04.03.23 Daily [Andhra Pradesh] APPSC Current Affairs

In another scientific milestone for India, Asias largest 4-metre International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) was inaugurated at Devasthal inUttarakhand.

The telescope is located at an altitude of 2,450 metre on the Devasthal Observatory campus of Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), an autonomous institute under the Science and Technology (DST) department, in Nainital district. The ILMT, which achieved its first Light in the second week of May 2022, is now ready to explore the deep celestial sky. The telescope was designed and built by the Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS) Corporation and the Centre Spatial de Liege in Belgium.

The International Golden City Gate Tourism Awards 2023 in the categories of TV/Cinema Commercials International and Country International were won by the Indian Ministry of Tourism and Government of India, respectively. As part of a global effort on advertising in the post-Covid period to reopen opportunities in India, the award has been granted to promotional films/television ads made by the Ministry.

Each year, the tourism and hospitality industries compete for the Golden City Gate Tourism Multi-Media Awards in a number of categories. The Golden City Gate is an international creative multi-media competition for nations, cities, regions, and hotels. An international panel made up of professionals in the film and tourism industries judges the submissions submitted for the prizes. The premier tourism trade show in the world, ITB Berlin, is the location of the yearly award presentation.

Thegovernmenton Monday told the Lok Sabha that theincome tax departmenthasseized assetsof over Rs 8,800 crore during the 5,931 search operations conducted by it between 2014-15 and 2021-22.

648 disclosures involving undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs 4,164 crore were made under the one-time three months compliance window, which closed on 30 September. 2015. Penalty and tax from this added up to Rs 2,476 crore.

India needs to develop both offensive and defensive space capabilities to safeguard our assets, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said on Tuesday, in the backdrop of China furiously building and deploying anti-satellite weapons from direct ascent missiles and co-orbital killers to directed-energy laser weapons and electronic jammers.

India did successfully test an anti-satellite (A-Sat) interceptor missile to destroy the 740-kg Microsat-R satellite, at an altitude of 283-km in the low earth orbit (LEO), under Mission Shakti in March 2019.

Ram Chandra Paudel has been elected to serve as the new president of Nepal. According to the Nepalese , he received 33,800 electoral votes, while his opponent, Subash Chandra Nembwang, received 15,500 votes. Ram Chandra Paudel received votes from 352 members of provincial assemblies and 214 members of parliament.

An electoral college made up of representatives from the federal parliament and the provincial assembly chooses the president. The overall number of electors in Nepals presidential election is 882, including 550 representatives from each of the countrys seven provincial assembly and 332 members of the parliament. As Nepals new president, he will take over from Bidya Devi Bhandari.

So far, , Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have got the ODF plus status with a coverage of 100%, 96% and nearly 94%, respectively, Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat inform while addressing press.

The base of SBM is converge of fund. Therefore, the Centre will provide14,030 crore fund in FY24 to achieve the milestone in the sanitation scheme.

Sebi decided to set up a corporate debt market development fund in the form of an AIF with an initial corpus of Rs 3,000 crore to act as a backstop facility for purchase of grade corporate debt securities during times of Stress.The move is aimed at instilling confidence amongst the participants in the corporate bondmarketand to generally enhance Secondary Market liquidity.

CDMDF, based on a guarantee to be provided by National Credit Guarantee Trust Company (NCGTC) may raise funds, for purchase of corporate debt securities during market dislocation.

During the International Zero Waste Day 2023 in New Delhi, Sh. Hardeep S. Puri, The Honble Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, announced that 1000 cities are targeted to achieve a 3-Star Garbage Free rating by October 2024. The GFC-Star rating protocol, launched in January 2018 to promote a competitive and mission-driven approach among ULBs, has seen a significant increase in certification since its inception.

The Minister commended the Swachhta Doots from all over the country, praising them for being agents of change and leaders in their communities, as well as for their ability to turn challenges into opportunities for livelihood

Swachhotsav events are held at national, state, and city levels and include campaigns, drives, competitions, workshops, and seminars to engage citizens and create a sense of responsibility.

In a startling move, the Italian government has announced that it plans to ban the English language and impose heavy fines on individuals and organizations that continue to use it. The announcement comes just weeks after the ban on ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI. The decision has been met with widespread criticism and has raised questions about Italys commitment to international cooperation and its position in the global economy.

According to the governments statement, the ban on English language use will be enforced with fines of up to Rs 89.3 lakh. The decision is part of a broader effort to promote the Italian language and culture and to reduce the influence of foreign languages, particularly English, which is widely used in international business and diplomacy.

Norwegian company Norled has successfully launched the worlds first ferry that runs on liquid hydrogen. The vessel, called MF Hydra, is a hybrid that uses both batteries and liquid hydrogen .

It underwent sea trials for two weeks after initial testing at Hjelmeland quay earlier this year. The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) has given final approval for the ferry to operate. This milestone achievement is a significant step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the maritime Industry, as hydrogen fuel cells produce only clean water as a byproduct.