DAILY GK 11-12 AUG 2024
1. PM NARENDRA MODI
RELEASED 109 HIGH-YIELDING VARIETIES OF CROPS
·
Prime Minister (PM)
Narendra Modi, released 109 new varieties of 61 crops developed by the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR) at ICAR-Indian Agricultural
Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi,
·
61 crops includes 34 field
crops and 27 horticultural crops.
·
Few Key Crop Varieties are “Pooja
1801”, a millet variety,‘Pusa 2002,’
a millet variety,‘Girnar 6‘, a groundnut variety,
‘Nandyal 1267‘ a Chickpea Variety
2. 2ND PHASE OF NATIONWIDE
BI-ANNUAL MDA CAMPAIGN 2024
·
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), virtually
launched the 2nd phase of the bi-annual Nationwide Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaign 2024 to
eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) by 2027.
·
LF is commonly known
as elephantiasis(Haatipaon), a priority
mosquito-borne disease.
·
He campaign focuses on 63
endemic districts in Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Odisha, Telangana, and
Uttar Pradesh(UP).
·
Till 2023, 6.19 lakh
cases of lymphoedema and 1.27 lakh cases of hydrocele were reported from all
the endemic districts.
·
It will provide door-to-door administration of preventive medications in endemic areas, aiming to achieve 90% drug compliance
among eligible populations.
3. RAMSAR SITES INCREASED TO 85
·
Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Ministry
of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC)
announced that 3 wetlands from India namely Nanjarayan Bird
Sanctuary and Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary in
Tamil Nadu (TN) and Tawa Reservoir in
Madhya Pradesh (MP) were designated as Wetlands of International Importance, also known as Ramsar Sites.
·
With this addition, the
number of Ramsar sites in India becomes 85, covering an
area of 1,358,068 hectares (ha).
·
TN has the highest number
of Ramsar sites (18) followed by Uttar Pradesh (UP) (10).
4. INDIA & ISRAEL PARTNER TO ESTABLISH COWT AT
IIT MADRAS
·
India and Israel has
partnered to establish a ‘Center of
Water Technology (CoWT)’ in Water Resources
Management (WRM) and Water Technologies at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Madras in Chennai
·
A tripartite agreement which outlines the
framework for establishing the CoWT, was signed by Embassy of Israel, IIT
Madras, and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
mission of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in 2023.
5.
PRADHAN MANTRI MATRU
VANDANA YOJANA
·
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is
a financial assistance scheme designed to provide
support to pregnant and lactating mothers, implemented under Section 4
of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
·
The scheme aims to improve maternal and child health
by offering cash incentives to women during pregnancy and childbirth.
·
Financial Support For
First Child: Rs 5,000 is provided directly to the beneficiary's
Bank/Post Office account in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
·
After institutional
delivery, the beneficiary receives the remaining cash incentive as per approved
norms under the Janani Suraksha Yojana
(JSY), totalling an average of Rs 6,000.
·
For Second Child
Rs 6,000 is provided if the second child is a girl, promoting a positive
attitude towards the girl child.
6. 5 MEMBER COMMITTEE TO
MONITOR INDIA-BANGLADESH BORDER
·
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) has
constituted 5-member committee headed by Ravi Gandhi, Additional
Director General (ADG), Border Security Force (BSF) and Eastern Command of the
Indian Army(IA) to monitor the current situation on
Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB).
·
The committee is entrusted with
responsibility to maintain communication
channels with their respective counterpart authorities in Bangladesh to
ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals
·
India and Bangladesh share 4,096 kilometer (km) long
land border, of which 1880 km share with northeastern states of Assam, Tripura,
Meghalaya and Mizoram.
·
West
Bengal (WB) shares the longest length of border i.e. 2,217
km with Bangladesh.
7. 3 INDIAN OCEAN STRUCTURES
RENAMED
·
The
International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)
and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO
(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization),
have named three underwater geographical structures located
in the Indian Ocean as Ashoka seamount, the Chandragupt
ridge, and Kalpataru ridge.
·
The names of the
structure were proposed by India to
IHO and IOC.
·
These three structures were discovered by oceanographers from the National Centre
for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa.
·
These structures, located along the Southwest Indian Ridge
area of
the Indian
Ocean,
were discovered during the Indian Southern Ocean Research Programme.
·
IHO is an intergovernmental organization established in 1921.
·
Secretariat– Monaco
·
Members states– 100 (including India)
8.
WHO DECLARES MPOX A GLOBAL
PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
·
The World
Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a
global public health emergency for the second time in two years.
·
This follows an outbreak
in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread
to neighbouring countries in Africa.
·
A “public
health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC) is the WHO’s
highest alert level.
·
This designation can
accelerate research, funding,
and international public health measures and
cooperation to contain the disease.
·
Mpox
has two distinct viral clades: Clade I and Clade
II.
9. ILO’S REPORT ON YOUTH
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
·
According to International Labour
Organisation (ILO)’s report titled “Global Employment Trends (GET) for Youth 2024: Decent work, brighter
futures”, Global Youth Unemployment Rate (YUR)
in 2023 decreased
to 13% which represents a 15-year low and a fall from the pre-pandemic rate of
13.8% in 2019.
·
Globally,
a total 64.9 million young people were
unemployed in 2023, the lowest since the start of the millennium.
·
The global YUR is
expected to further decrease to 12.8% in 2024 and
2025.
·
ILO Director-General (DG) – Gilbert Fossoun
Houngbo
·
Headquarter– Geneva, Switzerland
·
Member nations– 187
·
Established– 1919
10. INDIA & USA SIGNED
MOU ON SME
·
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MoMSME), Government of India (GoI)
and the Small Business Administration (SBA) of the Government
of the United States of America (USA) signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to promote cooperation on Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), in New Delhi
·
The MoU focuses on improving MSME participation in the global
marketplace through mutual visits, webinars, and workshops.
·
Two nations also agreed to explore the development of a “Business Matching Digital Platform”,
recognising the importance of MSMEs in promoting inclusive growth, expanding
exports, and increasing employment in both countries.
11. USA ACCOUNTS
FOR HIGHEST FPI INVESTMENT IN INDIA: SEBI REPORT
·
According to a report by the Securities
and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the United States of
America(USA) led the Foreign
Portfolio Investment (FPI) in India for the Fiscal Year
2023-24 (FY24), with 3,457 registered
FPIs.
·
It is followed by Luxembourg with
1,393 and Canada with 804.
·
As
of March 31, 2024, the total
number of FPIs in India increased to 11,219 registered
FPIs from 11,081 in FY23.
·
The FY24 saw the highest FPI inflows
into India since 1992-93.
·
The report analyzed the country-wise
distribution of FPIs and their Assets Under Custody (AUC), representing the
total value of assets managed by FPIs held by custodians.
·
By March 31, 2024, the AUC
of FPIs increased by 42.8%, rising to Rs 69.5 lakh crore from Rs 48.7 lakh
crore at the end of March 31, 2023, reflecting growing foreign investor
confidence in India.
12. RBI COMMITTEE TO
BENCHMARK ITS STATISTICS WITH GLOBAL STANDARDS
·
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
constituted a 10 member expert committee chaired
by Dr. Michael Debabrata Patra, Deputy
Governor of RBI, to benchmark its regularly disseminated statistics against
global standards and best practices.
·
The committee has been entrusted
with the responsibility to assess the quality of other routine data in
sectors where benchmarks are absent (for example: sectors of national
security).
·
The committee will provide
guidance
on potential areas for further data refinement.
