Govt launched Pradhan Mantri Aadi Adarsh Gram Yojana for faster development of tribal villages

• The focus of the scheme is on converging different programs of 41 ministries in the tribal villages to ensure their all-round development.
• Aim of the program is to turn the focus on such remote and backward villages of the country which are lagging behind due to lack of attention. Efforts are also being made to ensure the geo-tagging of and market linkages for the tribal products through TRIFED.

The emerging concept of ''crypto insurance''

• Crypto insurance is a policy designed to protect investors against any losses associated with crypto scams and cyber-attacks. Most exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, etc., already have some insurance to protect the digital assets they hold for their customers.
• Cryptocurrency isn’t a legal tender. So, crypto insurance is different from that you can avail for your stocks, bonds or any other bank insurance. In short, it is not protected the same way other deposits might be.
• In August 2021, hackers pulled off one of the biggest ever cryptocurrency heists stealing $613 million in digital coins from token-swapping platform Poly Network. This rising trend has given birth to crypto insurance.
• Notably, crypto insurances can only cover hacks or crypto thefts. It is designed to cover institutional losses. But it can’t insure you if you fall trapped in a Ponzi scheme which promises high returns with no risks.
• The crypto insurance policy doesn’t cover direct hardware loss and damage and cryptocurrency transfer to a third party. Additionally, it won’t be able to protect against the disruption of the blockchain underlying the asset.

Second edition of the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment 2021 (NeSDA 2021).

• The NeSDA 2021 report has been prepared covering the assessment of States, Union Territories with a focus on Central Ministries on their effectiveness in delivering online services to citizens.
• NeSDA 2021 covers services across seven sectors: Finance, Labour and Employment, Education, Local Governance and Utility Services, Social Welfare, Environment and Tourism sectors.
• The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) had constituted the NeSDA in 2019 as part of its mandate to boost the e-government endeavours and drive digital government excellence.
• Jammu and Kashmir, assessed for the first time, ranked the highest among Union Territories with an overall compliance of nearly 90 percent for NeSDA.
• Meghalaya and Nagaland are the leading state portals with an overall compliance of more than 90 percent across all assessment parameters among the northeast and hill states.
• Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh had a compliance of more than 85 percent among the Remaining States category.
• Kerala had the highest overall compliance score amongst all the States and UTs.

CCI approves Air India''s acquisition of AirAsia India

• Currently, Tata Sons, the holding company of the Mumbai-based conglomerate, has 83.67% share in AirAsia India, while the remaining is held by Malaysia’s AirAsia Bhd. This is the first formal regulatory approval to Tata Group’s plan to consolidate its aviation portfolio.
• AirAsia India operates low-cost airline services in domestic sectors in India. The airline was founded as a joint-venture between the Tata Group and Tony Fernandes-led AirAsia Bhd in 2014.
• Tata Group later launched full-service airline Vistara in a 51:49 joint-venture with Singapore Airlines and bought 100% stake in Air India, along with its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express earlier this year.
• The conglomerate is in process of consolidating its aviation portfolio. It is also learnt to be moving all its aviation brands to a single corporate office in Gurugram.

UN experts welcome announcement to abolish mandatory death penalty

• In some countries (like Malaysia until now), the death sentence is imposed as the mandatory or only punishment for certain crimes. In Malaysia, terrorist acts, murder, and rape resulting in death carry the mandatory death penalty.
• A judge does not have the discretion to give a lesser punishment, or to consider aspects such as the circumstances in which the crime was committed or of the defendant before handing out the sentence.
• Barring a few exceptions and certain specific offences, most countries allow capital punishment to be reduced to a life sentence or alternative sentences.
• Some Islamic nations have the punishment for blasphemy, the offence of contempt against God or other sacred objects or people in a faith.
• India is among the countries that persist with the death penalty as the maximum punishment, but it is not mandatory for any crime.

PM Modi Addresses bi-centenary celebration of Mumbai Samachar Newspaper

• The Bombay Samachar, now Mumbai Samachar, is the oldest continuously published newspaper in India.
• Established in 1822 by Fardunjee Marzban, it is published in Gujarati and English.
• The Bombay Samachar is also Asia''s oldest continuously published newspaper.

Sequoia Raises Record $2.85 Bn To Fund Indian Startups, Other Ventures

• Of this, the venture capital firm will deploy about $2 billion in Indian startups while the remaining $850 million will be used to fund startups in the Southeast Asia region.
• This is the biggest dedicated India fund raised by an investor at a time when startup funding has slowed down on global cues.
• Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California and mainly focuses on the technology industry.
• The venture capital fund has been an early backer of some of the biggest tech companies in the world including Apple, Google and WhatsApp.
• It is one the most active VC fund company in India. In India it is an investor in Byju’s, Unacademy and Zomato.

PM Modi inaugurates ‘Kranti Gatha’ and reconstructed ''Jal Bhushan'' in Mumbai

• The Gallery of Indian Revolutionaries has been created in the bunker that was discovered below Raj Bhavan in 2016 by the then Governor of Maharashtra N Vidyasagar Rao. Built before the First World War, it was used by the British store arms and ammunition.
• The bunker has 13 rooms of various sizes and the different cells in it were known as ''Shell Store'', ''Gun Shell'', Cartridge Store, Shell Lift, Central Artillery Room, Workshop etc. Many of these rooms as well as the wall in the hallway have now been used for the ''Kranti Gatha - Gallery of Revolutionaries''.
• The ''Kranti Gatha'' gallery commemorates many revolutionaries from Maharashtra from the First War of Independence in 1857 to the Naval uprising in Mumbai in 1946.
• In this Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Chaphekar brothers, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Veer Savarkar, Babarao Savarkar, Krantiguru Lahuji Salve, Anant Laxman Kanhere, Rajguru, Madam Bhikaji Cama feature prominently.

Skalzang Rigzin, the first Indian Mountaineer to climb Mount Annapurna peak without supplemental Oxygen,

• With 16 days of gap between climb of Mt Annapurna on April 28 and Mt Lhotse on May 14, Skalzang Rigzin has set a record to summit two peaks without oxygen supplements.
• Annapurna is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the tenth highest mountain in the world at 8,091 metres above sea level.
• Mt Annapurna is one of the most difficult among the 8000 meters height peaks in the world and is also known as the Killer Mountain due to its fatality to summit rate.

PM to chair the first-ever National Conference of Chief Secretaries at Dharamshala

• The National Conference of Chief Secretaries was held from 15th to 17th June 2022.
• More than 200 people participated in the conference, representing the Central Government, all States/ UTs and domain experts. It was a significant step towards further strengthening the partnership between the Centre and the State Governments.
• Spread over three days, Three themes were discussed in the Conference:
  • Implementation of the National Education Policy;
  • Urban governance; and
  • Crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in oilseeds, pulses and other agri-commodities.