DAILY GK 14-15 JULY 2024
1. PM NARENDRA MODI VISIT TO RUSSIA AND AUSTRIA
·
Narendra
Modi, Prime Minister (PM) of India,
was on a two-day visit
to Russia at the
invitation of Russian President Vladimir
Putin, to participate in the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit held in
Moscow, Russia.
·
The 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit in
Moscow was co-chaired by
the Indian PM Narendra Modi and the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
·
PM Narendra Modi also visited Austria .
·
PM
Modi became the first
Indian PM to visit Austria in 41 years.
2. BANGLADESH BECOMES 5TH MEMBER OF COLOMBO SECURITY CONCLAVE
(CSC)
·
Bangladesh officially became the 5th full member of Conclave Security Conclave (CSC), a maritime security grouping of 4 countries that includes: India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and the
Maldives.
·
The
official announcement was made during the 8th Deputy National Security Adviser (DNSA) meeting of
CSC hosted virtually by Mauritius
·
Seychelles participated at the meeting as
an Observer state.
·
Mauritius
became the 4th member of
CSC at the 5th meeting of the grouping held in Male, Maldives in March 2022.
·
During
the meeting, member nations of CSC agreed that the 7th National Security Adviser (NSA)-level meeting of the
CSC will be hosted by India
in 2025.
·
Colombo Security Conclave (CSC): was initially established in 2011 as a trilateral maritime security grouping of India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
·
It
was later renamed as Colombo Security
Conclave in 2020, when trilateral countries agreed to expand the scope of
their maritime cooperation.
·
The
aim is to promote regional cooperation and shared
security objectives concerning all the littoral nations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
3.
UN WORLD POPULATION PROSPECTS 2024
·
According
to the World Population Prospects
2024 published by the Population Division of the United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN
DESA), India‘s population is expected to
peak at about 1.701
billion in 2062 and
then decline by 12% between January and July 2062.
·
Currently, India is the most populous country in the world
with 1.45 billion people
and is likely to remain so until 2100.
·
India
is followed by China at
the 2nd place with a
population of 1.419 billion and the United States of America (USA) at the 3rd place with a population of 345 million.
·
India is expected to hit
an inflection point in 2085 with a population of 1.61 billion, double that
of China's 806 million.
4.
16 LAKH
INDIAN CHILDREN MISSED VITAL VACCINES IN 2023
·
World
Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released
the ‘WHO and UNICEF estimates
of national immunization coverage (WUENIC)‘, stating that India’s national immunization program missed 1.6 million (16 Lakh) children for DPT
(Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus) and measles shots in 2023.
·
India
had the second highest number of
children who received no vaccines at all i.e. zero-dose children, following Nigeria with 2.1 million.
·
The
report also flagged India as one of
52 nations not including HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccination in
their immunization package, despite cervical cancer being a significant concern
for women in the country.
·
WHO Director-General– TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus
·
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
·
Establishment– 1948
5.
NITI AAYOG RECONSTITUTED
WITH 4 FULL-TIME MEMBERS
·
Prime
Minister (PM) Narendra Modi approved the revised composition of the
National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) with 4
full-time members and 15
Union ministers, including from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies, as either ex-officio members or special invitees.
·
The PM remains the Chairperson and Economist Suman K Bery will continue to
be the Vice-chairperson of
NITI Aayog.
·
The NITI Aayog is the premier policy think tank of
the Government of India (GoI), established
in 2015,replacing the 65-year-old Planning Commission.
·
4 Full-time Members: Missile Scientist V. K. Saraswat; Agricultural
Economist Ramesh Chand;
Paediatrician Vinod K. Paul;
and Macro Economist Dr. Arvind Virmani.
·
4 Ex-officio Members: The 4 Union
Ministers are:Raj Nath Singh, the Ministry of Defence (MoD);Amit Shah, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and the Ministry of
Cooperation (MoC);Shivraj Singh Chauhan,
the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), and the
Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD),Nirmala Sitharaman,
the Ministry of Finance (MoF), and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
(MCA).
6.
ISRO SCIENTISTS GENERATED
1ST COMPLETE UNDERSEA MAP OF RAM SETU
·
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Scientists have
successfully generated the 1st undersea map of the
submerged Ram Setu or Adam’s Bridge with the help of
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s ICESat-2 (short for Ice, Cloud and land Elevation
Satellite),
·
Setu Bridgebridge
is 29 meters (m) long and 8 m above the seabed and
1.5 kilometer (km) wider.
·
The bridge is located between Mannar Island, off
the northwest coast of Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram Island,
in India.
·
The bridge connects Dhanushkodi, Tamil
Nadu (TN) in India to Talaimannar islands in
Sri Lanka.
·
According to Indian mythological epic Ramayana, the
bridge was formed by Lord Ram’s Vanarsena to reach Sri
Lanka to rescure Goddess Sita, who got kidnapped by Ravanna, the King of Lanka.
·
Until the 9th century A.D., the bridge was
referred as ‘Sethu Bandhai’ by Persians.
·
As per the temple records in Rameswaram,
the bridge was initially located above sea level and served as a vital
link until 1480 when it was destroyed by a powerful
storm.
7. INDIA
TO HOST INAUGURAL WORLD AUDIO VISUAL AND ENTERTAINMENT SUMMIT (WAVES)
·
India will host the first World Audio Visual
and Entertainment Summit alongside the International
Film Festival of India in Goa, scheduled from November 20-24.
·
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini
Vaishnaw emphasized strengthening intellectual property (IP)
rights protection in the media and entertainment sector.
8. INDIA
LAUNCHES MANAS: NATIONAL TOLL-FREE HELPLINE FOR NARCOTICS CRIMES
·
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will
officially launch MANAS, India’s first-ever national
toll-free telephonic helpline dedicated to addressing narcotics crimes and
related issues.
·
MANAS HelplineNumber: 1933
·
MANAS Full Form: MadakPadarthNisedhAsuchna
Kendra (Narcotics Prohibition Intelligence Centre)
9. EXERCISE PITCH BLACK 2024 IN DARWIN, AUSTRALIA
·
An
Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent
arrived at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Darwin, Australia to participate in Exercise Pitch Black 2024,amulti-national Air Force exercise.
·
This
edition will be the largest in the 43-year
history of Exercise Pitch Black as it will see the participation
of 20 countries, with more
than 140 aircraft and 4,400 military personnel of
various air forces.
·
It
is a biennial multi-national
exercise hosted by the RAAF.
·
The
name ‘Pitch Black’ was
originated from the emphasis on night
time flying over large un-populated areas.
·
Participating countries: Australia, India, France, Germany, Indonesia,
Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United States of
America (USA), Thailand and the United Kingdom (UK) are the regular
participants.
·
Other
countries such as: Brunei, Canada, Fiji and New
Zealand will have personnel embedded participating in the exercise.
·
Countries
like: Papua New Guinea, Italy, Spain and the Philippines,
will be participating for the 1st time
in the exercise.
10. FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY & POLAND TO JOINTLY DEVELOP LONG-RANGE
CRUISE MISSILES
·
France, Germany, Italy, and Poland signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to jointly develop Long Range Cruise Missiles with a range of over 500 kilometres (Km).
·
The
LoI was signed during North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO)’s 75th anniversary summit held
in Washington D.C.
·
During
the NATO summit, Poland also
joined the drone coalition, to bolster Ukraine’s supply of drones.
·
NATO
is an intergovernmental military alliance of countries from Europe and North
America.
·
Secretary – General (SG) – General Jens Stoltenberg (Norway)
·
Headquarters – Brussels, Belgium
·
Established – 1949
