Today's Current Affairs-23rd September 2022

NATIONAL

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar inaugurates Lokmanthan 2022 in Guwahati

• Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar inaugurated the 3rd edition of Lokmanthan organised by Prajna Prabah today, on September 22. Governor of Assam Jagdish Mukhi and Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma were also present in the inaugural session of the 3 days celebration of the Lok Parampara of the nation held at the Sankardev Kalakhetra premises.
• The third edition of the Lokmanthan is being observed with the theme to seek the cultural and traditional heritages hidden in the various corners of our country, especially in the North East part of India.
• Speaking at the inaugural function of Lok Manthan 2022 as the chief guest, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said, “Dialogue, Debate and Discussion are the souls of governance. The contemporaneous scenario on this count, particularly in the legislature, is worrisome.

About Assam:

Capital: Dispur

Chief Minister: Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma

Governor: Prof Jagdish Mukhi

PM Modi Receives Braille Version Of Assamese Dictionary 'Hemkosh'

• In New Delhi, Jayanta Baruah gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi a copy of the Assamese Dictionary Hemkosh in Braille. Jayanta Baruah and his colleagues received praise from Mr. Modi for their efforts. Assamese Dictionary Hemkosh was one of the first Assamese dictionaries, published in the nineteenth century. Sarbananda Sonowal, the minister for ports, shipping, and waterways, as well as other officials, were present on this occasion.
• The earliest Assamese etymological dictionary based on Sanskrit spellings is called Assamese Dictionary Hemkosh and was created by Hemchandra Barua. 33 years after the release of Bronson’s dictionary, it was first published in the early 20th century under the direction of Capt. P. R. Gordon, ISC, and Hemchandra Goswami. There were around 22,346 words in it.

About Assam:

Capital: Dispur

Chief Minister: Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma

Governor: Prof Jagdish Mukhi

Veteran Assamese swimmer Elvis Ali Hazarika becomes the first from North East to cross North Channel

• Veteran Assamese swimmer, Elvis Ali Hazarika has become the first from the North East to cross the North Channel. The North Channel is the strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland. Elvis and his team clocked a timing of 14 hours 38 minutes to achieve this feat. With this, Elvis has become the oldest Indian swimmer to cross the North Channel.
• According to the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association, the distance of the route recognised as a North Channel swim is 34.5 km (21.4 miles). It is known for fickle weather, rough seas, tough currents and an abundance of jellyfish. As it is, over the past four years especially, the ace Assam swimmer has been pushing his limits, persevering and raising the bar from time to time to create significant records, also making Assam and the country proud.

About Assam:

Capital: Dispur

Chief Minister: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Governor: Prof Jagdish Mukhi

 APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Max Life Insurance appointed cricketer Rohit Sharma, his wife Ritika Sajdeh as brand ambassadors

• Max Life Insurance Company Ltd has announced Rohit Sharma, sports icon and captain of men’s Indian Cricket team, and his wife Ritika Sajdeh, as its brand ambassadors. Max Life has signed a two-year partnership with the cricketing star and his spouse, who are making their debut onscreen together.
• The collaboration will increase the awareness of life insurance among the younger generation and help the company grow further. With the partnership, Max Life Insurance targets the millennial audience and conveys the importance of having life insurance. The aim of the company is to promote the Max Life brand ethos of valuing the ‘self’ to determine the right financial value to protect themselves and their family.

About Max Life Insurance:

MD & CEO:  Prashant Tripathy

Establishment:  2001

Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi

Centre names top Gujarat bureaucrat Bharat Lal as Director General NCGG

• Retired Gujarat cadre officer, Bharat Lal has been appointed as the Director General, National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG). Bharat Lal, a 1988-batch Indian Forest officer of Gujarat cadre, had served as Gujarat government’s resident commissioner in Delhi and has been known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the then chief minister of the state. Earlier, during December 2021, Lal was appointed as the Secretary to the Lokpal.
• The National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) is an autonomous institute under the aegis of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India. Its head office is at New Delhi and the branch office at Mussoorie.
• The NCGG has been set up to assist in bringing about governance reforms through studies, training, knowledge sharing and promotion of good ideas.

About Gujarat:

Governor: Acharya Devvrat

Capital: Gandhinagar

Chief Minister: Bhupendrabhai Patel

 IMPORTANT DAYS

International Day of Sign Languages 2022: 23^rd September

• The International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL) is celebrated annually across the world on 23 September. The day is a unique opportunity to support and protect the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of all deaf people and other sign language users. Sign language gives people, who are hard of hearing, a medium to converse. As the name suggests, this day aims to spread awareness regarding the importance of sign language in the realisation of the human rights of people who are deaf.
• The theme for the 2022 International Day of Sign languages is “Sign Languages Unite Us!”. Deaf communities, governments and civil society organisations maintain their collective efforts in fostering, promoting and recognising national sign languages as part of their countries’ vibrant and diverse linguistic landscapes.

About World Federation of the Deaf:

President: Joseph J. Murray

Founded: 23 September 1951, Rome, Italy

Headquarters: Helsinki, Finland

 SUMMIT'S & MOU's

Hero MotoCorp, HPCL collab to establish charging infrastructure for electric vehicles

• Hero MotoCorp has joined hands with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd to set up charging infrastructure for electric two-wheelers in the country. As a part of the initiative, the two companies will first establish charging infrastructure at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation’s (HPCL) existing network of stations, with the likelihood of subsequently broadening the collaboration for supplementary business opportunities.
• The charging stations will be set up in select cities, which will then be expanded to other key markets with the aim of establishing a high-density of EV charging station network across the country.
• The two-wheeler major will lead the infrastructure development for the charging network with each charging station featuring multiple fast chargers, including DC and AC chargers that will be available to all two-wheeled EVs.

About Hero MotoCorp:

Founded: 19 January 1984

Founder: Brijmohan Lall Munjal

Headquarters: New Delhi

CEO: Pawan Munjal

About Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL):

Headquarters: Mumbai

Owner: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

Founded: 1974

Parent organization: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

 NCC, UNEP sign MoU to tackle plastic pollution

• Rajnath Singh, the defence minister, saw the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). A Memorandum of Understanding was inked to use the Tide Turners Plastic Challenge programme and the Puneet Sagar Abhiyan to combat plastic pollution and achieve the objective of clean water bodies. It aims to coordinate initiatives to involve young people in promoting clean water bodies.
• The Puneet Sagar Abhiyan was introduced by the NCC on December 1st, 2017.The campaign’s objectives are to rid seashores of plastic and other trash and raise public awareness of how important cleanliness.
• More than 12 million NCC cadets, alumni, and volunteers have collected over 100 tonnes of plastic debris from approximately 1,900 places since the start of the Puneet Sagar Abhiyan.
• Ajay Bhatt, the secretary of defence, Dr. Ajay Kumar, officials from the ministry of defence, and UNEP representatives were present at the event.
• The Defense Secretary praised NCC’s efforts in making the “Puneet Sagar Abhiyan” a huge success, calling it one of the finest programmes.

About Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):

Headquarters location: Nairobi, Kenya

Founded: 5 June 1972, Nairobi, Kenya

Founder: Maurice Strong

Head: Inger Andersen

Parent organization: United Nations

About National Cadet Corps (NCC):

Director General: Lt. Gen. Gurbirpal Singh

Headquarters: New Delhi

Founded: 16 April 1948

Founder: H. N. Kunzru

Active: July 16, 1948 – present

Role: Student uniformed group

 AWARDS & RECOGNITION

India wins UN award for hypertension control initiative

• India has won the United Nations (UN) award for its ‘India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI)’, a large-scale hypertension intervention under the National Health Mission (NHM) that saw 3.4 million hypertensive people identified and put on treatment at various government health facilities. The ‘2022 UN Interagency Task Force, and WHO Special Programme on Primary Health Care Award’ was announced at the UN General Assembly side event at New York, USA.
• The award is for India’s initiative to control and prevent hypertension under the government’s NHM.It has been recognized for India’s exceptional work within India’s existing primary healthcare system.
• IHCI is a collaborative initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), state governments and the World Health Organization(WHO)¬India.
• It is a growing health issue in India is estimated that 20 crore adults with hypertension, and approximately only 2 crores (12%) have it under control. The Indian Government has adopted the “25 by 25” goal to reduce premature mortality due to Non¬Communicable Diseases (NCDs) by 25% by 2025.

About National Health Mission (NHM):

Launch year: 2005

Launched by (prime minister): Narendra Modi

About United Nations (UN):

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

Headquarters: New York, United States

Secretary General: António Guterres

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

Rupee at fresh all-time low; slips past 81 per dollar for the first time

• The rupee plunged by 83 paise — its biggest single-day loss in nearly seven months — touched an all-time low of 80.79 against the US dollar. The rupee touched the psychological level of 80 per dollar, but closed just below that mark at 79.98, amid foreign fund outflows and the rise in crude oil prices.
• The rupee had opened strong at 79.75 but fell again towards the 80 level, this time on the back of a supportive range from crude as Brent breached the $100 per barrel on less chance of recession in the US, said Jateen Trivedi, VP–research analyst at LKP Securities. “The rupee keeps taking resistance every time it rises towards the 20-day moving average. The rupee range can be seen between 79.75-80.50,” he added.
• Forex reserves have plummeted by $62.4 billion from the record high of $642.45 billion registered on September 3, 2021. A major reason for the decline in forex reserves is capital outflows by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) as the US Federal Reserve started the monetary policy tightening and interest rate hikes.
• Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex shot up by 760.37 points to 54,521.15 in the bull rally led by IT stocks. The NSE Nifty index gained 229.30 points at 16,278.50.
• Morgan Stanley has slashed its forecast for India’s economic growth for this financial year and the next in view of a slowdown in global growth. The growth forecast for the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for 2022-23 has been lowered by 40 basis points to 7.2 per cent, while that for 2023-24 has been reduced by 30 basis points to 6.4 per cent.

 India Inc expects another 35-50 basis points policy rate hike by RBI

• The global economy has been rattled by scorching inflation and geo-political tensions, forcing more central banks to join the US Federal Reserve in raising interest rates. The Fed set the pace with a 0.75% rate hike to a range of 3% to 3.25%. That is the fifth rate hike this year and up from zero at the start of the year. According to market experts, India could see an aggressive rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in coming week. The RBI’s policy decision is due on 30 September, with most market participants expecting it to hike rates by 35-50 basis points.
• Analysts at ICICI Securities believe the RBI may raise its policy rate by another 50 bps at its policy meeting at the end of this month, and a further 25 bps in December meeting to 6.15%. The domestic brokerage firm also added that the cumulative impact of this year’s monetary tightening is likely to help bring headline CPI inflation back below 6% YoY in Nov’22 and beyond.
• Market analysts say the continued hike in US interest rate may be risky for the Indian stock market, but it also provides an opportunity for foreign investors to diversify globally. “While rising in Interest rates represent a headwind for Indian equities, our buoyant domestic demand scenario presents a sliver of hope for global investors looking to diversify globally.
• On India’s CPI inflation rate, Deutsche Bank said the country’s headline retail inflation will likely rise to a five-month high of 7.4% in September, with the risk of going higher if the momentum of food and vegetable prices picks up further in the rest of the month.

About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):

Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata

Founder: British Raj

Governor: Shaktikanta Das

About United States (US):

Speaker: Nancy Pelosi (Democratic Party) 

Capital: Washington, D.C.

President: Joe Biden

Currency: United States Dollar