Current Affairs in English – January 19 2023

National Events:

FCET:

Adani Enterprises on 17 January 2023, signed an agreement to launch a pilot project to develop a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for mining logistics and transportation, with Ashok Leyland, India, and Ballard Power, Canada.
The agreement marks Asia’s first planned hydrogen-powered mining truck. The mining truck will weigh 55 tons and will have a 200-km working range.

‘Soundpod by Google Pay’:

Google piloted a Soundbox for Indian market-similar to the Paytm or PhonePe ones which gives a sound alert on the digital payment.
The ‘Soundpod by Google Pay’ is accompanied by a QR code of a merchant linked with their Google Pay for business account.
Users can use any UPI-based app to make a payment by scanning the code. The Soundpods are being built by Amazon-backed ToneTag.

NDRF Raising Day:

NDRF Raising Day is commemorated on January 19, every year. It was formed in year 2006 under Disaster Management Act, 2005. It plays a crucial role in the country’s disaster management and community awareness for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).
NDRF at present consists of 12 Battalions. These battalions are located at 16 different locations on the basis of the vulnerability profile.

Vintage IL38 SD:

Navy’s vintage IL38 SD to join R-Day flypast for first and last time. IN 301 is the first IL 38SD aircraft of the Indian Navy. The aircraft was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1977.
It was with the induction of IL 38 aircraft that the Navy moved into the arena of airborne long-range maritime reconnaissance (LRMR). IN 301 was part of Indian Naval Air Squadron 315- the ‘Winged Stallions’ – at Goa.

Global Tourism Investors Summit:

Ministry of Tourism is organizing the 1st Global Tourism Investors Summit from 10 to 12 April 2023 in New Delhi. The aim is to bring together global business leaders and policymakers to understand and explore Tourism Business opportunities in India.
In this regard, Ministry organized a Roadshow on 17 Jan’23 in Chandigarh. It focused on promoting India as an investment destination for tourism.

Velugu:

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao launched second phase of Kanti Velugu initiative, Eye Screening programme in Khammam district. The Programme is considered to be the world’s largest eye screening programme.
Under the Kanti Velugu, free eye screening will be held at the special health camps for 100 days with 1500 medical teams. The first phase was conducted for 8 months.

Ken-Betwa:

Ministry of Jal Shakti held the third meeting of the Steering Committee of Ken-Betwa Link Project (SC-KBLP) on 18 January 2023.
It was attended by representatives of both the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and officials of Niti Aayog.
A Greater Panna Landscape council is also being constituted for implementation of the Landscape Management Plan (LMP) of the project.

NPG:

41st session of the Network Planning Group (NPG) held in New Delhi. The Network Planning Group (NPG) held its 41st session in New Delhi on 18 January 2023.
It was chaired by Anil Agrawal, the Special Secretary of Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). During the session, it was observed by the NPG that the Ahmedabad Station has been one of the busiest stations on the Western Railway Corridor for freight movement.

Meity:

Meity launches new technology to monitor air quality. Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), has launched the technology for Air Quality Monitoring System (AI-AQMS v1.0) on 17 January 2023.
It has been developed under the ‘National Program on Electronics and ICT Applications in Agriculture and Environment (Agri Enics)’ with the collaboration of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Kolkata.

Pankaj Kumar Singh:

Retired Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) Pankaj Kumar Singh was appointed on 17 Jan 2023 as the Deputy National Security Adviser for a period of two years. He is a 1988 batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre.
He retired as the BSF Chief on December 31, 2022. He had earlier served as Inspector General of CRPF in Chhattisgarh and IG (Operations) at CRPF Headquarters in Delhi.

Tamil Nadu Events:

‘Come! Let’s Run’:

The English version of the book titled ‘Come! Let’s Run’ by Tamil Nadu Health Minister, Ma. Subramanian was released by Krishnamachari Srikkanth, former Captain of the Indian Cricket team in January 20223.
The Tamil version of the book titled ‘Odalam Vanga’ was released in 2021.The book was published by Emerald Publishers and the English translation was done by Geeta Padmanaban.

International Events:

Global Fire Power Index 2023:

Global Fire Power Index 2023: India ranked 4 in rankings. Global Firepower Index is a rating of the military forces of all countries on the planet.
Index puts the US at the top, Russia at the second spot, China at No. 3, and India at No.4. A rating of 0.000 is the perfect score, which no country so far has attained.
The smaller the score value, the more powerful is the fighting capability. Index does not take into account nuclear capabilities.

Pakistan is South Asia’s weakest economy:

World Bank forecast Pakistan’s economic growth to slow further to two percent during 2023. This will mark a drop of two % points from its June 2022 estimates.
The reason behind this is unprecedented floods, depleting forex reserves, food shortages, and poverty. It forecast Pakistan’s GDP growth rate to improve to 3.2% in 2024, which would be lower than earlier estimate of 4.2%.

India & Maldives:

India announce 100 million Maldivian Rufiyaa for community development. It was announced in the form of grant by India. It was announced during External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar’s visit to Maldives in January 2023.
An MoU was signed between Maldivian National University and Kochi University. Other Initiatives of India: Handing over 2 sea ambulances, opening a cultural centre at Foakaidhoo and support for development of Hanimadhoo International Airport.

UNGA:

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 18 Jan 2023 adopted a resolution titled ‘Education for Democracy’ that reaffirms the right of everyone to education.
The resolution, which was co-sponsored by India, recognizes that “education for all” contributes to the strengthening of democracy. This resolution also reaffirms the right of everyone to education.