Daily Current Affairs for State Exams: 03 May 2022

Daily Current Affairs 03 May 2022

Important News: India

6th India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations

Why in News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi co-chaired with Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, the plenary session of the India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC) in Berlin.

Key Points

The biennial IGC is a unique dialogue format that also sees the participation of several Ministers from both sides.
This was the Prime Minister’s first IGC with Chancellor Scholz.
This Partnership envisages a whole-of-government approach to India-Germany cooperation on SDGs and climate action, under which Germany has agreed to make an advance commitment of 10 billion Euros of new and additional development assistance until 2030.

List of agreements signed on the occasion of 6th India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations:

Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) on Green and Sustainable Development Partnership
JDI on the implementation of Triangular Development Cooperation projects in Third Countries
JDI on the establishment of an agreement on the exchange and mutual protection of classified information and on the establishment of an agreement to establish a direct encrypted connection between MEA and German Foreign Office
Indo-German Development Cooperation Regarding Renewable Energy Partnership
Joint Declaration on the Initialing of the Agreement on a Comprehensive Migration and Mobility Partnership
JDI on continuation of cooperation in the field of advanced training of corporate executives and junior executives from India
Indo-German Green Hydrogen Task Force
JDI on Agroecology
JDI on Forest Landscape Restoration

Source: PIB

Report on third round (Oct-Dec, 2021) of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) a part of AQEES released

Why in News

The Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) released the Report of third quarter of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) a part of All India Quarterly Establishment based Employment Survey (AQEES) for the period October-December, 2021, prepared by the Labour Bureau, an attached office of MOLE.

Key Points

The AQEES has been taken up by the Labour Bureau to provide frequent (quarterly) updates about the employment and related variables of establishments in both organized and unorganized segments of 9 selected sectors.
These sectors are Manufacturing, Construction, Trade, Transport, Education, Health, Accommodation & Restaurants, IT/ BPOs and Financial Services.
These 9 sectors accounted for about 85% of the total employment in units with 10 or more workers in the 6th Economic Census.

Major Findings of the Report:

The Report indicates increasing trend in employment in organized segment, employing 10 or more workers, of the selected 9 sectors.
‘Manufacturing’ sector is the largest employer accounting for around 39% of the estimated total number of workers followed by Education Sector 22%.
Almost all (99.4%) establishments were registered under different statutes.
Overall around 23.55% of units provided on-the-job training to their workers.
Among 9 sectors, 34.87% of units in health sector provided on-the-job training, followed by IT/BPOs at 31.1%.
About 1.85 lakhs vacancies were reported across the 9 sectors.
3% of the workers were Regular workers and 8.9% contract workers.

Source: PIB

India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)

Why in News

The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the biggest bilateral trade pact between the two major economies, was activated.
The agreement was signed on February 18, 2022 between the two sides.

Key Points

Secretary, Department of Commerce, BVR Subrahmanyam flagged off the first consignment of goods comprising of Jewellery products from India to UAE under the India-UAE CEPA.
Overall, India will benefit from preferential market access provided by the UAE on over 97 % of its tariff lines which account for 99% of Indian exports to the UAE in value terms particularly from labour-intensive sectors such as Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural and wood products, engineering products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and Automobiles.
As regards trade in services, Indian service providers will have enhanced access to around 111 sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors.
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is expected to increase the total value of bilateral trade in goods to over US$ 100 billion and trade in services to over US$ 15 billion within 5 years.

Note: The Commerce Secretary informed that India was negotiating trade agreements at a very fast pace with complementary economies and that talks were ongoing with UK, Canada and EU.

Source: The Hindu

India’s Pharma exports grow by 103% since 2013-14

Why in News

Indian pharma exports witnessed a growth of 103% since 2013-14, from Rs. 90, 415 Crores in 2013-14 to Rs. 1,83,422 Crores in 2021-22.

Key Points

The export achieved in 2021-22 is the Pharma Sector’ best export performance ever.
It is a remarkable growth with exports growing by almost USD 10 billion in 8 years.
The trade balance continues to be in India’s favour, with a surplus of USD 15175.81 Million.
Indian pharma companies enabled by their price competitiveness and good quality, have made global mark, with 60 percent of the world’s vaccines and 20% of generic medicines coming from India.
India ranks 3rd worldwide for production by volume and 14th by value.
The current market size of the Indian pharmaceutical industry is around USD 50 billion.
The share of pharmaceutical and drugs in global exports is 5.92%.
India’s top 5 pharma export destinations are USA, UK, South Africa, Russia and Nigeria.

Source: ET

Important News: Science

C-DOT and C-DAC sign MoU to boost indigenous technology in telecom and ICT

Why in News

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) have signed an MoU at the Semicon India 2022 event to boost indigenous technological design and development in telecom and ICT.

Key Points

Both C-DOT and C-DAC have agreed to collaborate and work jointly, in identification and development of activities in the areas of 4G/5G, Broadband, IOT/M2M, packet core, Computing etc.

About Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT):

C-DOT is a premier telecom R&D organization under the Ministry of Communications, Government of India, carrying out advanced research and developmental activities in narrowband and broadband switching and transmission networks, terrestrial radio systems, satellite systems, optical communication equipment, network protocols, advanced security solutions and network management systems.

About Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC):

C-DAC was set up to emerge as a premier R&D institution for the design, development and deployment of electronic and ICT technologies and applications for socio economic advancement.

Source: ET

Important News: Environment & Ecology

Bhupender Yadav launches field manual for forest staffers to manage human-elephant conflict

Why in News

Recently, Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a field manual in India to guide forest staffers dealing with human-elephant conflict (HEC) in major elephant range states.
He chaired the 16th Steering Committee meeting of Project Elephant at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
The name of manual is “Field Manual for Managing Human-Elephant Conflicts”.

Key Points

Besides the manual, Yadav also released the Preliminary Report on Human Elephant Conflict and a booklet titled Trumpet.
The manual has been prepared by the ministry, along with the Wildlife Institute of India (WWI) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF India).
India is home to approximately around 27,000 Asian Elephants.
As per Elephant Census (2017), Karnataka has the highest number of elephants (6,049).

About Asian Elephants:

There are three subspecies of Asian elephant which are the Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan.
Global Population: Estimated 20,000 to 40,000.

Protection Status:

IUCN Red List: Endangered
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
CITES: Appendix I

Source: DTE

Important News: Award and Honours

Snow leopard expert Charudutt Mishra gets Whitley Gold Award 2022

Why in News

Noted snow leopard expert and wildlife conservationist Charudutt Mishra has won the prestigious Whitley Gold Award 2022 for his contribution to involving indigenous communities in the conservation and recovery of big cat species in Asia’s high mountain ecosystems.

Key Points

This is his second Whitley Fund for Nature Award. He got the first in 2005.
Mishra was given the award for his work in 12 snow leopard range countries.
Mishra, who is also the co-founder of Bengaluru-based Nature Conservation Foundation, established India’s first community scheme to save snow leopards over a decade ago.
There are an estimated 6,500 wild snow leopards in the high mountains and plateaus of twelve countries including Russia, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, India and Mongolia.

About Whitley Awards:

The Awards are held annually by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) to recognise and celebrate effective grassroots conservation leaders across the global south. The award is often referred to as the ‘Green Oscars’.

Source: HT

Important News: Important Days

May 3, World Press Freedom Day

Why in News

May 3 is celebrated as World Press Freedom Day or Press Freedom Day.

Key Points

The theme for World Press Freedom Day 2022 is “Journalism under digital siege”.
The day is celebrated to raise awareness about the importance of press freedom in any democracy.

History:

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO's General Conference.
Since then, 3 May, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day.

Source: un.org