Daily Current Affairs and GK | 30 September 2021

Topic: Appointments

1. Former diplomat Fumio Kishida is ready to become the new Prime Minister of Japan.

• Fumio Kishida, the former Foreign Minister of Japan, has won the election of governing party leadership and is going to be the new Prime Minister of Japan.
• Fumio Kishida has taken over current Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who resigned from the post after serving only one year since taking office last September.
• Yoshihide Suga resigned from the post after facing criticism for organizing the Olympic Games despite the Covid wave.
• Kishida is the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and on 4^th October 2021, definitively he will be elected as the next Prime Minister in Parliament.
• Japan:
  • It is an island country in East Asia.
  • It shares its maritime border with the Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, East China Sea, and Taiwan.
  • Its capital and largest city is Tokyo.
  • Currency: Japanese Yen

Topic: Miscellaneous

2. Amazon launched its global computer science education initiative in India.

• Amazon launched Amazon Future Engineer, its global computer science education programme, in India.
• Under it, quality computer science education and job opportunities will be provided to the students from the disadvantaged community.
• In the first year, it aims to deliver computer science (CS) learning opportunities to more than one lakh students from 900 government and aided schools across seven states.
• Amazon has partnered with multiple education-focused non-profit organisations for this initiative.
• Amazon Future Engineer programme in India will focus on the students of 6-12 class and it will also provide training to teachers for teaching computer science in a more engaging way.
• Amazon is working with its global knowledge partner Code.org for high-quality and mobile interactive Computer science content for Indian students.
• Amazon is running this kind of programme in the US, the UK, Canada, and France.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

3. Union Cabinet gives approval to continuation of PM POSHAN scheme in schools for five more years.

• Union Cabinet has given approval to continuation of the PM POSHAN scheme in schools for five more years.
• PM POSHAN scheme will continue till 2025-26. 11.80 crore children studying in 11.20 lakh schools will be covered under it.
• After the cabinet meeting, Union Minister Anurag Thakur informed that the budget of the total scheme will be 1, 30,795 crore rupees.
• All school children studying in Classes 1st to 8th of government and government-Aided Schools are covered under PM POSHAN scheme.

Topic: Indian Economy

4. Union Cabinet gives approval to investment of 4,400 crore rupees in ECGC Ltd.

• Union Cabinet has given approval to the investment of 4,400 crore rupees in ECGC Ltd in five years (from FY 2021-2022 to FY 2025- 2026) to support exporters and banks.
• Union Cabinet has also given approval to the listing of Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Ltd. (ECGC Ltd) through IPO on the stock Exchange.
• Capital infusion and Initial Public Offering (IPO) of ECGC Ltd will raise ECGC’s underwriting capacity to support more exports.
• ECGC Ltd has plans to increase its maximum liabilities from 1.00 lakh crore rupees to 2.03 lakh crore rupees by 2025-26.
• Union Cabinet has also approved the extension of Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20) up to 31st March.
• Union Cabinet has also decided to release Rs 56,027 crore in September 2021 to liquidate all pending arrears.
• Government has also given its approval to the continuation of National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) scheme and infusion of 1,650 crores Grant-in-Aid over five years (from FY 2021-2022 to FY 2025-2026).
• NEIA will help project exports worth up to 33,000 Crore rupees. It will also help create 2.6 lakh new jobs, including around 12,000 in formal sector.
• Government started National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) to facilitate medium and long-term exports. In 2006, NEIA Trust was set up for maintaining and operating NEIA.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: National News

5. Training manual of Aapda Mitra Scheme released by Amit Shah on the occasion of 17^th Foundation Day celebrations of NDMA.

• Training manual of the Aapda Mitra Scheme has been released by Home Minister Amit Shah on the occasion of the 17th Foundation Day celebrations of NDMA.
• Amit Shah also released plan documents of Aapda Mitra and Common Alerting Protocol.
• Home Minister Amit Shah was the Chief Guest at the 17th Foundation Day celebrations in New Delhi.
• 'Stopping Impact of Disaster Incidents in the Himalayan Region' is the theme of the 17th Foundation Day of NDMA.

Topic: Biotechnology and Diseases

6. WHO has released new roadmap to defeat meningitis.

• World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have released the first-ever global strategy to deal with meningitis- Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030, at a virtual event hosted by WHO in Geneva.
• The Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030 envisages preventing infections and improving care and diagnosis for affected people.
• The strategy also aims to eliminate bacterial meningitis which is the deadliest form of meningitis.
• The strategy is expected to reduce deaths by 70% and cases by half the number.

Topic: National News

7. National Action Plan for Dog Mediated Rabies Elimination (NAPRE) launched.

• Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya, and Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala have launched the National Action Plan for Dog Mediated Rabies Elimination (NAPRE).
• The action plan aims to reduce deaths due to rabies to zero by 2030.
• National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in consultation with the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying have drafted the NAPRE. It is based on 5 major pillars – political will, sustained funding, intersectoral planning, coordination and review, community planning, and operational research.
• The important elements of the strategy are Prevention, Promotion, and Partnership.
• Union Health Minister has asked all the States and UTs to make rabies a notifiable disease.
• Rabies- Status in India:
  • Rabies is known as Hadakwa in rural India.
  • Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease. Around 99% of all rabies transmissions to humans are caused by Dogs.
  • According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a dog bite claims the lives of more than 55,000 people each year, mostly in Asia and Africa.
  • India is endemic for rabies except Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands. About 30-60% of reported rabies cases and deaths in India occur in children under the age of 15 years due to lack of awareness.

Topic: National News

8. Union Cabinet gave nod to double the railway lines of Nimach-Ratlam and Rajkot-Kanalus.

• The Union Cabinet has given the approval to double the railway lines of Nimach-Ratlam and Rajkot-Kanalus with a total completion cost of ₹2353 crore. Four years is the estimated time to complete this project.
• The project was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while chairing the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
• The project comes under the PM Gati Shakti scheme, where it has targeted to launch a ₹100 trillion integrated infrastructure scheme that would make the economy more competitive.
• The aim of the PM Gati Shakti scheme is to break the silos between road, rail, air, and waterways to reduce travel time, improving industrial productivity, making manufacturing globally competitive, facilitating future economic zones, and creating employment.
• The national carrier has a rail network of approximately 125,000 km under one of the management, one of the largest in the world.

Topic: Defence

9. Terms of Reference signed between the Indian Navy and the Australian Navy.

• 'Terms of Reference' have been signed between the Indian Navy and the Australian Navy for the conduct of Navy to Navy talks under the framework of the ‘Joint Guidance for the India - Australia Navy to Navy Relationship’ document.
• The ‘Joint Guidance for the India - Australia Navy to Navy Relationship’ document was signed by the chiefs of the Indian Navy and the Australian Navy in August.
• The Indian Navy has signed the first such a document with any country.
• The 'terms of Reference ceremony' were held virtually, where Rear Admiral Jaswinder Singh, ACNS (FCI), IN and Rear Admiral Christopher Smith, DCNS, RAN has signed the document.
• The 'Joint Guidance' document sets out the Navy to Navy (N2N) dialogue as the 'major' medium to guide bilateral relations.
• The first Navy-to-Navy talks with Australia were held in 2005.

Topic: National News

10. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated Institute of Petrochemicals Technology in Jaipur.

• PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated the CIPET: Institute of Petrochemicals Technology in Jaipur via video-conferencing.
• PM Modi has also laid the foundation stone of four new medical colleges in Banswara, Sirohi, Hanumangarh & Dausa districts of Rajasthan
• All the four medical colleges have been sanctioned under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for "Establishment of New Medical Colleges linked to District/ Referral Hospitals".
• Under the scheme, preference is given to underserved, backward, and aspirational districts in setting up medical colleges. 157 new medical colleges have been approved across the country under three phases of the scheme.

Topic: Important Days

11. World Heart Day 2021: 29 September

• World Heart Day is observed every year on 29 September to spread awareness about the importance of keeping the heart healthy and safe from any cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke.
• The aim to celebrate this day is to raise awareness about the ways to prevent and control coronary heart disease or strokes.
• The World Heart Federation (WHF) founded the first World Health Day in 1999 in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO).
• “Use Heart to Connect” is the theme for World Heart Day 2021.
• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still the world's number one killer, resulting in 18.6 million deaths annually, according to the report of the World Heart Federation.