• Aadi Perukku, also known as Pathinettam Perukku, is a festival honouring the monsoon season and the fertility of the soil that is observed by the Tamil cultural community. On August 3, which also happens to be the 18th day of the Tamil month of Aadi, Aadi Perukku is observed.
• This festival, which is customarily held in late July or early August, is focused on showing thanks to water sources because the entire month of Aadi is thought to signal the start of the monsoon season.

• The Ministry of Minority Affairs implements the Free Coaching and Allied Scheme (Naya Savera) under which free coaching is provided to students/candidates who belong to the six notified minority communities (Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains and Muslims). The criteria for empanelment of Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) under the scheme is as under.
• The institute should be registered body or run by any organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 / Companies Act, 2014 or any other relevant /act of the State/Union Territory. The registration for at least three years will be required in respect of the organizations/implementing agency which desire to apply for empanelment as on date of notification inviting applications from States/UTs/ Coaching Institutions.

• Giving a fresh impetus to the international migration from Kerala post COVID-19, the State government will soon roll out a unique scheme to provide financial support to first-time overseas emigrants from Kerala.
• Titled ‘Shubhayatra’, the project envisages creating a positive and productive migration ecosystem by providing a financial assistance of up to 2 lakh with a tax holiday for six months and attractive interest subvention to meet the incidental expense of eligible candidates.

• Elon Musk’s Tesla has leased office space in Pune for a period of five years. With a monthly rent of Rs 11.65 lakh, the lease deal includes a lock-in period of 36 months, with a 5 per cent per annum escalation clause.
• Months after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Elon Musk in the US, Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited leased office space in the Panchshil Business Park of Maharashtra’s Pune. This is seen as a major step towards the entry of EV giant Tesla into the Indian market.

• The Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launched India’s 1st Indigenously developed, Affordable, lightweight, Ultrafast, High Field (1.5 Tesla), Next Generation Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner in New Delhi.
• It will also reduce the capital investment in purchasing MRI scanners from the international market to a great extent, due to which a lot of foreign exchange will also be saved. VoxelGrids Innovations Private Limited under National Biopharma Mission has developed a complete (compact), lightweight, next-generation MRI scanner to address the unmet need of the country.

• The Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has handed over the first Radio Frequency (RF) Seeker of Akash – the Next Generation Weapon System produced at its newly commissioned state-of-the-art Seeker Facility Centre (SFC) to the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
• Seeker is a critical and technology intensive subsystem used in Surface-to-Air Missiles and Air-to-Air Missiles for target tracking in the terminal phase. The RF Seeker has been designed by DRDO’s Research Centre Imarat, and produced by BDL at its state-of-the-art Seeker Facility Centre set up at BDL, Kanchanbagh Unit in Hyderabad.

• State run oil major Oil India Limited was elevated as to the Maharatna status on recommendation from the Finance ministry of India government. This makes Oil India Limited the 13th Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE).
• The other companies included in the Maharatna list are Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Coal India Limited, GAIL India Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited, NTPC Limited, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Power Finance Corporation, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, Rural Electrification Corporation Limited and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, approved the service extension for the Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, for a period of 1 year beyond August 30, 2023.
• This is the 3rd extension for Gauba, who will now become the longest-serving Cabinet Secretary in the country. The extension was granted in relaxation of the AIS (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958 and Rule 56 (d) of the Fundamental Rules.

• India’s Jyothi Yarraji improved her own National Record in women’s 100m hurdles as she won a bronze medal at the FISU World University Games in Chengdu, China.
• Jyothi, the 23-year-old from Visakhapatnam, finished in third position with a timing of 12.78s (wind speed: +1 m/s), better than her gold medal-winning performance of 12.82s at the 61st National Open Athletics Championship in Bengaluru last year. Another national record holder sprinter, Amlan Borgohain also won a bronze medal in men’s 200m race with a season’s best time of 20.55 seconds. The 25-year-old missed his own national record (20.52) by a whisker.

• The Padma Bhushan awardee and IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, 1960 batch, N Vittal passed away in Chennai. With the passing of N Vittal, 85, former Telecom Secretary and Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) on Thursday, the country has lost the person who had sown the seeds for the growth of the information technology sector four decades ago.

Download Daily GK PDF of 05 August 2023