Daily Current Affairs and GK | 22 June 2022

Topic: International News

1. India and European Union to resume free trade negotiations after nine years.

• The first round of formal free trade negotiations between India and the European Union will begin on 27 June in New Delhi.
• The main aim of the free trade negotiations is to double the bilateral trade in five years from $116 billion in 2021-22.
• India-EU free trade negotiations were stopped in 2013 due to the movement of Indian professionals and high tariffs on European farm produce.
• European Union is the second-largest trading partner of India after the United States.
• India’s export to European Union has increased by 57% in 2021-22 to $65 billion.
• India and the European Union will negotiate on all three agreements in parallel and conclude them simultaneously.
• Recently, India has signed free trade agreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia.
• India and United Kingdom are negotiating a comprehensive trade deal.
• European Union:
  • It is a political and economic union of 27 member states which are mainly located in Europe.
  • It was founded on 1 November 1993. It is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
  • European Parliament is a legislative body of the European Union.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

2. India-Bangladesh 7th round of Joint Consultative Commission held in New Delhi.

• Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart A K Abdul Momen.
• India and Bangladesh are working on new areas of cooperation including artificial intelligence, cyber security, start-ups and fintech.
• Foreign Ministers of India and Bangladesh said that despite the challenges of Covid-19 both countries work closely in every sector.
• Both countries have enhanced cooperation in multimodal connectivity, energy, capacity building and people-to-people ties.
• Both countries also agreed to deepen their ties in the field of IT and cybersecurity, renewable energy, sustainable trade, climate change and disaster management.
• Bangladesh is India's most important trade partner in the South Asian region. The bilateral trade between both countries was $10.8 billion in 2020-21.

Topic: Environment and Ecology

3. World's largest freshwater fish has been caught in Cambodia.

• Cambodian villagers have caught the world's biggest freshwater fish in the Mekong River.
• It is a big stingray fish, weighing 300kg (661lb). It is 3.98m long and 2.2m wide.
• The previous record-holder, a 646lb (293kg) Mekong giant catfish was caught in Thailand in 2005.
• The giant freshwater stingray fish is an endangered species.
• The Mekong has the third-largest diverse population of fish in the world. It flows through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Topic: Important Days

4. World Music Day: 21 June 

• Every year, World Music Day is celebrated on 21 June worldwide. It is also known as Make Music Day.
• It is observed to encourage young and amateur musicians to perform.
• The theme of this year’s World Music Day is 'Music on the inter-sections'.
• A charter was signed at the European Festival of Music in Budapest in 1997, which gave recognition to World Music Day globally.
• It was started by French composer Maurice Fleuret, who was also the Minister of Culture in the French government.
• It is celebrated in more than 120 countries. People organize public concerts in parks, stadiums and public places.

Topic: International Appointments

5. Ruchira Kamboj will be India's Permanent Representative to U.N.

• She has been appointed as the next Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations.
• She is currently serving as India's envoy to Bhutan.
• She will succeed T.S. Tirumurti as the Indian ambassador to the U.N.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Indian Polity

6. Draupadi Murmu will be BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate for the Presidential election.

• She earlier served as the 9^th Governor of Jharkhand from 2015 to 2021. She is from Odisha.
• BJP Chief JP Nadda said, for the first time, preference has been given to a woman tribal candidate.
• The voting for presidential elections will be held on 18^th July 2022.
• Yashwant Sinha will be the opposition candidate for Presidential Election.
• If elected, Draupadi Murmu would be the first tribal woman to occupy the topmost constitutional post in the country.
• About Presidential Election:
  • President is indirectly elected through voting by secret ballot.
  • The Electoral College includes the elected members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as well as the elected members of state legislative assemblies.
  • The Electoral College also includes the elected members of legislative assemblies of two Union Territories (Delhi & Puducherry).

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: National News

7. Government has issued a list of single-use plastic items banned from 1 July.

• The government has banned the use of single-use plastic from 1 July 2022.
• The ban includes manufacturing, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of single-use plastic items.
• The plastic items banned include Plastic Sticks, Cutlery items, Packing/wrapping films and other items.
• The government has also imposed a ban on sachets using plastic material for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala.
• Beverage manufacturers and industry associations have requested the government to allow a gradual phasing out of plastic straws.
• Apart from these measures, CPCB issued directions to e-commerce companies to phase out the use of single-use plastic items.
• The ban on single-use plastic items will be monitored by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) at the national level while at the state level it will be monitored by State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs).
• Bangladesh is the first country to ban thin plastic bags.

Topic: International News

8. WTO members approved a package of trade deals on 17 June 2022.

• WTO’s 164 members approved trade deals at the 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva.
• The details of the agreements are given below:
• E-commerce Moratorium:
  • The moratorium on placing customs duties on electronic transmissions (from streaming services to financial transactions and corporate data flows) has been extended by WTO members.
  • The moratorium has been in place since 1998. India had initially opposed the extension.
  • The moratorium will continue till the next Ministerial Conference but it will expire on March 31, 2024.
• WTO Reforms:
  • WTO is committed to carrying out discussions on a fully functioning dispute settlement system by 2024.
  • All WTO members agreed that it needs reform, although they disagree on what changes are required.
• Food Security: WTO members agreed to a binding decision to not curb exports to the World Food Programme (WFP).
• Pandemic Response:
  • Developing countries can authorize the use of a patent for production and supply without the patent holder's consent for five years.
  • The production need not be predominantly for the domestic market. This means more exports are permitted to ensure equitable access.
  • Within six months, WTO members will have to think and decide on extending the waiver to therapeutics and diagnostics.
  • In the area of intellectual property, the TRIPS waiver is limited to only vaccines.
  • India, South Africa and the over 60 countries had been insisting that it was also needed for therapeutics and diagnostics.
• Fishing:
  • WTO members reached an agreement to cut down subsidies that contribute to over-fishing.
  • As per the agreement, WTO members shall not grant any subsidy to vessels or operators engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
  • The agreement on fisheries is only the second multilateral agreement on new global trade rules that the WTO has agreed upon in its 27-year history.
  • WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies were launched in 2001 at the Doha Ministerial Conference.
  • Developing countries will be exempted for two years. Talks will continue for a more comprehensive agreement at the next Ministerial Conference.

Topic: Sports

9. Sunil Chhetri becomes 5th highest goalscorer in international football.

• He achieved this feat by scoring his 84th goal in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifier match against Hong Kong.
• He has now equalled the record of Hungarian player Ferenc Puskas.
• In October 2021, Sunil Chhetri crossed the legendary football player Pele's record of 77 goals.
• Sunil Chhetri is now the third-highest goal scorer among the active international players. He is just behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
• At present, Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest goalscorer with 117 goals while Lionel Messi is on the second spot with 86 goals.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

10. One Nation, One Ration Card scheme has now become operational throughout India with its implementation in Assam.

• Assam has become the 36th State to implement this scheme.
• The scheme is now successfully implemented in all the 36 states and Union Territories throughout the country.
• Within a short span of time, the scheme has covered 80 crore beneficiaries.
• MERA RATION mobile application was released to make the scheme more seamless. This application is available in 13 languages.
• One Nation One Ration Card Scheme:
  • It has been launched with the objective of enabling poor migrant workers to buy subsidized rice and wheat from any government ration shop in the country.
  • Since the start of the scheme in August 2019, about 71 crore portable transactions have taken place under it.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

11. NPCI International has signed a MoU with the Lyra network of France.

• The MoU is for acceptance of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Rupay in France.
• Singapore, UAE, Bhutan, and Nepal are other countries that have adopted India's UPI payment system so far.
• Union Communication minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India is doing 5.5 billion UPI transactions in a month.
• Vivatech 2020 has recognized India as the "country of the year." Vivatech 2020 is Europe's biggest start-up conference.
• NPCI International is the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Topic: Art and Culture

12. Ambubachi Mela 2022 will be celebrated from June 22 to June 26.

• Ambubachi Mela is celebrated at the Kamakhya temple in Assam in June.
• Kamakhya temple is located in Guwahati. It is a Hindu temple dedicated to the mother goddess Kamakhya. It is considered as one of the 51 Shakti Peethas.
• The temple is closed for three days starting from the 7th day of the “Ashadh” month of the Hindu calendar.
• On 12th day, the doors are opened and a big fair is organized at the temple.
• “Ambubachi” means “spoken with water”. This signifies that the rains expected during this month make the earth fertile.
• All agricultural work like digging, ploughing, sowing, and transplanting of crops are forbidden during the festival period. Devotees avoid cooked food.
• The prasad is distributed in two forms – Angodak (meaning ‘water from the spring’) and Angabastra (meaning ‘cloth covering the body’).

Topic: Space & IT

13. Indigenous metal 3D Printer for aerospace has been developed by IIT Jodhpur.

• A metal 3D printer has been developed indigenously by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jodhpur, for use in aerospace, defence, and general engineering applications.
• Except for the laser and robot systems, every component of the metal 3D printer has been designed and manufactured in India.
• The main goal of the project is to reduce the cost of metal 3D printers and attract a broader variety of consumers.
• It can be used for repairing and adding additional material to existing components.
• It is equipped with India's first cutting-edge variable spot size laser optics and can print 3D parts with the metal powders made in India.

Topic: Sports

14. Women's wrestling team of India won the 2021 U-17 Asian Championship in Kyrgyzstan.

• The Indian women's wrestling team won the under-17 Asian Championship with a total of eight gold medals in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
• With a total of 235 points, including eight gold medals, one silver, and one bronze, India won the championship.
• With 143 points, Japan has settled on second place, and Mongolia took third place with 138 points.
• In freestyle competitions, Parwinder Singh won gold in the 80-kg category and Narender took home silver in the 71-kg category.
• On June 26, the competition will come to an end.