25th February, 2023 Current Affairs

Sakshi Education

NATIONAL
India joins Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate

The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate is a joint initiative of the US. It was started by UAE and USA.
The main objective of the initiative is to address hunger and climate change. This is to be achieved by inviting countries and other private organizations to invest in innovative and climate-smart agricultural systems.
The mission will demonstrate the benefits of collective commitment. It will aim to increase investments in smart agriculture, innovative agricultural technologies, and food system
Frameworks will be created to promote knowledge, expertise, and technical discussions. This is to be achieved by amplifying national and international level investments
To create platforms and infrastructure for governments, scientists, and other stakeholders to share information and take climate-related actions

SC refuses to hear PIL on menstrual leave

A Public Interest Litigation was filed with the Supreme Court on Menstrual leave. The apex court first agreed to take up the PIL and said “will hear it in a week”. However, recently the SC refused to take the PIL.
According to SC, creating laws or passing judgement on such leaves will become a deterrent to women’s employment. Also, the Supreme Court added that the solution is in the hands of the government. And asked the petitioner to approach the Women and child development ministry.
State Governments like Kerala and other countries have been creating laws on menstrual leave. Spain introduced the Menstrual law recently. Many Indian companies like Swiggy and Zomato are offering menstrual leave.

Onion Shortage threatens the world

Onion shortages are increasing all over the world. From Morocco to the Philippines, the governments are protecting their onion supplies. Morocco, Turkey, and Kazakhstan have stopped exporting onions due to their increasing demand and soaring prices in their homeland.
Different factors contribute to the price rise and shortage of onions. First and foremost is the war in Ukraine. Following this, the other factors that contributed to the price rise are the Pakistan floods, Central Asia frosts that damaged the stockpiles, severe droughts in North Africa, and poor weather in Morocco.
Of all the countries, the Philippines is facing the highest crisis. The onion prices in the Philippines have become higher than the price of a meal. This is mainly because a series of typhoons hit the country in 2022 damaging the crops.

INTERNATIONAL
Pakistan receives $700 million from China

The foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan fell to 2.9 billion USD. It is now slowly rising to 4 billion USD. The cash injection was the need of the moment for Pakistan. And China stepped in offering 700 million USD to help its “all-weather” friend.
China Development Bank transferred the funds to Pakistan State Bank. Pakistan was also asking for help from the IMF. Unfortunately, the talks ended in failure. IMF is planning on sending 1.1 billion USD but no decision has been made yet.

Sri Lanka: Swami Vivekananda cultural centre holds festival of Carnatic Music 'Tyagaraja Aradhana' in Colombo

In Sri Lanka, the Swami Vivekananda cultural centre held a festival of Carnatic Music, the Tyagaraja Aradhana at Saraswati Hall in Colombo. The festival is an annual Aradhana of Telugu saint composer Tyagaraja. Saint Tyagaraja attained Jeeva Samadhi in Thanjavur district of Tamilnadu. The aradhana witnessed rendering of the saint's Pancharatna Kritis.
Saint Tyagaraja’s tradition of Bhakti, High Commissioner of India, Gopal Baglay said Devotion or Bhakti brings out ultimate surrender to the almighty. He added that Bhakti along with music takes one to the highs of spiritual joy which cannot be described.

US Secy of State Antony Blinken to visit Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan & India from Feb 28 to March 3

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and India from the 28th of February to 3rd of March. He will travel to New Delhi on the 1st of March to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting. During his visit to India, Blinken will hold a meeting with officials of the Union government and the civil society to reaffirm the strong partnership between the two nations.
Before travelling to India, Blinken will visit Kazakhstan's Astana on the 28th of February, where he will meet with senior Kazakh officials to deepen bilateral cooperation between the US and Kazakhstan. He will also participate in a C51 summit. The C51 is a diplomatic summit that has been held every year since 2015 between the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with the United States Secretary of State. The C51 Ministerial will focus on bolstering economic, energy and environmental, and security cooperation.

ECONOMY
IMF Nine Point Crypto Action Plan
The International Monetary Fund recently unveiled a Crypto Action plan to safeguard monetary sovereignty in the world. The action plan will help countries to frame their crypto policies. The following are the nine points:Details how a country should treat cryptocurrencies. That is, they should choose the currency very carefully in providing the legal status

Establish international arrangements to increase enforcement regulations
set up methodologies to monitor the impact of cryptocurrency
Strengthen monetary frameworks
Guard against excessive capital flows
make laws on cryptocurrencies and assets;
impose taxes on organizations using crypto
Be cautious as the crypto assets may circumvent capital flow management and also may undermine the monetary policy’s efficiency
Do not grant legal status or official status to cryptocurrency

The IMF quoted El Salvador as an example. The country lost more than 60 million USD during its bitcoin experiment. It spent 375 million USD in implementing the experiment. Due to this, the country faced an economic crisis and a very high deficit. The country implemented bitcoin.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Russia launches Soyuz Space craft to bring back stranded astronauts

Roscosmos recently launched an empty SOYUZ spacecraft to bring back the stranded astronauts in space. Three astronauts were stranded in space as the Soyuz MS-22 capsule started leaking coolant.
The astronauts were to return to the earth in the capsule. Now, with the leak, the astronauts will return only by September. The leak was due to a micrometeoroid, possibly the size of a small rock hitting the satellite.
Soyuz MS-22 is one of the major life-threatening impacts that happened in space missions. The consequences of space impacts have never been this serious

SPORTS
South Africa defeat England by 6 runs in 2nd semifinal of ICC T20 Womens' World Cup

In Cricket, South Africa defeated England by six runs in the second semifinal of the ICC T20 Womens' World Cup, at Newlands cricket ground in Cape Town, South Africa.
Chasing a target of 165 runs, England could score only 158 runs at the loss of eight wickets in their stipulated 20 overs. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the hosts scored 164 runs for the loss of four wickets.
South Africa will now face Australia in the summit clash, to be played on 26th of February at Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, South Africa.

All-India Taekwondo Championship marking 50 years India Korea relations begins in Delhi

Sports Secretary Sujata Chaturvedi inaugurated the three-day All-India Taekwondo Championship in New Delhi.
The championship is being organised to commemorate the 50th year of diplomatic ties between Korea and India and to revitalize Taekwondo that has been stagnant since the pandemic, and to lay the foundation for the future as a major sports event between the two countries.
The Sports Authority of India is co-hosting the event with Korean Cultural Centre India and Korea National Sports University. Speaking on the occasion, the Sports Secretary expressed hope that this sporting event will further strengthen the ties between the two countries.
The Taekwondo Championship is being held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in the national capital and has been divided in two parts - Poomsae and Sparring called Kyorugi. Only elite Taekwondo players registered in 79 regional centers and regional training centers of Sports Authority of India will participate in the sparring category and the Poomsae category is open to the public anyone with a Kukkiwon-certified Taekwondo dan certificate can participate.

Published date : 25 Feb 2023 05:43PM