Daily Current Affairs and GK | 28 September 2022

Topic: Reports and Indices/Ranking

1. Labour & Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav released a report on the 4th round of the quarterly employment survey.

• The Fourth Round (January-March, 2022) of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) is part of the All India Quarterly Establishment based Employment Survey (AQEES).
• The QES as a part of the AQEES was launched in April 2021.
• The report has estimated employment in both organized and unorganized segments of nine selected sectors.
• Key Highlights of the report are as follows:
  • The estimated employment has increased from 3.14 crore in the third quarter (September-December, 2021) to 3.18 crore in the fourth quarter.
  • The female workers’ participation has slightly increased from 31.6 per cent in the third quarter to 31.8 per cent in the 4th quarter report.
  • The manufacturing sector accounts for 38.5 per cent of the total number of workers, followed by the Education sector with 21.7%, the IT/BPO sector with 12% and the Health sector with 10.6%.
  • Around 80% of the establishments have 10 to 99 workers. Only 1.4 % of the establishments reported at least 500 workers.
  • Female workers are about 52 % of the workforce in the Health sector.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Environment and Ecology

2. Government aims to reduce 40% of particulate matter by 2026.

• The government has set a new target of reducing 40% of particulate matter concentration in cities by 2026.
• The government has made this commitment as part of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
• Earlier, the goal was to reduce 20 to 30 per cent of particulate matter by 2024.
• As per the Environment Ministry, 95 cities covered under the NCAP have shown an overall improvement in PM10 levels in 2021 as compared to 2017 levels.
• Twenty cities covered under NCAP have met the national standards of the annual average of PM10 concentration (60 micrograms per cubic metre).
• City-specific action plans have been prepared under the NCAP for strengthening the air quality monitoring network, which helps in reducing vehicular and industrial emissions.
• Cities that showed overall improvement in PM 10 include Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, etc.
• National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched in 2019 to prepare clean air action plans with the objective to reduce PM2.5 pollution.

Topic: National News

3. Government imposed a ban on the export of maps and geospatial data of sensitive locations.

• To meet the requirements of the liberalised geospatial data regime, the government has released a list of strategic and sensitive locations that cannot be mapped and exported.
• Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has released a notification regarding it.
• These locations include oil and gas depots, and nuclear and military installations.
• The government has tagged 52 security installations and secured facilities as 'sensitive attributes’.
• The notification prohibits the export of Maps and Geospatial data of spatial accuracy.

Topic: National News

4. Government imposed a five-year ban on the PFI and its affiliates.

• The Central Government has banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliated groups for five years with immediate effect for indulging in illegal activities.
• The notification also said that the government is of the view that if the illegal activities of PFI and its affiliated groups are not stopped immediately, they will continue their subversive activities in weakening the constitutional structure of the country and disturbing law and order.
• All these groups are working towards inciting anti-national sentiments by radicalizing a particular section of society under a secret agenda.
• Recently, the National Investigation Agency, the Enforcement Directorate and the police of several states carried out raids in several states on the premises of PFI in a joint operation.

Topic: Defence

5. DRDO successfully test-fired Very Short-Range Air Defense Systems missile.

• On 27 September, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted two successful tests of the Very Short Range Air Defense System missile.
• The test flight was conducted at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha.
• Very Short-Range Air Defense System is a man-portable air defense system.
• It is designed and developed by DRDO in collaboration with Indian industry partners.
• The missile is designed to destroy air strikes at short ranges and low altitudes.

(Source: News on Air)

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

6. Indigenously developed aviation fuel AVGAS 100 LL launched by the government.

• It is a special aviation fuel meant for piston engine aircraft and unmanned Ariel vehicles.
• AVGAS 100 LL was launched in an event which was hosted by Indian Oil at Hindan Airforce Station.
• The Indian Oil Corporation has developed this aviation fuel.
• Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas said we are reducing our dependence on imported fuels by promoting biofuel blending, green hydrogen and electric vehicles.
• At present, India is importing this product from European countries.
• The AV gas market is expected to grow to $2.71 billion by 2029 from the current $1.92 billion.
• Indian Oil is domestically producing AVGAS 100 LL at its Gujarat Refinery.

Topic: National News

7. Indian Railways is installing the 'Real Time Train Information System (RTIS)'.

• Indian Railways has launched a real-time information system to track train movement timings. It has been developed in collaboration with ISRO.
• RTIS is automatically plotted on the control charts of trains in the Control Office Application (COA) system.
• Indian Railways has installed RTIS devices on 2,700 locomotives in 21 electric loco sheds.
• RTIS will update the location within a period of 30 seconds.
• Also, RTIS can more closely track the location and speed of the locomotive/train without any human intervention.
• In the second phase, 6,000 more locomotives will be covered in 50 loco sheds using ISRO's SATCOM hub.
• At present, the GPS feed from about 6,500 locomotives (RTIS and REMMLOT) is being fed directly to the Control Office Application (COA).
• This has made possible automatic charting of trains and real-time information to passengers through COA and NTES integration.
• For this project, the Centre for Railway Information Systems and the Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO, signed an MoU in December 2016.

Topic: Important Days

8. World Rabies Day 2022: 28 September

• Every year on 28 September, World Rabies Day is celebrated.
• September 28, 2022, celebrated the 16th World Rabies Day.
• The theme of World Rabies Day 2022 is ‘Rabies: One Health, Zero Deaths’.
• It is celebrated to raise awareness about Rabies prevention.
• The day marks the death anniversary of Louis Pasteur, who developed the first efficacious rabies vaccine.
• Rabies is a viral disease. It spreads from animals to humans. It causes inflammation of the brain in humans.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

9. International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) signed an MoU.

• On the sidelines of the 42nd Session of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Assembly, ISA and ICAO have signed an MoU.
• The MoU has been signed by Juan Carlos Salazar, Secretary-General, ICAO and Joshua Wycliffe, Chief of Operations, ISA.
• The idea of making ICAO a partner organisation of ISA was mooted by Jyotiraditya M. Scindia during his visit to Montreal in May 2022.
• With this MoU, ICAO has become a partner organization of ISA.
• The partnership between ISA and ICAO will help in developing building capacity to use solar energy.
• The MoU will work towards providing information, providing advocacy, capacity building and demonstration projects
• ICAO is committed to reducing carbon emissions in the aviation sector through various initiatives.
• India, with the support of France, has invited countries to invest in solar projects.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Awards and Prizes

10. Union Minister Bhagwanth Khuba presented the 11th National Petrochemicals Awards to winners.

• The 11th National Petrochemicals Awards were presented at the function held in New Delhi.
• A total of 351 nominations have been received, out of which 5 nominations have been declared winners and 6 were declared runners-up.
• Union Minister Bhagwanth Khuba said that India has a huge potential in the field of petrochemicals. He also said that the Chemicals and petrochemicals sector is playing a key role in the Indian economy.
• The Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals (DCPC) had instituted an award scheme to incentivize innovations.
• The Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET) is responsible for implementing the scheme of the National Awards for Technology Innovation.
• The list of winners is given below:

Topic: Indian Polity

11. Livestreaming of the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench proceedings began on September 27.

• For the first time, Supreme Court proceedings of the constitutional bench were live streamed.
• The hearings of the Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court can be watched on the official platform webcast.gov.in.
• The National Informatics Centre is handling the project.
• In 2018, then-CJI Dipak Misra had delivered the landmark judgement on the live telecast or webcast of important proceedings of the Supreme Court.
• Swapnil Tripathi’s judgment stated that live-streaming would “virtually” expand the court beyond the four walls of the courtroom.
• Soon the SC will have its own platform for live streaming proceedings.
• The Supreme Court may also live stream the proceedings through YouTube and later host them on its server.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

12. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launched the One Week One Lab theme-based campaign.

• The campaign has been launched to showcase technological breakthroughs and innovations.
• The campaign will be launched in 37 laboratories and institutes of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) across the country.
• CSIR’s achievements in Drone, Heliborne technology, state-of-the-art Sewage cleaning machines and Aroma Mission have opened new opportunities.
• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh addressed the first-ever CSIR Leadership Meet.
• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said that a pool of over 4,500 CSIR scientists must focus on emerging innovations in areas like Hydrogen energy transition, Carbon capture and storage, solar power, etc.
• Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR):
  • It is India’s largest research and development organization and an autonomous body.
  • Its current Director-General is Dr Nallathamby Kalaiselvi. It was established on September 26, 1942.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: State News/ Uttar Pradesh

13. Uttar Pradesh gets Ayushmann Utkrishta award 2022.

• Uttar Pradesh received the Ayushmann Utkrishta award 2022 for adding various health facilities to the health facility register.
• Uttar Pradesh added 28728 Health facilities to the National health facility register.
• Karnataka ranks second with 23,838 healthcare facilities, followed by Andhra Pradesh (13,335), and Maharashtra (12,902).
• Uttar Pradesh with 2 crores ABH Accounts is the second best state in creating Ayushmann Bharat health account (ABHA).
• ‘Ayushman Utkrishta’ awards are given to the best performing AB PM-JAY States/ UTs for efficient implementation of the scheme.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

14. Asha Parekh will be conferred Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2020.

• The Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has selected the name of Asha Parekh for contribution to Indian Cinema.
• The 68th National Film Awards will be presented on 30 September by President Droupadi Murmu.
• Asha Parekh is a renowned Hindi film actress, dancer, director and producer. She acted in more than 95 films.
• She made her debut in acting as a lead heroine in 'Dil Deke Dekho'.
• She is a recipient of Padma Shri (1992) and headed the Central Board for Film Certification from 1998-2001.
• Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in the field of cinema. It is given by the Directorate of Film Festivals at the National Film Awards ceremony.

(Source: News on AIR)