Daily Current Affairs 11th April, 2024

Daily Current Affairs 11 April 2024 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

MoRTH builds 12 349 km of highways in FY24 2nd highest so far

• The Road Transport and Highways Ministry constructed 12,349 km of national highways in 2023-24, the second highest in its history, a senior government official said.
• Previously, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had constructed a record 13,327 kilometres of national highways in 2020-21.
• The official further said that the ministry awarded 8,581 national highway projects in 2023-24.
• The government has launched a pilot project to provide cashless treatment to road accident victims. Accident victims will be entitled to cashless treatment of up to Rs 1.5 lakh, the official said.

President of India Inaugurates Homoeopathy Symposium on World Homoeopathy Day

• The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu inaugurated a two-day Homoeopathy Symposium, organized by Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, in New Delhi  on April 10, 2024 on the occasion of the World Homoeopathy Day.
• Speaking on the occasion, the President said that Homoeopathy has been adopted in many countries as a simple and accessible treatment method. All over the world, many institutions at international, national and local levels have been promoting Homoeopathy. She appreciated the Ministry of AYUSH, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, National Commission for Homoeopathy, National Institute of Homoeopathy and all such institutions of the Central Government for their contribution in the promotion of Homoeopathy in India.

Sangeet Natak Akademi organizes ‘Shakti – Festival of Music and Dance’ at 7 Shaktipeeths

• Sangeet Natak Akademi hosted ‘Shakti, a festival of music and dance’ as part of its Kala Pravah series. This event, scheduled to coincide with the holy Navaratri, commenced on April 9, 2024. It seeks to rejuvenate Temple Traditions across India.
• The festival opened at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati. In line with Navaratri’s symbolism of the power of nine goddesses, the Akademi will celebrate temple traditions with Shakti at seven different Shaktipeeths from April 9 to 17, 2024.
• The Sangeet Natak Akademi, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is dedicated to the preservation, research, promotion, and rejuvenation of the country’s performing art forms, including music, dance, drama, folk and tribal arts, and other allied forms.

Fifth time in a row: India invokes the peace clause for rice in WTO

• India has invoked the peace clause at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the fifth consecutive time for the marketing year 2022-23 (October-September) due to breaching the prescribed subsidy limit for rice offered to its farmers.
• While the value of India’s production of rice was $52.8 billion in 2022-23, a subsidy worth $6.39 billion was given to farmers during the year, India notified to the WTO.
• This means the rice subsidy was 12 per cent of the value of production, thereby breaching the 10 per cent domestic support ceiling, which is in accordance with global trade rules.

KABIL and CSIR-IMMT sign MoU for Technical and Knowledge cooperation for Critical Minerals

• Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (CSIR-IMMT) for Technical & Knowledge cooperation for Critical Minerals.
• Under the MoU, KABIL will leverage the technical expertise and services of CSIR-IMMT to undertake various projects, including the design and analysis of metallurgical test work-plans, development and review of process flowsheets, and the selection of process technologies for mineral processing, beneficiation, and metal extraction.
• Furthermore, the agreement will also embark on joint research and facilitate the exchange of scientific information between the two entities.
• KABIL is a JV company of three Indian public sector undertakings – National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) and Mineral Exploration and Consultancy Limited (MECL), under the aegis of Ministry of Mines, Government of India. Mandate of KABIL is to identify, explore, acquire, develop, mine, process and procure critical and strategic minerals to ensure supply side assurance and mineral security of the nation for meeting domestic requirements and give a big push to Make in India initiative.

GUJCOST designated as Nodal Centre for ISRO’s START programme

• Gujarat Council on Science and Technology (GUJCOST) has been designated as the nodal centre for the Space Science and Technology AwaReness Training (START) programme of Isro.
• This initiative aims to cultivate a deeper understanding of space science and technology among postgraduate and final-year undergraduate students of physical sciences and technology.
• The registration for the inaugural online programme, Exploration of Solar System, ends on April 19, said officials. The event will take place from April 24 to May 10. Details for the same are on GUJCOST website, they added.

India has second-most hepatitis B, C cases after China: WHO report

• India accounted for the second-highest number of cases of hepatitis B and C in 2022 after China, with 3.5 crore infections, according to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
• India registered 2.98 crore hepatitis B cases in 2022 while the number of hepatitis C infections stood at 55 lakh.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2024 Global Hepatitis Report, the number of lives lost due to viral hepatitis is increasing. The disease is the second leading infectious cause of death globally — with 1.3 million deaths per year, the same as tuberculosis, a top infectious killer.
• According to the WHO’s 2024 Global Hepatitis Report, 254 million people lived with hepatitis B and 50 million with hepatitis C in 2022 globally.
• The report, released at the World Hepatitis Summit held at Lisbon, Portugal, highlights that despite better tools for diagnosis and treatment, and decreasing product prices, testing and treatment coverage rates have stalled. But, reaching the WHO elimination goal by 2030 should still be achievable, if swift actions are taken now.

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BANKING & FINANCE

ICICI Lombard ties up with Policybazaar to offer insurance products

• The private sector general insurer, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Policybazaar to offer products on the platform.
• The partnership entails inclusion across multiple business lines of the Policybazaar platform including ‘Policybazaar.com’ catering to retail audiences, ‘PB for Business’ for corporates, and ‘PB Partners’ for channel partners.

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BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Asian Development Bank raises India’s GDP growth forecast for FY25 to 7% on robust investment, consumer demand

• After the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Moody’s, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised India’s GDP growth forecast for 2024-25 to 7 per cent from 6.7 per cent projected in December last year.
• The ADB’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate for 2024-25 is however lower than 7.6 per cent projected for the 2022-23 fiscal.
• The ADB’s growth forecast for FY25 is in line with the projections made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

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SPORTS

Mendis and Bouchier named ICC Players of the Month for March

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed the ICC Men’s and Women’s Player of the Month award winners for March 2024.
• Kamindu Mendis claimed the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award after his historic efforts at the crease helped Sri Lanka comfortably win the first Test in their ICC World Test Championship showdown against Bangladesh in Sylhet.
• England’s Maia Bouchier won the ICC Women’s Player of the Month prize thanks to a sparkling series of scores in New Zealand as the tourists secured a statement 4-1 T20I series win in March.

Indian American golfer Akshay Bhatia wins Texas Open after playoff drama

• Akshay Bhatia has qualified for a major tournament for the first time by winning the Valero Texas Open title. Bhatia overcame Danny McCarthy in the play-off, who birdied eight of his last nine holes. McCarthy had already secured a Masters spot by breaking into the world top 50 in 2024.

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APPOINTMENTS

India’s Jagjit Pavadia re-elected to International Narcotics Control Board

• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said Jagjit Pavadia, a former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, has been re-elected to the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). He also said that India scored the highest number of votes among all the elected members of the anti-narcotics body.
• Pavadia (70), who has already served as President of the Board from 2021 to 2022, has been re-elected for the term 2025-2030.

USISPF appoints ex-revenue secy Tarun Bajaj as chair of US-India Tax Forum

• The US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) has appointed former Revenue Secretary and ex-Secretary of Economic Affairs Tarun Bajaj as the head of the US-India Tax Forum.
• Bajaj, 61, joined the USISPF as an advisor to the Board of Directors in January and will now spearhead the US-India Tax Forum, an official announcement said.
• A 1988-batch Haryana Cadre IAS officer, Bajaj served as Revenue Secretary. During his tenure with the Indian government, he played a pivotal role in shaping fiscal policies and promoting economic growth.

Air India appoints Jayaraj Shanmugam as global airport operations head

• Air India announced the appointment of Jayaraj Shanmugam as Head of Global Airport Operations. Shanmugam will assume his role on April 15, and report to Chief Operations Officer Capt Klaus Goersch.
• Before this, Shanmugam was the Chief Operating Officer of the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL). Under his tenure, the new Terminal 2 of BIAL was operationalised.

Harendra Singh returns as Indian women’s hockey coach

• Soon after Janneke Schopman quit as the head coach of the Indian women’s hockey team, a top contender to succeed the Dutchwoman was a familiar name in hockey circles — Harendra Singh. Sure enough, the Dronacharya award winner, who has coached various Indian teams, including the senior men and women for over two decades, has taken over as the head coach of the senior women’s team.
• Harendra, who until recently served as coach of the USA men’s hockey team, returned to the country to join the women’s camp last week.

Simon Harris elected as Ireland PM, becomes its youngest leader

• Lawmaker Harris has been elected as Ireland’s prime minister by a vote in parliament, becoming the country’s youngest-ever leader at 37.
• Harris takes over as the head of Ireland’s three-party coalition government from Leo Varadkar, who had announced his resignation last month.

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AWARDS

Navy chief awards ‘On the Spot Unit Citation’ to INS Sharda

• Admiral R. Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff, awarded ‘On the Spot Unit Citation’ to INS Sharda, for successful conduct of anti-piracy operations, during his recent visit to Southern Naval Command, Kochi.
• The ship was involved in the safe release of all 19 crew members (11 Iranian & 08 Pakistani) of Iranian fishing vessel Omari which was held hostage by pirates off East coast of Somalia.
• The ship was tasked to investigate the Iranian fishing vessel Omari that was likely hijacked by pirates. Based on surveillance inputs of naval RPA, the ship intercepted the vessel and maintained a covert trail throughout the night.

Champions of Maritime Excellence Honored at 61st National Maritime Day Gala

• The grand finale of the 61st National Maritime Day, centered around the theme “Sustainable Shipping: Opportunities and Challenges,” unfolded at the prestigious Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in Nariman Point. Organized by the National Maritime Day Celebrations Central Committee, the event witnessed the convergence of eminent maritime personalities from India and abroad, alongside seafarers and their families, to commemorate the maiden voyage of the first Indian-owned vessel, the “S S Loyalty,” which set sail from Mumbai to London on this day in 1919.
• Vice Admiral Sanjay Bhalla, AVSM, NM, Chief of Staff, Western Naval Command, Indian Navy, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, extending felicitations to all stakeholders in the maritime fraternity.
• The program also featured the presentation of the prestigious Sagar Samman Awards, acknowledging exemplary contributions within the maritime sector.
  *Sagar Samman Varuna Award:*
  *Recipient:* Shri. Dhirendra Kumar Sanyal
  *Contribution:* Highest honor for outstanding and sustained contributions to the Indian maritime sector.
  *Sagar Samman Award for Excellence:*
  *Recipient:* Capt. Kamal Kant Choudhury
  *Contribution:* Recognizes consistently excellent contributions to the maritime sector.
  Sagar Samman Award for Gallantry:
  Recipients: Capt. Subir Saha, Capt. OM Dutta
  Contribution:* Honors acts of gallantry by Indian seafarers, encouraging emulation of their exemplary conduct.

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OBITUARIES

Nobel Laureate Physicist Peter Higgs passes away

• British Physicist Peter Higgs who discovered God’s particle passed away at the age of 94. According to University of Edinburgh where the Nobel laureate spent nearly five decades, Higgs passed away on April 8th after a short illness.
• He was awarded Nobel prize for Physics in 2013 for his 1964 theory of a mass giving particle called God’s particle, also known as Higgs particle in recognition to his contribution to physics.

R.M. Veerap­pan, MGR’s trus­ted lieu­ten­ant, passes away

• R.M. Veerap­pan, a power­ful Min­is­ter in the Cab­inet led by late Chief Min­is­ter M.G. Ramachandran in the 1980s and a close asso­ciate of the matinee-icon turned politician, died in Chen­nai at the age of 98. He is sur­vived by three daugh­ters and three sons.
• RMV, as he was called, was also a mem­ber of the Min­istry of late Chief Min­is­ter Jay­ala­lithaa, but was expelled by her in 1995 after he shared a dais with actor Rajinik­anth at an event cel­eb­rat­ing the suc­cess of the film Baashha, dur­ing which the actor cri­ti­cised the AIADMK gov­ern­ment for the “deteri­or­a­tion of law and order in the State”.

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Science & Technology

Dr. Ashvini ‘s UK study to revolutionize dementia diagnosis

• Indian-origin neurologist Dr. Ashwini Keshavan has been made a part of Britain’s world-class research team. This team has been entrusted with the task of conducting research towards detecting dementia through blood tests and collecting more evidence in this direction.
• The UCL-led study is called ADAPT and will focus on plasma p-tau217 – a blood marker of Alzheimer’s disease – and will answer the question of whether knowledge of this test result can improve rates of Alzheimer’s diagnosis in conjunction with standard memory clinic assessments. The second study is called READ-OUT, which aims to test various proteins, including novel or less well-established ones, to detect a variety of dementia-causing diseases.

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