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National

The Biodiversity Act approved for amendment

1. Lok Sabha gave its approval to a Bill to amend some provisions of the Biological Diversity Act of 2002.
2. The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill seeks to address concerns of several central ministries, state governments, researchers, industry, and other stakeholders, regarding the implementation of the 20-year-old law.
3. Biological diversity refers to all kinds of life forms — animals, plants and microorganisms — their gene pools, and the ecosystems that they inhabit.

The ‘free movement regime’

1. The illegal migration of tribal Kuki-Chin peoples into India from Myanmar is one of the key issues in the ongoing ethnic conflict between Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur because of Free Movement Regime (FMR).
2. The FMR is a mutually agreed arrangement between the two countries that allows tribes living along the border on either side to travel up to 16 km inside the other country without a visa.
3. The FMR was implemented in 2018 as part of the government’s Act East policy at a time when diplomatic relations between India and Myanmar were on the upswing.

Commercial mining of critical minerals approved

1. The Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, that will pave the way for commercial mining of six critical minerals — lithium, beryllium, niobium, tantalum, titanium and zirconium — and deep-seated minerals like gold, silver and copper.
2. Currently, commercial mining of these critical minerals by private companies is prohibited. Only government agencies were allowed in exploration and mining operations.

Lok Sabha passes forest conservation bill

1. Lok Sabha passed a bill that seeks to exempt land within 100 km of the country's borders from the purview of conservation laws and permit setting up of zoos, safaris and eco-tourism facilities in forest areas.

Centre withdraws DNA Bill

1. The Union government withdrew the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019 from the Lok Sabha.
2. The Bill seeks to create a regulatory framework for obtaining, storing and testing DNA samples of human beings, mainly for the purposes of criminal investigations, and with the objective of establishing the identity of a person.

Parliamentary panel's nod for inter-services organisations bill

1. As India gets set to create unified theatre commands for integrated war-fighting machinery in a cost-effective manner, a parliamentary panel has approved the proposed law to empower military commanders of all tri-service organisations with full administrative and disciplinary powers.

Lok Sabha passes MMDR Amendment bill

1. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023 was taken up for consideration and passed by the Lok Sabha.
2. This bill proposes to empower the Central government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite licence for 26 critical minerals in the country.

International

India hands over missile corvette INS Kirpan

1. India "gifted" its in-service missile corvette INS Kirpan to Vietnam in reflection of growing strategic partnership between the two sides, especially in the maritime domain.
2. It is for the first time that India gifted a fully operational corvette to any friendly foreign country.

UK signs ‘biggest trade deal’ since Brexit

1. The United Kingdom formally signed a treaty to join a major Indo-Pacific bloc, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) since the country left the European Union at the beginning of 2020.
2. The CPTPP is a landmark pact agreed upon in 2018 that cuts trade barriers among 11 countries, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
3. The pact requires countries to eliminate or significantly reduce tariffs and make strong commitments to opening services and investment markets.

BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers’ meet

1. The first-ever Foreign Ministers’ meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) began in Bangkok, Thailand.
2. BIMSTEC is a regional organisation that was established in 1997 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration.

India and UAE to promote use of local currencies

1. India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a pact to establish a framework to promote the use of the rupee and UAE Dirham (AED) for cross-border transactions.
2. The MoU on establishing a framework for the use of local currencies for transactions between India and the UAE aims to put in place a Local Currency Settlement System to promote the use of INR (Indian rupee) and AED (UAE Dirham)

India and France have agreed to use UPI

1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India and France have agreed to use Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment mechanism and it will begin from the iconic Eiffel Tower. Indian tourists in France will now be able to make payments in rupees.
2. UPI is the indigenous digital payment system in India that was conceptualised and operated by the National Payments Corporation of India.

Economy

NITI's Export Preparedness Index 2022

1. Tamil Nadu has pipped Maharashtra and Gujarat to emerge as the top state in the Niti Aayog's Export Preparedness Index 2022.
2. The index is aimed at assessing the readiness of the states in terms of their export potential and performance. Gujarat had topped the chart in the last two rankings.
3. The ranking is based on four main pillars: policy, business ecosystem, export ecosystem and export performance.

Jan Vishwas Bill passed

1. The Lok Sabha approved the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023, to enhance ease of doing business, decrease compliance burden for individuals and industry, and alleviate judicial load by decriminalising minor economic offences.

TCRM Matrix framework to drive innovation

1. The NITI Aayog released the Techno-Commercial Readiness and Market Maturity Matrix (TCRM Matrix) framework, an assessment tool that will allow stakeholders to jointly assess projects at the technology readiness level (TRL), commercialization readiness level (CRL), and market readiness level (MRL)
2. The framework is expected to help the government prioritize funding, setting regulations, mitigate risks and enhance public-private partnership.
3. The TCRM Matrix framework is set to play a pivotal role in catalyzing India's innovation ecosystem and creating a conducive environment for transformative ideas.

India, US notify WTO of mutual resolution

1. India and the US have mutually resolved all six trade disputes pending at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in line with the commitment made by the two countries during the US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Science And Technology

ISRO PSLV-C56 mission successful

1. India space agency, ISRO successfully launched its proven PSLV rocket carrying seven Singaporean satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
2. The primary payload carried by ISRO's trusted workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is the DS-SAR Radar Imaging Earth Observation satellite, which has been developed under a partnership between DSTA (representing the Government of Singapore) and ST Engineering, Singapore.

India’s first ‘satellite network portal site’

1. The Gujarat government through its Department of Science and Technology (DST) signed a memorandum of understanding with OneWeb India Communications Pvt Ltd for setting up a ‘satellite network portal site’ — a first for India — at Mehsana in Gujarat.

New Scorpene class submarines for the Navy

1. The Defence Acquisition Council, the apex decision-making body for the acquisition of military equipment for India’s armed forces cleared proposals worth thousands of crores to buy three additional Scorpene submarines and 26 Rafale Marine fighter jets for the Navy.
2. The Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) is building six Scorpene class submarines under the Project-75, as part of a $ 3.75 billion deal signed in October 2005, which allowed for transfer of technology from the French defence firm, Naval Group.

Govt nods Semiconductor Lab modernization

1. The government has approved the modernisation of the Semiconductor Laboratory as a brownfield chip manufacuring unit.
2. Till date only one proposal of Micron Technology Inc for setting up a semiconductor ATMP unit in India has been approved. Government has also approved modernisation of Semiconductor Laboratory, Mohali as a brownfield Fab.
3. Also known as microchips or integrated circuits, semiconductors are made from silicon, and consist of millions or billions of transistors that act like miniature electrical switches that flip on and off to process data such as images, radio waves, and sounds.

World in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) Day

1. World IVF Day is observed every year on 25 July to commemorate the birth of the first test tube baby – Louise Brown – who was born on this day in 1978 through the in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) technique.
2. IVF involves the fertilisation of eggs outside the body, where mature eggs are retrieved from the ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory setting.

Miscellaneous

India targets $300 billion worth bioeconomy

1. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology and Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said India has a target of $300 billion in bioeconomy by 2030.
2. Bioeconomy is the production, utilization, and conservation of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation, to provide information, products, processes, and services across all economic sectors.

Climate change aiding spread of CCHF virus

1. As Europe reels under a heatwave and wildfires, the rising temperatures have also raised fears of spread of viruses generally not found in colder climates.
2. Alert has been sounded about the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), an infection spread by ticks that has a high fatality rate, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
3. The CCHF is endemic to Africa, the Balkan countries, Middle East, and parts of Asia.
4. According to the WHO, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral haemorrhagic fever usually transmitted by ticks.

Section 69 (A) on social media platforms

1. The Centre has powers to issue content takedown orders to social media companies under Section 69 (A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
2. Section 69 of the IT Act allows the government to issue content-blocking orders to online intermediaries such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecom service providers, web hosting services, search engines, online marketplaces, etc.

National Broadcasting Day 2023

1. National Broadcasting Day in India is marked on 23 July as symbolic of the Radio Club of Bombay (established by some businessmen) making the first-ever broadcast in the country in June 1923.
2. The broadcast was followed by the setting up of the Calcutta Radio Club five months later.

Marine heat waves gripped world’s oceans

1. A marine heat wave is an extreme weather event. It occurs when the surface temperature of a particular region of the sea rises to 3 or 4 degree Celsius above the average temperature for at least five days.

International Tiger Day

1. 29 July is celebrated world over as the International Tiger Day in a bid to raise awareness on various issues surrounding tiger conservation.
2. It was first instituted in 2010 at the Tiger Summit in St Petersburg, Russia when the 13 tiger range countries came together to create Tx2, the global goal to double the number of wild tigers by the year 2022.
3. Project Tiger was launched by the Central government on 1 April 1973, in a bid to promote conservation of the tiger.