Current Affairs in English – August 23 2022

August 23 , 2022

National Events:

Aggregator framework:

SEBI joined the account aggregator framework , a move that will give a boost to the RBI regulated financial – data sharing system .
This will allow customers to share information about their mutual fund and stock holdings with financial service providers .
Account aggregator ( AA ) framework is a non – banking financial institution ( NBFC ) governed by the RBI .

CISR:

A first – of – its – kind , Composite Indoor Shooting Range ( CISR ) was inaugurated by Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta at INS Karna , on 18 August 2022 .
The CISR is a state – of – the – art , self – contained , 25 m , six lane , live firing range for all primary and secondary weapons in the Navy .
INS Karna is the first in the Navy & the only military unit in the country to set up and use a facility of this kind.

ADB & India:

The Asian Development Bank ( ADB ) and India have signed a $ 96.3 – million loan agreement . It has been signed to provide safe drinking water and improve water supply and sanitation services in Himachal Pradesh .
The project will strengthen the capacity of the Jal Shakti Vibhag of the Government of Himachal Pradesh and gram panchayat ( local government ) village water and sanitation committees.

Garba:

India has nominated the dance form Garba to be inscribed on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list . In 2021 , ‘ Durga Puja ‘ was included in the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage representative .
India was elected by UNESCO to serve on the distinguished Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in July 2022.

Godrej Agrovet:

Godrej Agrovet has inked MoUs with Assam , Manipur and Tripura govts for development and promotion of oil palm cultivation under a central scheme .
Godrej Agrovet is the largest oil palm processor in India and works directly with farmers for the entire crop cycle .
It will be allotted land across the three states for promotion and development of sustainable palm oil plantations in the region.

IREDA & MAHAPREIT:

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. ( IREDA ) has signed an MoU with Mahatma Phule Renewable Energy and Infrastructure Technology Ltd. ( MAHAPREIT ) .
IREDA will offer financing facilities to MAHAPREIT for the renewable energy projects to be implemented for state utilities , local bodies and the infrastructure of renewable energy parks.

PM Narendra Modi:

PM Narendra Modi will visit Haryana and Punjab on Aug 24 , 2022 . He will inaugurate and dedicate two important health initiatives to the nation .
He will dedicate Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre to the nation , at Mullanpur , Mohali .
The hospital has been built at a cost of over 660 crore rupees by Tata Memorial Centre , an aided institute under Department of Atomic Energy.

SIDBI & TPRMG:

SIDBI has collaborated with TP Renewable Microgrid ( TPRMG ) , a subsidiary of Tata Power , to launch 1,000 green energy enterprises across the country .
The Government of India’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat will be supported by this initiative as it will foster sustainable entrepreneurship models across the nation leading to empowerment of rural entrepreneurs . SIDBI Headquarters : Lucknow.

NII:

Senior scientist Debasisa Mohanty has been appointed as the director of the National Institute of Immunology ( NII ).
He is currently working as the staff scient with the NII .NII Founded : 1981 Founder Director : G.P. Talwar.

Silk Mark Expo:

Union Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Jardosh on 22 August 2022 inaugurated the Silk Mark Expo in New Delhi .
It is being organised by the Silk Mark Organisation of India under Central Silk Board , Ministry of Textiles . 39 exhibitors from 12 states are participating in the expo .
Aim of the expo : to protect the interests of silk consumers and the stakeholders of the silk value chain.

Rajesh Verma:

Odisha cadre IAS officer Rajesh Verma has been appointed as the Secretary to President Droupadi Murmu. Verma is currently serving as Secretary , Ministry of Corporate Affairs & has also served as principal secretary to Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik .
Droupadi Murmu took oath as the 15th President of India on 25 July 2022.

‘ Rashtriya Puruskar Portal ‘:

Union Government has launched the ‘ Rashtriya Puruskar Portal ‘ to bring together all the awards of the various Ministries of the government under one platform .
Aim : to facilitate citizens to nominate individuals / organizations for various awards instituted by the Government .
With this portal , for the first time , information regarding all national awards would be available on a single digital platform .

International Events:

Pulitzer prize 2022:

Bangladesh – born Fahmida Azim working for the Insider online magazine of US has been selected for the 2022 Pulitzer prize . She will be awarded under the category of Illustrated Reporting and Commentary .
She is among the four journalists of Insider , selected for their work on the Chinese oppression of the Uyghurs . The work ‘ l escaped a Chinese internment Camp ‘ has illustrations by her.

ONS:

The United Kingdom has recorded its biggest fall in output in more than 300 years in 2020 due to COVID – 19 pandemic , according to Office for National Statistics ( ONS ) . GDP fell by 11.0 per cent in 2020.
According to historical data hosted by the Bank of England , this was a bigger drop than any of the ONS’s previous estimates and the largest fall since 1709 .

Dixit Joshi:

Credit Suisse has hired Deutsche Bank’s Dixit Joshi as Chief Financial Officer ( CFO ) and promoted Francesca McDonagh to chief operating officer .
Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm headquartered in Zürich , Switzerland.

India & Iran:

India & Iran on 22 August 2022 signed an MoU in a bid to smoothen the movement of seafarers between the two countries . The MoU was signed between Union Minister of Ports & Shipping Sarbananda Sonowal & his Iranian counterpart Rostam Ghasemi .
Mr Sonowal is on a 4 – day visit to Iran to review the progress on the development of the Chabahar Port . Iran Capital : Tehran. President : Ebrahim Raisi.

SCO:

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation ( SCO ) Defence Ministers ‘ Meeting , which is set to take place on 24 August 2022 in Tashkent , Uzbekistan .
During the Annual Meeting , Defence Cooperation issues among the SCO Member States will be discussed . The SCO is a Eurasian political , economic and security organization . SCO Headquarters : Beijing , China.

PayXpert & NIPL:

NPCI International Payments Limited ( NIPL ) has signed a MoU with PayXpert to internationalise the acceptance of its payment solutions in the UK . Both UPI and Rupay are payment systems under the umbrella of NPCI.
This collaboration will make the Indian payment solutions available in the UK on all PayXpert’s android Point – of – Sale ( POS ) devices for in – store payments . NPCI Headquarters : Mumbai.

US & South Korea:

US and South Korea have started joint military exercises. The military exercise named ‘Ulchi Freedom Shield’ will be held till 1st of next month.
Thousands of soldiers including ships and artillery will participate in this war exercise.

Sports Events:

Asian U – 18 Championship:

Indian men’s volleyball team won bronze medal in the 14th Asian U – 18 Championship in Tehran on 22 August 2022.
The Indian U – 18 team has qualified for the FIVB World U – 19 Men’s Volleyball Championship . Japan clinched the gold after beating Iran in the final match.

IOAA:

India secured the third rank in the medal tally at the 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics ( IOAA ). India held the third position jointly with Singapore with students winning three gold and two silver medals .
Iran’s official team with 5 gold medals secured the first position in the medal tally . The 15th IOAA was held in Kutaisi , Georgia , from 14 to 21 August 2022 .