July 13th Current Affairs

1. Ashadhi Bij.

IN NEWS:

PM greets people on the occasion of Ashadhi Bij, the Kutchi New Year.

KEY POINTS:

• Ashadhi Bij is an auspicious day for farming communities in north india especially Gujarat,UP and some other places.
• In 2021 Ashadhi Bij date is July 12.
• Ashadhi Bij falls on the second day of Shukla paksha of Ashada month of Hindu calendar.
• The festival is associated with the beginning of rains in the Kutch region of Gujarat.
• During Ashadhi Bij, the moisture in the atmosphere is checked to predict which crop would do best in the coming monsoon.
• This is to note that on Ashadhi Bij day,Rath Yatra is celebrated all over the world.

SOURCE:PIB

2. International Trade Finance Services platform (‘ITFS’)

IN NEWS:

Framework for Setting up and operating International Trade Finance Services platform (‘ITFS’) for providing Trade Finance Services at International Financial Services Centres (‘IFSCs’).

KEY POINTS:

• The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has been set up vide IFSCA Act, 2019 to develop and regulate the financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs).
• The framework will enable Exporters and Importers to avail various types of trade finance facilities at competitive terms, for their international trade transactions through a dedicated electronic platform viz, ITFS.
• This will help in their ability to convert their trade receivables into liquid funds and to obtain short term funding.
• This framework will provide an opportunity to the participants to avail trade finance facilities for trade transactions such as Export Invoice Trade Financing, Reverse Trade Financing, Bill discounting under Letter of Credit, Supply Chain Finance for Exporters, Export Credit (Packing Credit), Insurance/ Credit Guarantee, Factoring and any other eligible product, on the ITFS platform.

SOURCE:PIB

3. Khadi secures trademark registrations in 3 countries.

IN NEWS:

Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC) has secured trademark registration for its brand name “Khadi” in three countries viz., Mexico, Bhutan and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

KEY POINTS:

• KVIC obtained trademark registration in Bhutan on July 9.
• UAE granted the trademark registration on June 28, 2021.
• Thus, KVIC has successfully secured trademark registration in a gulf country for the first time.
• KVIC received trademark registration for “Khadi” in Mexico in December 2020.
• KVIC has had trademark registrations in certain classes of word “Khadi” in five countries – United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Russia and China besides European Union, till date.

Important information:

About Khadi

• It refers to hand-spun and hand-woven cloth.
• Raw materials like cotton, silk, or wool can be spun into threads on charkha (traditional spinning implement) to obtain khadi.
• It was launched in 1920 as a political weapon in Swadeshi movement started by Mahatma Gandhi. Khadi is sourced from different parts of India:
• Silk variety of Khadi is sourced from West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and North Eastern states,
• Cotton variety is sourced from Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
• Khadi poly in Gujarat and Rajasthan
• Woollen variety is obtained from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Karnataka.

SOURCE:MINT

4.Kongu Nadu.

IN NEWS:

A list of new Union Cabinet ministers issued by the BJP has triggered a debate in political circles in Tamil Nadu, as well as on social media, by referring to ‘Kongu Nadu’, the informal name for a region in the western part of the state.

KEY POINTS:

• The list mentions new minister L Murugan as hailing from ‘Kongu Nadu’.
• This has led to allegations that the BJP of trying to bifurcate the state, with the ruling DMK-Congress alliance saying the “agenda” will not succeed.
• It has also been considered an AIADMK stronghold in the recent past, and is also where the BJP’s limited influence in the state is concentrated.

Important Information :

Kongu Nadu:

• ‘Kongu Nadu’ is neither a place with a PIN code nor a name given formally to any region. It is a commonly used name for part of western Tamil Nadu.
• In Tamil literature, it was referred to as one of the five regions of ancient Tamil Nadu. There were mentions of ‘Kongu Nadu’ in Sangam literature as a separate territory.
• In the present state of Tamil Nadu, the term is informally used to refer to a region that includes the districts of Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Karur, Namakkal and Salem, as well as Oddanchatram and Vedasandur in Dindgul district, and Pappireddipatti in Dharmapuri district.
• The name derives from Kongu Vellala Gounder, an OBC community with a significant presence in these districts.
• The region includes prominent businesses and industrial hubs at Namakkal, Salem, Tirupur and Coimbatore.

SOURCE:TH

5. Giant Pandas.

IN NEWS:

Giant pandas are no longer classified as endangered but are still vulnerable, Chinese officials say.

KEY POINTS:

• The classification was downgraded as their number in the wild has reached 1,800.
• The new classification comes years after the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had already removed the animal from its endangered species list and re-labelled it as vulnerable in 2016.
• At the time, however, Chinese officials had disputed the decision, saying that it could mislead people into believing that conservation efforts could be relaxed.
• This week’s announcement by China’s environmental ministry is the first time the animal’s status was changed on its own endangered species list, which uses similar standards as the Swiss-based IUCN.
• Experts have said that the success is largely due to Chinese efforts to recreate and repopulate bamboo forests. Bamboo makes up some 99 per cent of their diet, without which they are likely to starve.

SOURCE:IE