NATIONAL NEWS

Five-Year Tamil Nadu Millet Mission

• Tamil Nadu Minister for Agriculture MRK Panneerselvam announced that the state government will implement the Tamil Nadu Millet Mission for five years.

• The government has decided to take up millet cultivation in 50,000 acres of fallow land under its Tamil Nadu Millet Mission and provide subsidy for crop diversification into millets.

• By bringing millet farmers together, 100 groups of millet producers will be formed and training programs will be run for them.

• Subsidy will be provided for setting up sprinkler irrigation system in 12,500 acres.

• Subsidy assistance will be provided to farmer producer groups for setting up millet processing centers to sell value-added millets.
• To create awareness about the goodness of millets, the government will celebrate 'Bajra Utsav'.

World Food India-2023

• The second edition of ‘World Food India-2023’ will be organised by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India, from 03 November to 05 November 2023 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

• Shri Pashupati Kumar Paras and Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, launched the website, publicity brochure and promotional video for WFI-2023.

• Addressing the Curtain Raiser event, Shri Pashupati Kumar Paras emphasised that India is one of the fastest-growing economies with many investment opportunities, especially in the food processing sector.

• He outlined five pivotal elements of the WFI-2023 as Millets- ‘Shree Anna-The Super Food of India’, Innovation and Sustainability ‘Green Food’, White Revolution 2.0, making India an export hub and focus on technology and digitisation.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

South Korea to Build ‘World’s Largest’ Chip Centre

• Samsung Electronics expects to invest 300 trillion won ($230 billion) over the next 20 years as part of an ambitious South Korean national project to build the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturing base near the capital, Seoul.

• The plans were announced by President Mr Yoon Suk Yeol and confirmed by the electronics giant.

• The chip manufacturing “mega cluster” of facilities will be built in various locations in Gyeonggi province by 2042.

• The centre will be anchored by 5 new semiconductor plants built by Samsung.

• The chip cluster would be located in Gyeonggi province, which is part of the Seoul Metropolitan area, and the total investment would be completed in about 20 years.

Annual Edition of International SME Convention 2023

• The 3rd annual edition of the International SME Convention 2023 (ISC) to be organised in New Delhi, India.

• The ISC is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and the Ministry of External Affairs and the India SME Forum.

• The event has the Government of Madhya Pradesh (MP) as a major partner state and the Government of Uttar Pradesh (UP) as an associate partner state.

• International Network of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (INSME) and World Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (WUSME) are the International Partners for ISC 2023 and Tata AIA is the Insurance Partner.

BANKING

Kotak Mahindra Bank Partnered with IOCL

• Kotak Mahindra Bank and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) announced a strategic partnership to launch the Indian Oil Kotak co-branded fuel credit card.

• The Card will be available on the RuPay network.

• The partnership will offer more value to customers in the form of an enhanced rewards programme giving customers value on fuel spends and on special non-fuel and frequent-spend categories, such as dining and groceries.

• The IOCL is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India.

New Guaranteed Income Plan – ICICI Pru Gold

• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited has launched the ICICI Pru Gold, a long-term savings product that enables customers to create an additional income stream.

• Besides guaranteed lifelong income, it provides life cover for the family’s financial security.

• The product is available in 3 variants: Immediate Income, Immediate Income with Booster and Deferred Income.

• Customers opting for the ‘Immediate Income’ variant can choose to receive income after 30 days from the date of policy issuance, enabling them to immediately create a supplementary source of lifelong income.

• Customers who purchase the “Immediate Income with Booster” variant receive additional guaranteed income every 5th policy year in addition to the lifelong income, which begins after 30 days from the policy issuance date.
• Under the ‘Deferred Income’ variant, customers will have the flexibility to choose when they want the income to start, as per their financial goals.

SPORTS

Men’s And Women’s Indian Hockey Player of the Year Awards 2022

• Midfielder Hardik Singh and goalkeeper Savita Punia were conferred with the men’s and women’s Indian Hockey Player of the Year awards 2022.

• The 24-year-old Hardik beat illustrious senior players like Manpreet Singh and Harmanpreet Singh to win the coveted award for 2022, named after hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr, at the fifth Hockey India Annual Awards.

• Savita had led India to the FIH Women’s Nation’s Cup title in December to book a berth in the women’s Pro League.

• Gurbux Singh, who was a member of the 1964 Olympics gold-winning team, won the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the game.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Chairman and Managing Director of BPCL

• Mr G Krishnakumar has taken over as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).

• He will hold the position of chairman and managing director till April 2025 or until any further notice.

• Currently, he is serving as Executive Director of BPCL.

• He replaces Mr Arun Kumar Singh, who retired as chairman in October 2022.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Chinese Tech Giant Baidu Unveils ChatGPT Rival Ernie Bot

• Chinese tech company Baidu has launched its own Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot, Ernie Bot, based on its deep learning model Ernie short for ‘enhanced representation through knowledge integration’.

• The first version of Ernie Bot was developed in 2019.

• Ernie Bot can perform various tasks, such as mathematical calculations, speaking in Chinese dialects, and generating videos and images with text prompts.

• ChatGPT is made by the Microsoft-backed OpenAI, while Google and a host of ambitious startups are also developing their own so-called large language models.

DEFENCE

Africa-India Military Exercise AFINDEX-23

• India and 23 African nations began a nine-day mega military exercise Africa-India Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX) in Pune.

• The aim of the exercise is to expand the participant's overall military cooperation.

• Several new generation equipment made in India are being used in the exercise to give a feel of India's efficacy to the soldiers of the participating countries.

• The theme of the exercise is ‘humanitarian mine action and peacekeeping operations.’
• The objectives of the exercise are to continue to build upon the initiatives taken to strengthen India-Africa relations, with a focus on enhancing peace and security.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Water Day

• World Water Day is celebrated every year on 22 March.
• It is an international event observed annually on March 22nd every year all over the world highlighting the importance of freshwater.
• United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution by which 22 March of each year was declared World Day for Water, to be observed starting in 1993.
• For instance, the International Year of Cooperation in the Water Sphere 2013, and the current International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028.

OBITUTARY

British Writer and Historian Patrick French

• Award-winning British author, historian and academic Patrick French, passed away in London, United Kingdom (UK). He passed away at the age of 57.

• He was appointed the inaugural Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Ahmedabad University in July 2017.

• He was the author of several books including: Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer (1994), a biography of Francis Younghusband; The World Is What It Is (2008), an authorised biography of Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul that won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the United States of America; and India: A Portrait (2011).

• He was also a journalist, writing for publications such as The Guardian, The Times and The New York Review of Books.

Nobel Prize-Winning Japanese Writer Kenzaburo Oe

• Kenzaburo Oe, a giant of Japanese writing and winner of the Nobel prize in literature, has passed away. He was at the age of 88

• He is one of Japan’s most celebrated and controversial authors, Ōe’s novels, short stories and essays placed him at the confluence of the personal and the political.

• He was involved with pacifist and anti-nuclear campaigns.

• Pacifist means someone who opposes war or violence as a means of settling disputes.
• Oe won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994, becoming the second Japanese author to receive the honour after Kawabata Yasunari.