Today's Current Affairs-19th August 2022

INTERNATIONAL

UK Inflation Hits Double Digits for the First Time in 40 Years

• Britain’s annual inflation rate has touched doubled digits, climbing to 10.1% in July from a year ago — the sharpest increase since 1982. Consumer prices are rising even faster in the U.K. than in the U.S. and Europe, propelled by higher food and energy costs. The increase was largely due to rising prices for food and staples, including toilet paper and toothbrushes. Core inflation, which strips out volatile, food and energy prices hitting 6.2% in July.
• Most economists believe worse is to come. The Bank of England says soaring natural gas prices are likely to drive consumer price inflation to 13.3% in October. It says that will push Britain into a recession that is expected to last through 2023. Accounting for inflation, wages in the UK dropped at annual rate of 3% in the second quarter.
• Inflation is surging in many countries as Russia’s war in Ukraine has triggered unprecedented increases in energy prices worldwide.
• The gas woes are threatening a recession in the 19 countries sharing the euro currency, where inflation hit a record 8.9% in July.

About United Kingdom:

Queen: Queen Elizabeth II 

Capital: London

Prime minister: Boris Johnson

Currency: Pound sterling

NATIONAL

India's first electric double-decker bus unveiled in Mumbai

• Union Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari has launched India’s first electric double-decker bus at YB Centre in south Mumbai. The name of the bus is “Switch EiV 22”, the double-decker bus will be run by the Mumbai civic transport body from September. Nitin Gadkari said 35 per cent of the pollution is because of diesel and petrol, and the introduction of these buses will reduce pollution. Two new electric buses, including the first air-conditioned double-decker bus in the country, will join the fleet of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).

About Maharashtra:

Capital: Mumbai

Chief Minister: Eknath Sindhe

Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to open first overseas marketing office in Malaysia for LCA Tejas

• Eyeing a possible deal for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas in Malaysia, the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for opening its first international marketing and sales office in Kuala Lumpur.
• “The office in Kuala Lumpur will enhance HAL’s ability to secure the deal while also enabling them to fulfil other requirements of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) like the upgradation and servicing of the Russian Su-30s and British Hawk trainer aircraft,” a statement from HAL said.
• HAL had submitted a proposal for supplying 18 FLIT LCAs after the Malaysian Ministry of Defence issued a global tender in October 2021. (moved up) The winner of the tender is expected to be announced soon and HAL expects to win as it meets all the technical parameters.

About Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL):

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Founder: Walchand Hirachand

Founded: 1963, Bengaluru

Kejriwal launches 'Make India No.1' mission, to travel across country to rally people's support

• Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal has formally unveiled his Aam Aadmi Party’s national ambition with the launch of the ‘Make India No 1’ campaign. At an event organised at Talkatora stadium here, he proposed a five-point vision for good governance. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor termed the campaign a “national mission” and appealed to the masses to join.
• FIRST thing that we have to do is provide free and quality education to every child of this country.
• SECOND measure that we will have to take is to provide free and best medical treatment along with free medicines and test facilities to every citizen of the country.
• THIRD, we will have to provide employment to every youth which is possible with the right intention and management.
• FOURTH, every woman should get respect, equal rights and security.
• FIFTH, we will have to ensure farmers get fair prices for their produce and get respect so that children can say with pride that they also want to become farmers.

About Delhi:

Chief Minister: Arvind Kejriwal

Capital: New Delhi

Lieutenant governor : Vinai Kumar Saxena 

Goa becomes the First ‘Har Ghar Jal’ Certified State & Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diubecomes the First ‘Har Ghar Jal’ Certified UT in the Country

• The people of all the villages in Goa and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (D&NH and D&D) declared their village to be a “Har Ghar Jal” through a resolution passed by the Gram Sabha, certifying that all households in the villages have access to safe drinking water through taps and ensuring that “No One is Left Out.” All 85,156 of the 85,635,000 rural households in Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, and Goa have access to potable water via a tap connection with Har Ghar Jal.
• The Government of India’s flagship programme, Jal Jeevan Mission, was unveiled on August 15, 2019, from the Red Fort’s ramparts by its forward-thinking Prime Minister.
• By 2024, the goal hopes to provide every rural family in the nation with a reliable in Jal Jeevan Mission, long-term supply of potable tap water in an appropriate amount and of the required quality.
• According to the certification process outlined in the Jal Jeevan Mission‘s Margdarshika (Har Ghar Jal), the field engineer must first present a completion certificate for the water delivery plan to the Panchayat during a meeting of the Gram Sabha.

About Goa:

Founded: 30 May 1987

Capital: Panaji (Executive Branch)

Chief Minister: Pramod Sawant

Governor: Shri P.S. Sreedharan Pillai

 SPORTS

Fiba Women's U-18 Asian Bash In Bengaluru

• Bengaluru will host the FIBA U-18 women’s Asian Basketball Championship beginning on September 5. According to Dr. Narayanagowda, the minister of sports and youth empowerment for Karnataka, Bengaluru will host the FIBA U-18 women’s Asian Basketball Championship from September 5 to 11. Dr. Narayanagowda, the minister, presented sports equipment to the Indian men’s team travelling to Iran to compete in the FIBA U-18 Men’s Basketball Championship during the press conference.
• Both the Koramangala and Sree Kanteerava indoor stadiums are preparing for the big international event of FIBA U-18 women’s Asian Basketball Championship.
• To qualify for the FIBA U-18 women’s Asian Basketball Championship, which will be held in Spain in July of next year, teams from Divisions A and B will compete in the championship.

About Karnataka:

Governor: Thawar Chand Gehlot

Capital: Bengaluru (Executive Branch)

Chief Minister: Basavaraj Bommai

About FIBA:

Headquarters: Mies, Switzerland

President: Hamane Niang

Founded: 18 June 1932

Membership: 213 national federations

Secretary General: Andreas Zagklis

Asia President: Saud Ali. Al-Thani

 IMPORTANT DAYS

World Humanitarian Day 2022: 19^th August

• World Humanitarian Day is celebrated on August 19 every year to recognise all aid and health workers who volunteer to help victims of disasters and crises against all odds. The day aims to spread awareness about the need for humanitarian assistance worldwide. The UN hopes that the day will serve as a reminder to people of the risk taken by some to save lives and support humanitarian causes.
• The 2022 campaign, according to the United Nations, shines a light on “thousands of volunteers, professionals and crisis-affected people who deliver urgent health care, shelter, food, protection, water and much more.”
• The United Nations has decided to use digital art to narrate stories of people in need and those who help them. At the centre of the campaign.
• On 19 August 2003, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

About United Nations:

Founded: 24 October 1945, San Francisco, California, United States

Headquarters: New York, New York, United States

Founders: United States, India, United Kingdom, Brazil, France

Secretary general: António Guterres

 World Photography Day 2022: 19^th August

• World Photography Day is celebrated on August 19 each year. The aim of World Photography Day is to create awareness, share ideas and encourage people to take up photography. The annual celebration pays tribute to the art of photography and also encourages those who are passionate about it to come together and share their work. It also serves as a motivating day for enthusiasts to pursue photography as a career.
• World Photography Day is a day to celebrate the art and craft of photography and the passion that people have for this genre. The day also recognizes how the purpose of the medium has evolved from documenting historic events to a mode for personal fulfilment and memory creation.
• The inception of this day dates back to 1837 when Frenchmen Joseph Nicephore Niepce and Louis Daguerre invented the ‘daguerreotype’ which was the world’s first-ever photographic process. Two years later on January 9, 1939, the daguerreotype was officially endorsed by the French Academy of Sciences. Seven months later on August 19, 1839.

About World Photography Organisation:

Founded: 2007

Headquarters location: London, United Kingdom

Key people: Scott Gray CEO

 SUMMIT'S & MOU's

Paytm and Samsung collaborate to deploy smart PoS devices across India

• Paytm partnered with Samsung stores across India to facilitate smart payments as well as its loan service Paytm Postpaid through the deployment of point-of-sale devices. The partnership will enable consumers purchasing Samsung devices like laptops, smartphones, television, smart watches etc, from any authorised store in the country to pay through Paytm payment instruments, including UPI, wallet, buy now pay later scheme, debit cards and credit cards.
• Paytm through its postpaid or buy-now-pay-later service will provide a credit limit of up to Rs 60,000 per month. It will also give customers an option to avail of personal loans of up to Rs 2 lakh through financial institution partners of Paytm, according to the company statement.
• Paytm claims to be the leader in offline payments, having deployed 4.1 million devices across the country as of July 2022.

About Paytm:

MD and CEO of: Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Founded: August 2010

Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

Indias oil demand to rise by 7.7% in 2022, fastest growing in world: OPEC

• India’s demand for petroleum products like petrol and diesel will grow by 7.73 per cent in 2022, the fastest pace in the world. India’s oil demand remained healthy at 0.7 millions barrels per day (million b/d), about 16 per cent y-o-y growth in June, after an annual growth of 0.8 million b/d in May. Oil demand in India is supported by the rising momentum in economic activities, as the economic reopening continued amid an easing of COVID-19 restrictions in India. Indian oil demand in June was supported by the reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel by the Central Government, coupled with the delayed arrival of the monsoon season and has led to robust demand for fuels.
• This will surpass neighbouring China’s 1.23 per cent rise in demand for these products, according to the grouping’s monthly Oil Market Report (OMR).
• Russia (24 per cent), Iraq (21 per cent), and Saudi Arabia (15 per cent) were the top three sources of oil import for India.
• The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent, Intergovernmental Organization, created at the Baghdad Conference held at Iraq in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. It initially had its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland which was then moved to Vienna, Austria in 1965.

About Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC):

Headquarters: Vienna, Austria

Founded: September 1960, Baghdad, Iraq

Founders: Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo, Abdullah Tariki