Daily Current Affairs and GK | 17 and 18 July 2022

Topic: International News

1. "Aviation Passenger Charter" has been launched by the British government.

• The British government has launched the "Aviation Passenger Charter" to help passengers in knowing their rights.
• If passengers face the issue of cancellations, delays or missing baggage then the charter will help passengers in knowing their rights.
• Long queues and cancelled flights create chaos among passengers.
• In May, the British government published a 22-point support plan to avoid disruption in the schedule of airlines.
• In India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued a passenger charter for air travel in 2019. 
• A Charter is a document that defines the structure, rights, aims, or principles of an organization.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

2. PM Modi addressed Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) Seminar –Swavlamban in New Delhi.

• Prime Minister also launched ‘SPRINT Challenges’ for promoting the usage of indigenous technology in the Indian Navy.
• This two-day (18-19 July) seminar aims to bring Indian industry and academia to one platform for achieving self-reliance in the Defence sector.
• Representatives from Industry, Academia, Services and Government will ideate and come up with recommendations for achieving self-reliance in the Defence sector.
• As a part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, NIIO in association with the Defence Innovation Organisation will induct at least 75 new indigenous technologies and products into the Indian Navy.
• The name of this collaborative project is SPRINT (Supporting Pole-Vaulting in R&D through iDEX, NIIO and TDAC).
• On the second day of the seminar, outreach in the Indian Ocean region will be discussed in line with the Government's SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision.
• Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation:
  • It is a three-level organization launched by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in 2020.
  • It has been established by the Indian Navy to fulfil the requirements relating to technology.

Topic: Defence

3. INS Sindhudhvaj decommissioned after 35 years of outstanding national service.

• On July 16, 2022, the Navy’s Kilo-class submarine INS Sindhudhvaj was decommissioned from the Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam after a magnificent 35-year service.
• After decommissioning of this submarine, the Navy now has a total of 15 conventional submarines in service.
• The ceremony's chief guest was Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command.
• The top of this submarine depicts a brown nurse shark and its name means our flag bearer in the sea.
• Sindhudhvaj was one of the 10 Kilo-class submarines that India received from Russia between 1986 and 2000. It was commissioned into the Navy in June 1987.
• She was the only submarine that PM Narendra Modi awarded the CNS Rolling Trophy for Innovation.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Important Days

4. International Justice Day 2022: July 17

• International Justice Day is also known as World Day for International Justice.
• Every year on July 17, people all around the world celebrate this day.
• The theme of World Day for International Justice 2022 is “Achieving Social Justice through Formal Employment”.
• Its aim is to promote international criminal justice for victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
• It is celebrated to mark the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute Treaty on 17 July 1998.
• In 2002, The International Criminal Court was established under the Rome Statute Treaty.
• At the Rome Statute Review Conference in June 2010, July 17 was adopted as International Justice Day.
• International Criminal Court (ICC):
  • It was established in 2002.
  • It is an international tribunal to investigate criminal cases started due to war, genocide, etc.
  • It is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands.
  • Its President is Piotr Hofmanski.

Topic: Indian Polity

5. Jagdeep Dhankhar nominated as Vice-Presidential candidate by the BJP.

• The West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has been nominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the National Democratic Alliance's candidate for the Vice Presidential election.
• The election will take place on August 6 and July 19 is the last date for filing the nominations.
• There are currently 780 MPs in Parliament, out of which the BJP has 394, which is more than the majority of 390.
• Margaret Alva will run for Vice President as the opposition's candidate.
• Mrs. Alva has served as a Lok Sabha member once and a member of the Rajya Sabha four times.
• Vice President:
  • In India, the Vice President is the next highest position after the President.
  • Under Article 63 of the Constitution, there shall be a Vice President of India.
  • According to Article 64, the Vice President serves as Rajya Sabha's ex-officio chairman.
  • M Venkaiah Naidu serves as India's 13^th Vice President since August 11, 2017, and his term will end on August 10.
  • The first Vice President of India was Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Topic: Sports

6. Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa won the Paracin Open 'A' chess tournament 2022 in Serbia.

• Praggnanandhaa, the second-seeded player, earned 8 points from nine rounds.
• Top seeded player, Alexandr Predke, finished in the second spot with 7.5 points. Alisher Suleymenov finished third.
• Praggnanandhaa will compete as part of India 'B' squad in the 44th Chess Olympiad, which begins on July 28 near Chennai.

Topic: Indian Economy

7. Agricultural and processed food product exports have increased by 14%.

• This increase by 14% has been reported in April-June of the financial year 2022-23 compared to the corresponding period of 2021-22.
• The overall exports have increased from 5,256 million dollars in April to June period of last fiscal to 5,987 million dollars from April to June this year.
• Fresh fruit and vegetable exports registered an 8.6% growth.
• Processed food products like cereals and miscellaneous processed items reported a growth of 36.4%.
• Rice exports have shown growth of 13%. The export of meat, dairy and poultry products increased by 9.5%.

Topic: Sports

8. PV Sindhu has won the Women's Single title of the Singapore Open.

• PV Sindhu defeated Wang Zhi Yi of China and won her maiden title in Singapore Open.
• This is her third title this year. She earlier won Korea Open and Swiss Open.
• PV Sindhu won the first Super 500 title of her career when she defeated Wang Zhi Yi of China.
• PV Sindhu is an Indian badminton player. She is the first female player to become the badminton world champion.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Indian Economy

9. India’s trade deficit widened to a record high of $26.18 billion in June.

• Despite the jump in export growth, India’s trade deficit touched the $26.18 billion mark in June 2022. Export increased by 23.52 percent to $40.13 billion in June.
• The trade deficit has increased mainly due to an increase in gold and crude oil imports. The government’s earlier estimation of the trade deficit was $25.63 billion.
• Imports have increased by 57.55 percent to $66.31 billion in June as compared to last year’s same period.
• Crude oil and Coal and coke imports have almost doubled as compared to the previous year. Gold import has also increased sharply by about 183 percent.
• Export of textiles, rice, oil seeds, tea, engineering, and meat recorded positive growth.
• Trade deficit: It is the difference between the value of goods imported and the value of goods exported.

Topic: Art and Culture

10. Varanasi to become SCO's first 'Cultural and Tourism Capital' in September.

• India will assume the presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in September 2022.
• Under a new mechanism, Varanasi will be the first city to get the title of ‘Cultural & Tourism capital of SCO’ for 2022-23.
• Under this initiative, every year a city of the cultural heritage of a member country will get the title of ‘Cultural and Tourism capital of SCO’.
• This year's Heads of the State summit of the SCO will be organized at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on 15-16 September.
• Earlier, India hosted the Heads of the State summit of the SCO in 2020.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed many initiatives in the field of culture such as the SCO Food Festival and SCO Film Festival.
• Kazakhstan has recently announced a visa-free policy for tourists from India and other countries.
• Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are members of SCO. Afghanistan is an observer state of the SCO.

Topic: State News/ Uttarakhand

11. Uttarakhand CM launched the Uttarakhand police app and e-FIR facility in Dehradun.

• The e-FIR facility will help people file an online FIR in cases related to the theft of vehicles and other objects.
• The e-FIRs will be reviewed regularly by the higher authorities.
• After the e-FIR will be lodged, it will go to the virtual police station.
• The e-FIR portal will also be linked with the Devbhoomi mobile app.
• Police App will provide five services of state police online

Topic: National News

12. Chief Ministers of Assam and Arunachal signed a pact to resolve border disputes.

• Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu signed Namsai Declaration at Namsai.
• As per the declaration, the number of disputed villages has been reduced to 86 instead of 123.
• As per the declaration, 28 villages which are within the constitutional boundary of Arunachal Pradesh shall remain within the state.
• The three villages from where the Arunachal Pradesh government has withdrawn its claim will remain with Assam. Apart from this, the other six villages could not be decided.
• The declaration has been signed in the presence of several cabinet ministers of both states.
• A tripartite committee was formed after Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987. It recommends transferring certain territories from Assam to Arunachal.
• Both states share an 804.1 km-long border. Both have decided to resolve the remaining border disputes by 15 September 2022.
• The regional committees will submit their first part of the report by 15 September.
• Besides Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, Assam has border disputes with Mizoram and Nagaland.

Topic: International News

13. United Kingdom declares a national emergency, issuing a red 'extreme heat' warning.

• Britain's Met Office weather forecaster declared a national emergency, as the temperature could hit 40 degrees Celcius in some parts.
• The highest temperature recorded in the UK was 38.7C in Cambridge in 2019.
• The warning has been issued for areas including London, Manchester and York.
• The UK Health Security Agency issued its highest level heat alert to health and care bodies.
• The extreme heat warning system was launched in the United Kingdom in 2021.
• The North African heatwave has spread across Europe, fueling wildfires in Portugal, France, and Spain.
• A heatwave is a prolonged period of hot weather that is unusual for that area at that time period.

Topic: Committees/Commissions/Taskforces  

14. A committee on Right to Repair has been formed by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA). 

• The committee is chaired by Additional Secretary Nidhi Khatri. Anupam Mishra, Justice Paramjeet Singh Dhaliwal, G.S. Bajpai, and Ashok Patil as the members of the committee.  
• The committee also includes representatives from stakeholders, consumer activists and consumer organisations as members. 
• Department has set up a committee to develop an overall framework for the Right to Repair.  
• Farming Equipment, Mobile Phones/ Tablets, Consumer Durables and Automobile Equipment are the key sectors identified for this framework. 
• The framework is expected to serve as a catalyst for sustainability and employment generation by allowing third-party repairs. Right to repair will boost business for small repair shops.
• The right to repair has been recognized in the US, the UK and the European Union and in many countries.
• Right to Repair: Right to Repair allows consumers to get their products repaired and to choose their own service providers instead of going through the manufacturer.