Daily Current Affairs and GK | 27 September 2022

Topic: Space and IT

1. NASA successfully completed the first planetary defence test mission.

• On 27 September, the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft successfully collided with the asteroid Dimorphos at a speed of 15,000mph.
• This is the world's first mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards.
• The test was completed successfully as planned without any hitches. It has been designed to prevent a potential meteorite collision with Earth.
• The main aim of the test is to determine whether intentionally colliding a spacecraft with an asteroid is an effective way to change its trajectory.
• The spacecraft’s DRACO instrument captured images of Dimorphos as DART approached the asteroid.
• Dimorphos is a part of a near-Earth asteroid system called Didymos. Didymos has a diameter of around 780 meters and is located at a distance of 487,446,221 kilometres from Earth.
• Asteroids: Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. These are mainly found between Mars and Jupiter.

Topic: Space and IT

2. Integrated Cryogenic Engines Manufacturing Facility of HAL in Bengaluru has been inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu.

• President Droupadi Murmu also laid the foundation stone of the South Zonal Institute of Virology.
• The Integrated Cryogenic Engines Manufacturing Facility of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is spread over an area of 4,500 square metres.
• It has more than 70 hi-tech equipment and testing facilities for manufacturing cryogenic (CE20) and semi-cryogenic (SE2000) engines of Indian rockets.
• The facility will full fill the entire Rocket Engine requirement of ISRO under one roof.
• It will boost self-reliance in the manufacturing of Hi-thrust Rocket engines. HAL will start realising the modules by March 2023.
• Cryogenic engines are mostly used in launch vehicles for launching satellites. Only the USA, France, India, Japan, China and Russia have cryogenic technology.
• President inaugurated the new campus of the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Dharwad, Karnataka and St Joseph University.

Topic: Important Days

3. World Tourism Day: 27 September

• World Tourism Day is celebrated every year on 27 September.
• It is celebrated to foster awareness about the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value.
• ‘Rethinking Tourism’ is the theme of World Tourism Day 2022. It will highlight the importance of the tourism sector as an important pillar for development.
• It is being celebrated every year since 1980. It also marks the anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes on 27 September 1970.
• Many countries in the world are completely dependent on the tourism sector for financial stability.
• UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) expects tourism to grow at an average of 3% annually until 2030.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: National News

4. India installed its first avalanche-monitoring radar in North Sikkim.

• It has been jointly installed by the Indian Army and Defence Geoinformatics and Research Establishment (DGRE).
• On September 20, 2022, Lieutenant General Tarn Kumar Aich inaugurated the radar at one of the Forward Posts of the Indian Army, located at an altitude of 15,000 feet in Sikkim.
• This radar is the first of its kind in India and has the capability to detect avalanches within three seconds of its trigger.
• This will help in saving the lives of soldiers and reduce the damage to property in high-altitude areas.
• The avalanche radar was made operational by DGRE of DRDO.
• It can see snow, and fog as well as at night, which makes it an all-weather solution and covers an area of 2 sq/km.
• This radar uses a short micro web pulse and gets activated within three seconds.
• This radar not only issues an alert as soon as the avalanche arrives but can also find the direction of the avalanche.

Topic: Defence

5. INS Sunayna arrived at Port Victoria, Seychelles to participate in the joint annual training exercise.

• On September 24, the INS Sunayna arrived in Port Victoria, Seychelles, to take part in the Combined Maritime Forces' annual training exercise "Operation Southern Readiness".
• The ship will participate as an associate partner in the capacity-building exercise being conducted by CMF.
• Indian Navy is participating in this joint exercise for the first time.
• Apart from India, America, Italy, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and Spain are participating in this exercise.

(Source: News on Air)

Topic: State News/ Telangana

6. Bathukamma, a nine-day flower festival, began in Telangana on September 25.

• A large number of women across the state are participating in the programs organized on the occasion.
• Telangana Governor Tamilsai Soundararajan along with women from different sections of the society created Bathukamma at the Raj Bhavan.
• The main event related to this festival - Saddula Bathukamma will be held on 3 October.
• Women and girls sing and dance around specially arranged flowers during the nine-day annual festival.
• At the end of the nine-day annual flower festival, the flowers are immersed in the local ponds.
• It is celebrated for nine days during Durga Navratri.
• Every year this festival is celebrated usually in September-October.

Topic: Government schemes and Initiatives

7. JALDOOT App has been launched by the Ministry of Rural Development.

• The app has been developed to track the water level in selected wells in villages across the country.
• The app has been launched on 27 September in New Delhi.
• The Gram Rozgar Sahayak will measure the water level of selected wells twice a year - before and after the monsoon, through the Jaldoot app.
• The ministry has said that the data of this app will help in making a better action plan.
• Ground water level data will be helpful in Gram Panchayat Development Plan and Mahatma Gandhi planning exercises.
• According to the ministry, several steps are being taken to improve water management in rural and urban areas.
• This includes watershed development, afforestation, water body development and renovation and rainwater harvesting.

Topic: International Appointment

8. Giorgia Meloni is to become the first female PM of Italy after the election victory.

• The 'Brothers of Italy' party won the national elections in Italy, the first time since World War II to form a right-wing government.
• Since the formation of the Italian Republic in 1946, 30 men have served as Prime Ministers before her.
• She will be the first woman to lead the government. Meloni was Italy's youngest cabinet minister.
• According to the final results, the center and right-wing coalition won a total of 44 percent of the parliamentary vote, with Meloni's Brothers of Italy party winning 26 percent of the total.
• Matteo Salvini's party received around nine per cent and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's more moderate Forza Italia party receive nearly eight per cent.
• Giorgia Meloni:
  • Meloni was born on 15 January 1977 in Garbatella, a working-class area in Rome.
  • She entered politics in 1992 at the age of 15, joining the neo-fascist social movement.
  • Before forming the Brothers of Italy in 2012, she served as a youth minister in Berlusconi's 2008-2011 government.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

9. Suella Braverman wins first Queen Elizabeth II award.

• In Britain, Indian-origin Home Minister Suella Braverman has been nominated for the Queen Elizabeth II Woman of the Year award. This is the first ever award in this category.
• Suella Braverman parents collected the award on her behalf at a ceremony in London.
• Suella Braverman has been recently appointed as Home Secretary by British Prime Minister Liz Truss.
• Suella Braverman was previously Attorney General between 2020-2022. She is a British lawyer of Indian heritage.
• Queen Elizabeth II Woman of the Year Award is sponsored by @AxiomDWFM.
• Other Indian origin winners list:

Topic: Indian Economy

10. Government extended Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 for another six months.

• The government has extended the time period of Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 on the demand from Export Promotion Councils and leading exporters.
• Amit Yadav, additional secretary at the department of commerce, told that it is not the correct time to introduce a new Foreign Trade Policy when the global economy is headed toward a recession.
• The decision of extending the Foreign Trade Policy has been taken by the government due to rising inflation and uncertainty due to geopolitical development.
• Foreign Trade Policy was launched in 2015 and was valid for five years – till 2020.
• This is for the second time that the current policy time period has been extended since its launch in 2015.
• It is a framework to increase exports of goods and services. It also emphasizes improving the ease of doing business.

Topic: Reports and Indices/Ranking

11. Food Barons Report claims that the ‘geographic centre of power of the food barons is shifting east’.

• The report titled Food Barons 2022 states that the Syngenta Group is now the world's largest agrochemical input firm.
• After Cargill of the U.S, China's COFCO Group is the second largest agricultural commodity trader in the world.
• In the past, industrial agriculture was dominated by companies based in North America and Europe and they were focused on meeting the demand of that region.
• Now, corporate companies of China, Brazil and India are reordering the industrial food chain.
• Companies from China, Germany, the USA, India, Japan and Australia are among the top 10 companies with the highest agrochemical sales.
• The report claimed that tech giants are becoming the key players in the food sector that handle data, networking and AI.
• The report says that the concentration of corporate wealth in agribusiness is one of the main factors of food price inflation.
• The report has ranked food corporates around the world. The issue raised in the report will be discussed in the 15th UN Committee on World Food Security.
• Leading Companies by Agrochemical Sales, 2020:

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

12. Government launched a Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment for 2022-23.

• States Governments will receive financial assistance under this scheme in the form of a 50-year interest-free loan for capital investment projects.
• Under this scheme, Rs 3000 Crore is earmarked for capital projects on Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) network.
• Recently, the Department of Expenditure has approved proposals of four States namely Uttarakhand (50 cr), Jharkhand (84 cr), Haryana (65 cr) and Karnataka (156 cr).
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her 2022-23 Budget speech had announced total financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh crore for states in the form of 50-year interest-free loans for capital investment projects.
• The financial assistance provided under the Scheme will be over and above the normal borrowing ceiling allowed to the States.
• The Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment for 2022-23 has a total of seven parts.

Topic: National Appointment

13. Rajendra Kumar has been appointed as Director General of ESIC.

• Rajendra Kumar is currently serving as an additional secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
• V Hekali Zhimomi has been appointed as additional secretary in the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
• Ashish Srivastava has been appointed as an adviser in the Inter-State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Jaideep Kumar Mishra will be the new additional secretary and financial adviser to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Nitishwar Kumar has been appointed as additional secretary and financial adviser in the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• Ranjana Chopra will be the new additional secretary and financial adviser in the Ministry of Culture.
• V Radha has been named as an additional secretary in the NITI Aayog.

Topic: Important Days

14. International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons: 26 September

• Every year, 26th September is observed as the International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
• In 2013, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) declared September 26 as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
• The main of the day is to aware people of the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons.
• It gives an opportunity to spread awareness about the real benefits of eliminating nuclear weapons.
• Atomic Energy Act was signed in 1946 for the control of nuclear energy and the elimination of mass destruction weapons.
• In 1959, the General Assembly had supported the objective of general and complete disarmament.
• The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted on 7 July 2017.

(Source: News on AIR)