Current Affairs of 30th January

National Affairs

1. An Overview of the January 24–27, 2023, India trip of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

 

At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi travelled to India for three days from January 24 to January 27, 2023, to serve as the chief guest at India’s 74th Republic Day celebrations.

The 75th anniversary of Egypt-India diplomatic relations coincides with President Sisi’s second state visit to India.

 

At the “Rashtrapati Bhavan,” India’s presidential residence in New Delhi, Delhi, President Sisi was given a formal welcome by Droupadi Murmu, President of the Republic of India.

 

On India’s Republic Day, this is the first time the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt has been invited to be the main guest.

 

With the signing of a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), India and Egypt have decided to move their ties to the “strategic partnership” level, which covers a wide range of areas including politics, security, defence, energy, and economy.

 

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of their relationship, India and Egypt have exchanged commemorative postal stamps.

2. Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister, Launches NLP Marine

The National Logistics Portal (NLP) (marine) was opened by Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal and Ayush in New Delhi, Delhi.

 

To cut costs in logistics, the NLP (marine) will serve as a centralized logistics portal. Through information technology, it will connect all logistics community stakeholders.

 

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways had it in mind.

 

Key Points:

 

With an E-marketplace and a platform for all trade processes in the logistics sector across the country, NLP will serve as a one-stop shop for all modes of transportation.

 

NLP Marine’s activities are broken down into four distinct verticals: Cargo, Regulatory Bodies, Banking and Finance, and Participating Government Agencies (PGAs)

 

Aspects of NLP:

 

It serves as a single platform for the importer, exporter, customs broker, and freight forwarder to carry out their core operations. It also provides a level playing field for all relevant stakeholders—large and small. It provides complete domestic shipment tracking with notifications at each stage. It also provides real-time information on activities that the importer, exporter, and customs broker typically do not have access to.

 

Enhanced government-to-business transparency and ease of doing business offer a document management system for safe cloud storage of all important documents.

 

Paperless transactions for all stakeholders and BI reporting and data analytics, as well as shorter execution times for trade and logistics operations.

 

Note: NLP (marine) was developed as an “open platform” to carry out the objectives of PM Gati Shakti’s National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity.

 

3. The district outreach program “Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0” is launched by EPFO.

 

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization’s (EPFO) district outreach program, “Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0,” was launched on January 27, 2023, by Secretary Arti Ahuja in all of the country’s districts.

 

Beginning in January 2023, Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 will be held every month on the 27th at all EPFO district headquarters to reach all of the country’s districts on the same day.

 

In order to provide a platform for grievance redress and promote participatory awareness among all stakeholders, EPFO held camps in 685 districts of the nation.

 

Highlights of the Program:

 

The platform for grievance resolution:

 

The program will set up a help desk where members can get online services for submitting claims online.

 

Members’ grievances will also be addressed on the spot, and if they cannot be addressed on the spot, they will be filed on EPFO’s grievance portal, where they will be addressed first.

 

It will serve as a platform for information exchange with district-level authorities from various State and Central Government departments as well as an information exchange network for employees and employers.

 

For grievance resolution under Nidhi Aapke Nikat, EPFO stakeholders used to visit EPFO field offices; however, under Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0, EPFO will reach out to stakeholders in order to make the organization more accessible and visible.

 

Participants: 

 

Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assemblies, Members of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), Members of the Regional Committee, and District Collectors are all members of the Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC).

 

Note: Bhavishya Nidhi Adalat was renamed Nidhi Aapke Nikat in 2015.

4. Siemens Healthineers and MeitY’s R&D institute SAMEER sign a memorandum of understanding for low-cost MRI technology.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Siemens Healthineers, a Germany-based healthcare company, and the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER), an autonomous (Research and Development) R&D institution under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), was signed on January 27, 2023, to guarantee the availability of low-cost Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Technology in India.

 

As a result of this collaboration, new, improved, and novel technologies for expanding access to diagnostics and healthcare in India will be developed.

 

In Bengaluru, Karnataka, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics & Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.

 

Key Points:

 

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of providing every Indian with access to affordable, high-quality healthcare and diagnostic services.

 

According to MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the healthcare industry in India is a significant market, and the government is prepared to collaborate with international businesses that are interested in establishing manufacturing facilities in India.

 

The partnership will pursue joint initiatives to improve access to MRI in India in addition to combining SAMEER and Siemens Healthineers’ experience in healthcare technologies, particularly Linear Accelerators (LINAC) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

 

In order to achieve the healthcare of the future, Siemens Healthineers considers India to be a strategic market that plays a significant role in the development of technology and global innovation.

 

Specifics of the MoU:

 

SAMEER will have access to next-generation research in advanced healthcare technologies thanks to this memorandum of understanding, which will assist in establishing local industry access for Siemens Healthineers.

 

This will make it possible for India’s health mission to use healthcare technologies for early diagnosis and treatment in order to save lives all over the country.

 

The MRI Technology of SAMEER:

 

SAMEER is a strategic partner that specializes in E3 (Electromagnetic Environmental Effects) testing, RF microwaves, radar and communication systems, and medical electronics.

 

Under the Sushrut MRI (Indian MRI) system, SAMEER is currently developing the IMRI (Indigenous Magnetic Resonance Imaging) Technology.

5. Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary of the MeitY, opens the C-MET PCB Recycling Facility.

The 1Ton/Day Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Recycling Facility at the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), an autonomous scientific society under MeitY in Hyderabad, Telangana, was opened on January 27, 2023, by Alkesh Kumar Sharma, the Secretary of MeitY.

 

India’s Mission to Atmanirbharata and the circular economy will benefit from indigenously developed e-waste recycling technologies.

 

Using the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, C-MET established the first of its kind Center of Excellence (CoE) on E-waste Management in India.

 

The CoE on E-waste Management has developed various e-waste recycling technologies, such as permanent magnets, spent PCBs, Si-solar cells, and Li-Ion batteries.

 

The CoE-developed PCB recycling technology is now ready for commercialization and has reached Technology Readiness Level 6. C-MET designed and manufactured the necessary processing equipment for recycling in addition to developing processes for the process.

6. Shillong in Meghalaya is scheduled to host the G20’s Space20 program in April 2023.

 

Meghalaya Governor BD Mishra announced that Shillong, Meghalaya’s capital, will host the Space 20 program on April 17 and 18, 2023, as part of the G20 (Group of 20) program. The effect that space partnerships have on a nation’s economy will be the subject of discussion on the Space20 program.

 

This is the continuation of the National Space Agencies of G20 nations’ 2020 Space Economy Leaders Meeting.

 

During its year-long Presidency of the G20, India has made the decision to host approximately 200 meetings across the country. Between the first of December 2022 and the 30th of November 2023, India will be in charge of the G20.

 

This is being started with the intention of making the space economy a formal G20 Summit agenda item.

 

Note: India assumed the presidency of the G20—also known as the Group of Twenty—on December 1, 2022. The G20 is an intergovernmental forum that brings together the world’s major developed and developing economies. It is made up of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), and the European Union (EU).

7. In New Delhi, the third edition of Interpol YGPLP begins; aims to increase public trust in police

 

The third iteration of the Interpol Young Global Police Leaders Programme (YGPLP) began on January 25, 2023, in New Delhi, Delhi. The Interpol YGPLP’s nine-day duration will end on February 2, 2023.

 

The third Interpol YGPLP’s theme is “Trust,” with the goal of strengthening public-police trust and international police trust in the age of technology.

 

The event, which is being organized by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), had about 60 participants from 44 nations.

 

The participants will visit the CBI Headquarters, the Global Operations Center, the Delhi Police Headquarters, the Maharashtra Police Headquarters, and the Mumbai Police Control Room during the course of the program.

 

Established in 2019, the YGPLP is a one-of-a-kind INTERPOL program that paves the way for selected officers to rise to international leadership positions.

 

The second Interpol YGPLP was held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from March 13–17, 2022, with the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,” which was also the theme of the Dubai Expo.

International Affairs

1. Durban, South Africa, will host the 15th BRICS summit in late August 2023.

 

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, and Osman Saleh, Eritrea’s foreign minister, jointly announced Durban, South Africa, as the venue for the 15th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Summit on January 26, 2023. August 2023 will be the month of the summit.

 

In the past, the 5th BRICS Summit was held in South Africa from March 26 to 27, 2013.

South Africa took part in the third BRICS Summit for the first time in April 2011 in Sanya, China. The leaders of the BRICS countries have held 14 formal meetings and 9 informal meetings since 2009.

Banking & Finance

1. PNB and Star Health & Allied Insurance Form a Long-Term Bancassurance Partnership.

 

Star Health and Allied Insurance have extended its long-term partnership with Punjab National Bank (PNB) as its strategic corporate agency Bancassurance.

 

PNB will continue to distribute insurance products from Star Health to all of its branches across India.

 

Highlights of note:

 

Customers will have access to Star Health’s best-in-class health insurance products as a result of the agreement, which will make them able to purchase them from the PNB’s distribution network throughout India.

 

Through this partnership, PNB and Star Health will be able to ensure that health insurance is readily available in all regions of India and further increase insurance penetration.

2. TimePay Evok, a UPI API engine for PAPG, is available from NPST.

 

Timepay Evok, a UPI (Unified Payments Interface) API (Application Programming Interface) engine for PAPGs, has been launched by NPST (Network People Services Technologies Ltd), a provider of banking technology.

 

Timepay Evok’s features include:

 

The Timepay Evok, a cutting-edge payment platform, will provide digital merchants with a one-stop UPI payment solution that guarantees fast, secure, and dependable payment collections.

 

It includes merchant onboarding, auto reconciliation, merchant dispute resolution, and robust data points for customer support as built-in features.

 

It provides the QR POS (Quick Response Point of Sale) solution with UPI AutoPay for recurring UPI payments and UPI-based payments for secure transactions.

 

Key Points:

 

Background:

 

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) granted NPST a registration as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) for its TimePay solution in June 2021.

 

Third-party payment providers (TPAPs) like Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and PhonePe provide their customers with a unique UPI handle.

 

The NPST:

 

It is an NPCI-approved authorized Merchant Payment Service Provider that acquires merchants and offers payment applications to users in a variety of market segments.

 

It provides a certified digital payment solution, including Mobile Banking, IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), Bhim UPI, and Wallet platform, to banks and financial institutions that operate as Technology Service Providers (TSP).

 

Regarding the Unified Payments Interface (UPI):

 

The NPCI developed it and released it in 2016. It uses the customer’s Virtual Payment Address (VPA) instead of their bank account number to make instant payments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

Both person-to-person and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions are protected by it.

As a result, digital payments have become routine and the Indian population is moving toward a cashless economy.

 

The UPI interface was live for 382 banks in December 2022, and 7.82 billion financial transactions with a total value of nearly Rs. Twelve.82 trillion

3. RenewBuy Health Wellness Plan, a bespoke health insurance product, is now available.

The RenewBuy Health Wellness plan, the company’s first line of customized health insurance products, focuses on the large uninsured market outside of tier 1 markets.

 

This new product has introduced a variety of advantages for prehospitalization and Out-Patient Department (OPD) treatments with the intention of bridging the gap in product purchases between metropolitan areas and smaller cities.

 

Regarding the product:

 

The product offers modern health insurance benefits starting at Rs.

2-5 lakhs and comes in three different versions—the Gold Plan, the Silver Plan, and the Wellness Plan.

 

Benefits: 

 

Seniors can save up to 70% on premiums, and people under the age of 59 can save up to 50% on premiums. They can also get maternity coverage with a very short waiting period.

 

OPD benefits, unlimited doctor-on-phone consultations, free lab tests, a substantial discount for offline OPD consultations, modern treatment with a very low sum insured, no room rent cap, and a variety of other benefits are included in each of the three variants subject to certain T&C.

4. The Unit-Linked Aviva Signature Investment Plan is available from Aviva Life Insurance.

A unit-linked, non-participating individual life insurance plan aimed at millennial and Gen X customers was introduced by Aviva Life Insurance as the Aviva Signature Investment Plan. 

 

Signature Millennial has an inbuilt premium waiver and a guaranteed amount for a dependent parent, spouse, or child after the insured person’s death. Signature GenX is the other option available with the plan. In the Signature Millennial option, in the event of the life insured’s death during the policy term, all subsequent premiums are waived.

 

However, Signature GenX customers are able to grow their wealth for up to 60 years by saving consistently each month.

 

Benefits include the use of the “RetireSafe Strategy” to safeguard the accrued returns, zero allocation charges, periodic milestone boosters every third year beginning at the conclusion of the sixth policy year, and up to one hundred per cent mortality and policy administration charges at maturity.

 

Additionally, the plan includes death benefits, a facility to top up premiums, rewards, premium redirection, and premium redirection.

Science & Technology

1. Aditya-L1: By June-July 2023, India’s first mission to study the sun will launch.

The first Indian space mission to observe the Sun and solar corona, the Aditya-L1 mission, is scheduled for launch by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in June or July 2023 to the L1 orbit, which is the first Lagrangian point of the Sun-Earth system. The mission’s launch window would expire in August 2023. Aditya-L1 can continuously observe the Sun thanks to its L1 orbit.

 

Aditya-L1’s Objective:

 

The Aditya-1 Mission, formerly known as Aditya-L1, was initially intended to be launched into a halo orbit around the SunEarth system’s first Lagrangian Point (L1) rather than an 800-kilometre (km) low-Earth orbit (LEO) as a 400-kg satellite.

 

There are seven payloads on the Aditya-L1, with the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) serving as the primary one.

 

The Aditya-L1’s Seven Payloads:

 

Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT), visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS), High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS), Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX), Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA), and Advanced tri-axial high-resolution digital magnetometers are among the instruments.

 

Key Points:

 

On January 26, 2023, the ISRO received the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), the largest payload that was going to be carried on board the Aditya-L1, from the IIA team so that it could be integrated with the other payloads that were already on board the satellite.

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru, Karnataka, developed and produced VELC.

 

In the presence of S Somanath, Chairman of ISRO, the VELC was presented at the Center for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST) campus of IIA.

 

On January 27, the payload was transported to the UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

 

Note: Nearly 40 distinct optical elements in a payload have been constructed and assembled by scientists at the IIA in Bengaluru, Karnataka, over the course of more than 15 years.

 

Observation of the Corona

 

The Principal Investigator of the VELC payload, Raghavendra Prasad, claims that the payload will be able to continuously observe the corona and that the data it provides will likely provide answers to numerous unsolved issues in solar astronomy.

 

It can be imaged by VELC within 1.05 times the solar radius.

 

It is also able to simultaneously perform imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry, as well as many observations per second at a very high resolution (level of detail).