Current Affairs One-Liner : 30th June 2023

• National:
• The Geographical Indication Registry in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, under the Department of Industry Promotion and Internal Trade (DIPIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), has recently granted Geographical Indication (GI) tags to seven handicraft products from Uttar Pradesh.

• On 28th June 2023, Union Minister of Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi unveiled the first-ever report of the country on “Critical Minerals for India”. The report was prepared by an expert team constituted by the Ministry of Mines
• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched the eighth edition of Swachh Survekshan (SS) – SS 2023 under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0. The theme of Swachh Survekshan 2023 is “Waste to Wealth” for garbage-free cities 2
• The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) has released the 35th edition of the World Competitiveness Index 2023 on 20th June 2023. The top three most competitive economies among the 64 nations surveyed were Denmark, Ireland, and Switzerland
• India has been removed from the United Nations Secretary-General’s annual report on the impact of armed conflict on children. The reason cited for this removal is the “measures taken by the government to better protect” children
• ICICI Lombard General Insurance and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance have jointly launched an insurance solution called ‘iShield’ which will provide customers with both health and life insurance
• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has partnered with Priority Pass Access India to enable RuPay card holders to access airport lounges.
• On June 26, 2023, the V-MAX hypersonic glider technology demonstrator was fired for the first time from the Biscarrosse missile test base in southwestern France. This test brings France into an exclusive club of countries with hypersonic missiles, joining other countries such as the US, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, India and possibly North Korea
• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has virtually inaugurated several completed projects at various locations and a portal to help farmers know the soil health of their land.
• The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur is developing a tamper-proof signalling system based on blockchain technology for the Indian Railways. Embedded with enhanced safety measures, the new system would complement the existing Data Logger which is considered the ‘Black Box’ of rolling stock
• The Central government has allowed the Office of Registrar General of India (RGI) to perform Aadhaar authentication during registration of births and deaths in India
• The National Exit Test (NExT) for the 2019 batch of final-year MBBS students will be held in two phases next year. The NExT will be conducted in two phases – NExT Step 1 and NExT Step 2 – by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
• India and the Philippines have agreed to initiate negotiations on a bilateral preferential trade pact and vowed to step up defence cooperation, especially in the maritime security domain, amid China’s increasing muscle-flexing in the South China Sea
• Virgin Galactic successfully completed its first manned mission to the edge of space on July 11, 2021 with its founder Richard Branson and five other crew members aboard the VSS Unity space plane.
• ARAI awarded the first Automotive PLI certificate to Mahindra Last Mile Mobility for its flagship electric 3-wheeler. Dr. Reji Mathai, Director, ARAI, awarded the physical copy of the first Automotive PLI certificate to Suman Mishra, CEO, Mahindra Last Mile Mobility, in the presence of Senior executives of ARAI including the PLI Cell
• Economy:
• As per the recent notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the import policy for cigarette lighters has been changed from “free” to “prohibited” if their price per unit is less than Rs 20.
• The Union Rural Development Ministry has extended the deadline for mandatory payments of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme via Aadhaar Based Payments System (ABPS) to August 31.
• The Indian Finance Ministry has announced that payments made by using international credit cards (ICC) during overseas visits will not attract Tax Collected at Source or TCS.
• Sports:
• The Indian duo of Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu scored a 11-9, 11-6 victory over top seeds Aira Azman and Shafiq Kamal of Malaysia in the semifinals of the Asian mixed doubles squash in Huangzhou.
• India reclaimed the Asian Kabaddi Championship title after beating Iran 42-32 in the final at the Dong-Eui Institute of Technology Seokdang Cultural Center on Friday . This was India’s eighth title in the last nine editions played so far while Iran won the title once.
• Important Days:
• National Statistics Day is celebrated on June 29th every year in India to honor the birth anniversary of the Father of Indian Statistics, the Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. The theme is “Alignment of State Indicator Framework with National Indicator Framework for Monitoring Sustainable Development Goals”.
• International Day of the Tropics is observed annually on June 29 to raise awareness about various challenges that tropical nations face and to celebrate the extraordinary diversity of the Tropics
• The International Day of Parliamentarism is celebrated every year on June 30 to mark the anniversary of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which was founded in 1889.The theme for 2023 is ‘Parliaments for the Planet,’ focusing on climate action
• World Asteroid Day is observed globally each year on June 30th to commemorate the anniversary of the Tunguska event in 1908 when a meteor air burst decimated approximately 2,000 sq km of pine forest in central Siberia.The theme of the stamp for 2023 will be “Discovery”
• Appointments:
• The Kerala government has appointed senior IPS officer Dr Sheikh Darvesh Sahib as the new Director General of Police (DGP) and IAS officer Dr V Venu as the new Chief Secretary of the state. Both the officers are of the 1990 batch1. Sheikh Darvesh Saheb was recently promoted to DGP rank and was given charge of Director General, Fire and Rescue Service.
• Awards:
• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak honoured Rajindar Singh Dhatt, one of the last surviving Sikh soldiers who fought in the Second World War, with the prestigious Points of Light award at a special UK-India Week reception held at 10 Downing Street.

Questions:

Q.1 When is the International Day of Parliamentarism celebrated?
a. June 30
b. July 30
c. August 30
d. September 30

Q.2 Who has been appointed as the new Director General of Police (DGP) of Kerala?
a. VP Joy
b. Dr V Venu
c. Anil Kant
d. Dr Sheikh Darvesh Sahib