Current Affairs 11^th April 2024

Welcome to your one-stop shop for all things current affairs! Today, we’re diving into the headlines for Thursday, April 11th, 2024. Whether you’re prepping for an exam, keeping tabs on the world, or simply curious about what’s happening, this blog is your key to understanding the latest developments.

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

1) EU & India Partners to Promote Start-up Collaboration on Recycling of E-V Batteries under TTC

On April 9, 2024, the European Union (EU) and India launched an Expression of Interest (EOI) for startups working in Electric Vehicles (EVs) Battery Recycling to participate in a matchmaking event organized by the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC).
This initiative seeks to foster collaboration between European and Indian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the clean and green technology sector.

About the Joint EU-India matchmaking event:

The joint EU-India matchmaking event will foster collaboration and partnerships between solution providers and adopters in both regions.

The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, along with the EU’s funding, is hosting an event in June 2025. This event will provide a platform for 12 startups (6 from Europe and 6 from India) to pitch their ideas. Following the pitches, a selection process will identify six finalists (three from each continent).

Following the selection process, the chosen finalists will embark on reciprocal visits. This means EU finalists will travel to India, while their Indian counterparts will journey to the EU. These visits serve a key purpose: fostering discussions on market opportunities and establishing valuable connections. Don’t miss this chance! The call for applications from both Indian and European startups and SMEs is open until April 30, 2024, so express your interest now!

Key Points:

• The initiative will help advance circular economic practices and achieve India and the EU’s carbon neutrality goals.
• It aims to foster collaboration and investigate potential trade opportunities, customer relationships, and investment opportunities for the short-listed start-ups.

India-EU TCC:

• The India-EU TTC was announced by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a meeting in New Delhi in April 2022.
• The EU-India TTC is a platform for collaboration to address key trade, technology, and security challenges.
• TTC is composed of three working groups:

Working Group 1 focuses on Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance, and Digital Connectivity.

Group 2 Green and Clean Energy Technology.

Working Group 3 focuses on trade, investment, and resilient value chains.

About European Union(EU):

• President of the European Council: Charles Michel.
• President of the European Commission: Ursula von der Leyen.
• Headquarters – Brussels, Belgium.
• Members: 27.
• Established in 1993.

Click here to read from source

2) QCI & MoHFW Partnered to Improve CGHS Healthcare Experience

The Quality Council of India (QCI) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) have launched a five-year collaboration to transform the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) ecosystem and improve healthcare services for all beneficiaries.

This aims to deliver a more robust, efficient, and transparent CGHS system by taking a comprehensive approach that addresses several critical areas.

Key Points:

• Focus areas include improving service quality through systematic interventions, assisting CGHS facilities with accreditation, and preparing healthcare providers.
• The emphasis is on using technology for transformation and pursuing new initiatives.
• Critical measures include maintaining drug and storage quality, modernizing procurement systems, and updating infrastructure and processes.
• Quality monitoring mechanisms will be established to ensure regular evaluation.
• The collaboration aims to improve CGHS through third-party assessments while also expanding the network of qualified healthcare providers and laboratories.

About Quality Council of India (QCI):

• Chairperson– Jaxay Shah
• Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
• Parent Ministry– Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry
• Establishment– 1997

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3) MoRTH Constructed 12,349 km of National Highways in FY24, the 2nd highest so far

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) constructed a total of 12,349 kilometers of National Highways (NHs) during Fiscal Year 2023-24, marking the second-highest achievement in national highway construction history. In addition, the Ministry awarded 8,851 NH projects during fiscal year 24.

FY21 is in first place with 13,327 kilometers of national highways.
Pilot program for cashless treatment of road accident victims

In March 2024, the Government of India (GoI) launched a pilot program to provide cashless treatment to victims of road accidents caused by motor vehicles.
Significance: It aims to reduce fatalities from road accidents by providing timely medical care, including during the golden hour. It provides a legal mandate under Section 162 of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988.

Key Features of the Pilot Program:

• Having been developed by the MoRTH, a new program will be initially introduced in Chandigarh to provide cashless treatment for road accident victims. This program allows victims involved in any motor vehicle accident to receive up to Rs 1.5 lakh per person for medical care, covering a maximum of seven days from the date of the accident.
• Hospital seeks compensation from the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund for treating patients.
• The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) will now incorporate trauma and polytrauma care packages. To implement this program seamlessly, officials are combining the strengths of two existing IT platforms.
• The National Health Authority’s Transaction Management System (TMS) will be integrated with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ (MoRTH) e-Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) application. This combined IT platform will ensure efficient program execution.

About Ministry of Road Transport and Highways(MoRTH):

• Union Minister: Nitin Jairam Gadkari(Constituency: Nagpur, Maharashtra)
• Minister of State(MoS): Retd. General Vijay Kumar Singh (Constituency: Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh)

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INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

4) WHO Global Hepatitis Report 2024; Hepatitis is 2^nd Leading Infectious cause of Death Globally

• The World Health Organization (WHO) released its ‘Global Hepatitis Report 2024 -Action for access in low- and middle-income countries’ on April 9, 2024, coinciding with the World Hepatitis Summit (WHS) 2024. The Summit, organized by the World Hepatitis Alliance and supported by the Ministry of Health of Portugal, was held in Lisbon from April 9-11, 2024 under the theme ‘Integrate, Accelerate, Eliminate’.
• According to it, viral hepatitis is the second leading infectious cause of death in the world, trailing only tuberculosis.
• This is the first WHO-consolidated report on viral hepatitis epidemiology, service coverage, and product access, with more actionable data.
• Viral hepatitis kills 1.3 million people each year, with hepatitis B accounting for 83% of the deaths and hepatitis C for 17%.
• It was created by the WHO Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis, and Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Programmes (HHS) in collaboration with the Department of Health Product Policy and Standards (HPS), Department of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals, and Department of Regulation and Prequalification.

About World Health Organization (WHO):

• Director-General– Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
• Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
• Establishment– 1948

Click here to read from source

BANKING & FINANCE

5) NPS Assets under Management record 30.5% YoY growth in FY24: PFRDA Data

According to the latest data from the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), the National Pension System (NPS) Assets Under Management (AUM) increased by 30.5% year on year (Y-o-Y) during Fiscal Year 2023-24 (FY24), reaching Rs 11.73 lakh crore in FY24 from Rs 8.98 lakh crore in FY23.
This is greater than the 27% year-over-year increase in NPS assets in FY23.

Highlights:

• This growth coincides with the addition of 9.47 lakh new subscribers from the non-government sector. In FY24, 7.10 lakh new government employees enrolled in the National Pension System.
• However, this growth fell slightly short of the PFRDA’s one million target for FY24, with an internal target of 13 lakh new subscribers.
• As of March 31, 2024, the total number of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) subscribers had risen by 16.28% to 7.36 crore.

Key Points:

• The non-government sector (corporate and retail) saw a 41.67% increase in NSP assets to Rs 2.27 lakh crore, while government employees’ assets increased by 28% to Rs 9.05 lakh crore.
• Increased awareness campaigns contributed to NPS asset growth, with equity assets accounting for 18% of AUM and a higher proportion in the Retail and Corporate segments.
• In FY24, over 3,000 additional corporations implemented Corporate NPS for their employees.
• Due to strong equity markets, Pension Funds achieved an average annual return of 35.42% as of March 31, far exceeding other investment options.

About Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA):

• Chairperson– Dr. Deepak Mohanty
• Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
• Establishment– 2003

Click here to read from source

6) STB & PhonePe inks MoU to Promote UPI for Indians in Singapore (Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Singapore’s leading tourism development agency, has signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PhonePe to promote the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for Indian tourists visiting Singapore.
The MoU enables customers to conduct cross-border transactions between India and Singapore using their existing Indian bank accounts.

As part of the agreement, STB and PhonePe will collaborate on marketing campaigns in Singapore and India to promote the destination’s dynamic options and seamless UPI experiences in key tourism hotspots.

Signatories: The MoU was signed by Melissa Ow, CEO of STB, and Ritesh Pai, CEO of PhonePe’s International Payments Business.

PhonePe Group is India’s top fintech company. Its flagship product is the PhonePe digital payment app, which was released in August 2016.

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AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

(Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

7) MoPSW Awarded Sagar Samman Awards on National Maritime Day 2024 (Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

On the occasion of the 61st National Maritime Day (5th April 2024), the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways (MoPSW) presented the Sagar Samman Awards, which recognize outstanding contributions in the maritime sector.

During an event hosted by the National Maritime Day Celebrations (NMDC) Central Committee at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in Nariman Point, Mumbai, Maharashtra, the organization presented an award. Additionally, the NMDC announced the recipients of their Awards for Outstanding Maritime Training Institutes and Recognitions.

Note: The theme for National Maritime Day 2024 was “Sustainable Shipping: Opportunities and Challenges”.

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8) INS Sharda Awarded ‘On The Spot Unit Citation 23-24’ For Anti Piracy Operations (Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), presented the ‘On the Spot Unit Citation 23-24’ to Indian Naval Ships (INS) Sharda on April 8, 2024, during his visit to Southern Naval Command (SNC), Kochi (Kerala), for successful antipiracy operations.

On February 2, 2024, INS Sharda (P55), a Sukanya-class patrol vessel commissioned into the Indian Navy on October 27, 1991, sprang into action. The ship, upon receiving a distress call, sprang into action and directly secured the safe release of all 19 crew members – 11 Iranian and 8 Pakistani – from the Iranian fishing vessel Omari, which had been previously hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Click here to read from source

Click here to read: Current Affairs 10th April 2024

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

(Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

9) Simon Harris elected as New Prime Minister of Ireland (Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

Simon Harris (37), the Fine Gael party’s leader, was elected as the New Taoiseach (Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland) by Dáil members.

On April 9, 2024, he received the seal of office from President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and was officially installed as Taoiseach.

He succeeded Leo Varadkar, who stepped down as Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach in March 2024.

Note:

• This makes Harris the Republic of Ireland’s youngest prime minister.
• He will hold the post until the general election in March 2025.

Points to consider:

• The Dáil, Ireland’s Parliament, voted 88 to 69 in favour of Simon Harris becoming Taoiseach.
• The three-party coalition government (Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and Green Party) has been in power since 2020.
• This is the third time the coalition government has replaced the Taoiseach in less than four years.

About Simon Harris

• In 2011, at the age of 24, he became the youngest Teachta Dála (TD) to serve in Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament’s lower house).
• He has served as Minister in the Irish government since 2016.
• He was Minister of Health from 2016 to 2020, then Minister of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science from 2020 to April 2024.

Click here to read from source

10) India’s Jagjit Pavadia Re-elected for a third term to the International Narcotics Control Board (Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

India’s Jagjit Pavadia was re-elected to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) for a third term, running from 2025 to 2030.

She previously served on the INCB for two terms, from 2015 to 2020 and 2020 to 2025. She also served as President of the INCB from 2021 to 2022.

INCB is an independent and quasi-judicial monitoring body that oversees the implementation of the United Nations’ (UN) international drug control conventions.

India was also elected to key UN bodies, including the Commission on the Status of Women (2025-2029) and the Executive Boards of UNICEF/UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS/UN Women/WFP (2025-2027).

About UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):

• Members – 54(including India)
• Established – 1945

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11) USISPF appoints Former Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj as Chair of US-India Tax Forum (Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

Tarun Bajaj, former Revenue and Economic Affairs Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, has been appointed Chair of the US-India Tax Forum of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).

• Tarun Bajaj, a 1988 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who retired in November 2022.
• He has been serving as an Independent Director on the board of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) since December 2023.
• In January 2024, he began serving as an adviser to the Board of Directors of USISPF.

Note:

• In order to strengthen partnerships between the USA and India, the non-profit organization USISPF works diligently.
• The US-India Tax Forum serves as a forum for firms doing business in the US-India corridor to interact with relevant government officials about tax issues and other matters.

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

(Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

12) TASL launches TSAT-1A, India’s 1st Private Sector-Built Sub-Metre Resolution Earth Observation Satellite

Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), Tata Sons’ wholly-owned subsidiary, has successfully launched TSAT-1A, India’s first private sector-built sub-metre resolution Earth Observation Satellite, into low-earth orbit (LEO).

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched on April 7, lifting off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. This mission, named “Bandwagon-1,” marked SpaceX’s first rideshare mission to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an inclination of about 45 degrees. Among the eleven satellites it carried into orbit was the TSAT-1A.

TASL built TSAT-1A at its Vemagal facility in Karnataka in collaboration with Satellogic, a leading provider of high-resolution satellite imagery.

Note: TSAT-1A, which weighs less than 50 kg, has an inherent resolution of 0.5-0.8 meters, which will be enhanced to 0.5 to 0.6 meters with software.

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OBITUARY

(Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

13) Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Peter Higgs Passed Away (Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

Nobel Prize-winning British physicist Peter Higgs died at the age of 94 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK). He was born on May 29, 1929, in the Elswick district of Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Awards/Honours:

• In 2015, he received the Royal Society’s Copley Medal, the world’s oldest scientific prize, for his work on the Higgs boson theory, also known as “the god particle.”
• In 2013, physicist François Englert joined him as they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that explains the origin of mass in subatomic particles.”
• This recognition of his scientific achievements continued. He was named Companion of Honour in the 2013 New Year Honours List.
• Furthermore, in 2013, he received the Edinburgh Medal from the Edinburgh International Science Festival (partnered with CERN) and the Nonino ‘Man of Our Time’ Prize.
• Adding to his accolades, the Wolf Prize in Physics was awarded to him in 2004, shared with Robert Brout and François Englert.
• In 1997, he received the European Physical Society’s High Energy and Particle Physics Prize alongside Robert Brout and François Englert.

About Peter Higgs:

• Higgs began his teaching career as a temporary lecturer in mathematics at University College London in the United Kingdom.
• In 1960, he returned to Edinburgh and began working as a Lecturer in Mathematical Physics at the Tait Institute.
• Over time, he rose through the ranks, eventually earning a Personal Chair of Theoretical Physics in 1980.
• He retired in 1996 and became Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh.

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IMPORTANT DAYS

(Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

14) World Homeopathy Day 2024 – April 10 (Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

World Homeopathy Day (WHD) is observed annually on April 10 around the world to raise awareness about homeopathy, a therapeutic system of medicine, its principles, and contributions to global health.

WHD also commemorates the birth anniversary of Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician and chemist widely regarded as the founder of homeopathy.

Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann will be 269 years old on April 10, 2024.
The theme for World Homeopathy Day in 2024 is “Homeoparivar: One Health, One Family.”

About Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH):

• Union Minister– Sarbananda Sonowal (Rajya Sabha Assam)
• Minister of State– Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai Kalubhai (Constituency: Surendranagar, Gujarat)

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15) 59th Central Reserve Police Force Valour Day – April 9 2024 (Current Affairs 11th April 2024)

Every year on April 9, India observes the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Valour Day, also known as Shaurya Diwas. This day commemorates the extraordinary bravery displayed by CRPF soldiers during the 1965 Battle of Sardar Post in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. The Day honors CRPF personnel and pays solemn tribute to the martyrs who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. This year, 2024, marked the 59th anniversary of CRPF Valour Day. It’s important to note that the CRPF is India’s largest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

About Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF):

• Director General– Anish Dayal Singh
• Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi

Click here to read from source

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