Weekly Current Affairs 9th to 15th June 2022

RBI, Banking and Economy

• RBI MPC hikes repo rate by 50 bps; pegs FY23 GDP growth at 7.2%
  • The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) voted unanimously to increase the repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.90% in a bid to slow inflation.
  • The Standing Deposit Facility and Marginal Standing Facility rates raised by 50 basis points. The standing deposit facility (SDF) rate and marginal standing facility rate (MSFR) stood at 65 per cent and 5.15 per cent respectively.

• RBI Raises Housing Loan Limits For Cooperative Banks
  • The Reserve Bank of India doubled the limit on housing loans from cooperative banks and also permitted Rural Cooperative Banks (RCB) to finance residential real estate projects to support affordable housing and inclusive growth.

• RBI enhances limit for e-mandates on credit/debit cards to Rs 15,000
  • In its bi-monthly “Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies” the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the limit for e-mandates for recurring payments to Rs 15,000 from Rs 5,000.
  • The framework on processing of e-mandate based recurring payments, inter-alia, provides for an Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) during registration, sending a pre-debit notification, subsequent recurring transactions to be executed without AFA, and an easier avenue to withdraw such mandates.

NABARD & Agriculture

• Kharif MSP hiked 4-9% for 2022-23 season
  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the increase in MSPs for all 14 kharif (summer) crops for 2022-23 crop year.
  • The government raised the minimum support price (MSP) of kharif crops for the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) by around 4-9 per cent , a move aimed at encouraging farmers to bring more area under cultivation and boost their income.

• Investment of Rs 7,243 Crore Done Under Fishery Scheme PMMSY and launch of PMMSY dashboard
  • Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying launched the PMMSY MIS dashboard on 7th June 2022.
  • The investment of Rs 7,242.90 crore has been made in last two years under Padhan Mantri Matsya Samapada Yojana (PMMSY).

• FCI to supply 17.5 MT fortified rice to 291 districts under PDS in FY23
  • The Food Corporation of India (FCI) will distribute 5 million tonne (MT) of fortified rice under the public distribution system (PDS) in 291 districts in the current fiscal.
  • To reduce anemia and micro-nutrient deficiency among large sections of population, the government has decided to cover aspirational and high-burden districts ranked as per the health and socio-economic indicators developed by NITI Aayog in providing fortified rice through PDS in 2022-23.

NATIONAL

• Election to the Office of President of India, 2022 (16th Presidential Election)
  • The Election Commission announced that the Presidential election would be held on July 18 and counting of votes would be held on July 21
  • The term of office of Shri Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, is ending on 24th July, 2022.

• Rashtriya Puruskar Portal launched
  • For inviting nominations for various awards, a common Rashtriya Puruskar Portal has been developed by the Government so as to bring together all the Awards of the various Ministries/Departments/Agencies of the Government of India under one digital platform to ensure transparency and public partnership.
  • This Portal aims to facilitate citizens to nominate individuals/organizations for various Awards instituted by the Government of India.

• PM inaugurates headquarters of IN-SPACe
  • The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the headquarters of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) at Bopal, Ahmedabad.
  • The programme also witnessed the exchange of MoUs between IN-SPACe and private sector companies working in the field of space-based applications and services.

INTERNATIONAL

• Thailand becomes first Asian country to legalise Marijuana
  • Thailand became the first Asian country to legalise the growing of marijuana and its consumption in food and drinks.
  • The aim is to boost its agriculture and tourism sectors but smoking pot is still against the law.

• Ex-Bolivian President convicted
  • Bolivian ex-president Jeanine Anez was sentenced 10 years in prison, more than a year after her arrest for an alleged plot to oust her rival and predecessor Evo Morales.

• Venezuela, Iran enter into 20-year agreement
  • Venezuela and Iran signed a 20-year cooperation agreement to expand ties in the oil and petrochemical industries, the military and the economy.

STATES

• Periyar Ninaivu Samathuvapuram: Stalin opens 235th ‘equality village’ near Sivaganga
  • Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin inaugurated a Samathuvapuram, or equality village, at Singampunari near Sivaganga comprising 100 houses, a park, library, a creche, among other facilities.
  • The Rs 3.5 crore Sivaganga village inaugurated is the 235th such facility in the state and ninth in the district.

• PM Modi launches projects worth ₹3,050 crore in Gujarat
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a slew of development projects worth ₹3,050 crore in Gujarat.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a medical college and hospital, and water supply projects in Tapi, Dang and Surat districts.

• Delhi, Denmark to collaborate on water, power
  • The Delhi government announced that it will collaborate with Denmark on groundwater recharge and power generation from stubble in the Capital.
  • A delegation of experts led by Denmark’s Ambassador to India, Freddy Swain met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to present solutions on the two issues and held an extensive discussion on ways in which they can be adopted in Delhi.

REPORTS AND INDEXES

• QS World University Rankings 2023
  • Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has emerged as the highest ranked Indian institute in the 2023 edition of the QS World University rankings, pushing IIT-Bombay to the second position, followed by IIT-Delhi.
  • Apart from IISc at 155, IIT-Bombay (IIT-B) and IIT-Delhi (IIT-D), which have risen five and 11 places to rank 172 and 174 respectively, are the only other Indian institutes in the global league of top 200, in continuation of a trend since 2017.

• Indian Hotels' Taj ranked world's strongest hotel brand by Brand Finance
  • Brand Finance has released the ‘Hotels 50 2022’ annual report.
  • As per the report, Indian Hotels Company's Taj has been rated the world’s strongest hotel brand while Hilton (brand value up 58 per cent to US$12.0 billion) has extended its reign as the world’s most valuable hotels brand.

• Bengaluru ranks 5th globally for tech VC investments in 2022: Report
  • The Global Startup Ecosystem Report was launched by innovation policy advisory and research firm Startup Genome at the London Tech Week 2022 (June 13-17).
  • As per the report, Bengaluru has claimed the number one spot in Asia and the fifth rank globally for tech venture capital investment this year.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Shri Narendra Singh Tomar launches Animal Vaccine and Kits
  • Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar launched Animal Vaccine and other Diagnostic Kits developed by the ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar,
  • The Ancovax Vaccine on Equines is an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Delta (COVID-19) Vaccine for Animals.
  • The diagnostic kits launched include CAN-CoV-2 ELISA Kit.

• ICMR, DBT, US body to work on HIV, Covid cures
  • The Union Cabinet approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)-USA for development of new biomedical technologies for tackling HIV, TB, Covid-19, and other emerging infectious and neglected diseases.

• IIT-G develops prosthetic leg for Indian conditions
  • Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT-G) have developed a prosthetic leg that allows its user to sit cross-legged and squat deep and is suitable for uneven terrain.
  • Designed for Indian conditions, the prosthetic leg is also adjustable for different age groups and multiple stages of prosthetic use.
  • It has been tested to support up to 100-kg body weight and entails a cost of about ₹25,000.

DEFENCE

• 12 High Speed Guard Boats constructed under India’s $US 100 million Line of Credit handed over to Vietnam
  • Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh handed over 12 High Speed Guard Boats to Vietnam during his visit to Hong Ha Shipyard in Hai Phong on June 09, 2022.
  • The boats have been constructed under the Government of India’s $US 100 million Defence Line of Credit to Vietnam.

• 38th India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol begins in Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca
  • The 38th India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (IND-INDO CORPAT) between the Indian Navy Units of Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC) and Indonesian Navy is being conducted from June 13 to 24 2022 in the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca.
  • The 38th CORPAT is the first post pandemic Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) between the two countries.

• Govt. unveils Agnipath recruitment scheme
  • The Union Cabinet approved an attractive recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the Armed Forces.
  • The scheme is called AGNIPATH and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.
  • This is a major defence policy reform introduced by the Government to usher in a new era in the Human Resource policy of the three Services.

EVENTS

• MoS (Agriculture), Ms. Shobha Karandlaje represents India at the 12th Meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers
  • The 12th BRICS Agriculture Ministers Meeting was held virtually on 8 June 2022.
  • The meeting was attended by the Ministers for Agriculture of China, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and India.
  • The BRICS Agriculture Ministers adopted a Joint Declaration of the Twelfth Meeting with the theme “Strengthening BRICS Cooperation for Coordinated Agricultural and Rural Development” and also the BRICS Strategy on Food Security Cooperation amongst BRICS member countries.

• Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ meeting
  • Marking the 30th anniversary of India-ASEAN dialogue relations and the 10th anniversary of the country’s strategic partnership with ASEAN, India will host the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ meeting on June 16-17.
  • External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will co-chair the meeting.

• Twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference
  • The twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference is all set to begin from 12th June 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland after a gap of almost five years.
  • The key areas of discussions and negotiations this year’s conference include WTO’s response to the pandemic, Fisheries subsidies negotiations, Agriculture issues including Public Stockholding for Food security, WTO Reforms and Moratorium on Custom Duties on Electronic Transmission.

AWARDS AND REWARDS

• 30 districts awarded for exemplary planning in skill development
  • The 2nd edition of ‘Awards for Excellence in District Skill Development Planning’ (DSDP) were organised at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi .
  • Top 30 districts were awarded for their innovative best practices in skill development in the region.
  • Rajkot in Gujarat, Cachar in Assam and Satara in Maharashtra respectively were ranked top three among all participating districts.
  • Thirty districts were selected, and awards were given under the following three categories:

SPORTS

• Khelo India Youth Games
  • Punjab clinched the much-coveted Boys’ hockey title in the Khelo India Youth Games.
  • Karnataka’s Chaitra Borji snatched the 11th gold in Girl’s Road Cycling Time Trial 20km complementing their swimmers who have so far extracted 8 gold from the pool.

• Dhruv, Akanksha clinch gold
  • Dhruv Hirpara and Akanksha Nitture won the boys’ and girls’ tennis titles at the Khelo India Youth Games at Panchkula (Haryana).
  • Haryana’s Riddhi and Rajasthan’s Kapish Singh clinched the girls’ and boy’ recurve archery gold in Khelo India Youth Games.

• World Para Shooting World Cup
  • Tokyo Paralympic gold medallist Manish Narwal won a silver in the P4 mixed 50m pistol SH1 team event of the World Para Shooting World Cup in Chateauroux, France.
  • Manish Narwal teamed up with Singhraj, also a Paralympic medallist, and Akash.
  • China took the gold and Turkey the bronze.

MISCELLANEOUS

• The Gloucester shipwreck
  • The discovery of a royal shipwreck(Gloucester) was revealed recently on June 10, and has since been hailed as one of the most significant discoveries of maritime history.
  • 300 years ago a royal ship carrying the future king of England, Ireland and Scotland sank killing hundreds onboard.