Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 April 2022

::NATIONAL::

Egypt, one of the top importers of wheat from Russiaand Ukraine, has approved India as a wheat supplier,as per Commerce Ministry.

Key highlights:

Egypt buys 11-12 million tonnes of wheat from Russia, Ukraine and other countries in a year.
The export was approved after a rigorous process of field visits and checks in quarantine facilities in India by Egyptian authorities following complaints of Indian wheat containing ‘karnal bunt’ disease.
The teams visited wheat fields in Madhya Pradesh, UP and Punjab to check for themselves the quality of wheat produced in India.
India aims to export 10-11 million tonnes of wheat in FY23 due to the surge in global demand following the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
Egypt imported wheat worth about USD 1.8 billion from Russia and USD 610.8 million from Ukraine in 2020.
India’s wheat exports rose to $1.74 billion in April-January 2021-22 as against $340.17 million in the same period last year.
In 2019-20, wheat exports were worth USD 61.84 million, which rose to USD 549.67 million in 2020-21.
India’s wheat exports are mainly to neighbouring countries with Bangladesh having the largest share of more than 54 per cent in both volume and value terms in 2020-21.

Civil Aviation Ministry Flagship Regional ConnectivityScheme ‘UdeDesh Ka Aam Nagrik’ (UDAN) has beenselected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 under the Innovation(General) – Central category.

About:

UDAN scheme emphasizes on Good Governance,Qualitative achievements, and last mile connectivityrather than only on achievement of quantitative targets.
Award consists of trophy, scroll and an incentive of Rs 10lakh.

The World Bank (WB) working paper titled ‘Poverty has declined over the lastdecade But Not As Much As Previously Thought’, aims to encourage exchangeof ideas on development, and quickly disseminates the findings of research inprogress.
WB defines ‘living in extreme poverty’ in India as living on $1.9 or less inpurchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

Key findings:

Extreme poverty isestimated to have declined12.3 percentage pointsbetween 2011 to 2019 inIndia.
Poverty headcount fellfrom 22.5% in 2011 to10.2% in 2019.
Poverty level decline in therural areas was muchhigher (14.7 percent) thanin urban areas.
Urban poverty rose by 2percent in 2016, coincidingwith the demonetisationevent.
Consumption inequality in India has moderated since 2011.

The US Navy has created a new taskforce with allied countriesto patrol the Red Sea amid the Yemen War.

About Red Sea:

Red Sea is the world’s northernmost tropical sea betweenAsia and Africa- connecting the Gulf of Suez and Gulf ofAqaba in the North with the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb inSouth.
Part of the Great Rift Valley, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea,Djibouti lies on its Western Shore, and Yemen and SaudiArabia lies on the Eastern Shore.
Due to high heat and lack of precipitation, it has highsalinity.
It is part of Global 200 ecoregions from World Wildlife Fund(WWF).

About Yemen:

Yemen is located at the junction of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, its coastline commanding the strategic strait of Bab al-Mandab.

Twitter countered Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company for more than $43 billion with a corporate tool known as a poison pill, a defensive strategy familiar to boardrooms trying to fend off takeovers.
This defense mechanism was developed in the 1980s as company leaders, facing corporate raiders and hostile acquisitions, tried to defend their businesses from being acquired by another enterprise, person or group.

What is a poison pill?

A poison pill is a maneuver that typically makes a company less palatable to a potential acquirer by making it more expensive for the acquirer to buy shares of the target company above a certain threshold.
The strategy also gives a company more time to evaluate an offer and can give the board leverage in trying to force a direct negotiation with the potential acquirer.

What does a poison pill actually look like?

A poison pill is officially known as a shareholder rights plan, and it can appear in a company’s charter or bylaws or exist as a contract among shareholders.

Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI), a Public Sector Undertaking under the aegis of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, has issued the tender for setting up 500 MW/1000 MWh Standalone Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in India.

About:

A first-of-its-kind tender in the country, it will provide Discoms with storage facilities to be used on an ‘on-demand’ basis.
The tender has been issued under the Standard Bidding Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Power in March 2022.
The total capacity to be set up under the RfS is 1000 MWh (500 MW x 2hrs), which will constitute two projects of 500 MWh (250 MW x 2 hrs) capacity each.
The Projects will be installed in the vicinity of the Fatehgarh-III Grid-Substation of the ISTS network, in the State of Rajasthan.
The Buying Entities will be offered the storage capacity to charge and discharge the same daily through RE power, as per their energy shifting requirements.

Recently, the Centre stopped purchase of excess parboiled rice due to its low demand.

About:

Parboiled rice refers to partially boiled rice at the paddy stage, before milling.
Process: Parboiling involves three stages- soaking, steaming and drying.
It makes rice tough, increases its nutrient value and resistance to insects and fungi.