Current Affairs 11 April 2024

We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs 11 April 2024, which have unique updates of Latest Current Affairs 2024 events from all newspapers such as The Hindu, The Economic Times, PIB, Times of India, PTI, Indian Express, Business Standard and all Government official websites.

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NATIONAL AFFAIRS

EU & India Partners to Promote Start-up Collaboration on Recycling of E-V Batteries under TTCOn 9th April 2024, the European Union(EU) and India launched an Expression of Interest(EOI) for startups working in Electric Vehicles(EVs) Battery Recycling to take part in the matchmaking event taking place under the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC).

• This aims to promote cooperation between European and Indian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises(SMEs) start-ups in the clean and green technologies sector.

About the Joint EU-India matchmaking event:
i.The joint EU-India matchmaking event will enable cooperation and partnerships between solution providers and adopters from both regions.
ii.The event, scheduled to be held in June 2025, is funded by the EU and supported by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.
iii.The event will provide a platform for 12 startups from Europe and India (6 each) to pitch their ideas.
iv.After pitching presentation, Six finalists (3 from the EU and 3 from India) will be shortlisted. They will be awarded with a visit to India and the EU respectively, to explore market opportunities with their counterparts.
Note: Start-ups and SMEs operating in India and Europe are invited to submit their EoI by 30th April 2024.
Key Points:
i.The initiative will play an important role in advancing circular economic practices and achieving the carbon neutrality goals of India and the EU.
ii.It seeks to facilitate cooperation, and explore potential trade opportunities, customer relations and investment avenues for the short-listed start-ups.
India-EU TCC:
i.The India-EU TTC was announced by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission during the meeting held in April 2022 in New Delhi, Delhi.
ii.EU-India TTC is a collaboration platform to address key trade, trusted technology, and security challenges.
iii.TTC consists of 3 Working Groups:

• Working Group 1 on Strategic Technologies, Digital governance and Digital connectivity.
• Working Group 2 on Green and Clean Energy Technology.
• Working Group 3 on Trade, Investment and Resilient value chains.

About European Union(EU):
President of European Council: Charles Michel
President of European Commission: Ursula von der Leyen
Headquarters- Brussels, Belgium
Members- 27
Established in 1993

QCI & MoHFW Partnered to Improve CGHS Healthcare ExperienceThe Quality Council of India (QCI) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has initiated a five-year collaboration to transform the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) ecosystem and to enhance healthcare services for all beneficiaries.

• This aims to deliver a more robust, efficient, and transparent CGHS system through a comprehensive approach that will address several key areas.

Key Points:
i.Focus areas include enhancing service quality through systematic interventions, supporting CGHS facilities in accreditation, and capacitating healthcare providers.
ii.Emphasis is placed on leveraging technology for transformation and exploring additional initiatives.
iii.Crucial measures encompass ensuring drug and storage quality, modernizing procurement systems, and updating infrastructure and processes.
iv.Quality monitoring mechanisms will be established for regular evaluation.
v.The collaboration aims to overhaul CGHS through third-party assessments and expand the network of qualified healthcare providers and laboratories.
About Quality Council of India (QCI):
Chairperson– Jaxay Shah
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
Parent Ministry– Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Establishment– 1997

MoRTH Constructed 12,349 km of National Highways in FY24, the 2nd highest so farAccording to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), a total of 12,349 km of National Highways(NHs) were constructed in the Financial Year 2023–24 (FY24). This is the 2nd highest figure in the history of the construction of national highways.

• The Ministry also revealed that it has awarded 8,851 NH projects in FY24.
• FY21 stands in first place with a length of 13,327km of national highways.

Pilot Program for Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims
The Government of India (GoI) launched a pilot program in March 2024 to provide cashless treatment to the victims of road accidents due to the use of motor vehicles.
Significance: It aims to reduce fatalities due to road accidents by providing timely medical care including golden hour. It provides legal mandate under section162 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
Key Features of the Pilot Program:
i.The program was developed by MoRTH and for initial phase, it will be introduced in Chandigarh.
ii.Victims  entitled to get cashless treatment up to maximum of Rs1.5 lakhs per person for a maximum period of 7 days from date of accident.
iii.Applicable to all road accidents caused by any motor vehicle.
iv.Hospital claims the compensation from the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund for treating patients.
v.The packages for trauma and polytrauma offered under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) will also be co-opted under the scheme.
vi.The program will be carried out via an IT platform that combines the features of the National Health Authority (NHA)’s Transaction Management System (TMS) with the MoRTH e-Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) application.
About Ministry of Road Transport and Highways(MoRTH):
Union Minister: Nitin Jairam Gadkari(Constituency: Nagpur, Maharashtra)
Minister of State(MoS): Retd. General Vijay Kumar Singh (Constituency: Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh)

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

WHO Global Hepatitis Report 2024; Hepatitis is 2nd Leading Infectious cause of Death Globallyi.On April 9, 2024, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its ‘Global Hepatitis Report 2024 -Action for access in low- and middle-income countries‘ during the World Hepatitis Summit (WHS) 2024, organized by World Hepatitis Alliance with the support of the Ministry of Health of Portugal, in Lisbon, from April 9–11, 2024, on the theme ‘Integrate, Accelerate, Eliminate’.
ii.As per it, there is alarming increase in deaths caused by viral hepatitis, making it the second leading infectious cause of death globally, after Tuberculosis (TB).
iii.This is the first consolidated WHO report on viral hepatitis epidemiology, service coverage and product access, with improved data for action.
iv.Viral hepatitis claims 1.3 million lives annually, with 83% attributed to hepatitis B and 17% to hepatitis C.
v.It was developed by the WHO Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Programmes (HHS) jointly with the Department of Health Product Policy and Standards (HPS), Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals and Department of Regulation and Prequalification.
About World Health Organization (WHO):
Director-General– Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
Establishment– 1948
>> Read Full News

BANKING & FINANCE

NPS Assets under Management record 30.5% YoY growth in FY24: PFRDA DataAs per the latest data from the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), the National Pension System (NPS) Assets Under Management (AUM) experienced 30.5% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth during the Fiscal Year 2023-24 (FY24), reaching Rs 11.73 lakh Crore in FY24 from Rs 8.98 lakh crore in FY23.

• This is higher than the 27% y-o-y increase seen in NPS assets in FY23.

Highlights:
i.This growth is amid addition of 9.47 lakh new subscribers from non-government sector.

• The number of new government employees onboarded NPS in FY24 stood at 7.10 lakh.

ii.However, this growth is fell slightly short of the PFRDA’s target of one million for FY24, with an internal target of 13 lakh new subscribers.
iii.As of March 31, 2024 the total number of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) subscribers increased by 16.28% to 7.36 crore.
Key Points:
i.Non-government sector (corporate and retail) witnessed a 41.67%  growth in NSP assets to Rs 2.27 lakh Crore, while government employees’ assets grew by 28% to Rs 9.05 lakh crore.
ii.Heightened awareness campaigns contributed to NPS asset growth, with equity assets constituting 18% of the AUM and a higher proportion in the Retail and Corporate Segments.
iii.Over 3,000 additional corporates adopted Corporate NPS for their employees in FY24.
iv.Strong equity markets resulted in Pension Funds achieving an average annual return of 35.42% as of March 31, surpassing other investment avenues significantly.
About Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA):
Chairperson– Dr. Deepak Mohanty
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
Establishment– 2003

STB & PhonePe inks MoU to Promote UPI for Indians in Singapore
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB), a lead development agency for tourism, Singapore, signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PhonePe to promote Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for Indians travelling in Singapore.

• The MoU allows customers to instantly make cross border transactions between India and Singapore directly from their existing Indian bank accounts.
• As part of the agreement, STB and PhonePe would invest in joint marketing campaigns in Singapore and India to promote the destination’s dynamic options and smooth UPI experiences across key tourism hotspots.

Signatories: The MoU was signed by Melissa Ow, Chief Executive of STB and Ritesh Pai, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of PhonePe’s International Payments Business.
Note: PhonePe Group is India’s leading fintech company. Its flagship product, the PhonePe digital payments app which was launched in August 2016.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

MoPSW Awarded Sagar Samman Awards on National Maritime Day 2024On the occasion of the 61st National Maritime Day (5th April 2024), the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) awarded the Sagar Samman Awards acknowledging exemplary contributions within the maritime sector.

• The award was presented during the event organised by the National Maritime Day Celebrations (NMDC) Central Committee at Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in Nariman Point, Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• The NMDC Awards for Outstanding Maritime Training Institutes and Recognitions were also announced during the event.

Note: The observance of National Maritime Day 2024 was centred around the theme “Sustainable Shipping: Opportunities and Challenges”.
>> Read Full News

INS Sharda Awarded ‘On The Spot Unit Citation 23-24’ For Anti Piracy Operations
On April 8 2024, during his visit to Southern Naval Command(SNC), Kochi(Kerala), Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), awarded ‘On the Spot Unit Citation 23-24’ to Indian Naval Ships (INS) Sharda for successful conduct of antipiracy operations.

• The ship was involved in the safe release of all 19 crew members (11 Iranian and 08 Pakistani) of Iranian fishing vessel Omari which was held hostage by pirates off the East coast of Somalia on 2nd February 2024.

Note: INS Sharda (P55) is a Sukanya class patrol vessel of the Indian Navy which was commissioned on 27 October 1991.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Simon Harris elected as New Prime Minister of IrelandSimon Harris(37 years old), leader of Fine Gael party, was elected as the New Taoiseach (Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland) by the member of the Dáil (Irish parliament).

• He received the seal of office from President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and was officially installed as Taoiseach on 9th April 2024.
• He succeeded Leo Varadkar, who resigned as Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach in March 2024.

Note:
i.With this, Harris becomes the youngest PM of the Republic of Ireland.
ii.He is set to hold the post till general election which is set to be held in March 2025.
Points to note:
i.The members of Dáil , the Parliament of Ireland, voted 88 to 69 in favour of Simon Harris becoming Taoiseach.
ii.The 3 party-coalition government (Fine Gael party, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party) has been in power since 2020.
iii.This is the 3rd time the coalition government has changed the Taoiseach in less than 4 years.
About Simon Harris
i.He became the youngest Teachta Dála(TD), a member of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Irish parliament) in 2011, at the age of 24.
ii.He served as the Minister in the government of Ireland since 2016.
iii.He served as Minister for Health (2016 to 2020) and Minister of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science from 2020 to April 2024.

India’s Jagjit Pavadia Re-elected for a third term to the International Narcotics Control BoardIndia’s Jagjit Pavadia was re-elected as a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) for the third term from 2025 to 2030.

• She previously served as a member of INCB for two terms: 2015–2020 and 2020–2025. She also served as President of the INCB for 2021–2022.
• INCB is the independent and quasi-judicial monitoring body for the implementation of the United Nations(UN) international drug control conventions.
• India was also elected as a member of the key UN bodies including the Commission on the Status of Women for the term 2025-2029; Executive Board of the UNICEF/UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS/ UN Women/ WFP for the term 2025-2027.

About UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):
President – Paula Narváez
Members – 54(including India)
Established – 1945
>> Read Full News

USISPF appoints Former Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj as Chair of US-India Tax Forum
Tarun Bajaj, Former Revenue and Economic Affairs Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, was appointed as the Chair of the United States (US)-India Tax Forum of the United States-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).
i.Tarun Bajaj, a 1988 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, who retired from service in November 2022.
ii.He is also serving as Independent Director on the board of Hindustan Unilever Limited(HUL) since December 2023.
iii.He joined as an adviser to the Board of Directors of USISPF in January 2024.
Note:
i.USISPF is a not-for-profit institution dedicated to strengthening partnerships between the United States of America (USA) and India.
ii.The US-India Tax Forum acts as a platform for firms doing business in the US-India corridor to engage with relevant government officials on tax issues and others.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TASL launches TSAT-1A, India’s 1st Private Sector-Built Sub-Metre Resolution Earth Observation Satellite
Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, has successfully launched TSAT-1A, India’s first private sector-built sub-metre resolution Earth Observation Satellite, into low-earth orbit(LEO).

• TSAT-1A launched on board the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation’s (SpaceX’s) Falcon 9 rocket from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Kennedy Space Center, Florida, United States of America(USA) on 7th April 2024.
• This was one of the 11 satellites launched as a part of the ‘Bandwagon-1’ Mission, SpaceX’s first rideshare mission to LEO at inclinations of about 45 degrees.
• TASL built TSAT-1A at its Vemagal facility (Karnataka) in collaboration with Satellogic, a leading provider of high-resolution satellite imagery.

Note: TSAT-1A, weighing less than 50 kg, has around 0.5-0.8-meter resolution inherently, which will be enhanced to 0.5 to 0.6-meter super resolution using software.

OBITUARY

Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Peter Higgs Passed AwayNobel prize-winning British Physicist Peter Higgs passed away at the age of 94 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom (UK). He was born on 29 May 1929 in the Elswick district of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Awards/Honours:
i.In 2015, he won the world’s oldest scientific prize, the Royal Society’s Copley Medal for his work on the theory of the Higgs boson or “The god particle”.
ii.In 2013, he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics with Belgian Physicist François Englert.

• The award was “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of the mass of subatomic particles”.

iii.In recognition of his contributions to science, he was appointed as Companion of Honour in the 2013 New Year Honours List.
iv.In 2013, he received the Edinburgh Medal of the Edinburgh International Science Festival (with European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)); and the Nonino ‘Man of Our Time’ Prize.
vi.In 2004, he was jointly awarded the Wolf Prize in Physics with Robert Brout and François Englert.
vii.In 1997, he was jointly awarded the High Energy and Particle Physics Prize from the European Physical Society with Robert Brout and François Englert.
About Peter Higgs:
i.Higgs began his teaching career as a Temporary Lecturer in Mathematics at University College London, UK.
ii.He returned to Edinburgh in 1960, joining the Tait Institute as a Lecturer in Mathematical Physics.
iii.Over the years, he advanced through the ranks, eventually attaining a Personal Chair of Theoretical Physics in 1980.
iv.He retired in 1996, becoming Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Homeopathy Day 2024 – April 10 World Homeopathy Day (WHD) is annually observed across the globe on 10 April to raise awareness about homeopathy, a therapeutic system of Medicine, its principles, and its contributions to global healthcare.

• WHD also commemorates the birth anniversary of Dr Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician and chemist, who is regarded as the founder of homeopathy.

10th April 2024 marks the 269th birth anniversary of Dr Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann.

• The theme for World Homeopathy Day 2024 is “Homeoparivar: One Health, One Family.”

About Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH):
Union Minister– Sarbananda Sonowal (Rajya Sabha Assam)
Minister of State– Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai Kalubhai (Constituency: Surendranagar, Gujarat)
>> Read Full News

59th Central Reserve Police Force Valour Day – April 9 2024The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Valour Day also known as Shaurya Diwas is annually observed across India on 9 April to commemorate the extraordinary valour displayed by the CRPF soldiers during the Battle of Sardar Post in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, in 1965.

• The Day aims to honour the CRPF personnel and pay tribute to the martyrs who lost their lives in the line of duty.

9th April 2024 marks the observance of the 59th CRPF Valour Day.
Note: CRPF stands as India’s largest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
About Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF):
Director General– Anish Dayal Singh
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
>> Read Full News

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