7th August 2023 Daily Current Affairs

National Affairs

Cabinet has approved an outlay of ₹1.39 lakh crore for BharatNet, the government’s project for last-mile connectivity across 6.4 lakh villages in the country in Aug 2023
It is one of the biggest rural telecom projects in the world, implemented in a phased manner to all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country for last-mile broadband connectivity
Cabinet has approved ₹1,39,579 crore fund for providing last-mile optical fiber-based connectivity to homes in all the villages

Science & Technology

World Health Organization has announced, Iraq has now joined the league of 17 other countries that have eliminated trachoma, which is world’s leading infectious cause of blindness in Aug 2023.
Iraq established its national trachoma programme in 2012 to coordinate the final domestic push against the disease.
A trachoma surveillance system was developed to detect and manage cases within secondary and tertiary eye care facilities, as well as through school pre-enrolment

National Affairs

A joint venture between public sector company Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) and Russian company Metrowagonmash is on course to manufacture and supply around 120 Vande Bharat trains to Indian Railways, at a cost of ₹120 crore per train.
The RVNL wants a larger share of 69%, leaving 26% for Metrowagonmash and 5% for a third partner, Locomotive Electronic Systems
Blue-and-white trains, with AC, are expected to be manufactured at a railway factory in Maharashtra.

National Affairs

The Finance Ministry has imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty on certain optical fibre imports from China, South Korea and Indonesia.
Aim: To give some relief to the domestic optical fibre industry reeling under the adverse impact of low-price and low-quality imports.
The anti-dumping duty ranges from $122 per kfkm to $857.23 per kfkm, with the commodity being traded in fkm (fibre kilometres).
Optical fibres are used to transmit data in the form of light pulses.

Important Dates

National Handloom Day is observed on August 7.
Goal: To pay tribute to the huge handloom community in the country for their contribution to carrying on the traditional heritage and ensuring financial stability.
Aims: To preserve India’s handloom tradition and to provide more prospects for the people associated with the handloom industry.
This Day in India celebrates the Swadeshi Movement that began in Bengal to rely on Indian-made goods and boycott foreign goods.

Banking & Finance

In the April-June quarter of 2023-24, the financial results of State Bank of India revealed a significant rise in quarterly profit to ₹16,884 crore, compared to ₹6,068 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2022.
Net income also more than doubled to ₹18,537 crore from ₹7,325 crore in 2022
Net interest income showed marginal deterioration while loan loss provisions more than doubled, leading to SBI shares tanking nearly 3 per cent on bourses.

Sports

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the opening ceremony of the 132nd Durand Cup today at SAI Stadium which marked the grand beginning of the annual football competition for the first time in the Assamese city.
The mega event is being organized by the Indian Army in association with Assam Government and Bodo Territorial Region.
The inaugural ceremony was followed by the opening match of the tournament between Bodoland FC and Rajasthan United FC.

Banking & Finance

The combined market valuation of seven of the top-10 most valued firms eroded by Rs 1,09,947.86 crore in first weak of Aug 2023
State Bank of India taking the biggest hit, with a weak trend in the stock market.
The valuation of SBI tumbled Rs 38,197.34 crore to Rs 5,11,603.38 crore.
First weak of Aug 2023, the BSE benchmark fell by 438.95 points or 0.66 percent.
Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, and Infosys observed an increase in their market capitalization.

Science & Technology

Chief Minister Manik Saha launched the massive vaccine catch-up campaign of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 5.0 for three months in the state of Tripura in Aug 2023.
Aim: To immunize pregnant women and children up to the age of five against the diseases like Measles and Rubella.
This is for the first time that the children with upto 5 years of age has been brought under the vaccination coverage of the IMI 5.0.

Schemes

According to the Gov, a valid License for imports of laptops, tablets, and personal computers will be required from the1st November 2023
The Centre has said that there is no ban on the import of IT Hardware as such devices can be imported after obtaining a valid license by companies or traders.
Directorate General of Foreign Trade has prepared a portal, for getting a license by applying online
Gov has notified Production Linked Incentive Scheme 2.0 for IT Hardware.