Today's Current Affairs -15th November 2022

INTERNATIONAL

G7 ‘global shield’: Bangladesh among first to receive climate funding

• Pakistan, Ghana and Bangladesh will be among the first recipients of funding from a G7 ‘Global Shield’ initiative to provide funding to countries suffering climate disasters, the programme announced at the COP27 summit in Egypt.
• The Global Shield(GS), coordinated by G7 president Germany, aims to provide rapid access for climate-vulnerable countries to insurance and disaster protection funding after floods or drought. It is being developed in collaboration with the ‘V20’ group of 58 climate vulnerable economies. Germany has contributed $175.17 million in funding to Global Shield while other countries including Denmark and Ireland have contributed a little over $41 million.
• The GS will close urgent protection gaps in countries by designing, funding, and facilitating interventions.

Natasa Pirc Musar: Slovenia elects lawyer as first female president

• Natasa Pirc Musar, won the second round of Slovenia’s Presidential elections. Natasa Pirc Musar becomes the first female President of the country. She won 58.86 percent of votes in the runoff, while the opposition right-wing politician and the former Foreign Minister Andze Logar won 46.14 percent of votes.
• The new President of Slovenia, an EU, and NATO member state will replace the Borut Pahor. Borut Pahor has been active in politics for 30 years.
• Borut Pahor was formerly a fashion model who served two five-year terms and is often referred to in public as the Instagram President for his use of the social network.
• Natasa Pirc Musar is the new President, he formerly was a TV representative who became a lawyer and campaigned on human rights rules of law and social welfare issues.
• Natasa Pirc Musar is a Slovenian Attorney and book author, former Information Commissioner, Journalist, and the former President of Slovenia’s Red Cross.

 NATIONAL

Trade Fair 2022 to open for public on November 19

• The 41st edition of the India International Trade Fair (IITF) has started at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the fair. The fair will continue till the 27th of this month. During the inauguration ceremony, Minister of State for Commerce and Trade Anupriya Patel and Som Parkash were also present. This year the theme of the trade fair is Vocal For Local, Local to Global.
• The 14-day mega event assumes a special significance as it coincides with celebrations of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
• Twenty-nine States and Union Territories are participating in the event. Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra are Partner States while Uttar Pradesh and Kerala are participating as Focus States in the fair.
• Besides, various Central Ministries, Departments, Commodity Boards and PSUs are participating in this event to showcase their achievements.
• NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul inaugurated the Health Pavilion at the 41st India International Trade Fair in New Delhi today. The theme of this year’s pavilion of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is- Heal in India, Heal by India.

 The Wangala – 100 Drums Festival of Meghalaya

• Wangala Festival of Meghalaya is one of the most popular festivals among the Garos of Meghalaya. Wangala Festival is a harvest festival that is held in honor of Saljong, the Sun-God of fertility.
• The celebrations of the Wangala Festival mark the end of a period of toil, which brings good output to the fields. The beginning of the Wangala Festival also denotes the onset of winter.
• The Wangala Festival is also known as 100 drum festival. Wangala Festival is the occasion when the tribals offer sacrifices to please their main deity Saljong (The Sun God).
• The festival is celebrated for two days and sometimes continues for weeks.
• The ceremony performed on the first day is known as “Ragula” which is performed inside the house of the chief.
• The second day is called “Kakkar”. Younger and older sections dressed in colorful clothes with feathered headgear dance to the tune of music played on long oval-shaped drums.

 SPORTS

Sri Lanka to host U-19 Men's T-20 World Cup 2024

• International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the venue for Under-19 Men’s and Women’s T-20 World cup. ICC announced that the 2024 Under -19 men’s T-20 World Cup will be hosted by Sri Lanka while the 2026 edition will be staged in Zimbabwe and Namibia.
• The 2025 Under -19 women’s T20 World Cup will be held in Malaysia and Thailand, and 2027 Under -19 women’s event will be jointly hosted by Bangladesh and Nepal.
• The hosts are selected via a competitive bidding process overseen by a Board sub-committee chaired by Martin Snedden.
• ICC also declared the qualification pathway for the 10-team 2024 women’s T20 World Cup. Eight teams will qualify for the event automatically comprising the top three teams from each group from 2023, T20 World Cup.

 APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Senior IAS officer Gaurav Dwivedi appointed CEO of Prasar Bharati

• Senior IAS officer, Gaurav Dwivedi was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati. A 1995-batch officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, Mr. Dwivedi will have a five-year tenure from the date he assumes charge. Earlier, Mr. Dwivedi was the Chief Executive Officer of MyGovIndia, the citizen engagement platform of the government. He has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for his excellent work in administration. He replaces Shashi Shekhar Vempati.
• Shashi Shekhar Vempati was the CEO of Prasar Bharati from 2017 to 2022. After Mr. Vempati completed his five-year tenure, Director General of Doordarshan Mayank Agrawal was given the additional charge of CEO Prasar Bharati in June this year.
• Prasar Bharati is India’s state-owned public broadcaster, headquartered in New Delhi. It is a statutory autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament and comprises the Doordarshan Television Network and Akashvani All India Radio, which were earlier media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

 IMPORTANT DAYS

Vice President Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar offers floral tributes at statue of Birsa Munda at the Parliament premises

• November 15 is celebrated as Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas or Tribal Pride Day to honour tribal freedom fighter, Birsa Munda. On November 10, 2021, the Union Cabinet declared November 15 as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ marking the birth anniversary of the revered leader and saluting his contributions to India’s freedom movement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated a museum in Ranchi in memory of Birsa Munda also known as Dharti Aaba. PM Modi said that observance of the Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary will serve as an opportunity to celebrate the glorious tribal culture and contribution to national development.
• He was Born in 1875, Birsa Munda led a rebellious movement against British colonial rule and conversion activities in the areas of the Bengal Presidency, which today are part of Jharkhand.
• His rebellion in the Munda belt of Khunti, Tamar, Sarwada, and Bandgaon helped in the revival of traditional tribal culture. Birsa Munda gave the slogan of ‘Abua Raj Ete Jana, Maharani Raj Tundu Jana,’ which translates as “Let the queen’s kingdom end and our kingdom be established.”

 SUMMIT'S & MOU's

India, Finland agree to explore new areas of cooperation

• India And Finland agree to carry mutual cooperation between the two countries to a new level and enhance partnership in areas such as digital partnership in Future ICT, Future Mobile Technologies and Digital Education.
• The decision was taken during a meeting between Finland’s Minister of Education and Culture Petri Honkonen and Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh at North Block in New Delhi.
• He was accompanied by a high level delegation which later held a separate meeting with the Indian delegation in the presence of the two Ministers.
• Honkonen’s visit comes in the wake of the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin during a Summit meeting on 16 March last year.
• Minister Singh also reiterated India’s focus on collaboration even in Startups. He also recalled that following the signing of the joint declaration during the visit of Mika Lintilä, Minister of Economic Affairs, Finland on 18th April 2022, both sides have initiated collaboration in Quantum Technologies. Indian side has already identified four premier institutes viz IISER, Pune, IIT Madras, TIFR Mumbai and C-DAC Pune to work with Finnish institutions on joint development of Quantum Computer.

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

Retail inflation eases to 6.77% in October, lowest in three months

• India’s retail inflation, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), fell to a three-month low of 6.77% in October, down from 7.41% in September, due to weaker food price rises and a strong year-on-year base.
• This is the 10th consecutive time that the CPI print has come above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6%. The RBI’s tolerance band is 2-6%. The Central Government has mandated the RBI to maintain retail inflation at 4% with a margin of 2% on either side for a five-year period ending March 2026.
• The overall food inflation, which accounts for nearly half the CPI basket, came in at 7.01% in October as against 8.60% in the preceding month.
• “The dip in the CPI inflation to a sub-7% reading in October 2022 has offered relief, with the print only marginally exceeding expectations (6.7%) and recording a healthy sequential moderation from 7.4% in the previous month,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at ICRA.
• “A favourable base effect and a sequential downtick in the prices of fruits and oils and fats helped to cool food and beverages inflation to 7.0% in October 2022, in spite of the impact of the unseasonal rainfall on vegetables,” Nayar stated.

Reliance bags ₹1,424cr contract to develop India's first Multi Modal Logistics Park in Chennai

• According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has been awarded the project to build India’s first multimodal logistics park (MMLP) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. A crucial cog in the Centre’s logistics overhaul, the MMLP will be spread over 184 acres and cost Rs 1,424 crore. The project will get adequate connecting infrastructure support through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed between central and state agencies. RIL emerged as the winning bidder for the public-private-partnership (PPP) project, with its own investment pegged at Rs 783 crore. The Centre expects the first phase of the project to be completed in two years.
• The project would likely be monitored by the highest levels of the government, as it falls under the high-priority list of projects inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the Centre’s project monitoring system. Moreover, it is one of the several flagship projects announced under the Bharatmala Project of MoRTH, which envisions the building of 35 such MMLPs.
• The Centre plans to build 15 of these within the next two years. Under the National Logistics Policy (NLP) and PM-GatiShakti, it wants to bring down logistics costs to under 10 per cent of the GDP in a bid to make exports competitive and supply chains more efficient.