Current Affairs | National | International | SSC | UPSC 17th August 2024

Cabinet gives approval to three Metro rail projects 

• The Union Cabinet on Friday gave approval to three new Metro rail projects, including the Bengaluru Metro Phase-3 which is estimated to cost ₹15,611 crore. 
• The other two are the Thane Integral Ring Metro project at a cost of ₹12,200 crore and the extension of the Pune Metro at a cost 2,954.5 crore. 
• The Cabinet also approved a new civil enclave for Bihar at Bihta at an estimated cost of ₹1,413 crore to help with capacity constraints at the Patna airport. 
• The passenger building at the Bihta Indian Air Force base will be able to handle 3,000 passengers in peak hours and cater to 50 lakh passengers per annum, the Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement, adding that it can be expanded to cater to 1 crore passengers per annum. 
• The apron at the civil enclave will have 10 parking bays capable of handling A320 family of air-craft and Boeing 737s. 
• The Cabinet also approved the expansion of the existing civil enclave at the Bagdogra IAF base. 

Kerala researchers develop breakthrough cyanide sensor to enhance safety of water, food products 

• A research team at the Central University of Kerala has achieved a significant breakthrough in chemical sensing by developing a highly sensitive. and selective cyanide sensor. Led by Ravi Kumar Ka naparthi of the The Department of Chemistry, the team has created a material capable of detecting toxic cyanide at low concentrations, promising to enhance the safety of drinking water and food products. 
• Cyanide, a potent toxin, is present in various plants, fruits, and microorganisms. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set strict guidelines for its presence in potable water, limiting cyanide concentrations to below 0.19 mg/l. due to its lethal effects on humans and aquatic life. Cyanide exposure can occur through consumption of certain foods like cassava (tapioca) and even common items like apple and apricot seeds, sprouting potatoes, and almonds. The risk is particularly severe in regions where cyanide-rich foods are staples. The team addressed this critical need by designing a novel sensor that offers both high sensitivity and selectivity. 
• The material they developed appears yellow to the naked eye when dissolved, but turns colourless upon detecting cyanide. This colour change provides a straightforward visual cue, making it easy to identify the presence of cyanide. Moreover, the material selectively detects cyanide without interference from other competing ions, ensuring accuracy in various testing environments. 
• Practical applications The practical applications of the sensor are wide- ranging. The team demon- strated its effectiveness in detecting cyanide in tapioca extracts, where the sensor's colour shifts from yellow to bluish-green, and developed a strip for qualitative detection. The innovation is relevant given recent incidents of cyanide poisoning. On January 2, the Animal Husbandry Department reported the death of 13 cows in Idukki due to cyanide toxicity after consuming tapioca hulls. 
• The research has been published in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photo-biology A: Chemistry. Their paper, titled "A 
• Highly Sensitive Colorimetric and Fluorometric Sensor for the Detection of Cyanide," details the sensors design and functionality 

Aadujeevitham, Kaathal win Kerala film awards 

• Aadujeevitham, based on a real-life saga of human resilience in the face of unimaginable suffering, garnered nine awards including the top honours of Best Director for Blessy and Best Actor for Prithviraj Sukumaran at the 54th Kerala State Film Awards. Kaathal-The Core, Jeo Baby's sensitive take on homosexuality, won the award for the Best Film as well as Best Story. 
• Urvashi, who subtly portrayed the inner turmoil of a woman in dealing with unforeseen circumstances after her son's death in Ul lozhukku, shared the acting honours with Beena R. Chandran, who portrayed a woman who goes through a series of unfortunate events in Fazil Razak's Thadavu. Mr. Fazil also won the award for the best Debutant Director. 
• The other awards won by Aadujeevitham include Best Popular Film, Best Adapted Screenplay for Blessy, Best Cinematography for K.S. Sunil, Special Jury Award (actor) for K.R. Gokul, Best Sound Mixing award for Resul Pookutty and Sarath Mohan, Best Makeup Artist for Ranjith Ambady, and Best processing lab/colourist for Vaishal Shiva Ganesh. 
• Rohith M.G. Krishnan won the Best Original Screenplay Award for Irat- ra, a gut-wrenching tale of a pair of twins whose lives take starkly different turns. Iratta, directed by Rohith, also won the award for the Best Second Film. Jayadevan Chakkadath and Anil Radhakrishnan won the Best Sound Design Award for Ullozhukku. Jude Anthany Joseph. 2018 won the award for Best Visual Effects for Andrew D Cruz and Vishak Babu, as well as Best Art Direction for Mohandas. Sangeeth Prathap won the Best Editing Award for Little Miss Rawther. 

ISRO'S SSLV successfully launches earth observation satellite into orbit 

• The search Organisation on Friday launched the EOS-08 Earth Observation Satellite on board the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D3) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sri- harikota. The SSLV-D3, in its final development flight, lifted off from the first launch pad of SDSC at 9.17 a.m. 
• Seventeen minutes later, the EOS-08 satellite was injected into a 475-km circular orbit as intended. "The third developmental flight of SSLV, the SSLV-D3 with the EOS-08 satellite, has been successfully accomplished. 
• The rocket has placed the spacecraft. in a very precise orbit as planned. I find that there are no deviations in the injection conditions. The current indication is that everything is perfect," IS RO Chairman S. Somanath said after the launch. 
• EOS-08 is a first-of-its kind mission built on a standard ISREY'S Microsat/ IMS-1 bus with a suite of advanced payloads for observation in the IR range, novel GNSS-R Payload and SiC UV dosimeter. 
• The satellite boasts a host of new technological developments in satellite mainframe systems like an Integrated Avionics system Communication, Base band, Storage and Positioning (CBSP) Package, Structural panel embed ded with PCB, embedded battery, Micro-DGA (Dual Gimbal Antenna), M-PAA (Phased array antenna) and Flexible solar panel & Nano star sensor etc., on-board Technology Demonstration.
• It carries three payloads, namely Electro Optical Infrared Payload (EOIR), SAC, Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry payload (GNSS-R), SAC and SiC UV Dosimeter, LEOS. The EOIR payload is to image in the Mid-Wave IR (MIK) hand and long-wave IR (LWIR) band during day and night for various applications like satellite-based surveillance, disaster monitoring, environmental monitoring, fire detection, volcanic activities and industrial and power plant disaster. 
• GNSS-R payload is to demonstrate the capability of using GNSS-R-based remote sensing to derive applications like Ocean Surface Winds, Soil moisture, Cryosphere applications. over the Himalayan region, flood detection, in-land water body detection, etc. The spacecraft mission configuration is set to operate in a circular Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 475 km and has a mission life of one year. 

National Film Awards: Aattam bags best film honour, Rishab Shetty adjudged best actor 

• The National Film Awards for 2022, announced on Friday, was dominated by regional movies, with Aattam (The Play) in Malayalam being adjudged the Best Feature Film. Rishab Shetty won the Best Actor award for his role in Kantara (Kannada), and Nithya Menen and Manasi Parekh shared the Best Actress award for Thiruchitrambalam (Tamil) and Kutch Express respectively. (Gujarati) 
• Aattam was also declared the best in the editing (Mahesh Bhuvanend) category and for screenplay (Anand Ekarshi) jointly with Hindi film Gulmohar (Arpita Mukherjee and Rahul V. Chittella); Kantara also won the award for the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The Best Choreography award went to Jani Master and Sathish Krish nan for their work in Thiruchitrambalam. 
• Malayalam film Aattam won the Best Film, Best Editing and Best Screenplay awards. 
• The award for Best Direction went to Sooraj R. Barjatya for Unchai: Zenith (Hindi). Pavan Raj Malhotra won the Best Supporting Actor award for Fouja (Haryanvi) and Neena Gupta won the Best Supporting Actress award for Uunchai: Zenith in the feature films category. 
• Fouja was also adjudged 
• Ounces 24-hour withdrawal of the best in the debut film category. 
• Gulmohar got the Best Hindi Film award as well, while Niki Joshi won the Best Costume Designer award for Kutch Express. 
• The Best Production Design award went to Ananda Addhya for Aparajito: The Undefeated (Bengali), which also got the award for best make-up (Somnath Kundu). The Best Lyrics award went to Naushad Sadar Khan for his work in Foja. 
• A.R. Rahman won the award for Best Music Director (background music) for Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan-Part 1 (Tamil), which was also selected as the best Tamil film and won awards for the Best Cinematography (Ravi Varman) and the Best Sound Design (Anand Krishnamoorthi). 

J&K election to be held in three phases from Sept. 18 

• The first Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election in a decade will be held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Friday. This will also be the first Assembly poll in J&K since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019. 
• Haryana will vote in a single phase on October 1, and the counting of votes for both Assemblies will be held on October 4. 
• "People in Jammu and Kashmir opted for ballots instead of bullet and boycotts [during the recent Lok Sabha election]. The Valley reached a new peak, witnessing a 30-point jump in poll participation from2019," Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference to announce the poll dates. J&K voters last went to the polls to elect an Assembly in a five-phase exercise in November and December 2014. While upholding the All 90 Assembly constituencies in the State will go to the polls on October 1 
• Votes will be counted on October 4 for both Assemblies scrapping of Article 370 last year, the Supreme Court had directed that Assembly polls be held in J&K by September 30. Asked why the poll body overshot the deadline, Mr. Kumar said the EC had considered several factors, including the weather, the December 2023 amendment to reserve seats for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and the Amarnath Yatra, which ends on August 19. 

NATIONAL 

Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana 2024 

• The Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Pradhan Mantri JI-Van Yojana. 
• This programme has focused on converting biomass to ethanol, by extending the project’s implementation timeline by five years. 
• The modified scheme extends the timeline for implementation of the scheme by Five (5) years i.e. till 2028-29. 
• It includes advanced biofuels produced from lignocellulosic feedstocks i.e. agricultural and forestry residues, industrial waste, synthesis (syn) gas, algae etc. in its scope. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Artificial sweetener sucralose 

• Recent study shows that small amounts of sucralose do not impact blood glucose levels. 
• It also indicates a slight improvement in body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), and body mass index (BMI). 
• Sucralose is one of the most popular non-nutritive or artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes. 
• There are two types of sweeteners, nutritive and non-nutritive.Nutritive ones like fructose can add calories and are not suitable at all for people with diabetes. 
• Sucralose is not metabolised by the body, so it adds no calories. 

Govind Mohan has been appointed as the new Union Home Secretary. 

• Senior IAS officer Govind Mohan was appointed as the new Union Home Secretary. 
• He will succeed Ajay Kumar Bhalla, whose tenure will end on August 22. 
• His appointment has been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. 
• Sandeep Poundrik assumes charge as Secretary, Ministry of Steel. 
• He had previously served as an advisor to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). 

Government to include AYUSH in the Ayushman Bharat scheme. 

• The Union Government has decided to include the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) package under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY). 
• The package design, hospital onboarding, treatment guidelines, outcomes and financial implications are under discussion. 
• AB PM-JAY provide health coverage of 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. 
• It will benefit 55 crore beneficiaries, corresponding to 12.34 crore families. 
• Ministry of Ayush launched the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Ayush Mission (NAM) In 2014. 
• At present, the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) runs 110 Ayush Wellness Centers along with one Ayurvedic Hospital In India. 

12. In July, India's merchandise imports rose to $57.48 billion. 

• In July this year, India's merchandise imports rose 7.4% to $57.48 billion compared to $53.49 billion in July last year. 
• According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on August 14, imports of merchandise goods have Increased due to a surge in imports of crude oil, silver and electronic goods. 
• India's merchandise export growth fell to an eight-month low in July, with exports declining 1.47% to $33.98 billion due to sluggish global demand, geopolitical challenges and falling crude oil, commodities and metal prices.
• On the services front, services exports are estimated at $28.4 billion in July this year, up 8% from $26.2 billion in the same month. 
• Petroleum products, which account for over 15% of India's exports, fell 22% to $5.23 billion in July. 
• Imports of petroleum and crude products rose 17.4% to $13.87 billion. In addition, Gold imports declined 10.65% to $3.13 billion in July. 

An MoU signed to study augmenting water supply in Faridabad through sustainable groundwater development in Yamuna floodplains. 

• An MoU was signed between Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority (FMDA) to address the projected water supply gap for Faridabad Smart City by 2031. 
• This is an important step towards augmenting the city's water supply through sustainable development of groundwater resources in the Yamuna floodplains. 
• The scope of this MoU includes a comprehensive study to assess the groundwater potential and quality in the Yamuna floodplains. 
• This study will result in preparation of a comprehensive groundwater management plan. 
• This will include strategies for artificial recharge and further development of groundwater resources within the specified study area in Faridabad district. 
• The MoU is valid till March 31, 2025, and the study is expected to be completed by this period. 

Centre released rules to boost offshore mineral exploration & production. 

• The central government introduced the Offshore Areas Mineral Trust Rules, 2024, to oversee mineral exploration and production in India's offshore areas. 
• As a government. This amount will be deposited into India's public account. 
• per the new rules, offshore mine holders have to contribute to the Trust by paying 10 per cent of their royalty payments to the 
• The regulations also set specific exploration norms for different deposits and minerals, including construction-grade silica sand, non-construction-grade calcareous sand, calcareous mud, phosphatic sediments, etc.
• The Ministry of Mines has identified 10 offshore mineral blocks for potential auction. 
• As per the rules, the main objective of the trust is to promote sustainable exploration. 

BRICS partners launched a Centre for Industrial Competences. 

• BRICS countries launched a Centre for Industrial Competences in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). 
• It will support the development of Industrial skills and capabilities. 
• This centre will promote partnerships within the framework of the New Industrial Revolution (NIR). 
• It will identify interests, challenges, and opportunities in the rapidly evolving industrial landscape. 
• This centre will help in developing the industrial skills of its members. 
• The UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology joined its BRICS counterparts in the launch of this centre. 
• Under the declaration, the members emphasised their commitment to cooperate on industrial policy in support of the United 
• Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Geospatial Decision Support System for Agriculture launched by the Government. 

• On August 17, the Centre unveiled the Krishi-Decision Support System (K-DSS) portal, a satellite-based geospatial platform. 
• This platform will provide farmers information about weather, groundwater level, soil health, reservoir storage levels etc. and will also include data like satellite images. 
• Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Bhagirath Choudhary launched the portal developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. 
• Krishi-DSS was launched during the National Conference on Space Driven Solutions for Agricultural Transformation in India organised by the Ministry of Agriculture. 
• The one-day conference is part of the events organised by the government to mark the first National Space Day 2024, which will 
• be celebrated on August 23 to mark the first anniversary of India's moon landing. 

Five major infrastructure projects have been approved by the Union Cabinet. 

• These projects include three major metro rail projects along with two new airport facilities across India. 
• Phase-3 of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project has been approved by the Cabinet. 
• The length of Bengaluru's metro network will be 220.20 kilometres when it is finished in 2029. 
• Thane Integral Ring Metro Rail Project has also been approved. 
• With an estimated cost of Rs. 12,200 crore, this 29-km ring corridor will have 22 stations. 
• Phase 1 of the Swargate to Katraj underground extension will strategically expand Pune's metro system, 
• This extension is expected to be finished by 2029 and integrate with the Swargate Multimodal Hub. 
• The construction of a new civic enclave at Bihta, Bihar, is expected to relieve pressure on Patna Airport. 
• The project involves constructing a modern Integrated Terminal Building at a cost of Rs. 1,413 crore. 
• The construction of a new civil enclave at West Bengal's Bagdogra Airport, at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,549 crore, has been approved by the Cabinet. 

An MoU signed by public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and Sansad Television in Parliament on August 16. 

• The MoU was signed in the presence of Sansad TV CEO Rajit Punhani, Prasar Bharati CEO Gaurav Dwivedi, and senior officials of both organisations. 
• The MoU will facilitate sharing of resources, training of personnel and cross-channel promotion of each other's programmes. 
• The MoU aims to share content and programs, broadcast Sansad TV on Prasar Bharati's OTT platforms, and use training facilities. 
• Under this MoU, Prasar Bharati and Sansad Television will share and broadcast special coverage, exclusive content, interviews, documentaries, audio-visual content, live feeds, archives and other content produced by both the networks. 
• They will also share human resources, technology and equipment.. 
• Prasar Bharati will provide PB-SHABD facilities to Sansad TV. 
• The two networks agreed to promote each other's programmes and give advertisements. 

RN Agarwal, 'Father of Agni missile', passed away at 84.

•  The father of Agni missiles, RN Agarwal, died at the age of 84. He died due to old age-related ailments. 
• RN Agarwal was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan. 
• He had served as the Agni program director and also as the director of ASL (Advanced Systems Laboratory) in Hyderabad. 
• The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMP) was launched by Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and Agni was a key program in it. 
• Agni missile is a family of medium-to intercontinental-range ballistic missiles. 
• Agni-l was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) and tested in 1989. 
• Agni-5 can carry nuclear warheads and hit targets more than 5,000 km away. It uses a three-stage solid fuel engine.