Daily Current Affairs and GK | 4 June 2022

Topic: Environment and Ecology

1. A gecko found in 2017 has been now identified as a new species.

• A gecko (lizard) species named ‘Eublepharis pictus’ was described in the journal Evolutionary Systematics.
• ‘Eublepharis pictus’ also known as the Painted Leopard Gecko was found in Visakhapatnam in 2017.
• Researchers Zeeshan A Mirza and C Gnaneswar had initially identified the species.
• Now, in a phylogenetic study and morphological comparisons it has been identified as a new species.
• It is mainly found in the forest of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
• The gecko genus Eublepharis now has 7 species. This new species is different from all members of the genus Eublepharis except for E hardwickii.

Topic: National Appointments

2. Ashwani Bhatia has assumed charge as a whole-time member of SEBI.

• He assumed charge with effect from 01 June 2022.
• Earlier, Bhatia was a Managing Director at the State Bank of India.
• He is 3rd whole-time member of the SEBI board along with SK Mohanty and Ananta Barua.
• At present, SEBI is having 3 whole-time members and four part-time members.
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):
  • SEBI was set up in 1988 and given statutory status in 1992. Its headquarters is located in Mumbai.
  • It is a regulator of the securities market in India and aims to protect the interests of investors in securities.
  • Ms. Madhabi Puri Buch is the current chairperson of SEBI.

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

3. Tata Projects has won the contract to construct Noida International Airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh.

• YIAPL said that Tata Projects will construct terminal, runway, airside infrastructure, roads, etc. at the airport as part of the contract.
• Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL) is a 100% subsidiary of Swiss developer Zurich Airport International AG.
• YIAPL has been incorporated as a Special Purpose Vehicle to develop Noida International Airport.
• In 2019, Zurich Airport International AG won the bid to develop the airport.
• On 7 October 2020, the UP government signed the concession agreement with YIAPL to commence the development of Noida International Airport.
• YIAPL has chosen Tata Projects Ltd to carry out the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of Noida International Airport.
• The airport is expected to be functional by 2024. Tata Projects is Tata Group's infrastructure and construction arm.

Topic: Personality in News

4. Harini Logan has won the title in the spell off at the 2022 Scrips National Spelling Bee.

• Vikram Raju achieved second place at the 2022 Scrips National Spelling Bee.
• Harini Logan is an Indian American. Logan won the USD 50,000 cash prize and the Scripps Cup trophy.
• Raju and Logan were given the same words to spell in 90-seconds.
• Scripps National Spelling Bee is an annual spelling bee (spelling competition) held in the United States.

Topic: Space & IT

5. India's first private spacecraft manufacturing facility launched in Bengaluru.

• In Bengaluru, Ananth Technologies Private Limited, the leading aerospace, and defence manufacturer in India has launched India's largest private spacecraft production facility.
• The launched spacecraft production facility will provide facilitation for private spacecraft manufacturing in India.
• S.Somanath, Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), officially launched the state-of-the-art facility.
• Four spacecraft can be assembled, integrated, and tested at the same time with four independent modules existing within the 15,000 sqm facility.
• The facility is located at the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board's Aerospace Park.
• The facility's four components are self-contained and capable of completing end-to-end process integration in four different spacecraft classes.
• Ananth Technologies Private Limited:
  • In 1992, Ananth was established with the aim of facilitating the growth of the Indian economy by utilizing aerospace technologies.
  • It is headquartered in Hyderabad.
  • Its Chairman and MD is Dr. Subba Rao Pavuluri.

Topic: Sports

6. Sakshi Malik, Divya Kakran, and Mansi Ahlawat won gold medals at Bolat Turlykhanov Cup.

• At the Bolat Turlykhanov Cup wrestling tournament, Sakshi Malik won her first international gold medal in over five years.
• Sakshi Malik won her last gold at the 2017 Commonwealth Championships. She won two bronze medals at the Asian Championships in 2020 and 2022.
• Mansi won her gold against Kazakhstan's Emma Tissina in the 57-kilogram category. Divya won her gold in the 68kg category.
• Greco-Roman wrestler Neeraj won bronze in the 63kg category. India has now won a total of four medals.
• Bolat Turlykhanov Cup:
  • The Bolat Turlykhanov Cup 2022 is a wrestling tournament held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from June 2 to 5.
  • It is the second in United World Wrestling's ranking series.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Space and IT

7. A new telescope facility in India will help in identifying objects like supernovae, gravitational lenses, space debris, and asteroids.

• The telescope is commissioned at Devasthal, a hill in Uttarakhand.
• It is the first liquid mirror telescope in India and the largest in Asia.
• It has been built by astronomers from India, Belgium and Canada.
• It employs a 4-meter-diameter rotating mirror, which is made up of a thin film of liquid mercury to collect and focus light.
• Liquid mercury mirror is covered by a thin mylar film. A thin transparent film of mylar protects the mercury from the wind.
• International Liquid-Mirror Telescope (ILMT) is located at an altitude of 2450 metres at Devasthal Observatory campus of Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in Nainital district, Uttarakhand.
• ILMT was designed and built by the Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS) Corporation and the Centre Spatial de Liege in Belgium.
• ILMT is set to commence full-scale scientific operations in October 2022.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

8. “SHRESHTA”- Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas has been launched.

• Union Minister of Social Justice and empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar has launched it.
• This scheme will prove to be very beneficial for the Scheduled Caste students who have not yet had access to high-quality education.
• SHRESHTA provides high quality education for meritorious but poor SC students in CBSE-affiliated reputed residential schools.
• The students, belonging to Scheduled Castes, studying in class 8th and 10th in the current academic year are eligible for availing the benefits of scheme.
• Students from the marginalized low income group belonging to the Scheduled Caste community, whose parents' annual income is up to or less than Rs 2.5 lakh, are eligible.
• The Social Justice and Empowerment Department shall bear the total cost of the school fee and hostel charges till the completion of their academics up to class 12th.

Topic: National News

9. E-Sanjeevani integrated successfully with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

• Telemedicine service 'eSanjeevani' has been integrated with the NHA’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
• The integration will help users of eSanjeevani to easily create an Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) and use it to manage their existing health records.
• Now, the users can also share their health records with doctors on eSanjeevani. It will help in making better clinical decisions and ensure the continuum of care.
• ‘eSanjeevani’ service is available in two variants: eSanjeevani Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centre and eSanjeevani OPD scheme.
• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM):
  • It was launched in August 2020 for developing an integrated digital health infrastructure in the country.
  • It helps in bridging the existing gap amongst different stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem.

Topic: Reports and Indices/Ranking

10. IIM-Ahmedabad launched Agri Land Price Index (ALPI) for six states.

• It is India’s first-of-its-kind land price index. According to this Index, Agriculture land is most expensive in Karnataka followed by Telangana.
• It has been developed for 107 districts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
• The main aim of the Index is to remove the uncertainty in the agricultural land valuation.
• It has been launched by IIM-Ahmedabad in association with digital agri-land marketplace SFarmsIndia.
• It will act as a reliable source in calculating land prices and help in the conversion of agricultural land into real estate or for industrial use.
• According to this Index, 34 districts in the six states were considered ‘most expensive’ while 32 districts were considered ‘median’ and 41 districts are kept in the ‘least expensive’ category.
• As per this index, agricultural land prices in Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are Rs 0.93 crore, Rs 0.81 crore and Rs 0.77 crore per acre respectively.

Topic: State News/ Maharashtra

11. Maharashtra government launched 'faceless RTOs' to provide six online services.

• It will help citizens in availing services associated with Regional Transport Offices.
• Under this initiative, driving licenses and several other services will be provided without physical presence.
• To be part of the 'Faceless RTO' scheme, People would only require Aadhaar number linked to their mobile phones.
• Six important RTO services will be provided online including renewal, duplicate driving license, change of address on a licence, duplicate RC book, change of address on the RC book, and a no-objection certificate of a licence to another state.
• Licences or registration certificates will be sent to the applicant by post.
• At present, Maharashtra's transport department is providing 80 online services to citizens.

Topic: Space and IT

12. Frontier becomes the world’s fastest supercomputer.

• Frontier supercomputer built for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory becomes the world’s fastest supercomputer.
• It has taken place of Fugaku, a supercomputer jointly developed by RIKEN and Fujitsu Ltd.
• Frontier supercomputer has been built by using Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) architecture and equipped with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors.
• It is the first to achieve an unprecedented level of computing performance known as exascale.
• Frontier supercomputer is the fastest in the world with 1.1 exaflops of performance.
• Supercomputers were first built for cracking codes and designing weapons. It also played a key role in developing vaccines, testing car designs and modelling climate change.

Topic: Books and Author

13. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh released a book and its e-Version on 8 Years of Administrative and Pension reforms (2014-2022).

• Delivering the inaugural address, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said that eight years of administrative and pension reforms under Prime Minister Narendra Modi were aimed at social transformation.
• He also said that the use of technology and the integration approach are the twin pillars of Governance and Pension Reforms.
• He said the Government introduced a number of revolutionary reforms like the extension of Family Pension to a differently-abled child of a deceased Government employee, the introduction of Face Recognition Technology for submitting Life Certificate by elderly pensioners, and the Electronic Pension Pay Order.
• Recently, Government has also taken a decision to relax the rules of family pension for missing central government employees.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Important Days

14. International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression: 4 June

• International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression is observed every year on 4 June.
• This day affirms the United Nations’ commitment to protecting the rights of children.
• This day is observed to highlight the pain suffered by children who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse.
• The United Nations adopted 4 June as the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression on 19th August 1982.

(Source: News on AIR)