Today's Current Affairs-22nd September 2022

NATIONAL

Government of India appoints Ratan Tata, 2 others as trustees of PM CARES Fund

• According to the prime minister’s office, Veteran industrialist Ratan Tata, former Supreme Court judge KT Thomas, and former deputy Lok Sabha speaker Kariya Munda have been nominated as trustees of the PM CARES Fund. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the PM CARES Fund, which was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
• Both Shah and Sitharaman are the Trustees of PM Cares Fund. During the meeting, Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons; Justice KT Thomas, former SC judge, and Kariya Munda, former Deputy speaker appointed as the newly nominated trustees of the PM CARES Fund.
• The trust further decided to nominate other eminent persons for the constitution of the Advisory Board to the PM CARES Fund.
• These eminent personalities included: Rajiv Mehrishi, Former Comptroller and Auditor General of India; Sudha Murthy, Former Chairperson, Infosys Foundation, and Anand Shah, Co-founder of Teach for India and Former CEO of Indicorps and Piramal Foundation.

Cabinet approves second tranche of PLI scheme to boost manufacturing of solar modules

• The Union cabinet approved the second tranche of the Performance Linked incentive (PLI) scheme on ‘National programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules’ for achieving manufacturing capacity of Giga Watt (GW) scale to boost manufacturing of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules in India, Union minister Anurag Thakur announced in a press briefing.
• With the second tranche of the PLI scheme the government is hoping that about 65GW per annum manufacturing capacity of fully and partially integrated, solar PV modules would be installed in the country. “The second tranche of the PLI scheme for the national programme on ‘high efficiency solar PV modules’ has been approved with an outlay of Rs.19,500 crore. Through this we are looking at achieving manufacturing capacity of Giga Watt (GW) scale in solar PV modules in India, thereby reducing import dependence in the area of renewable energy.
• The move is significant as at present all manufacturing in the solar energy sector in India is restricted only to cells and modules. India currently has no manufacturing of solar wafers and polysilicon.

 SPORTS

Chennai Open: Czech girl Linda Fruhvirtova wins maiden WTA title

• Czech Republic’s 17-year-old, Linda Fruhvirtova scripted a brilliant comeback to win the Chennai Open 2022 WTA 250 tennis singles. The teenager beat Magda Linette of Poland, the third seed, in the final. At 17 years and 141 days old, she is the youngest titlist of the season on the WTA Tour so far. She is the youngest singles champion on tour since Coco Gauff won Parma last year at 17 years, 70 days old.
• In doubles, the top-seeded pair of Brazil’s Luisa Stefani and Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski defeated Russian Tennis Federation’s Anna Blinkova and Georgia’s Natela Dzalamidze 6-2, 6-1 in the one-sided final.

About Chennai Open Tennis Tournament:

Founded: 1996

Current champion: João Sousa (Portugal), (2022)

Draw: 28S / 16Q / 16D

Location: Pune, Maharashtra, India; New Delhi (1996); Chennai (1997–2017); Pune (since 2018); India

Venue: Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Complex (2018 — present)

 OBITURY

Padma Shri Awardee Acharya Ram Yatna Shukla died at 90

• Padma Shri awardee, Prof Acharya Ram Yatna Shukla, a Sanskrit scholar and former President of Kashi Vidwat Parishad, passed away at the age of 90 years. He is popularly called as “Abhinav Panini” due to his contribution towards inventing new methods of Sanskrit Grammar and Vedanta teaching and modernisation.
• Acharya RamYatna Shukla, born on 15th January 1932 in Bhadohi district, Uttar Pradesh (UP), was a scholar of Sanskrit grammar and played an important role in conserving ancient and Sanskrit texts.
• He was the founder of UP Nagkoop Sastrath Samiti and Sanatan Sanskriti Samvardhan Parishad, which are engaged in the uplifting of Sanskrit language and moral values of society.
• He was honoured with more than 25 awards including the Keshav award, Vachaspati Award, and Vishwabharti award. He has been conferred the title of “Mahamahopadhye”. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2021 for his immense contribution in social work. He has authored several books and research papers. One of his key publications is “Vyakaran Darshne Shristi Prakriya Vimarsha”.

About Padma Shri Award:

First awarded: 1954

Established: 1954; 68 years ago

Total: 3225

Last awarded: 2022

Next (higher): Padma Bhushan

 IMPORTANT DAYS

World Rhino Day 2022: 22^nd September

• World Rhino Day is observed on 22nd September to spread awareness about the different Rhinoceros species and the dangers they face. This day also celebrates all five rhino species namely the Sumatran, Black, Greater One-horned, Javan, and White rhino species. The day offers NGOs, zoos, and the general public a chance to honour rhinos in their own special ways. This day aims to spread the importance of protecting these animals, as Rhinoceros have become critically endangered in the wild due to ongoing poaching and habitat loss over many years.
• This year’s World Rhino Day will be observed under the theme “Five Rhino Species Forever”. The goals of this day are to promote the noble cause of raising awareness about the need to save rhinos from danger to their lives. The rhinos are constantly under severe threat.

World Rose Day (Welfare of Cancer Patients) 2022: 22^nd September

• World Rose Day for the welfare of cancer patients worldwide is celebrated annually on the 22nd of September. This day aims to encourage and support those people who are fighting their battle against cancer. The day aims to bring happiness and hope into the lives of such patients and reminds them that they can emerge victorious in their battle against cancer through determination and positivity.
• On World Rose Day, people offer roses, cards, and gifts to cancer patients and their caregivers, who also play an important role in this difficult journey. As we all know that the fight against cancer is both physical and psychological, and events such as the World Rose Day are important as they give inner strength and motivation to the patients to keep moving forward when the chips are down
• World Rose Day was first observed in honour of 12-year-old cancer patient Melinda Rose from Canada, who died in 1996. According to reports, Rose was diagnosed with Askin’s Tumour in 1994, which is a rare form of blood cancer.

 AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Gates Foundation honors four leaders with 2022 goalkeepers Global Goals Awards for their inspiring efforts to drive progress for all

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation honoured 4 changemakers, with the 2022 Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards as a part of its annual Goalkeepers campaign. The Award recognises their efforts to advance progress towards the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their communities and around the world. The Gates Foundation’s sixth annual Goalkeepers Report, “The Future of Progress,” was released. It was co-authored by foundation co¬chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates.

Winners of 2022 Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards:     

Name of the Award	Presented by	Awardee	Country
2022 Global Goalkeeper Award	Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates	Ursula von der Leyen	Germany
2022 Campaign Award	Malala Yousafzai	Vanessa Nakate	Uganda
2022 Changemaker Award	Angelina Jolie	Zahra Joya	Afghanistan
2022 Progress Award	Lilly Singh	Dr. Radhika Batra	India

     

About Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:

Founded: 2000

Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, United States

Founders: Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates

 RANKING

Global household wealth increased 9.8% to $463.6tn in 2021 on share price gains

• Global wealth totalled $463.6tn at the end of 2021, a rise of $41.4tn (9.8%), the report said. Wealth per adult grew by $6,800 (8.4%) during the course of the year to reach $87,489, close to three times the level recorded at the turn of the century.
• The ranks of the global “ultra high net worth” (UHNW) individuals swelled by 46,000 last year to a record 218,200 as the world’s richest people benefited from “almost an explosion of wealth” during the recovery from the pandemic. The number of UHNW people – those with assets of more than $50m (£43.7m) – jumped in 2021 as the super-rich benefited from soaring house prices and booming stock markets, according to a report by investment bank Credit Suisse. The number of people in the UHNW bracket has increased by more than 50% over the past two years. The huge increase in wealth of the richest 0.004% of the world’s adult population comes as billions of low- and middle-income people – many of whom saw their savings wiped out during the pandemic – struggle to cope with soaring food and energy prices.
• The increase in wealth has not been distributed fairly. The richest 1% of the global population increased their share of all the world’s wealth for a second year running to 46%, up from 44% in 2020.

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

Recession unlikely to hit India due to 'not so coupled' nature with global economy: Rating agency S&P

• Global rating agency S&P said even though the US and the Euro zone are headed to recession, India is unlikely to face the impact given the “not so coupled” nature of its economy with the global economy. The US and European recession depends on the central banks ignoring slowing growth and opting to fight inflation instead.
• “Indian economy is a lot decoupled from the global economy than we normally think of, given its large domestic demand, even though you (India) are a net importer of energy.
• India was never coupled fully with the global economy and so is relatively independent of global markets, he said, adding that a lot depends on how global fund flows behave if there is a recession in the US and Europe. Their inflation numbers continue to dodge the monetary actions by their central banks as the gap between the US core inflation target and the actual number is three times at 6 per cent.
• Listing out the Infaltion and its resultant by the US Fed as the main threat to the US economy, he said, the world’s largest economy is headed towards recession.
• On the Euro zone, the managing director said the problem is more entrenched and structural. It will take time to recover as the crisis is the result of the geopolitical issues (Russia-Ukraine war) the sky-high energy prices after the EU nations began to lower their dependence on gas from the Russia since February. But again the EU joblessness rates are low at 6.5 per cent.

About United States (US):

Attorney general: Merrick Garland 

Capital: Washington, D.C.

President: Joe Biden

Currency: United States Dollar

Das unveils three digital payment solutions at Fintech Fest

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Shaktikanta Das, launched three key digital payment initiatives at the Global Fintech Fest 2022. The three digital payment initiatives that were launched by the RBI are RuPay Credit Card on Unified Payments Interface (UPI), UPI Lite, and Bharat BillPay Cross-Border Bill Payments.
• UPI Lite will provide users with a convenient solution for faster and simpler low-value transactions, the National Payments Corp Of India (NPCI) said in a statement. Currently, India has been using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for low-value payments with 50 per cent of transactions through UPI below ₹200.
• Now that UPI Lite on BHIM App will be enabled, the users will be able to make small-value transactions in a near-offline mode. The launch of the UPI Lite will reduce the debit load on the core banking system, thereby improving the success rate of transactions further, enhancing the user experience, and taking us one step closer to processing a billion transactions a day on the UPI platform.

About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):

Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata

Currency: Indian rupee (₹)

Founder: British Raj

Governor: Shaktikanta Das

About Unified Payments Interface (UPI):

Owner: National Payments Corporation of India

Introduced: 11 April 2016; 6 years ago