Daily Current Affairs for UPSC Exam 18 January | Prelims Bits

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC Exam

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC: Daily Current Affairs for UPSC article covers important articles of the day which is important for various competitive exams like UPSC, State PCS, SSC and various Bank Exams. 

Annual Transparency Report

NFRA introduced Annual Transparency Report

• Recently, the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has published draft requirements regarding preparation and publication of Annual Transparency Report (ATR) by auditors/audit firms.

Annual Transparency Report (ATR) by Audit Firms

• About: Annual Transparency Report is a step towards enhancing the transparency about management and governance of audit firms and their internal policy framework-
  • To ensure high quality audits and
  • Preventing conflict of interest by maintaining independence
• These ATR requirements are on the lines of the contemporary international best practices implemented by certain prominent Independent Audit Regulators in other jurisdictions.
• Rule 8(2) of the NFRA Rules 2018 empowers the NFRA to require an auditor to report on its governance practices and internal processes designed-
  • To promote audit quality, protect its reputation and reduce risks including risk of failure of the auditor and
  • May take such action on the report as may be necessary.
• The ATR requirements are proposed to be implemented in a gradual manner for PIEs starting with Statutory Auditors of Top 1000 Listed Companies (by market capitalisation) with effect from the financial year ending on 31 March 2023.
• The ATR has to be published within three months from the end of each financial year.

1st G20 Health Working Group Meeting under G20 India Presidency  

G20 Health Working Group Meeting 2023 in News

• The 1st Health Working Group meeting under G20 India Presidency will be held from 18th – 20th January, 2023 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Health Track of G20 India Presidency

• The Health Track of the G20 India Presidency will comprise four Health Working Group (HWG) Meetings and one Health Ministerial Meeting (HMM).
• The meetings will be held in different locations across the country including Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Goa, Hyderabad (Telangana) and Gandhinagar (Gujarat).
  • These will highlight the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s call to action to showcase India’s rich and diverse cultures.
• India plans to host a side event along with each HWG meeting to enrich, supplement and support G20 discussions.
• These include-
  • Side events on Medical Value Travel and Digital Health;
  • A workshop on collaborative research on drugs, diagnostics and vaccines; and
  • A co-branded event on Global Centre for Traditional Medicine.
• The side event on Medical Value Travel will be held on the sidelines of the 1st meeting of HWG at Thiruvananthapuram, 18th-20th Jan 2023.

G20 Health Track under G20 India Presidency

• India also aims to achieve convergence in discussions across various multilateral fora engaged in health cooperation and work towards integrated action.
• To this end, India has identified, the following three priorities for the G20 Health Track:
  • Priority I: Health Emergencies Prevention, Preparedness and Response (with focus on One Health & AMR)
  • Priority II: Strengthening Cooperation in Pharmaceutical Sector with focus on Access and Availability to safe, effective, quality and Affordable Medical Countermeasures (Vaccines, Therapeutics and Diagnostics)
  • Priority III: Digital Health Innovations and Solutions to Aid Universal Health Coverage and Improve Healthcare Service Delivery.
• Thematic discussions related to the above priorities will be held across the HWG meetings.
  • The meeting will be attended by representatives of G20 member countries, special invitee countries and relevant international organizations.

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC Exam 16 January | Prelims Bits

Sainya Ranakshetram 2.0

Sainya Ranakshetram in News

• The Indian Army under the aegis of HQ Army Training Command (ARTRAC) organised the second edition of Hackathon aptly named “SAINYA RANAKSHETRAM 2.0” from October 2022 to January 2023.

Sainya Ranakshetram

• SAINYA RANAKSHETRAM 2.0 was launched with an aim to seek solutions to operational cyber challenges and to jump start and telescope the development time for innovative solutions in the field of Cyber Security.
• The prize winners of the event were felicitated by Gen Manoj Pande, Chief of the Army Staff during a virtual function on 17 January 2023.
• The event was aimed at providing a platform to identify indigenous talent in niche domains and enhance the standard of training in domains of-
  • Cyber Deterrence,
  • Security Software Coding,
  • Electro Magnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) and
  • Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ ML).
• The participation was open to all Indian citizens and participation permitted in an individual / team manner.

Purana Qila Excavation by ASI

Purana Qila Excavation by ASI in News

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is all set to begin  excavation  at  at Delhi’s Purana Qila again.
• The excavation will be led by Shri Vasant Swarnkar and would be the third season of excavation at Purana Qila  after excavations in the year 2013-14 & 2017-18.

Purana Qila Excavation by ASI

• The objective of the latest excavation is the exposure and preservation of the trenches that were excavated in the previous years (2013-14 & 2017- 18).
• During the closure of the previous season’s excavation, evidence of layers predating the Mauryan period was found.
• During this season’s excavation, focus would also be to accomplish the traces of Painted Grey Ware finding in stratigraphical context.
• Identified as ancient settlement of Indraprastha, a continuous habitation of 2500 years at Purana Qila was established in earlier excavations.

Purana Qila Excavation Findings

• The findings and artefacts unearthed in earlier excavations comprises painted grey ware, belonging to 900BC, an earthen pottery sequence from Maurya to Shunga, Kushana, Gupta, Rajput, Sultanates and Mughal periods.
• Excavated Artefacts such as sickles, parers, terracotta toys, kiln- burnt bricks , beads , terracotta figurines, seal and dealings etc. excavated earlier are now displayed at the Archaeological Museum inside the fort complex.

About Purana Qilla

• Purana Qilla, the 16th-century fort, was built by Sher Shah Suri and second Mughal emperor Humayun.
• The fort is standing on a site with thousands of years of history. Padma Vibhushana Prof. BB Lal  also carried out excavation works inside the fort and its premises in the year 1954 and 1969 -73.

Daily Current Affairs For UPSC 17 January 2023, Prelims Bits

Daily Current Affairs For UPSC 17 January 2023, Prelims Bits

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