Daily Current Affairs and GK | 4 June 2024

Topic: Indian Economy

1. SBI’s market capitalization crossed Rs 8 lakh crore mark.

• SBI’s shares increased by 9% and reached an all-time high of Rs 912.
• In past six months, SBI’s shares have increased by over 50%.
• India’s banking sector had recently recorded its highest-ever net profit, exceeding Rs 3 lakh crore.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said banks recovered over Rs 10 lakh crores from bad loans between 2014 and 2023.
• On 3 June 2024, Nifty Bank index also increased to a record high and crossed the 50,000 mark for the first time.
• SBI reported a standalone net profit of Rs 20,698.35 crore.
• This reflects a 24% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth.
• This growth is driven by increased interest income and minimal provisions.
• State Bank of India (SBI) reported a 15.24% year-over-year (YoY) credit growth at March 2024 end.

Topic: Personality in News

2. Ruchira Kamboj has retired after 35 years of service.

• Ruchira Kamboj was India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
• She was India’s first female UN Ambassador. She joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987.
• She formally took over the position of Permanent Representative/ Ambassador of India to New York on August 2, 2022.
• She also served as the Deputy Head of the Office of the Secretary-General at the Commonwealth Secretariat London.
• She was India’s Chief of Protocol from 2011-2014. She is the first and only lady so far in Government to have held this position.

Topic: Space and IT

3. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are collaborating to develop a standardized time system for the moon.

• Under the Artemis program, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are working together to create a standardized time system for the moon.
• These efforts will be crucial for the success of the Artemis program and future lunar exploration.
• Its main aim is to coordinate lunar missions from various countries and private entities.
• The establishment of a lunar time zone is a significant step towards fostering international collaboration and ensuring the success of multi-national lunar missions.
• The development of a lunar time zone will require addressing several unique challenges.
• The moon's day-night cycle is about 29.5 Earth days. Earth’s time zones are based on its rotation and are divided into 24 hours.
• The communication delay between Earth and the moon is about 1.28 seconds.

Topic: MoUs /Agreements

4. School Education Department joined hands with the National Book Trust for Institutional Framework for Rashtriya E-Pustakalaya.

• The Department of School Education signed an MoU with the National Book Trust under the Ministry of Education to create an institutional framework for the Digital Library Platform, Rashtriya e-Pustakalaya.
• Rashtriya e-Pustakalya is a first-of-its-kind digital library. It will offer over 1,000 non-academic books to children and adolescents published by over 40 reputed publishers in more than 22 languages.
• The books will be categorised into four age groups per NEP 2020, for readers aged 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years.
• It will aim to facilitate the availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres, and levels and provide device-agnostic accessibility for children and adolescents in the country.
• The Rashtriya e-Pustakalaya project will be a big step in bridging the digital divide and creating an inclusive atmosphere for everybody.
• The Rashtriya e-Pustakalaya app will be available for download on both Android and iOS devices.

Topic: Space and IT

5. ISRO developed PraVaHa software for aerodynamic design and analysis.

• Parallel RANS Solver for Aerospace Vehicle Aero-thermo-dynamic Analysis (PraVaHa) software has been developed by ISRO.
• This software has been developed in ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
• It has been developed to simulate external and internal flows on launch vehicles and winged and unwinged re-entry vehicles.
• As per the ISRO, initial aerodynamic design studies for launch vehicles demand evaluation of a large number of configurations.
• Understanding the airflow around aircraft, rocket bodies, or Crew Modules (CM) during earth re-entry is critical for designing the shape, structure, and Thermal Protection System (TPS) needed for these bodies.
• At present, the PraVaHa code is operational to simulate airflow for Perfect Gas & Real Gas conditions.
• PraVaHa is expected to replace most of the CFD simulations for aero characterization.
• This software has been used extensively in the Gaganyaan program for aerodynamic analysis of human-rated launch vehicles.

Topic: National News

6. A directive issued by FSSAI to all FBOs mandates the removal of any claim of 100% fruit juice from the label.

• A directive issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) mandates all food business operators (FBOs) to remove any claim of 100% fruit juices from the labels and advertisements of reconstituted fruit juices with immediate effect.
• All FBOs have also been directed by FSSAI to phase out all existing pre-printed packaging material before September 1, 2024.
• Recently, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement that several FBOs are falsely marketing various reconstituted fruit juices with the false claim of being 100% pure.
• According to the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, there is no provision for making 100% claims.
• The FBO must comply with the fruit juice standards under the Food Safety and Standards Regulations.

Topic: Agriculture and Allied Sector

7. The National Coordination Committee started work on the world's largest grain storage Plan.

• On May 3, the inaugural meeting of the National Level Coordination Committee (NLCC) for the world's largest grain storage plan was held at the Ministry of Cooperation in New Delhi.
• The Committee reviewed the status of implementation of the pilot project launched in 11 states in 2023.
• The aim of the plan is to develop various agricultural infrastructure at the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) level.
• These include warehouses, custom hiring centres, processing units and fair price shops.
• The initiative integrates several existing Government schemes such as the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM), and the Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME).
• The pilot project is implemented by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).
• It is implemented with the support of NABARD, Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), and NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS) in collaboration with the respective States and Union Territories.
• The pilot project will be expanded to 500 additional packs in collaboration with state governments, National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC).

Topic: Indian Polity

8. Hyderabad is not a joint capital of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana from 02 June 2024.

• Hyderabad was made the joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for 10 years at the time of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
• Telangana was formed on 02 June 2014. From 2 June 2024, Hyderabad will be the capital of Telangana only.
• According to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, Hyderabad ceased to be the common capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from 02 June 2024.
• According to Section 5(1) of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, Hyderabad was to be the capital of Telangana only for ten years and a new capital was to be established for Andhra Pradesh.
• AP Reorganisation bill was passed in Parliament in February 2014.
• So far, Andhra Pradesh has not yet set up a permanent capital. Disputes over Amaravati and Visakhapatnam are pending in courts.

Topic: Important Days

9. International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression: 04 June

• International Day of Innocent Child Victims of Aggression is celebrated every year on 4 June.
• This day was established by United Nations on 19 August 1982.
• This day is celebrated to spread awareness about the pain and suffering faced by the victim children.
• As per the UN Secretary-General Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, over 8,630 children were killed or maimed in 2022 alone.
• This report highlights in 2022 alone, 7,622 children were recruited or used, 3,985 children were abducted and 1,166 children were victims of sexual violence.
• According to the report, there were 3,931 incidents of denial of humanitarian access.

Topic: Biotechnology and Diseases

10. Pig liver transplanted into a living cancer patient for the first time in China.

• For the first time in the world, the liver of a person suffering from severe liver cancer was transplanted with the liver of a pig.
• A 71-year-old man in China is the fifth person known to have received a pig organ and became the first alive person to have a liver transplant from a genetically modified pig.
• Chinese doctors said they transplanted a gene-edited pig's liver into a living person.
• This has been considered a turning point in the xenotransplantation procedure, which involves transplanting animals into humans.
• The pig's liver weighed 514 grams and had 10 gene edits to prevent organ rejection and dysfunction.
• Sun Beicheng, a surgeon at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University in China who led the transplant, said that more than two weeks after the surgery, the man is "doing very well".

Topic: Committees/Commissions/Taskforces

11. Committee on Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints has been reconstituted by the Supreme Court.

• It has been reconstituted using the powers conferred by Section 4(2) of the Gender Sensitisation and Sexual Harassment of Women in the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2013.
• Regulation 4 of the Act provides for the constitution of a Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee to sensitise the public on gender issues and to redress any complaints regarding sexual harassment in the Supreme Court premises.
• The 12-member committee is headed by Supreme Court Judge Hima Kohli. The Committee comprises members from various fields, including law, professors from law universities and others.
• 12 committee members are:

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

12. US and Indo-Pacific partners held talks in Singapore on Clean Energy.

• The U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework ministerial meeting was held in Singapore.
• It is the first in-person IPEF ministerial session after the conclusion of negotiations for the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement and the Fair Economy Agreement in November in San Francisco.
• The IPEF Clean Economy Investor Forum includes 22 major U.S. companies, including Amazon.com’s AWS Bechtel, Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft, BlackRock, etc.
• IPEF countries have submitted their top clean economy projects, including renewable energy generation such as solar and wind, energy transmission and other infrastructure.
• In the upcoming time, the forum will lead to multibillion-dollar investments in places such as Thailand and Malaysia.
• IPEF countries are aiming to achieve their own climate goals and build up their own infrastructure.
• Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, etc. are participating in the IPEF meeting.

Topic: Indian Economy

13. India's core sector growth increased 6.2% in April.

• India's index of eight core sectors saw a 6.6% growth in March. It was 4.6% in April 2023.
• Positive growth was seen in the production of electricity, natural gas, coal, steel, refinery products, crude oil, and cement in April.
• In April, The coal sector output declined by 7.5% YoY. In March 2024, coal sector output was recorded at 8.7%.
• Crude oil sector recorded 1.6% growth in April. In March 2024, crude oil output was recorded at 2%.
• Natural Gas output increased by 8.6 per cent in April 2024. The output of Refinery products increased 3.9% in April 2024.
• Fertilizers sector declined by 0.8% in April 2024. Cement and steel sectors increased only by 0.6 per cent and 7.1 per cent in April 2024.
• The electricity sector increased by 9.4 per cent in April 2024.