4th May, 2023 Current Affairs

Sakshi Education

NATIONAL
Indian origin Ajay Banga set to be next President of World Bank

Indian origin Ajay Banga was confirmed as the next President of World Bank. The World Bank’s 25-member executive board last night elected former Mastercard CEO to a five-year term as president.
The Indian-born finance and development expert was charged with revamping the lender to tackle climate change and other global crises.
63-year-old Banga was nominated for the post by United States President Joe Biden in late February and was the sole contender to replace departing World Bank chief David Malpass, an economist and former US Treasury official who served in the Trump administration. He will start the new job on June 2.

Home Ministry decides to introduce Millets, Shree Anna in the meals of personnel of CAPFs and NDRF

The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to introduce Millets, Shree Anna in the meals of personnel of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
The decision to introduce 30 per cent Millets in the meals has been taken on the clarion call of the Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah, after detailed discussion with all the Forces.
Millets will also be extensively used in various functions and events of CAPFs and NDRF. The Ministry informed that Millets will also be made available in Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandar, Grocery Shops of the campuses and Ration Store by setting up the dedicated counters and corners. The forces will organize training of cooks in preparing millets based dishes through reputed institutes in this field.
The United Nations had declared 2023 the International Year Millets as recognizing the importance of millets, and creating a domestic and global demand along with providing nutritious food to the people, at the behest of the Government of India. Millets are good source of proteins, gluten-free, low in Glycemic Index (GI) and rich in dietary fibre, micronutrients including calcium, iron, phosphorus etc, and phyto-chemicals.

>> Download Current Affairs PDFs Here

Download Sakshi Education Mobile APP

INTERNATIONAL
FDA approves world's first RSV vaccine for older adults

The United States Food and Drug Administration approved the world's first Respiratory Syncytial Virus - RSV - vaccine that is meant for older adults. However, the vaccine still needs approval from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before it can be rolled out to the public.
In a statement, senior FDA official Peter Marks said that today's approval of the first RSV vaccine is an important public health achievement to prevent a disease which can be life-threatening.
The vaccine was approved for people aged 60 and older after it was found 83 percent effective against diseases caused by RSV and more than 94 percent effective against severe diseases.
The RSV infection is more common among children but at times it also attacks the elderly population. RSV normally causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but it can be serious for people with weak immune systems.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it leads to approximately 60,000 to 120,000 hospitalizations and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths among adults 65 years of age and older.

BILATERAL
India-Israel Sign MoU on Industrial Research and Development Cooperation

India and Israel to further collaboration in high technology areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Quantum and semiconductors, synthetic biology etc.
Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of India And Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) of the Ministry of Defense of the State of Israel (IMoD) on Industrial Research and Development Cooperation.
Dr N Kalaiselvi, DG, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR thanked the Hon’ble Minister of State(IC), Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, GoI and Vice President, CSIR Society for gracing the meeting and his continued support to CSIR. She welcomed the dignitaries and gave an overview of CSIR, showcasing its technological and research prowess as also the ongoing collaboration discussions with DDR&D, Israel in Aerospace, Healthcare, Energy. Sharing CSIR’s priority topics she concurred to the interest of DDR&D for furthering collaboration with Israel in high technology areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Quantum and semiconductors, synthetic biology etc.
The MoU shall enable cooperation in the industrial R&D programs in mutually agreeable industrial technology fields through implementation of specific projects.
The collaboration would encompass some of the key industrial sectors including Healthcare; Aerospace & Electronics Instrumentation; Civil, Infrastructure & Engineering; Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Sustainable Energy including Energy Devices; Ecology, Environment, Earth & Ocean Sciences and Water; Mining, Minerals, Metals & Materials; Agriculture, Nutrition & Biotechnology. The collaboration through the MoU would be steered and the execution monitored by a Joint Steering Committee led by the heads of the CSIR and DDR&D for taking forward mutually benefiting Industrial and technology cooperation.
Specific collaboration on Hydrogen and Aerospace currently under discussed between CSIR and DDR&D were briefed by Dr Abhay Pashilkar, Director, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), and Dr Ashish Lele, Director, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL); they welcomed collaboration on futuristic technologies in these domains, including in High Altitude Platform, Hydrogen Valley programs of CSIR, respectively.
Specific collaboration on Therapeutics between CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT) and M/s 101 Therapeutics for conducting clinical trials of a COVID-19 drug having enormous therapeutic potential was briefed; if successful this would prove to be highly appropriate and effective for preparation of future pandemics. The cooperation MoU between CSIR-IICT and M/s 101 Therapeutics was also signed during the meeting.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that CSIR has specialized laboratories in almost all the identified priority sectors therefore assured appropriate competence for this cooperation. For e.g. indigenous Hydrogen Fuel Cell bus by CSIR-NCL, purple revolution (Lavender cultivation) by CSIR-IIIM. He welcomed technology partnership with Israel and congratulated both sides for for their efforts to strengthen the India-Israel relationship.

ECONOMY
FM Nirmala Sitharaman asks ADB to focus on Climate financing for sustainable development

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stressed the need for a robust Asian Development Bank (ADB) that adopts a transformational rather than incremental approach for sustainable and resilient regional development.
She said this while addressing the meeting of the Board of Governors of ADB in Seoul. The Minister urged ADB to explain its plan for meeting its ambition with more concessional climate finance, especially to middle-income economies like India, whose economic progress is consistent with the pursuit of its net zero goal by 2070.
The Indian economy is on a relatively stronger trajectory despite prevailing economic uncertainties due to the government’s proactive policies and empowerment-led development.
Indian government continues to focus on strategic and integrated infrastructure development driven by unprecedented capital expenditure and building economic competitiveness while integrating with global value chains.
The Minister assured India's continued support to ADB in all its endeavour including that of climate finance.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
India to launch its own heat index next year to quantify heat hazard, generate impact-based heat wave alerts for specific locations

India will launch its own heat index next year to quantify the impact of heat on its population and generate impact-based heatwave alerts for specific locations.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) began issuing an experimental heat index for different parts of the country last week, taking into account air temperature and relative humidity to determine how hot it really feels.
Along with temperature and humidity, it will integrate other parameters such as wind and duration of exposure.
It will be an effective indicator of heat stress for people. The IMD chief said the hazard score will be ready in around two months and it will be operational in the next summer season.
Meanwhile, a layer of shallow fog was witnessed in different parts of the national capital Delhi this morning due to which the visibility was impacted.
The City experienced heavy rainfall and around 21 millimeter rainfall was recorded in the last 24 hours.

ANDHRA PRADESH
AP CM Lays Foundation For Rs 4,600 Cr Bhogapuram Airport

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy laid the foundation stone for the Rs 4,592 crore international greenfield airport at Bhogapuram village in Vizianagaram district, aimed at all round development of the North Andhra region.
Besides the Bhogapuram airport, the Chief Minister also virtually laid the foundation for Rs 194 crore Taraka Rama Sagaram project and Rs 24 crore Chintapalli Fish Landing Centre in the district.
Bhogapuram airport would cater to 40 lakh passengers in the beginning and will grow to serve four crore passengers, emerging as the central point for Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, including changing the façade of North Andhra region, infamous for migration of people.

Incorporate Cutting Edge Tech In Revenue Generating Departments: AP CM

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy directed officials to incorporate "state-of-the-art technology" to implement policy, particularly in revenue generating departments, and thereby reduce human involvement in the process.
Stating that the use of technology would improve efficiency and render improvised services to taxpayers with full transparency, the chief minister, at a review meeting on revenue generating departments, instructed officials to conduct a study and submit a detailed report by the next review.
Andhra Pradesh was better placed than Karnataka and Maharashtra in tax collection, logging a growth rate of 25.2 per cent and achieving 93 per cent -- Rs 51,481 crore -- of the last fiscal’s target, while Rs 60,191 crore has been set as the goal for fiscal year 2023-24.
According to officials, targets are being reached by the efficient use of data analytics and introduction of automation between various departments to keep an eye on tax evaders.
Meanwhile, the Stamps and Registrations Department’s revenue has shot up to Rs 8,071 crore in 2022-23 when compared to Rs 4,725 crore in 2018-19 while the Mines and Geology Department has earned a revenue of Rs 4,756 crore, exceeding the target of Rs 4,500 crore set for 2022-23.
Similarly, the Transport Department recorded revenue of Rs 4,294 crore, achieving 95.4 per cent of the target while Rs 7,000 crore has been set as the goal for the current fiscal year.

Published date : 04 May 2023 06:16PM