Daily Current Affairs for State Exams: 12 April 2022

Daily Current Affairs 12 April 2022

Important News: India

State Energy and Climate Index Round- 1

Why in News

NITI Aayog has launched the State Energy & Climate Index (SECI)-Round I on 11^thApril 2022.

Key Points

Gujarat, Kerala, and Punjab have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger states.
Goa, emerged as the top-performing state in the smaller states category, followed by Tripura, and Manipur.
Among UTs, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Daman & Diu/Dadra & Nagar Haveli are the top performers.
The State Energy & Climate Index Round-I will help initiate a dialogue with the states on the energy sector so that much required policy improvements can be made.
The State Energy & Climate Index Round-I ranks the states’ performance on 6 parameters, namely, (1) DISCOM’s Performance (2) Access, Affordability and Reliability of Energy (3) Clean Energy Initiatives (4) Energy Efficiency (5) Environmental Sustainability; and (6) New Initiatives.
The parameters are further divided into 27 indicators. Based on the composite SECI Round I score, the states and UTs are categorized into three groups: Front Runners, Achievers, and Aspirants.
The states have been categorized based on size and geographical differences as larger states, smaller states, and UTs.

Source: PIB

MoU signed between UIDAI and ISRO for technical collaboration

Why in News

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Unique Identification Authority Of India (UIDAI), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), New Delhi and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO, Hyderabad, for technical collaboration.

Key Points

NRSC will be developing the Bhuvan-Aadhar portal providing information and locations of the aadhaar centres across India.
NRSC will also provide a web based portal to collect and store data pertaining to existing and new enrolment centres to improve citizen centric services by carrying out regular statutory inspections.
Bhuvan will facilitate complete geographic information storage, retrieval, analysis and reporting for Aadhaar centres, with a high resolution backdrop of natural color satellite images.

About Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI:

UIDAI is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (“Aadhaar Act 2016”) on 12 July 2016 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
UIDAI has so far issued Aadhaar numbers to more than 132 crore residents.

Source: PIB

Important News: Defence

Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’ successfully flight tested

Why in News

Indigenously developed helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) ‘HELINA’ was successfully flight tested at high-altitude ranges as part of user validation trials in Pokhran.

Key Points

The flight-test was jointly conducted by the teams of scientists from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Army and Indian Air Force (IAF).
The flight trials were conducted from an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and the missile was fired successfully engaging a simulated tank target.
Helina has a maximum range of seven kilometers and has been designed and developed for integration on weaponized versions of the ALH.
Helina has been developed by Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad under the Missiles and Strategic Systems (MSS) cluster of the DRDO. Successful user trials of the missile have been conducted since 2018.

Source: Indian Express

Pinaka Mk-I (Enhanced) Rocket System and Pinaka Area Denial Munition Rocket Systems successfully flight-tested by DRDO & Indian Army

Why in News

Pinaka Mk-I (Enhanced) Rocket System (EPRS) and Pinaka Area Denial Munition (ADM) rocket systems have been successfully flight-tested by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Army at Pokhran Firing Ranges.

Key Points

The Pinaka rocket system has been developed by Armament Research and Development Establishment, Pune supported by High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, another Pune-based laboratory of DRDO.
The EPRS is the upgraded version of the Pinaka variant which has been in service with the Indian Army for the last decade.
The system has been upgraded with advanced technologies enhancing the range to meet the emerging requirements.

Note:

Earlier, DRDO successfully flight tested Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) booster at the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.
In continuation with Government’s efforts to promote Private Industry, MSMEs and Start-ups in defence production ecosystem, the Ministry of Defence has now decided that 25% of the Domestic Capital Procurement/ Acquisition Budget, amounting to Rs. 21,149.47 Crore, will be earmarked for Domestic Private Industry in the Financial Year 2022-23.

Source: PIB

Important News: Science

IIT Madras launches India’s first indigenously developed polycentric prosthetic knee 'Kadam'

Why in News

IIT Madras researchers have launched the country’s first Made-in-India polycentric prosthetic knee ‘Kadam’.

Key Points

The polycentric knee has been developed in association with Society for Biomedical Technology (SBMT) and Mobility India.
SBMT was established under DRDO by former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam to enable indigenous medical device development.
Mobility India, an NGO in Bengaluru, will mass manufacture and take Kadam to the market along with overseeing the processes of fitment and training and ensuring easy access for the users.
It was developed by a team at TTK Center for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development (R2D2) at IIT Madras, which also developed and commercialized ‘Arise,’ the country's first standing wheelchair and NeoFly-NeoBolt, an active wheelchair.

Source: India Today

Important News: Appointment

Shehbaz Sharif elected Pakistan's 23rd Prime Minister

Why in News

Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president, was elected unopposed as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan by the National Assembly, after a week-long constitutional crisis that climaxed when Imran Khan lost a no-confidence vote.

Key Points

Shehbaz, the younger brother of former three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, received 174 votes.
He has served as chief minister of the country's most populous and politically crucial Punjab province thrice.

Source: HT

Eminent scholar-academician Manoj Soni appointed as UPSC’s new chairman

Why in News

Recently, eminent scholar-academician, Dr Manoj Soni was appointed as the new Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Key Points

Manoj Soni succeeds Pradip Kumar Joshi.
Prior to this, Dr Manoj served as the vice-chancellor of two universities.

About Union Public Service Commission (UPSC):

UPSC is India's premier central recruitment agency for recruitment of all the Group 'A' officers under Government of India.
The agency's charter is granted by Part XIV of the Constitution of India, titled as Services Under the Union and the States.
Formed: 1 October 1926
Headquarters: New Delhi

Source: ET

Important News: Sports

India win first ever gold medal at WSF World Doubles Squash championships 2022

India's Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Saurav Ghosal defeated Adrian Waller and Alison Waters of England in the mixed doubles finals to win India's first ever gold medal at WSF World Doubles Squash championship 2022 at Glasglow, Scotland.
Apart from this, Dipika Pallikal also won the women's doubles gold with her partner Joshna Chinappa.

Source: newsonair

Important News: Books

Former CAG Vinod Rai’s book ‘Not Just A Nightwatchman: My Innings with BCCI’

Why in News

Former CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) and chief of Supreme court-appointed CoA (Committee of Administrators), Vinod Rai has penned a book titled as, “Not Just A Nightwatchman: My Innings with BCCI”.

Key Points

In the book Vinod Rai has narrated his stint of 33 months at BCCI, when he was appointment as the head of the Supreme Court-mandated Committee of Administrators (CoA) in the BCCI.
The book has been published by Rupa Publications India.
Vinod Rai is a former IAS officer who served as the 11th Comptroller and Auditor General of India.