Daily Current Affairs and GK | 21 July 2023

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

1. Government launched first ever “Credit Guarantee Scheme” for Livestock Sector.

• Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is implementing the scheme under the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF).
• The main aim of the scheme is to strengthen the credit delivery system and facilitate the smooth flow of credit to the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) involved in the Livestock sector.
• The credit guarantee scheme will help mainly first-generation entrepreneurs and underprivileged sections of society in accessing finance facilities.
• The main objective of the Credit Guarantee Scheme is that the lender should give importance to project viability and secure the credit facility purely on the basis primary security of the assets financed.
• Credit guarantee fund trust establishment was approved under the Prime Minister’s AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus package of Rs.15000 crores.
• The main feature of the AHIDF scheme is the establishment of a Credit Guarantee Fund Trust of Rs 750.00 Crores.
• The main feature of the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF):
  • Interest Subvention of 3%
  • Loan up to 90% of the total project cost from any Scheduled Bank, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).

Topic: Agriculture

2. Government has prohibited exports of non-basmati white rice.

• Government has taken this step to boost domestic supply and keep retail prices under control.
• Nearly 25% of the total rice exported from India is non-basmati white rice.
• The export policy of par-boiled non-basmati rice and basmati rice has not been changed.
• Change has been done to export policy of non-basmati white rice (semi-milled or wholly milled rice, whether or not polished or glazed).
• Its export policy has been amended from 'Free with export duty of 20%' to 'Prohibited' with immediate effect.
• Export duty of 20% on non-basmati white rice was imposed on September 8, 2022.
• India's total exports of basmati rice stood at $4.8 billion in 2022-23.
• India’s total exports of non-basmati rice stood at $6.36 billion in 2022-23.
• Thailand, Italy, Spain, Sri Lanka and the USA are major destinations for India's non-basmati white rice exports.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

3. Coal Ministry has won “Best Engagement” award for procurement through GeM portal.

• Ministry of Commerce has recently awarded Coal Ministry for its achievements in e-procurement through GeM.
• The Ministry of Coal has been awarded in “Best Engagement” category.
• Coal India Limited (CIL) has been awarded in “Rising Star” category.
• NLC India Limited has been awarded in the “TimelyPayments” category.
• As on July 17, 2023, the actual purchase through GeM in this financial year is Rs 3,909 crore.
• Hence, the coal ministry has almost reached the target of Rs 4000 crore during the 100 days period in the current financial year.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Awards and Prizes

4. Gujarat will host 69th Filmfare Awards in 2024.

• Tourism Corporation of state government has signed MoU with Worldwide Media (WWM) to host the event.
• The MoU between the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL) and WWM (entertainment and lifestyle content company) also aims to promote the state as a film destination.
• Gujarat will host the Filmfare awards for the first time.
• Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff was present at the MoU signing ceremony.
• The Filmfare Awards are annual awards. They honour artistic and technical excellence in India’s Hindi-language film industry.
• The 68th Filmfare Awards was held in April 2023 in Mumbai.

Topic: Reports and Indices/Rankings

5. Only 1% of women live in countries with high gender equality and women's empowerment.

• According to a new report by the United Nations, only 1% of women worldwide live in countries that have managed to achieve both high female empowerment and gender equality.
• The report, released at the Women Deliver conference held in Kigali, Rwanda on July 18, 2023, states that leadership roles and decision-making roles are still mostly held by men and unavailable to women.
• This is the first-of-its-kind report that presents a comprehensive analysis of progress made in the human development of women and girls.
• This report has been jointly produced by two UN agencies - UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme.
• The bodies collected data from 114 countries and analyzed them on the basis of twin indices of the Women Empowerment Index (WEI) and the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI).
• On average, women are able to achieve only 60% of their full potential.
• They are 28% less achievers than men in key human development dimensions as measured by the GGPI.
• They found that none of the 114 countries analyzed had achieved full women's empowerment or full gender equality.
• More than 90% of the global population of women live in countries with low or moderate levels of women's empowerment and low or moderate performance in achieving gender equality.
• The report identified areas where comprehensive policy action is needed- including Health policies, Equality in education, Work-life balance and support for families, Women’s equal participation, and Violence against women.

Topic: State News/ Uttar Pradesh

6. A portal has been launched by Uttar Pradesh government to apply for an e-vehicle subsidy.

• On July 19, the subsidy portal, upevsubsidy.in, launched to pave the way for people to apply online for the subsidy available on the purchase of electric vehicles in the state.
• UPDESCO (Uttar Pradesh Development Systems Corporation Limited) will develop and maintain the portal.
• Customers purchasing electric vehicles after October 14 will be eligible to claim an EV subsidy by applying through the portal.
• Once the application is submitted, the subsidy amount will be transferred to the bank account of the subscriber after the successful completion of the four-stage verification process.
• The initiative is part of the Uttar Pradesh Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Mobility Policy, 2022, which includes a purchase subsidy incentive scheme.
• The scheme is effective from October 14, 2022, and will continue till October 13, 2023.
• To avail of the purchase subsidy incentive, eligible applicants are required to apply through the web portal.

Topic: Sports

7. Anshuman Jhingran became the world’s youngest person to cross North Channel.

• He crossed North Channel at the age of only 18 years and 125 days.
• He has qualified for a place in the Guinness World Records.
• Anshuman Jhingran is an open sea swimmer. He is from Navi Mumbai. He is the 114th person to cross the North Channel since 1947.
• He has been trained under the Chhatrapati awardee coach Gokul Kamath.
• The North Channel is located between Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is considered the toughest of the Ocean Seven Swims.
• Ocean Seven includes the North Channel, the Cook Strait, the Molokaʻi Channel, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar.

Topic: National Appointments

8. Central government has appointed IPS officer Manoj Yadava as Director General of the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

• Manoj Yadava will succeed Sanjay Chander who will retire on 31 July.
• Manoj Yadava is a 1988 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Haryana cadre.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved his appointment as DG, RPF till his superannuation on 31 July 2025.
• Shafi Ahsan Rizvi has been appointed as Advisor of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
• Shafi Ahsan Rizvi is currently the Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
• The appointment of Rajesh Pradhan as Joint Director in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also been approved by ACC.
• Rajesh Pradhan is currently the Deputy Inspector General of the CBI.

Topic: Environment and Ecology

9. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has recently launched Heat Index.

• Recently, Heat Index has been launched by the India Meteorological Department on the experimental basis.
• The Heat Index will provide general guidance for the regions where the temperature will be on the higher side.
• The heat index will provide information about the impact of humidity on high temperatures and the feel-like temperature by human beings.
• It is being implemented across the country including Andhra Pradesh.
• National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with local agencies has created a heat index for Bhubaneshwar and Ahmedabad under Heat Action Plan.
• Colour codes used for Experimental Heat Index are as follows:

Topic: State News/ Chhattisgarh

10. Chhattisgarh government launched Gramin Awas Nyay Yojana.

• Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel announced an ambitious rural housing project on 19 July 2023.
• Gramin Awas Nyay Yojana will be funded by the state government. The main aim of the scheme is to provide homes to the homeless rural people in the state.
• Gramin Awas Nyay Yojana will cover poor families based on the new survey conducted by the Department of Panchayat & Rural Development.
• CM Bhupesh Baghel said that there are many families who are not eligible for PM Awas Yojana based on the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC).
• Many needy families are facing difficulty in getting housing approval so to overcome this problem this scheme has been launched.
• The state government has allocated 100 crore rupees for the Gramin Awas Nyay Yojana 2023.
• Only poor families residing in rural areas are eligible for the scheme.
• Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel announced to raise the DA of around 5 lakh state government employees by four per cent.

Topic: State News/ Gujarat

11. Gujarat will receive India's 1st ‘Satellite Network Portal Site’.

• On 19 July, London-based company OneWeb and the Gujarat Government’s Science and Technology Department signed an MoU in Gandhinagar for the establishment of the Satellite Network Portal Site near Mehsana.
• With an estimated cost of Rs 100 crores, the satellite network portal will be set up at two locations in Katosan and Tejpura in Jotana Taluka of Mehsana district for Phase-I.
• Under Digital India, the project aims to provide affordable, secure, and high-speed internet access to villages, district panchayats, local administrative bodies, government departments, and other entities across the country.
• It is also expected to generate around 500 direct and indirect employment opportunities in the state.
• OneWeb is setting up two Satellite Network Portals (SNPs) in India, one in Gujarat and the other in Tamil Nadu.
• OneWeb is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite company with 648 satellites that aim to build a global communications network.
• This technology is already operational in Europe and Canada.

Topic: National Appointment

12. Lokesh M has been appointed as Noida Authority CEO.

• Kanpur’s divisional commissioner, Lokesh M, will replace Ritu Maheshwari, who was serving from a long time as Noida Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• Maheshwari was also removed from the position of Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) CEO on July 9.
• Ritu Maheshwari has been transferred to Agra, where she has been appointed commissioner.
• Ravi Kumar N. G. has been appointed as the new GNIDA CEO.
• Amit Gupta will be the new Divisional Commissioner of Kanpur, and he was also holding the same post in Agra.

Topic: National Appointments

13. Nivruti Rai becomes the new MD and CEO of Invest India.

• Former Intel India country head Nivruti Rai has been appointed as MD and CEO of Invest India.
• She has taken over the charge from Manmeet K Nanda, who had taken the charge as MD in March.
• She was working as Intel India country head for the last seven years.
• Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, DPIIT, chairs the board of Invest India.
• Invest India:
  • Invest India is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency.
  • It helps investors who looked for investment opportunities and options in India.
  • It was set up as a non-profit venture under the aegis of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion.

Topic: National Appointments

14. President appointed Chief justices of four new High Courts.

• Justice Sunita Agarwal became the new Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court. She is currently the only woman Chief Justice of a High Court.
• Justice Alok Aradhe is the new Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court.
• His name was recommended after Justice Ujjal Bhuyan was transferred from the Telangana Chief Justiceship to the Supreme Court Bench.
• Justice Subhasis Talapatra has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court. He will take charge on 7 August 2023.
• Justice Ashish Jitendra Desai would take over as the new Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court. He is senior most Judge of the Gujarat High Court.
• High Court Judge:
  • The Chief Justice and Judges of the High Courts are appointed by President under Article 217.
  • A High Court Judge retires at the age of 62.
  • A Judge (including Chief Justice) of a High Court could be transferred under Article 222.
  • A Judge of the High Court can be removed from office only for proven misbehaviour or incapacity in the manner in which a supreme court Judge is removed.