Daily Current Affairs- 14 September

Author : Palak Khanna

Updated On : September 14, 2022

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Today's Current Affairs-14th September 2022

INTERNATIONAL

Norway's central bank to build national digital currency on Ethereum

  • Norges Bank, Norway’s central bank, made a significant advancement in its efforts to develop a digital currency by publishing the open source code for the nation’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) sandbox based on Ethereum technology. This development was made possible by the ongoing mainstream adoption of cryptographic technology.
  • CBDCs are a type of electronic fiat money backed by the central bank. Although they are not required to be, CBDCs can be built on blockchain networks. However, the CBDC in Norway is built on Ethereum.
  • The Bank’s official CBDC partner, Nahmii, stated in a blog post that it has also enabled features including minting, burning, and transferring ERC-20 tokens.
  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports that 97 nations, or more than half of the world’s central banks, are experimenting with developing CBDCs.

About Norway:

Capital: Oslo

Currency: Norwegian krone

Official language: Norwegian

Prime Minister: Jonas Gahr Støre 

Border clashes erupt between Armenia, Azerbaijan

  • Fresh clashes broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with each side reporting casualties and blaming the other for the violence. Armenia said Azerbaijani forces attacked several points near the border, killing 49 Armenian soldiers. Azerbaijan said Armenian forces fired on its positions, leaving an unspecified number of casualties. The two countries have had a decades-long conflict involving the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is inside Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.
  • A six-week war in 2020 killed more than 6,600 people and saw Azerbaijan reclaim territory in and around the region. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the two sides to “end any military hostilities immediately,” saying in a statement that there is no military solution to the conflict. Russia’s Foreign Ministry also urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the conflict through political and diplomatic means.
  • Armenia says at least 49 of its soldiers have been killed in fighting along the country’s border with Azerbaijan, claiming the attacks were carried out because of a simmering dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
  • Azerbaijan says its forces returned fire to prevent “large-scale provocations” by the Armenian military, adding it is “in control” of the situation in the region.

About Armenia:

Capital: Yerevan

Currency: Armenian dram

President: Vahagn Khachaturyan 

About Azerbaijan:

President: Ilham Aliyev 

Capital: Baku

Currency: Azerbaijani manat

Official language: Azerbaijani

Qimingxing-50 (The Morning Star): China’s First Fully Solar-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

  • China has successfully tested its first fully solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which can fly for months and can function even as a satellite if required. The maiden flight of Qimingxing-50 has been achieved, making it the first large-sized UAV powered only by solar energy, a Chinese government official informed in a tweet.
  • According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the drone took off from an airport in the north-western Chinese province of Shaanxi at 5.50pm on September 3 and propelled in the sky for about 26 minutes before landing safely at 6:16pm.
  • The Qimingxing-50, with a wingspan of 50 m, is a high-altitude long-endurance drone that is capable of high altitude aerial reconnaissance, assessing forest fire and can also be used for communications. This technology will bolster Chinese defences in space and at sea. It can be used in the field of renewable energy, new materials and aeronautical engineering. The Chinese official also asserted that this test flight is an important step towards sustainable development.
  • The United States and the United Kingdom have already developed solar-powered drones that can fly 20 km up in the sky.

About China:

President: Xi Jinping 

Capital: Beijing

Currency: Renminbi

Official language: Mandarin

 NATIONAL

Kibithu camp renamed after General Rawat

  • The military camp at Kibithu Garrison, which is very close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh, has been renamed as ‘Gen Bipin Rawat military garrison’ in honour of the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who was killed in a chopper crash last December. As a young Colonel, Rawat commanded his Battalion 5/11 Gorkha Rifles at Kibithu from 1999-2000 and contributed immensely to strengthening the security structure in the area.
  • Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu named the 22 km long road from Walong to Kibithu as ‘General Bipin Rawat Marg’. A life-size mural of General Rawat was also unveiled on the occasion.
  • He hails from Uttarakhand and had received the ‘sword of honour’ when he passed out from the Indian Military Academy in 1978.
  • General Rawat has tremendous hands-on experience of serving in combat areas and at various functional levels in the Indian Army over the last three decades.

 APPOINTMENS & RESIGNATIONS

UAE healthcare firm Burjeel Holdings appoints Shah Rukh Khan as brand ambassador

  • Burjeel Holdings, a private healthcare services provider in the MENA region has signed Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan as its new brand ambassador. The company is owned by UAE-based Indian entrepreneur Shamsheer Vayalil. The actor will appear in a multi-platform advertising campaign in the region for the group that will be unveiled in the coming weeks. This will be the actor’s first healthcare ambassador role. In the past, the actor has also tied up with Dubai’s tourism board to be one its brand ambassadors. But that partnership ended as of early 2022. He was also the first Indian celebrity to have received the UAE golden visa.

About UAE:

Capital: Abu Dhabi

Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham

President: Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

About Burjeel Holdings:

Founded: 2007

Headquarters: UAE

M Damodaran Named To Lead A Panel To Boost VC, PE Investments

  • The government has constituted an expert committee to suggest ways for scaling up of VC/PE investments, as per a circular issued by Finance Ministry on September 13. The six-member panel will be headed by former SEBI chairman M Damodaran. The expert committee will examine and suggest appropriate measures to address regulatory and other issues to enable scaling up investments by Venture Capital and Private Equity Investment, the ministry said.
  • The committee, whose formation was originally announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this year’s Union Budget, has been assigned the task of undertaking a comprehensive systemic study of the ‘end-to-end frictions’ and ‘potential accelerants’ from regulatory policy and taxation to facilitate ‘ease of investing’ as well as encouarage investments into India.

About Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):

Founded: 12 April 1992

Sector: Securities market

Headquarters: Mumbai

Agency executive: Madhabi Puri Buch (Chairperson)

 Mukul Rohatgi set to return as next Attorney General for India

  • Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi is set to be appointed the 14th Attorney General for India again after KK Venugopal vacates the post. This will be Rohatgi’s second time as AG, after his first stint between June 2014 and June 2017. At the end of June this year, AG Venugopal’s tenure was extended for a period of three months or “until further orders”. This extension is set to expire on September 30.
  • Rohtagi will take the seat of the country’s top law officer from 1st October. People aware of the matter said Rohatgi gave his consent for assuming the top post last week following a request from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Rohatgi was Attorney General for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government between 2014 and 2017, soon after the new dispensation took over.
  • Mukul Rohatgi is the son of former Delhi High Court judge, Justice Awadh Behari Rohatgi, who practiced under Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal, former CJI in the High Court before starting his own legal practice.

About attorney general of India:

First holder: M. C. Setalvad

Constituting instrument: Article 76 of the Consti...

Appointer: President of India

Deputy: Solicitor General of India

Residence: New Delhi, India

Term length: per discretion of the President

 IMPORTANT DAYS

Hindi Diwas 2022: 14th September

  • Hindi Diwas or Hindi Day is observed every year on 14 September to mark the popularity of Hindi as an official language of India. The language was adopted under Article 343 of the Indian Constitution. The first Hindi day was celebrated on 14th September 1953. Hindi is one of the major languages used in India as a large portion of the country’s population knows and uses the language. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions celebrate Hindi Diwas by organising various programs.
  • Hindi Diwas is celebrated to commemorate the adoption of Hindi in the Devanagari script as one of the official languages of the nation. Hindi was adopted by the National Constitution on September 14, 1949 and it became the official language of the country. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to celebrate September 14 as Hindi Diwas.
  • Hindi Diwas also marks celebrating the birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha who played a crucial role in getting Hindi in the Devanagari script approved as an official language of India. He was born on 14 September 1916.
  • Hindi is spoken in countries like Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, UAE, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Tobago, etc.

 SUMMIT'S & MOU's

Vedanta-Foxconn to invest Rs 1.54 lakh cr in India's first chip factory

  • The Anil Agarwal-led-Vedanta Limited and Foxconn Group will invest more than Rs 1.54 lakh crore to set up an semiconductor ecosystem in Gujarat. The oil-to-metals conglomerate said Vedanta Displays Limited will set up a Display Fab Unit with an investment of Rs 94500 crore and Vedanta Semiconductors Limited will set up an integrated Semiconductor Fab Unit and OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) facility with investment of Rs 60000 crore.
  • “Thus two MoUs, together, will bring in an investment of more than Rs 1.54 lakh crore and generate around 1 lakh new employment opportunities in the state,” said the company in a statement. Vedanta and Foxconn Group entered into two Memorandums of Understanding [MoUs] with the Government of Gujarat on September 13, 2022. The company said Vedanta and Taiwan-based Foxconn Group will work closely with the state government to establish high-tech clusters with requisite infrastructure, including land, semiconductor grade water, high quality power, logistics, and a skill ecosystem.
  • The proposed semiconductor manufacturing fab unit will operate on the 28nm technology nodes with wafer size 300mm; and the display manufacturing unit will produce Generation 8 displays catering to small, medium and large applications. To make India as global semiconductor chip manufacturing, the government has notified four schemes with an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore.
  • Semiconductors are the brains of modern electronics, enabling technologies critical to economic growth, national security, and global competitiveness. Semiconductors have driven advances in communications, computing, health care, military systems, transportation, clean energy, and countless other applications.

About Vedanta Limited:

CEO: Sunil Duggal (Aug 2020–)

Founded: 25 June 1965

Founder: Dwarka Prasad Agarwal

About Taiwan:

Capital: Taipei City

President: Tsai Ing-wen

Currency: New Taiwan dollar

Official language: Mandarin Chinese

About Foxconn Group:

Founder: Terry Gou

Headquarters: Tucheng District, Taipei, Taiwan

Founded: 20 February 1974

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

Sachin Bansal-led Navi Technologies gets SEBI approval for Rs 3,350 crore IPO

  • Navi Technologies approved by SEBI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given Sachin Bansal’s fintech business Navi Technologies the go-ahead for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), which will help the Flipkart co-founder in his efforts to build a financial services conglomerate.
  • Navi Technologies submitted draft papers to SEBI in March of this year in order to raise up to Rs 3,350 crore through a new share offering.
  • Sachin Bansal, who has a 97.39 percent ownership in fintech, stated that there will not be an offer for sale (OFS) by shareholders in the IPO.
  • According to the SEBI website, the fintech company received an observation letter in response to its filings on September 5.
  • Navi made a profit of Rs. 71.1 crore in FY21, while the company lost Rs. 206.42 crore in the first nine months of FY22.

About Flipkart

Founded: 2007 

Founder’s: Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal

CEO: Kalyan Krishnamurthy

 

Daily Current Affairs- 14 September

Author : Palak Khanna

September 14, 2022

SHARE

Today's Current Affairs-14th September 2022

INTERNATIONAL

Norway's central bank to build national digital currency on Ethereum

  • Norges Bank, Norway’s central bank, made a significant advancement in its efforts to develop a digital currency by publishing the open source code for the nation’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) sandbox based on Ethereum technology. This development was made possible by the ongoing mainstream adoption of cryptographic technology.
  • CBDCs are a type of electronic fiat money backed by the central bank. Although they are not required to be, CBDCs can be built on blockchain networks. However, the CBDC in Norway is built on Ethereum.
  • The Bank’s official CBDC partner, Nahmii, stated in a blog post that it has also enabled features including minting, burning, and transferring ERC-20 tokens.
  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports that 97 nations, or more than half of the world’s central banks, are experimenting with developing CBDCs.

About Norway:

Capital: Oslo

Currency: Norwegian krone

Official language: Norwegian

Prime Minister: Jonas Gahr Støre 

Border clashes erupt between Armenia, Azerbaijan

  • Fresh clashes broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with each side reporting casualties and blaming the other for the violence. Armenia said Azerbaijani forces attacked several points near the border, killing 49 Armenian soldiers. Azerbaijan said Armenian forces fired on its positions, leaving an unspecified number of casualties. The two countries have had a decades-long conflict involving the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is inside Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.
  • A six-week war in 2020 killed more than 6,600 people and saw Azerbaijan reclaim territory in and around the region. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the two sides to “end any military hostilities immediately,” saying in a statement that there is no military solution to the conflict. Russia’s Foreign Ministry also urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the conflict through political and diplomatic means.
  • Armenia says at least 49 of its soldiers have been killed in fighting along the country’s border with Azerbaijan, claiming the attacks were carried out because of a simmering dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
  • Azerbaijan says its forces returned fire to prevent “large-scale provocations” by the Armenian military, adding it is “in control” of the situation in the region.

About Armenia:

Capital: Yerevan

Currency: Armenian dram

President: Vahagn Khachaturyan 

About Azerbaijan:

President: Ilham Aliyev 

Capital: Baku

Currency: Azerbaijani manat

Official language: Azerbaijani

Qimingxing-50 (The Morning Star): China’s First Fully Solar-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

  • China has successfully tested its first fully solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which can fly for months and can function even as a satellite if required. The maiden flight of Qimingxing-50 has been achieved, making it the first large-sized UAV powered only by solar energy, a Chinese government official informed in a tweet.
  • According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the drone took off from an airport in the north-western Chinese province of Shaanxi at 5.50pm on September 3 and propelled in the sky for about 26 minutes before landing safely at 6:16pm.
  • The Qimingxing-50, with a wingspan of 50 m, is a high-altitude long-endurance drone that is capable of high altitude aerial reconnaissance, assessing forest fire and can also be used for communications. This technology will bolster Chinese defences in space and at sea. It can be used in the field of renewable energy, new materials and aeronautical engineering. The Chinese official also asserted that this test flight is an important step towards sustainable development.
  • The United States and the United Kingdom have already developed solar-powered drones that can fly 20 km up in the sky.

About China:

President: Xi Jinping 

Capital: Beijing

Currency: Renminbi

Official language: Mandarin

 NATIONAL

Kibithu camp renamed after General Rawat

  • The military camp at Kibithu Garrison, which is very close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh, has been renamed as ‘Gen Bipin Rawat military garrison’ in honour of the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who was killed in a chopper crash last December. As a young Colonel, Rawat commanded his Battalion 5/11 Gorkha Rifles at Kibithu from 1999-2000 and contributed immensely to strengthening the security structure in the area.
  • Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu named the 22 km long road from Walong to Kibithu as ‘General Bipin Rawat Marg’. A life-size mural of General Rawat was also unveiled on the occasion.
  • He hails from Uttarakhand and had received the ‘sword of honour’ when he passed out from the Indian Military Academy in 1978.
  • General Rawat has tremendous hands-on experience of serving in combat areas and at various functional levels in the Indian Army over the last three decades.

 APPOINTMENS & RESIGNATIONS

UAE healthcare firm Burjeel Holdings appoints Shah Rukh Khan as brand ambassador

  • Burjeel Holdings, a private healthcare services provider in the MENA region has signed Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan as its new brand ambassador. The company is owned by UAE-based Indian entrepreneur Shamsheer Vayalil. The actor will appear in a multi-platform advertising campaign in the region for the group that will be unveiled in the coming weeks. This will be the actor’s first healthcare ambassador role. In the past, the actor has also tied up with Dubai’s tourism board to be one its brand ambassadors. But that partnership ended as of early 2022. He was also the first Indian celebrity to have received the UAE golden visa.

About UAE:

Capital: Abu Dhabi

Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham

President: Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

About Burjeel Holdings:

Founded: 2007

Headquarters: UAE

M Damodaran Named To Lead A Panel To Boost VC, PE Investments

  • The government has constituted an expert committee to suggest ways for scaling up of VC/PE investments, as per a circular issued by Finance Ministry on September 13. The six-member panel will be headed by former SEBI chairman M Damodaran. The expert committee will examine and suggest appropriate measures to address regulatory and other issues to enable scaling up investments by Venture Capital and Private Equity Investment, the ministry said.
  • The committee, whose formation was originally announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this year’s Union Budget, has been assigned the task of undertaking a comprehensive systemic study of the ‘end-to-end frictions’ and ‘potential accelerants’ from regulatory policy and taxation to facilitate ‘ease of investing’ as well as encouarage investments into India.

About Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):

Founded: 12 April 1992

Sector: Securities market

Headquarters: Mumbai

Agency executive: Madhabi Puri Buch (Chairperson)

 Mukul Rohatgi set to return as next Attorney General for India

  • Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi is set to be appointed the 14th Attorney General for India again after KK Venugopal vacates the post. This will be Rohatgi’s second time as AG, after his first stint between June 2014 and June 2017. At the end of June this year, AG Venugopal’s tenure was extended for a period of three months or “until further orders”. This extension is set to expire on September 30.
  • Rohtagi will take the seat of the country’s top law officer from 1st October. People aware of the matter said Rohatgi gave his consent for assuming the top post last week following a request from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Rohatgi was Attorney General for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government between 2014 and 2017, soon after the new dispensation took over.
  • Mukul Rohatgi is the son of former Delhi High Court judge, Justice Awadh Behari Rohatgi, who practiced under Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal, former CJI in the High Court before starting his own legal practice.

About attorney general of India:

First holder: M. C. Setalvad

Constituting instrument: Article 76 of the Consti...

Appointer: President of India

Deputy: Solicitor General of India

Residence: New Delhi, India

Term length: per discretion of the President

 IMPORTANT DAYS

Hindi Diwas 2022: 14th September

  • Hindi Diwas or Hindi Day is observed every year on 14 September to mark the popularity of Hindi as an official language of India. The language was adopted under Article 343 of the Indian Constitution. The first Hindi day was celebrated on 14th September 1953. Hindi is one of the major languages used in India as a large portion of the country’s population knows and uses the language. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions celebrate Hindi Diwas by organising various programs.
  • Hindi Diwas is celebrated to commemorate the adoption of Hindi in the Devanagari script as one of the official languages of the nation. Hindi was adopted by the National Constitution on September 14, 1949 and it became the official language of the country. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to celebrate September 14 as Hindi Diwas.
  • Hindi Diwas also marks celebrating the birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha who played a crucial role in getting Hindi in the Devanagari script approved as an official language of India. He was born on 14 September 1916.
  • Hindi is spoken in countries like Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, UAE, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Tobago, etc.

 SUMMIT'S & MOU's

Vedanta-Foxconn to invest Rs 1.54 lakh cr in India's first chip factory

  • The Anil Agarwal-led-Vedanta Limited and Foxconn Group will invest more than Rs 1.54 lakh crore to set up an semiconductor ecosystem in Gujarat. The oil-to-metals conglomerate said Vedanta Displays Limited will set up a Display Fab Unit with an investment of Rs 94500 crore and Vedanta Semiconductors Limited will set up an integrated Semiconductor Fab Unit and OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) facility with investment of Rs 60000 crore.
  • “Thus two MoUs, together, will bring in an investment of more than Rs 1.54 lakh crore and generate around 1 lakh new employment opportunities in the state,” said the company in a statement. Vedanta and Foxconn Group entered into two Memorandums of Understanding [MoUs] with the Government of Gujarat on September 13, 2022. The company said Vedanta and Taiwan-based Foxconn Group will work closely with the state government to establish high-tech clusters with requisite infrastructure, including land, semiconductor grade water, high quality power, logistics, and a skill ecosystem.
  • The proposed semiconductor manufacturing fab unit will operate on the 28nm technology nodes with wafer size 300mm; and the display manufacturing unit will produce Generation 8 displays catering to small, medium and large applications. To make India as global semiconductor chip manufacturing, the government has notified four schemes with an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore.
  • Semiconductors are the brains of modern electronics, enabling technologies critical to economic growth, national security, and global competitiveness. Semiconductors have driven advances in communications, computing, health care, military systems, transportation, clean energy, and countless other applications.

About Vedanta Limited:

CEO: Sunil Duggal (Aug 2020–)

Founded: 25 June 1965

Founder: Dwarka Prasad Agarwal

About Taiwan:

Capital: Taipei City

President: Tsai Ing-wen

Currency: New Taiwan dollar

Official language: Mandarin Chinese

About Foxconn Group:

Founder: Terry Gou

Headquarters: Tucheng District, Taipei, Taiwan

Founded: 20 February 1974

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

Sachin Bansal-led Navi Technologies gets SEBI approval for Rs 3,350 crore IPO

  • Navi Technologies approved by SEBI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given Sachin Bansal’s fintech business Navi Technologies the go-ahead for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), which will help the Flipkart co-founder in his efforts to build a financial services conglomerate.
  • Navi Technologies submitted draft papers to SEBI in March of this year in order to raise up to Rs 3,350 crore through a new share offering.
  • Sachin Bansal, who has a 97.39 percent ownership in fintech, stated that there will not be an offer for sale (OFS) by shareholders in the IPO.
  • According to the SEBI website, the fintech company received an observation letter in response to its filings on September 5.
  • Navi made a profit of Rs. 71.1 crore in FY21, while the company lost Rs. 206.42 crore in the first nine months of FY22.

About Flipkart

Founded: 2007 

Founder’s: Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal

CEO: Kalyan Krishnamurthy

 

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