Daily Current Affairs and GK | 28 October 2021

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

1. “SAMBHAV”, a National Level Awareness Programme, launched by Union Minister for MSME Narayan Rane.

• Union Minister of MSME Shri Narayan Rane has launched a National level awareness program-2021 “SAMBHAV”.
• Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises has organized this National Level Awareness Programme in New Delhi.
• Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma emphasised on enhancing the GDP contribution of the MSME sector from present 30 percent to 50 percent, and employment generation from 11 crores to 15 crores.
• The government will conduct awareness programs in over 1,300 colleges across the country, of which 1,50,000 students are expected to take part in this program.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Sports

2. RPSG Group and CVC Capital land won Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchise bids successful to acquire IPL teams.

• The Lucknow franchise of the IPL has been won by Sanjiv Goenka-owned RPSG group by bidding for over ₹7,000 crores.
• The Ahmedabad franchise of the IPL has been won by private equity firm CVC Capital by bidding for over ₹5,000 crores.
• The BCCI has conducted the process of selecting two new IPL franchises in Dubai.
• Now, after adding two new teams, the IPL tournament will be held in 2022 with 10 teams and they will play 74 matches.
• Now, IPL will be played in new two cities in India - Lucknow and Ahmedabad.
• In line with the IPL motto 'Where Talent Meets Opportunity’, the induction of the two new teams will bring more domestic cricketers from our country to the global stage.

Topic: Books and Authors

3. Chidanand Rajghatta penned a book titled “Kamala Harris: Phenomenal Woman”.

• Chidanand Rajghatta has authored a book titled “Kamala Harris: Phenomenal Woman”.
• It will be published by HarperCollins India and will be released on 28 October on ‘Softcover’.
• The book focuses on several aspects of Kamala Harris’ identity and her political career. It has also described Kamala Harris' connection to India and her journey to become Vice President.
• Rajghatta is a journalist and political commentator and his previous works include The Horse That Flew: How India’s Silicon Gurus Spread their Wings, and Illiberal India: Gauri Lankesh and the Age of Unreason.
• Kamala Harris is Vice President of the United States of America. She is the first person of Indian descent to reach this position.

Topic: Miscellaneous

4. Manoj Bajpayee appointed as brand ambassador of myBillBook.

• FloBiz has announced its association with actor Manoj Bajpayee.
• He has been appointed as the brand ambassador of FloBiz’s flagship product myBillBook.
• FloBiz released an ad film featuring Bajpayee as a businessman.

Topic: Defence

5. Agni-5 successfully launched from APJ Abdul Kalam Island.

• Agni-5 was successfully launched from APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha yesterday.
• Agni-5 is a surface to surface ballistic missile. It uses a three-stage solid-fuelled engine.
•  It is capable of striking targets at ranges up to 5,000 kilometres with a very high degree of accuracy.
• It is about 17-metre long and 2-metre wide. It has launch weight of around 50 tonnes.
• It is indigenously-developed. It can carry a nuclear warhead of more than one tonne.
• Agni-I, Agni-II and Agni Prime are medium-range ballistic missile. Agni-III, Agni-IV are intermediate-range ballistic missile. Agni-V is an intercontinental ballistic missile.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: National News

6. The reconstitution of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) approved by PM Modi.

• The reconstitution of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has been approved by PM Modi.
• EAC-PM has been constituted for a period of two years. Dr Bibek Debroy will be the Chairman of the seven-member Council.
• Rakesh Mohan (former Deputy Governor of RBI), Poonam Gupta and T.T. Ram Mohan have been appointed as part-time members of the reconstituted EAC-PM.
• Sajid Chenoy, Neelkanth Mishra and Nilesh Shah are other part-time members of the Council.
• The Council will analyze any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the Prime Minister and advise him.

Topic: State News/ Maharashtra

7. India and ADB signed 100 million US dollar loan agreement for agribusiness development in Maharashtra.

• Government of India and the Asian Development Bank signed a 100 million US dollar loan agreement for agribusiness development in Maharashtra.
• It will help in promoting agribusiness network in the state and reduce the food losses in Maharashtra.
• Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Rajat Kumar Mishra and ADB’s India Resident Mission Takeo Konishi signed the loan agreement for the Maharashtra Agribusiness Network Project.
• Maharashtra Agribusiness Network Project will help in increasing the income of small and marginal farmers in the State and improve their marketing capacity.
• The project will upgrade 16 existing post-harvest facilities and construct 3 new facilities to support individual farmers and Farmer Producer Organization.

Topic: International News

8. African Union suspended Sudan after military coup.

• The African Union has suspended Sudan from all of its activities after the Military coup.
• African Union said that the Coup is Unconstitutional and it has banned all activities of Sudan until the establishment of civilian government.
• People and Trade Unions are demonstrating against the military takeover in Sudan.
• World Bank has also suspended aid after the military takeover. The World Bank and African Union are putting pressure on the coup's leader, Gen Abdel Fattah Burhan, to reinstate the civilian government.
• In 2019, an agreement was signed between civilian and military leaders after overthrowing Omar al-Bashir rule.
• In charge of the power-sharing agreement, Gen Burhan said that coup was the only alternative to avoid "civil war".

Topic: Report and Indices

9. India placed on ninth spot globally for climate tech investment.

• India has been placed on ninth spot globally for climate tech investment.
• India’s climate tech firms have received USD 1 billion as venture capital funding between 2016 and 2021.
• According to the report jointly prepared by London & Partners and Dealroom.co, Venture capital (VC) investment in climate technology companies has increased since 2016.
• Global climate tech venture capital investment has also increased from USD 6.6 billion to USD 32.3 billion in 2021.
• US (USD 48 billion), China (USD 18.6 billion), Sweden (USD 5.8 billion), UK (USD 4.3 billion), and France (USD 3.7 billion) are the top five countries that have received the highest climate tech VC investment between 2016 and 2021.
• Europe is one of the fastest-growing regions for climate tech investment. European climate tech firms received seven times higher investment in 2021 than in 2016.
• VC investment into global climate tech companies is a further step towards achieving net zero emissions.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

10. TVS Motor awarded with India Green Energy Award.

• TVS Motor Company has received the 'India Green Energy Award' as being recognized as an 'outstanding renewable energy user'.
• The award was presented by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari at the third edition of the India Green Energy Award 2020.
• TVS Motor said the company has managed to reduce power consumption by 15% and specific fuel consumption by 20% over the years.
• TVS Motor has also augmented the 5.9 MW rooftop solar photovoltaic [PV] capacity and invested in wind power of 35 MW in Group Captive Mode.
• TVS Motor Company has started many green initiatives including zero discharge plants, water recycling, design for recyclability, etc.
• India Green Energy Awards is an initiative of the Indian Federation of Green Energy to recognize & highlight the impact & importance of Green Energy for the future of humankind.

Topic: state News/ Goa

11. Goa government launched ‘Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa’ initiative for breast cancer screening.

• Goa government launched the ‘Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa’ initiative for free breast cancer screening of 1 lakh women.
• Goa government has launched this initiative in partnership with SBI foundation, and YouWeCan foundation.
• Under this initiative, the ‘iBreast’ device will be used for screening breast cancer in 1 lakh women in Goa over a period of two years.
• This initiative was launched by Vishwajit P.Rane, Minister of Health, women and Child Development.
• Breast cancer screening will be conducted at 35 Health centers across Goa. All the suspected cases will be referred to the Goa Medical College and Hospital for further investigations.
• ‘iBreast’ device is a non-invasive, hand-held, fully wireless mHealth solution for breast cancer detection. It can detect non-palpable lesions at an early stage.
• Breast cancer is cancer that develops in breast cells. It is caused when the DNA in breast cells mutate or change.

Topic: Science and Technology

12. Civil Aviation Ministry notifies traffic management framework for drones in lower airspace.

• Civil Aviation Ministry has notified traffic management framework for drones in lower airspace.
• Under this framework, public and private third-party service providers will manage the movement of drones in the airspace under 1,000 feet.
• Under the framework, third-party service providers are allowed to give services such as registration, flight planning and dynamic deconfliction.
• Supplementary service providers will be allowed to provide services such as insurance and data analytics to support the UAS (unmanned aircraft system) Traffic Management (UTM) ecosystem.
• As per the framework, the DigitalSky platform shall continue to be the interface for government stakeholders to provide approvals and permissions to drone operators.
• The framework says all drones (except Nano drones operating in the green zone) will be required to mandatorily share their real-time location through the network to the Centre either directly or through third-party service providers.
• The framework allows third-party service providers to charge drone operators a service fee.
• Small portion of the fee might have to be shared with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which manages air traffic management (ATM) systems.
• Government has issued a framework under Drone Rules 2021. Drone Rules 2021 was notified on August 25.
• Drone Rules, 2021 reduced number of forms that need to be filled to operate drones from 25 to five and decreased types of fees charged from drone operators from 72 to four.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

13. Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launches Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme.

• Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has launched Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme.
• The scheme proposes facilitating and incentivizing the movement of Agri-produce by air transportation.
• Krishi UDAN 2.0 will be implemented at 53 airports across the country mainly focusing on Northeast and tribal regions.
• The enhanced version of the Krishi UDAN scheme was formulated with support from AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company (AAICLAS) and Invest India, India’s national Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation plans to pilot the scheme for 6 months. Key Highlights of KRISHI UDAN 2.0 are listed below.
  • Facilitating and incentivizing movement of Agri-produce by air transportation
  • Strengthening cargo related infrastructure at airports and off airports
  • Concessions sought from other bodies
  • Resources-Pooling through establishing Convergence mechanism
  • Technological convergence
  • Development of E-KUSHAL (Krishi Udaan for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics)
  • Facilitating the development of a hub and spoke model and a freight grid
• Under the scheme, airside transit and transshipment infrastructure will be created at Bagdogra and Guwahati airports, and at Leh, Srinagar, Nagpur, Nashik, Ranchi, and Raipur airports as a part of focus on NER, Tribal and Hilly Districts.
• Integration of E-KUSHAL with the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) is proposed under the scheme.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Personality in News

14. Gandhian and freedom fighter S N Subba Rao dies in Jaipur.

• Gandhian and freedom fighter S N Subba Rao (Salem Nanjudaiah Subba Rao) died in Jaipur.
• He played a vital role in the surrender of 400 bandits in 1970s. His body will be cremated at his ashram in Morena in MP.
• Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot paid tribute to Rao at Vinoba Gyan Mandir Hall in Jaipur.
• Rao was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi from his teenage years. He was arrested at the age of 13 for participating in the Quit India Movement.
• He is known for his ‘Shramdan’ camps that mobilised youths to take part in nation-building in the Gandhian way.
• He was awarded the Padma Shri, Karnataka Government's Mahatma Gandhi Seva Award, Shanti Doot International Award, Anuvrat Ahimsa Award and Jamnalal Bajaj Puraskar.