Current Affairs in English – November 16 2022

November 16, 2022

National Events:

Bengaluru Tech Summit:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Bengaluru Tech Summit on 16 November 2022. To mark the silver jubilee celebration of the summit, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai released a plaque.
• Bengaluru Tech Summit 22, which has attracted more than 575 exhibitors, will witness at least 9 MoUs being signed and the launch of more than 20 products.

Monetary penalties:

• The RBI has imposed monetary penalties on 9 cooperative banks on account of various contraventions or non – compliances of laid down guidelines.
• These banks include Berhampur Cooperative Urban Bank, Kendrapara Urban Co – operative Bank, Jamshedpur Urban Cooperative Bank, etc. The monetary penalties slapped on these banks range from Rs 25,000 to ₹ 3.1 lakh.

National Press Day: 16 November:

• National Press Day is observed on 16th November every year to commemorate a free and responsible press.
• It was on this day that the Press Council of India started functioning as a moral watchdog to ensure that the press maintains high standards and is not fettered by any influence or threats.
• The council is traditionally chaired by a retired Supreme Court Judge and 28 additional members.

Virtual Global Skill Summit:

• The Ministry of External Affairs ( MEA ) , Ministry of Commerce and Industry ( MoCI ) , Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship ( MSDE ) jointly organized the first Virtual Global Skill Summit ( VGSS ) on 15 November 22.
• Indian Ambassadors / High Commission representing India Missions from ten nations including Australia, France, Germany participated in it.

POSOCO:

• ‘Power System Operation Corporation Ltd(POSOCO)’ has changed its name to ‘Grid Controller of India Ltd’.
• The Grid Controller of India Limited (Grid – India) operates the national load despatch centre (NLDC) and five regional load despatch centres (RLDCs).
• The Grid – India is also designated as the nodal agency for major reforms in the power sector.

Abhijit Bose & Rajiv Aggarwal:

• Abhijit Bose, WhatsApp’s head of India , and Rajiv Aggarwal , Director Public Policy , Meta India, have resigned from their positions.
• Shivnath Thukral, Director of WhatsApp Public Policy in India, has now been made Director, Public Policy for all Meta brands in India.
• Earlier in November 2022, Ajit Mohan, the head of Meta in India, had also stepped down from his role.

Pankaj R. Patel:

• IIM Ahmedabad has announced the appointment of Pankaj R. Patel as the new Chairperson of its Board of Governors, effective November 16, 2022.
• Pankaj R. Patel succeeds Kumar Mangalam Birla, who completed his four years term on 15 November.
• Patel, who will become the fourteenth Chairperson of the institute, has been a member of the IIMA Board of Governors for eight years.

IFSCA & RBI:

• The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and RBI have entered into an MoU. It has been signed for collaboration in the field of regulation and supervision of regulated entities in their respective jurisdictions.
• The IFSCA is entrusted with the responsibility of regulation and supervision of authorized banks and non – banking financial institutions operating in such IFSCS.

Vivek Joshi:

• The Union Government has appointed Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi as a director on the central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• The board is primarily responsible for the oversight of the central bank.
• The board has 15 seats, of which five are official directors and 10 are non – official directors. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is the chief executive of the board.

Newborn Care Week: 15th to 21st November:

• Newborn Care Week is celebrated every year in the country from 15th to 21st November. Aim: to raise awareness about the importance of the newborn care for child survival & development.
• The neonatal period (the first 28 days of life) is the crucial period for child survival. In India, the Neonatal Mortality Rate is 20 per 1000 live births. 2022 Theme: “Home care of Newborn in Urban Area”.

Madhya Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission:

• President Droupadi Murmu participated in the conference of women self – help groups of Madhya Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission in Bhopal. About 15,000 women of various self – help groups participated in this conference.
• She visited the exhibition for the products of Self – Help Groups of Livelihood Mission. The items made by the group members were presented as a gift to the President.

PESA Act:

• Madhya Pradesh government on 15th Nov 2022 implemented the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act in the state. It aims to preserve the tribal population from exploitation with an active involvement of the Gram Sabhas.
• It also gives special powers to Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas especially for the management of natural resources. The PESA Act was enacted by the Parliament in 1996.

GeoSmart India 2022 Summit:

• Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on 15th Nov 2022 inaugurated the GeoSmart India 2022 Summit, a three – day annual event on geospatial technologies, in Hyderabad.
• It is being co – hosted by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing and the Indian Society of Geomatics. About 2500 representatives from about 500 organisations working on geospatial technology have attended the summit.

International Events:

G20:

• India was handed over the Presidency of the G20 at the closing session of the G20 Summit in Bali on 16 November 2022.
• India will officially assume the G20 presidency from 1 December 2022. At the closing session, Indonesian President Joko Widodo symbolically handed over the G20 Presidency to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The next G20 Summit will be held on the 9-10 September 2023 in New Delhi.

Artemis:

• NASA’s next – generation moon rocket Artemis blasted off from Florida on 16 Nov 22 on its debut flight.
• The 32 – story Space Launch System (SLS) rocket surged off the launch pad from Kennedy Space Center, to send its Orion capsule on a three – week test journey around the moon and back without astronauts aboard.
• The rocket marks the first flight of the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule together.

GE & IRENA:

• GE has signed a framework agreement with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). It will collaborate on a plan which will help fight climate crisis and offer energy security.
• Both have agreed to cooperate across several specific pillars including decarbonization, thought leadership and adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy.

CCPI:

• India has moved two spots to 8th rank in the Climate Change Performance Index 2023 (CCPI). In 2022 & 2021, India stood at the 10th spot, while in 2020, it ranked 9th. Denmark & Sweden have topped the index.
• The CCPI evaluates 59 countries & the European Union, which together generate over 90 % of global greenhouse gas emissions. CCPI first published: 2005. Published by: Germanwatch.

“YUDH ABHYAS 22”:

• The 18th edition of Indo – US joint training exercise “YUDH ABHYAS 22” is scheduled to be conducted in Uttarakhand in November 2022. Indian Army soldiers from the ASSAM Regiment will be participating in the exercise.
• It is conducted annually between India & USA. The previous edition of the exercise was conducted at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska in USA in October 2021.

India and Sweden:

• India and Sweden hosted the LeadIT Summit on 15th Nov 2022 in COP27 at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. The LeadIT(Leadership for Industry Transition) initiative focuses on low carbon transition of the hard to abate industrial sector.
• The Summit was addressed by the Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav. The current phase of LeadIT is set to conclude in 2023.

International Day for Tolerance: 16th November:

• International Day for Tolerance is commemorated on 16th Nov every year to raise awareness about the significance of tolerance in society. The UN established this day in 1996.
• In order to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, UNESCO created a prize known as UNESCO – Madanjeet Singh Prize in 1995. Madanjeet Singh, an Indian diplomat, had sponsored the celebrations that year.

‘World Population Prospects 2022’:

• As per the United Nations ‘World Population Prospects 2022’ report, India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.
• This is because fertility rates in China have declined considerably in past years. By 2050, India is expected to have a population of 1.668 billion while China’s population will decline to 1.317 billion.

Sports Events:

Billie Jean King Cup:

• Switzerland women’s tennis team on 13 Nov 2022 won the Billie Jean King Cup for the 1st time by defeating 7 – time champion Australia in Glasgow , Scotland.
• 2022 Billie Jean King Cup was the 59th edition of the international women’s tennis tournament & was held from 8th to 13th Nov 2022 in Scotland.
• The championship is named after Billie Jean King, an American former world No. 1 tennis player.

2022 FIFA World Cup:

• The 2022 FIFA World Cup set to kick off on 20th Nov in Qatar. This will be the first – ever time that the tournament is held in the winter months.
• The tournament will have 32 teams competing for the world cup, segmented across 8 groups in 8 venues across Qatar.
• The final of the tournament will be played on 18th December. France had defeated Croatia in the final of the 2018 edition in Russia.