Daily Current Affairs and GK | 24 April 2024

Topic: Banking System

1. NABARD released its Climate Strategy 2030 document.

• On the occasion of Earth Day, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) released its Climate Strategy 2030 document.
• The Climate Strategy 2030 document has been released by Shaji KV, Chairman of NABARD.
• Its main aim is to address India’s need for green financing. As per the NABARD, India requires $170 billion annually to reach a cumulative total of over $2.5 trillion by 2030.
• NABARD’s Climate Strategy 2030 is based on four key pillars: accelerating green lending across sectors, playing a broader market-making role, internal green transformation and strategic resource mobilization.
• Until 2019-20, about $49 billion has been collected by India in green financing. The majority of funds were for mitigation while $5 billion was allocated towards adaptation and resilience.
• This strategy will make NABARD a pivotal player in India’s transition towards a resilient and sustainable economy.

Topic: Economy/Banking/Finance

2. BharatPe One has been launched by BharatPe.

• BharatPe One is all-in-one payment device. It integrates a point of sale, QR code, and speaker into one device.
• In the 1st phase, BharatPe One will be launched in 100 cities and in 450 cities over the next six months.
• BharatPe One offers payment options including QR code, tap-and-pay and traditional card payment.
• BharatPe One is having a high-definition touchscreen display, 4G and Wi-Fi connectivity.
• It is powered by the latest Android operating system.

Topic: Important Days

3. National Panchayati Raj Day: 24 April

• National Panchayati Raj Day is observed each year on 24 April.
• On 24th April 1993, the President gave his assent to the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Bill providing constitutional status to Panchayats.
• National Panchayati Raj Day was first announced in 2010.
• Mahatma Gandhi advocated the idea of Panchayati rule.
• In 2024, there is not a particular theme for the National Panchayati Raj Day in India.
• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj will host a national colloquium on ‘Governance at the Grassroots after Three Decades of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment’.
• This will be hosted at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi to mark the celebration of the day.

Topic: Sports

4. Saurav Ghosal has declared retirement from professional Squash.

• Saurav Ghosal is an Indian squash player. However, he will continue to play for India.
• Ghosal won 12 Professional Squash Association (PSA) titles during his career.
• He also won many medals at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and Asian Games during his career.
• He was also a former top 10 athlete in world squash rankings.
• He reached the level in April 2019. He stayed there for six months.
• He is the only Indian man, who entered the top 10 in the World rankings. He is nine-time Asian Games medallist.
• The PSA World Tour is a professional circuit for squash players.
• It is similar to the ATP and WTA in tennis and BWF in badminton.
• Malaysian Open Squash Championships was his final PSA title win in November 2021. In this Championship, he beat Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez.
• The 2024 Windy City Open was his final PSA Tour appearance. In this, he lost to USA’s Timothy Brownell.
• He won 13 national titles, and three CWG medals.
• He is the first Indian male player who won a CWG squash medal in a singles competition.

Topic: Reports and Indices/Rankings

5. According to the TRAI report, internet subscribers increased by 1.96% in the December quarter.

• On April 23, the "Indian Telecom Service Performance Indicator Report" for the quarter ending December 31, 2023, was released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
• In the total number of internet subscribers, the report shows an increase from 918.19 million in September 2023 to 936.16 million in December 2023, showing a quarterly growth of 1.96%.
• Of these subscribers, wired internet customers number 38.57 million, while 897.59 million access the internet wirelessly.
• The number of broadband internet subscribers reached 904.54 million by the end of December, compared to 885 million in September, showing a growth of 2.21%.
• During the period, wireline tele-density increased from 2.22% to 2.28%, showing a quarterly growth rate of 2.56%.
• Additionally, monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for wireless services increased from Rs 149.66 in the September quarter to Rs 152.55 in the December quarter, showing a growth of 1.93%.
• On a year-on-year basis, monthly ARPU for wireless services grew by 8.09% during the quarter.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

6. Laureus Sportsman Award presented to Novak Djokovic.

• Tennis Novak Djokovic won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year honor for a record 5th time after 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2019 at a star-studded ceremony in Madrid on April 22.
• Spain's World Cup-winning soccer star Aitana Bonmati won the World Sportswoman of the Year award.
• England star footballer Jude Bellingham won the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year award for his early impact at Real Madrid.
• List of winners at Laureus Sports Awards

Topic: Defence

7. Lightest Bullet Proof Jacket in India has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

• This Jacket grants protection against the highest threat level 6 of BIS ammunition.
• Recently, successful test of this bullet proof jacket was done at Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh.
• According to the Ministry of Defence, this jacket is based upon new design approach.
• In this approach, novel material along with new processes have been used.
• The front Hard Armour Panel (HAP) of this jacket defeats multiple hits.
• It is made up of monolithic ceramic plate with polymer backing. This improves the wearability and comfort during the operation.

Topic: International News

8. Papua New Guinea has appointed 1st defence adviser to India.

• Col Edison Napyo has been appointed as 1st defence advisor to India.
• PNG’s acting Chief of Defence Force Commodore Philip Polewara gave Col Edison Napyo a farewell on April 17.
• This is a key step towards improving defence cooperation between India and Papua New Guinea (PNG).
• PM Modi visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) in May 2023. He attended the third summit of the Forum for India Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC).
• Diplomatic relations between India and Papua New Guinea (PNG) were formalised in 1976.
• Last August, the Prime Minister of PNG James Marape visited the two Indian Naval ships that made a call at Port Moresby.
• The FIPIC includes Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, PNG, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Topic: Indian Economy

9. The government is planning to boost exports of 20 items.

• India’s agriculture exports declined 9 per cent between April to February in FY24 to $43.7 billion.
• The export has declined due to the Red Sea crisis, the Russia-Ukraine war and domestic restrictions.
• The government is planning to boost the export of 20 items, including bananas, mangoes, potatoes, and baby corn.
• These items include fresh grapes, guava, pomegranate, watermelon, onion, green chilli, capsicum, okra, garlic, groundnut, and alcoholic beverages.
• India’s exports of these items in 2022 were $9.03 billion. These items were exported mainly to the US, Malaysia, Canada, Russia, Germany, France, and Korea.
• APEDA is developing a sea protocol to reduce the logistics cost for the export of horticulture produce.
• India’s share is about 2.5 per cent in global exports and the government is aiming to take export to 4-5 per cent in the coming years
• In the last fiscal, exports of the 719 scheduled agri-products in the APEDA basket declined by 6.85 per cent to 22.4 billion.
• The exports of basmati rice increased 22 per cent from $4.2 billion in April-February 2022-23.

Topic: Awards and honors

10. Bangladeshi Singer Rezwana Choudhury received the Padma Shri Award.

• Renowned Bangladeshi singer Rezwana Chowdhury Bannya received the prestigious Padma Shri Award.
• Droupadi Murmu presented the Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri Awards for the year 2024 at the Civil Investiture Ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• She received the award for her contribution to the field of Art. She is a practitioner of Rabindra Sangeet.
• She sang “Vaishnav Jan To” to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
• She runs ‘Shurer Dhara’, a prestigious music school in Dhaka. She has also written many books on Rabindra Sangeet.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: National Appointment

11. Naima Khatoon became the first woman VC of AMU in more than 100 years.

• Naima Khatoon has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for a term of five years, making her the first woman to hold the top post in over 100 years.
• Khatoon was appointed after obtaining approval from President Draupadi Murmu, who is the Visitor of the University.
• In view of the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), permission was also sought from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
• She was appointed the principal of the Women's College in 2014.
• Established in 1875, Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College became AMU after the Aligarh Muslim University Act in 1920.
• In September 2020, AMU completed 100 years as a university, making it one of the oldest universities in India.
• There has been no woman Vice Chancellor in the university till now.
• In 1920, Begum Sultan Jahan was appointed as the AMU Chancellor. She remains the only woman to hold this position.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

12. Pavuluri Subba Rao, founder of Anant Technologies, received the Aryabhata Award for his contribution to space science.

• Pavuluri Subba Rao, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Ananth Technologies, has been honored with the 'Aryabhatta Award' instituted by the Aeronautical Society of India (ASI).
• He was also awarded the title of 'Distinguished Fellow' of ASI.
• He received the award in recognition of Rao's "tremendous lifetime contribution to the promotion of space science in India".
• In 1992, Rao incorporated Ananth Technologies Limited to indigenously design and develop some of the country’s most sophisticated avionics for ISRO and the Defence sector.
• The Hyderabad-based company employs over 1,600 people across its three centers of excellence in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.
• ATL has supplied key components and technologies to 98 satellites and 78 launch vehicles for the Indian space programs.

Topic: Biotechnology and Diseases

13. A new oral vaccine for Cholera has been pre-qualified by the WHO.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has pre-qualified a new oral vaccine for Cholera, Euvichol-S.
• It has a similar efficacy to existing vaccines but has a simplified formulation.
• It will help in the rapid production and supply of vaccines for Cholera.
• Euvichol-S is a simplified formulation of the oral cholera vaccine (OCV) Euvichol-Plus.
• This vaccine is manufactured by South Korea-based EuBiologics Co., Ltd.
• WHO prequalification list already includes Euvichol and Euvichol-Plus inactivated oral cholera vaccines produced by EuBiologicals Co., Ltd.
• In 2022, 473,000 cholera cases were reported, double from 2021.
• EuBiologics is the largest supplier of oral cholera vaccines in the world.
• Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

14. Ratan Tata has received the KISS Humanitarian Award 2021.

• Founder of KIIT and KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences), Achyuta Samanta, presented the award during the award ceremony.
• Tata Group Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and three-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej attended the award ceremony.
• Tata’s receipt of the award was originally announced in 2021. However, it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ratan Tata is Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Group. He is a renowned industrialist and philanthropist.
• The KISS Humanitarian Award was established in 2008 by Achyuta Samanta.
• It aims to acknowledge organizations and individuals that epitomize humanitarian work on a global scale.