Current Affairs Exam

With the bang of a gavel made of recycled plastic and a standing ovation, representatives of 175 nations agreed on Wednesday to begin writing a global treaty that would restrict the explosive Growth of plastic pollution.

Theagreement commits nationsto work on a broad and legally binding treaty that would not only aim to improve recycling and clean up the worlds plastic waste, but would encompass curbs on plastics production itself. That could put measures like a ban on single-use plastics, a major driver of waste, on the table.

Under the new rules of the Canadian government, a 3% digital Services tax will be imposed on the companies with total annual revenue of at least850millionandprofitsof16 million or more from providing digital services in Canada.

It is to tax large multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Facebook, Apple, and Google which do business in Canada but pay most taxes in USA or tax-havens.

USTR has argued that this tax goes against the spirit and the text of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) agreement, where it was agreed that the signatories would not impose new unilateral taxes that work against the spirit of the BEPS agreement.

A day after the virtual Quad summit in which PM Narendra Modi called on the four-nation grouping to focus on its core principles, the MEA reiterated the same message on Friday. The agenda leaders signed up to is Indo-Pacific being at the core of the Quad agenda.

It is something they want to push ahead. The message is clear that all four countries are trying to take forward the agenda

As many as eight national and 40 regional held a discussion with the Election Commission on Remote Electronic Voting Machine(RVM). The development came after the commission extended the date of submission of written views by political parties (on various issues with regard to RVM) to February 28, 2023. Though the parties appreciated ECIs initiative of calling all parties for discussion, they had a plethora of queries on the same.

The new RVM prototype willenable a voter, who is listed in constituencies, to exercise voting rights from a single machine.

Themulti-constituency remote EVM, developed by a public sector undertaking, canhandle up to 72 constituenciesfrom a single remote polling booth.

Migrant voters would not need to travelto their Home districts to exercise their franchise if the remote electronic voting machine is implemented properly.

Over 11 Crore rural households in the country have access to tap water connections as India celebrates its 74th Republic Day. 123 districts and more than 1.53 lakh villages of India have reported Har Ghar Jal which means every household has access to clean drinking water through the tap. Jal Jeevan Mission was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15th August 2019 to provide every rural household with a tap water connection by 2024.

At the time of the launch of the Mission in 2019, out of 19.35 Crore rural households, only 3.23 Crore (16.72%) had access to tap water.

As of date, within a short span of about three years of the life-changing mission, over 11 Crore (56.84%) of rural households have tap water supply in their homes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the achievement of 11 Crore Tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

The State Governments and Union Territory administrations celebrated World Wetlands Day (WWD) at all 75 Ramsar sites this year with over 200 events. The was hoisted at the Ramsar Sites. The wetland pledge was administered during these events. Over 50 activities were held with student engagement in which drawing competition, quiz competition, exposure activities, and bird watching were organized.

This is in line with emphasis on participatory management of wetlands by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiwho in Mann ki Baat on January 29, 2023 highlighted the invaluable role played by local communities in conservation of Ramsar Sites.The celebrations held across the country are as follows:

In Jammu and Kashmir, citizens took a pledge to conserve wetlands at Wular Lake.

Chinas Population fell last year for the first time in six decades, a historic turn that is expected to mark the start of a long period of decline in its citizen numbers with profound implications for its economy. The drop, the worst since the Great Famine of 1961, also lends weight to predictions that India will become the worlds most populous nation in this year. The population dropped by roughly 850,000 to 1.41175 billion at the end of 2022. Long-term, UN experts see Chinas population shrinking by 109 million by 2050, more than triple the decline of their previous forecast in 2019.

Last years birth rate was 6.77 births per 1000 people, down from a rate of 7.52 births in 2021 and marking the lowest birth rate on record. The figures also logged the highest death rate since 1974, registering 7.37 deaths per 1000 people compared with a rate of 7.18 deaths in 2021.

India will support Sri Lankas debt restructuring plan as the island nation looks to trim its huge public expenditure to win approval for a crucial bailout from the . India formally notified that it would support Sri Lankas debt restructuring plan. Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, and policymakers have been grappling with multiple challenges over the past year including a shortage of dollars, runaway Inflation and a steep Recession. Sri LankaowesIndia around $1 billion that will come under the debt restructuring plan. New Delhi also separately providedSri Lankawith about $4 billion in rapid assistance between January and July last year, including credit lines, a currency swap arrangement and deferred import payments.

The Government of India is to include in the mid day meal scheme. This is being done to enhance the Nutrition in children. The announcement was made by the Ministry of Education. It is to be implemented by PM POSHAN scheme.

The central government has asked the state governments and the union territories to add millets in their mid day meal scheme. This includes bajra, ragi, jowar. These are rich in Minerals, VITAMINS, proteins and antioxidants. They improve the nutritional outcome of the children. The government is taking the step to reduce the levels of Malnutrition in the country.

The millets are to be introduced once a week. Also, cooking competitions are to be conducted among the cook cum helpers. This is done to popularise millet recipes.

Small Videos will be created. These videos will explain the importance of millets.

The NITI Aayog had suggested that the practices of Odisha, Karnataka and Telangana are the best in the country. Their practices are to be shared with the other states.

Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bengaluru has commissioned one of the most powerful supercomputers, called Param Pravega in India.

Param Pravega supercomputer has a supercomputing capacity of 3.3 petaflops.

It is the largest supercomputer in an Indian academic institution.

The supercomputer has been designed and developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). Majority of components used in thesupercomputer have been manufactured and assembledindigenously. Its Software was also developed in India.