Today's Current Affairs - 27th October 2022

NATIONAL

India suffered income loss of 5.4 pc of GDP due to heatwave

• India suffered an income loss of 5.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest among the G20 nations in 2021, according to the new report of Climate Transparency. The report highlighted that India witnessed a record heatwave that greatly affected workers, labour migrants, low-income households, and the homeless, and reduced the yields of wheat crops.
• Despite the fact that India is responsible for 3% of global emissions, the report mentioned that around 142 million people in India may be exposed (10% of the population) to summer heatwaves at 1.5 Degrees Celsius.
• The higher temperature resulted in the reduction of working hours, which further led to substantial income losses in services, manufacturing, agriculture, and construction.
• Talking about global emissions, the USA ranked first, as America contributes 25% of it, followed by the European Union with 22%. “G20 members account for around 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population, and are responsible for around three-quarters of global emissions,” the report reads.

Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal launches “Main Bhi Subhash'' campaign from Leh

• Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal launched the ‘Main Bhi Subhash’ campaign from Leh. The ‘Main Bhi Subhash’ campaign is a series of events which is organized by the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose INA Trust in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture. The ‘Main Bhi Subhash’ campaign is going to be organized on the occasion of the 125th Birth Anniversary of Netaji on 23rd January next year. The ‘Main Bhi Subhash’ campaign begins in Mumbai and Kolkata.
• Namgyal inaugurated an exhibition on Netaji at Boys Higher Secondary school in Leh.
• The ‘Main Bhi Subhash’ campaign aims to create awareness of Netaji’s contribution to the freedom fight.

 SCIENCE & TEHNOLOGY

IIT Madras And NASA JPL Researchers Study Microbial Interactions On ISS To Devise Disinfection Strategies

• The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT) and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers studied the interactions between microbes in the International Space Station (ISS). The study aims to help devise strategies for the disinfection of space stations to minimize any potential impact of microbes on the health of astronauts.
• The collaboration was under Dr. Karthik Raman, Associate Professor at the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta, School of Biosciences and a core member of the Robert Bosch Centre of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), IIT Madras, along with Dr. Kasthuri Venkateshwaran, the senior research scientist at JPL.
• Studying the microbes inhabiting the space station will help to understand the risks associated with short-term and long-term space travel on the health of astronauts.
• The study was motivated by earlier observations of the dominance of Klebsiella pneumonia on the surface of the ISS.

 OBITURY

'World's Dirtiest Man' dies at 94 shortly after first bath in 60 years

• Amou Haji, an Iranian man dubbed the “dirtiest man in the world, “ died at the age of 94 in the village of Dejgah, in the southern province of Fars. He was so-called because he had not washed for almost 70 years and he believed that staying dirty kept him alive for so long. Owing to his unique record, a short documentary titled ‘The Strange Life of Amou Haji’ was made in 2013, describing his life.
• A report published in Tehran Times also claimed that Haji would eat roadkill, smoke a pipe filled with animal excrement, and believed that cleanliness would make him ill. Haji used to live in an open brick hut and he had faced some “emotional setbacks in his youth” that made him stern about not taking a bath with water or soap.

 IMPORTANT DAYS

Indian Army celebrates 76 infantry day today

• Indian Army Infantry Day is celebrated on October 27 every year to pay homage to the soldiers who fought for the country and laid down their lives in the line of duty. To celebrate the 76th Infantry Day this year on October 27, soldiers are organising four simultaneous bike rallies from all cardinal directions, Wellington (Tamil Nadu), Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir), Shillong (Meghalaya), and Ahmedabad (Gujarat). The rally started on October 16 and will cover the travel across the country, culminating at the National War Memorial on Infantry Day.
• Each group will have 10 bikers and will cover a cumulative journey of 8,000 km. The groups are spearheaded by the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment from Ahmedabad, Assam Regiment from Shillong, Madras Regiment from Wellington and Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment from Udhampur.

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2022: 27^th October

• World Day for Audiovisual Heritage (WDAH) is celebrated on October 27 every year to highlight and promote the importance of such preservation. Audiovisual heritage refers to documents like film, sounds, radio, television programmes and other audio and video that are of socio-cultural importance and need preservation for posterity. Such documentations help us observe and understand the past, protects our memories and culture.
• “Enlisting documentary heritage to promote inclusive, just and peaceful societies” is the theme for WDAH this year. It refers to the importance of archiving visual and sonic information to preserve history for society’s benefit and progress.
• Audiovisual archives tell us stories about people’s lives and cultures from all over the world. They represent a priceless heritage which is an affirmation of our collective memory and a valuable source of knowledge since they reflect the cultural, social and linguistic diversity of our communities.

 AWARDS & RECOGNITION

NISA bags prestigious Union HM's Trophy

• National Industrial Security Academy (NISA), at Hakimpet, Hyderabad has bagged the Union Home Minister’s Trophy for the “Best Police Training Institution for Training of Gazetted Officers for the year 2020-21”. This extraordinary feat for this Academy was achieved during the serving period of the current Commissioner of Police (CP) Hyderabad, CV Anand, who was the previous Director of the Academy during the year under contention.
• Ministry of Home Affairs conducts a national-level screening of various central police training institutes and accordingly BPR&D conducts a survey for the best Police Training Institution for the year. All central and state government police training academies of the country are in consideration in various categories.
• The National Industrial Security Academy of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is a premier national-level central training institute imparting training in Industrial Security Management, Disaster Management, and Aviation Security to officers of the CISF, sister organizations of CAPFs, state police organizations, foreign police organizations, civil servants and officers of public sector undertaking.

 RANKING

NSO Released the Employment Outlook of the India

• The National Statistical Office (NSO), under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, released a press note on Employment Outlook of the country covering the period September, 2017 to June, 2022. This data is based on the administrative records available with selected government agencies to assess the progress in certain dimensions, the release stated.
• Since April, 2018 this ministry has been bringing out the employment related statistics in the formal sector covering the period September 2017 onwards, using information on the number of subscribers who have subscribed under three major schemes, namely the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme and the National Pension Scheme (NPS).
• The numbers of subscribers are from various sources and there are elements of overlap. Therefore, the estimates from various sources are not additive. Detailed information is separately published on the respective organisational websites for the period September, 2017 to June, 2022.

 BANKING AND ECONOMY

Sprite becomes billion dollar brand in India

• Coca-Cola, global soft drinks company announced that its lemon and lime-flavored soft drink ‘Sprite’ has become a billion-dollar brand in the Indian market. The company has recorded a “strong” volume growth in its India business in the third quarter of 2022.
• Trademark Coke delivered strong growth through effective execution and occasion-based marketing. Coke has done 2.5 billion transactions in India at affordable price points through the expansion of returnable glass bottles and single-serve PET packages.
• Coca-Cola continued to strengthen as it gained a share in sparkling offerings in the first half of 2022.
• Sprite has grown to become a billion-dollar brand in the market, driven by the success of locally adapted, occasion-based global marketing campaigns and screen time.

Apple to Decarbonize its Supply Chain by 2030

• APPLE said it would make fresh investments to set up solar and wind projects in Europe and called on its suppliers to decarbonise operations related to the production of iPhones and other products. The company in 2020 had pledged to remove carbon emissions from its entire business, including products and its sprawling supply chain – which spans from Vietnam to Brazil – by 2030.
• The iPhone maker will now require its supply partners to report on progress on carbon neutrality goals, specifically Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions reductions, related to the production of Apple products and will audit their progress annually.
• “We’re determined to be a ripple in the pond that creates a bigger change,” chief executive officer Tim Cook said. Apple has been carbon neutral for its global corporate operations since 2020.
• More than 200 suppliers, representing 70 per cent of Apple’s direct manufacturing spending and including Corning, Nitto Denko, SK Hynix, STMicroelectronics, TSMC and Yuto, have committed to using clean power such as wind or solar for all Apple production, Apple said. Apple had previously asked suppliers to commit to 100 per cent renewable energy for Apple’s production.