Current Affairs 23 June 2021

We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs 23 June 2021, which have unique updates of Latest Current Affairs 2021 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

QCI launches ICMED Plus Scheme for Quality Certification of  Medical DevicesQuality Council of India (QCI), an autonomous body under the Ministry of  Commerce & Industry virtually launched the ‘Indian Certification of Medical Devices 13485 PLUS scheme (ICMED 13485 PLUS)’ for undertaking verification of the quality, safety and effectiveness of medical devices in India. It is an upgraded version of the ICMED Scheme launched in 2016 for certification of medical devices.

• QCI & the Association of Indian Manufacturers of Medical Devices (AiMeD) have added new features to the ICMED scheme.
• ICMED Plus is the 1st scheme in the world in which Quality Management Systems along with Product Certification Standards are integrated with regulatory requirements.
• The scheme will be an end to end quality assurance scheme for the medical devices sector in India. It provides the institutional mechanism needed for assuring product quality and safety.
• It will help in tackling challenges like counterfeit products, fake certification, and help in eliminating the circulation and use of sub-standard medical products or devices.

About Quality Council of India (QCI)
It is an autonomous body set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Chairperson – Adil Zainulbhai
Secretary General – Dr. Ravi P. Singh
Head Office – New Delhi
About Association of Indian Manufacturers of Medical Devices (AiMeD)
Forum Coordinator – Rajiv Nath
Head Office – New Delhi
>>Read Full News

Assam Government & SoI sign MoU for implementation of SVAMITVA scheme in AssamAssam Government & Survey of India (SoI), the National Mapping Agency (NMA) of India have signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for implementation of SVAMITVA scheme (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) in Assam.

• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), Government of India & Department of Revenue and disaster management, Government of Assam will implement the scheme with support of the Panchayat & Rural Development of Assam.
• As Technology partner, Survey of India will take steps for survey of inhabited rural land by drone technology.
• The implementation of SVAMITVA scheme is aimed at reducing property related disputes and legal cases.

SVAMITVA scheme
i.It is a Central sector scheme launched on April 24, 2020 (i.e during the National Panchayati Raj Day)  by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It aims to provide rural people with the right to document their residential properties, so that they can use their property for economic purposes.
ii.Target –  To cover around 6.62 Lakh villages of India during the period 2021-25.
iii.Implementing agency – Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), Technology – Survey of India.
About Survey of India (SoI)
It  is the National Survey and Mapping Organization which comes under Department of Science & Technology
Surveyor General of India – Naveen Tomar
Headquarter – Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Established – 1767 (It is the Oldest Scientific Department of Govt. of India)
>>Read Full News

Andhra Pradesh tops new job creation under IBPS scheme: STPIAndhra Pradesh has generated the highest employment in India under the IBPS Scheme (India Business Process Outsourcing Promotion Scheme) by creating 12, 234 new jobs. Tamil Nadu came 2nd by creating 9, 401 jobs, while the remaining jobs were spread across Punjab, Odisha, Maharashtra and others.

• Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh received the distinction for providing employment to a large number of youth under the IBPS scheme.
• The scheme has generated direct employment for more than 40, 000 people residing in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, out of which 38% are women.

IBPS Scheme
i.The IBPS scheme was launched in 2014 under Digital India Programme to incentivize establishment of 48, 300 seats under BPO/ITES (Business Process Outsource/Information Technology Enabled Services) operations across India.

• It aims to create employment opportunities for the youth, by promoting the IT/ITES industry.

ii.Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous body under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) is the nodal implementing agency of the scheme.
iii.Financial Support –  The scheme provides upto 50% of expenditure incurred on BPO/ITES operations towards capital expenditure (CAPEX) and/or operational expenditure (OPEX) on admissible items, subject to an upper ceiling of Rs. 1 Lakh/Seat.
About  Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)
Director General – Dr. Omkar Rai
Head Office – New Delhi
>>Read Full News

NHSRCL & IGBC partners to frame World’s 1st Green Rating System for High-Speed RailsOn 21st June 2021, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd. (NHSRCL) collaborated with Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to formulate World’s 1st Green Rating System for High-Speed Rails (HSR). Under this collaboration, MAHSR (Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail) corridor, which is currently under the control of NHSRC, will be included for the Green HSR Rating program of IGBC.
Objective – IGBC will frame Green HSR Rating for railway stations that provides Environmental sustainability feature to improve commuter experiences
i.NHSRCL is a special purpose vehicle that executes India’s 1st Bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
About National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL):
Established – 2016
Chairman – Suneet Sharma (Chairman & CEO of Indian Railways Board)
About Indian Green Building Council (IGBC):
Headquarters – Hyderabad, Telangana
Chairperson – V Suresh
>>Read Full News

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Launched a Nationwide “JaanHaiToJahaanHai” CampaignMukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Union Minister for Minority Affairs, launched a nationwide “JaanHaiToJahaanHai” campaign to create awareness about corona vaccination in rural and remote areas of India

• The campaign was launched from the Primary Health Centre, Chamraua in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh.

Aim: To eliminate the rumours and apprehensions related to the ongoing vaccination drive.

• The Ministry of Minority Affairs along with the various socio-educational organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and Women Self Help Groups have launched the nationwide awareness campaign.
• Under the JaanHaiToJahaanHai campaign various leaders, prominent people from social, educational, cultural, medical, science, and other fields spread the messages related to vaccination and street plays will be organized across India.

COVID-19 Vaccines of India:
At present India has 2 homegrown vaccines for the coronavirus: Covishield and Covaxin.

• Covishield was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India(SII) in partnership with AstraZeneca. Covishield is developed using  Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived platform technology.
• Covaxin, India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech is developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology (NIV).

About Ministry of Minority Affairs:
Union Minister– Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi(Rajya Sabha – Jharkhand)
Minister of State– Kiren Rijiju(Constituency: Arunachal West, Arunachal Pradesh)

Center Targets to Increase the Number of PMBJKs to 10000 by March 2024

The government of India has set a target to increase the number of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras(PMBJKs) to 10000 by March 2024. Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers virtually inaugurated the PMBJK in Pragpur at Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.
Note:
As of 11th June 2021, the number of PMBJKs is 7836 and the state of Himachal Pradesh has around 66 Janaushadhi Kendras.
About PMBJK:
The PMBJK aims to support the public to get access to quality generic medicine at affordable prices.
All the districts across India are covered under the PMBJK.
PMBJK Background:
i.Pharma Advisory Forum meeting held on 23rd April 2008 decided to launch the PMBJP KENDRA Campaign starting with the sale of generic medicines through dedicated sales outlets called PMBJK in various districts of the country.
ii.The Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI), established in December 2008, is the implementation agency for the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras(PMBJKs).

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

World not on track to reduce Suicide Mortality Rate by 2030: WHO ReportAccording to the report ‘Suicide Worldwide in 2019’  released by World Health Organization (WHO) – The world is not on track to reduce Suicide Mortality Rate by One-Third by 2030.
i.Some key statistics from the report,

• More than 7,03,000 people died by suicide in 2019 i.e. 1 in every 100 deaths. More than 58% of the global suicides have occured before the age of 50 years.
• Suicide is the 4th leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds after road injury, tuberculosis and interpersonal violence.
• The global age-standardized suicide rate was 9.0 per 1,00,000 population for 2019. The global age-standardized suicide rate was higher in males (12.6 per 100 000) than in females (5.4 per 100 000)
• Global suicide rate has decreased by 36% in the last 2 decades (2000-19).
• The suicide rates was highest in WHO Africa region (11.2) followed by Europe (10.5) and South-East Asia (10.2).

About World Health Organization (WHO)
Director-General – Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Headquarters – Geneva, Switzerland
>>Read Full News

BANKING & FINANCE

SBI General Insurance signed Bancassurance Pact with IDFC FIRST BankOn June 21, 2021, SBI (State Bank of India) General Insurance inked a bancassurance partnership with IDFC (Infrastructure Development Finance Company) FIRST Bank for selling its non-life insurance products.  In this regard, a corporate agency agreement was signed between both the entities.

• Through this agreement SBI general insurance will access the IDFC first bank’s larger customer base resulting in wider penetration of its insurance products through the latter’s digital first approach.

About IDFC First Bank:
Establishment– In 2018, by merging erstwhile IDFC Bank and former Capital First.
Managing Director (MD) & CEO (Chief Executive Officer)– V. Vaidyanathan
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
About SBI general insurance:
Managing Director (MD) & CEO (Chief Executive Officer)– Prakash Chandra Kandpal
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Tagline– Suraksha Aur Bharosa Dono
>>Read Full News

ICICI Bank Extended Instant ‘Cardless EMI’ Facility for Online ShoppingICICI Bank has extended the instant ‘Cardless EMI’ facility for its pre-approved customers to make online purchases across 2,500 e-commerce platforms without using their card.

• The ‘Cardless EMI’ facility allows its customers to instantly buy products or services online through Equated Monthly Instalments (EMIs) by using their mobile phone and PAN up to Rs 5 lakh.
• ICICI Bank was India’s 1st bank and 1st in the industry to launch a fully digital payment mode, a cardless EMI facility at retail stores and online shopping.

Features of ‘Cardless EMI’:
i.It is a completely digital and instant EMI facility, it enables the customers to convert transactions into EMIs by entering their registered mobile number, PAN (personal account number) and OTP(one-time-password).
ii.Transaction Limit: Customers are provided with a pre-approved limit for purchases under the EMI facility from Rs 7,000 to Rs 5 lakh.
iii.Tenures: Four different choices of tenures viz, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.
About ICICI Bank:
Establishment – 1955(Incorporated in 1994)
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
MD& CEO – Sandeep Bakhshi
Tagline – Hum hai na, Khayal Apka
>>Read Full News

Navi General Insurance Launched Monthly EMI based Health Insurance In June 2021, Navi General Insurance Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navi Technologies, introduced an Equated Monthly Installments (EMI) subscription-based health insurance in Kerala. It enables the customers to pay affordable monthly EMIs for health insurance instead of paying the annual premium upfront.

• The health insurance policies could be purchased at EMIs starting as low as Rs 240 per month.
• The health insurance cover ranges from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 1 crore for both individuals and families.

Feature of Health insurance:
i.Objective: Subscription-based health insurance is launched to make it more affordable and accessible to customers.
ii.Customers could buy the health insurance via the NaviHealth app within 2 minutes and as it is a complete digital and paperless process the policy would be issued immediately on the app.
ii.It covers more than 20 health benefits viz, COVID-19 hospitalization (in-patient, pre, and post) expenses, 393 day-care procedures, road ambulance cover, vector-borne disease cover, optional critical illness, maternity and newborn baby cover, etc.
Note – In December 2020, Navi General Insurance launched a 100 percent paperless, digital health insurance via the NaviHealth mobile app.
About Navi General Insurance Limited:
Establishment – July 5, 2016
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
MD & CEO – Ramchandra Pandit

Flexiloans.Com Ties Up With Retailio to Offer Working Capital Loans

Fintech platform FlexiLoans.com has partnered with Retailio, a business-to-business healthcare marketplace, to provide working capital loans to more than 1,00,000 retailers and distributors across the country.
Aim:
To fund over 15,000 pharma retailers in the next 18 months.
Key Points:
i.Access to a wide range of lenders and seamless digital on-boarding will be provided to the retailers on Retailio through FlexiLoans’s Co-lending platform – BiFrost.
ii.Funding for working capital will be done digitally within 24- 48 hours of applying for a loan.
iii.Enable the pharmacies to cater to the increased demand for healthcare products and stock holding period
About FlexiLoans:
FlexiLoans is an online lending platform which provides Quick, Flexible and Adequate funds to SMEs.
Establishment:2016
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founders: Deepak Jain,Abhishek Kothari, Manish Lunia and Ritesh Jain.
About Retailio:
Head of Fintech: Rohit Anand
Corporate Office:Pune, Maharashtra

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Bharti Airtel, Tata Group  partner to implement  5G network solutions for India

Bharti Airtel & Tata Group have announced a strategic partnership for implementing ‘Made in India’ 5G network solutions for India.  The 5G Technology will be based on ‘O-RAN (Open Radio Access Network)’ based Radio and NSA/SA (Non-Standalone/standalone) Core Technology.

• The Tata Group has developed the O-RAN technology indigenously. The usage of O-RAN technology reduces network costs by around 40% and is more efficient.
• Bharti Airtel will pilot and deploy the indigegenous solution as part of its 5G rollout plans in India. The pilot services will begin from January 2022.
• The solution will be rolled out initially for India and subsequently for exports.
• Bharti Airtel has already partnered with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for system integration as well as offering technology.
• Airtel became the first telecom company in India to demonstrate 5G over its live network in the city of Hyderabad. India is the world’s second-largest telecom market after China.

About Bharti Airtel
Chairman – Sunil Bharti Mittal
Headquarters – New Delhi
About Tata Group
Tata Sons Private Limited is the holding company of Tata Group and promoter of all Tata Group companies.
Chairman of the Board at Tata Sons – Natarajan Chandrasekaran
Headquarters – Mumbai,  Maharashtra

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS 

NTPC won 38th Position among Top 50 Great Place to Work; Got Recognition of India’s Best Employers National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC) Ltd. a Maharatna CPSU (central public sector undertaking) under the Ministry of Power has been recognised as a ‘Great Place to Work’ for the 15th year in a row by the Great Place to Work (GPTW) Institute. It was the only PSU to feature consistently among India’s Top 50 Best Workplaces.

• Under the category of ‘India’s Great Place to Work’ it ranked at 38th position from its 47th position of 2020, it also won its first-ever recognition of – ‘India’s Best Employers among Nation-Builders 2021’ from GPTW.
• Great Place to Work Certification: It is the most definitive ‘Employer-of-Choice’ recognition that organizations aspire to achieve, it is considered the ‘Gold Standard’ in identifying and recognizing Great Workplaces with High Trust and High-Performance Cultures.
• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Human resources (HR) Excellence Role model award, the highest award in the field of People Management in the country was also received by NTPC in March 2021.

About National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC) Ltd.:
Establishment – 1975
Headquarters – New Delhi
CMD – Gurdeep Singh
>>Read Full News

INS Sahyadri Adjudged as Best Ship of Eastern Fleet: Fleet Awards Function 2021

Indian Navy Ship(INS) Sahyadri was adjudged as the Best Ship of the Eastern Fleet at the Fleet Awards Function 2021, which was held to mark the culmination of the Operational Cycle of the Eastern Fleet and to recognize the achievements of the ‘Sword Arm’ of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC).
The program was hosted by Rear Admiral Tarun Sobti, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.
The chief guest of the event was Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief ENC.

• INS Kamorta was recognized as the most spirited ship.
• INS Kiltan and INS Khukri won the best corvette trophy among the corvettes and similar classes of ships.       

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Upasana Kamineni named ‘Ambassador of Forest Frontline Heroes’ by WWF IndiaThe Managing Director of Apollo Life (Lifetime Wellness Rx International Limited), Upasana Kamineni Kondinela, has been named as an ‘Ambassador of Forest Frontline Heroes’ by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) India.

• Her appointment was made to recognize the efforts of frontline workers or field level forest staff protecting wildlife and habitats.
• Upasana Kamineni Kondinela is the wife of an Indian Actor Ram Charan Teja.

Key Points:
i.Upasana Kamineni a renowned businesswoman, Vice-Chairperson of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) of Apollo Hospitals, and the founder of URLife.
ii.As an ambassador, she will support the forest field staff by focusing on several Indian states mostly eco-regions.
iii.The conservation of natural areas like forest and wetlands and even increase in wildlife numbers are results of the efforts of  forest department staff who have tirelessly been protecting and managing these areas.
About forest field staff:
A forest field staff work 24/7 in extreme conditions and on an average, they walk up to 15-20 km a day to patrol the forests, facing the dangers of encountering wild animals or poachers. They have hardly any access to emergency medical facilities in the line of duty.
About WWF India:
Establishment– 1969 as World Wildlife Fund India
President– Arvind Wable
Headquarter– New Delhi

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wins General ElectionIn June 2021, Civil Contract – a political party led by Nikol Pashinyan, the serving Prime Minister of Armenia won the country’s Parliamentary election with 53.97% of the votes polled. While the opposition Armenia Alliance led by former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan trailed on 21.06% votes.
i.The 46-year-old Nikol Pashinyan is serving as the Prime Minister of Armenia since 2018. He was facing various political criticisms for ceding territories to Azerbaijan.
ii.This election comes after the “Six Week War” between Armenia & Azerbaijan that took place in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in November-December 2020.
iii.At the backdrop of the bloody war, Armenia backed by Russia signed a Peace agreement with Azerbaijan. As per the agreement, Territories lost by Azerbaijan in the 1990 war were reinstituted.
About Armenia:
Capital – Yerevan
Currency – Armenian dram
President – Armen Sargsyan         

Jasprit Bumrah Became The Brand Ambassador For OnePlus WearablesIndian Cricketer Jasprit Bumrah has been appointed as the Brand Ambassador of OnePlus wearables which includes the OnePlus Watch and OnePlus Band.

• As the Brand Ambassador of OnePlus wearables,Jasprit Bumrah will do 360-degree campaigns starting with a digital film on OnePlus India YouTube and Instagram.

In the view of resonating with OnePlus’s brand philosophy of ‘Never Settle’ and the company’s pursuit towards perfection, Jasprit Bumrah has been chosen as he seems to believe in constantly becoming better.
About Jasprit Bumrah:
i.Jasprit Bumrah is a right arm fast bowler, who plays for the Indian national cricket team in all formats of the game.
ii.He has been selected in the ICC ODI Team of the Year (2017, 2018)and ICC Test Team of the Year (2018)
iii.He has also been placed in ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Decade: 2011-20

British Lawyer Karim Khan Sworn In as ICC’s Chief ProsecutorBritish human rights lawyer Karim Khan has been elected as the new chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court(ICC) by its member countries.He is elected for a period of 9-years from June,2021.

• He succeeded Fatou Bensouda of Gambia,as he completed his nine-year term.

About Karim Khan:
i.Karim Khan has previously served as a prosecutor, investigator and defense attorney in international courts.
ii.He is very much known for the UN investigations made into the crimes by the Islamic State.
iii.He has defended many famous persons including former Liberian President Charles Taylor and Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto at international courts
About International Criminal Court(ICC):
The ICC is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
President: Judge Piotr Hofmański (Poland)
Founded: 1 July 2002
Headquarters: Hague,Netherlands
Members states:123

Ajai Puri re-elected as COAI chairman for 2021-22 

Cellular Operators Association of India(COAI) has re-elected  Ajai Puri, Chief Operating Officer of Bharti Airtel as Chairman of the industry association for 2021-22 and Pramod Kumar Mittal, President of Reliance Jio Infocomm, will be the Vice Chairman of the association.

• The COAI was constituted in 1995,headquartered at New Delhi.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS        

Muthoot Fincorp acquires 54% stake in PaymatrixFinancial Service provider Muthoot Fincorp, flagship company of Muthoot Pappachan Group, has  raised a majority 54% stake in Hyderabad (Telangana)-based fintech startup Paymatrix by buying out existing investors.  It was acquired through a combination of primary and secondary investments.

• This information was provided by Muthoot Pappachan Group chairman Thomas John Muthoot.
• This will help Muthoot Fincorp to extend its existing lending business into new markets and new customer segments.

About Paymatrix:
Launched in 2016 to streamline online payment of property rentals, rent deposits and maintenance payments using credit cards was incubated at IIIT (International Institute of Information Technology)-Hyderabad along with Paypal accelerator programme. Since then, it has become one of the largest property rent payment and collection platforms in India with a user base of over 82,000 and having processed Rs 200 crore till date.
About Muthoot Fincorp:
It is a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC)
Managing Director– Thomas John Muthoot
Tagline– Jab Zindagi Badlani Ho
Headquarter– Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

CCI Approved Heineken’s Additional Stake Acquisition in United Breweries

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of an additional equity stake of about 16.40 percent shareholding of United Breweries Limited (UBL) by Heineken International BV (HIBV).

• HIBV is an investment holding company and it is not engaged in any business activity. It is a direct/ indirect shareholder for all non-Dutch companies that form part of the Heineken Group.
• Heineken Group is an international group of companies that are engaged in the production, manufacture, packaging, distribution, marketing and sale of a range of beverages.
• UBL is a public limited company engaged in the manufacture, sale and distribution of beer in India.

About United Breweries Limited (UBL):
Headquarters – Bangalore, Karnataka
Managing Director – Rishi Pardal
About Heineken Group:
HIBV is a subsidiary of Heineken N.V.
Headquarters – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Chairman Executive Board / CEO – Dolf van den Brink

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ARDE & HEMRL develop CSS for safe ejection of Pilots in distress2 Labs of the  Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) namely Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune & High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL) have developed an Modern Canopy Severance System (CSS) for India’s Indigenous Fighter Aircraft Light Combat Aircraft  (LCA) Tejas & Trainer Aircrafts like HJT-36 Aircraft & HTT-40 Aircraft. The CSS of a fighter aircraft is a life saving device that helps in safe ejection of a pilot in distress.

• ARDE & HEMRL are now capable of developing CSS for any Military Aircraft required by Indian Air Force (IAF).
• The CSS design was approved by Certifying Agency RCMA (AA), Pune, Maharashtra and CEMILAC (Centre for Military Airworthiness & Certification), Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• The Transfer of Technology (ToT) for production of CSS was awarded to CMD – S. Pramanik and General Manager – R Chandra of GOCL Corporation Ltd during an Certificate Award Ceremony.
• Aircrafts equipped with CSS provide safe passage for pilots by pre-weakening/severing the canopy to facilitate the smooth escape of the pilot in the shortest possible time.

About  Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE)
Director – Dr. V Venkateswara Rao
Location – Pune, Maharashtra
About  High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL)
Director – KPS Murthy
Location – Pune, Maharashtra
>>Read Full News

ENVIRONMENT

Lophopogon prasannae: New Grass Species Discovered in Nigidi Forest of Anantapur, APDr Kothareddy Prasad, research scientist of Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board has discovered a new grass species named Lophopogon prasannae in the Nigidi forest of Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh(AP). The new species has been named after Dr PV Prasanna, a well-known botanist, Scientist G of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).

• Dr Prasanna is a grass taxonomist and head of the office, Deccan Regional Centre, BSI.

About Lophopogon prasannae:
i.The new species Lophopogon prasannae belongs to the Lophopogon, a genus of Indian plants in the grass family.
ii.Lophopogon prasannae is the 3rd species of the genus which is endemic to the Nigidi Forest.
iii.Based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN)’s ‘red list’ criteria, L. Prasannae is assessed as “critically endangered”.
iv.The species of Lophopongon is endemic to dry parts like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu.

OBITUARY

Former Indian Women Volleyball Captain Nirmal Kaur Passed Away

Former Indian women volleyball team captain Nirmal Kaur, who is the wife of sprint legend Milkha Singh, passed away due to Covid-19 complications at Mohali,Punjab.

• She served as Director of Sports for Women in the Punjab Government. She also worked as joint director sports, Chandigarh, and director sports, Chandigarh, after her retirement from Punjab.
• Milkha Singh wrote about Nirmal Kaur in the chapter The jewels in my crown in his autobiography The Race of My Life released in 2013.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Harsh Vardhan Launched Krishna Saksena’s book ‘My Joys and Sorrows – as a Mother of a Special Child’Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan launched a book titled “My Joys and Sorrows – as a Mother of a Special Child”, written by the author Dr Krishna Saksena.

• This book is published by Ocean Book Private Limited.

About The Book:
i.This book is an autobiography written in a conversational and easy-going style.
ii.It is about the journey of Dr. Krishna Saksena and her disabled son Shiv.
iii.The book is full of beautiful photographs, including some black and white ones which have historical significance.
About the author:
i.Dr. Krishna Saksena was the first woman to get a Ph.D. degree(Doctor of Philosophy) from Lucknow University in 1955.
ii.She has written a number of books which include novels, stories & essays.
iii.Some of her notable works includes A Bouquet of flowers, The Tales of my wrinkle tells, Take a U turn, Whisper of Time , etc.,

American Actor Will Smith announced his first Memoir titled “Will”American Actor, rapper, and producer Will Smith, is set to publish his first memoir titled “Will” in November 2021. The book is co-written by Mark Manson, the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. The book will be published by Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
About “Will”:
i.The cover art of the book was created by Brandan “BMike” Odums, a visual artist from New Orleans.
ii.The book features Will Smith’s journey from being raised in West Philadelphia to becoming a Hollywood star and rapper.
iii.The book features the story about the life and career of Will Smith.
iv.Will Smith will also narrate the audiobook of Will from Penguin Random House Audio.
About Will Smith:
i.Will Smith has won the grammy award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1998 and 1999, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1992, and Best Rap Performance in 1988.
ii.He has starred in various films like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Bad Boys, Men in Black, and Pursuit of Happyness among others.

STATE NEWS

WB CM Mamata Banerjee relaunched ‘Krishak Bandhu’ Scheme doubling farmers’ aid to Rs 10000

Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister (CM) of West Bengal (WB) relaunched the revised “Krishak Bandhu” scheme, a financial scheme for the farmers of West Bengal.
Objective – Under the revised scheme the annual benefits have been doubled from Rs 5000 to Rs 10000 for farmers with one acre or more cultivable land.
Beneficiaries – Around 68.38 lakh small and marginal farmers will be benefited from the Scheme.
Background – On 10th June 2021, The Cabinet of West Bengal approved the increase of aid under the Krishak Bandhu scheme.
Features of Krishak Bandhu:
i.The revised Krishak Bandhu Scheme will benefit around 60 lakh farmers across West Bengal.
ii.Under this scheme, the farmers with less than one acre of cultivable land (the farm labourers, sharecroppers, and marginal farmers) will also get a minimum benefit of Rs 4000 per year instead of the existing benefit of Rs 2000 per year.
iii.Rs 290 crore were released for around 9.78 lakh farmers for providing assistance as part of the Krishak Bandhu scheme.
iv.The amount for Krishak Bardhokko Bhata has been increased from Rs 750 to Rs 1,000. This benefits around 1 lakh farmers across WB.
About West Bengal:
National Bank– Singalila National Park, Neora Valley National Park, Buxa National Park,
Gorumara National Park, Sundarban National Park, and Jaldapara National Park.

3 CoEs inaugurated in Karnataka under Indo-Israel Agricultural Project

As a part of Indo-Israel Agricultural Project (IIAP), the Government of India (GoI) and the state Government of Karnataka jointly inaugurated three centres of excellence (CoEs) in Karnataka viz. COE Kolar for Mango, COE Bagalkote for Pomegranate and COE Dharwad for Vegetables.

• These were inaugurated by Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) and Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa, Chief Minister (CM) of Karnataka.
• The CoE for mango was established under IIAP with a total outlay of Rs198 lakh from the Centre and Rs 360 lakh from Karnataka.

• The CoE for pomegranate has an outlay of ₹343 lakh from the Centre and ₹156 lakh from the Karnataka government.

• The CoE for vegetables has an outlay of ₹500 lakh from the Centre and Rs.260 lakh from the state government.

• The joint venture will, in the future, look at adoption of villages to demonstrate innovation developed in these CoE.

Reason behind setting up of COEs:
It is being done to implement advanced Israeli Agro-Technology in the field of horticulture with a goal of doubling the farmer’s income through 29 operational CoEs across India in 12 States.

• The technology is being implemented through Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) Division of MoA&FW and MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation
• These CoEs have the capacity of 50,000 grafts production and 25 lakh vegetables seedlings production annually.

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