May 28th Current Affairs

1. Second virtual trade fair by APEDA

IN NEWS:

To boost export potential of India’s agricultural and processed food products during the COVID19 pandemic, the second virtual trade fair (VTF) for horticultural produce organised by APEDA(Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) was inaugurated.

Key Highlights:

• The three days VTF (May 27-29, 2021) display India’s unique fruits, vegetables and floricultural products sourced from various regions for the global importers.
• There are more than 471 exhibitors or exporters have displayed their products in the virtual platform. 543 numbers of visitor /importers have registered their participation in the VTF.
• The exhibitors or exporters of fresh vegetables, fresh mangoes, fresh pomegranate and grapes and other fresh fruits have showcased their products for their global importers. Visitors from India, Singapore, the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Suriname, Afghanistan, Japan, Iceland, Maldives and Brunei have already participated in the VTF.
• Earlier, APEDA organized the first VTF during March 10-12, 2021 which drew more than 404 visitors.
• There were 313 exhibitors registered for the mega virtual event where 128 stalls were set up to showcase products from the categories – basmati rice, non-basmati rice, millets, wheat, maize, groundnut and coarse grains.
• Because of COVID19 related restrictions on physical travel and trade, APEDA has initiated the concept of VTF for sustaining India’s agricultural and processed food products exports and also exploring new markets for expanding export footprints.

Source:PIB

2. Eni International Award

IN NEWS:

Bharat Ratna Professor Rao receives the Eni International Award for Research in Energy Frontiers.

Key Points:

• The Awards will be presented on 14 October 2021, during an official ceremony held at the Quirinal Palace in Rome.
• Bharat Ratna Professor C.N.R. Rao has received the International Eni Award 2020 for research into renewable energy sources and energy storage, also called the Energy Frontier award.
• This is considered to be the Nobel Prize in Energy Research.
• The award, which has become internationally recognized over the years in the field of energy and environmental research, aims to promote better use of energy sources and encourage new generations of researchers in their work.
• It bears witness to the importance that Eni places on scientific research and innovation. It includes a cash prize and a specially minted gold medal.
• Professor Rao has been working on hydrogen energy as the only source of energy for the benefit of all mankind.
• Hydrogen storage, photochemical and electrochemical production of hydrogen, solar production of hydrogen, and non-metallic catalysis were the highlights of his work.
• The Energy Frontiers award has been conferred for his work on metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, and other materials and two-dimensional systems, including graphene, boron-nitrogen-carbon hybrid materials, and molybdenum sulfide (Molybdenite – MoS2) for energy applications and green hydrogen production.

SOURCE:PIB

3. Launch of SeHAT OPD portal

In news

‘Services e-Health Assistance & Tele-consultation (SeHAT) OPD portal was launched recently.

Ministry: Ministry of Defence

Key takeaways

• The portal provides tele-medicine services to the serving Armed Forces personnel, veterans and their families.
• This is the final version of the SeHAT OPD portal with advanced safety features.
• The trial version was made functional in August 2020.
• Developed by: Department of Military Affairs (DMA), Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and Centre for Development of Artificial Computing (C-DAC) Mohali
• The portal will help reduce the load on hospitals and patients will be able to get contactless consultations in an easy and effective manner.

SOURCE:TH

4.Renaming of Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF)

In news

• The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) will be renamed the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF).
• IBF is the apex body of broadcasters.
• It is now expanding its purview to cover digital streaming platforms

Key takeaways

• The move would bring broadcasters and OTT (over-the-top) platforms under one roof.
• OTT have seen a substantial jump in their viewership base after the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The IBDF would also form a self-regulatory body, the Digital Media Content Regulatory Council (DMCRC), for digital OTT platforms.
• The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) was founded in 1999.
• It is the parent organisation of the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) which was set up in 2011.
• The BCCC examines content-related complaints relating to all non-news general entertainment channels in India.

Important Information.

• An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet.
• OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms.
• Such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar etc.

SOURCE:TH

5. Currency Swap Facility

IN NEWS:

Recently, Bangladesh cleared a USD 200 million currency swap facility for Sri Lanka, to help boost its economy.

KEY POINTS:

• A currency swap is effectively a loan that Bangladesh will give to Sri Lanka in dollars, with an agreement that the debt will be repaid with interest in Sri Lankan rupees.
• For Sri Lanka, this is cheaper than borrowing from the market, and a lifeline as is it struggles to maintain adequate forex reserves even as repayment of its external debts looms.
• The period of the currency swap will be specified in the agreement.
• This may be the first time that Bangladesh is extending a helping hand to another country, so this is a landmark of sorts.
• It is also the first time that Sri Lanka is borrowing from a SAARC country other than India.

Why didn’t Sri Lanka approach India, the biggest economy in the region?

• India-Sri Lanka relations have been tense over Colombo’s decision to cancel a valued container terminal project at Colombo Port.
• Last July, the Reserve Bank of India did extend a $400 million credit swap facility to Sri Lanka, which Central Bank of Sri Lanka settled in February. The arrangement was not extended.

Important Information :

RBI has a framework under which it can offer credit swap facilities to SAARC countries within an overall corpus of $2 billion. the SAARC currency swap facility came into operation in November 2012.

SOURCE:IE