21st July, 2023 Current Affairs

Sakshi Education

NATIONAL
SC refuses to entertain request of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for interim suspension of his conviction in criminal defamation case

The Supreme Court today refused to entertain the request of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for interim suspension of his conviction in a criminal defamation case. The court was hearing a petition filed by the Congress leader seeking a stay on his conviction in the case which relates to Mr. Gandhi’s Modi surname remark during an election rally in Karnataka in 2019.
The apex court refused the request by senior advocate A.M. Singhvi and advocate Prasanna S appearing for Mr. Gandhi, for an interim suspension of the conviction. A Bench led by Justice BR Gavai said, that cannot be done without hearing the other side first.\The top court issued notice to complainant Purnesh Modi and the State of Gujarat in this regard, and listed the case for hearing on 4th of August.

INTERNATIONAL
EU announces humanitarian aid of 7.6 million euros for Afghanistan

The European Union has announced humanitarian aid of 7.6 million euros for Afghanistan. The aid has been announced to tackle the alarming levels of food insecurity, economic crisis, and for restoring unirrigated land in six provinces around the nation. The EU's financial support will enable Afghan Aid and its partners to offer a comprehensive support programme to ensure the needs of rural Afghans.
It will also provide opportunities for income generation, and support communities in using climate-smart agriculture practices. According to the Afghan news agency, the project will be implemented in six provinces of the country, including Badakhshan, Dykundi, Ghor, Jawzjan, Samangan, and Takhar. Afghanistan has a significant problem with food insecurity, and women, young people, and families with members who are disabled are particularly affected.

Also Read: Weekly Current Affairs (Sports) 25-30 June 2023 Bitbank: In which Indian state the world's fastest bike race, 'Moto GP 2023' will be held?

>> Download Current Affairs PDFs Here

Download Sakshi Education Mobile APP

ECONOMY

PACS to provide services offered by Common Service Centres across country

The Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) will provide services offered by Common Service Centres (CSC) from today, July 21 across the country. This was informed by the Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah while formally announcing the initiative at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. Under the initiative, the PACS will provide more than 300 services, like Banking, Insurance, Aadhar enrolment, Health Services, Legal Services, and Pradhan Mantri Welfare Schemes, among others to the rural citizens including 13 crore farmers in the country.
A provision has been made in this year's budget to make 2 lakh PACS in the next five years and create a multi-purpose PACS in every Panchayat. Last Month the Ministry of Cooperation had signed an MoU with the Ministry of Electronic and IT, NABARD and CSC e-governance Services India Limited to enable the Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) to function as Common Service Centre (CSCs).

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Game-Changing Role of GPUs in AI

The global surge in artificial intelligence (AI) has been fueled by the emergence of graphics processing units (GPUs). These powerful components have become essential in contemporary supercomputing and are seamlessly integrated into expansive hyper-scale data centers. While remaining highly coveted by gamers, GPUs have also become valuable accelerators, enhancing a wide range of activities including encryption, networking, and AI processing. Moreover, they persistently contribute to advancements in gaming and professional graphics, enhancing performance in workstations, desktop PCs, and the latest laptops.
GPUs, originally designed for parallel processing, find applications in diverse fields, such as graphics and video rendering. Though renowned for their gaming capabilities, GPUs are increasingly gaining popularity in creative production and the realm of artificial intelligence (AI). The integration of GPUs with AI has brought about a significant revolution in deep learning—a subset of machine learning that involves training complex neural networks with multiple layers to decipher intricate patterns and make precise predictions.
The computational demands of these algorithms, with their intensive matrix operations and billions of calculations, align perfectly with the strengths of GPUs, making them excel in this domain. Due to their parallel processing architecture, GPUs can execute multiple calculations simultaneously, drastically accelerating the training and inference processes. This immense computing power empowers researchers and practitioners to tackle larger and more intricate datasets, resulting in the development of more accurate and sophisticated AI models.

SPORTS
FIFA Women's World Cup: Switzerland registers win over Philippines; Spain & Costa Rica match underway at Wellington Regional Stadium

In the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Olympic champion Canada was held to a goal-less draw by Nigeria in the Group B match at Melbourne in Australia this morning.
In a Group A encounter, Switzerland registered a 2-0 win over the Philippines at Forsyth Barr Stadium in New Zealand.
The third and last match of the day, between Spain and Costa Rica in Group C, is underway at Wellington Regional Stadium in New Zealand. In the opening match of the tournament yesterday, New Zealand defeated Norway in Auckland’s Eden Park. In another match of the day, Australia registered a win over the Republic of Ireland in Sydney. Australia and New Zealand are jointly hosting the ninth edition of the quadrennial international tournament. It is the first Women's World Cup with two co-hosts.

Published date : 21 Jul 2023 06:02PM