Daily Current Affairs 23rd June, 2022

Daily Current Affairs 23 June 2022 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Gujarat becomes first State in the country to launch Balika Panchayat
Gujarat is the first state in the country to launch Balika Panchayat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid stress on women- led development instead of women’s development. Balika Panchayat is a step in this direction.

• Presently, the girls participating in the Panchayat elections, not only vote for their own leader, they participate in electioneering, highlighting their aspirations and needs clearly.
• Balika Sarpanch Garwa Bati of Punaria Panchayat of Kutch District enumerates benefits of Balika Panchayat, encouraging girls for active participation in society and politics.

NSDC and MoHUA launch project NIPUN to skill, upskill more than one lakh construction workers
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri launched an innovative project for skill training of construction workers called National Initiative for Promoting Upskilling of Nirman workers(NIPUN) .

• The project NIPUN is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under its flagship scheme of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) to train over 1 lakh construction workers, through fresh skilling and upskilling programmes and provides them with work opportunities in foreign countries also.
• This initiative will enable Nirman workers to be more proficient and skilled while making them adopt future trends in the construction industry by increasing their capabilities and diversifying their skill sets.

DoT introduces design-linked incentive scheme, extends telecom PLI by 1 yr
The department of telecom has launched an incentive scheme for design-led manufacturers and extended the duration of the Rs 12,195 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme by a year, an official statement said.

• The incentive for design-led manufacturing is part of the PLI scheme which was notified on February 24, 2021. The DoT has amended the clause and made the scheme effective from April 1, 2022.
• With the objective to build a strong ecosystem for 5G, the Union Budget 2022-23 has proposed to launch a scheme for design-led manufacturing as part of the existing PLI scheme.

Andhra Pradesh inks MoU with BYJU’s to offer tech edge to government schoolkids
The Andhra Pradesh State government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with education technology major BYJU’s to impart quality education to government school students. 

• The government would provide tablets to approximately 4.7 lakh class VIII students at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore for accessing the content formulated by the ed-tech company.
• The CM further pointed out that since the MoU has been  signed this year, BYJU’s content would be incorporated in bilingual text books for students of classes IV to X from next year as the text books for this year have already been printed.
• He explained that tablets would be provided to guide the students, currently studying class VIII, who will appear for CBSE class X exam in 2025.

Tourism ministry launches national strategy for sustainable tourism, responsible traveller campaign
Ministry of Tourism, in partnership with the United Environment Program (UNEP) and Responsible Tourism Society of India (RTSOI) organized a National summit on developing sustainable and responsible tourist destinations in New Delhi.

• On this occasion, the Ministry of Tourism launched the national strategy for sustainable tourism and the responsible traveller campaign.
• The strategy document has identified the strategic pillars for the development of sustainable tourism like promoting environmental sustainability, protecting biodiversity, promoting economic sustainability, promoting socio-cultural sustainability, scheme for certification of sustainable tourism, IEC, and capacity building and governance.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Piyush Goyal inaugurates ‘Mango Festival’ in Belgium
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal inaugurated a ‘Mango Festival’ organised in Brussels to create awareness among the Europeans and create a market for Indian mangoes in Europe.

• During the event, mangoes like Banganapalli from Andhra Pradesh, Malihabad Dasheri from Uttar Pradesh, Amrapali from Odisha, Lakshman Bhog, Himsagar, Jardalu mango, Langra mangoes, as well as 12 GI-tagged items were on exhibit.

India ranks 4th in gold recycling with refining capacity of 1,800 tonnes: WGC
India has emerged as the fourth largest gold recycler in the world, and the country has recycled 75 tonnes in 2021, according to the World Gold Council (WGC) report.

• According to the WGC’s report titled ‘Gold Refining and Recycling’, China tops the global gold recycling chart by recycling 168 tonnes of the yellow metal, followed by Italy in the second position with 80 tonnes and the US in the third rank with 78 tonnes in 2021.
• The report estimated that from 2013 to 2021, India’s gold refining capacity rose by 1,500 tonnes, or 500 per cent, to 1,800 tonnes. In addition, 11 per cent of the country’s gold supply in the past five years has come from ‘old gold’; driven by movements in the gold price, future gold price expectations and broader economic outlook.

BANKING & FINANCE

CARD91, a global Payment Issuance Infrastructure company, announces strategic partnership with YES BANK and RuPay
CARD91’s partnership with YES BANK and RuPay will enable the company to provide businesses of all kinds across various sectors with a range of card instruments for managing and securing payments.

• Businesses will now have an option to choose from co-branded or non-branded card instruments, thereby giving them an innovative solution to address specific use.
• CARD91 is a plug-and-play Payment Issuance Infrastructure designed to help businesses launch co-branded cards and simplify payments.By managing compliance, regulation, infrastructure, lending, issuance, and customer service, the company offers a seamless process for the launch of co-branded payment cards.

RBI extends date for implementing provisions on credit, debit card issuance
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)  extended the timeline for implementation of certain provisions of the master directions it issued on issuance of debit cards and credit cards by three months from July 1, 2022 to October 1, 2022.

• In the master directions issued in April, RBI had said card issuers will have to seek one-time password (OTP)-based consent from the cardholder for activating a credit card, if the same has not been activated by the customer for more than 30 days from the date of issuance.

South Indian Bank launches EXIM trade portal, SIB TF Online
South Indian Bank has launched a new portal called ‘SIB TF Online’ for its corporate EXIM customers.

• The portal facilitates a platform for trade-related payments to foreign entities remotely. The customer can initiate the payment request over SIB TF Online after uploading the relevant supporting documents for the transaction.
• SIB TF Online is yet another accomplishment by the bank to make its operations more tech-driven. It comes close on the heels of launching the internet banking facility targeting retail savings and NRE SB customers to initiate foreign remittances without visiting the branch.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

GE Steam Power inks USD 165 mn pact to supply 3 nuclear steam turbines to BHEL
GE Steam Power has signed a USD 165 million contract with BHEL for the supply of three nuclear steam turbines out of six units for NPCIL’s domestic nuclear program- phase 1 being developed at Gorakhpur, Haryana (units – 1 to 4 (GHAVP)) and Kaiga (Kaiga-5&6) Karnataka, a company statement said.

• This domestic program includes 12 units of 700 MWe being developed by NPCIL with their own nuclear reactor technology i.E., Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). In total, it will represent 8.4GW of CO2-free electricity for the country, enough to power more than 14 million homes.

Sebi forms advisory panel to hybrid securities to enable larger retail play
Markets regulator Sebi has set up an advisory committee on hybrid securities, which will make recommendations for giving a fillip to the growth of such instruments, including measures focusing on ease of issuance and attracting domestic and global capital.

• The 20-member committee will be chaired by K V Kamath, Chairperson of National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development, an update with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) showed.
• In addition, the committee comprises top level officials of infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), real estate investment trusts (REITs), finance as well as legal experts and representatives of Sebi.

SPORTS

Sunil Chhetri scripts record, becomes joint 5th highest goal-scorer in international football history
Indian men’s football team captain Sunil Chhetri became the joint fifth highest goalscorer in international football history. Chhetri achieved this feat during their AFC Asian Cup Qualifier clash against Hong Kong, where he scored his 84th goal.

• He has now equalled legendary Real Madrid and Hungarian player Ferenc Puskas goals scoring exploits on the international level.
• Earlier in October 2021, Chhetri also surpassed legendary football player Pele’s record of 77 goals. He is now third on the list of active international goalscorers, just behind Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

India’s Anahat Singh wins U-15 Asian junior squash in Thailand
Promising Indian player Anahat Singh won the gold medal in the girls Under-15 category at the Asian Juniors Squash Championships in Pattaya, Thailand.

• The 14-year-old Anahat defeated Kwong Ena of Hong Kong 3-0 in the final to claim the top prize.She reached the finals without dropping a single game in the tournament.
• So far, Anahat has won 46 national circuit titles, two national championships and eight international titles.

APPOINTMENTS

Former guerrilla Gustavo Petro wins Colombian election to become first leftist president
A former member of an urban guerilla outfit and later elected as Mayor of Bogota, Gustavo Petro made history by winning the second round run-off in the presidential election in Colombia, securing 50.4% of the vote over his rival, a property tycoon, Rodolfo Hernandez’s 47.3%.

• Mr. Petro’s victory marks the first time that an avowedly leftist politician won the President’s post in a country which has had a right wing/ centrist establishment for decades.

AWARDS

IIFA Awards 2022: Kriti Sanon and Vicky Kaushal are Best Actors, Shershaah declared Best Film
This year’s International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) are officially behind us, and the list of winners was full of delightful predictability but also a few welcome surprises. Actor Sidharth Malhotra-led Vikram Batra biopic emerged as the top winner at the IIFA 2022 ceremony with three awards in the major categories, including best film, director, and music. The film also won the best screenplay award for Sandeep Shrivastava at the IIFA Rocks 2022 ceremony that took place in Abu Dabhi.
List of winners from the 2022 International Indian Film Academy Awards:

1. Best Actor (Male) – Vicky Kaushal for Sardar Udham
2. Best Actor (Female) – Kriti Sanon for Mimi
3. Best Director – Vishnuvaradhan for Shershaah
4. Best Film – Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Shabbir Boxwala, Ajay Shah, Himanshu Gandhi for Shershaah.
5. Best Playback Singer Female – Asees Kaur for ‘Raataan Lambiyan’, Shershaah.
6. Best Playback Singer Male – Jubin Nautiyal for song ‘Raataan Lambiyan’, Shershaah.
7. Best Lyrics – Kausar Munir for ‘Lehra Do’, 83.
8. Best Music Direction – A R Rahman for Atrangi Re and Jasleen Royal, Javed-Mohsin, Vikram Montrose, B Praak, Jaani for Shershaah
9. Best Male Debut – Ahan Shetty for Tadap
10. Best Female Debut – Sharvari Wagh for Bunty Aur Babli 2
11. Best Story Adapted – Kabir Khan, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan for 83.
12. Best Original Story – Ludo by Anurag Basu
13. Best Supporting Actor Female – Sai Tamhankar for Mimi
14. Best Supporting Actor Male – Pankaj Tripathi for Ludo

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Indian Coast Guard inducts indigenously designed, developed Advanced Light Helicopter Mk-III in Chennai
The Indian Coast Guard’s Eastern Region, inducted the indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Mark III, the first aircraft of the newly created “840 Squadron.

• The capabilities of the first ALH MK-III aircraft to be positioned in the Coast Guard Region East would enhance the unit’s operational footprint.
• The new squadron will be stationed at Chennai, the headquarters of the Eastern Region of the Coast Guard. Three more ALHs will be added to the inventory of ‘840 Squadron’ shortly.

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