23rd September, 2022

1. Israel embassy in India launched a special project “Saaras”, in collaboration with Khushii Foundation, to promote women empowerment, menstrual hygiene and awareness in Arthala, Ghaziabad.
2. Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is implementing the International Cooperation (IC) Scheme for the tenure of FY22 to FY26.
3. Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy has announced a special tourist train to cover the “Ambedkar Circuit” or Panchteerth.
4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received a copy of the Braille version of Assamese Dictionary Hemkosh from Jayanta Baruah in New Delhi.
5. Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur has launched a capacity building training programme for 14,000 youth volunteers of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan.
6. Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Food Processing Industries have launched a joint convergence portal for different schemes run by both the ministries.
7. Union Cabinet has approved changes in the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem.
8. Central government has constituted a high-level committee, under the chairmanship of Dr VK Paul, NITI Aayog member (health), to create a legal mechanism to address the issue of pharmaceutical companies giving inducements for promoting their drugs and products.
9. Ministry of Commerce and Industry has set up a separate Export Promotion Council (EPC) for the medical devices sector under the administrative control of the Department of Pharmaceuticals to help exporters in promoting their products in international markets.
10. Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for launching the second tranche of the ‘production-linked incentive’ (PLI) scheme for solar equipment manufacturing worth Rs 19,500 crore.
11. The draft of the Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2022 has been introduced by the Department of Telecommunications for merging the Indian Telegraph Act 1885, Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933, and The Telegraph Wires, (Unlawful Protection) Act 1950.
12. Agni Tattva – Energy for LiFE, an initiative under the umbrella campaign of Sumangalam, has been launched at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Delhi.
13. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has released the first advance estimates of production of major Kharif crops for 2022-23.
14. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has collaborated with the Indian Army for implementing a CSR project titled ‘Kargil Ignited Minds’ to coach and mentor less-privileged girl students in Kargil.
15. Indo-US Coast Guard have jointly conducted the “Abhyas-01/22” exercise off the coast of Chennai.
16. MIT-led Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) of NASA has successfully created oxygen on Mars.
17. Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched ‘Everyday Savings Account’, a unique Savings to help the customers ‘Spend Every Day and Save Every Day’.
18. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has provided UPI service on Rupay credit for payment acceptance on outlets accepting QR code payments.
19. Ethereum – the world’s second largest blockchain – has launched a new feature named as “The Merge”.
20. The Defence Accounts Department (DAD) has signed a MOU with Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank, to onboard them as Service Centres under the System for Pension Administration (Raksha) (SPARSH) initiative, across more than 14,000 branches throughout India.
21. Under ‘customs ONE’ plan, the Ministry of Commerce is working on to streamlining approvals to ensure that goods for exports and imports are cleared within an hour of their arrival at seaports and airports to help catapult India’s share in global trade to 10% by 2047.
22. Asian Development Outlook 2022 Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age (September 2022) report has been released by Asian Development Bank (ADB).
23. Three new members – Ratan Tata (former chair of Tata Sons), KT Thomas (former Judge of Supreme Court), and Kariya Munda (former Deputy Speaker) – have been appointed on the board of trustees of PM Cares Fund.
24. September 20 – International NFT (Non-Fungible Token) Day (1st edition)
25. September 20 – Railway Protection Force (38th edition) Raising Day
26. World Alzheimer’s Day; The theme for World Alzheimer’s Month in September 2022 is “Know dementia, know Alzheimer’s”.
27. Gates Foundation has presented the 2022 Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards to four leaders for their inspiring efforts to drive progress for all.
28. The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) has won the ‘2022 UN Interagency Task Force, and WHO Special Programme on Primary Health Care Award’ at the UN General Assembly.
29. DFL, the organising body of Germany football leagues Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, has signed an MOU with Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the commercial partner of Indian football and organiser of the Indian Super League, to bring the best global practices in the country.
30. For the first time, India will be hosting a maiden MotoGP World Championships race named as ‘Grand Prix of Bharat’ at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida next year.
31. Padma Shri Acharya Ramayatna Shukla (president of Srikashi Vidwat Parishad and Sanskrit scholar) passed away.
32. Comedian Raju Srivastav has passed away.

National News

1. Israel embassy in India launched a special project “Saaras”, in collaboration with Khushii Foundation, to promote women empowerment, menstrual hygiene and awareness in Arthala, Ghaziabad.
   • Under the project, a centre has been established by MASHAV– the Agency for International Development Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, to produce eco-friendly cost-effective sanitary napkins.
   • The sanitary pad, Saaras, is an innovative product for rash free periods at a very affordable price.
   • Ambassador of Israel to India ­– Naor Gilon
2. Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is implementing the International Cooperation (IC) Scheme for the tenure of FY22 to FY26.
   • Purpose – to build capacity of MSMEs for entering the export market by facilitating their participation in international exhibitions, fairs, conferences, seminars, and buyer-seller meets abroad
   • The scheme has three components –
     • Market Development Assistance (MDA)
     • Capacity Building of First Time Exporters (CBFTE)
     • Framework for International Market Intelligence Dissemination (IMID)
3. Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy has announced a special tourist train to cover the “Ambedkar Circuit” or Panchteerth.
   • The modalities — such as the date of journey, ticket price, number of passengers —are still in the works.
   • The circuit will be developed under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
   • Panchteerth would include –
     • Janma Bhoomi, Ambedkar’s birthplace in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow;
     • Shiksha Bhoomi, the place in London where he stayed while studying in the UK;
     • Deeksha Bhoomi in Nagpur where he embraced Buddhism;
     • Mahaparinirvan Bhoomi or the place of his demise in Delhi; and
     • Chaitya Bhoomi, the place of his cremation, in Mumbai

About the Swadesh Darshan Scheme –

• Swadesh Darshan, a Central Sector Scheme, was launched in 2014 -15 for integrated development of theme based tourist circuits in the country.
• This scheme is envisioned to synergise with other schemes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Skill India, Make in India etc.
• The government had identified 15 tourist circuits under the Swadesh Darshan scheme in 2014-15.

4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received a copy of the Braille version of Assamese Dictionary Hemkosh from Jayanta Baruah in New Delhi.
5. Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur has launched a capacity building training programme for 14,000 youth volunteers of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan.
   • The training programmes will help the youth to upskill their knowledge base thereby preparing them for industry needs.
   • It will also help in creating world’s largest skilled workforce.
6. Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Food Processing Industries have launched a joint convergence portal for different schemes run by both the ministries.
   • The portal will provide convergence between Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY).
   • Ministry of Agriculture is implementing the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF). Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the PMFME and PMKSY schemes.
7. Union Cabinet has approved changes in the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem.
   • Under the scheme, the government has increased the financial support up to 50% of project cost for setting up various plants and semiconductor or other manufacturing units.
   • The incentives are planned to be offered to companies over 6 years and expected to attract investments worth ₹1.77 trillion.
8. Central government has constituted a high-level committee, under the chairmanship of Dr VK Paul, NITI Aayog member (health), to create a legal mechanism to address the issue of pharmaceutical companies giving inducements for promoting their drugs and products.
   • The company will create Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP).
9. Ministry of Commerce and Industry has set up a separate Export Promotion Council (EPC) for the medical devices sector under the administrative control of the Department of Pharmaceuticals to help exporters in promoting their products in international markets.
   • India currently exports Rs. 23,766 crore (2021-22) of medical devices up from previous year Rs 19,736 crore.
   • The council can help in exploiting the huge export and investment potential of over Rs. 80,000 Cr for manufacturing medical devices in India to fulfil its ambition of becoming a part of the top 5 preferred supplier base of medical devices worldwide.
10. Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for launching the second tranche of the ‘production-linked incentive’ (PLI) scheme for solar equipment manufacturing worth Rs 19,500 crore.
    • This is part of ‘National programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules’ for achieving manufacturing capacity of giga watt (Gw) scale in high efficiency solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.
    • It is estimated that close to 65 GW of annual manufacturing capacity of fully and partially integrated solar PV modules would be installed through this scheme.
    • The scheme will bring direct investment of around Rs 94,000 crore, create direct employment for 195,000 people and indirect employment for about 780,000 people.
    • The nodal agency for the second tranche of bidding is Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
    • Close to 80% of India’s solar power capacity is built on imported solar equipment.
    • Progress of the first tranche of PLI for Solar Equipment –
      • Rs 4,500 Quantum of first tranche
      • 50 Gw of bids against RfP of 10 Gw
      • The winners were Reliance New Energy Solar, Adani Infrastructure and Shirdi Sai.
11. The draft of the Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2022 has been introduced by the Department of Telecommunications for merging the Indian Telegraph Act 1885, Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933, and The Telegraph Wires, (Unlawful Protection) Act 1950.
12. Agni Tattva – Energy for LiFE, an initiative under the umbrella campaign of Sumangalam, has been launched at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Delhi.
    • Power Foundation of India and Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) organised events to create awareness of the core concept of Agni Tattva, an element that is synonymous with energy and is amongst the five elements of Panchmahabhoot.
    • The idea of LiFE-Lifestyle for the Environment was introduced by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during the 26th COP of United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in 2021.
    • Power Foundation of India is a society formed under the aegis of Ministry of Power.

Agriculture and Rural Development

1. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has released the first advance estimates of production of major Kharif crops for 2022-23.
   • Total food grain production – 149.92 million tonnes
   • Rice – 104.99 million tonnes
   • Nutri/coarse cereals – 36.56 million tonnes
   • Maize – 23.10 million tonnes
   • Pulses – 8.37 million tonnes
   • Tur – 3.89 million tonnes
   • Oilseeds – 23.57 million tonnes
   • Groundnut – 8.37 million tonnes
   • Soyabean – 12.89 million tonnes
   • Cotton – 34.19 million bales (of 170 kg each)
   • Jute and Mesta – 10.09 million bales (of 180 kg each)
   • Sugarcane – 465.05 million tonnes

Defence News

1. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has collaborated with the Indian Army for implementing a CSR project titled ‘Kargil Ignited Minds’ to coach and mentor less-privileged girl students in Kargil.
   • The project aims to prepare 50 girl students for various national-level engineering and medical entrance examinations.
   • Other CSR projects of HPCL – ‘Kashmir Super 50 – Medical’ (coaching to medical aspirants) and construction of more than 1,000 school toilets under ‘Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan’ in various parts of the country
2. Indo-US Coast Guard have jointly conducted the “Abhyas-01/22” exercise off the coast of Chennai.

International News

1. MIT-led Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) of NASA has successfully created oxygen on Mars.
   • The initiative was launched in July 2020.

Banking and Economy

1. Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched ‘Everyday Savings Account’, a unique Savings to help the customers ‘Spend Every Day and Save Every Day’.
   • In this account, the customer can either make 30 transactions of any value in a month and enjoy total freedom from monthly balance maintenance (get minimum balance charges waived) or choose to maintain an average monthly balance of Rs 20,000/.
2. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has provided UPI service on Rupay credit for payment acceptance on outlets accepting QR code payments.
   • Customers of Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, and Indian Bank will be the first to be able to use RuPay Credit Card on UPI with BHIM App.
     • Mechanism – Rupay credit cardholders can upload their card information in NPCI’s BHIM UPI app. Once this is done, they can scan any QR code and pay using a credit card instead of their bank account.
   • NPCI also launched UPI Lite – a faster way of making low-value payments without second-factor authentication, which will not clutter the user’s bank passbook.
     • The daily upper limit of a UPI Lite payment transaction will be Rs 200 while the total limit of UPI Lite balance for an on-device wallet will be Rs 2,000 at any time.
   • NPCI has also enabled the cross-border payments of bills and loan EMIs by NRIs using the Bharat Bill Payment System, in accordance with RBI’s mandate.
   • RBI Governor has launched Bharat BillPay Cross-Border Bill Payments. The feature is already live on Lulu Money which is used by many Indians in the Middle East to send money back in India.
     • Federal Bank is functioning as the BBPS operating unit for this service.
3. Ethereum – the world’s second largest blockchain – has launched a new feature named as “The Merge”.
4. The Defence Accounts Department (DAD) has signed a MOU with Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank, to onboard them as Service Centres under the System for Pension Administration (Raksha) (SPARSH) initiative, across more than 14,000 branches throughout India.
   • The MoU will onboard more than 7,900 branches of Bank of Baroda and 6,300 branches of HDFC Bank as Service Centres to provide last mile connectivity to pensioners, especially those who live in remote areas of the country and those who do not have the means or technical wherewithal to logon to SPARSH.
   • SPARSH has grown exponentially with more than ₹11,600 crore disbursed in the financial year 2021-22, from just about ₹57 crores in FY21.
   • SPARSH was implemented in 2021 to ease different aspects of defence pensions including initiation, sanction, computation, revision and disbursement. The system involves crediting pensions directly into the accounts of former servicemen without relying on banks.
5. Under ‘customs ONE’ plan, the Ministry of Commerce is working on to streamlining approvals to ensure that goods for exports and imports are cleared within an hour of their arrival at seaports and airports to help catapult India’s share in global trade to 10% by 2047.
   • This plan is a part of India@2047 blueprint.

GDP Forecasts

1. Asian Development Outlook 2022 Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age (September 2022) report has been released by Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Appointments

1. Three new members – Ratan Tata (former chair of Tata Sons), KT Thomas (former Judge of Supreme Court), and Kariya Munda (former Deputy Speaker) – have been appointed on the board of trustees of PM Cares Fund.
   • The Board also includes Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, and Union Finance Minister.
   • An Advisory Board to PM CARES has also been constituted with Rajiv Mehrishi (former CAG of India), Sudha Murthy (former chair of Infosys Foundation), and Anand Shah (co-founder of Teach for India and Former CEO of Indicorps and Piramal Foundation) as its members.

Important Days

1. September 20 – International NFT (Non-Fungible Token) Day (1st edition)
2. September 20 – Railway Protection Force (38th edition) Raising Day
3. September 21 –
   • World Alzheimer’s Day; The theme for World Alzheimer’s Month in September 2022 is “Know dementia, know Alzheimer’s”.
   • International Day of Peace; Theme – End racism. Build peace.

Awards

1. Gates Foundation has presented the 2022 Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards to four leaders for their inspiring efforts to drive progress for all.
   • Awardees –
     • Radhika Batra, co-founder of the non-profit organization Every Infant Matters, which provides last-mile health solutions to disadvantaged children in India
     • Zahra Joya, a journalist from Afghanistan who founded and self-funded Rukhshana Media, an online news agency focused exclusively on covering issues that affect the women of Afghanistan.
     • Vanessa Nakate, a climate justice activist from Uganda and founder of the Africa-based Rise Up Movement and the Green Schools Project
     • Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission
2. The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) has won the ‘2022 UN Interagency Task Force, and WHO Special Programme on Primary Health Care Award’ at the UN General Assembly.
   • The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) is a joint initiative of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), state governments and WHO-India.
   • It was launched in 2017 and expanded in a phased manner to cover more than 130 districts across 23 states in India.
   • Under the initiative, more than 34 lakh people with hypertension are taking treatment in government health facilities, including Ayushman Bharat Health Wellness Centres.

Sports

1. DFL, the organising body of Germany football leagues Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, has signed an MOU with Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the commercial partner of Indian football and organiser of the Indian Super League, to bring the best global practices in the country.
2. For the first time, India will be hosting a maiden MotoGP World Championships race named as ‘Grand Prix of Bharat’ at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida next year.
   • MotoGP commercial rights owner Dorna and Noida-based race promoters Fairstreet Sports have signed an MOU to host the premier two-wheel racing event in India for the next seven years.

Miscellaneous

1. Padma Shri Acharya Ramayatna Shukla (president of Srikashi Vidwat Parishad and Sanskrit scholar) passed away.
2. Comedian Raju Srivastav has passed away.
   • His autopsy was done by using a novel technique called Virtopsye., virtual autopsy. This technology uses high tech X-rays and CT-Scans to conduct autopsy without dissecting the body.
   • Presently, AIIMS-Delhi is the only organization conducting Virtopsy in the entire South and South-East Asia.

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