Daily Current Affairs and GK | 27 September 2022
Main Headlines:
- 1. NASA successfully completed the first planetary defence test mission.
- 2. Integrated Cryogenic Engines Manufacturing Facility of HAL in Bengaluru has been inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu.
- 3. World Tourism Day: 27 September
- 4. India installed its first avalanche-monitoring radar in North Sikkim.
- 5. INS Sunayna arrived at Port Victoria, Seychelles to participate in the joint annual training exercise.
- 6. Bathukamma, a nine-day flower festival, began in Telangana on September 25.
- 7. JALDOOT App has been launched by the Ministry of Rural Development.
- 8. Giorgia Meloni is to become the first female PM of Italy after the election victory.
- 9. Suella Braverman wins first Queen Elizabeth II award.
- 10. Government extended Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 for another six months.
- 11. Food Barons Report claims that the ‘geographic centre of power of the food barons is shifting east’.
- 12. Government launched a Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment for 2022-23.
- 13. Rajendra Kumar has been appointed as Director General of ESIC.
- 14. International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons: 26 September
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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.
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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:
Category/ Field |
Winners |
Media category |
Naga Munchetty |
Arts and Culture category |
DNEG Namit Malhotra Firm |
Uniformed and Civil Service category |
Captain Harpreet Chandi |
Professional of Year |
Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian |
Sports Personality of the Year |
Karenjeet Kaur Bains |
Entrepreneur of the Year |
Sherry Vaswani |
Business Persons of the Year |
Shamil and Kavi Thakrar |
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:
Ranking |
Company |
1 |
Syngenta Group (China) |
2 |
Bayer (Germany) |
3 |
BASF (Germany) |
4 |
Corteva (USA) |
5 |
UPL (India) |
6 |
FMC (USA) |
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)
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