Daily Current Affairs and GK | 6 July 2023

Topic: Sports

1. Lallianzuala Chhangte named as AIFF Men's Footballer of the Year.

• Lallianzuala Chhangte won the 2022-23 AIFF Men's Footballer of the Year award.
• He is the second player from Mizoram to win the Men's Footballer of the Year award.
• He left behind national teammates Nandkumar Sekar and Naorem Mahesh Singh for this award.
• During this season, he has played 12 matches for India and scored two goals.
• He played 22 matches during Mumbai City FC's ISL Winners' Shield-winning campaign last season and scored 10 goals.
• Manisha Kalyan won the AIFF Women Player of the Year award.
• Former India player Clifford Miranda wins the Men's Coach of the Year award.
• Women Coach of the Year went to Priya Parathi Valappil. She is the current head coach of the India women's U-17 team.
• Akash Mishra and Shilji Shaji were named Men's and Women's Emerging Players of the Year respectively.
• The best players and coaches of the 2022-23 season were selected by Shabbir Ali, IM Vijayan and Bhaichung Bhutia.

Topic: Space and IT

2. ISRO has attached the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft with the rocket LVM3.

• Chandrayaan-3 is India’s third moon mission and ISRO is looking to launch it between 12 to 19 July.
• Chandrayaan-3 will consist of a lander, rover and propulsion module. The name of Lander is ‘Vikram’ while rover named as ‘Pragyan’.
• The Propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100kms lunar orbit.
• Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2, which is expected to safely land on the lunar surface and conduct exploration activities.
• The Lander of Chandrayaan 3 will land on Moon and measure the thermal conductivity and temperature, seismicity around the landing site and estimate the plasma density.
• ISRO has made several changes in the lander after the failed attempt. This time, lander will have stronger legs than the previous version.
• ISRO has this time increased the landing velocity to 3m/second from 2m/second.
• ISRO chief said that the second change is the addition of more fuel to the lander to handle more disruptions.
• A new sensor called the laser Doppler velocity meter is the third major change in the mission.
• ISRO has also improved the software to have tolerance to failures like engine disruptions, thrust disruptions, sensor failures, etc.
• Solar panels have been extended to more areas for generating power. ‘Vikram’ will be able to generate power even if it lands in a different orientation and is not facing the Sun.
• This mission will take around 45 days to reach the moon.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Defence

3. 7th edition of bilateral Japan-India Maritime Exercise (JIMEX) 2023 hosted by the Indian Navy.

• The exercise is being conducted from 5 July to 10 July 2023 at Visakhapatnam.
• This edition marks the 11th anniversary of JIMEX since its inception in 2012.
• Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) units under the command of RAdm Nishiyama Takahiro, Commander Escort Flotilla One are participating in the exercise.
• Indian Naval ships under the command of RAdm Gurcharan Singh, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet are participating in the exercise.
• JIMEX 2023 will see the participation of INS Delhi, India's first indigenously built Guided Missile Destroyer, INS Kamorta, an indigenously designed and built Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette.
• The JMSDF will be represented by the guided missile destroyer JS Samidare and its integral helicopters.
• The exercise will be conducted over six days in two phases- a harbor phase at Visakhapatnam which will include professional, sports and social interactions.
• In the second phase, both the navies will jointly hone their warfare skills at sea and enhance interoperability in the surface, sub-surface and air domains through complex multi-discipline operations.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: State News/ Gujarat

4. Gujarat government has doubled the amount of insurance covered under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.

• Now the beneficiaries of this scheme will get an insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 5 lakh.
• This decision will come into effect from 11th of this month.
• This decision of the government will benefit about one crore 78 lakhs Ayushman Bharat cardholders of the state.
• Under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Yojana, the beneficiaries will get the facility of free medical treatment in two thousand government hospitals and 795 private hospitals in the state.
• Gujarat ranks fifth in settling claims made by beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat card holders.
• Gujarat has received over 39 lakh claims under PMAY.
• The Gujarat ranked fifth in the country in terms of the number of claims and second in terms of the amount of claims settled so far under PMAY.
• So far, claims worth more than 2800 crores have been settled in the state.

Topic: Sports

5. Yuki Bhambri won his maiden ATP doubles title in Mallorca, Spain.

• On July 1, India’s Yuki Bhambri and his South African partner Lloyd Harris clinched the doubles title of the ATP World Tour at the Mallorca Championships in Spain.
• They defeated the Dutch-Austrian combo of Robin Hasse and Philipp Oswald 6-3 6-4 in the final of the grass-court event.
• Bhambri moved from ranked 75th to 58th in the ATP doubles tennis rankings.
• In Men's Singles, Christopher Eubanks of the United States defeated Adrian Mannarino of France in the championship.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

6. Three-Day International Conference on Green Hydrogen started in New Delhi.

• On 5 July, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy Shri R. K. Singh inaugurated the three-day International Conference on Green Hydrogen (ICGH-2023).
• The conference is being organized from 5th to 7th July 2023 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
• The conference brought together global scientific, policy, academic, and industrial leaders to discuss recent advances and emerging technologies across the entire green hydrogen value chain.
• The conference will enable the region's stakeholders to explore the evolving green hydrogen landscape and innovation-driven solutions in the region, thereby strengthening the region's sustainability ecosystem.
• The conference is being organized by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, in partnership with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, CSIR, Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to GoI, and the CII.
• The basic objective of the conference is to explore how we can establish a green hydrogen ecosystem and promote a systemic approach to meet global goals of decarbonization through green hydrogen.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

7. DGCA and EASA have signed a MoU for cooperation in Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Innovative Air Mobility.

• The MoU will facilitate collaboration on unmanned aircraft and innovative air mobility between the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
• It will also focus on information sharing between the two civil aviation authorities on technological developments and research.
• The signing of this MoU will boost the growth of the Indian unmanned aviation sector.
• A letter of intent (LoI) on Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Innovative Air Mobility was signed by DGCA with the EASA during EU-India Aviation Summit held in New Delhi on 20th April 2023.
• EASA is an agency of the European Union (EU). It is responsible for civil aviation safety.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

8. Ministry of Home Affairs has launched a Scheme for Expansion and Modernization of Fire Services in the States.

• The scheme has a total outlay of Rs.5,000 Crore. Out of the total outlay, the government has kept an amount of Rs. 500 crore for incentivizing the States on the basis of their legal and infrastructure-based reforms.
• It was announced by Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah while chairing a meeting with Ministers of Disaster Management of the States/Union Territories in New Delhi on 13th June, 2023.
• The scheme aims to expand and modernize Fire Services within National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
• In order to seek funds for the projects/proposals under the Scheme, the concerned State Governments are required to contribute 25% of the total cost of such projects/proposals from their budgetary resources.
• The North-Eastern and Himalayan (NEH) States shall contribute 10% of the total cost of projects/proposals from their budgetary resources.
• The scheme has its origins in the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission.
• It allows an allocation of 12.5% of each of the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the Funding Window of Preparedness and Capacity Building.

Topic: Indian Polity

9. Cabinet approved Digital Personal Data Protection Bill.

• The Union Cabinet approved the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 on 5 July.
• The bill is likely to be introduced in the upcoming Monsoon session, which is starting from 20 July.
• Under this bill, there is a provision to form a Data Protection Board to monitor the provisions of the Act.
• The Bill proposes to levy a penalty of up to ₹250 crore on entities for every instance of violation of norms.
• All online and offline data in India will come under its legal domain.
• As per the bill, Personal data may only be processed with the explicit consent of the individual.
• However, there will be exceptions in cases where the government requires access to data for reasons of national security and maintaining law and order.
• The Data Protection Bill was first drafted in November 2022.
• The Supreme Court has considered privacy as a fundamental right.
• Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) considered 21,666 suggestions for the draft of the Bill.

Topic: National News

10. UGC relaxed criteria for the appointment of teachers in colleges and universities.

• The University Grants Commission (UGC) rolled back its decision to make PhD mandatory for assistant professors in higher education institutions.
• As per the new guidelines, NET, SET or SLET will be the minimum criteria for the direct recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor for all Higher Education Institutions.
• UGC makes PhD optional for recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor in Higher institutions.
• UGC has amended the UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and other Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2018.
• The new amendments has come into force with effect from July 1, 2023.
• University Grants Commission (UGC):
  • It was established in 1956.
  • It is a statutory body set up under the UGC Act 1956.
  • It is responsible for maintaining higher education standards in India.
  • Jagadesh Kumar is the current chairman of UGC.

Topic: National News

11. Bharat 6G Alliance launched to promote innovation and collaboration in next generation wireless technology.

• The Bharat 6G Alliance has been launched by the Department of Telecommunications.
• The Bharat 6G Alliance (B6GA) is a collaborative platform comprising public and private companies, academia, research institutes, and standards development organizations.
• The primary objective of B6GA is to understand the business and societal needs of 6G beyond technology requirements, promote consensus on these needs, and foster high-impact open research and development (R&D) initiatives.
• Mobile services have seen a transformation from 2G to 3G, 4G to 5G and now 6G is on the horizon.
• In addition, two agreements were signed for projects under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) with a grant of Rs 240.51 crore.
• On 01 October 2022, TTDF scheme was launched by DoT/USOF. 5% of the annual collection from USOF will be available for the TTDF scheme for funding research and development of technologies, products, and services.
• The high-speed 5G services were started by telecom service providers in India in October 2022.
• The Department of Telecom had received bids worth a total of Rs 1.50 lakh crore from the 5G spectrum auction.
• The telecommunication sector is an ever-evolving sector with high technological obsolescence. It has seen a transition from wire-line to mobile services.
• In the last 9 years, the cost of data has come down from Rs 300/GB in 2014 to Rs 10/GB in 2023.

Topic: Government Schemes and initiatives

12. A portal launched by Election Commission of India for parties to file financial statements.

• On 3 July, the portal was launched to allow registered political parties to file their financial statements, including contribution reports, audited annual accounts, and poll expenditure statements.
• The Commission has taken this step with two objectives - to facilitate political parties to overcome difficulties in filing physical reports and to ensure timely filing of financial statements in a standardized format.
• Online availability of data is expected to increase the level of compliance and transparency.
• As per the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Transparency Guidelines issued by the Commission, political parties are required to submit financial statements to the Election Commission/Chief Electoral Officers of States/UTs.
• The online portal also has a facility to send reminders as messages on the registered mobile numbers and registered emails of the authorized representatives of the political party to adhere to the deadline.
• A comprehensive guide manual with graphical representations and FAQs has also been sent to political parties explaining the process of online modules and online report filing.
• Political parties who do not wish to file their financial reports through online mode shall inform the Commission in writing of the reasons for not filing them online.
• They may continue to file their reports in hard copy along with CD/pen drive in the prescribed format.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

13. U.N. Security Council to hold first-ever meeting on threats of AI.

• On 18th July, the UN Security Council will hold a first-ever meeting to discuss threats of AI.
• The meeting will be organized by the United Kingdom.
• The global leaders will discuss the potential threats of artificial intelligence to international peace and security.
• Britain will host the first major global summit on AI safety later this year.
• UN is planning to appoint a scientific advisory board with expertise in this area.
• AI’s possible use in autonomous weapons or in control of nuclear weapons could become a major threat to the world.
• The meeting will include briefings by international AI experts and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
• UN Chief supported the idea to form a new U.N. agency on AI based on the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Topic: National Appointment

14. Ajit Agarkar has been appointed as chairman of Team India's senior selection committee.

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed Ajit Agarkar as chairman of the Senior Men’s Selection Committee.
• The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) consisting of Sulakshana Naik, Ashok Malhotra and Jatin Paranjape recommended the name of Ajit Agarkar.
• The chief selector’s position is vacant after Chetan Sharma was sacked in February 2023.
• Ajit Agarkar has played 26 Tests, 191 ODI and four T20s for India.
• He was part of the 2007 ICC World T20-winning team.
• Subroto Banerjee, Salil Ankola, Sridharan Sharath and Shiv Sundar Das are the members of the Men’s Selection Committee.
• A formal decision to hike the selectors’ remuneration will be taken during the board’s Apex Council meeting.