Daily Current Affairs and GK | 19 June 2024

Topic: Defense

1. CDS Anil Chauhan released India’s first joint doctrine for cyberspace operations.

• In modern warfare, cyberspace has emerged as a crucial and challenging domain.
• India’s first joint doctrine for cyberspace operations will provide a conceptual guide to commanders, staff and practitioners in the planning of the armed forces.
• Cyberspace hostile action can impact India’s economy, cohesion, political decision-making, and the ability to defend.
• This doctrine emphasized understanding military aspects of cyberspace operations.
• Development of Joint Doctrines is an important aspect of Jointness and Integration.
• Cyberspace has emerged as a crucial and challenging domain in addition to the traditional domains of warfare, including Land, Sea, and Air.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: International News

2. Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Pyongyang.

• This will be his first trip to North Korea in 24 years. He first visited Pyongyang in July 2000.
• He made his first visit after his first election and met Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, who ruled the country at that time.
• He and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will seek to make the bilateral military partnership very strong.
• This will have security implications on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.
• Kim Jong-un invited Putin during a visit to Russia’s Far East in September 2023.
• Russia and North Korea may sign a partnership agreement during the visit. After North Korea, Putin will visit Vietnam.

Topic: Indian Economy

3. Gross direct tax collections for FY 2024-25 increased by 22.19%.

• A growth of 22.19% has been registered in the gross direct tax collections till 17th June of this financial year.
• A growth of around 21% has been recorded in the net tax collection over the collection of financial year 2023-24. 
• According to the Finance Ministry, as of June 17th, the gross collection of direct taxes for the current fiscal year has exceeded 5.15 lakh crore rupees, based on provisional estimates.
• In the corresponding period of the previous financial year, the gross collection of direct taxes was recorded at nearly 4.22 lakh crore rupees.
• Over 4.62 lakh crore rupees have been collected in net tax, as opposed to over 3.82 lakh crore rupees during the same period of the previous Financial Year.
• With an increase of 27.34%, advance tax collection in the current financial year is over 1.48 lakh crore rupees.
• In the current fiscal year, refunds totaling 53,322 crore rupees have also been given out as of June 17.
• These exceed refunds given during the same period in the previous year by 33.70%.

Topic: Important Days

4. World Sickle Cell Day: 19 June

• World Sickle Cell Day is celebrated annually on 19 June to raise awareness about sickle cell disease.
• The theme for this year’s World Sickle Cell Day is "Hope Through Progress: Advancing Sickle Cell Care Globally."
• United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on December 22, 2008.
• This resolution recognised sickle cell disease as a public health problem.
• This resolution recognised sickle cell disease as one of the world's most important genetic diseases.
• The resolution urges Member States to actively encourage sickle cell disease awareness nationally and internationally on June 19 each year.
• Sickle Cell Disease is a group of inherited blood cell disorders. It affects a person’s red blood cells. It makes blood cells stiff and sickle-shaped.

Topic: State News/ Bihar

5. On June 19, the new campus of Nalanda University was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi in Rajgir, Bihar.

• Many dignitaries, including heads of missions from 17 countries, attended the inaugural ceremony.
• With a total seating capacity of about 1,900, the new campus has two academic blocks with 40 classrooms.
• There are two 300-seat auditoriums, a student hostel hall that can hold about 550 people, an international centre, an amphitheatre that can hold up to 2,000 people, a faculty club, and a sports complex, among other amenities.
• The campus is a ‘net zero’ green campus.
• It is self-sufficient with solar power, domestic and drinking water treatment plants, a water recycling plant for reusing wastewater, 100 acres of water bodies and many other eco-friendly features.
• The University is conceived as a collaboration between India and the East Asia Summit (EAS) countries, which have deep historical ties.
• The original Nalanda University, established around 1,600 years ago, is believed to be one of the world's first residential universities.

Topic: Indian Polity

6. New postal law 'Post Office Act 2023' came into force.

• A notification was issued by the Central Government making the provisions of the new postal law, Post Office Act, 2023 effective from June 18.
• It repealed the Indian Post Office Act, 1898.”
• On August 10, 2023, the “Post Office Bill, 2023” was introduced in Rajya Sabha and passed in Rajya Sabha on December 4, 2023.
• The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on 18 December 2023.
• On December 24, 2023, the President of India gave his assent to the Act, which was then published for general information by the Ministry of Law & Justice (the Legislative Department) in the Extraordinary Part II, Section 1 of the Gazette of India.
• The aim of the act is to provide a simple legislative framework for delivery of citizen-centric services and to make the benefits of government schemes reach the last mile and to enhance ease of living.
• The special facility for storage, processing and distribution of letters earlier given to the post office has been discontinued.
• In order to promote “maximum governance and minimum government”, no penal provisions have been prescribed in the Post Office Act, 2023.
• The newly enacted postal law provides a framework for prescribing standards for the addressing of items, address identifiers, and usage of postcodes.

(Source: DD News)

Topic: Defense

7. A state-of-the-art skin bank facility has been opened by Army’s Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi.

• This facility is first-of-its-kind to be established within the Armed Forces Medical Services.
• According to the Defence Ministry, the goal of this landmark initiative is to transform the way that military members and their families are treated for serious burn injuries and other skin-related ailments.
• According to Director General Medical Services and Colonel Commandant Lieutenant General Arindam Chatterjee, the facility will improve the capacity to assist individuals impacted by severe injuries.
• The distribution, processing, storage, and gathering of skin grafts will all be centralised at the new skin bank.
• This will provide military medical facilities all throughout the nation access to a critical resource.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

8. Vinod Ganatra is the first Indian who was honoured with ‘Nelson Mandela Lifetime Achievement Award’ of South Africa.

• He was honoured for his contribution to films. He was honoured at the ongoing 7th Nelson Mandela Children’s Film Festival.
• He was honoured for his immense contributions to the world of cinema for kids.
• He is a globally acclaimed film maker. He has bagged 36 national and international awards.
• These awards include the ‘Janakinath Gaur Award’ from Doordarshan for his children’s programme, ‘Baingan Raja.’
• He is the only Indian filmmaker who received the ‘Liv Ullmann Peace Prize’, in Chicago, for his Gujarati film, ‘Harun-Arun’.
• Ganatra is from Gujarat, now based in Mumbai. He won many award for his debut, feature ‘Heda-Hoda (Blind Camel)’.
• His ‘Lukka-Chhuppi (Hide-n-Seek)’ created a record for being the first children’s film completely shot at the highest altitude in Ladakh.
• 7th Nelson Mandela Children’s Film Festival was organised in Johannesburg, South Africa from 14 June 2024 to 18 June 2024. It is an annual festival.

Topic: Space and IT

9. India and the US to jointly launch the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar.

• NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) will be launched to combat climate change and other global challenges.
• The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite will map the entirety of the Earth’s surface twice every 12 days.
• NISAR will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequencies.
• The main aim of the NISAR satellite is to observe the most complex natural processes of Earth. Its duration will be three years.
• The second meeting of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) was chaired by Jake Sullivan and Ajit Doval.
• A new partnership between the US Space Force and the Indian startups — 114ai and 3rdiTech, including advancing space situational awareness, data fusion technologies, and infrared sensor semiconductor manufacturing, was also launched.
• NASA will provide training to two Indian astronauts, one of them will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) late this year.
• India and the US are also exploring opportunities to participate in the Lunar Gateway Program.

Topic: International News

10. Thailand became the first South Asian country to recognize same-sex marriage.

• Thailand's Senate passed the final reading of a marriage equality law.
• It paved the way for making Thailand the first South Asian country to recognise same-sex marriage.
• The law will come into force after 120 days. It also needs royal approval.
• After Nepal and Taiwan, Thailand is the third country in Asia to enact marriage equality legislation.
• Thailand, one of Asia's most popular tourist destinations, is already known for its vibrant LGBT culture and tolerance.

Topic: Indian Economy

11. Following anti-subsidy action by the US and the EU, India is developing a verification mechanism for its tax refund scheme.

• The Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry are working on an institutional mechanism for verification of tax refunds given to exporters under the government's flagship duty rebate scheme.
• This is being done so that India can avoid countervailing duties imposed by top importing countries like the EU and the US.
• The move comes after the US and the European Union imposed countervailing duties (CVD) in 2023 on paper file folders, common alloy aluminium sheets and forged steel fluxes following anti-subsidy investigations.
• CVDs are tariffs imposed on imported goods to offset subsidies provided by the government of the exporting country, which are intended to protect domestic industry.
• The need for the new verification methodology arose when the US sought clarity on India's methodology for verification of rates offered to exporters under the government's Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme.
• RoDTEP rates are fixed by the Commerce Ministry based on the recommendation of a committee headed by former Commerce and Home Secretary GK Pillai.
• The US does not recognise the GK Pillai Committee.
• The Commerce Ministry is in consultation with the Department of Revenue (DoR) to work out a verification mechanism to validate RoDTEP rates.
• In January 2021, the RoDTEP scheme was announced, which refunds underlying levies and taxes such as VAT on fuel used in transportation, mandi tax, and duty on electricity.
• Europe and the US are among India's largest trading partners. India's exports to the US stood at $77 billion and to Europe at around $86 billion in FY24.

Topic: Personality in News

12. On June 15, former Odisha Governor Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare passed away at the age of 95.

• Bhandare was a senior Congress leader from Maharashtra and had been a Rajya Sabha member thrice.
• He served as the Governor of Odisha from August 2007 to March 2013 and also practised as a senior advocate in the Supreme Court.
• He was the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association for two terms.
• In March 2024, his autobiography, titled "The Arc of Memory: My Life and Times" was published.

Topic: Indian Economy

13. Fitch raised India's growth for FY25 to 7.2%.

• Fitch Ratings raised India’s growth forecast from 7% to 7.2% for the current fiscal year.
• Fitch projected growth rates of 6.5 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively for the fiscal years 2025–26 and 2026–27.
• As per the Fitch, the investment will rise continuously but more slowly than in recent quarters.
• Fitch said that the normal monsoon season will support the growth and make inflation less volatile.
• Fitch expects that Inflation will decline to 4.5 per cent by the end of 2024 and will remain at an average of 4.3 per cent in 2025 and 2026.
• Fitch expects RBI to cut policy interest rates by 25 basis points this year to 6.25 per cent.

Topic: State News/Uttar Pradesh

14. Vivo will open one of India's largest smartphone plants in Greater Noida.

• In the upcoming month, One of India’s largest mobile phone manufacturing plants will be opened in Greater Noida by Vivo.
• It will have an annual production capacity of 120 million devices and has been established with an investment exceeding Rs 3,000 crore.
• This new facility will be spread over more than 170 acres in Greater Noida.
• Tata Group is in talks with Vivo to acquire a majority stake in the Indian division.
• The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is currently investigating vivo in connection with a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
• India is the second-largest mobile phone manufacturing country after China.