Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 7th January 2023

Startup India Innovation Week : January 10th To January 16th

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will be organizing the Startup India Innovation Week from January 10th to January 16th, 2023.

• This event is part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations and will take place in over 75 locations across the country.
• “Startup India Innovation Week 2023 aims to engage startup ecosystem stakeholders across the nation during 10 January-16 January and spur the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in India,” the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a release.
• The Startup India Innovation Week will include a variety of events and workshops for entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, and other enablers.
• These will involve relevant stakeholders from the startup ecosystem, such as government officials, incubators, corporates, and investors.
• The Start-up India scheme was launched on January 16, 2016 by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade with the goal of supporting and promoting start-ups in India.
• The scheme, which was inaugurated by the former finance minister Arun Jaitley, aims to remove restrictive state government policies such as the License Raj, foreign investment proposals, land permissions, and environmental clearances.

New Electrolyte To Help Better Ammonia Synthesis:

A team of Indian scientists has developed a new aqueous electrolyte that can help make electrochemical ammonia synthesis more efficient.

• Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) Mohali, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have introduced a new electrolyte called (NaBF4),
• This electrolyte not only acts as an N2-carrier in the medium but also works as a full-fledged “co-catalyst” along with active material transition metal-doped nanocarbon (MnN4) to deliver a high yield of ammonia (NH3) at absolutely ambient experimental conditions.
• It will useful for industries producing green energy or hydrogen.
• The electrochemical ammonia synthesis is largely limited by the poor solubility of nitrogen (N2) in the aqueous electrolyte environment as well as the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction.

79th Grandmaster Title : Pranesh M

India has gained its 79th Grandmaster with the title being awarded to 16-year-old Pranesh M from Tamil Nadu.

• Pranesh achieved the required 2500 ELO rating and won the Rilton Cup in the final round of the competition, which featured 136 players representing 29 national federations.
• Pranesh finished in first place, while his compatriot and fellow Grandmaster, R Raja Rithvik, finished in eighth place with six points.
• Pranesh won his first norm at the 18th Delhi GM Open in January 2020 and his second norm at the Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival in Spain in December 2021.
• In November 2022, he won his third norm at the Asian Continental Chess Championship in Stockholm, Sweden, finally achieving the required ELO rating to become a Grandmaster.

Decline In Kala-Azar Cases In India:

There has been a 98.7 per cent decline in cases of Kala-azar from 44,533 in 2007 to 834 in 2022 in India

• India is committed to eliminating Kalaa-Azar from the country by 2023
• Eliminationis defined as reducing the annual incidence of Kala Azar (KA) to less than 1 case per 10,000 people at the sub-district level.

Kala-azar:

• Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar, is the most severe form of leishmaniasis and, without proper diagnosis and treatment, is associated with high fatality.
• It is also a neglected tropical disease (NTD)
• Caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus (transmitted through the bite of Sand flies), migrates to the internal organs such as the liver, spleen (hence “visceral”), and bone marrow.
• Signs and symptomsinclude fever, weight loss, fatigue, anaemia, and substantial swelling of the liver and spleen.
• Kala-azar is considered the second deadliest parasitic killer in the world after Malaria
• Kala-azar is endemic to the Indian subcontinentin 119 districts in four countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal)
• It is endemic to four states Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal
• It is a treatable disease with anti-leishmanial medicines

Eat Right Station Certificate To Varanasi Cantt Railway Station:

Indian Railways’ Varanasi Cantt Railway Station has been awarded a 5- star ‘Eat Right Station’ certification for providing high-quality, nutritious food to passengers.

• The ‘Eat Right Station’ certification is awarded by FSSAI to railway stations that set benchmarks in providing safe and wholesome food to passengers.
• The apex food regulatory body comes under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
• It has 240 parameters concerning food storage and hygiene, based on which the certification is accredited.
• They are also rated on a scale of one to five–five being the highest level of compliance with the standards and regulations in place.
• India has so far 34‘Eat Right’ certified stations, including Bhopal and Varanasi Cantt.

Sweet Revolution : Honey Mission

Under the Honey Mission, 1 lakh and 75 thousand bee boxes have been distributed so far by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) after providing beekeeping training to 17 thousand 500 beneficiaries across the country.

• As per the National Horticulture Board (NHB), Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka were the top ten honey-producing states in 2021-22.
• Honey Mission was launched in 2017 in line with the ‘Sweet Revolution’.
• Under the mission, the KVIC under Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises provides the farmers or beekeepers –
  • Practical training about the examination of honeybee colonies,
  • Identification and management of bee enemies and diseases along with the management of bee colonies in all seasons.
  • Acquaintance with apicultural equipment’s and
  • Honey extraction and wax purification.

Sweet Revolution:

• It is an ambitious initiative of the Government of India for promoting apiculture, popularly known as ‘beekeeping’.
• To provide a booster shot to Sweet Revolution, the government launched the National Beekeeping and Honey Mission in 2020 (a central sector scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare) as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat scheme.
• It aims to accelerate the production of quality honey and other related products.
• The demand for good quality honey has grown over the years as it is considered a naturally nutritious product.
• Other apiculture products such as royal jelly, beeswax, pollens, etc., are also used extensively in different sectors like pharmaceuticals, food, beverage, beauty, and others.

Rubber Plantation : Impact On Non-Human Primate Species And Vegetation

A recent study said that turning the tropical forests into natural rubber plantations in Tripura is negatively impacting non-human primate species and vegetation in the region.

• The report highlighted that culturing natural rubber in the last century has brought significant economic benefits for growers.
• But excessive rubber plantations are adversely affecting various wildlife and plant species
• Natural rubber is a polymer made up of a chemical molecule called isoprene.
• Rubber trees require moist and humid climates with heavy rainfall of more than 200 cm.
• It grows well in equatorial climates and temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius.
• Rubber trees require well-drained, weathered soils.
• India is the world’s largest producer and the third-largest user of natural rubber.

2nd National Conference Of Chief Secretaries In New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is recently chaired the national conference of Chief Secretaries in New Delhi.

• The three-day conference of Chief Secretaries began on January 5, 2022.
• The conference is focused on achieving rapid and sustained economic growth in partnership with the States.
• It will lay the ground for collaborative action for achieving a Viksit Bharat with a thrust on growth and job creation and inclusive human development.
• It will be another key step towards further boosting the partnership between the Centre and the State Governments.
• The discussion during the conference will be held on six identified themes.
• These are Thrust on MSMEs, Infrastructure, and Investments, Minimising Compliances, Women’s Empowerment, Health and Nutrition, and Skill Development.
• The first such conference of Chief Secretaries was held in Dharamshala in June 2022.

Purple Fest:

The first-of-its-kind inclusive festival in India, ‘Purple Fest: Celebrating Diversity’ began on January 6, 2023 in Goa.

• Purple Fest aims to showcase how we can come together to create a welcoming and inclusive world for everyone.
• It is aimed at furthering the spirit of inclusion, the Purple Fest will feature a variety of exciting live performances, sporting events, grand exhibitions, immersive experience zones, accessible movie screenings, & discussions on vital subjects like inclusive education, tourism, employment, & independent living.
• The Purple Fest will be hosted by the Goa State Commission for Persons with Disabilities in association with the Directorate of Social Welfare and Entertainment Society of Goa.

Y20 Summit:

Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur  launched the themes of the Y20 summit, logo, and website in New Delhi on January 6 in the curtain raiser event of Y20 Summit India.

• The Y20 is the official youth engagement group for the G20 (Group of 20), the forum for the world’s largest and most advanced economies.
• The Y20 is a process which brings together young leaders from across the globe, to discuss and debate global challenges and agree policy recommendations they would like to see G20 leaders take forward.
• The list of policy recommendations is known as a communiqué, which is announced publicly at the Y20 Summit and presented to world leaders as part of the official G20 summit.
• India is hosting the Y20 summit for the first time.
• In Youth 20 Engagement Group, India’s key focus is to bring young leaders from all across the globe together and discuss ideas for a better tomorrow and draft an agenda for action.
• The activities to be undertaken by Y20 during India’s presidency will focus on global youth leadership and partnership.
• In a run-up to the final Youth-20 Summit, for the next eight months, there will be Pre summits on the five Y20 themes along with various discussions and seminars at different Universities across the country.

NSWS Portal : Crossed 75 Thousand Approvals

National Single Window System, NSWS Portal for various Central, State, and UT clearances has hit a new milestone by crossing 75 thousand approvals.

• The National Single Window System (NSWS) is a digital platform to guide you in identifying and applying for approvals according to your business requirements.
• The portal hosts applications for approvals from 26 Central Departments and 19 State Governments.
• These approvals can be applied through NSWS.
• NSWS is providing a single interface to apply for all G2B clearances from various Ministries and Departments as well as eliminating duplication of work by auto-populating form fields across different approvals based on single investor profile.
• The platform is built to serve as an advisory tool to identify approvals based on user input and is to be used for guidance purpose only.
• The NSWS initiative is an epitome of the ‘Whole of Government’ approach with different Central ministries/departments, states and UTs coming together to facilitate investor related clearances on a single portal, with transparency and accountability, enhancing ease of doing business exponentially.