Current Affairs in English – April 8 2023

April 8, 2023

National Events:

G20:

• The Second meeting of the G20 Development Working Group is being held in Kumarakom, Kerala from 6-9 April 2023.
• The delegates highlighted the importance of digital technologies for the 2030 Agenda and the need for digital transformation for social development.
• The session was focused on “Transformative Transitions through Data for Development.”

President Droupadi Murmu:

• President Droupadi Murmu took a historic sortie in a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam on 8 April 2023.
• The President, who is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces, flew for nearly 30 minutes covering Brahmaputra and Tezpur valley. President Murmu is the third President and second woman President to undertake such a sortie.

CDRI:

• The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and its partners hold the International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) every year.
• The conference aims to facilitate discussions among member countries, organizations, institutions, and infrastructure stakeholders to promote disaster and climate-resilient infrastructure.
• ICDRI 2023 will be a hybrid conference that brings together decision-makers, thought leaders, academia, and institutions from around the world to discuss solutions for infrastructure resilience.

Domestic natural gas:

• The government implemented changes to the pricing model of domestic natural gas in accordance with the Kirit Parikh committee’s recommendations on gas pricing.
• The new pricing system will announce prices monthly and link them to 10% of the international price of the Indian crude basket.
• As a result, prices for piped natural gas (PNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) used by households, auto fuel, and various industries are expected to decrease by 10%.

Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association:

• The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association has announced that Anshuman Singhania, who is currently serving as the Managing Director of JK Tyre & Industries Ltd, has been chosen as its new Chairman.
• Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) said Arnab Banerjee, Managing Director & CEO of CEAT Ltd has taken over as the Vice-Chairman.

Rafale fighter jets:

• The Indian Air Force’s Rafale fighter jets will be participating in a military exercise in France that involves thousands of NATO troops.
• The jets are expected to arrive in France in mid-April to participate in Orion 23, a large-scale war game that includes multiple dimensions, such as ground troops, warships, aircraft carriers, and combat aircraft.
• The exercise, which began in February and is scheduled to end in early May, is aimed at enhancing military cooperation and interoperability among participating nations.

KSINC:

• Kerala State Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) has launched a solar-powered tourist boat called Sooryamshu that can produce 27 KW of energy.
• The boat also comes equipped with generators, which will help power passenger lift systems and air-conditioners.
• The solar panels will provide about 75% of the vessel’s energy needs, while the rest will be met by the generators. The boat was built in Sri Lanka for Rs. 3.95 crores.

Union government:

• Under the IT Rules amendment notified on 7 April 2023, the union government has announced to appoint an agency to fact check false and misleading information related to government business on digital platforms.
• The amended rules make it obligatory for intermediaries (internet companies) to not publish, share or host fake, false or misleading information related to the government.

Online games:

• The union government, on 7 April 2023, released new rules for online gaming which prohibit any game that involves betting and wagering, and entail a framework of multiple self-regulatory organisations (SROs).
• Online games involved in wagering or betting will fall foul of new online gaming rules. There will be multiple SROS, and these SROS will have participation from all the stakeholders.

‘PRAVAAH’:

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched a secured web-based centralized portal named ‘PRAVAAH’ (Platform for Regulatory Application, Validation, And Authorisation) to simplify and streamline application processes.
• The portal will show time limits for deciding on the applications/approvals sought. It will bring greater efficiencies into regulatory processes for the regulated entities of RBI.

PMMY:

• Union government, on 8 April 2023, said that it has sanctioned more than 40.82 crore loans worth 23.2 lakh crore under Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) since its inception.
• About 68% of accounts under the scheme belong to women entrepreneurs and 51% of accounts belong to entrepreneurs of SC/ST and OBC categories. It aims to provide collateral-free loans to micro-enterprises in the country.

Maharashtra government:

• Maharashtra government, in April 2023, formed a six-member committee to prepare draft rules for app and web-based cab aggregators like Ola and Uber.
• It is in accordance with the letter issued by the Union ministry for Road Transport and Highways asking states to implement the Motor Vehicle Aggregators Guidelines 2020. IAS officer Sudhirkumar Shrivastava (retd) is the chairman of the committee.

Bhoroxa:

• President Droupadi Murmu on 8 April 2023 attended the 75th-anniversary celebrations of the Gauhati High Court in Assam.
• On the occasion, she launched a mobile app ‘Bhoroxa’ made for the safety of women and elderly people. The Gauhati High Court was promulgated by the governor-general of India on 1 March 1948 after the Government of India Act 1935 was passed.

Tamil Nadu Events:

Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation:

• The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) has developed a mechanism called Tamil Nadu Regional Aerial Connectivity through Helicopters (TN REACH), which aims to utilize over 80 unused helipads across the state to provide intercity and town connectivity.
• This would be possible by leveraging the National Civil Aviation Policy and the Helicopter Policy of the Government of India. According to Thangam Thenarasu, the Industries Minister of Tamil Nadu, TN REACH would establish an intra-state network of aerial routes to enable people to travel between cities and towns using helicopters.
• The mechanism would rely on two existing initiatives – Heli Disha, which is an administrative manual for helicopter operations, and Heli Sewa, which is an online portal for providing landing clearance for helicopter operations.

TB:

• On behalf of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Union Government, in a program held in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, on March 24, the government has given awards in appreciation of the efforts taken by the government to eradicate tuberculosis.
• For the year 2022, gold medals were awarded to Trichy and Tiruvarur districts, silver medals to Madurai, Tuticorin, Karur, Kanyakumari, Tiruvannamalai districts and bronze medal to Krishnagiri district. There are also three TB-free districts in India. Nilgiri district is one of them.

Vyazhavari sculpture and Vamana avatar symbol stone paintings:

• Vyazhavari sculpture and Vamana avatar symbol stone paintings were found in the ancient temple constructions of Sonyenthal Kanmai at Lahamarichan village near Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district.
• This small piece of stone in the basement of the temple has three Vyazhavari sculptures on one side and the Vamana avatara symbols of Tirumala on the other side Kamandalam, Kudai, Kotoviyam like a snake coiled around a stick.
• It must have been an ancient temple dating back to the Pandya period. Excavation work has also started at 8 places in Tamil Nadu including Keeladi. Following this, the Keeladi punai meiyaaka app has been introduced.

International Events:

“Haeil-2”:

• North Korea tested its second underwater nuclear attack drone “Haeil-2” on April 7, 2023. A national defense science research institute in the DPRK carried out a test of an underwater strategic weapon system from 4-7 April.
• The drone was placed in the ocean near South Hamgyong province as part of the experiment. The attack was able to unleash a “radioactive tsunami”, claimed the nation.

China’s yuan:

• China’s yuan has replaced the US dollar as the most traded currency in Russia. According to data from the Moscow Exchange, the yuan accounted for 23.6% of Russia’s foreign exchange turnover in the first quarter of 2023.
• In addition, Russia and China have been strengthening their economic ties, with the two countries deepening their cooperation on trade, investment, and energy.

Ofek-13:

• Israel successfully launched a new spy satellite, named Ofek-13, into orbit on April 5th, 2023. The satellite, Ofek-13, launched from the Palmachim Airbase in central Israel, is intended to provide advanced intelligence capabilities to the Israeli military and intelligence agencies.
• It is the latest addition to Israel’s Ofek series of spy satellites, which have been in operation since 1988.

IFC:

• The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has issued an update to its Green Equity Approach (GEA) policy saying that it will no longer grant loan to support new coal projects.
• In 2020, IFC unveiled a policy that required its clients to reduce their exposure to coal projects by 2025 and to zero by 2030. It has given loans of about $5 billion to about 88 financial institutions in India.

Tianlong-2:

• Chinese company Space Pioneer successfully launched its Tianlong-2 rocket into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia in April 2023.
• It has become the first Chinese private launch firm to achieve orbit with a liquid propellant rocket. The non-reusable Tianlong-2 rocket, or “Heavenly Dragon” in Chinese, was developed by Beijing Tianbing, also known as Space Pioneer.

NASA:

• The American space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in collaboration with SpaceX launched an air-quality monitor called the TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring of Pollution) instrument on April 7, 2023.
• It is the first space-based tool to monitor major air pollutants hourly in high spatial resolution in the North American region.

Crude Oil:

• Russia remains the top supplier of crude oil to India for the last six consecutive months, from October 2022 to March 2023.
• During March, Russia supplied 1.64 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to India, surpassing traditional suppliers such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Russia had supplied 68,600 bpd of crude oil to India in March 2022.

Supermassive black hole:

• According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a supermassive black hole, weighing as much as 20 million Suns, has left behind a 2,00,000-light-year-long condensed trail of newborn stars, twice the diameter of the Milky Way galaxy.
• The black hole was seen racing through intergalactic space so fast that, that it could travel from Earth to the Moon in 14 minutes.