Daily Current Affairs and GK | 16 and 17 June 2024

Topic: Science and Technology

1. India will be the 6th country to launch its own Deep Sea Mission.

• India is set to become the sixth country to have its own Deep Sea Mission.
• The Deep Sea Mission will not be limited to mineral exploration; it aims to explore new aspects of ocean sciences.
• This mission will be also very useful for the exploration of flora and fauna, the conservation of marine biodiversity, etc.
• The ‘National Institute of Ocean Technology’ has developed Matsyayaan 6000, which could go 6000m deep into the Ocean.
• ‘Titanium Hull’ has been developed for this mission in association with ISRO to bear the extreme pressure.
• The first phase of the mission is likely to be completed by September 2024 and subsequent trials will be conducted by 2026.
• This mission will have a great impact on Flora and fauna, deep sea exploration, rare earth metals commercial exploitation, and exploration and discovery of metals and polymetallic nodules in the Indian Sea bed.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

2. Eight winners were awarded the 2024 Kavli Prize.

• Eight people received the 2024 Kavli Prize for their contributions to astrophysics, neuroscience, and nanoscience.
• The Kavli Prize is presented in honour of Norwegian-American businessman and philanthropist Fred Kavli.
• This year’s prize for astrophysics has been awarded to David Charbonneau of Harvard University, and Sara Seager, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Robert Langer of MIT, Armand Paul Alivisatos of the University of Chicago, and Chad Mirkin of Northwestern University receive the award for nanoscience.
• The prize in neuroscience has been awarded to Nancy Kanwisher of MIT, Winrich Freiwald of Rockefeller University, and Doris Tsao of the University of California at Berkeley.
• The Kavli Prize was first given in 2008 to seven scientists. As of now, 73 scientists from 19 countries have been honoured with this award.
• The prize comprises a $1 million cash prize (per field), a scroll, and a medal, 7 cm in diameter.

Topic: State News/Punjab

3. ‘Mission Nishchay’ has been launched by Punjab Police.

• Under Mission Nischay, the Punjab Police, in association with the Border Security Force (BSF) and Village Defence Committees (VDCs) will carry out a one-week drive against drugs in the Fazilka district.
• During this drive, police officers will interact with residents of Fazilka district from June 15 to 21.
• The main aim of the mission is to promote community participation to curb the menace of drugs.
• This mission will focus on youth and women to gather intelligence about the demand and supply of drugs.
• Fazilka district shares a 108-kilometer-long border with Pakistan.
• A dedicated helpline will also be set up by the Punjab Police for the public to share information about drugs.

Topic: Economy/Banking/Finance

4. Corporate profit-to-GDP ratio reached a 15-year high in FY24.

• The corporate profit represented by the Nifty-500 universe to GDP has grown to 4.8 per cent.
• The rise in profit was led by the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), oil and gas, and automobile sectors.
• These sectors contributed 95% to the total increase, according to the Motilal Oswal Financial Services report.
• Sectors such as metals, technology and chemicals did not contribute much.
• The NSE-500 index accounts for 91 percent of India’s market cap.
• The corporate profit for the Nifty-500 universe increased by 30% last fiscal year to ₹14.11-lakh crore in comparison to ₹10.88 lakh crore in FY23.
• The nominal GDP increased 9.6% year over year to ₹295-lakh crore (₹269-lakh crore).
• Nifty-500 represents the top 500 companies based on full market capitalization from the eligible universe.

Topic: Indian Economy

5. Indian domestic equity market has once again overtaken Hong Kong and became the fourth-largest global market.

• India’s market capitalisation has increased 10% to $5.2 trillion or Rs 435 trillion (BSE-listed companies).
• Hong Kong’s mcap is $5.17 trillion. This is down 5.4% from this year's high of $5.47 trillion.
• India has surpassed Hong Kong's market value for the first time in January.  
• Hong Kong’s market cap rose as much as 27% from this year’s low of $4.3 trillion.

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

6. International peace conference for Ukraine held in Switzerland on 15 June 2024.

• In Switzerland, an international conference was held at the Burgenstock Resort on Lake Lucerne on 15 June 2024.
• This conference aimed to lay the groundwork for a peace process in the Ukraine war.
• The conference was attended by Prime Ministers and other high-ranking representatives from about 100 countries and from international organisations.
• They discussed issues like grain exports from Ukraine, and humanitarian issues, including prisoner exchanges.
• They also discussed the safety of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
• The two-day conference mainly aimed to mobilise international support for Ukraine. Russia was not invited to the summit.
• India was the only South Asian country that was to attend the peace summit.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

7. Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar and Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar have been announced by Sahitya Akademi.

• 24 writers have been chosen for Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2024 and 23 writers for Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2024.
• The Yuva Puraskar in Sanskrit will be declared at a later date.
• English writer K. Vaishali will receive the Yuva Puraskar for her memoir "Homeless: Growing up Lesbian and Dyslexic in India".
• Hindi author Gaurav Pandey will receive the Yuva Puraskar for his poetry collection "Smritiyon Ke Beech Ghiri Hai Prithvi".
• Nayanjyoti Sarma (Assamese), Sutapa Chakraborty (Bengali), Self Made Rani Baro (Bodo) and Heena Choudhary (Dogri) are other winners of the Yuva Puraskar.
• Yuva Puraskar awardees will get a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a cheque of Rs 50,000.
• English writer Nandini Sengupta for her historical fiction "The Blue Horse and Other Amazing Animal Stories from Indian History" and Devender Kumar's collection of children's stories "51 Baal Kahaniyan" have been selected for the Bal Sahitya Puraskar.
• The winners of the Bal Sahitya Puraskar will get a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a cheque of ₹50,000.

Topic: Defense

8. India will host the multinational air exercise Tarang Shakti in August.

• In August 2024, India will host its first multinational air exercise, Tarang Shakti-2024.
• 10 countries' forces are likely to attend this multinational air exercise. Some countries will join as observers.
• It will be organised in two phases: the first will be held in southern India in the first two weeks of August and the second phase will held in the western sector from the end of August to mid-September.
• Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States will send their contingents in this exercise.
• Germany will deploy fighter jets and an A-400M transport aircraft.
• The Red Flag exercise hosted by the U.S. Air Force has concluded.  It was hosted by USAF from June 4 to 14.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

9. Jal Shakti Ministry launched a portal to ecologically monitor the Ganga.

• An e-flow ecological monitoring system for real-time monitoring of river quality has been launched by the Union Jal Shakti Ministry.
• It will help in planning and monitoring projects, river water quality, and other key parameters.
• National Mission for Clean Ganga has developed the Environmental flows (E-flows) Monitoring System.
• This portal will provide real-time analysis of the water quality of the Ganga, Yamuna, and their tributaries,
• It will also allow monitoring of the Namami Gange programme activities at the central level, including the performance of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs).
• The Namami Gange programme is a flagship programme of the Jal Shakti Ministry for cleaning Ganga and its tributaries.

Topic: Summits / Conferences / Meetings

10. On 14 June, the two-day India-IORA Cruise Tourism Conference concluded in New Delhi.

• The conference was attended by officials and experts from the Indian Ocean Rim Association, IORA member countries such as Bangladesh, Kenya, Madagascar, the Maldives, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, South Africa, the Seychelles, and Tanzania.
• The conference provided a platform for stakeholders to share best practices and policy initiatives towards developing and strengthening the cruise tourism sector in IORA member countries.
• During the discussions, many topics were covered, like infrastructure development, regulatory issues, sustainable tourism, employment generation, inclusion of women, business opportunities, etc.

Topic: Environment and Ecology

11. To achieve the zero waste goal, the World Bank will support GCC.

• Assistance will be provided by the World Bank to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to achieve sustainable waste management in the city.
• A meeting was held by the World Bank with the state government and GCC officials to discuss solid waste management to prevent garbage dumping in Kodungaiyur by 2026-2027.     
• To achieve sustainable waste management, GCC intends to take initiatives to reduce the amount of solid waste that is disposed of through landfills or incineration.
• Over the course of the next 20 years, the World Bank intends to improve solid waste management in various parts of the city and state.
• The World Bank will recommend measures to be put into effect in cities like Chennai once the study is finished.
• Various proposals to enhance recycling of solid waste will be implemented after the proposal is passed by the Chennai Corporation Council in the next few months.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

12. Digital Agriculture Mission launch is part of the government agenda for the first 100 days.

• The government is planning to launch the Digital Agriculture Mission with an outlay of Rs 2800 crore.
• Digital Agriculture Mission will be launched for two years.
• It will pave the way for creating a farmer registry, crop sown registry, and georeferencing of village maps.
• Under this mission, every farmer will be given a unique ID for creating a farmers’ registry.
• The unique ID will help farmers avail themselves of the benefit of various government schemes including PM-Kisan and Fasal Bima Yojana.
• It will also enable them to avail financial services like farm loans and insurance.
• This mission was initially planned to be launched in 2021-22 but could not be launched due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
• In some states, the generation of farmer-unique IDs has already begun as part of the pilot project.
• A crop-sown registry will be also created as part of this mission. It will have a record of crops sown by a farmer on his land.

Topic: Sports

13. Shruti Vora scripted history by winning a three-star Grand Prix event.

• Shruti Vora has created history by becoming the first Indian to win a three-star Grand Prix equestrian event.
• Shruti scored 67.761 points in the CDI-3 event held in Lipica, Slovenia.
• She finished ahead of Moldova’s Tatiana Antonenco (Aachen), who scored 66.522.
• Shruti has represented India in the Dressage World Championship (2022) and the Asian Games (2010, 2014).
• Shruti Vora is an Indian equestrienne. She finished in 8th position in the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon.