Daily Current Affairs and GK | 28 December 2022

Topic: New Development

1. Scientists discovered a new method for freezing and storing coral larvae.

• Scientists working on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have discovered a new method of freezing and storing coral larvae.
• Scientists are working for protecting coral reefs as rising temperatures is destabilizing the ecosystem of the Ocean.
• In the last seven years, the Great Barrier Reef has suffered four bleaching events.
• Cryogenically frozen coral can be stored and later reintroduced in the wild. The current process of storing coral required sophisticated equipment including lasers.
• Scientists have developed a new lightweight “cryomesh” technology. It can be manufactured cheaply and will help in preserving coral in a better way.
• The mesh technology will help store coral larvae at -196°C (-320.8°F).
• In a December lab trial, Scientists used the cryomesh to freeze coral larvae at the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS).
• The trials were conducted as part of the 'Reef restoration and adaptation programme'.
• The Smithsonian National Zoo and the Conservation Biology Institute, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and the Taronga Conservation Society Australia were involved in the trial.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

2. Prabhu Chandra Mishra has been awarded Atal Anveshi Shikhar Samman for his excellence in the field of science and research.

• He was honored at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi during the 9th Atal Samman Samaroh.
• His area of work is StemCell & Regenerative Medicine in infertility.
• He is the President of the International Association of StemCell & Regenerative Medicine.
• He also wrote a book on stem cells, called StemCell & Regenerative Medicine in infertility.
• The diseases such as premature ovarian failure, thin endometrium, Asherman syndrome, etc. have shown good results with the body’s own cells.
• In Asherman syndrome, scar tissue develops inside the uterus.
• Stem cells are the body’s cells that give rise to other cells with specialized functions. They are mostly found in the bone marrow.

Topic: Important Days

3. International Day of Epidemic Preparedness: 27 December

• International Day of Epidemic Preparedness is annually observed on 27 December.
• On 7 December 2020, United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution and declared 27 December as the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness.
• The first-ever International Day of Epidemic Preparedness was held on 27 December 2020.
• The day was called to advocate the importance of the prevention of, preparedness for, and partnership against epidemics.
• An epidemic is the fast spread of a disease to a large number of people in a given population within an area in a short time.
• An epidemic that has spread across multiple continents or worldwide is called pandemic.

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

4. Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) organised a two-day seminar on the theme ‘Civil-Military Integration: The Way Forward’.

• CLAWS organised the seminar on 26-27 December 2022 at Manekshaw Centre, Delhi.
• During the seminar, the role of the military and Bureaucracy in adopting the Whole of Nation approach to tackle security challenges was discussed.
• At the beginning of the proceedings, Generals Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Defense Staff, and Manoj Pande, Chief of the Army Staff, addressed the gathering.
• The second day of the seminar was dedicated to the discussions pertaining to Military Industry integration.
• Distinguished participants from Armed Forces, and Civil Services, as well as representatives from the defence industry and the academic community, attended the event.
• Centre for Land Warfare Studies is an independent think tank on strategic studies and land warfare. It is located in New Delhi.

Topic: State News/ Uttar Pradesh

5. ‘E-Sushrut’ Hospital Management Information System launched by the UP government in medical colleges.

• The facility has been launched to provide better treatment facilities to patients.
• Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak and Minister of State for Medical Education Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh inaugurated the facility.
• In the first phase, the E-Sushrut system has been started in 22 medical colleges in the state.
• Patient registration, admission, discharge, ambulance, food, medicines, and details of doctors will be available online through this software.
• The Medical Education Department and CDAC have jointly provided the software. They have transferred the E-Sushrut HMIS software to the UP Government.
• This will bring transparency to all work related to the treatment of patients.
• Registering patients with the software will help save them from inconvenience at the counter.
• The availability of doctors in the hospital can also be easily tracked.
• In addition, patients will be able to pay the fee online and through net banking.
• Hospital management information system has been arranged in Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Agra, Meerut, KGMU, UPUMS Saifai, GIMS Greater Noida, Lohia Institute, Sanjay Gandhi PGI, Mirzapur Medical College.

Topic: Sports

6. E-sports has been officially recognized by the Government of India as part of a 'multi-sport' event.

• The President of India Draupadi Murmu amended the rules governing e-sports by exercising the powers conferred by clause (3) of Article 77 of the Constitution.
• The President also asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Sports to include "e-sports as part of multi-sport events".
• e-sports (Electronic sports) is a competitive sport in which e-sports athletes use their physical and mental ability to compete in specific genres of video games in a virtual, electronic environment.
• There has been a growing demand for e-sports to be included in the curriculum of multidisciplinary events since its inclusion as a demonstration sport at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
• Demonstration sports meant that medals won at the Games are not counted in the official overall medal tally.
• The IT Ministry will be the nodal agency for matters related to online gaming and the Department of Sports under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports will also take care of e-sports.
• Singapore confirmed to host the inaugural Olympic Esports Week in June 2023.
• The Indian DOTA 2 team won the bronze medal by defeating New Zealand in the first Commonwealth Esports Championship held in Birmingham in August 2022.
• The e-sport will make its debut at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in 2023.

Topic: State News/Uttar Pradesh

7. Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has allowed change in the names of two places in Uttar Pradesh.

• These places are Mundera Baazar municipal council in Gorakhpur and Telia Afghan village in Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh.
• The Home Ministry issued no-objection certificates to change the name of the municipal council to Chauri-Chaura.
• The Home Ministry issued no-objection certificates to change the name of the village to Telia Shukla.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has allowed change in the names following recommendations from the state government.
• MHA gives a no-objection certificate to change the name of any location after taking approval from the Ministry of Railways, Department of Posts, and the Survey of India.
• An executive order is required for changing the name of a village, town, or city.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

8. A Cessation of Operation Agreement has been signed by the Centre and Manipur Government with Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF).

• Cessation of Operation Agreement has been signed in New Delhi on 27 December 2022.
• Senior officers of the Union Home Ministry, the Manipur government, and the representatives of ZUF in the presence of State Chief Minister N. Biren Singh signed the agreement.
• Representatives of the armed Group agreed to give up violence and join the peaceful democratic process as established by law of the land.
• The agreement provides for the resettlement and rehabilitation of the armed cadres.
• A Joint Monitoring Group will be also formed. It will oversee the enforcement of the agreed ground rules.
• Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) is an insurgent group of Manipur. It has been demanding a separate State for the Zeliangrong Naga tribe.
• The armed group has earlier said that they are the followers of Rani Gaidinliu, who was a freedom fighter from Manipur.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

9. India and ADB signed a $125 million loan agreement to improve urban services in Tamil Nadu.

• The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed this agreement for developing climate-resilient sewage collection and treatment, and drainage and water supply systems in three cities of Tamil Nadu.
• The agreement has been signed between Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Hoe Yun Jeong, Officer-in-Charge of ADB’s India Resident Mission.
• It is the third and the last tranche of the $500 million multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) for the program approved by ADB in 2018.
• It aims to build water supply, sewerage, and drainage infrastructure in strategic industrial corridors across 10 cities in the state.
• Coimbatore, Madurai, and Thoothukudi will be covered under tranche 3 of the loan agreement.
• In Coimbatore, financing will support the development of two sewage treatment plants.
• The project will support the development of 813 km of new water supply distribution pipelines in Madurai.

Topic: Reports and Indices/Ranking

10. CIBIL in association with SIDBI, Online PSB loans launched a MSME rankings.

• The 'FIT Rank' has been launched by CIBIL in association with Online PSB Loans and SIDBI.
• The ranking will give lenders information about the capacity of an enterprise to pay. SIDBI is mentoring the project.
• It will give ranking to more than 6 cores of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by taking inputs from their current accounts, income tax returns and Goods and Service Tax (GST) returns.
• Based on these inputs, it will arrive at a score of 1-10 to rate a MSME borrower.
• The ranking model utilizes machine learning algorithms and predicts the probability of an MSME becoming a non-performing asset (NPA) in the next 12 months.
• It will help MSMEs to get the best rates on the basis of their ranking.
• Till now, the CIBIL MSME Rank model was based on inputs from previous loans, leaving out new customers.
• As per the ranking, Rank 1 is for the least risky MSME and Rank 10 is for the most at-risk MSME.

Topic: National Appointments

11. NHAI appointed Santosh Yadav as its chief and DDA appointed Subhasish Panda as its VC.

• On 26 December, senior bureaucrat Santosh Kumar Yadav has been appointed as the chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
• He is currently an Additional Secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education.
• Subhashish Panda has been appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
• Lieutenant General Arvind Walia has been appointed as the next Engineer-in-Chief of the Indian Army.
• He will succeed Lt Gen Harpal Singh, who retires on December 31.
• Other Appointments:

Topic: National Appointments

12. Anil Kumar Lahoti appointed as new Chairman and CEO of Railway Board.

• Anil Kumar Lahoti has previously served as the divisional railway manager (DRM) at the Lucknow division of Northern Railways.
• He is 1984 batch IRSE officer who will replace V K Tripathi on 1 January 2023.
• 35^th Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti is his elder brother.
• It is the first appointment of a Chairman of Railway board after the government notified an integrated railway service under the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS).
• IRMS is a group A service formed by merging different Indian Railway Services.
• Indian Railways:
  • It comes under the Ministry of Railways.
  • Indian railways network is fourth-largest in the world by size.
  • It was founded on May 8, 1845.
  • Currently, it is divided into 18 zones and 70 divisions, with South Coast Railway Zone being the newest zone.

Topic: State News/ Maharashtra

13. The Maharashtra assembly passed a resolution to include Marathi-speaking areas of Karnataka in the state.

• On December 27, the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to "legally pursue" the inclusion of 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Maharashtra.
• It also includes Belgaum, Nippani, Karwar, Bidar, and Bhalki, which are currently in Karnataka.
• Moving the resolution, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the state is ready to fight the legal battle.
• In the 1956 reorganization of states, apart from Belgaum, Bijapur, Dharwad, and Karwar, which were part of the erstwhile Bombay State, were merged with Mysore State.
• The resolution said that both states have agreed to maintain peace until the Supreme Court gives its final decision on the matter.
• The resolution also condemned the atrocities to which Marathi speakers living in 865 villages and five other cities are subjected.
• On December 22, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on the border row with Maharashtra, resolving to protect the interests of the state and not give an inch of land to Maharashtra.
• Karnataka considers the demarcation of State based on language as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report as final.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

14. Ministry of Power and DRDO signed an MoU to implement EWS for vulnerable power stations.

• The MoU was signed between Power Secretary Alok Kumar and DRDO Chairman Dr Samir V Kamat in New Delhi.
• The MoU will enable both to work together towards creating suitable mitigation measures against natural disasters like landslides, avalanches, bursting of glacial lakes, etc.
• Power Ministry is implementing Early Warning System (EWS) in Hydro power projects specially in hilly areas.
• EWS is an integrated system that monitors hazard, forecasts and predicts in advance about hazardous events, helps in disaster risk assessment, communication and preparedness to reduced disaster risk.
• DRDO will provide its expertise in developing comprehensive EWS for vulnerable hydro projects and power stations in hilly areas.