Daily Current Affairs 16th May, 2023

Daily Current Affairs 16 May 2023 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

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NATIONAL NEWS

HM Amit Shah says government has repealed around 2,000 irrelevant laws since 2015
Home Minister Amit Shah said that the government has repealed around two thousand irrelevant laws from 2015.

• Inaugurating the training program on legislative drafting in New Delhi, Mr Shah said, since the Narendra Modi government came into power, various initiatives have been taken in the field of law.
• The Programme is aimed at creating an understanding of the principles and practices of legislative drafting among officers of Parliament, State Legislatures and various ministries, statutory bodies and other government departments.

Punjab now 1st state to enforce ‘right to walk’
Punjab has become the first Indian State to implement the “Right to walk” by making it mandatory for all road-owning agencies, including the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), to provide footpaths and cycle tracks in all future expansion of roads and construction of new ones.

• This is a part of the efforts of Punjab to control the number of accidents and deaths of pedestrians and cyclists.
• These directions were issued by the Government of Punjab following 2 court orders after Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed at the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court of India.

Government makes unique ID mandatory for doctors
Doctors will now have to get a Unique Identification Number (UID) to be able to practice medicine in the country, as per the new regulations by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

• The UID will be generated centrally by the NMC ethics board and thereby grant the practitioner, registration in NMR and eligibility to practice medicine in India.
• According to the new notification by NMC, there will be a common national medical register for all the registered medical practitioners of the country. The same will be maintained by the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) under the NMC.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India among top 5 countries where babies are born pre-term
An estimated 13.4 million babies were born pre-term in 2020, with 45 per cent of them being born in just five countries, including India, China and Pakistan, according to a report released by the United Nations agencies and partners.

• The report titled ‘Born Too Soon: Decade of Action on Pre-term Birth’ is developed by more than 140 individuals from 46 countries and is produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) together with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), the world’s largest alliance for women, children, and adolescents.
• The global pre-term birth rate increased to 9.9 per cent in 2020, compared to 9.8 per cent in 2010. An estimated 13.4 million babies were born pre-term in 2020, with nearly 1 million dying from pre-term complications, which is equivalent to around 1 in 10 babies born early (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) worldwide.

Laos to host ASEAN Tourism Forum 2024
Laos is gearing up to host the annual ASEAN Tourism Forum in January 2024, which will take place in the country’s capital city, Vientiane. The theme for the forum is “Quality and Responsible Tourism — Sustaining ASEAN Future,” which reflects the focus on sustainable and responsible tourism practices.

• The forum will include a tourism exhibition and is expected to boost tourism in Laos while encouraging service improvement in associated businesses.
• The Lao News Agency quoted Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism Suanesavanh Vignaket, who stated that the event will promote Laos as a nature-based tourism destination.

BANKING & FINANCE

YES Bank launches YES Kiran for MSMEs
YES BANK, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Mumbai, has launched a lending proposition called “YES KIRAN” to provide financial assistance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) manufacturers who want to install solar panels at their premises.

• The programme aims to support the adoption of sustainable energy practices by MSMEs while also bringing cost efficiency by reducing their expenses towards power and fuel.
• YES KIRAN offers a range of benefits to MSMEs, including less operational cost, end-to-end support, flexible loan tenure at competitive interest rates, and a variety of tie-ups with leading solar panel manufacturers and installers such as Tata Power Solar Systems Limited, Goldi Solar, Loom Solar.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

EU regulators approve Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard
European Union regulators gave the green light for Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, one of the world’s largest gaming firms.

• The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, approved the deal after Microsoft offered remedies in the emerging area of cloud gaming that would allay antitrust concerns.
• The remedies Microsoft offered centered around allowing users to stream Activision games they purchase on any cloud streaming platform.

APPOINTMENTS

Centre appoints Ravneet Kaur as CCI Chairperson
The government has appointed Ravneet Kaur as the Chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

• There has been no full-time Chairperson for the competition regulator since Ashok Kumar Gupta demitted office in October 2022. CCI Member Sangeeta Verma has been acting as the Chairperson since October last year.
• The appointment of Ravneet Kaur, a 1988 Punjab cadre IAS officer, will be for a period of five years from the date of assuming charge or till the date of attaining the age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest, as per the order dated May 15.

AWARDS

Nepali Sherpa Pasang Dawa becomes world’s second person to scale Mt Everest 26 times
Nepali sherpa, Pasang Dawa Sherpa, just created a record for climbing Mount Everest for the 26th time, and has become the world’s second person to achieve the feat.

• Pasang Dawa Sherpa, 46, stood atop the 8,849 m peak, and shared the record number of summits with Kami Rita Sherpa.
• His Everest Summits are in 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, twice in 2006, twice in 2007, 2008, 2009, twice in 2010, 2011, 2012, twice in 2013, 2016,2017, twice in 2018 and twice in 2019 and twice in 2022.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 

Centre launches ‘Meri LiFE’ app for youth to battle Climate Change
The government launched “Meri LiFE” (My Life) mobile application to empower young people and encourage their participation in tackling climate change.

• The app, inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mission LiFE, aims to promote mindful utilisation instead of wasteful consumption.LiFE stands for lifestyle for environment.
• The Union environment ministry serves as the coordinating authority for implementing Mission LiFE at the national level.

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