Today's Current Affairs-25th August 2022

INTERNATIONAL

Heading the G20 and New Delhi’s choices

• The Union cabinet approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat and related structures that will implement policy decisions and be responsible for arrangements for India’s forthcoming presidency of the group in 2023. India will hold the presidency of the G20 from December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India next year. The G20 Secretariat will handle work related to knowledge, content, technical, media, security and logistical aspects of India’s presidency of the inter-governmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU).
• The G20 is an international forum, made up of 19 countries and the European Union, representing the world’s major developed and emerging economies. Together, the G20 members represent 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade and two-thirds of the world’s population.
• The G20 started out in 1999 as a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors. Following the global financial crisis in 2008, the urgent need for a meeting of the G20 at the Leaders’ level emerged. For the first time in November 2008 in Washington D.C, G20 Leaders convened and managed to coordinate fiscal, monetary and economic policies to put the global economy on a path to recovery.

About European Union:

Founded: 1 November 1993, Maastricht, Netherlands

Founders: Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

Awards: Nobel Peace Prize, Princess of Asturias Award for Concord, Bambi - Millennium Award

Subsidiary: MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe

About G20:

Chairman: Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia

Founded: 26 September 1999

Founder: Group of Seven

Fleet of hydrogen passenger trains begins service in Germany

• The world’s first fleet of hydrogen-powered passenger trains was launched by Germany. The first fleet of hydrogen-powered passenger trains has replaced 15 diesel trains that were previously operated on nonelectrified tracks in Lower Saxony, Germany. The engine of the trains is powered by electricity generated using hydrogen fuel cells.
• The use of hydrogen is a clean alternative to fossil fuels as per the German government’s announcement. The state governor Stephan Weil said that Lower Saxony has invested a total of 93 million euros for the first fleet of hydrogen-powered passenger train projects. This invitation is an excellent example and effort to make the economy of Germany greener.
• Alstom is a French company that manufactures trains, and these trains are operated by regional rail company LNVG on routes between the Northern towns of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerda, and Buxtehude.

About Germany:

Capital: Berlin

Currency: Euro

President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier

Chancellor: Olaf Scholz

Mali: Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga appointed interim Prime Minister

• In Mali, the military has appointed Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga as interim Prime Minister after the country’s civilian PM Choguel Kokalla Maiga was admitted to hospital. Before this appointment, Colonel Maiga was working as a Government Spokesman and Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation.
• Choguel Kokalla was named premier after the military took power in August 2020. In recent months, Maiga had come under criticism from many of his former allies for following the Junta’s line. Military Junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita had himself appointed transitional president after the May 2021 coup.

About Mali:

Capital: Bamako

Currency: West African CFA franc

Continent: Africa

Official language: French

 NATIONAL

Anurag Thakur launches Azadi Quest, a series of online educational games

• Union Minister Anurag Thakur has launched “Azadi Quest”, a series of online educational games based on India’s freedom struggle, developed in collaboration with Zynga India. These games are an effort to tap into the huge market of online gamers and to educate them through games. Various arms of the government of India have collected information about unsung freedom fighters from the corners of the country. “Azadi Quest” is an effort to make the learning of this knowledge engaging and interactive.
• Azadi Quest series will impart the knowledge of India’s freedom struggle and the legends of the country’s great freedom fighters, thereby inducing upon the players, a feeling of pride and a sense of duty and will be instrumental in removing the sense of colonial mindset as also emphasised upon by the Prime Minister in the 76th Independence day speech as ‘Panch Pran of Amrit Kaal.
• The games are available for Android and iOS devices in English and Hindi for the people of India and will be available worldwide from September 2022.

India’s 1st Composite Indoor Shooting Range Inaugurated at INS Karna

• A first-of-its-kind, Composite Indoor Shooting Range (CISR) was inaugurated by Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta at INS Karna. The CISR is a state-of-the-art, self-contained, 25 m, six-lane, live firing range for all primary and secondary weapons in the Navy. With advanced target systems and associated control software, this range would enable personnel to hone their firing skills, enabling them to challenge and take on adversaries in demanding scenarios.
• The range has been set up to contemporary international standards by an Indian firm and is a shining example of Atma Nirbhar Bharat in the year of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
• The entire facility was set up in a record time of 120 days from the award of the contract to the firm.

Ayushman Bharat Scheme Extends Inclusive Healthcare Services To Transgender People

• According to the government of India, transgenders will be brought under the ambit of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY). The National Health Authority (NHA) under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide inclusive and composite health package for transgenders under Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY.
• The ministry of social justice & empowerment has taken several initiatives for the transgender community, be it “The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019″, Garima Greh, PM Daksh, among others.

 SUMMIT'S & MOU's

SIDBI collaborates with TPRMG to set up 1000 green energy enterprises across India

• In order to build 1,000 green energy businesses across the nation, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and TP Renewable Microgrid Ltd (TPRMG), a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Power, have teamed up to launch green energy businesses programme. The project will promote sustainable business models across the country, resulting in the empowerment of rural entrepreneurs.
• As per the agreement, after entrepreneurs finish a capacity-building programme run by TPRMG, SIDBI will provide them a “Go REsponsive, ENterprise incentive (GREENi)”.
• SIDBI would also support credit connections through its PRAYAAS scheme or partner banks to facilitate financing (loans) for starting or growing rural entrepreneurs’ firms.

About Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI:) :

Founded: 2 April 1990

Headquarters: Lucknow

CMD SIDBI: Sivasubramanian Ramanan

About Tata Power:

CEO: Praveer Sinha (1 May 2018–)

Headquarters: Mumbai

Founded: 1911

Founder: Dorabji Tata

CEO and MD: Praveer Sinha

Godrej Agrovet signs MoUs with Assam, Manipur and Tripura to promote oil palm cultivation

• Godrej Agrovet, a diversified agribusiness conglomerate, announced that it has signed an MoU with the governments of Assam, Manipur, and Tripura to advance and promote oil palm growth in the area under the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm initiative. The partnership between Godrej Agrovet and the state governments will create new chances for expansion of oil palm plants in these states as well as support for farmers.
• The Agreements are in keeping with Godrej Agrovet’s long-term goal to be the driving force behind India’s oil mission by doubling farmer income and promoting sustainable expansion of oil palm production.
• Godrej Agrovet’s six oil palm mills, which are dispersed around the nation, manufacture a variety of goods, including crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil, and palm kernel cake.

About Godrej Agrovet: 

CEO: Adi Burjorji Godrej

Headquarters: Mumbai

Founded: 1991

 AWARDS & RECOGNITION

National Constitutional Center to honor Ukrainian President

• The Liberty Medal 2022 will be awarded this fall to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The National Constitution Center has announced that Zelenskyy will be honoured in a ceremony in October for what it called “his heroic defence of liberty in the face of Russian tyranny.”
• President Zelenskyy has bravely led the Ukrainian people in their defence of freedom against Russian tyranny, and his courage has inspired people around the world to defend liberal democracy and the rule of law.
• Zelenskyy, who has served as the nation’s president since May 2019, has also been the recipient of awards such as the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award and the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award as well as honours from the governments of the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia.

About Ukraine:

Founded: 24 August 1991 

Capital: Kyiv

President: Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Currency: Ukrainian hryvnia

Prime minister: Denys Shmyhal

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

RBI To Launch Digital Rupee Soon

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will very likely introduce its digital rupee, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), in this fiscal year itself. Talks of a digital rupee in the country have been swirling since Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced it during her Budget 2022 speech back in February. At the time, she had said that the digital rupee would be launched in 2022-2023.
• The digital rupee blockchain, being developed by the Reserve Bank, would be able to trace all transactions, unlike the current system of mobile wallet offered by private companies. Earlier, news agency PTI reported that the digital currency issued by the RBI would be numbered in units, just like every fiat currency has an unique number on it.
• CBDC is a digital or virtual currency but it is not comparable to the private virtual currencies or cryptocurrency that have mushroomed over the last decade. Private virtual currencies do not represent any person’s debt or liabilities as there is no issuer.

About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):

Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata

Founder: British Raj

Ownership: Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Governor: Shaktikanta Das