Daily Current Affairs- 21 June 2024

Daily Current Affairs- 21st June 2024

INTERNATIONAL

MSDE Partners With Australian Government to Energize Agriculture Sector of India

• The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), in collaboration with the Australian Government, hosted a comprehensive and productive roundtable to discuss the learnings from the Australia-India Critical Agriculture Skills Pilot Project. Led by Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, MSDE, and Mr. Mathew Johnston, Minister Counsellor, Education and Research, Australian High Commission, the roundtable focussed on the opportunities that lay beyond in taking the initiative forward, bringing it up to scale and replicating the model to other sectors.
• Representatives from the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), Ministry of Education (MoE), and Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) were also part of the roundtable. 

SCIENCE & TEHNOLOGY

Chirag Paswan launches website, mobile app for World Food India 2024

• Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, Chirag Paswan, and his Minister of State, Ravneet Singh, launched the website and mobile application for World Food India 2024. This was a precursor to the third edition of World Food India.
• Paswan, during his keynote address, highlighted the vital role of the food processing sector in reducing agricultural wastage, promoting value addition, ensuring food security, and strengthening the supply chain from farm to fork.
• The Government of India through its whole-of-government approach has placed a great emphasis on the holistic development of the value chain across the food & allied sectors and is working towards the goal of Atma Nirbhar and Viksit Bharat, he said. 

IMPORTANT DAYS

International Yoga Day

• International Yoga Day or World Yoga Day is observed on June 21, every year, to raise awareness about the numerous benefits of practicing Yoga and encourage people around the world to adopt a healthier lifestyle. It serves as a reminder of the importance of physical and mental well-being and highlights the role of Yoga in achieving that balance
• In September 2014, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his UN address, suggested an annual Day of Yoga on June 21, as it is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and shares a special significance in many parts of the world.
• The first International Yoga Day was celebrated on June 21, 2015, with the theme "Yoga for Harmony and Peace," featuring an event in New Delhi that set two Guinness World Records: one for the largest yoga session with 35,985 participants and another for the most nationalities (84) in a single session, Theme for the year 2024 is: Yoga for self and society. 

World Hydrography Day

• Celebrated on 21 June, World Hydrography Day raises awareness on the importance of hydrography in improving our knowledge and understanding of the seas and oceans. It was established in 2006, under a United Nations resolution by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). 

SUMMITS & MOUs

CERT-In and Mastercard Sign MoU to Enhance Cyber-Resilience in Financial Sector

• Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is a Government organization under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. CERT-In has been designated to serve as National agency for incident response under Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000. CERT-In has joined hands with Mastercard (India) to promote cooperation and information sharing in the area of Cyber security related to the financial sector.
• The two entities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which they will leverage their shared expertise with regards to financial sector in the fields of cybersecurity incident response, capacity building, sharing cyber threat intelligence specific to financial sector and advanced malware analysis. 

NHAI Signs MoU with IIIT Delhi to Enhance Road Safety Using Artificial Intelligence

• NHAI has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (Delhi), a Technical University established by the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) based solutions for improvement in the availability of road signs on National Highways, enhancing road safety measures.
• As a part of the agreement, IIIT Delhi will conduct surveys for collecting imagery and other related data related to the availability and condition of road signages on selected National Highway stretches. The tentative length to be covered under this project shall be around 25,000 km. 

RANKING

India at 63rd Rank on Global Energy Transition Index Sweden Tops the list :WEF

• According to the Global Energy Transition Index released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on 19 June 2024, India has been ranked 63rd out of 120 countries surveyed in the index. Last year, India was ranked 67th, an improvement of three ranks, Sweden has again topped the Index, just like last year.
• The WEF Energy Transition Index tracks the progress and preparedness of selected nations across the world to build an equitable, secure and sustainable energy future.
• In simple words, it tracks government policies and their effectiveness in encouraging the reduction in the production of carbon dioxide gasses due to energy production, encouragement of non-fossil-based power (like solar, wind, small hydel plants, etc.) plants and reduction in overall energy intensity. 

BANKING AND ECONOMY

India Post Payments Bank joins forces with Ria Money Transfer to offer unique remittance services

• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has announced its partnership with Ria Money Transfer (Ria), global leader in the cross-border money transfer industry and business segment of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. The ease of access brought by this collaboration will provide customers in remote areas across India with convenient and affordable doorstep financial services. 

Federal Bank rolls out UPI-enabled RuPay Wave credit card

• Federal Bank, in collaboration with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has launched RuPay Wave Credit Card that merges UPI-powered transactions on RuPay network integrating the benefits and features of both.
• Federal Bank's cardholders can now link their RuPay Wave credit card to their preferred UPI applications, enabling swift and secure transactions with just a couple of clicks on their mobile devices. 

RBI grants Payment Aggregator License to SabPaisa

• SabPaisa, a payment solutions provider, announced that it has received final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a Payment Aggregator (PA) under the Payments and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. Established in 2016, SabPaisa specialises in payments, payment gateway solutions, and products such as payouts and subscriptions.
• In recent months, several payment companies and large merchant entities, including Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, Tata Pay, Zomato, Policybazaar, Jio, EnKash, Cred, Groww, and Worldline, have also obtained PA licenses from the RBI.