Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 30th June 2022

International MSMEs Day:

International MSME Day is observed every year on 27th June all over the world to highlight the significance of MSMEs and how they play a crucial role in being the backbone of the country’s economy.

• Earlier, Ministry for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has launched the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) Sustainable (ZED-Zero Defect Zero Effect) Certification Scheme.
• The United Nations (UN) designated 27th June as Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day through a resolution passed in the UN General Assembly in April 2017.
• In May 2017, a program titled ‘Enhancing National Capacities for Unleashing Full Potentials of MSMEs in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Developing Countries was launched.
• It has been funded by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Sub-Fund of the United Nations Peace and Development Fund.
• Theme for 2022:
  • Resilience and Rebuilding: MSMEs for Sustainable Development.
  • The theme mainly highlights that for the socio-economic development of a country Micro-Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises is a necessary component.
• World MSME Day 2022 recognizes the potential of MSMEs and their role in strengthening the economies globally.
• It also aims to raise public awareness regarding the contribution of MSMEs to global economic growth and sustainable development.

48th G-7 Summit:

At the 48th G7 Summit, Indian Prime Minister invited the G7 Nations to tap into the huge market for clean energy technologies emerging in the country.

• Germany holds the presidency of the G7 in 2022.
• The German Presidency has invited Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa to the G7 Summit.

Highlights of G7 Summit:

• G7 announced the collective mobilization of 600 billion dollars by 2027 under Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) to deliver “game-changing” and “transparent” infrastructure projects to developing and middle-income countries.
• Indian Prime Minister highlighted Global Initiative for LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) campaign.
• The goal of this campaign is to encourage an eco-friendly lifestyle.
• Russia-Ukraine crisis has pushed the energy prices to a record high, Indian Prime Minister addressed the need for equal energy distribution amongst the population of rich and poor nations.
• On Russia-Ukraine war, Prime Minister reiterated his stand that there must be an immediate end to the hostilities and a resolution should be reached by choosing the path of dialogue and diplomacy.

Partners In Blue Pacific:

US and its allies- Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United Kingdom — have launched a new initiative called ‘Partners in the Blue Pacific’ for “effective and efficient cooperation” with the region’s small island nations.

• Areas where PBP aims to enhance cooperation include “climate crisis, connectivity and transportation, maritime security and protection, health, prosperity, and education”.
• The PBP is a five-nation “informal mechanism” to support Pacific islands and to boost diplomatic, economic ties in the region.
• It speaks of enhancing “prosperity, resilience, and security” in the Pacific through closer cooperation.
• It means that through the PBP, these countries together and individually will direct more resources towards the Pacific Island Countries to counter China’s aggressive outreach.
• The initiative members will “elevate Pacific regionalism”, and forge stronger ties with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

Bharat NCAP:

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has approved the Draft GSR Notification to introduce Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Program), wherein automobiles in India shall be accorded Star Ratings based upon their performance in Crash Tests.

• Bharat-NCAP will serve as a consumer-centric platform allowing customers to opt for safer cars based upon their star-ratings, while promoting a healthy competition among OEMs in India to manufacture safer vehicles.
• Star Rating of Indian Cars based on Crash Tests is extremely crucial not only to ensure structural and passenger safety in cars, but to also increase the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles.
• The testing protocol of Bharat NCAP shall be aligned with Global Crash Test Protocols factoring in the existing Indian regulations, allowing OEMs to get their vehicles tested at India’s own in-house testing facilities.
• Bharat NCAP will prove to be a critical instrument in making our automobile industry Aatmanirbhar with the mission of making India the Number one automobile hub in the world.

Vertical Launch Short Range Surface To Air Missile (VL-SRSAM):

Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) was successfully flight-tested by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy from an Indian Naval Ship at Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha on June 24, 2022.

• The VL-SRSAM, a ship borne weapon system, is meant for neutralising various aerial threats at close ranges including sea-skimming targets.
• The launch of the system was conducted against a high speed aerial target mimicking aircraft, which was successfully engaged.
• The development of this indigenous missile system will further strengthen the defensive capabilities of the Indian Navy.

Hermit Spyware:

A cloud-based security company, has recently discovered a new spyware called “Hermit” that is capable of affecting both Android and iOS devices.

• Hermit is a commercial spyware that is known to be used by governments with victims in Kazakhstan, Italy and northern Syria.
• The spyware was first detected in Kazakhstan in April 2022 after the government violently suppressed protests against government policies.
• Hermit is a modular spyware that hides its malicious capabilities in packages downloaded after it’s deployed.
• These modules, along with the permissions the core apps have, enable Hermit to exploit a rooted device, record audio and make and redirect phone calls, as well as collect data such as call logs, contacts, photos, device location and SMS messages.
• Hermit tricks users by serving up the legitimate webpages of the brands it impersonates as it kickstarts malicious activities in the background.

Central Advisory Board On Disability:

The Central Advisory Board on Disability asked States and Union Territories to identify public buildings that were yet to be made accessible by July 31 and seek an extension if required, according to a statement by the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry.

• The CAB, which is required by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 to meet once in six months, held its fifth meeting recently.
• The last meeting was in 2020.
• Fifth Meeting of the Central Advisory Board on Disability was held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi under the chairmanship of Dr. Virendra Kumar, Minister, Social Justice and Empowerment.
• The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 provides a timeline of five years for making all existing public buildings accessible by 14.06.2022.

Uranium Deposit In Rajasthan:

Huge reserves of uranium was found at Rohil (Khandela Tehsil) in Sikar district, which is over 120 km from the state capital Jaipur.

• After Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan is the third state where uranium which is considered one of the rare minerals in the world — has been found.
• The largest producers of uranium in the world are Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia
• India imports uranium mostly from Kazakhstan and Canada
• The Rajasthan government has forayed into the field of uranium mining by issuing a letter of intent (LoI) to the Uranium Corporation of India.
• Uranium is mainly used for generating electricity and also for nuclear energy, medicines, defence equipment and photography
• Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element. Uranium-235 (its isotope) is the only naturally occurring isotope, capable of sustaining nuclear fission.

Performance Grading Index For Districts (PGI-D):

The 1st ever report on PGI-D for the year 2018-19 and 2019-20 was released to grade schools in Indian districts.

• Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL under the ministry of education)
• Importance: Will help prioritise interventions in school education
• It grades districts in 10 grades e.g. Daksh (>90 points ), Utkarsh (81-90%), etc.
• Data collection from Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), National Achievement Survey (NAS) of NCERT, and Shagun portal of DoSEL.
• State achievers: Chandigarh (Top), Gujarat, Kerela, Delhi
• District achiever: Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Jaipur

Dak Karmayogi:

The Ministry of Communications has launched ‘Dak Karmayogi, an e-learning portal of the Department of Posts.

• To recognise the good performance of employees of Department of Posts, Meghdoot Awards were also conferred in eight different categories. Meghdoot Award was introduced in the year 1984.
• This is the highest award of Department of Posts at National level for overall performance and excellence.
• This portal has been developed ‘In-House’ under vision of ‘Mission Karmayogi’, which was conceptualized by Prime Minister with a view to bring efficiency efficiency of bureaucracy with ‘Minimum Government’ and ‘Maximum Governance’.
• The Portal will enable the trainees to access the uniform standardized training content online or in blended campus mode to enable them to effectively deliver a number of G2C (Government to Citizen) services for enhanced customer satisfaction.
• Objective: To provide better services by upgrading employees and Gramin Dak Sevaks

High-Grade Lithium Discovered In Nigeria:

High-grade Lithium has been discovered in Nigeria.

• Greenbushes mine in Western Australia is the largest hard-rock Lithium mine in the world.
• The largest importers of lithium are South Korea, China, Japan, US and Belgium.
• Lithium is an element and in nature tends to concentrate sufficiently in the two minerals, spodumene and lepidolite.
• They are usually found in specialised rocks called rareCand greisens.
• The Geological Agency described lithium as high grade because it is found with 1-13% oxide content. Normally exploration begins at levels as low as 0.4%.
• Grade (in %) is a measure of the concentration of lithium in the minerals and or rocks that contain it.
• Therefore, the higher the grade the more the economic viability. Higher grades are very rare for metals like lithium.
• Lithium disilicate (Li2Si2O5) is a chemical compound that is a glass ceramic.
• It is widely used as a dental ceramic due to its strength, machinability and translucency.
• Lithium metal is used to make useful alloys.
• For example, with lead to make ‘white metal’ bearings for motor engines, with aluminium to make aircraft parts, and with magnesium to make Armour plates.
• Lithium is used in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles.

Living Lands Charter:

The Commonwealth members have agreed to voluntarily dedicate ‘living land’ in their respective countries to future generations, in line with the strategy set for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

• The ‘Living land’ charter was announced at the conclusion of the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali (Rwanda).
• The non-binding ‘Living Lands Charter’ mandates that member countries will safeguard global land resources and arrest land degradation while acting against climate change, biodiversity loss and towards sustainable management.
• The Living Lands Charter helps to encapsulate the combined effort to hold the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• The charter aims to achieve climate goals through a mixture of policy influence, financing, technical assistance, governance and sharing knowledge across nations.
• Commonwealth governments have been asked to submit their emission reduction targets by 23rd September, 2022.
• It is aimed to support member countries to effectively deliver their commitments under the three Rio conventions — UN Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

CHOGM 2022:

• The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a biennial summit meeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations.
• CHOGM2022 was taken place in Rwanda, with theme: ‘Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming.’
• It has raised more than USD 4 billion in pledges for the battle against malaria and other tropical diseases.
• There have been 24 CHOGMs since 1971, with the most recent one taking place in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2018.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme:

In May 2022, 2.61 crore households worked under the NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), which is 17.39% more than in the same month last year.

Key Findings:

• There was a rise in demand for NREGS after the dip in April. In April 2022, 1.86 crore families availed the NREGS, which is 12.27% lower than the number recorded in April last year.
• The number of households that availed the NREGS is lower than May 2020, when the demand sharply rose to 3.30 crore as migrant workers returned to their villages in wake of lockdown during the first wave of Covid-19.
• But it is higher than the 2.10 crore figure recorded in May 2019 (pre-pandemic times).
• In terms of states, Uttar Pradesh saw the maximum increase in terms of the absolute increase in the number of families availing the NREGS, followed by Tamil Nadu.
• Whereas, the maximum decline was recorded in Chhattisgarh followed by Jharkhand.
• In the past 15 years, it has created more than 31 billion person-days of employment.
• In the last 15 years, the government has invested more than Rs 6.4 lakh crore in this demand-driven programme.
• In the rural sections of the nation, more than 30 million water conservation-related assets have been developed since 2006.