Current Affairs in English – January 20 2023

January 20, 2022

National Events:

Ministry of Agriculture:

• Ministry of Agriculture in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry and National Center for Cold Chain Development, organized the Conclave on 19 Jan’23 in New Delhi. The aim of conclave was to bring all the stakeholders together on a common platform.
• During this approval of product specific “horticulture clusters under Horticulture Cluster Development Programme was accorded”.

Project-75:

• India Navy to commission Kalvari class submarine Vagir on 23 January 2023. The submarine has been built under the Project-75. It is built in India by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai in collaboration with M/s Naval Group, France.
• It is capable of attacking underwater or on surface with torpedoes and tube-launched anti-ship missiles. Formerly Vagir was commissioned on 01 November 1973 and decommissioned on 07 January 2001 after three decades of service.

Major Port Authorities Act, 2021:

• The Major Ports Adjudicatory Board Rules, 2023 has been notified by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways in the Gazette on 17 January 2023.
• They have been framed under Section 54 of Major Port Authorities Act, 2021, which envisages constitution of an Adjudicatory Board. The Board will consist of 3 members, including a presiding officer and 2 members.

Indian International Science Festival:

• Vigyanika is being organized at the 8th Indian International Science Festival (IISF), Bhopal during 22-23 January 2023.
• Vigyanika is being organized with the objective of promoting science through science poetry, multilingual scientific literature, science drama and folk art. About 300 professionals and citizens are will participate in the Vigyanika event.

8th India International Science Festival:

• 8th India International Science Festival (IISF) to be organised. The festival will be organised form 21-24 January 2023 in MANIT, Bhopal. The 8th IISF will be jointly organized by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Ministry of Science and Technology and Vigyan Bharati.
• Theme is “Moving towards Amrit Kaal with Science, Technology and Innovation”. IISF is being organized annually since 2015. It showcases and celebrates the fruits of science and technology.

Bharat Pravah-India:

• Shipping Ministry launches ‘Bharat Pravah-India along its Shores. Objective of this initiative is to highlight the importance of rivers-ports-shipping in the everyday life of the common man through literature, dialogue and communication.
• It will highlight challenges, issues and future goals of maritime sector. Under this, events would be organized around topics, such as Rivers and Sea-Centric Development, ‘Sea, Rivers, Ports and Ship in Folk Culture’ etc.

BharOS:

• BharOS – India’s Indigenous Mobile Operating System developed. It was developed by IIT Madras incubated Firm- JandK Operations Private Limited(JandKops).
• This software can be installed on commercial off-the-shelf handsets. It provides access to trusted apps from organization-specific Private App Store Services (PASS). It comes with No Default Apps (NDA).

Delhi Assembly:

• With an aim to speed up work for cleaning the Yamuna river, the Delhi Assembly approved a supplementary grant of ₹1,028 crore for the Delhi Jal Board.
• As per Delhi Pollution Control Committee, pollution in the Yamuna river in Delhi has doubled in the last 8 years. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) of Yamuna when it enters delhi is 2 and when it leave is as high as 56.

Menstrual leave:

• Kerala government allows menstrual leave in all state universities. Kerala announced that menstrual and maternity leaves would be granted to all women students in all institutions under the State’s Higher Education Department.
• This is said to be first such initiative in the country. Maternity leave up to a maximum of 60 days has been granted to female students who have reached the age of 18. Prior to this, Cochin University had granted such leave.

CGI:

• CGI recognized as a Top Employer 2023 in India. CGI has been certified as a Top Employer 2023 in India for the third year in a row for its positive workplace culture and planning.
• It was recognized by the ‘Top Employers Institute program’, which certifies organizations based on the participation of their HR Best Practices Survey. Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent business consulting services firms in the world.

IPA:

• A Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) was signed between the Indian Ports Association (IPA) and Research & Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).
• It has been signed for setting up a Centre for Maritime Economy and Connectivity in New Delhi on 19 January 2023.
• It was signed in the presence of the Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal.

WEF:

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) has chosen Hyderabad in Jan 2023, to set up its Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution focused on healthcare and life sciences.
• Centre for the 4th Industrial Revolution (C4IR) will be an autonomous organization that will focus on healthcare and life sciences.
• C4IR is the 18th center to join the 4th Industrial Revolution Network of Telangana Forum.

‘Painted bat’:

• A ‘rare orange coloured bat’ known as ‘painted bat’ has been spotted in Parali Bodal village of Kanger Valley National Park in Bastar, Chhattisgarh.The scientific name of this painted bat is ‘Kerivoula picta’.
• This species has been kept in the category of globally endangered. This species is commonly found in Bangladesh, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

P20:

• The Parliament of India will hold the P-20 Conference of the Parliament Speakers of the G-20 nations in 2023. India will try to effectively resolve global issues through this platform.
• In 2022, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla attended the 8th G20 Parliamentary Speaker’s Summit and the P-20 conference in Jakarta, Indonesia. G-20 countries account for 80% of global GDP and 75% of global trade.

ISA Award 2021-22:

• Himalayan Cataract Project Co-Founder and noted Nepali ophthalmologist Dr Sanduk Ruit has won the ISA Award 2021-22 for Service to Humanity in Jan 2023. He is fondly called “God of Sight” for saving the sight many people.
• He is a recipient of the Padma Shri award, the National Order of Merit of Bhutan and the Ramon Magsaysay Award. In 2016, he was awarded the ‘Asian Game Changer Award.’

Squadrone:

• Squadrone has become the first Indian firm to fly autonomous drones in underground mines in India in January 2023. Squadrone successfully completed a Proof of Concept at Hindustan Zinc Ltd. underground mines in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
• It has partnered with Emesent Australia to drive SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) based technology to implement Hovermap LiDAR technology.

Jaipur Literature Festival:

• The 16th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival began on 19 January 2023 in Jaipur, Rajasthan. 20 Indian and 14 international languages are being represented in the festival.
• More than 250 speakers from the field of Art, literature, and culture across the world are participating in the festival. The 10th edition of the Jaipur BookMark (JBM) was also inaugurated alongside the event.

International Events:

IMF:

• India has become the first creditor nation to extend assurance towards restructuring the debt of Sri Lanka as the island nation makes efforts to unlock a bridge financing package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• India has extended financial assurances to the IMF. This was announced during External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar’s official visit to Sri Lanka, in Jan 2023.

Aruna Miller:

• Aruna Miller has become the first Indian-American politician to be sworn in as the Lieutenant Governor in the state of Maryland, USA on 19 Jan 2023. She is a former delegate to the Maryland House and became the 10th Lieutenant Governor of the Maryland state.
• While new Governor Wes Moore became Maryland’s 63rd governor, the state’s first and the country’s only current Black chief executive.