Daily Current Affairs and GK | 18 June 2022

Topic: International News

1. China blocks US-India joint resolution to declare Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist.

• China has blocked US-India joint proposal to list Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist under UNSC sanctions.
• This is a week before China would virtually host the 14th BRICS summit on 23rd June.
• In past, China has repeatedly put technical holds on UN resolutions for the listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
• On June 1, the US and India proposed to list Makki under the UN Security Council's Al-Qaeda and ISIL Sanctions Committee. This committee is also called UNSC 1267 Committee.
• Abdul Rehman Makki:
  • He is deputy head of UN proscribed Pakistan-based terrorist entity Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.
  • He has been involved in a number of terror attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

Topic: State News/ Gujarat

2. Gujarat has become India’s first state to launch Balika Panchayat.

• The Balika Panchayat is run by girls in the 11-21 age group.
• The aim of Balika Panchayat is to promote the social and political development of the girls.
• This is an initiative of the Women and Child Development Welfare department of the Gujarat Government under the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign.
• The initiative of Balika Panchayat was started in 4 villages in the Kutch district about a year ago. These villages are Kunaria, Maska, Motagua, and Vadsar.

Topic: National News

3. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari proposed to set up Innovation Bank for quality in infrastructure development.

• The Innovation Bank will be established for new ideas, research findings and technologies. It will focus on ‘quality’ in infrastructure development.
• He made this proposal during the 222^nd Mid-Term Council Meeting of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC).
• He said infrastructure development will play a key role in making India a 5 trillion-dollar economy.
• The government will create a National Highway network of 2 lakh kilometres by 2025.
• The National Highway network has increased by 50 percent in the last eight years.
• Government is committed to reducing construction costs with the help of better technology.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

4. Government increased the Upper Age Limit for Agnipath recruitment scheme from 21 to 23.

• This age waiver has been given only for the recruitment cycle of 2022.
• Under this scheme, around forty-six thousand youth will be recruited this year into the defence force.
• The youth selected under the AGNIPATH scheme will be called ‘Agniveers’.
• After 4 years, the Agniveers who won't be retained by their respective services will get assistance from the government in entrepreneurship, education, other jobs etc.
• A financial package of ₹11.72 lakh will be given to each of the Agniveers.
• The government has also announced a 10% reservation for Agniveers in CAPF, and Assam Rifles.

Topic: State News/ Gujarat

5. PM Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of development projects worth Rs 21,000 crores in Gujarat.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a two-day visit to Gujarat. He participated in the Gujarat Gaurav Abhiyan at Vadodara.
• Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone of various Railway projects worth over Rs 16,000 crores including a 357 Km long New Palanpur - Madar Section of the Dedicated Freight Corridor.
• He also laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Surat, Udhna, Somnath & Sabarmati Stations.
• He laid the foundation stone of Gujarat Central University in the Kundhela village of Dabhoi taluka.
• He inaugurated the redeveloped temple of Shree Kalika Mata at Pavagadh Hill.
• PM Modi also launched 'Mukhyamantri Matrushakti Yojana'. Under this scheme, pregnant and lactating mothers will receive 2 kg of chickpeas, 1 kg of tur dal and 1 kg of edible oil every month.
• He also dedicated a total of 1.38 lakh houses to people under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

Topic: Personality in News

6. Renowned Urdu scholar Gopi Chand Narang passed away.

• He was a noted linguist, literary critic, and former Chairperson of Sahitya Akademi.
• He was awarded by both the Government of India and the Government of Pakistan.
• He is a recipient of Padma Bhushan in India and Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) in Pakistan.
• He worked extensively on explaining the works of Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir and Faiz Ahmad Faiz.
• ‘Urdu Ghazal aur Hindustani Zehn-o Tahzeeb’ is one of the prominent works of him. He has written more than 60 books in his career.
• He was also a scholar of Sanskrit and Persian.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

7. Industrial Decarbonization Summit 2022 has been inaugurated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on 16 June.

• ‘Industrial Decarbonization Summit 2022’ (IDS-2022) - Road Map for Carbon Neutrality by 2070 was held in New Delhi.
• Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that to solve the problem of power shortage, it is essential to develop alternative fuels.
• He also said that the priority will be given to green hydrogen. Biomass can be used to make Bio-ethanol, Bio-LNG and Bio-CNG.
• Biomass productivity can be increased by using biotechnology.
• The usage of methanol and ethanol will help in reducing pollution in the environment.
• Note:
  • Bioethanol is produced from the fermentation of corn, potatoes, grain (wheat, barley and rye), sugar beet, etc.
  • Bio-LNG is produced by processing organic waste flows like household and industrial waste, manure, and sewage sludge.
  • Bio-CNG is the more purified form of Biogas. Biogas is produced by when organic matter is broken down by microorganisms in the absence of oxygen.

Topic: National News

8. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has formulated first official standard for a grassroots innovation.

• The standard has been set up for clay cooling cabinet “Mitticool” made by Mansukhbhai Prajapati from Gujarat. This cooling cabinet of natural refrigerator works on the principle of evaporative cooling.
• The perishable food items can be stores in these cabinets without any need of electricity.
• This innovative technology was put forward by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) which was recognized by BIS to make a new standard.
• The new Indian Standard is “IS 17693: 2022 Non-electric cooling cabinet made of clay”.
• This standard specifies the construction and performance requirements of a cooling cabinet of natural refrigerator made of clay.
• The standard helps BIS to fulfil 6 of out 17 SDGs, namely 1 (No poverty), 2 (Zero hunger), 5 (Gender equality), 7 (Affordable and clean energy), 9 (Industry, innovation, and infrastructure), and 12 (Responsible consumption and production).
• This standard will help innovation in facilitation of trade and commerce, improvement of processes, simplifying comparison of products and services, etc.
• NIF is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology that was established in 2015.
• Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is a statutory body under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution that was established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016. Its headquarters is in New Delhi.

Topic: National News

9. Union Minister of Steel Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh took part in an interaction meet on 16 June 2022.

• This interaction meet was held in Surat, Gujarat to understand the challenges faced by the secondary steel sector and steel consumers of Gujarat steel.
• During the meet, the Minister stressed on the need for providing the right ecosystem to meet the target of achieving 300 million tonnes of steel production capacity by the year 2030.
• The Steel Minister also visited Diamond Bourse. This is World’s Largest Business Complex established for all Diamond Business activities under one roof.
• About 54000 tonnes of steel have been used in this complex in the form of TMT bars, produced by Secondary Steel manufacturers.

Topic: Reports and Indices

10. India is ranked third globally in terms of total renewable power capacity additions.

• India’s renewable power capacity addition is third-highest globally after China and US as per REN21’s Renewables 2022 Global Status Report (GSR).
• India added 15.4 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity in 2021. China added 136 GW. US added 43 GW.
• As per the report, India added 843 MW of hydropower capacity. This increased the total capacity to 45.3 GW.
• In Asia, India was the second-largest market for new solar photovoltaic capacity. It was the third-largest market globally.
• India overtook Germany for the first time. India ranked third globally in terms of the total installed capacity of wind power.
• The report provides proof that the overall share of renewables in the world’s final energy consumption has stagnated.
• This has increased minimally from 10.6% in 2009 to 11.7% in 2019.
• Additions in renewable power capacity could not meet the overall increase in electricity consumption of 6%.
• In heating and cooling, the share of renewable power in final energy consumption increased.
• For the first time, the GSR 2022 includes a global map of renewable energy shares by country, as well as highlights the progress in leading countries.
• REN21’s Renewables 2022 Global Status Report (GSR) is the world’s only crowd-sourced report on renewable energy. 2022 report is the 17^th edition.

Topic: Important Days

11. World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought 2022: 17 June

• It is observed every year on 17 June to promote public awareness of international efforts to combat desertification.
• The theme of the International Day Against Desertification and Drought 2022 is "Rising up from drought together".
• Droughts are one of the greatest threats to sustainable development globally. It has been estimated that by 2050 droughts may affect over 75% of world's population.
• Around 55 million people globally are directly affected by droughts every year.
• As per WMO Data 2021, the number and duration of droughts has increased by 29% since 2000, as compared to the two previous decades.
• Droughts impacted 2.7 billion people in the world between 1900 and 2019, and caused 11.7 million deaths.
• According to UNICEF, by 2040 most of us will be living in areas with extreme water shortages including an estimated one in 4 children.
• As per UN-Water 2021, no country is immune to drought.
• India is making efforts towards achieving the national commitment of Land Degradation Neutrality and restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
• In September 2019, India hosted COP-14 of United Nations Convention to combat desertification.
• Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused mainly by human activities and climatic variations. Desertification does not mean the expansion of existing deserts. It is caused due to overexploitation and inappropriate land use of drylands. Poverty, Political instability, deforestation, overgrazing and bad irrigation practices can decline the productivity of the land.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

12. 100 ponds built in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir under Mission Amrit Sarovar.

• PM Narendra Modi launched the Mission Amrit Sarovar on 24 April 2022 to conserve water for future generations.
• The mission aims to develop and rejuvenate 75 water bodies in each district of India under “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”.
• Under the mission 6 ministries/department- Department of Rural Development, Department of land resources, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Department of Water resources, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Environment – will make collaborative effort.
• Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Application and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) is the Technical partner for the Mission.
• The Mission Amrit Sarovar is to be completed by 15th August 2023. Around 50,000 such Amrit Sarovar may be constructed with an area of around 1 acre with a water holding capacity of 10,000 cubic meter.

Topic: International Appointments

13. Arati Prabhakar is expected to be named as the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

• Arati Prabhakar will succeed Eric Lander. She is an Indian physicist.
• She is set to become Science Advisor to US President Joe Biden.
• She was born in India. She will also lead President Biden's cancer moonshot initiative to speed progress in cancer research.
• If the Senate approves her appointment, she would be the first woman and the first person of color (non-white person) to serve as science adviser to the President of the United States.
• Arati Prabhakar’s earlier appointments:
  • She was appointed as the head of the National Institute of Standards and Technology by the Clinton administration in 1993.
  • Obama administration selected her to lead the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Topic: Sports

14. Manpreet Kaur and Parmjeet Kumar won bronze medals in Asia Oceania Open Championships.

• They are Indian para-powerlifters. They won medals on the opening day of the World Para-powerlifting 2022 Asia Oceania Open Championships at Pyeongtaek in South Korea.
• Manpreet Kaur won the bronze medal in the 41 kg category.
• In the men's category, Parmjeet Kumar won the bronze medal in the 49 kg category.
• Paramjeet lifted 160 and 163 kg in two rounds, which is his best performance till date.

(Source: News on AIR)