Current Affairs in English – August 5 2022

National Events:

IIT Kanpur & NPCI:

IIT Kanpur and National Payments Corporation of India ( NPCI ) has signed an MoU .It has been signed for sharing knowledge on innovative ideas and to collaborate on the development of indigenous digital payments solutions .
The collaboration will help in the augmentation of cybersecurity controls for NPCI and its subsidiaries ‘ products and services .

Repo Rate:

The monetary policy committee of Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) has decided to increase repo rate , the main lending rates to banks , by 50 basis points to 5.4 % with immediate effect .
The Standing Deposit Facility rate and the Marginal Standing Facility Rate were accordingly adjusted higher by the same quantum to 5.15 % and 5.65 % , respectively . RBI retained GDP growth forecast at 7.2 % .

LinkedIn & K-DISC& ICTAK:

LinkedIn has signed an MoU with the Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council ( K – DISC ) and the ICT Academy of Kerala ( ICTAK ) .
It has been signed as part of the Connect Career to Campus ( CCC ) campaign under the Kerala Knowledge Economy Mission ( KKEM ) initiative .
K – DISC is a strategic think – tank and advisory body constituted by the Government of Kerala .

49^th Chief Justice of India:

Justice Uday U Lalit is set to take over as the 49th Chief Justice of India ( CJI ) on August 27 , 2022 with the incumbent , NV Ramana recommending the former as his successor .Lalit will have a short tenure of fewer than three months .

First independent maritime reconnaissance and surveillance mission:

In a rare feat , five women officers of the Indian Navy carried out the first independent maritime reconnaissance and surveillance mission in the North Arabian Sea onboard a Dornier aircraft , in August .
The aircraft was captained by Mission Commander , Lt Commander Aanchal Sharma . The INAS 314 is a frontline naval air squadron based at Porbandar , Gujarat .

India and Mauritius:

India and Mauritius held the 1st session of India – Mauritius High – Powered Joint Trade Committee on 1-3 August 2022 in New Delhi .
The High – Powered Joint Trade Committee had been constituted as per the mandate of the India – Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership agreement ( CECPA ) .
CECPA is the first trade agreement signed by India with a country in Africa .

DRDO & Indian Army:

The indigenously developed Laser – Guided Anti – Tank Guided Missiles ( ATGM ) were successfully test – fired from Main Battle Tank MBT Arjun by DRDO and Indian Army on 4 August 2022 .
It was tested at KK Ranges with support of Armoured Corps Centre and School , Maharashtra . It employs a tandem High Explosive Anti – Tank HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour ERA protected armoured vehicles .

IIT Roorkee & DRDO:

With the aim to develop defence technology and produce indigenous defence equipment , DRDO has collaborated with IIT Roorkee .
IIT Roorkee in collaboration with the Defence Electronics Application Laboratory ( DEAL ) of DRDO has developed indigenous radio frequency power amplifiers to meet the futuristic requirements of programmable radios .

Adani Enterprises:

Adani Enterprises , the business incubation arm of the Adani Group , has signed an MoU with the Israel Innovation Authority for cooperation in technological innovations . The deal includes creation of a ‘ cutting – edge innovation platform ‘.
It will allow Adani arms to access tech solutions provided by Israeli start – ups whereby selected innovation projects will be supported by the partnership .

NHA & QCI:

The National Health Authority ( NHA ) has onboarded the Quality Council of India ( QCI ) for six months .
It has been done so to accredit and rate HMIS ( Health Management Information System ) / LMIS ( Laboratory Information Management System ) solutions that have integrated with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission ( ABDM ) .

Adani Ports and SEZ and AD Ports Group:

Adani Ports and SEZ and AD Ports Group have signed an MoU for strategic joint investments in end – to – end logistics infrastructure and solutions .
These include rail , maritime services , port operations , digital services , an industrial zone , and the establishment of maritime academies in Tanzania . Adani Ports is the country’s largest integrated ports and logistics company .

Natural Gas:

The Government has set a target of increasing Natural Gas in the primary energy mix by 15 % by 2030 . At present , the use of Natural Gas is only 6.3 % .
To increase the Natural Gas usage , initiatives like the expansion of National Gas Grid to 33,500 km , setting up of Liquefied Natural Gas terminals and allocation of domestic gas to CNG for transport and PNG for domestic purposes are taken .

International Events:

South Korea:

South Korea has launched a lunar orbiter . South Korea’s $ 180 million mission – the country’s first step in lunar exploration – features a boxy , solar – powered satellite designed to skim just 62 miles ( 100 kilometers ) above the lunar surface .
If successful , it will join spacecraft from the U.S. and India already operating around the moon , and a Chinese rover exploring the moon’s far side .

BoE:

Bank of England ( BoE ) raised the U.K’s bank rate by half a percentage point to 1.75 % , marking the biggest interest rate increase since 1995 .The U.K. economy is projected to go into recession from the fourth quarter of 2022 , the BoE warned .
This is due to near doubling of wholesale gas prices since May , owing to Russia’s restriction of gas supplies to Europe and the risk of further curbs .