Daily Current Affairs and GK | 24 May 2022

Topic: Corporates/Companies

1. Government-owned ONGC becomes the first gas producer to trade on Indian Gas Exchange.

• The first online trade was made on 23 May 2022 by ONGC Director (Onshore) & In-charge Marketing Anurag Sharma.
• The gas traded was from the ONGC Krishna Godavari 98/2 block.
• ONGC is planning to slowly increase the quantity to be sold through the Gas Exchange.
• Indian Gas Exchange is a digital trading platform that allows buyers and sellers of natural gas to trade in the spot market and forward market.
• On August 19, 2021, the Ministry of Petroleum gave approval to domestic gas producers to sell up to 500 million standard cubic metres or 10% of annual production from the contract area, whichever is higher, per year through gas exchanges.
• Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC):
  • It was formed in 1956. It is headquartered in New Delhi.
  • Dr Alka Mittal is the Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC.
  • It comes under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
  • Hindustan Petroleum Corporation is a subsidiary of ONGC.

Topic: International News

2. Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) has been launched by US President Joe Biden.

• IPEF aims to strengthen ties for technology innovation and global economy in the Indo-Pacific region in the coming decades.
• IPEF has been launched with a dozen initial partners. These countries together represent 40% of the world’s GDP. These countries are given below.

• PM Modi and PM of Japan Kishida Fumio also took part in the event to launch IPEF. Other leaders were present virtually.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: National News

3. India chapter of the Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders has been launched by World Economic Forum.

• The alliance brings together chief executives from leading businesses in India.
• It is a collaboration between Kearney and Observer Research Foundation.
• It is part of the World Economic Forum's Climate Action Platform.
• The Alliance will serve as a high-level platform for business leaders to design and implement climate-related plans and programmes.
• Sumant Sinha is Co-Chair of Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders India. He is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ReNew Power.
• Anish Shah is co-chair of the Alliance and Mahindra Group's Managing Director.
• Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders was founded in 2014. It is a global community of Chief Executive Officers.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

4. India’s ASHA workers have received Global Health Leaders Award-2022.

• India’s one million ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers are among six recipients of the Global Health Leaders Award.
• Other recipients include eight volunteer polio workers in Afghanistan.
• These polio workers were shot and killed by armed gunmen in Takhar and Kunduz provinces in Afghanistan in February 2022.
• Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still in transmission.
• Other recipients of the Global Health Leaders Award-2022 are given next.
  • Dr Paul Farmer for his contributions to providing direct healthcare services and research for the sick and poor.
  • Dr Ahmed Hankir for his anti-stigma programme that combines the power of performing arts and storytelling with psychiatry.
  • Volleyball player Ludmila Sofia Oliveira Varela for facilitating access to sports as an alternative to risky behaviour in youth.
  • Yohei Sasakawa for his global campaign against leprosy and the associated stigma and social discrimination.
• Global Health Leaders Awards were established in 2019.

Topic: National Appointments

5. Vinai Kumar Saxena has been appointed as new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

• Saxena will take over Anil Baijal, who resigned due to "personal reasons."
• Earlier, Shri Saxena was the Chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
• The Lieutenant Governor is the head of the Delhi government, according to the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, which was passed by Parliament in 2021.
• The powers of the Lieutenant Governor of Union territory and the Governor of a state in India are equivalent.
• The President of India appoints Lieutenant Governor.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Important Days

6. World Turtle Day 2022: 23 May

• Every year on May 23, World Turtle Day is observed.
• Since 2000, World Turtle Day is being celebrated and it is sponsored by the American Tortoise Rescue.
• The theme of World Turtle Day 2022 is 'Shellebrate'.
• The day was established as a yearly commemoration to encourage people around the world to conserve turtles.
• Turtles play a significant role in the Earth's ecological design.
• The biggest threat facing turtles in India is smuggling. They are smuggled into the East Asian and Southeast Asian markets in large numbers every year.
• Turtles have come to the critically endangered category due to the continuous fall in the population.
• American Tortoise Rescue is a nonprofit organization established in 1990 for the protection of all species of tortoise and turtle.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

7. Investment Incentive Agreement (IIA) has been signed by India and US in Tokyo, Japan on 23 May 2022.

• India's Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Chief Executive Officer of US International Development Finance Corporation Scott Nathan signed the agreement.
• IIA has superseded the earlier Investment Incentive Agreement signed between India and US in 1997.
• This agreement is a legal requirement for Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to continue investment support in India.
• DFC is a development finance agency of the Government of the USA.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Awards and Prizes

8. Anjali Pandey has won the Committed Leader Award at CII EXCON held in Bengaluru.

• She has won the award for her efforts to make a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.
• She is Engines and Components Business Unit Leader at Cummins India.
• Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized EXCON 2021 from 17 to 21 May, 2022 at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, Bengaluru.
• EXCON 2021 is South Asia’s largest construction equipment and construction technology trade fair. EXCON 2021 was the 11^th edition of EXCON.

Topic: International Appointments

9. Jose Ramos-Horta sworn in as President of East Timor.

• Former freedom fighter and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ramos-Horta becomes the new President of East Timor.
• He has become President just ahead of the 20th anniversary of the independence of East Timor.
• He has taken the pledge to reduce poverty, improve health services for mothers and children, and promote dialogue to restore political stability.
• He will also try to make East Timor a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the next two years.
• Ramos-Horta was Prime Minister from 2006 to 2007 and president from 2007 to 2012.
• East Timor:
  • It is an island country in the eastern Sunda Islands.
  • It was internationally recognised as an independent country in 2002.
  • It is the poorest country in Southeast Asia.

Topic: Reports and Indices/Ranking

10. International Labour Organisation released a report on the "World of work".

• According to this report, 11.2 crore jobs have lost in the first quarter of 2022. It is the 9^th edition of the ILO Monitor on the World of Work.
• The number of hours worked globally dropped in the first quarter of 2022 by 3.8 percent. It is equivalent to a deficit of 112 million full-time jobs.
• The recovery in the global labour market has been interrupted due to high inflation, high food prices as well as increasing inequalities.
• The Ukraine-Russia war has affected the labour markets in Ukraine and other countries.
• Labour incomes have not yet recovered for the majority of workers.
• The gender gap in hours worked has also increased in the first quarter of 2022. The pandemic has badly affected women in informal employment.
• The hours worked by women in India were very low. Women’s employment in the healthcare sector has come down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• According to the All India Trade Union Congress, five crore people who lost their job in the pandemic haven’t got any work.
• The central government has accepted that only 50% of the women have returned back to cities for work after the first lockdown.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

11. World Economic Forum Annual Meeting begins in Davos.

• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal leads the Indian delegation in the five-day annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.
• Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, and Chief Ministers and Senior Ministers of six states are also part of the Indian delegation.
• The theme of the summit is ‘history at a turning point’.
• Ukraine crisis and climate change will be the main focus of the meeting. The leaders will also discuss government policies and business strategies after the global pandemic.
• More than 2,500 leaders are attending the annual meeting. The annual meeting of 2021 could not take place physically.
• The Maharashtra government launched its pavilion at the World Economic Forum meeting.
• World Economic Forum (WEF) is a non-governmental organization founded in 1971. Its headquarters is located in Cologny, Switzerland.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Biotechnology and Diseases

12. India to screen passengers arriving from Monkeypox affected countries.

• The Union government issued an alert to all airports to screen passengers coming from 11 countries, including from Europe, Africa, Americas and Australia.
• Around 100 cases of Monkeypox have been reported globally. Monkeypox cases have been also reported in France, Germany, Belgium, the United States and Australia.
• What is Monkeypox?
  • It is usually caused by infection with the monkeypox virus.
  • Monkeypox virus belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family of Poxviridae.
  • Monkeypox is a virus that originates in wild animals. It transmits to humans from wild animals.
  • Symptoms of Monkeypox are similar to smallpox and it begins with a fever.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

13. C CAMP and CFTRI signed MoU to promote innovation in agriculture, food technology & allied areas.

• The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C CAMP) has inked an MoU with the Centre for Food Technological Research Institute, (CFTRI).
• The main objective of the MoU is to promote innovation in agriculture, food technology and allied areas.
• This MoU will help in promoting agriculture entrepreneurship for sustainability and food security in India’s Agriculture sector.
• Central Food Technological Research Institute is a laboratory under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
• Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms:
  • It is an initiative supported by the Department of Biotechnology.
  • It promotes entrepreneurship and innovation through Seed Funding Schemes for Startups, Entrepreneur Mentorship program and Bio-Incubation facility.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: National Appointments

14. Vijay Shekhar Sharma reappointed as CEO and MD of Paytm.

• Vijay Shekhar Sharma has been reappointed as CEO and MD of Paytm for five years with effect from December 19, 2022.
• Madhur Deora, Chief Financial Officer of Paytm, has been appointed as an Additional Director. 
• Infosys has reappointed Salil Parekh as its CEO and MD for five years.
• He is the CEO and MD of Infosys since Jan 2018 and his new term will be effective from July 1, 2022, to March 31, 2027.
• Infosys is a Bengaluru headquartered Indian company providing information technology and outsourcing services.
• Paytm:
  • It is a financial technology company involved in digital payment systems, e-commerce and financial services.
  • Its headquarters is located in Noida.