TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Forbes “The Global 2000” List, 2023 2. Gabon’s First Agri-SEZ Project 3. India’s Seafood Exports 4. Chandrayaan 3 5. IIAS Annual Conference 2025 at Kochi
1. Forbes “The Global 2000” List, 2023
Syllabus – Miscellaneous.
Prelims – Forbes ‘The Global 2000’ List, 2023
Context – NTPC has climbed 52 positions to secure the 433rd rank in Forbes “The Global 2000” List for 2023.
Details–
- India’s largest power generation company, NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) has climbed 52 positions to secure the 433rd rank in Forbes “The Global 2000” List for 2023.
- NTPC was ranked 485th in 2022 and its jump to 433rd position demonstrates NTPC’s emergence as a strong force in the global market.
- The Forbes Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 largest companies in the world, published by Forbes magazine. Forbes released its 20th annual edition of the Global 2000 and uses four metrics: sales, profits, assets, and market value.
- Considering Indian companies, NTPC has climbed one place to secure the 10th position among the largest Indian companies in the 2023 list. NTPC has come up as a leading player in India’s corporate sector.
2. Gabon’s First Agri-SEZ Project
Syllabus – GS2, International Relations.
Prelims – Gabon’s First Agri-SEZ Project
Context – The Union Minister of Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, flagged off Gabon’s first agri-SEZ project from New Delhi.
Details –
- The Minister flagged off Gabon’s first agri-SEZ project from New Delhi.
- The project will be implemented with assistance from AOM Group and Centurion University as the technical and knowledge partner.
- In its first phase, 30 farmers and 20 students (BSc/MSc Agriculture, B.Tech/ M.Tech Engineering students) from Gajapati District, an Aspirational District of Odisha will travel to Gabon and serve as agri-technical and technical consultants for the agriculture SEZ (Special Economic Zone) which is being developed under this project.
- The establishment of an Agriculture and Food Processing SEZ will help the country towards enhancing food security and self-sufficiency.
- Anti-colonial solidarity, diasporic goodwill and the principle of ‘South-South’ cooperation, among others, are playing an important role in strengthening the relationship between India and Southern African countries. Under India’s G20 Presidency, she is strongly advocating the concerns of the Global South which further cements the relationship between India and African nations.
- India has extended a loan of US$ 12.3 billion to Africa and US$ 700 mn of grant assistance with developmental projects in various sectors.
Also read – India’s Big Reform Push Will Help Global South.
Syllabus – GS3, Indian Economy.
Prelims – India’s Seafood Exports for FY 2022-23.
Context – India’s seafood exports touched an all-time high in FY 2022-23, both in terms of quantity as well as value.
Details –
- India’s seafood exports achieved a remarkable high both in quantity and value in FY 2022-23. It shipped 1.7 million tonnes of seafood worth Rs 63,969.14 cr in FY 2022-23, growing 26.73% in quantity terms and 4.3% in value terms over 2021-22.
- Frozen shrimp remained the major export item in terms of both quantity and value, while the USA and China turned out to be the major importers of India’s seafood. Frozen shrimp retained its position as the most significant item in the basket of seafood exports, accounting for a share of 40.98 % in quantity and 67.72% of the total $US earnings.
- Frozen fish, the second largest exported item accounted for 21.24% in quantity and 8.49% of US$ earnings. The FY 2022-23 has witnessed an increase in the export of frozen fish by 62.65%, 58.51% and 45.73 % in quantity, Rupee, and USD value terms respectively.
- The US, China, and the European Union are the key markets for Indian seafood. South East Asia is the fourth largest market.
Also read – Structural Changes in India’s Export Basket.
Syllabus – GS3, Science and Technology, Space Technology.
Prelims – Chandrayaan 3
Context – Chandrayaan 3 is scheduled to be launched in July 2023.
Details –
- Chandrayaan 3, the highly anticipated third edition of ISRO’s Lunar Mission is scheduled to be launched in the month of July. This was stated by Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh.
- Chandrayaan 3 has successfully completed the essential tests that validated its capability to withstand the harsh environment that the spacecraft would be facing during its launch and the subsequent journey.
- The rocket LVM-3 will be used for the launch of Chandrayaan-3. The unmanned lunar exploration project follows Chandrayaan-2, which was unable to put a rover on the moon. The upcoming launch intends to demonstrate end-to-end competence in safe lunar landing and exploration.
- The scientific instruments on the lander and the rover in Chandrayaan 3 would be capable of studying the various aspects of the moon including the lunar environment and thermo-physio properties. Chandrayaan-3 mission would also be able to study different aspects of the earth as well, a payload called Spectropolarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) will study Earth’s spectral and polarimetric measurements from the lunar orbit.
Also read – Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Launched its First Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-1.
5. IIAS Annual Conference 2025 at Kochi
Syllabus – GS2, Governance Reforms
Prelims – IIAS Annual Conference 2025 in India.
Context – India to host the IIAS (International Institute of Administrative Sciences) Annual Conference at Kochi, Kerala in February 2025.
Details –
- The 2025 Annual Conference of IIAS to be hosted by India at Kochi, will be attended by 30 Member Countries, 18 National Sections, and over 50 IIAS Universities/Institutes of Public Administration in Member Countries.
- The conference will be held with the theme, ‘Next Generation Administrative Reforms – Empowering Citizens and Reaching the Last Mile’.
- The IIAS 2025 Conference in Kochi would represent a significant milestone for India’s pursuit of next-generation administrative reforms.
- The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) has been an institutional member of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) since 1998. India has pursued far-reaching administrative reforms under the policy maxim, ‘Maximum Governance, Minimum Government’.
- The Director General Indian Institute of Public Administration and Member of the Research Advisory Committee of IIAS would support DARPG in formulating the research agenda for the 2025 IIAS Conference at Kochi.
Also read – Grievance Redressal Mechanism.
Read the previous PIB articles here.
June 14th, 2023, PIB:- Download PDF Here
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