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1 ) Australian Navy ships Reaches Visakhapatnam to Participate in Indo-Pacific Endeavour Exercise with IN

Royal Australian Navy ships HMAS Anzac, an Anzac-class frigate and HMAS Adelaide, a Canberra-class landing helicopter dock arrived in Visakhapatnam for participating in the 3rd edition of ‘Indo-Pacific Endeavour (IPE) 2022’ exercise with the Indian Navy (IN). The commander of HMAS Adelaide, Troy Duggan and commander of HMAS Anzac, David Mc Pherson, were also present on the occasion.

Key points:

  • HMAS Adelaide will carry around 500 officers and soldiers, as part of the joint task force, and will take part in the exercise with IN’s 54th Infantry Division and special forces of the Indian Navy such as the Marcos (Marine Commandos).
  • The IPE is supported by an Australian Defence Force Maritime Task Unit of Royal Australian Navy ships and embarked Army personnel.
  • Additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force air mobility aircraft will also help with fly-in-fly- out engagements, marking a total composition of 1800 personnel, 5 ships and 11 helicopters.

2 ) UP CM Yogi Adityanath Inaugurates North India’s First Data Centre at Greater Noida

Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister (CM) of Uttar Pradesh (UP), inaugurated North India’s first hyper- scale data centre, ‘Yotta D1,’ of Yotta Infrastructure Solutions, a new-age digital transformation service provider, at the upcoming Yotta Data Centre Park in Greater Noida, UP. The 3,00,000 square feet data centre was built with an investment of around Rs 1,500 crore and operationalized in a record-breaking 20 months. During the occasion, the foundation stone for the upcoming two data centre buildings, Yotta D2 and D3, were also laid.

Key points:

  • The Hiranandani Group’s Data Center Park, which spans 20 acres, will house a total of six data centres. The seven-storeyed Yotta D-1 is the first segment of this episode.
  • Direct fibre connectivity to all major telecom operators will be available from the exclusive Yotta D-1 data centre via 4 different routes.

3 ) IT Department launches HARIT Aaykar initiative to create Micro Forests

Income Tax Department (IT Department) launched HARIT (Hariyali Achievement Resolution by
Income Tax) Aaykar initiative on the occasion of National Unity Day to increase greenery and
create a micro forest.

Key points:

  • Under the HARIT Aaykar initiative, the IT Department resolves to increase the greenery by planting trees and creating micro forests in and around IT Department’s buildings and other public areas.
  • The 1st of such micro-forest was inaugurated by Nitin Gupta, Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), at Bharopal, Punjab, near the India-Pak border.

4 ) ReNew commits to be net-zero firm by 2040

ReNew Energy Global PLC announced its ESG (environmental, social, and governance) targets
including a commitment to achieve net-zero by 2040 through its sustainability report for 2021-22
titled ‘Partnering for transition, progressing sustainably, prospering together’.

Key points:

  • It aims to reduce GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions by 29.4% by 2027 and a net-zero target of reducing GHG emissions by 90 per cent across all scopes by 2040.
  • The 2040 commitment is 30 years ahead of India’s 2070 target and more ambitious than net-zero targets of many global energy companies.
  • It intends to achieve this through a comprehensive programme of measures.
  • These include energy efficiency improvements across offices and sites, clean energy procurement, electrification of fossil-fuel-based equipment, evaluating low-carbon footprint raw materials, and exploring green logistics for transportation.

5 ) RBI Launches Pilot Project of Digital Rupee in Wholesale Segment

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has commenced its first pilot project to implement Central Bank
Digital Currency (CBDC) or Digital Rupee (e₹) in the Wholesale Segment (e₹-W) for secondary
trade in government securities (G-secs) beginning on
November 1, 2022.
The first pilot in the Digital Rupee – Retail segment
(e₹-R) is set to debut in a month in chosen regions with
limited user groups comprising customers and
merchants.

Key points:

  • A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or Digital Rupee is a digital version of currency notes issued by a central bank.
  • The Indian CBDC, which will be known as “(e)”, is a digital version of the Rupee and may be exchanged one-for-one for fiat currency.
  • The RBI has designated 9 banks to participate in the digital rupee wholesale (e-W) pilot project.
  • The nine banks are State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB), Union Bank of India (UBI), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, and HSBC.

6 ) India Donates USD 2.5 million to UNRWA for Welfare of Palestine Refugees

India donated the second tranche aid of USD 2.5 million (from a total tranche aid of USD 5
million) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for the financial year 2022-2023 (FY23) towards the development of Palestine refugees.

Key points:

  • The amount was presented to Ms Xuran Wu, Associate Donor Relations and Projects Officer, Department of External Relations, UNRWA at the Representative Office of India in Ramallah, Palestine.
  • This donation will support UNRWA’s core programs and services, including education, healthcare, relief and social services.
  • According to the UNRWA Crisis Monitoring Report on the Socio-Economic Situation of Palestine Refugees in Lebanon, 93 percent of all Palestine refugees in Lebanon live in poverty.
  • Poverty, unemployment and despair are the serious causes affecting refugees severely in the areas of Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.

7 ) HDFC ERGO launches first-of-its-kind Satellite Index-based Farm Yield Insurance Policy

HDFC ERGO launched a farm Yield Insurance Policy which is first of its kind insurance solution, where a satellite-based index will be used to provide localized coverage at the farm level. This is completely technology based, means, no manual examination is required in the claim assessment of the crop.
Target Group: Farmers under Corporate/Farm Input
Company (FIC)

Key points:

  • Based on satellite data, it provides full coverage for the entire crop lifecycle i.e. from seeding to harvesting.
  • The product is valid for food, oilseeds, commercial or horticultural crops.
    A threshold value is calculated for each yield using the historical satellite image data of the specific crop and a remote sensing mechanism available in the public domain. The benchmark index is then compared to the actual index value reached by the reference satellite for the insured crop to determine if the yield is lost.

8 ) Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur Site becomes India’s 1st to get ResponsibleSteel Site Certification

Responsible Steel Site Certification has been conferred for 3 production facilities – Steel Works,
Tubes Division and Cold Rolling Mill (Bara)- of Tata steels in Jamshedpur Steel Plant in
Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
The Jamshedpur Site becomes India’s first site to join the exclusive group of steel producing sites around the world to receive the ResponsibleSteel Certification.
The certification means that the the production of 103.5 million tonnes of steel and the working lives of 157.4 thousand people are managed by sites that are now independently audited every 18 months.

Key points:

  •  The certified sites must focus on reduced carbon emission, and ensure that ther are in line with other sustainability objectives in the standard such as ensuring good water stewardship, creating a healthy and safe workplace, safeguarding labour rights, and engaging with local communities and other stakeholders.
  • ResponsibleSteel is the steel industry’s first global multi-stakeholder standard and certification initiative that works with steel producers, consumers, and intermediaries towards building a sustainable steel industry by addressing pressing challenges including climate change, diversity, human rights and more.
  • ResponsibleSteel with around 13% of the world’s steel industry by volume in its membership, has certified sites on 5 continents covering the production of over 100 million tonnes of steel.

9 ) President of India presents Silver Trumpet & Trumpet Banner to the President’s Bodyguard

Droupadi Murmu, President of India, presented the Silver Trumpet and Trumpet Banner to the President’s Bodyguard (PBG) at a ceremony held at the Forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.

Key points:

  •  The certified sites must focus on reduced carbon emission, and ensure that ther are in line with other sustainability objectives in the standard such as ensuring good water stewardship, creating a healthy and safe workplace, safeguarding labour rights, and engaging with local communities and other stakeholders.
  • ResponsibleSteel is the steel industry’s first global multi-stakeholder standard and certification initiative that works with steel producers, consumers, and intermediaries towards building a sustainable steel industry by addressing pressing challenges including climate change, diversity, human rights and more.
  • ResponsibleSteel with around 13% of the world’s steel industry by volume in its membership, has certified sites on 5 continents covering the production of over 100 million tonnes of steel.

10 ) Google buys artificial intelligence avatar startup ‘Alter’ for $100 mn

  • Google has acquired Alter, an artificial intelligence (AI) avatar startup that was working on using AI to generate avatars for social media users and brands to express their virtual identity.
  • According to TechCrunch, Google buys the
    startup for about $100 million (approximately Rs 8,22,87,70,000) in an effort to improve its content game and compete with TikTok.
  • Alter started as Facemoji, a platform that offered plug-and-play technology for helping game and App developers add avatar systems to their Apps.
  • Among its investors are Play Ventures, Roosh Ventures and Twitter, which invested $3 million in the startup. Later Facemoji rebranded as Alter.

11 ) China Launches Second Lab Module ‘Mengtian’ for its Space Station

China launched a lab module named Mengtian to be part of its space station, which is currently under construction and will be completed by the end of
2022.

Key points:

  • The lab was launched by Long March-5B Y4, one of China’s biggest rockets from Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan.
  • Two batches comprising 3 astronauts were flown to the space station main module, Tianhe on a 6 months mission to complete the construction of Mengtian.
  • After construction of Mengtian, China will be the only country to own a space station, while the International Space Station (ISS) of Russia is a collaborative project of several countries.

12 ) 7th India Water Week – 1st to 5th November 2022

India Water Week (IWW) is a regular forum organised by the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD & GR), the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India to promote awareness about the importance of available water.
IWW 2022 organised from 1st November to 5th November 2022 marks the observance of the 7th Edition of IWW. The 6th edition of India Water Week was observed from 24th September to 28th September 2019, which was held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, Delhi.

Key points:

  • The theme for IWW 2022 is “Water Security for Sustainable Development with Equity”, which focuses on many water security and management areas, as well as related concerns for equitable development.
  • During IWW the Ministry of Jal Shakti discusses, talks, and strategizes with eminent stakeholders through seminars, exhibitions and sessions to build public awareness, and to get support to implement key strategies for conservation, preservation and optimum use of available water.
  • India Water Week (IWW) was conceptualized and organized in 2012, to raise public awareness, and to get support to implement key strategies for conservation, preservation and optimum use of available water.
  • The 1st India Water Week was held in New Delhi from 10th April to 14th April 2012.

13 ) 7th India Water Week – 1st to 5th November 2022

World Vegan Day is annually observed across the globe on 1st November to promote veganism and vegan diet. The day also aims to encourage and motivate people to avoid animal-based products and the killing of animals for selfish motives and prevent the exploitation of animals across the globe.

Key points:

  • On 1st November 1994, Louise Wallis, the chair of The Vegan Society, the United Kingdom(UK), established the annual observance of World Vegan Day on 1st Novmber.
  • World Vegan Day was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vegan society, held on 1 November 1994.
  • 1st World Vegan Day was observed on 1st November 1994.

14 ) Maharashtra’s First Electronics Manufacturing Cluster at Pune

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has approved the greenfield
Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) to be set up in Ranjangaon Phase III, near Pune in
Maharashtra at a financial outlay of Rs 492.85 crores.
Objective – To strengthen the electronics manufacturing
ecosystem in India.

Key points:

  • The approval for the EMC was given to Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and Maharashtra’s State Industrial Agency.
  • The other EMCs in India are present in Noida, Tirupati, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, where both multi-national companies and Indian start-ups have set up their units and are supported by the Maharashtra Government.

15 ) Kerala govt selected M T Vasudevan Nair for first ‘Kerala Jyothi’ award

  • M T Vasudevan Nair (Malayalam literary) has been selected for the Kerala governemnt for its first ‘Kerala Jyothi’ award.
  • It was instituted by the Kerala govt on the lines of the Padma awards.
  • Aim: To honour individuals who have made priceless contributions to the society.
  • Kerala Prabha: Omcheri N N Pillai and T Madhava Menon
  • Kerala Sree: Sathyabhama Das Biju, Gopinath Muthukad, Kanayi Kunhiraman, Kochouseph
    Chittilappilly, M P Parameswaran and Vijayalakshmi.

16 ) CBDT launched HARIT Aaykar initiative

  • The Income Tax Department has launched the HARIT Aaykar initiative on the occasion of National Unity Day (31st October).
  • HARIT refers to Hariyali Achievement Resolution by Income Tax.
  • Aim: To increase greenery and create micro forests.
  • Under this initiative, the Department resolves to increase the green cover by planting trees and creating micro-forests in and around IT Department’s buildings and other public areas.
  • Chairman, CBDT: Nitin Gupta

17 ) UGC declares to observe ‘Bharatiya Bhasha Utsav’ on Dec 11

  • The University Grants Commission has declared that December 11 will observe as a ‘Bharatiya Bhasha Divas’ every year.
  • Aim: To create language harmony and develop a conducive environment for learning Indian languages.
  • The committee has selected December 11 as Bharatiya Bhasha Divas to mark the birth anniversary of poet Subramania Bharati, who was a pioneer of modern Tamil poetry.
  • UGC Founded: 1956; Headquarters: New Delhi; Chairperson: D. P. Singh.

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