs were removed from the previous list.
• The drugs are classified into 27 therapeutic categories.
• It will reduce the citizen's out-of-pocket expenditure on health care.
• The National List of Essential Medicines was first prepared in 1996 and was revised thrice earlier in 2003, 2011, and 2015.
• Union Health Ministry constituted the independent Standing National Committee on Medicines (SNCM) in 2018.
• The Committee has amended NLEM, 2015, and presented its report on NLEM, 2022, to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
• A new section has been included for medications considered essential for the supportive treatment of COVID-19.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

6. Vedanta and Foxconn signed an MoU with the Gujarat government to establish a manufacturing unit in the state.

• On September 13, the MoU has been signed between them to establish a semiconductor and display FAB manufacturing plant in the state.
• The MoU was signed in Gandhinagar in the presence of Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways.
• Both companies will invest Rs 1,54,000 crore for the establishment of this unit. This will provide employment to one lakh people in the state.
• In 2021, the Indian semiconductor market was valued at $27.2 billion and is projected to grow at a high CAGR of over 19% to reach $64 billion by 2026.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Awards and Prizes

7. Allu Arjun's ‘Pushpa: The Rise’ has won maximum awards at the 10^th South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) in Bangalore.

• Ranveer Singh has been named as ‘most popular Hindi star in South India’.
• Puneeth Rajkumar was posthumously awarded as the best actor in Kannada cinema. He was awarded for his work in ‘Yuvarathnaa’.
• The awardees of Telugu and Kannada films were announced on September 10. Tamil and Malayalam winners were announced on September 11.

• Certain special awards were also announced. They are given below.
  • Decade of Excellence in South Indian Cinema - Hansika Motwani
  • Outstanding performance of the year - Yogi Babu
  • Special Appreciation Award – Producers Omkaar Movies for period drama film Kannadiga
  • Youth Icon South (Female) – Pooja Hegde
  • Youth Icon South (Male) – Vijay Deverakonda
  • Sensation of Kannada Cinema 2021 – Dhananjaya

Topic: Personality in News

8. French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard died recently in Switzerland.

• Jean-Luc Godard revolutionized popular cinema in 1960 with his debut feature Breathless.
• His films propelled Jean-Paul Belmondo to stardom.
• His controversial modern nativity play Hail Mary grabbed headlines when Pope John Paul II denounced it in 1985.
• He received a lifetime achievement award from the European Film Academy in December 2007.
• Three-part movie Film Socialisme, which had its world premiere at Cannes, was released by Jean in 2010.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

9. Agriculture Ministry launched several initiatives as the run-up to the International Year of Millets 2023.

• The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has organized a series of programs and initiatives launched earlier on the MyGov platform to celebrate the International Year of Millets 2023.
• The main aim of the initiatives is to spread awareness about ancient and nutritious grains.
• The launched initiatives are given below:
  • Millet Startup Innovation Challenge: It was launched on 10^th September 2022 to encourage the young minds to find technological/ business solutions to the problems of the millet ecosystem.
  • A contest for designing a comic story, with the theme ‘India's Wealth, Millets for Health’ was also launched on 5^th September.
  • ‘Mighty Millets Quiz’ was launched with questions based on millets and its benefit.
  • The logo and slogan contest for the International Year of Millets 2023 was also held.
• The year 2023 has been declared the International Year of Millets by the United Nations General Assembly.
• Millets are called the super grain owing to their high nutritional value. Also, millets do not require high-quality soil to grow and hence can address the malnutrition and ensure food security.
• India produces more than 8 % (170 lakh tonnes) of the millets produced in Asia.

Topic: National News

10. Government is building National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal in Gujarat.

• Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterway is building the National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal with a total cost of Rs. 3500 crores.
• The foundation stone of the project was laid by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the consent for the master plan was given in March 2019.
• The project will be completed in different phases. In phase 1A, a museum will be built with 5 galleries and a naval gallery on 35 acres of land.
• In phase 1B, a lighthouse, 5D dome theatre, Bagicha Complex and other infrastructure will be built.
• Architecture firm Hafeez Contractor is the principal management consultant of the project.
• Phase 1A of the National Maritime Heritage Complex is expected to be completed by March 2024.

Topic: State News/ Jharkhand

11. Jharkhand’s government schools to observe wellness day every Tuesday.

• Students from classes VI to XII of the government schools of Jharkhand will observe wellness day on every Tuesday.
• This day will be observed to spread awareness about the importance of good health among students.
• Under the initiative of the Jharkhand Council of Educational Research and Training (JCERT), teachers have been trained in school health and wellness programmes.
• Around 24000 teachers and 11500 schools have been selected from 19 districts as health messengers.
• These teachers will select two students from each class from VI to XII as messengers.
• Every week, an extra class will be held in the school on wellness and health.
• Students will learn various activities and practical lessons like hand washing and sanitizing, as part of this initiative.
• Jharkhand:
  • It was formed on 15 November 2000.
  • It shares its border with Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal.
  • Chief Minister is Hemant Soren and Ramesh Bais is the governor.
  • It is the 15^th largest state by area and Ranchi is its capital.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

12. Zendaya won the best actress award at the Emmy Awards 2022.

• 74^th Emmy Awards winners have been announced at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
• Emmy Awards is one of the four major American awards. It is given for artistic and technical work in the television industry.
• Zendaya won the best actress award for 'Euphoria' and ‘Succession’ has been named the best drama of the year.
• Michael Keaton won the lead actor award in a limited series for the ‘Dopesick’.

Topic: National Appointments

13. Sanjay Khanna appointed as CEO of American Express India.

• Sanjay Khanna has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Country Manager of AEBC Corp India.
• He will lead India’s executive team and is responsible for driving the growth of the organization.
• Other appointments in News:
  • Prasad K Panicker appointed as chairman of Nayara Energy. His appointment will become effective from 3 October. He will succeed Charles Anthony (Tony) Fountain.
  • Dinesh Kumar Batra has been appointed as Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) on 1 September 2022.
  • A. N. Shamseer has been elected as the Speaker of the Kerala Assembly. He defeated Congress candidate Anwar Sadath.

Topic: Sports

14. For the first time, Sikkim will host the Ranji Trophy matches.

• Sikkim will host the Ranji trophy matches for the first time in December at the Mining Cricket Ground near Rangpo.
• A total of three matches will be played at the Sikkim Cricket Association Ground.
• As per the schedule, the first match will be played between Sikkim and Manipur followed by Sikkim versus Mizoram and Sikkim versus Arunachal Pradesh.
• It is a great achievement for the Sikkim Cricket Association to host first-class matches of the Ranji Trophy after getting full membership four years ago.
• Mining Cricket Ground has already been approved by National Cricket Academy to hold any courses or events.
• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) annually organizes the Ranji Trophy, a domestic first-class cricket tournament between the country's state and regional cricket associations.