Daily Current Affairs and GK | 23 and 24 July 2023

Topic: Agriculture and allied sectors

1. India’s share in total world food grains market based on export values was 7.79% in 2022.

• In 2022, India’s share in the world food grains market based on the exported values remained at 7.79%.
• In the last few years, India’s exports of food grain has registered a continuous growth.
• India’s share in world foodgrain exports has increased from 3.38% in 2010 to 7.79% in 2022.
• The government has taken several steps to promote exports of agricultural products, including food grains.
• Export Promotion Forums (EPFs) for Rice and Nutri-Cereals have been set up under APEDA.
• The government has formed State Level Monitoring Committees, Nodal Agencies for agricultural exports, and Cluster Level Committees.
• India mainly exported agriculture products to the USA, China, Bangladesh, UAE, Vietnam, etc.
• Marine Products, Rice, Sugar, Rice –basmati, Spices, etc. were the top agricultural products exported from India.

Top 5 importers of India’s Agriculture products are:

Topic: Important Days

2. National Broadcasting Day: 23 July

• National Broadcasting Day is celebrated in India every year on 23 July.
• On this day in 1927, a private Indian Broadcasting Company started the first radio broadcast in the country from the Bombay station.
• Indian State Broadcasting Service became All India Radio (AIR) on 8th June, 1936.
• The name AKASHVANI was adopted for the National Broadcaster in 1956. The Vividh Bharati Service was launched in 1957.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: State News/Odisha

3. Odisha cabinet has approved launch of interest-free crop loan up to Rs. 1 lakh.

• Odisha cabinet approved Rs. 5700 crore for the implementation of a State sector scheme ‘Interest Subsidy-Subvention’ scheme.
• Under the scheme, farmers would get interest-free crop loans of up to Rs. 1 lakh.
• A 2% interest rate would be charged for crop loans above Rs.1 lakh to Rs.3 lakh.
• These interest rates would apply retrospectively from April 1, 2022.
• Earlier, farmers were being provided interest-free crop loans up to a limit of Rs.50000 under KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation).
• Cabinet’s approval of Rs. 5700 crore is a step towards providing interest subsidy or subvention to the cooperative banks and Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS).
• The interest subsidy subvention to the cooperative banks or PACS will remain in force for 5 years (2023-24 to 2027-28).
• As of now, the Cooperatives provide about 55% of the total crop loans in Odisha as against the national average of 17%.
• Odisha cabinet has also given approval to making of buildings for the Vana Surakshya Samitis (VSS).
• Government will construct 10,000 buildings across the State for the VSS in a phased manner during the four years from 2023-24 to 2026-27.

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

4. 5^th Helicopter & Small Aircraft Summit will be organized on the 25th of July 2023 at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.

• Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Pawan Hans Ltd., and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will jointly organise the event.
• Chief Minister, of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Union Minister of Civil Aviation & Steel Jyotiraditya M. Scindia will inaugurate the Summit.
• The Summit aims to enhance the scope of the UDAN scheme in remote and hilly terrains.
• The theme of the summit is "Reaching the Last Mile: Regional Connectivity through Helicopters & Small Aircraft".

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: National News

5. Manual for Disaster Management Plan has been released by Union Minister Gajendra Singh.

• On 22 July, the Manual for Disaster Management Plan (DMP) was launched at the conclusion of the two-day National Conference of Rural WASH Partners Forum at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
• The Manual has been developed by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
• It has been developed to ensure the safety, uninterrupted supply, and minimum loss of water, sanitation, and hygiene assets (WASH) and services involving stakeholders at the national, state, district, and village levels.
• The WASH (WASH) scheme is in line with the two flagship programs Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) implemented by the Department.
• The disaster plan has been developed based on the advisory issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under section 37 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• It allows each Ministry/Department to develop its own disaster plan to prepare and deal with any emergency that may arise in the future.
• The objective of the scheme is to ensure prompt WASH response to disasters as per agreed standards.
• The document focuses on the four phases of planning - preparedness, response, recovery and reconstruction and mitigation, besides addressing the issues as per the 10-point agenda for risk reduction.
• In the event of a disaster, there is a need to do three types of assessments.
• Before a disaster: A Hazard-Vulnerability-Capacity mapping to guide the preparedness activities most needed.
• During the response: A Rapid Needs Assessment (RNA) which can be completed in a day and point out the immediate needs of the affected population.
• During recovery and reconstruction: A detailed Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) which highlights the long-term needs of the community and helps the administration “build back better” the damaged infrastructure and update the service delivery mechanisms to mitigate against future disasters.

(Source: News on Air)

Topic: International News

6. Spain's election has won by Conservative Popular Party.

• The conservative People's Party (Popular Party) won the election but fell short of their hopes of winning a landslide victory and forcing the removal of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
• Instead, the party, led by candidate Alberto Núnez Fizu, performed below the expectations of most polls.
• With 100% of votes counted, the opposition centre-right People's Party (PP) has 136 seats in parliament, while Sánchez's ruling Socialists (PSOE) has 122.
• Both fell short of the 176 seats needed to govern.
• Even though Sánchez’s Socialists finished second, but their combined allies gained slightly more seats than the Popular Party (PP) and the far-right.
• The bloc that could likely support Sánchez totaled 172 seats. The right bloc behind Feijóo has 170 seats.
• The Vox party with 33 seats and the Sumar party with 31 seats were almost evenly matched seats.
• The result meant that Sánchez became a potential contender to form the government.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

7. PM Modi will inaugurate ‘Semicon India 2023’ in Gandhinagar on 28 July 2023.

• A special exhibition will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel for public on 25 July 2023.
• The purpose of the exhibition is to inform about the manufacturing process of semiconductors.
• The exhibition will also inform about the progress made in the field of manufacturing semiconductors.
• At the exhibition, students of engineering and other disciplines can learn about semiconductor manufacturing.
• Leading companies in the semiconductor sector will take part in Semicon India 2023.
• India Semiconductor Mission in partnership with industry and industry associations will organise the ‘Semicon India 2023’. ‘Semicon India 2023’ is the 2nd edition of the annual global summit.

Topic: State News/Gujarat

8. Gujarat government has released Semiconductor Policy (2022-2027).

• This initiative shows Gujarat’s commitment to the growth of the domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing sector.
• Gujarat has become the first state in India to issue a dedicated Semiconductor Policy.
• The Gujarat government has also released an IT/ITES (Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services) policy.
• During PM Modi’s visit to the USA, the establishment of a state-of-the-art Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) facility by Micron Technology Inc. in India was announced.
• An MoU was signed between Micron Technology and the Government of Gujarat.
• The agreement is valued at over 22,500 crore rupees. It will lead to the setting up of an ATMP facility in Sanand, Gujarat.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Banking System

9. In 2022-23, Banks write off bad loans worth Rs 2.09 lakh crore.

• Banks wrote off bad loans worth over Rs 2.09 lakh crore (around US $ 25.50 billion) during 2022-23.
• In the last five years, the total loan write-off by the banking sector reached Rs 10.57 lakh crore (around $ 129 billion).
• This loan write-off by banks has decreased the gross non-performing assets (GNPA).
• Gross NPAs of banks has fallen from Rs 10.21 lakh crore in FY2018 to Rs 5.55 lakh crore by March 2023.
• As per the RBI data, Banks total written off Rs 15,31,453 crore (US $ 187 billion) since FY2012-13.
• In the last three years, banks have recovered only Rs 109,186 crore from Rs 586,891 crore loans written off.
• The total defaulted loans (including write-offs but excluding loans recovered from write-offs in three years) reached Rs 10.32 lakh crore.
• Banks have reduced their NPA by writing off defaulted loans.
• When a loan is written off by a bank, it gets out from the asset book of the bank.

Topic: Sports

10. Satwik-Chirag wins Korea Open 2023 title.

• Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty wins the men’s doubles title at the Korea Open.
• They defeated Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto in the final by 17-21, 21-13, 21-14.
• Anders Antonsen clinched men’s singles title after defeating Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.
• In Women’s singles, Se-young triumphed over Taiwan’s Tai Tzu Ying by 21-9, 21-15.
• Satwik and Chirag had also won the Swiss Open, Asian Championships and Indonesia Open this year.
• The Indian pair had a 2-2 head-to-head count against Alfian and Ardianto but they had defeated the Indonesian pair on the last two occasions.
• Earlier, Satwik and Chirag had won multiple titles including Commonwealth Games gold, Thomas Cup, bronze medal in World Championships and wins in Super 300 (Syed Modi and Swiss Open).
• The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels- World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300.

Topic: State News/ Jharkhand

11. Jharkhand released a vision document to achieve the net-zero target by 2070.

• Jharkhand is one of the climate-vulnerable states. The Department of Forest, Environment, and Climate Change of Jharkhand has released this vision document.
• The vision document based on eight thematic areas including coal transition has been prepared by the government to achieve the net-zero target by 2070.
• The Jharkhand government has also created a task force on ‘Sustainable Just Transition’.
• The main objective of the vision document is to lay down a roadmap for promoting economic growth, inclusiveness and social progress in the state.
• According to the vision document, a ‘centre of excellence’ on sustainable transition is required to reduce the use of non-renewable resources.
• The state government stated that the main aim is to find out the cost of green transition and become fiscally ready.
• As per the vision document, GreenHouse Gases (GHG) emissions from Jharkhand contributed 4 per cent to India’s total emissions.
• 42 per cent of the population comes under the multidimensional poverty index is one of the main challenges in Livelihood transition.
• Moving away from coal can adversely affect the local ecosystem created by the coal supply chain.
• More than 30,000 people in the state are directly employed by the coal sector and around 10 lakh people are indirectly involved in the coal sector.
• Jharkhand’s energy requirement is mainly met through coal-fired power plants.
• The eight identified areas in the vision document are as follows:

Topic: State News/ Uttar Pradesh

12. Uttar Pradesh government launched a Mega plantation drive.

• Uttar Pradesh government has set a target to plant more than 35 crores of saplings.
• Out of 35 crores, 30 crores saplings haave been planted on 22nd July.
• The theme of the Mega plantation drive is ‘Ped Lagao Ped Bachao’.
• Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the campaign by planting saplings in Vidur Kuti Ashram in Bijnaur.
• Governor Anandiben Patel participated in this drive in Mathura.
• This year’s plantation drive has been divided into two parts. In the first phase, 30 crores sapling has been planted while in the second phase 35 crores saplings will be planted on 15th August.
• Different Ministries have been given targets for this plantation drive.
• In 2022, 35 crores saplings were planted in the state and this year the same target has been fixed.

Topic: Personality in News

13. Admiral Lisa Franchetti became first woman to lead US Navy.

• She has become the first woman in the history to serve as the Chief of Naval Operations and member of Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• She was commissioned in 1985 and is currently serving as the Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
• She has served as the commander of US Naval Forces Korea.
• She is the second woman ever to achieve the rank of four-star admiral in the United States Navy.

Topic: Banking System

14. Centre exempted Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) from the purview of merger control regime of Competition Commission of India (CCI).

• Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) said that the exemption from prior scrutiny and approval of CCI would be available for five years.
• This step will lead to the merger of RRBs without the prior scrutiny and approval of CCI.
• As per the order of MCA, RRBs are exempted from the application provisions of section 5 and 6 of the Competition Act, 2002 for five years.
• Sections 5 and 6 apply to the combination of enterprises.
• As of 2021, there are about 43 RRBs in India. They are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Centre had earlier given similar merger control regime exemption for smooth consolidation among public sector banks.
• In 2020, ten PSU banks were merged into four. The overall number of PSBs was reduced to 12 banks.
• Regional Rural Banks (RRBs):
  • Presently, centre has 50% stake in each RRB. Sponsor Bank has 35%. Remaining 15% lies with the State government.
  • Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) are government owned scheduled commercial banks of India.
  • Five RRBs were set up in 1975 on the recommendations of the Narsimhan Committee on Rural Credit. Prathama Bank was first RRB.