27th December, 2024 Current Affairs

NATIONAL
India’s Defence Exports Reach Rs. 21,083 Crore In 2023-24

• In the fiscal year 2023-24, India achieved a significant milestone in its defence sector. The country’s defence exports reached a record-high value of Rs 21,083 crore (around USD 2.63 billion), marking a 32.5% growth over the previous year. This growth is part of a broader trend in India’s defence sector, reflecting both enhanced domestic production and export capabilities.
• In parallel, India’s indigenous defence production also set a record, with a value of Rs 1,26,887 crore, representing a 16.7% increase compared to the previous fiscal year. The combined efforts of the private sector and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) have been crucial in this success, contributing to a strengthened and self-reliant defence ecosystem.
• Reached Rs 21,083 crore, a 32.5% growth from Rs 15,920 crore in FY 2022-23.

 INTERNATIONAL
China Approves $137-Billion Mega Dam on Brahmaputra Near Indian Border

• China has approved the construction of the world’s largest dam on the YarlungZangbo (Brahmaputra) in Tibet, close to the Indian border. Estimated at $137 billion, this project raises strategic and environmental concerns for India and Bangladesh. The massive hydropower dam, located at a tectonic boundary prone to earthquakes, has been touted as safe by Chinese authorities, who emphasize ecological protection and advanced engineering techniques.
• The dam could empower China to control water flow and potentially flood border areas during hostilities.
• India is constructing its own dam on the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh to counter potential Chinese control.
• India and China established the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in 2006 for trans-border river discussions. China provides India with hydrological data during flood seasons, reaffirmed during the December 18 meeting between India’s NSA Ajit Doval and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

US Declare Bald Eagle As National Bird After 250 Years

• President Joe Biden signed a historic law officially designating the bald eagle as the national bird of the United States. Although the bald eagle has been an enduring emblem of the country, appearing on the Great Seal of the US since 1782, it was never formally recognized as the national bird until this legislation. Spearheaded by lawmakers from Minnesota, this decision honors the bald eagle’s symbolic representation of strength, courage, and freedom while acknowledging its remarkable recovery from near extinction.
• Bald eagle has appeared on the seal since 1782, symbolizing strength and freedom.
• Founding Father Benjamin Franklin opposed the bald eagle, calling it a “bird of bad moral character.
• Despite objections, Congress recognized the bald eagle’s symbolic value and its indigenous status in North America.

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ECONOMY
Household Consumption Expenditure Survey: 2023-24

• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) decided to conduct two consecutive surveys on household consumption expenditure during 2022-23 and 2023-24, once situation normalized after the Covid-19 pandemic. The first survey was conducted during the period August 2022 to July 2023 and the summary results of the survey in the form of a factsheet was released in February 2024.  Subsequently, the detailed report and the unit level data of the survey was released in June 2024.
• The estimates of MPCE of 2023-24 are based on the data collected from 2,61,953 Households (1,54,357 in rural areas and 1,07,596 in urban areas) in the central sample spread over all States and Union Territories in the country.
• The average MPCE in rural and urban India in 2023-24 has been estimated to be Rs. 4,122 and Rs. 6,996, respectively without taking into account of the values of items received free of cost by the households through various social welfare programmes.
• Considering the imputed values of items received free of cost through various social welfare programmes, these estimates become Rs. 4,247 and Rs. 7,078 respectively, for rural and urban areas.
• In nominal prices, the average MPCE (without imputation) in 2023-24 increases by about 9% in rural areas and 8% in urban areas from the level of 2022-23.
• The urban-rural gap in MPCE has declined to 71% in 2022-23 from 84% in 2011-12. It has further come down to 70% in 2023-24 that confirms sustained momentum of consumption growth in rural areas.
• When ranked by MPCE, the increase in the average MPCE in 2023-24 from the level of 2022-23 has been the maximum for the bottom 5 to 10 % of India’s population, for both rural and urban areas.
• Consistent with the trend observed in HCES:2022-23, non-food items remain the major contributor to the household’s average monthly expenditure in 2023-24 with about 53% and 60% share in MPCE in rural and urban areas respectively.
• Beverages, refreshments and processed food continues to have the major expenditure share in 2023-24 in the food items basket of the rural and urban households.
• Conveyance, clothing, bedding & footwear, miscellaneous goods & entertainment and durable goods have major expenditure share in non-food expenditure of the households in both rural and urban areas.
• Rent consisting of house rent, garage rent and hotel accommodation charges with about 7% share is another major constituent of the urban households’ non-food expenditure.
• Consumption inequality, both in rural and urban areas has declined from the level of 2022-23. The Gini coefficient has declined to 0.237 in 2023-24 from 0.266 in 2022-23 for rural areas and to 0.284 in 2023-24 from 0.314 in 2022-23 for urban areas.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Nvidia Unveils the Jetson Orin Nano Super Generative AI Supercomputer

• Nvidia has recently announced the launch of its Jetson Orin Nano Super Generative AI supercomputer, marking a significant advancement in affordable AI solutions.
• The Jetson Orin Nano Super Generative AI supercomputer brings a 1.7x leap in generative AI inference performance, which is a major milestone in the AI sector. This leap in performance is paired with a 70% increase in overall performance, pushing the AI inference capabilities to 67 INT8 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second). Additionally, the memory bandwidth of the supercomputer has been boosted by 50%, reaching 102GB/s, which further enhances its ability to process and handle large datasets and complex AI tasks.

Published date : 27 Dec 2024 06:14PM