Today's Current Affairs 15th January 2023

NATIONAL

Flybig starts flight from Itanagar to Guwahati

• Regional carrier Flybig commenced its services from Itanagar to Guwahati. The Flybig carrier has commenced flights from Hollongi in Arunachal Pradesh to Guwahati in Assam. With this, Itanagar becomes the 10th destination on the Flybig network while the third destination in Arunachal Pradesh alone.
• Flybig flies six days a week to Tezu and seven days to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh from Guwahati. The morning flights from Itanagar to Guwahati will be operated on all days except Wednesday.
• Flybig is a regional airline based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. The airline began its operations in December 2020 and is focused on connecting tier-2 cities within India. The company received a No Objection Certificate from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and received its Air Operator’s Certificate (AoC) on 14th December 2020. It began operations with a single ATR-72-500.

Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal hands over 9th to 10th century Nataraja idol to Archaeological Department official in Chittorgarh Fort

• Union Minister of State for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal handed over the 9th to 10th century Nataraja Idol of the Archeological Department official in Chittorgarh Fort in Rajasthan. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal noted that there are only 13 idols of ancient importance that could be brought to India by the year 2023 but after 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought 229 idols to India.
• The Nataraja Idols were stolen from the Shiva temple at Badoli in Chittorgarh in 1998. The idols were brought to India in 2020 from a private museum in London after a long legal process. Union Minister has also ensured to build a ropeway on Chittorgarh fort and connect Chittorgarh with Bharatmala Yojana.
• Arjun Ram Meghwal is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of State for Parliament Affairs and Culture. He is a member of the Bhartiya Janata Party. He has previously served as the Chief Whip and Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

 SPORTS

Virat Kohli beats Mahela Jayawardene to become 5th highest run scorer in ODI cricket

• Star cricketer Virat Kohli became the fifth-highest run-scorer in history of ODI cricket, overtaking Sri Lankan legend Mahela Jayawardene to enter into top-five. At the time of becoming the fifth-highest run-scorer, Virat had 12,652 runs in 268 ODIs at an average of 57.78, with 45 tons and 65 half-century. His best score in the format is 183.
• As per records, the highest run-scorer in ODI history is Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored 18,426 runs at an average of 44.83. He has 49 centuries and 96 fifties in this format, with the best of 200*. Followed by Sachin, Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara (14,234 runs in 404 matches), Australian great Ricky Ponting (13,704), Sri Lankan all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya (13,430 in 445 matches) and Virat.
• 10 Kohli’s ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka. He’s the first player to hit ten ODI centuries against an opponent. Kohli also has nine hundreds against West Indies, while Tendulkar also has nine against Australia.
• 96 ODI wins for India against Sri Lanka, the most by a team against an opponent in this format, surpassing Australia’s 95 wins against New Zealand.

 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Centre will launch National Urban Technology Mission for Municipal Services and ULBs

• The Centre is about to launch a five-year National Urban Technology Mission which is able to infuse technological improvements in municipal providers and infrastructure of 4,500 city native bodies within the nation. The mission, to be spearheaded by the ministry of housing and urban affairs, can have three main sub-heads. A be aware ready for the approval of the expenditure finance committee (EFC) pegs the mission outlay at ₹15,000 crore for 5 years.
• The primary sub-head is online governance. The mission will establish six primary frequent citizen providers which each city native physique should provide on-line. These would essentially embrace issuing beginning and loss of life certificates, offering water and electrical energy connections, computation and assortment of property tax and grievance redress.

 APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Clare Lombardelli appointed as OECD Chief Economist

• Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, Clare Lombardelli, has been appointed as the new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Chief Economist. She will lead the OECD’s economic work, replacing France’s Laurence Boone, who has held the post since 2018. A British national, Clare holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science and Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.
• Clare was selected after a highly competitive merit-based selection process. She is a highly regarded economic policy leader who joins the OECD with 20 years of experience in economic analysis and policy-making in the United Kingdom, including as the Chief Economist at the UK Treasury and the Joint Head of the UK Government Economic Service over the past five years.

Captain Surbhi Jakhmola Became the First Woman Officer Posted On Foreign Assignment In The Border Roads Organisation

• Captain Surbhi Jakhmola of the Indian Army’s 117 Engineer Regiment will be the first woman officer to be posted on a foreign assignment at the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). The officer will be sent to Bhutan as part of Project Dantak. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is an executive road construction force in India that supports the Indian armed forces.
• The BRO’s deployment comes just days after the Indian Air Force deployed woman fighter pilot squadron leader Avani Chaturvedi to Japan for the exercise Veer Guardian 2023, which will take place from January 16 to 26 at the Hyakuri Air Base and its surrounding airspace in Omitama, as well as the Iruma Air Base in Sayama in Japan.
• Avani Chaturvedi, a Su-30MKI pilot and one of India’s first three women fighter pilots will depart for Japan shortly to take part in the exercise. Chaturvedi was born, raised, and completed her education in Madhya Pradesh. She was inducted into the IAF fighter squadron after six months of intensive training at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal, Hyderabad.

 SUMMITS AND MOU’S

Rajasthan becomes first state to adopt blindness control policy

• Under its campaign of Nirogi Rajasthan, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has implemented the policy for Blindness Control with the objective of ‘Right to Sight’. With this, Rajasthan has become the first state to have such a policy. This policy has been brought with an aim to bring light in the lives of more than 3 lakh people suffering from visual impairment in the State. The prevalence rate of blindness in the country was 1.1% in 2020 and the initiatives under the Blindness Control Policy will help to bring it down to 0.3 percent.
• Under the policy for Blindness Control, the state government will mandatorily run Keratoplasty Centre and Eye Bank in all the government medical colleges. The government funded private organizations and NGOs that are collecting cornea will have to provide the collected cornea to the government institutions on priority.
• Efforts to eliminate visual impairment would be made in the districts in collaboration with voluntary organizations, trusts, hospitals and other charitable institutions working in this field.

 RANKING

Richest 1% own 40.5% of India's wealth, says new Oxfam report

• The richest one per cent of Indians own over 13 times more wealth than the bottom 50 per cent, according to a report by Oxfam India. The top five per cent own 61.7 per cent of the total wealth, nearly 20 times more than the 3 per cent owned by the bottom half. According to the “Survival of the Richest: The India Supplement”, released by the non-government organisation (NGO), wealth inequality gets denser on the top. More than half of the wealth of the top 10 per cent of richest Indians is owned by the top 1 per cent. The combined wealth of India’s 100 richest persons reached Rs 54.12 lakh crore in 2022. The total wealth of the 10 richest Indian stood at Rs 27.52 lakh crore in 2022, a 32.8% rise from 2021.
• The share of the top 10 per cent in India’s total wealth has risen from 45 per cent to 63 per cent between 1981 and 2012. On the other hand, the wealth of the bottom half halved during the same period. The total number of billionaires also increased in India from 102 in 2020 to 142 in 2021 and 166 in 2022. In a stark contrast 22.89 crore persons live in poverty in India – the highest in the world, the report said.

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

IDBI Strategic Stake Sale: SMBC Bank, Oaktree Capital Mangement Submit EoIs

• Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Group (SMBC Bank) of Japan and Oaktree Capital Management are among those that have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) for the strategic stake sale in IDBI Bank. Oaktree is a US alternative assets firm founded by Howard Marks, one of the world’s most formidable distressed debt investors. The stake being sold is held by the Centre and LIC. “Multiple expressions of interest received for the strategic disinvestment of govt and stake in IDBI Bank,” Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), had said. The transaction will now move to the second stage.
• The government and LIC together are looking to sell 60.72% in IDBI Bank and had invited bids from potential buyers last October. The government will offload 30.48 per cent of its stake in the bank and the LIC will sell 30.24 per cent.

 India's Wholesale Inflation Declines To 4.95%, Hits Another Low

• In December 2022, the wholesale price-based inflation fell to 4.95 percent, primarily as a result of lower costs for food items and crude oil. Inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was 5.85% in November 2022 and 14.27% in December 2021.
• In December 2022, the inflation rate for food items was (-)1.25% while it was 18.09% for fuel and electricity.
• According to a statement from the ministry of trade and industry, inflation in manufactured goods was 3.37 percent in the month.
• Declining prices for food items, mineral oils, crude oil, natural gas, textiles, chemicals, and chemical products are the main factors behind the decrease in the inflation rate in December 2022.