Daily Current Affairs and GK | 8 October 2021

Topic: State News/ Andhra Pradesh

1. Andhra Pradesh government launched Swechha scheme for adolescent girl students.

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the Swechha programme.
• It aims to improve the health and hygiene of adolescent girls studying in Government Schools or colleges. Under this initiative, sanitary napkins will be provided to girls.
• According to a report, around 23 percent of young girls in the country stay away from school during menstruation.
• Under the Swechha initiative, awareness on menstruation will be spread among the students studying in classes 7 to 12 by women teachers and women cops.
• The state government will provide quality sanitary napkins to the students. The students will also be taught on proper disposal of sanitary pads.

Topic: Infrastructure and Energy

2. Government to constitute National Road Safety Board.

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified to set up a “National Road Safety Board”.
• The board will be constituted to formulate specific standards for road safety, traffic management, and road construction for hilly regions
• The Head Office of the National Road Safety Board will be established in the National Capital Region.
• The road safety board will comprise of the Chairman and 3 to 7 members. The members of the board will be appointed by the Central Government.
• It will also provide technical advice and assistance to Central, State, and local authorities on road safety & traffic management.

Topic: State News/Assam

3. Fishwaale App has been launched by Assam.

• App Fishwaale has been launched by Assam and it is India's first e-fish market.
• Minister for Fisheries, Environment and Forest and Excise in Government of Assam, Parimal Suklabaidya has launched this app.
• The app has been developed by Aqua Blue Global Aquaculture Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in collaboration with the Fisheries department.
• App Fishwaale is a one-stop solution for Aquaculture. It will help buyers and sellers to place orders and sell fish online.
• Through the App, one can also sell and buy quality fish seed and fish feed. Table size fishes such as bhangon, mrigal and rohu and freshwater and seawater frozen fish are also available on the app.
• Aquaculture equipment and medicine will also be available on the app. With the help of App Fishwaale, fish farming community will be able to get a reasonable price for their produce. This will lead to the elimination of middlemen.
• Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms. Fish farming, shrimp farming, oyster farming, mariculture, algaculture (farming of algae) are kinds of aquaculture. Mariculture or marine farming is the cultivation of marine organisms.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

4. 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature won by Abdulrazak Gurnah.

• 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature has been won by Abdulrazak Gurnah, who is a Tanzanian writer.
• He has won the prize for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.
• He grew up on the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean. He arrived in England as a refugee at the end of the 1960s.
• He has authored 10 novels and a number of short stories. Memory of Departure is his debut novel.
• His other novels include Pilgrims Way, Dottie, Paradise, Admiring Silence, By the Sea, Desertion, Last Gift, Gravel Heart and Afterlives (2020).
• Swedish Academy, Stockholm, Sweden awards Nobel Prize in literature. Swedish Academy said that Swahili was his first language, English became his literary tool.
• He is the first black African author to win the award since Wole Soyinka in 1986.
• The Academy said that Literature was the fourth prize area mentioned by Nobel in his will. So far, the Academy has recognized 117 people for their literary creations. Out of them, 16 are women. 
• American poet Louise Glück was awarded 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Topic: Important Days

5. Indian Air Force celebrated its 89^th anniversary on 08 Oct 2021.

• Indian Air Force has celebrated its 89^th anniversary on 08 Oct 2021.
• Air display by various aircraft was the main attraction of the Air Force Day Parade-cum-investiture Ceremony at Air Force Station Hindan in Ghaziabad.
• Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari reviewed the parade.
• The Air Display started with flag bearing skydivers of the famous Akash Ganga Team.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Environment and Ecology

6. India Joined High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People.

• Recently, India officially joined the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People on 7^th October.
• High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People is a group of 70 countries encouraging the adoption of the global goal to protect 30x30.
• India has made this announcement at a high-level biodiversity meeting hosted by China. The main aim of the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People is to support the adoption of a target aiming to protect 30% of the earth’s land and 30% of its oceans by 2030 (30x30 target).
• A virtual meeting will also take place from 11-15 October to tackle key aspects of the biodiversity treaty to be finalized in 2022.
• High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People was launched at the “One Planet Summit” in Paris in January 2021.
• The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC) is an intergovernmental group within the future global framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) for the protection of biodiversity.

Topic: Sports

7. Anshu Malik wins silver medal in World Wrestling Championships.

• Indian wrestler Anshu Malik has won a silver medal in the World Wrestling Championships at Oslo in Norway.
• She has become the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in the World Wrestling Championships.
• She had lost in the finals of the women's 57 kg category from Olympic medalist Helen Maroulis of the USA. Maroulis has won the gold medal in the women's 57 kg category.
• India's Sarita Mor has won a bronze medal in the women's 59 kilograms by defeating Sweden's Sara Lindborg.
• Earlier, only five Indian women had won bronze at the world championships.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

8. TRIFED to sign MoU with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir for implementing Van Dhan Yojana.

• TRIFED will sign MoU with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir for implementing Van Dhan Yojana and to promote tribal enterprise in the region.
• TRIFED will help in establishing 1500 VDSHGs that will nurture 30,000 tribal startups in the UT. It will enhance the skill of tribes and inculcate entrepreneurial skills among them.
• Under the Van Dhan Yojana, TRIFED will directly benefit 2,50,000 tribals in Jammu & Kashmir. TRIFED will also set up 2 TRIFOOD Parks and open 5 retail outlets in Jammu & Kashmir.
• TRIFED will also facilitate the setting up of PMU in the UT for all-round welfare of regional tribal communities.

Topic: Environment and Ecology

9. Government proposed amendment to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

• The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has proposed an amendment to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 to liberalize forest laws.
• The Act has given powers to the Central government to approve the use of any forest for non-forest activities.
• Until December 1996, provisions of the Forest Conservation Act only applied to the forests notified under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 or any other local law, and to those managed by the forest department.
• In the TN Godavarman Thirumulpad versus Union of India and Others case, Supreme Court redefined the definition of forest. It has included all areas which are recorded as ‘forest’ in any government record.
• According to the new proposal, deemed forests listed by state governments up to 1996 will continue to be considered forest land.
• Land that was acquired by the Railways and the road ministries before 1980, but on which forests came up, will no longer be considered forests.
• Environment Ministry also increased the penalty provisions of offenses in the new proposal.
• The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, was enacted to address the issue of deforestation.

Topic: Environment and Ecology

10. National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) declared combined areas of Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve.

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has declared the combined areas of Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve.
• It is the fourth Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh, after the Udanti-Sitanadi, Achanakmar, and Indravati Reserves.
• Guru Ghasidas National Park is in Koriya district and Tamor Pingla is located in Surajpur district in the northwestern corner of Chhattisgarh.
• Guru Ghasidas National Park was the Asiatic cheetah’s last-known habitat in India. It provides a corridor for tigers to move between the Bandhavgarh (Madhya Pradesh) and Palamau Tiger Reserves (Jharkhand).
• National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has granted approval under Section 38V(1) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Topic: Personality in News

11. Actor Arvind Trivedi passed away on October 5, 2021.

• Actor Arvind Trivedi passed away on October 5, 2021.
• He is best known for playing the role of Raavan on the 1986 mythological show Ramayan.
• He found immense popularity on the Ramanand Sagar’s 1986 TV series Ramayan. His other works include TV series Vikram Aur Betaal (1985) and the 1998 Gujarati feature film Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya.
• In 1991, he was elected as a Member of Parliament. He was also the chief of the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) from 2002-2003. Prasoon Joshi is the current CBFC chief.
• Actor Ghanashyam Nayak also passed away recently. He is known for his role in popular TV serial Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.

Topic: Miscellaneous

12. Mukesh Ambani tops Forbes India rich list for the 14th year in a row.

• Mukesh Ambani has topped Forbes India rich list for the 14th year in a row.
• He has topped list with $92 billion net worth. As per Forbes Rich List, he added $4 billion to his net worth in 2021.
• Gautam Adani is second richest in India with a wealth of $74.8 billion. Shiv Nadar came third in the list with a wealth of $31 billion.
• Radhakrishnan Damani is ranked at fourth place. He is founder of Avenues Supermarts. Cyrus Poonawalla is placed at fifth place. He is chairman of Serum Institute.
• Savitri Jindal has re-entered in the top 10 richest list. Cumulative wealth of India's 100 richest on the list is now worth $775 billion.
• Inder Jaisinghani (57th rank) is a first-time entrant on the Forbes India rich list.
• Arvind Lal, Ashok Boob, Deepak Mehta, Bajranglal Taparia and Yogesh Kotharia are other new entrants to the list.

Topic: Indian Economy

13. Fitch Ratings lowers India's GDP forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2022.

• Fitch Ratings has lowered India's GDP forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2022 from 10% to 8.7%.
• But, it has raised GDP growth projection for fiscal year 2023 (April 2022-March 2023) to 10%. In June, it had reduced the growth forecast from 12.8% to 10%.
• Fitch Ratings has said that the second wave has delayed India's economic recovery rather than derail India's economic recovery.
• The agency has kept central government deficit forecast in fiscal year 2022 at 7.2% of GDP.
• Fitch said that it expects inflation to moderate. In July, RBI had also reduced growth forecast for this fiscal from 10.5% to 9.5%.
• S&P Global Ratings had also lowered its growth estimate to 9.5%. Moody's has estimated a 9.3 % growth in the current fiscal ending March 2022.
• In June, the World Bank reduced its GDP growth forecast for fiscal year 2022 to from 10.1% in April to 8.3 %.
• Fitch Ratings is an American credit rating agency. It is one of the Big Three credit rating agencies.