Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 9th September 2023 | Download PDF

• INS Delhi conducts maritime partnership exercise with Sri Lanka Navy Ship Vijayabahu

Key points

• A clean-up drive at Crow Island beach (Sri Lanka) was jointly undertaken by India’s INS and Sri Lanka’s SLN.
• The Commanding Officer of INS Delhi interacted with Rear Admiral Suresh De Silva, Commander Western Naval Area (COMWEST) .
• As part of India’s ‘Aarogya Maitri’ initiative, which aims to provide essential medical supplies to friendly countries, the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay, presented a state-of-the-art Arogya Maitri Cube to the Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament.
• These medical cubes have been indigenously developed under the Project BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri). 

• India has built the world’s first portable disaster hospital, called the “Aarogya Maitri Cube”. 
• The hospital can be airlifted and assembled into 72 cubes that contain essential medical equipment and supplies. 
• The cubes can support 200 survivors for 48 hours during natural disasters or crises.
• It has been developed indigenously under the Project BHISHM(Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri).

The hospital includes Operation theatres, mini-ICUs, Ventilators, Blood test equipment, an X-ray machine, a Cooking station, Food, Water, a Shelter, Power generator.

About:

• The “Aarogya Maitri Cube” is part of “Aarogya Maitri” project. The project aims to provide essential medical supplies to any developing country affected by natural disasters or humanitarian crises.

• Both the leaders welcomed the completion process of a commercial agreement between General Electric Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.(HAL) to manufacture GE F-414 jet engines of India.
• A settlement was also reached on the seventh and the last WTO outstanding dispute between the two countries.
• President Biden welcomed the issuance of a Letter of Request from the Ministry of Defence of India to procure 31 General Atomics MQ-9B, remotely piloted aircraft and associated equipments.
• US industry to invest more in India’s maintenance , repair and overhaul capacities and facilities for aircraft.
• On space cooperation, establishment of a working group for commercial space collaboration under the existing India-US Civil Space Joint Working group between NASA and ISRO.

Discussed cooperation in sectors like infrastructure, FinTech, culture and more. 

• Azali Assoumani affirmed that the African Union is confident to become a full time member of the G-20.
• According to him, G-20 should invest in industrialisation of Africa.
• He urged the G-20 economies to utilise African resources to manufacture products in Africa.

About African Union

• The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent.
• It was officially launched in 2002 and replaced its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which was founded in 1963.
• Primary Objective: To promote unity, cooperation, and development among African nations while advancing the continent’s interests on the global stage.
• It aims to strengthen political, economic, and social integration among African countries, with a vision of achieving an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa.
• Headquarters: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

According to the recent reports by Reserve Bank

• India’s foreign currency assets rose by $3.442 billion to $530.691 billion
• Gold reserves rose $584 million to $44.939 billion.
• Special Drawing Rights climbed by $1 million to $18.195 billion.
• India’s reserve position with the IMF rose $12 million to $5.073 billion.

• State owned China National Off-shore Oil Company(CNOOC) has decided to proactively decrease exports and channelise the supply to its domestic market.
• This is a concern for India as India imports about 30% of urea needed annually and China is its second largest supplier.

• The Incremental Cash Reserve Ratio will be discontinued in a phased manner.
• The measure was intended to absorb surplus liquidity generated by various factors, including the return of Rs.2000 notes to the banking system.

Due to the ethnic conflicts going on in the Manipur region.

Key points

• It is one of the ethnic groups that inhabit the northeastern regions of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
• They are mainly found in the states of Manipur and Mizoram in India, Chin State in Myanmar, and Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.
• They are also known as Chin or Mizo people, and they share a common ancestry and culture.
• They are part of the larger Zo people, along with the Chin and Mizo tribes.
• The Kuki tribe has a rich and diverse history, culture and tradition that reflect their adaptation to the hilly and forested terrain they live in.
• They speak various dialects of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo language family, which belong to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages.

Due to the ethnic conflicts going on in the Manipur region.

Key points

• The Meitei people, also known as the Manipuri people, are the predominant ethnic group of Manipur State.
• They speak the Meitei language (officially called Manipuri), one of the 22 official languages of India and the sole official language of Manipur State.
• The Meiteis primarily settled in the Imphal Valley region in modern-day Manipur, though a sizable population has settled in the other Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. 
• There is also a notable presence of Meitei in the neighbouring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. 
• It represents about 53% of Manipur’s population.

Read about the ethnic conflict in manipur

Observe the state on the map