13th January, 2024

1. National Surveillance Programme for Aquatic Animal Diseases (NSPAAD) project has introduced a mobile app ‘Report Fish Disease’ to track and monitor fish diseases across the country.
2. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras to open new campus at Kandy in Sri Lanka in 2024.
3. Henley Passport Index 2024 Global Ranking has been released by Henley and Partners.
4. India has surpassed Taiwan in the MSCI Emerging Markets index, securing the 2nd position after China.
5. Dun & Bradstreet has introduces the Indian Railway Freight Activity (IRFA) Index in collaboration with Jupiter Wagons.
6. Bloomberg Index Services has proposed to include Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bonds of India in the Bloomberg Emerging Market (EM) Local Currency Index from September 2024.
7. Indian Navy has received Drishti 10 Starliner (also known as Elbit Hermes 900), 1st indigenously manufactured Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
8. President Droupadi Murmu has honoured the 4 winners of Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award (TNNAA) 2022 during the Sports and Adventure Award 2023 event held in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
9. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has received the award for International Sports Personality of the Year at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Awards ceremony in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
10. January 12– National Youth Day
11. Madhya Pradesh has been emerged overall champion in the 1st ever Beach Games held in Diu.
12. India & United Kingdom have signed 2 MoU during the visit of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to United Kingdom.
13. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to transform the financial landscape of rural Rajasthan.
14. Union Minister Giriraj Singh has released a handbook titled ” Panchayats Free From Gender-Based Violence (GBV) – A Handbook for Elected Representatives ” in New Delhi.

National News

1. National Surveillance Programme for Aquatic Animal Diseases (NSPAAD) project has introduced a mobile app ‘Report Fish Disease’ to track and monitor fish diseases across the country.
   • Key points-
     • Developed by– ICAR(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)-NBFGR(National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources) in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).
     • App will support aquaculture farmers by offering a complete solution for diagnosing, preventing, controlling, and treating aquatic animal diseases.
     • App uses technology to revolutionize disease management in aquaculture.
     • It enhances sustainability and productivity through early disease detection, data-driven decision-making, capacity building, and efficient resource allocation.

2. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras to open new campus at Kandy in Sri Lanka in 2024.
   Source: AIR

Reports and Indices

1. Henley Passport Index 2024 Global Ranking has been released by Henley and Partners.
   • Key points-
     • Indian passport has been ranked 80th by providing visa-free or visas on arrival access to 62 countries.
     • In the Middle East, UAE has been ranked highest at at rank 11.
     • Low ranking countries on the index are Pakistan (101), Iraq (102), Syria (103) and Afghanistan (104).
     • Rankings are based on the analysis of data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
   • Most powerful passports of the World:

• Rank of neighbours of India:

2. India has surpassed Taiwan in the MSCI Emerging Markets index, securing the 2nd position after China.
   • Key points-
     • Share of India in MSCI Emerging Markets index saw an increase in over eight years from 7% to 17.1% and is projected to rise further to 20% by early 2024.
     • India has witnessed the highest inflows observed in the last 11 years.
     • It has made India as an attractive investment option in emerging markets.

3. Dun & Bradstreet has introduces the Indian Railway Freight Activity (IRFA) Index in collaboration with Jupiter Wagons.
   • Objective-
     • To provide a comprehensive and data-driven assessment of the dynamics of Indian Railway freight activity.

   • Key points-
     • It is a quarterly report which comprises two important sub-indices –
       • Activity sub-index– It is based on data released by the Indian Railways.
       • Experience sub-index– It is derived from a survey of railway freight users for the current quarter.
     • The index value ranges from 0-100, where 50 is the neutral level of railway freight activity on a year-on-year basis.
       Source: prnewswire

4. Bloomberg Index Services has proposed to include Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bonds of India in the Bloomberg Emerging Market (EM) Local Currency Index from September 2024.
   • Key points-
     • Indian FAR bonds will be included in the EM Local Currency indices with an initial weight of 20% of their full market value in September 2024.
     • The weight of FAR bonds will be increased in increments of 20% of their full market value every month over the 5-month period ending in January 2025
   • What are Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bonds?
     • Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bonds are those bonds in which foreign investors can buy without any limits.
       Source: livemint

Defence News

1. Indian Navy has received Drishti 10 Starliner (also known as Elbit Hermes 900), 1st indigenously manufactured Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
   • About Drishti 10 Starliner-
     • Manufactured by- Adani Defence and Aerospace (ADA)
     • It is produced by Adani Group in partnership with Elbit Systems of Israel, upto 70% of the drone has been manufactured indigenously.
     • It is an advanced ISR platform with 36 hours endurance, 450 kgs payload capacity.
     • It the only all-weather military platform with STANAG 4671 certification, and clear to fly in both segregated and unsegregated airspace.
       Source: Hindu BusinessLine

     
     

Awards

1. President Droupadi Murmu has honoured the 4 winners of Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award (TNNAA) 2022 during the Sports and Adventure Award 2023 event held in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
   • Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award honours the achievements of individuals in adventure sports.
   • List of winners-

2. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has received the award for International Sports Personality of the Year at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Awards ceremony in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
   • More about Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Awards-
     • It was established in 2009, and it is inspired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s love of sport.
     • It recognises individual achievement in a broad range of sport-related fields.

Source: FIFA

Important Days

1. January 12– National Youth Day
   • It is observed to mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
     Source: Outlook

Sports

1. Madhya Pradesh has been emerged overall champion in the 1st ever Beach Games held in Diu.
   • Key points-
     • It was organized at the blue flag certified Ghoghla Beach in Diu.
     • Medal tally of various states-

Location of 12 Blue Flag beaches in India

Source: PIB

Memorandum of Understanding

1. India & United Kingdom have signed 2 MoU during the visit of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to United Kingdom.
   • More about MoUs-
     

     • A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between India and U.K. on conduct of bilateral international cadet exchange programme.
     • A Letter of Arrangement has been signed between Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) of UK on defence collaboration in research and development.

   
   

2. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to transform the financial landscape of rural Rajasthan.
   • Objective-
     • To redefine financial inclusion and empower HZL’s community beneficiaries with access to advance financial services.

   • More about MoU-
     • It will help in providing support and empowering more than 3.5 Lakhs beneficiaries covering SHG women, farmers, and youth to become Individual Business Correspondents for various IPPB services.
     • It will promote government social welfare Schemes through the IPPB banking channels and assist beneficiaries in availing income-generating loans through IPPB’s lending partners.

Source: PIB

Miscellaneous

1. Union Minister Giriraj Singh has released a handbook titled “Panchayats Free From Gender-Based Violence (GBV) – A Handbook for Elected Representatives” in New Delhi.
   • Handbook was launched during the virtual inauguration of the one-day National Workshop on Role of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
     Source: PIB
   
   

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