Current affairs 24 February 2023

Asia Economic Dialogue 2023 begins in Pune.

• An annual flagship event of the External Affairs Ministry on Geo-economics, Asia Economic Dialogue is being conducted in Pune, Maharashtra from 23 -25 February 2023.
• This event is being co-hosted in collaboration with Pune International Centre.
• Theme 2023: Asia and the Emerging World Order.
• The Dialogue also discusses themes such as Global Growth Prospects, How the Global South Will Shape the G20 Agenda and the Metaverse.

ICAR develops wheat variety to beat the heat.

• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed a new wheat variety called HD-3385.
• It can overcome the challenges arising out due to changes in weather patterns and rising heat levels.
• It is amenable to early sowing, escaping the impact of heat spikes, and can be harvested before March's end.
• Recently, the Centre announced to set up of a committee to monitor the situation arising from the increase in temperatures and its impact on the current wheat crop.

Kerala HC becomes 1st to publish judgements in regional language.

• The Kerala High Court has become the 1st high court in the country to publish judgments in the regional language.
• On February 21 (International Mother Language Day), Kerala published two of its recent judgments in Malayalam.
• The judgments in Malayalam were uploaded on the court's website just below the English version.
• The Kerala High Court made use of SUVAS (Supreme Court Vidhik Anuwad Software ) tool to translate the judgments.
• CJ of Kerala HC: S. Manikumar

University of Auckland, Tata Memorial Hospital sign MoU for cancer care.

• Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) and Waipapa Taumata Rau (Auckland University) signed an MoU to engage in long-term cooperation in cancer care.
• TMH is the most renowned cancer care hospital and research center in India.
• Initial projects envisaged for the partnership include a digital platform:
• For clinical trials to track study-related activities for patients, investigators, and regulators
• To make outpatient clinics more efficient
• To enhance prescription medicine safety

SBI allows Bhim-based real-time payment with Singapore.

• The State Bank of India has partnered with PayNow (Singapore Payment System) for cross-border payments.
• The facility is offered through SBI's Bhim SBIPay mobile application.
• This partnership will allow fund transfers from India to Singapore through registered mobile numbers, and from Singapore to India using the UPI ID.
• This initiative will boost the digitization initiatives, providing an easy, seamless cross-border payment facility to users.
• SBI chairman: Dinesh Khara.