NATIONAL NEWS

World's Largest Food Storage Scheme in Co-Operative Sector

• The Union Cabinet approved forming and empowering an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to create the “world’s largest grain storage plan in the cooperative sector” by converging 8 ongoing schemes of three ministries.
• This ₹1 trillion scheme will be the world's largest grain storage scheme in the cooperative sector.
• The scheme will help cooperatives set up decentralized storage facilities across the country, which is likely to reduce the burden on the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
• This will reduce wastage of agricultural produce and help farmers to plan their sales better.
• An Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) will be constituted under the chairmanship of the cooperation minister.

UPU Regional Office in New Delhi

• The Cabinet approved the setting up of a Regional Office of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) at New Delhi.

• The purpose of the office is to carry out the development cooperation and technical assistance activities of the UPU in the region through an agreement with the UPU.

• India will actively participate in multilateral organizations in the postal sector with a focus on South-South and triangular cooperation.

• India will provide field project experts, staff and office infrastructure for the UPU Regional Office.

• The office will formulate and implement projects for capacity building, training, improving postal service efficiency and quality, enhancing postal technology, promoting e-commerce and trade in the region.
• These projects will be coordinated with UPU.

Araku Coffee and Black Pepper are now Organic Certified

• Araku Coffee and Black Pepper received organic certification from APEDA.

• Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Developm ent Authority (APEDA) has granted organic certification to Girijan Co-operative Corporation (GCC), Visakhapatnam for Araku coffee and black pepper crops.

• This certification will have a positive impact on the market value of these products.

• The certification covers an extensive cultivation area of 21,104 acres. 1,300 farmers in the Gondipakalu, Lammasingi, Kappalu, GK Veedhi, Pedavalasa, and Erracheruvulu clusters grow coffee and pepper.

• The process of obtaining certification crossed various challenges including third-party verification, online registration, geo-tagging of farms, etc.
• Araku Coffee is cultivated in the Araku Valley of Andhra Pradesh.
• Arabica Coffee is grown around Vishakapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh and Koraput district in Orissa.

‘Odisha for AI, and AI for Youth’ Initiative

• Odisha Chief Minister (CM) Shri Naveen Patnaik launched ‘Odisha for Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) and ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Youth’ initiatives.

• ‘Odisha for AI, and AI for Youth’ initiative will be implemented in Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack in the first phase.

• Odisha Electronics and IT Department has collaborated with Intel India.

• ‘Odisha for AI’ is a free 4-hour course on AI by Intel on its app/site.

• ‘Odisha for AI’ is a self-learning online program designed to raise public awareness about artificial intelligence.

• AI for youth is an initiative for students (below 18) of 2000 5T schools and Odisha Adarsh Vidyalayas.
• The Odisha government is focused on technology-driven transformation. It is one of the key components of the Government’s 5-T (Team Work, Technology, Transparency, Transformation & Time Limit) initiative.
• The initiative will promote digital literacy among the masses and make them familiar with new-generation technology.
• It will also create an ecosystem for improving research, innovation, and application of AI across various sectors.

ECONOMY

UPI Hits Record 9 billion Transactions

• The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) registered more than nine billion transactions in May 2023 amounting to over 14 lakh crore rupees.
• According to the National Payments Corporation of India NPCI, UPI recorded a total 9.41 billion transactions in May 2023.
• UPI had recorded 8 billion transactions in January this year, followed by 7.5 billion in February, 8.7 billion in March, and 8.89 billion in April.
• In Financial Year 2022-23, the payment system processed a total of 83 billion transactions, amounting to a value of 139 lakh crore rupees.
• India's homegrown payments system UPI is one of the globally accepted payment systems and has emerged as a trusted payment mode ever since its launch in 2016.
• The report titled "The Indian Payments Handbook - 2022-27" said that the share of UPI in the total transaction volume in the retail segment during 2022-23 was around 75 per cent.
• The Indian digital payments market is expected to reach 411 billion transactions in FY 2026-27 from 103 billion in FY 2022-23.

SPORTS

Mission Olympic Cell Approved Neeraj Chopra's Proposal

• The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) on 28th May approved Olympic Gold Medallist Neeraj Chopra’s proposal to train in Kuortane, Finland.

• Neeraj will train at the Kurtane Olympic Training Center in Finland.

• He is scheduled to compete in several World Athletics events next month.

• The MOC members also approved paddler Payas Jain's proposal for an advanced training camp in Taiwan.

• Proposals to get Indian table tennis stars Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran's personal trainers Aman Balgu and Raman Subramaniam for a number of events were also approved by the MOC.

Men's Junior Asia Cup 2023

• India won the Men's Junior Asia Cup 2023 title in Hockey by defeating Pakistan 2-1 in the final held in Salalah, Oman.

• The win marked India's fourth title in the men's Junior Asia Cup, having previously won in 2004, 2008 and 2015.

• Angad Bir Singh and Arjit Hundal Singh scored for India, while Pakistan managed to score a goal through Basharat Ali.

• It is an international under-21 field hockey tournament organized by the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF).

AWARDS & PRIZES

Environmental Airline of the Year 2023

• Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has been named the Environmental Airline of the Year 2023 for the second year in a row at the Airline Rating Awards.

• The prestigious award acknowledges the airline's commitment to sustainable aviation through innovation and collaboration.

• Etihad is ranked third in the 'Top 10 Airlines' category, which evaluates comfort, innovation, value and safety in economy, business and first class.

• Etihad's sustainability strategy focuses on emissions reduction, industry alignment, collaboration with the UAE ecosystem and proactive transparency.

• Key initiatives of the airline include the Greenliner program using Boeing 787 Dreamliners and the deployment of Sustainable50 A350-1000 aircraft.

Greentech Safety Award 2023

• RINL received the “GreenTech Safety Award 2023” under the safety Excellence Category.

• It has received the award for improving safety at the workplace in 2022-23.

• The award was presented at the 21st Annual Greentech Awards function in New Delhi.

• The 21st GreenTech Safety Award has been organized by the Greentech Foundation.

• It honours the outstanding organizations that are defining the commercial futures by adding value through excellence in fire, safety, health and security management for corporate citizenship, life cycle stewardship, etc.
• The jury of the award praised RINL’s initiatives of using Drone technology for the inspection of high-rise structures, chimneys etc. and the development of Software Application for tracking the use of Safety Harnesses.
• Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, also known as Vizag Steel, is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Steel, Government of India based in Visakhapatnam, India

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

First Female Secretary-General of WMO

• Celeste Saulo of Argentina has been appointed as the first female Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

• Saulo won a landslide victory at the Congress of the United Nations Climate and Weather Agency in Geneva.

• She will take over from the outgoing secretary-general Petteri Taalas of Finland.

• Saulo has served as director of Argentina's National Meteorological Service since 2014.

• The leader of the World Meteorological Congress is elected every four years.

• The agency plays an important role in coordinating international meteorological operations.
• It relies on satellites and thousands of weather stations to measure key parameters of the atmosphere, land and sea.

Chairman of SAIL

• Amarendu Prakash took charge as the new Chairman and Managing Director of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) with effect from 31 May.
• He was earlier Director (In-Charge) of SAIL's Bokaro Steel Plant.
• Prakash is heading the Bokaro Steel Plant as Director-in-Charge from September 2020.
• Under Prakash's leadership, Bokaro Steel Plant achieved remarkable production records in FY22 and FY23.
• SAIL is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Steel, Government of India.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

A political Biography of NTR by K Ramachandra Murty

• Justice Sudarshan Reddy released a book titled ‘A Political Biography NTR’.

• ‘A Political Biography NTR’ has been written by senior Editor K. Ramachandra Murthy.

• HarperCollins India published the book.

• Justice B Sudarshan Reddy said that Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao was a rare leader who fulfilled promises made to people and loved people abundantly.

• NTR had no political knowledge but he has a strong will power to do welfare of the people.
• Supreme Court retired Judge Justice Chalameshwar released the Telugu version of the book ‘NTR- Rajakiya Jeevitha Charitra- Asalu Kadha’.
• Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for seven years over three terms. He also acted in more than 300 films.

OBITUTARY

Padma Shri Awardee and Writer Vellayani Arjunan

• Eminent scholar, linguist, academician and writer Vellayani Arjunan passed away in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was at the age of 90.
• Vellayani Arjunan began his illustrious career as a research assistant in the Kerala Lexicon Department and later became a Malayalam faculty at Sree Narayana (SN) College in Kollam, Kerala.
• He rose to the position of the head of the Department of Modern Indian Languages at Aligarh Muslim University years later.
• He also served as the director of the state Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications.
•  He is an author of over 40 books of different genres, including poetry, short stories, children’s fiction, essays, literary criticism, research articles, etc.
• In 2008, Arjunan was awarded the Padma Shri for his overall achievements in numerous sectors.