Current Affairs 2 September 2022

We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs 2 September 2022, which have unique updates of Latest Current Affairs 2022 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.

Our Current Affairs September 2022 events will help you to get more marks in Banking, Insurance, SSC, Railways, UPSC, CLAT and all State Government Exams. Also, try our Latest Current Affairs Quiz and Monthly Current Affairs 2022 PDF which will be a pedestrian to crack your exams.

Read Current Affairs in CareersCloud APP, Course Name – Learn Current Affairs – Free Course – Click Here to Download the APP
We are Hiring – Subject Matter Expert | CA Video Creator | Content Developers(Pondicherry)

Click here for Current Affairs 2 September 2022

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Cabinet Approvals on August 31, 2022

On August 31, 2022, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi approved the following proposals:
i.CCEA has approved Rs 1200 crore scheme for disposal of Chana (Pulses) to States and Union Territories (UTs) at discounted rates which will be utilized for various welfare schemes. The disposal will be done from the stock of pulses procured under Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Stabilization Fund (PSF).
ii.The Union Cabinet also approved the proposal of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Nepal on biodiversity conservation.
About Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC):
Union Minister – Bhupender Yadav (Constituency – Rajya Sabha Rajasthan)
Minister of State – Ashwini Kumar Choubey (Constituency – Buxar, Bihar)
>> Read Full News

AICTE partners with Adobe to Advance Digital Literacy in India

On 31st August 2022, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) signed a partnership agreement with Adobe to accelerate digital creativity skills across India.

• The agreement was signed in commemoration of 75 years of Independence of India, in the presence of Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE and Prativa Mohapatra, Vice President & Managing Director, Adobe India.

Aim
The partnership between AICTE and Adobe aims to empower over 75,000 educators across 10,000 higher education institutions in India with essential digital creativity skills by 2024 with access to Adobe Express.
Highlights:
i.Under the agreement, Adobe will provide courses and expertise for upskilling educators, and integrate digital creativity into the curriculum, to prepare students with the essential digital literacy skills.
ii.The program also partnered with the AICTE Training and Learning Academy (ATAL) to provide support for the professional, creative development of faculty members and students of participating institutes.
iii.Adobe Express is a new web and mobile-based app, with thousands of templates customised for education, it helps teachers and students to create and share everything from science fair posters to infographics, presentations, videos etc.

Note: Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of UGC (University Grant Commission), will take charge as the interim Chairman of AICTE from 1st September 2022.
About All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE):
Founded-1945
Headquarters- New Delhi, Delhi

Odisha’s ‘Nua Khai’ Festival celebrated in Western Odisha 

‘Nua Khai’ , an agrarian festival, was celebrated on 1st September, 2022, at Western Odisha. It is celebrated precisely the day after Ganesh Chaturthi and signifies the celebration of newly harvested crops.

• This festival is the most auspicious and important social festival in Western Odisha and the neighbouring areas of Simdega, Jharkhand and Southern Chhattisgarh.
• The Nua Khai celebration was attended by many guests including the Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan (chief guest) who graced the function on the occasion.

About Nua Khai:
i.The founder of Patna State, Raja Ramai Deo started the ‘Nua Khai’ festival in the 14th Century.
ii.Nua Khai, an annual harvest festival celebrated to welcome the season’s new crop. It is also referred as ‘Nuakahi Bhetghat’ or ‘Nuakhai Parab’, which is celebrated on the 5th day of the lunar fortnight of Bhadraba (falls in August-September on the lunar Calendar).
iii. The word ‘Nua’ means ‘New’ and ‘Khai’ means ‘food’, the name itself depicts the celebration of a crop festival. The first harvested crop will be offered to the founder Goddess of Western Odisha, Maa Samaleswari.
iv.The symbolisation of this festival is to thank the divine for blessing them with ‘Anna’ or food.
Recent Related News:

• Onam festival has started from August 30, 2022 and will end on September 8, 2022. It is also celebrated in order to honour crops and marks the return of King Mahabali in Kerala.

About Odisha:
Chief Minister(CM)- Naveen Patnaik
Governor- Ganeshi Lal
Dance forms- Paika Nrutya; Dhap Dance

NSO Releases 15th PLFS Quarterly Bulletin [April – June 2022]: UR Falls to 7.6% In April-June 2022

The Unemployment Rate (UR) for people aged 15 and above in urban areas decreased to 7.6% in April-June 2022 from 12.6% in 2021, according to the 15th Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) – Quarterly Bulletin [April – June 2022] published by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
Key Components
i.Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the percentage of the persons who are in the labour force (working/looking for employment/available for work).
ii.Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of the population that is employed.
iii.Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed.
iv.Current Weekly Status (CWS): The CWS of a person is the activity status determined based on the reference period of the last 7 days preceding the date of the survey.
About Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI):
Ministers of State (Independent Charge) – Rao Inderjit Singh (Gurugram Constituency – Haryana)
>> Read Full News

CERT-In Conducts Cyber Security Exercise – ‘Synergy’

On 31st August 2022, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in collaboration with Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) successfully designed and conducted the Cyber Security Exercise, ‘Synergy’ for 13 countries.

• Exercise Synergy was hosted by CERT-In on its exercise simulation platform.
• The theme of the exercise was ‘Building Network Resiliency to counter Ransomware Attacks’.

Key highlights:
Objective – To Assess, Share and improve strategies & practices among Member-States to build network resiliency against ransomware & cyber extortion attacks.
i.Exercise ‘Synergy’ was successful in meeting its objectives and provided insights for CRI Member States to build network resiliency and counter ransomware attacks.
ii.This exercise was conducted as part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group, led by India under the leadership of National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).
iii.Each country participated as a National Crisis Management Team, with a composition of different government agencies including National CERTs (Computer Emergency Readiness Team)/CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Team), Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA), Communication and IT/Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry and Security agencies.

BANKING & FINANCE

Muthoot Fincorp & IME India Partner to Provide Money Transfer Services to Nepal

Muthoot FinCorp Ltd. has partnered with IME India Pvt. Ltd. (formerly IME Forex India) to extend the scope of its remittance services in the Indo-Nepal corridor. Muthoot Finance is the only Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) to extend the money transfer services from India to Nepal.
Highlights
i.With the new partnership with IME India, Muthoot FinCorp will be able to provide quick and dependable service to a larger proportion of the Nepalese diaspora residing in India.
ii.Without opening a bank account in India, Nepali migrants can now instantly transfer money from the 3,600+ Muthoot FinCorp branches to their families in Nepal.
iii.Muthoot FinCorp has been supporting the Nepali population in India with money transfers through its existing partner, Prabhu Money Transfer Pvt Ltd.
Banking Partners in the Indo-Nepal Remittance Business
i.IDFC First Bank of India and Global IME Bank Ltd. of Nepal are the banking partners facilitating the Indo-Nepal remittance service.

• About 15% of Nepal’s total remittances are considered to originate from India.

ii.Since 2020, IME India has been in the Indo-Nepal remittance business and is working with the Nepalese migrant community distributed across India.

• This facility will benefit around 5 million Nepalese migrants.

Note: Goutam Naithani is the CEO of IME India Pvt Ltd.
About Muthoot FinCorp Ltd
CEO – Shaji Varghese
Establishment – 1997
Headquarters – Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

India’s Q1FY23 GDP Data by NSO: Economy grew 13.5%

As per provisional estimates released by National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), India’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the April-June quarter (Q1) of the ongoing FY23 rose 13.5%.

• It fastest in the last four quarters on account of better performance by the agriculture and services sectors.
• Real GDP at constant (2011-12) prices in Q1 2022-23 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 36.85 lakh crore, as against Rs 32.46 lakh crore in Q1 2021-22, showing a growth of 13.5% as compared to 20.1% in Q1 2021-22
• The GDP for the preceding January-March quarter (Q4) of 2021-22 had witnessed a growth of 4.1%.

Gross Value Added (GVA):
i.The GVA at basic price at constant terms during the June quarter rose 12.7%. The GVA at Basic Price at Current Prices rose 26.5% in Q1 2022-23.
ii.The GVA of public administration, defence & other services increased 26.3% while that of trade, hotels, transport, communication & services related to broadcasting climbed 25.7%.

• The construction segment grew 16.8% while electricity, gas, water supply & other utility services rose 14.7%.
• Agriculture, forestry & fishing segment saw an increase of 4.5%.

Other Highlights:
i.The last time India’s GDP achieved higher annual growth was in April-June 2021, when it was 20.1% higher than the pandemic-depressed level of a year before.
ii.Central Government fiscal deficit touched 20.5% of the annual target at the end of July FY23 against 21.3% a year ago, reflecting improvement in public finance.
iii.In actual terms, the fiscal deficit was Rs 3,40,831 crore during the April-July period this financial year.
iv.Retail inflation has been running above the top of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) tolerance band of 2-6% all year and is set to do so for the rest of 2022.

Goldman Cuts India’s Growth Forecast; Morgan Stanley Sees Downside RisksGoldman Sachs decreased India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast for the full-year 2022 from 7.6% to 7%, in addition to lowering its forecasts for the current fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23) by 20 basis points from 7.2%.

• The research firm cut its growth projections for India downward after the April–June 2022 quarterly GDP figures fell short of market expectations.

For FY23, Morgan Stanley’s growth projection of 7.2% for FY23 is subject to a 40 basis point downside risk.
Key Points:
i.In the April–June 2022 quarter, India’s real GDP growth climbed by 13.5% year-on-year, underperforming economists’ projections of 15.2%.
ii.Sequentially, the pace of GDP growth slowed to a quarter-on-quarter expansion of -3.3% after increasing by 0.5% in the January-March 2022 period.
iii.Despite the fact that the primary drivers of domestic demand met Goldman Sachs’ estimates, a huge drop in inventories and statistical inconsistencies were unexpected.
iv.India’s GDP fell short of forecasts, partially due to slightly weaker-than-expected investment growth and a greater drag from net exports.

Moody’s Slashes India’s GDP Growth Forecast for 2022 To 7.7%

The credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service, in its Global Macro Outlook 2022-23, slashed India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth projection for 2022 to 7.7 %. It has also trimmed India’s GDP forecast for the year 2023 from 5.4 % to 5.2 %.

• Earlier in May 2022, it forecasted that India’s GDP would rise to 8.8% in 2022.
• Rising interest rates, an uneven monsoon, and declining global growth have all been predicted to have a sequential impact on economic progress.

Key Highlights
i.After declining 6.7 % in 2020 when the pandemic disrupted the nation, the GDP grew by 8.3 % in 2021.
ii.According to provisional estimates issued by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the Indian economy grew by 13.5% year on year in the April-June quarter of 2022, the fastest pace in a year.

• It is 4.10% above the growth recorded in the March quarter of 2022.

iii.Focusing on the manufacturing and service sectors, Moody’s reported that “corporate-sector deleveraging on business investment” was the reason for the slowdown of India’s economic growth even before the impacts of COVID-19 appeared.
iv.In terms of inflation, although it dropped slightly to 6.7% in July 2022, it remains above the RBI’s target range of 2-6.0% for the seventh straight month.
v.According to Moody’s, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would remain focused in 2022 and retain a relatively tight policy stance in 2023 to prevent domestic inflationary pressures.

• In August 2022, the RBI hiked the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.4% for the third time.

v.According to the RBI, the inflation rate will stay high until 2023, at 5.8% in the January-March period and 5.0% in April-May.

Suzuki Signs MoU with NDDB for Setting up Two Biogas Plants in Gujarat

National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the apex body of dairy cooperatives of India and Suzuki Motors Corporation(SMC), Japan, signed an agreement to set up two Biogas plants to provide clean energy solutions and organic fertilisers using Cow Dung in an event that was organised to mark 40 years of Suzuki in India.

• Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also attended the event.
• The MoU was signed by NDDB President Minesh Shah and top officials of Suzuki.

Key highlights:
i.Under this agreement, two biogas plants will be constructed in Gujarat for producing clean energy and organic fertilisers from Cow dung.
ii.Cow dung has emerged as an important component to meet energy demand in the 21st century as many states are currently buying cow dung from farmers.

• Chhattisgarh is leading in buying cow dung from farmers at the rate of Rs 2 per kg and it is also planning to set up more than 500 biogas plants.

iii.Many countries around the world including India have promised to ensure the use of green energy after the stipulated time and the dung based energy fuel model will be the essential green energy component.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

LIC out of Top 10 most valued firms; Replaced by Bajaj Finance, Adani Transmission

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is pushed out of the list of  India’s 10 most valued companies by market capitalization by Bajaj Finance and Adani Transmission. LIC is now ranked 11th with a market capital of  Rs 4.26 lakh crore. 

• Bajaj Finance and Adani Transmission have taken 10th and 9th position, respectively.
• Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is the top valued Indian company with a market capitalisation of Rs. 17.8 lakh crore, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), ICICI Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Limited.

Key highlights:
i.As on 30th August 2022, Adani Transmission entered the coveted list of top 10 most valued companies with a market value of Rs. 4.43 lakh crore on the BSE list which is higher than Bajaj Finance’s total mcap of Rs. 4.42 lakh crore and LIC’s Rs. 4.26 lakh crore.
ii.On 17th May 2022, LIC share price fell sharply and were allotted to the investors at Rs. 949 apiece and got listed at the stock exchanges at discount.

• The stock is about 29 percent down from its initial public offering (IPO) issue price of Rs. 949.

iii.In the 2022 June quarter net profit of LIC Shares jumped to Rs. 682.9 crore as compared to Rs. 2.9 crore in 2021 June quarters, which reported a 20 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in net premium.

• LIC continuously increased its market share in the year 2022 by launching two new Non-PAR products in Q1 FY23 and a channel-specific product for the 1st time.

GRSE conferred with coveted Green Channel Certification by Defence Ministry

Warship maker Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) was conferred the Green Channel Certification by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the supply of portable steel bridges – Beiley type – of various spans and configurations to the Indian Army.

• GRSE is the only organization in India qualified for the Green Channel Certification for Portable Steel Bridges (Bailey Type), from the Indian Army.
• The Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of GRSE Commodore(Cmde) PR Hari, IN (Retd.) received the certification from Lt Gen RK Malhotra, Director General, Quality Assurance (DGQA) in the presence of officials from GRSE and Indian Army/ DGQA in New Delhi, Delhi.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Rajesh Kumar Srivastava given additional charge as CMD of ONGC

Rajesh Kumar Srivastava has been given additional charge as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for a period of 4 months with effect from 1st September 2022 or till the appointment of a regular incumbent to the post, or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.

• He took charge as the 3rd interim Chairman of ONGC following the superannuation of the incumbent Alka Mittal on 31st August 2022.
• Rajesh Kumar Srivastava is currently serving as director (exploration) of ONGC.

Note: Since April 2021, ONGC has been operating without a regular CMD.
Highlights:
i.Subhash Kumar, the then senior-most director on the ONGC board and the director for finance, was named officiating head after Shashi Shanker superannuated on March 31, 2021.
ii.Following the retirement of Subhash Kumar on December 31, 2021, Alka Mittal, Director for Human Resources, was given the additional charge.
About Rajesh Kumar Srivastava:
i.Rajesh Kumar Srivastava joined ONGC in 1984 as Geologist at KG-PG Basin or Krishna Godavari Basin, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh.
ii.He has the experience of more than 34 years in upstream hydrocarbon explorations from on-land and offshore sites to developing geology and seismic data interpretation, monitoring and planning of explorations, and development activities in several basins including deep water exploration on east coast of India.
iii.He is also the Chairman of ONGC TERI Biotech Limited (OTBL) and the President of the Indian Geological Congress (IGL).
About Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC):
Headquarters-New Delhi, Delhi
Founded-1956

M V Iyer appointed as interim CMD of GAIL

M V Iyer Director (Business Development), Additional Charge of Director (Marketing) of GAIL (India) Limited has been given additional charge as  Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of GAIL (India) Limited.

• He has been appointed for a period of 3 months with effect from September 1, 2022, or till the appointment of a regular incumbent to the post or until further orders, whichever is the earlier following the superannuation of current CMD Manoj Jain on August 31, 2022.
• He is also the Director of Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited (IGGL), GAIL’s new Joint venture company for implementation of North East Gas Grid.

ENVIRONMENT

‘Ghatiana dvivarna’, a new crab species discovered in Karnataka

A new species of freshwater crab named “Ghatiana dvivarna” was discovered in the central Western Ghats region around Bare in Yellapur taluk of Uttara Kannada, Karnataka.

• The discovery was published in Nauplius, the journal of the Brazilian Crustacean Society.
• The  Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot in the world, houses 75 species of crab, including the newly discovered Ghatiana dvivarna.

About the discovery:
The new species was discovered by a team of researchers from Uttara Kannada, Karnataka forest department and Maharashtra.

• The researchers’ team comprised Sameer Kumar Pati of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Western Regional Centre in Pune (Maharashtra), Tejas Thackeray of Thackeray Wildlife Foundation, Parashuram P Bajantri of Karnataka forest department and Gopalkrishna D Hegde.

About Ghatiana dvivarna-The Crab:
i.The new species is named ‘Ghatiana dvivarna’, based on the Sanskrit word for two (dvi) colours (varna) of the crab- white and red-violet.

The new species is around 3 inches long and 2 inches wide, is not edible and thrives on moss and lichens.

• It belongs to the Ghatiana genus of freshwater crabs.
• The new species is unique among the congeners because of its predominantly white colour.
• These crabs usually inhabit the holes in laterite rocks on the elevated mountains of central Western Ghats (south of Goa-Nilgiris) region. They feed on mosses growing on laterite rocks and play a key role in ensuring ecological balance.

Note: There are about 125 species of crabs and 13 have been recorded so far under the Ghatiana genus in India. Ghatiana dvivarna is the 14th freshwater crab under the Ghatiana genus.

IMPORTANT DAYS

National Nutrition Week 2022- September 1 to 7The National Nutrition Week (NNW) is  annually observed across India from September 1 to September 7 to create awareness about good nutrition and health, and its importance in human lives.

• It aims to raise public awareness about nutrition and healthy eating habits.
• The week is honoured to make people understand the importance of nutritional and adaptive eating habits to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• The theme for NNW 2022 – “World of Flavours”

>> Read Full News

STATE NEWS

Meghalaya CM Launches Rural Backyard Piggery Scheme for Welfare of Farmers

Meghalaya Chief Minister (CM) Conrad K Sangma launched the ambitious flagship programme for the welfare of farmers, ‘Rural Backyard Piggery Scheme’ under National Livestock Mission (NLM) at Byrnihat in Ri-Bhoi district, Meghalaya.

• Meghalaya acquires 18,000 MT of pork from different States and through the piggery scheme, it addresses the shortage of pork supply as there is a huge shortfall in supply and demand.
• The government is successfully providing income generation opportunities and economic prosperity to the farmers through different welfare schemes.

About Rural Backyard Piggery Scheme:
i.The Rural Backyard Piggery scheme was launched on 10th August 2022 in Samanda block in East Garo Hills district, Meghalaya.
ii.Under this scheme 4 piglets, 3 female and 1 male piglet will be distributed to farmers to promote pig breeding to provide regular income to farmers.

• This livestock package is worth Rs 25,000 per beneficiary that benefits around  6000 poor and marginal farmers which thereby increases pork production.

iii.Financial outlay – Under phase 1 of the scheme, the government has outlayed Rs 15.18 crore under which 4 high-yielding improved varieties will be distributed to 6000 families.

• An additional Rs 25 crore will be earmarked to roll out the 2nd phase of the scheme.

Other schemes:
i.The flagship programme ‘Progress’ scheme has been conceptualised by the government that aims to ensure that the farmers earn a sustainable livelihood through different livestock farming activities such as piggery, poultry and such others.
ii.Meghalaya Piggery Mission, one of the largest piggery development programmes, will be implemented by the Meghalaya government to make the state self-sufficient in pork supply.
iii.Zero interest loan is provided for setting up fattening and pig breeding, through which 250 piggery cooperative societies have availed loans amounting to Rs 43.67 crore until now.

WRI India, AEDA launches Online Geospatial Platform for Assam in Guwahati

On 31 August, 2022, the World Resource institute (WRI) India in partnership with Assam Energy Development Agency (AEDA) inaugurated an online based, open source, and interactive Geospatial platform which is referred to as Energy Access Explorer (EAE) for Assam.

• EAE was inaugurated in Guwahati. It helps to visualise the extent of energy access at Assam’s health, education, and livelihood infrastructures.

Key highlights:
i.The Geospatial platform claims to assist policy-makers, renewable energy industry entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers from the development sector to expand energy access in the state.
ii.Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) (Government of India) attempted to supply high quality and dependable energy for rural and concrete areas.
iii. In the past decade, 37.7% of health sub-centres and 41% of schools in rural Assam lack access to reliable and sustainable power, while Assam made great strides in electricity provisioning to homes.
iv.The Central and State Government of India have identified the necessity to improve liveliness entry to the nation.
v.The leverage data will be provided by the platform and create a scenario of viability and affordability for consumers.
Note:
Director of AEDA: Mrinal Krishna Chaudhury.
CEO of WRI: Om Prakash Agarwal
About Assam:
CM: Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma
Governor: Jagdish Mukhi
Festival: Bohag Bihu; Kati Bihu

*******

• List of Current Governors in India – AUGUST 2022
• List of Current Chief Ministers in India – AUGUST 2022

*******

List of Less Important News – Click Here

*****Click Here View – AC Excluded News*****

Current Affairs Today (AffairsCloud Today)