Daily Current Affairs and GK | 30 November 2024

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

1. India and ADB signed a $98 million loan agreement to promote plant health management in India.

• The Centre and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a loan agreement to provide disease-free planting materials to horticulture crop farmers.
• It will boost crops’ yield and quality and make them more resilient to climate change.
• This project will support the government’s Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Programme (CPP) which enhances plant health management.
• It will also help in developing regulatory frameworks and institutional systems to effectively implement the CPP for horticulture in India.
• The project will involve consultation with private nurseries, researchers, state governments, and growers’ associations to ensure its success and sustainability.
• Plant health management is necessary for farmers to adapt to climate change.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

2. Empowered Committee of the Ministry of Women and Child Development has approved the Ministry of External Affairs’s proposal to set up nine One-Stop Centres.

• The aim of these centres is to provide comprehensive assistance to women in vulnerable situations. 
• Out of the nine proposed One-Stop Centres, seven will have shelter homes and will be set up in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia (with centres in both Jeddah and Riyadh).
• The remaining two centres will be located in Toronto and Singapore. They will operate without shelter home facilities.
• The Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) will play an essential role in providing welfare measures to distressed Indian nationals, especially women.
• Its guidelines were comprehensively revised in September 2017.
• It now covers emergency assistance such as boarding and lodging, air travel for those stranded.

Topic: Personality in News

3. On 28th November 2024, economic historian Amiya Kumar Bagchi passed away.

• He is known for his work on underdevelopment and imperialism.
• He authored books such as Private Investment in India 1900-1939, The Political Economy of Underdevelopment and Perilous Passage.
• In the starting, he was a mathematical economist and game theorist. He later turned to economic history. 
• He was official historian of the State Bank of India (SBI) from 1976 to 1998.
• He was the founder-director of the Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2005.

Topic: International News

4. India has been re-elected to UN Peacebuilding Commission for term of 2025-2026.

• Since the Peacebuilding Commission's founding in December 2005, India has been its member.
• The Peacebuilding Commission is an intergovernmental advisory body.
• It strengthens the international community's larger peace agenda and aids peace initiatives in nations affected by conflicts.
• In 2005, it was founded. It was charged with providing advice on peacebuilding and peace maintenance matters to the UN General Assembly and Security Council.
• It seeks to advance a comprehensive, cohesive, and integrated approach to peacebuilding.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

5. Statement of Intent signed with UK for cooperation on design and development of electric propulsion systems for the Indian Navy.

• On November 28, the Ministries of Defence of India and the UK signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) on Cooperation on the Design and Development of Electric Propulsion Systems for the Indian Navy in Portsmouth.
• The signing was part of the 3rd Joint Working Group Meeting of the Electric Propulsion Capability Partnership.
• The agreement also symbolises the commitment to promote indigenous development of advanced technologies.
• This MoU will serve as a broad framework for cooperation in the co-design, co-construction, and co-production of electric propulsion capabilities for future naval ships.
• The Landing Platform Docks planned to be built in Indian shipyards are conceptualized to have full electric propulsion systems.
• Shri Rajiv Prakash, Joint Secretary (Naval Systems), and Rear Admiral Steve McCarthy, Director of Ship Operations & Capability Integration, British Ministry of Defence, signed and exchanged the MoU.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Indian Economy

6. Real GDP is projected to grow by 5.4% in the second quarter of FY 2024-25.

• Real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 5.4% in the second July-September quarter of the current financial year.
• According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, real gross value added (GVA) grew by 5.6% during the same period.
• In the second quarter, agriculture and allied sectors bounced back, recording a growth rate of 3.5%.
• The ministry said real GDP is projected to exceed Rs 44 lakh crore in the second quarter of 2024-25 as against Rs 41.86 lakh crore in the corresponding period of 2023-24, showing a growth rate of 5.4%.
• Real GVA is estimated at ₹40.58 lakh crore in Q2 of 2024-25, as against ₹38.42 lakh crore in Q2 of 2023-24, showing a growth rate of 5.6%.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: State News/Meghalaya

7. Meghalaya is hosting the two-day Me·Gong Festival 2024 from 29 November 2024.

• The festival is named after the Me’gong flower. This flower blooms in large quantities in the Garo Hills.
• The festival celebrates Garo culture, which include folk dances, indigenous games, music, handloom and handicrafts, and authentic cuisine.
• The aim of the event is to unite local communities, artists, tourists and artisans and to promote cross-cultural dialogue.
• The festival is likely to attract more than 2 lakh attendees.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

8. E-Daakhil has been launched by centre across all states and union territories of India. 

• This portal was launched by Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India in Ladakh on 22nd November 2024.
• The portal is now operational in every state and union territory of India.
• Consumer Protection Act 2019 was notified and enforced on 20th July, 2020.
• E-Daakhil is an innovative online platform. It is designed to streamline the consumer grievance redressal process.
• E-Daakhil offers the facility to file complaints and track their status.
• National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission first launched the e-Daakhil portal on 7 September 2020.
• It was launched in 35 States/UTs except Ladakh by the end of 2023.
• At present over 2,81,024 users have registered on the E-Daakhil portal.
• 1,98,725 cases have been filed. Out of these, 38,453 have been disposed of.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

9. Indian railways launched the ‘Sanraksha’ Mobile App for passenger safety and staff training.

• Indian Railways has launched the ‘Sanraksha’ Mobile Application to ensure passenger safety.
• The main objective is to improve railway safety through capacity building of the Indian Railway’s frontline safety category staff.
• The IRTS Officer Shri Dilip Singh has designed the application.
• Indian Railways has decided to launch the app in all zonal railways with 16 divisions selected initially for rollout.
• The application integrates the domain knowledge of Indian Railways with information technology, data analytics, and the potential for leveraging AI in the future.
• It has a smart learning and feedback mechanism, which will provide multi-level and real-time feedback.

Topic: Indian Economy

10. Government proposed to increase the FDI limit in the insurance sector to 100%.

• The government has proposed to raise the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit for Indian insurance companies from 74% to 100%.
• The FDI limit in the insurance sector was previously increased from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in February 2021.
• The government stated that the proposal to amend certain provisions of insurance laws aims to ensure the accessibility and affordability of insurance for citizens and foster the expansion and development of the insurance industry.
• The requirement of Net Owned Funds for foreign reinsurers is also proposed to be reduced from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.
• As per the economic survey, insurance penetration in India has slightly decreased from 4.2 per cent in FY22 to 4 per cent in FY23.
• The government is taking steps to open up the insurance market as part of a broader goal to achieve “Insurance for All” by 2047.

Topic: National News

11. India's largest science festival is being hosted by IIT Guwahati from November 30.

• The International Science Festival (IISF) is being celebrated at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Assam, from November 30 to December 4, 2024.
• For this year, the nodal department is the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
• IISFF and the National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram), a constituent laboratory of CSIR, are coordinating the entire festival.
• IISF is a unique festival of science-society interaction that was started in the year 2015, and the first IISF was held at IIT Delhi.
• This science festival has been conceptualized by Vigyan Bharati, a science movement in India. This festival is being celebrated for the first time in Northeast India.
• The theme of this 10th edition of IISF is "Transforming India into an S&T-driven Global Manufacturing Hub."

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

12. CII's Ease of Doing Business and Regulatory Affairs Portal launched by Union Minister Piyush Goyal.

• On November 28, the CII Ease of Doing Business (EODB) and Regulatory Affairs Portal was launched to receive and monitor information on India's business environment and suggestions for improvement.
• The portal was launched at the 2nd Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)-Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Conference on Ease of Doing Business in New Delhi.
• The portal seeks to provide status and updates on major Ease of Doing Business initiatives undertaken by both the Government and CII.
• With a dedicated members-only dashboard, users can track progress and submissions on a real-time basis, ensuring transparency, accountability, meaningful and timely resolution of concerns.

Topic: Defence

13. Indian Army launched ‘Eklavya' Digital Platform for Officers' Training.

• The Eklavya software platform has been developed under the aegis of Headquarters Army Training Command with Army War College.
• This initiative is in line with the Indian Army’s vision of the "Decade of Transformation" envisioned by the COAS.
• Indian Army has declared 2024 as the "Year of Technology Absorption".
• This platform has been developed at zero cost through "The Bhaskaracharya National Institute of Space Applications and Geoinformatics" (BISAG-N), Gandhinagar.
• This platform has been hosted on the Army Data Network.
• There are three categories of courses hosted on the Eklavya platform.
• 'Pre-Course Preparatory Capsules', ‘Appointment or specific assignment-related courses’ and ‘Professional Development Suite’ are the three courses on this platform.
• Eklavya also has the function of a searchable "Knowledge Highway", wherein various journals, research papers and articles are uploaded under a single window.

Topic: Banking System

14. HDFC Bank, a private sector bank, has launched a ‘Pragati’ savings account.

• Through the ‘Pragati’ savings account, the bank is targeting semi-urban and rural (SURU) people pan-India.
• HDFC Bank has 51% of its branches in semi-urban and rural areas.
• The Pragati Savings Account by HDFC Bank aims to develop a comprehensive banking ecosystem for the agricultural sector of India.
• The Pragati Savings Account has industry-first features, such as a partnership with BigHaat.
• The account has low maintenance requirements. It offers special benefits for SURU customers.