Current Affairs 11th July

National Affairs

1. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched NCC Integrated Software for Cadets

The National Cadet Corps (NCC) Integrated Software (NIS), a single-window interactive software for Cadets, was launched on July 7, 2023, in New Delhi, Delhi, by Union Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh.

 

NCC and the State Bank of India (SBI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the event to open zero-balance accounts for all NCC Cadets.

 

Key People:

 

Giridhar Aramane, Safeguard Secretary, Lt Gen Gurbirpal Singh AVSM VSM, Chief

General of NCC (DGNCC) and senior authorities of the service of Safeguard (MoD), NCC,

BISAG and SBI were available during the occasion.

 

Concerning NCC Integrated Software (NIS), In collaboration with the Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo Informatics (BISAG), NIS was developed using the “Entry to Exit Model.”

 

The product, in light of Prime Minister(PM) Narendra Modi’s vision of “Once a

Recruit Generally a Cadet”,will digitalize the whole interaction from the phase of enrolment

in NCC as a recruit till leave enrollment as graduated class.

 

This will empower consistent issue of testaments, production of an all India data set of

NCC recruits at the hour of their work.

 

MoU signed by NCC and SBI to open zero-balance accounts for NCC Cadets Under the “Pahli Udaan” scheme, a SBI savings account for minors, the NCC and SBI signed a MoU to open zero-balance accounts for all NCC Cadets. These accounts will feature a debit card, a chequebook, and a passbook.

 

Note: Around 5 lakh Trainees will be benefitted by this MoU consistently.

 

Key Elements:

 

The cadets’ newly opened account will remain active until they either complete their training or turn 18 (whichever comes first).

 

The cadets will be introduced to the national banking system and given a ready platform to take advantage of other government programs by having funds deposited into their accounts through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer).

 

Under the DBT initiative, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) revamped the physical distribution of uniform allowance in order to make it more transparent and seamless. As a result, uniform allowance can now be deposited directly into the bank accounts of NCC cadets.

 

The current central procurement and distribution procedure will be supplanted by it.

2. Ministry of Education releases report on Performance Grading Index 2.0 for States/UTs for 2021-22

 

The Performance Grading Index (PGI) was made public on July 7, 2023, by the Ministry of Education (MoE) Department of School Education & Literacy: 2.0: 2021-22:

States and Union Territories, which uses an index to conduct in-depth evaluations of the school education system at the State/UT level.

 

It ought to be noticed that the PGI: 2.0 is the modified rendition of before ‘PGI – State

structure for 2021-22′.

 

Daksh, the highest grade, has not been earned by any of the states or UTs.

 

Prachesta – 2 is the highest grade attained in PGI 2.0. Punjab with a score of 647.4 and Chandigarh (659.0) were the only States and UTs to achieve it.

 

The 73 indicators that make up the new PGI 2.0 structure are more focused on qualitative assessment, digital initiatives, and teacher education.

3. ECI & ET of Panama signed MoU on Electoral Cooperation

On seventh July 2023, the Political race Commission of India (ECI) and the Appointive Council (ET) of Panama marked a Notice of Grasping (MoU) to lay out an institutional structure for their continuous participation in the field of Political decision the board and Organization.

 

The MoU was endorsed in Panama City, Panama during the collaboration between the 3

part ECI appointment drove by Boss Political decision Magistrate (CEC) of India Rajiv

Kumar and Alfredo Juncá Wendehake, Directing Justice, ET of Panama,

Eduardo Valdes Escoffery, first bad habit official judge and Luis A. Guerra

Spirits, second bad habit official judge, ET of Panama.

 

During the meet, they examined on fortifying coordinated effort and information

trade between the two Political decision The executives Bodies (EMBs).

 

Background:

 

ECI has been growing its connections and participation with unfamiliar Political decision The board Bodies (EMBs) through its ‘Global Participation Program’.

 

This is the fourth MoU endorsed by ECI with a Political decision The board Body (EMB) in the Latin American locale.

 

ECI has previously signed similar memoranda of understanding with Mexico, Chile, and Brazil.

 

ECI has marked an in general 31 MoUs with EMBs and global associations

across the world.

 

Highlights:

 

The organization between the 2 countries makes a stage for the trading of

information, skill, and mechanical headways.

 

The Association of World Election Bodies, or A-WEB, is made up of Panama’s ECI and ET.

 

Note: In addition, representatives of the ET of Panama were present at the international conference on “Inclusive Elections and Elections Integrity,” which was held in March 2023 by the European Commission (EC) as the lead for the “Cohort on Elections Integrity” under the auspices of the “Summit for Democracy.”

 

The ECI designation will go to the eleventh Leader Executive Gathering of A-Internet

also, a Global Meeting at Cartagena, Colombia.

 

Relationship of World Political race Bodies (A-Internet):

 

With 119 EMB Members and 20 Regional Associations/Organisations as Associate Members, A-WEB is the world’s largest association of EMBs.

4. India and US jointly conduct ‘Operation Broader Sword’ to combat illegal drugs

“Operation Broader Sword,” a bilateral multi-agency enforcement initiative, was carried out by India and the United States of America (USA) to identify illicit and illegal medical products shipped through the International Mail System.

 

The operation, which took place from June 12 to June 23, 2023, focused on shipments arriving from India through International Mail Facilities (IMFs) at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

 

This operation’s executive agencies:

 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) collaborated with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of the Government of India to carry out this joint operation.

 

Result of this Battle activity:

 

North of 500 shipments of unlawful and possibly dangerous unapproved solution

prescriptions, blend clinical gadgets, and manufactured drug antecedents were

kept from arriving at American clients because of this battle activity.

 

Agents analyzed more than 1500 shipments beginning in India all through the

activity, making a move on around 500 merchandise, including ill-conceived and unlawful

drugs expected to fix or potentially lessen serious illnesses.

 

Note:

 

The success of Operation Broadsword, which was held in 2020 at the Chicago IMF and targeted mail parcels containing illegal Indian medical products, served as the foundation for Operation Broader Sword.

5. National Water Mission Signs MoU with Indian Plumbing Association To Improve Water Use Efficiency

On seventh July 2023, the Agency of Water Use Effectiveness (BWUE), under the Public

Water Mission (NWM) of the Service of Jal Shakti, has marked a Reminder of

Grasping (MoU) with the Indian Pipes Affiliation (IPA) towards accomplishing

a water-positive India by further developing water use productivity.

 

The MoU means to make mindfulness and advance downpour water reaping structures,

low stream installations and sterile product, treatment of dark and dark water (5Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Refill, and Respect), and a water audit of the built environment.

 

Under the Implementation of NWM, the Department of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD & GR), Ministry of Jal Shakti, established the Bureau of Water Use Efficiency (BWUE).

 

The MoU was endorsed by Archana Varma, Extra Secretary and Mission Chief, on

benefit of NWM, Service of Jal Shakti and Gurmit Singh Arora, Public President,

IPA, Okhla, New Delhi, Delhi.

 

The agreement’s outcome:

 

The MoU assists with advancing the goal of BWUE, to drink less water by

expanding water use productivity by lining up with the IPA’s continuous endeavors to advocate for water-touchy apparatuses that polish off less water.

 

IPA will coordinate to increment water use productivity in homegrown area by 50-60% by diminishing the utilization from 135 liters for each capita each day (lpcd) to 60 lpcd and

the requirement for water reviews in constructed conditions, like private structures and

lodgings, to accomplish the aggressive objective of Net Zero Water Structures.

 

The NWM’s Goal 4, which calls for a 20% increase in water use efficiency, is in line with the MoU.

 

The arrangements in the MoU center around execution and advancement of the goal

of the NWM, through 24 sections (in different urban communities) and with more than 6500

individuals from IPA.

International Affairs

1. MEA: India joins Champions Group of Global Crisis Response Group

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) made the announcement on July 7, 2023, that India had accepted the invitation to join the Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) from Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General (SG), to Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India. Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West), MEA has been assigned as Sherpa to the GCRG

process.

 

Note: On seventh July 2023, the sherpas of GCRG met a virtual gathering and the

meeting of the Bosses Gathering is booked for 21st July 2023.

 

Central issues:

 

The choice to join the Gathering mirrors India’s rising worldwide administration and

responsibility tending to contemporary worldwide difficulties.

 

The United Nations’ efforts to find results-oriented solutions to global developmental issues, particularly those affecting developing nations, will be enhanced by India’s participation.

 

Group to Respond to a Global Crisis (GCRG):

 

In March 2022, the UN Special Representative for Africa (SG) established the Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) to direct pressing global issues relating to crises that are intertwined in food security, energy, and finance and to coordinate a global response.

 

The 32-member Group ensures high-level political leadership in order to implement a coordinated global response to the ongoing crises and get ahead of the enormous interconnected challenges of food security, energy, and financing.

 

António Guterres, the Special Representative for the United Nations, will serve as the GCRG’s chair.

 

About the GCRG’s Champions Group:

 

The GCRG is regulated by the Heroes Gathering made out of Heads of States

(HOS)/Heads of States (Hoard) of Bangladesh, Barbados, Denmark, Germany,

Indonesia and Senegal.

2.  Over half of world’s child trafficking victims trafficked within own country: Report by IOM & FXB

A new report titled “From Evidence to Action:” co-authored by the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Policy and programming are informed by twenty years of data from the IOM on child trafficking.

 

The report says that half of the children who are trafficked are from their own country.

In instances of global dealing, kids are generally dealt to adjoining, more affluent nations.

 

Using the IOM’s Victims of Trafficking Database (VoTD), this report, which is the first of its kind, is based on an analysis of extensive data from all over the world. It dissected essential

information from in excess of 69,000 casualties of dealing of 156 ethnicities, dealt with

186 nations.

 

VoTD is the biggest accessible global information base of individual survivors of

dealing. Children made up 18.3% of the VoTs in the database.

 

The study looked at the factors that make people more likely to be trafficked, and it found that gender and the level of education and income of the victims and their families were big factors in trafficking trends.

 

Central issues:

 

The report features that youngster dealing is a complex and mind boggling issue that

perseveres and changes across borders. It is a truly global phenomenon that affects people of all ages, genders, and nationalities.

 

Roughly 50% of the dealt youngsters, for the most part young men, are exposed to constrained work across different businesses like homegrown work, asking, and horticulture.

 

Boys were nearly twice as likely as girls to be trafficked as children. Young men had

39% probability of being dealt globally than locally, as thought about

to young ladies.

 

Youngster casualties announced being taken advantage of in homegrown work (14.5%), asking (10.2%), accommodation (3.4%) and agribusiness (3.3%).

 

Female youngster casualties are bound to report sexual double-dealing (30.3%) than

male youngster casualties (7.3%).

 

Another critical angle is sexual abuse, which influences around 20% of

dealt youngsters, fundamentally young ladies, through exercises like prostitution,

erotic entertainment, and sexual subjugation.

 

It is essential for evidence-based policy and programming to have accurate and up-to-date data in order to effectively combat child trafficking. Be that as it may, the accessibility of noteworthy information is presently restricted, and arriving at kid casualties through traditional overviews is testing because of different variables.

Science and Technology

1. SpaceX Gets license from Mongolia to offer high-speed internet via Starlink Satellites

The public authority of Mongolia has conceded 2 licenses to the SpaceX, claimed by Elon

Musk, to work as a network access supplier using Starlink, satellite

interchanges administration worked by SpaceX.

 

Following this, SpaceX will give fast availability through Starlink to the web clients in Mongolia.

 

Background:

 

The Mongolian government and SpaceX officially began working together in February 2023, during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023, which took place in Barcelona, Spain, from February 27 to March 2.

 

Note: Starlink has laid out an organization of in excess of 3,500 satellites in Low-Earth

Circle (LEO) that can give availability in far off regions.

 

Central issues:

 

As of now, Mongolia has a broad organization of fiber optic links which gives

admittance to high velocity web.

 

The introduction of starlink technology will make it easier to connect to remote and underserved areas.

2. UN Unveiled 51 robots at AI summit to Advance SDG goals

Worldwide Media transmission Union(ITU), a specific organization of the Unified

Nations(UN) answerable for data and correspondence advancements, coordinated

2 days Worldwide Culmination ‘simulated intelligence for Good’ in Geneva, Switzerland.

With less than a decade remaining to fulfill the organization’s 17 Social Development Goals (SDGs), this summit aims to identify practical applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in advancing these goals and scaling up solutions for global impact. The summit highlighted the deployment of specialized robots to assist in achieving the SDGs.

Concerning the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs:

The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 global objectives that were established in 2015 by the United Nations (UN). The SDGs expand upon the headway made through the Thousand years Advancement Objectives (MDGs) and intend to coordinate monetary development, social incorporation, and ecological maintainability.

Regarding the Summit:

The summit’s discussions were heavily influenced by recent advancements in AI technology, such as chatbots, object detection, and human emotion recognition.

Day 1: Companies like Pepper the Robot, GoBe Robot, Aliengo, B1, and Go1 demonstrated 51 cutting-edge robotic AI solutions, nine of which were humanoids. Notable robots that attended the Global Summit include:

Grace : The most advanced humanoid healthcare robot in the world. First created in

organization with Hanson Mechanical technology and SingularityNET, Elegance is “the world’s premier nursing partner robot”, made to offer help and care for the

old.

Sophia: ” The primary robot Development Diplomat for the Assembled Countries

Advancement Program (UNDP),built by Hanson Mechanical technology. Sophia was contacted by UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed during the summit.

Nadine: Created by the College of Geneva, Nadine is known as one of the

most practical humanoid social robots on the planet.

Geminoid: Geminoid is a highly realistic humanoid robot that closely resembles its Japanese creator, Hiroshi Ishiguro.

4NE-1: 4NE-1, developed by Neura Robotics, is regarded as one of the world’s most advanced cognitive humanoid robots.

Man-made intelligence Da Robot, the principal super sensible robot craftsman, planned by Aidan Meller, and Desdemona, the “rockstar” robot of the Jam System Band.

Day 2: A first-of-its-sort public interview where columnists suggest conversation starters to an allrobot board was held.

Note that the World Food Programme’s HungerMap project is one example of a UN initiative that already makes use of AI.