CURRENT AFFAIRS

Current affairs
➢ MPLADS (Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme
(MPLADS) e-SAKSHI Mobile Application was launched by Ministry
of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI)
o that allows MPs to propose, track, and oversee projects
under MPLAD Scheme.

➢ First meeting of the Social Audit Advisory Body (SAAB) held •

SAAB is a first of its kind advisory body in India.
o It is set up in the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD).
o NISD function under the Department of Social Justice &
Empowerment (DoSJE), Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment.
o It will guide the Ministry in institutionalizing social audits for
its various schemes.

➢ 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was held in

Kampala, Uganda.
o Theme of the summit: 'Deepening Cooperation for Shared
Global Affluence'
o Kampala declaration was adopted at the summit.

➢ INDIA-NEPAL HYDROPOWER COOPERATION

 o Nepal and India have inked an agreement setting the target
to reach 10,000 megawatts of electricity export to India in
the coming decade.
➢ The Union Cabinet approved the Migration and Mobility
Agreement between India and Italy.

➢ THE GLOBAL COOPERATION BAROMETER 2024 REPORT

o World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with
McKinsey & Company released the report.
o About Global Cooperation Barometer -It is a tool for leaders
to better understand the contours of cooperation broadly
along five dimensions using 42 indicators of global
connection

➢ ANGOLA WITHDRAWS FROM OPEC

o Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is
an intergovernmental Organization.

➢ UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

(CEPA) Council (UICC) was launched at India- United Arab
Emirates (UAE) Business Summit.
o UICC will encourage close partnerships and tangible
cooperation across all levels of UAE and Indian business
communities.
➢ HENLEY PASSPORT INDEX 2024 (HPI)
o HPI was released by Henley & Partners, a global leader in
residence and citizenship planning.
o India stands at 80th rank in list of most powerful passports.

➢ Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has started first crude
oil production from its Cluster-2 deep-sea project in the Krishna-
Godavari (KG) basin in the Bay of Bengal.

➢ India overtakes Hong Kong to become the world’s fourth-largest

stock market.

➢ Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) became mandatory for

MGNREGS workers.

➢ 16TH FINANCE COMMISSION

o It was constituted with the approval of the President of India
in pursuance of Article 280(1) of the Constitution.
o The government appointed Arvind Panagariya (former vice-
chairman of NITI Aayog) as the chairman

➢ Bharatmala Phase 1 deadline extended by Six years to 2027-28

o Bharatmala Pariyojana, launched under Ministry of Road
Transport & Highways, is an umbrella program for highways
sector.
➢ Union Minister launches National Transit Pass System (NTPS)-‘One
Nation-One Pass’.
o It is under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change to facilitate the seamless transit of timber, bamboo,
and other Minor Forest Produce (MFP) across the country.

➢ ATAL SETU NHAVA SHEVA SEA LINK Inaugurated by PM, it is the

country’s longest Sea bridge, also referred to as Mumbai Trans
Harbour Link.
➢ It is a 21.8 Kms long bridge of which 16.5 km is built completely
over the Sea.

➢ Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved launch

of Urea Gold.
o Urea gold will support the other initiative of government in
the sphere of Environmentally Friendly Fertilizers (EFFs).
o Urea gold is a Sulphur-Coated Urea (SCU).

➢ Adani Defence and Aerospace recently introduced the Drishti 10

Starliner Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for the Indian Navy.

➢ The Army initiates Operation Sarvashakti in Jammu and Kashmir's

Rajouri-Poonch sector, targeting terrorists amid repeated attacks
on troops.
➢ INDIAN NAVY COMMISSIONED INS IMPHAL
o INS Imphal is the third of four indigenous Visakhapatnam
class stealth-guided missile destroyers under project 15B.

➢ Exercise Khanjar: India-Kyrgyzstan Joint Special Forces Exercise

Khanjar has held in Himachal Pradesh.
➢ Exercise Cyclone: 2nd edition of the India-Egypt exercise 'Cyclone'
held in Egypt.
➢ Exercise Desert Knight: Indian Air Force conducted Exercise
Desert Knight along with French Air and Space Force and UAE Air
Force.
➢ Ex-Desert Cyclone: It is a joint military exercise between India and
UAE.
➢ Exercise Sea Dragon: It is a multinational maritime exercise to
enhance interoperability between Indian Navy and participating
navies from US, Australia, South Korea and Japan.
➢ MILAN 24 Exercise: It is a biennial multi-national naval exercise.

➢ The Indian government officially marked 2023 as the 50th year of

‘Project Tiger’.
o About Project Tiger- A Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the
Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
(MoEFCC), launched in 1973.
➢ India Meteorological Department (IMD) celebrated the 150th
Year of its establishment and service to India.
➢ IIT Delhi created the first hi-resolution Indian Landslide
Susceptibility Map (ILSM).
o About Indian Landslide Susceptibility Map (ILSM) -A
landslide susceptibility map divides the terrain into zones
based on the likelihood of landslide occurrence.

➢ 2024 marks the bicentennial (200th year) of the first scientific

naming of a dinosaur, the megalosaurus (meaning great lizard).

➢ CONJOINED (CIGARITIS CONJUNCTA) SILVERLINE It is a new

butterfly species identified in Karnataka’s Kodagu district.
o It is first such find in Western ghats in last 4 decades.

➢ India has recorded its first-ever confirmed sighting of a rare

Tibetan brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus) in Sikkim.

➢ Vulture restaurant set up in Jharkhand to conserve Critically

Endangered species.
o A ‘Vulture Restaurant’ has been established in Koderma
district, Jharkhand to address adverse impact of livestock
drugs, particularly diclofenac, on vultures.
➢ Ministry of Education (MoE) launched the “Prerana: An
Experiential Learning program” to empower participants with
leadership qualities .
o It is a week-long residential program for selected students of
class IX-XII.

➢ India and Argentina signed agreement for Lithium exploration &

mining Project in Argentina.

➢ MeitY Secretary launched a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in

Intelligent Internet of Things (IIoT) Sensors and India’s first
graphene centre - India Innovation Centre for Graphene (IICG) in
Kerala.

➢ NASA launched Peregrine Lunar Lander to explore Moon’s Bay of

Stickness.
➢ Mission is part of Nasa's Commercial Lunar Payload Services
initiative, which partners with commercial entities to deliver
payloads to Moon.

➢ Japanese spacecraft SLIM landed on the moon, making Japan the

fifth country to reach the lunar surface.

➢ India to use SpaceX Falcon-9 Rocket to Launch Communications

Satellite GSAT-20 in 2024.
 o For the first time, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) will launch
a communication satellite on a SpaceX rocket.

➢ Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO developed FEAST, a

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software.
o FEA is a computerized method for predicting how a product
reacts to real-world forces.

➢ Two prominent institutions under Ministry of Ayush namely

National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) and
Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) have
launched 'SMART 2.0'.
o SMART 2.0 (Scope for Mainstreaming Ayurveda Research in
Teaching Professionals) Program

➢ An American company has developed a fuel ANEEL (named after

India’s scientist, Dr Anil Kakodkar).
➢ ANEEL is a mix Thorium and Uranium of a certain level of
enrichment, called HALEU (High Assay Low Enriched Uranium).

➢ Statue of Social justice was unveiled in Vijayawada, Andhra

Pradesh.
➢ It is a 206 foot Bronze Statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and is currently
the world’s tallest Ambedkar statue.
➢ Ministry of Science and Technology called for nominations of the
first-ever National Science Award, known as "Rashtriya Vigyan
Puraskar”.