Current Affairs

30^th November 2022

Top 21 Daily Current Affairs: National & International News

Here is the Daily Current Affairs of the 30th November 2022 covering the following news headlines: Gaslighting, Red Planet Day, Nargesi, Para Sports Person of Year award, Artemis 1 Orion, Global Prime Cities Index, Prasoon Joshi

International News

1.Australia’s Great Barrier Reef TO be listed as a World Heritage Site

UN panel has recommended that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef should be listed as a World Heritage site that is in danger. The UN also informed that the world’s biggest coral reef ecosystem was significantly impacted by climate change and the warming of oceans.

Frequent bleaching events are threatening the reef, including four over the last seven years and the first during a La Nina phenomenon.

A report by UNESCO informed that the resilience of the Reef to recover from climate change impacts is substantially compromised.

The report was expected to be released ahead of the UNESCO World Heritage committee meeting however it was postponed due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

State News

2.Indore Plans India’s First Retail Municipal Green Bond for Solar Plant

Indore with a strong environmental record is planning to issue the nation’s first local government bond targeting individual investors, with proceeds used to fund a solar power project. Indore Municipal Corp.

seeks to raise as much as 2.6 billion rupees ($31.8 million) via a 10-year bond sale next month, according to Divyank Singh, chief executive officer of Indore Smart City, who is working with various stakeholders to finalize the offering. The offering from Indore, which is in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, is also set to be the country’s maiden municipal green bond designed for retail investors. 

3.Uttarakhand Government appoints Prasoon Joshi as its Brand Ambassador

CEO & CCO of McCann Worldgroup India, Prasoon Joshi has been appointed by Uttarakhand Government as the state’s brand ambassador. Padma Shri awardee Prasoon Joshi is currently the Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (Censor Board). He is a famous and highly awarded member of the Indian advertising and media fraternity.

Joshi has also written the lyrics for songs in popular Bollywood movies such as Rang De Basanti, Fanaa and Taare Zameen Par. He has also written the script for the award-winning 2013 film, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

Appointments News

4.IAS officer Preeti Sudan appointed as a member of UPSC

Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer and former health secretary, Preeti Sudan has took the oath of office and secrecy as Member, UPSC. The oath was administered to her by the UPSC chairman Dr Manoj Soni.

Sudan superannuated as the Union Health Secretary in July, 2020. She also served as Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution, and in Women and Child Development and Defence Ministries.

The UPSC is headed by a chairperson and can have a maximum of 10 members. With Sudan’s appointment, there is still a vacancy of four members in the Commission. The UPSC, is India’s premier central recruitment agency for recruitment of all the Group ‘A’ officers under Government of India.

The body conducts civil services examination annually in three stages — preliminary, main and interview — to select officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

UPSC Chairperson: Manoj Soni;

UPSC Founded: 1 October 1926;

UPSC Founder: Government of the United Kingdom.

Banking News

5.RBI to Launch a Pilot Project on Retail Digital Rupee on 1 December 2022

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a trial for retail digital rupee (e ₹-R) beginning 1 December, with four banks in as many cities participating in the pilot programme, a month after testing the wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC).

RBI said the pilot would cover select locations in a closed user group (CUG) comprising participating customers and merchants. While it has identified eight banks for gradual participation in the pilot, the first phase will begin with four: State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank.

While the retail CBDC would initially cover Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar, the trials will be later extended to Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla.

Banking News

6.Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Signs Bancassurance Pacts with Chola MS General and Max Life Insurance Company

Old private sector lender Tamilnad Mercantile Bank has entered into bancassurance partnerships with Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Ltd, part of the Chennai-based Murugappa Group, and Max Life Insurance Company to provide general insurance products and life insurance schemes respectively to TMB’s customers.

Under the tie-up, Tuticorin-based TMB’s 500-plus branches will start retailing the insurance products of both companies. The bank has inked agreement with Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company for the purpose of marketing, distribution & selling the general insurance products.

It is the selling of insurance products through banking channels. In  Bancassurance a bank enters into an agreement with an Insurance company. The Bank makes its customer database available to the Insurance companies. If the bank customer buys the insurance products then the bank will receive a commission from the Insurance companies.

Business News

7.Vistara to Merge With Air India by 2024

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Tata Sons announced that they have agreed to merge Air India and Vistara, with SIA getting a 25.1 per cent stake in the merged entity at an investment of Rs 2,058.5 crore ($250 million) in Air India as part of the transaction.

The 25.1 per cent stake will be in an enlarged Air India group – it will have Air India, Vistara, AirAsia India and Air India Express – and the merger of all airlines is targeted for completion by March 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. The group is already in the process of merging Air India Express and AirAsia India into one entity that will provide low-cost flight options.

Schemes News

8.SEBI Forms a Panel Headed by Justice Vazifadar to Review the Corporate Takeover Rules

Capital markets regulator Sebi has set up a high-level panel to review the takeover norms in a move to simplify and strengthen the current rules by adopting appropriate global practices. Also, the regulator will assess the current rules in the light of past judicial pronouncements and various informal guidelines issued by the capital markets regulator.

The 20-member committee will be chaired by former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Shiavax Jal Vazifdar. Apart from Vazifdar, other members of the panel include Sundareswaran S Managing Director (MD) at Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors; Rajendra Kanoongo, Joint MD of Mark Corporate Advisors; K Srinivas MD of Saffron Capital Advisors, Ankur Verma, Senior Vice President at Tata Sons and Dolphy Dsouza Partner at E&Y.

9.Ministry of Power Launches Scheme for Procurement of Aggregate Power of 4500 MW for 5 Years

Ministry of Power has launched a scheme for procurement of aggregate power of 4500 MW for five years under SHAKTI Policy. The Ministry said that the scheme will help states that are facing power shortage and help generation plants to increase their capacities.

The last date for the bid submission is 21st December. It is for the first time that bidding is being carried out under B(v) of SHAKTI scheme. PFC Consulting Limited has been designated as the nodal agency. It has invited bids for the supply of 4,500 MW electricity. The supply will commence from April next year.

The utilities that have shown interest for the scheme are Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd, Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Ltd, New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd.

Ranks and Reports News

10.Mumbai ranks 22nd in Global Prime Cities Index by Knight Frank

Mumbai stood at 22nd rank in a global index that measures annual price appreciation of premium residential properties, according to Knight Frank. In its report on ‘Prime Global Cities Index Q3 (July-September) 2022’, Property consultant Knight Frank said that all three Indian cities: Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi, registered an increase in average annual prices in the third quarter of 2022.

The report further cited that Dubai recorded the fastest rise in prime prices with an 88.8 per cent increase during a 12-month change (Q3 2021- Q3 2022), while Wellington was the weakest performing market with a decline of 18 per cent.

Some European cities registered strong performance in prime prices during Q3 2022. Zurich (10.7%), Edinburgh (9.9%), Berlin (9.4%), Dublin (8.6%), and Madrid (5.6%) have all risen the rankings in the last 12 months despite the drop-in sentiment and the slowdown in the Eurozone’s economy.

11.NITI Aayog Releases Study Report on ‘Carbon Capture to Achieve Net Zero Emission Target by 2070

A study report, titled ‘Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage Policy Framework and its Deployment Mechanism in India’, was released.

The report explores the importance of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage as an emission reduction strategy to achieve deep decarbonization from the hard-to-abate sectors. The report outlines broad level policy interventions needed across various sectors for its application.

The report indicates that CCUS can provide a wide variety of opportunities to convert the captured CO2 to different value-added products like green urea, food and beverage form application, building materials (concrete and aggregates), chemicals (methanol and ethanol), polymers (including bio-plastics) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) with wide market opportunities in India, thus contributing substantially to a circular economy.

Science and Technology News

12.Monkeypox Disease Name Changed to Mpox by WHO

The World Health Organisation has changed the name of the disease Monkeypox to Mpox, as they receive complaints about the word Monkeypox conjuring up racist tropes and stigmatizing patients. The recommendation follows outbreaks that began about six months ago in Europe and the United States.

Mpox has circulated in the rural development parts of Central Africa and West Africa for decades.

WHO will adopt the term Mpox in its communications and encourages others to follow these recommendations.

This decision was taken to minimize the ongoing negative impact of the current name and from the adoption of the new name.

The name was inspired by a colony of caged lab monkeys in Denmark, where the virus was first identified by researchers.

13.NASA Sets New Space Flight Record with Artemis 1 Orion Capsule

NASA’s Artemis 1 Orion Capsule has set a new space flight record for spacecraft designed to carry humans by traveling 4,01,798 kilometers from Earth. The record was previously held by Apollo 13 which logged the record on 14th April 1970 by traveling 400,171 kilometers.

Artemis 1 Orion Capsule was designed to stress the systems Orion and NASA sent the capsule into distant retrograde orbit.

Since, Orion is not staffed, the Apollo 13 crew still holds the record for the farthest distance from Earth reached by humans.

The Orion is carrying a manikin named “Commander Moonikin Campos”, after the late Arturo Campos.

14.World’s first Intranasal vaccine iNCOVACC gets Approved by DCGI

Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) announced that iNCOVACC (BBV154), has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) under Restricted Use in Emergency Situations for ages 18 and above, in India, for heterologous booster doses.

iNCOVACC is the world’s first Intranasal vaccine for COVID to receive approval for the primary 2-dose schedule and the heterologous booster dose. iNCOVACC is a recombinant replication-deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre-fusion stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This vaccine candidate was evaluated in phases I, II, and III clinical trials with successful results.

Awards News

15.Paralympic medallist Lekhara receives Para Sports Person of Year award

At the Turf 2022 and India Sports Awards of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), former Ranji cricketer Sarkar Talwar was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement of the Year award. Talwar, the Director-Sports, Manav Rachna Education Institutions, is also the recipient of the Dronacharya Lifetime Award, given by the President of India.

Apart from Talwar, Avani Lekhara, who won two medals at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, was recognized as the Para Sports Person of the Year, while Shrey Kadyan was recognized as the Special Sportsperson of the Year. Best Male Coach to R.B. Ramesh and Best Female Coach to Nonita Lal Qureshi.

For his contribution to sports journalism, Rakesh Rao, Deputy Editor (Sports) of The Hindu, was presented the Special Recognition Award by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), at the FICCI India Sports Awards 2022 held at Federation House.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

FICCI President: Sanjiv Mehta;

FICCI Founded: 1927;

FICCI Headquarters: New Delhi;

FICCI Founder: Ghanshyam Das Birla.

16.IFFI 53: Iranian film ‘Nargesi’ wins ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal

Iranian film Nargesi by Director Payam Eskandari has won the ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal at the 53rd edition of International Film Festival of India, given for a film that best reflects Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals of peace, tolerance and non-violence. The film is about a man with Down’s syndrome and the burden and consequences it creates in his life. Compassion and tenderness are the two qualities depicted in this award-winning film.

Every year at IFFI, ICFT Paris and UNESCO come together to present the Gandhi medal to one film. The films competing for the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Award are screened at IFFI first and then, the ICFT jury evaluates the films based on the ideals of UNESCO.

Important Days

17.Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare: 30 November

Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is commemorated on November 30 every year. This internationally marked day was adopted by the United Nations to remember the victims of chemical warfare. The day aims to encourage efforts for eliminating the use of chemical weapons and remember those who have suffered because of such warfare.

The Chemical Weapons Convention was adopted in 1993. It came into force on April 29, 1997. In 2005, the United Nations proclaimed November 30 as the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare.

18.November 28 is marked as Red Planet Day

Commemorating the day one of the most significant space missions to Mars was launched, November 28 is marked as Red Planet Day. After 3 previous attempts, Spacecraft Mariner 4 became the first successful flyby of Mars.

The spacecraft was launched on November 28, 1964, and reached Mars on July 14, 1965. The successful mission produced 22 pictures of the Martian surface. These pictures were the first-ever close-up photos to come from deep space. This mission, along with several others that occurred afterward, has helped us learn much about the red planet.

Obituaries News

19.Vice Chairperson of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Vikram S Kirloskar passes away

India’s automotive industry stalwart and Toyota Kirloskar Motor vice chairperson, Vikram S Kirloskar has passed away. He was 64. Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), which sells a range of vehicles, is a joint venture between the Japanese auto major Toyota Motor Company and the Kirloskar Group.

Vikram Kirloskar, a pioneer of India’s automotive industry, played a key role in bringing Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp to India in the late 1990s. He had a mechanical engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US.

Miscellaneous News

20.Merriam-Webster announced ‘Gaslighting’ as its Word of the Year 2022

The US dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster announced that their 2022 word of the year is “gaslighting” or as Merriam-Webster defines it, “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.”

Interest in the term was up by 1,740% over the previous years according to searches of the online dictionary. The term itself came into existence 80 years ago in 1938 through gas light, Gas Light is a play written by Patrick Hamilton. Two films were made on this play in the 1940s.

21.FSSAI approved Yak as a ‘food animal’

The Himalayan Yak has been approved as a ‘food animal’ by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI). The move is expected to help slow the decline of the high-altitude bovine animal population by incorporating it into the conventional milk and meat industries, according to an official at the National Research Centre (NRC) on Yak in Dirang, West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh. The ‘food animal’ tag will become official once it is notified in the gazette following approval by a competent authority.

In India, Yak is found throughout the Himalayan region — Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, North Bengal, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

FSSAI Founded: 5 September 2008;

FSSAI Headquarters: New Delhi;

FSSAI Chairperson: Rita Teaotia.