Current Affairs
TNPSC DAILY CA APRIL 7 - English
13 INTERNATIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS - FEDERAL GOVERMENT
Synopsis:
- India has signed 13 free trade agreements with international countries in the last 5 years. Accordingly, India has entered into 13 free trade agreements with its trading partners.
- Includes the recently signed India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA), the India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Joint Agreement (CECPA) and the India-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Joint Agreement (CEPA).
Key Highlights:
- India has signed 6 limited priority trade agreements.Anupriya Patel, Associate Minister of Commerce and Industry, conveyed this information in writing to the Lok Sabha.
- India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
- South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan)
- India-Nepal Trade Agreement
- Indo-Bhutan Agreement on Trade, Trade and Transport
- India-Thailand Free Trade Agreement - Early Harvest Plan
- India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
- India-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement - Goods, Services and Investment Agreement (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam)
- India-South Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
- India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
- India-Malaysia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
- India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Joint Agreement
- India-UAE Comprehensive Joint Agreement
- India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement
- The economic impact assessment of the above agreements shows that there has been growth in both exports and imports with the contracted countries.
FORBES BILLIONAIRE LIST
Synopsis:
- Ambani, Adani and the other top 10 richest Indians on Forbes 2022 list
- Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani maintained their top slots in the list of India's richest, ranking number 1 and 2, respectively.
- Despite the coronavirus pandemic, which was raging last year, the 36th-annual ranking of billionaires across the world, had several Indians on the list. The Ambanis, Adanis, Mittals and Birlas all feature on the Forbes’ latest rich list.
Key Highlights:
- Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, retained his position as the chart topper of Indian billionaires, with the 10th rank worldwide.
- Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani continues to stay on top of the list as the richest Indian with a net worth of $90.7 billion, according to the Forbes Billionaires List 2022, which was published . Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk emerged as the richest person in the world, followed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Louis Vuitton chief Bernard Arnault.
- Ambani ranked at the 10th position on the global list, followed narrowly by fellow industrialist and Adani Group founder Gautam Adani, whose fortune climbed by almost $40 billion over the past year, to an estimated $90 billion.
- Among other prominent faces on the list included Shiv Nadar, Cyrus Poonawalla, Radhakishan Damani, Lakshmi Mittal, Savitri Jindal, Kumar Birla, Dilip Shanghvi, Uday Kotak and Sunil Mittal
- world's billionaire club has declined by 87 compared to 2021, with 2,668 persons, and an aggregate net worth of $12.7 trillion — $400 billion less than in 2021.
CHENNAI RANKED WORLD’S CHEAPEST FDI LOCATION FOR ELECTRONICS R&D
Synopsis:
- Chennai has been ranked the cheapest location in the top 100 electronics R&D FDI destinations as per the latest assessment using the FDI Benchmark, an investment location comparison tool by Financial Times.
- Chennai has an estimated annual operating cost of $1.24 million for a 50-person R&D centre, which is cheapest in the world.
Key Highlights:
- The Malaysian city of Penang took the second spot with an estimated annual operating cost of $1.32 million, followed by Gurgaon with $1.52 million and Pune with $1.53 million.
- Chennai ranked second among the world’s most competitive locations, only after Seoul, which houses large campuses of companies like Samsung and LG Electronics.
- In this ranking, Chennai was followed by Chinese cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Three other Indian cities, Bangalore, Pune, and Gurgaon were among the top 10 cities on this list.
- The location competitiveness benchmark is based on the cost and quality of doing electronics R&D activities.
- Tamil Nadu government, which is already taking steps to attract investors. While companies like Samsung and Apple currently have a strong presence in manufacturing, the presence of large R&D centre is missing, according to a Hindu Business Line report.
- The Tamil Nadu government is trying hard to woo more investors in the electronics sector and is planning to organise global investors meet in 2023.
- According to a Business Standard report, the state has seen $50-billion investment through memoranda of understanding since 2019.
BILL INTRODUCED TO BAN FINANCING OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
Synopsis:
- External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha that seeks to ban funding of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and empowers the Centre to freeze and seize financial assets of people involved in such activities.
- Amid sloganeering by Opposition members over repeated fuel price hikes, Mr. Jaishankar introduced the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, which also fulfils India’s international obligations pertaining to WMDs.
Key Highlights:
- The earlier law of 2005 regarding WMDs and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) only banned their manufacture.
- “In recent times, regulations relating to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems by international organisations have expanded,” Mr. Jaishankar in the statements of objects and reasons of the Bill.
- The Minister noted that the United Nations Security Council’s targeted financial sanctions and the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force have mandated against financing of the proliferation of WMD and their delivery systems.
- “In view of the above, there is a need to amend the said Act to provide against the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems so as to fulfil our international obligations,”
- The Bill seeks to insert a new Section 12A in the existing law which states that “no person shall finance any activity which is prohibited under this Act, or under the United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1947 or any other relevant Act for the time being in force, or by an order issued under any such Act, in relation to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems”.
- The Bill would give the government powers to “freeze, seize or attach funds or other financial assets or economic resources owned or controlled, wholly or jointly, directly or indirectly, by such person; or held by or on behalf of, or at the direction of, such person; or derived or generated from the funds or other assets owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by such person”.
WORLD HEALTH DAY : APRIL 7
Synopsis:
- World Health Day is World Health Awareness Day on April 7 every year.
- The theme of World Health Day 2022 is ‘Our Planet, Our Health’.
- This year's theme aims to draw global attention to the well-being of our planet and the people who inhabit it.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) convened the f irst World Health Assembly in 1948, which called for the establishment of World Health Day.
- The first World Health Day was held on April 7, 1950, and every year thereafter it was observed on that date.
- The main objective of this day is to raise awareness about a specific health topic to highlight the priority area of the World Health Organization.
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DAILY CA ENGLISH APRIL 7
BANK ACHIEVERS Achievers
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