Current affairs 25 April 2023

Centre conducts first-ever census of water bodies across the country.

• The Ministry of Jal Shakti has conducted the first-ever census of water bodies across the nation.
• Aim: To provide a comprehensive inventory of India's water resources, including natural and man-made water bodies like lakes
• Over 24.24 lakh water bodies have been enumerated in the country out of which more than 23 lakh water bodies are in rural areas and nearly 69,000 are in urban areas.
• Top 5 (number of water bodies): WB, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Assam.

PM Modi dedicates to nation projects worth Rs 17,000 crore in MP.

• PM Modi has laid the foundation stone and inaugurated projects worth more than 17,000 crores in Madhya Pradesh.
• He has also inaugurated the integrated e-Gram Swaraj and GeM portal for public procurement at the Panchayat level.
• Objective: To enable Panchayats to market their goods and services through GeM.
• With the handing over of around 35 lakh Swamitva Property Cards, about 1 crore 25 lakh property cards have been distributed under this scheme in the country.

Kenya's Kiptum wins London Marathon in 2nd fastest time.

• Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya has won the London Marathon and recorded the second-fastest time in history over the distance.
• He set the course record with a time of 2 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds.
• He just missed out on Eliud Kipchoge's world record by 16 seconds.
• In the women's race, Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete, Sifan Hassan won her marathon debut in 2:18:34.
• Switzerland’s Marcel Hug won the elite men’s wheelchair race with a time of 1:23:44.

UIDAI, NPCI to set up eKYC aggregator, fin entities.

• The Unique Identification Authority of India and the National Payments Corporation of India are setting up an aggregator platform for eKYC (electronic know-your-customer).
• The process of Aadhaar-based eKYC is used for paperless verification of a customer’s credentials to get a mobile connection or open a bank account.
• The process can be completed using biometrics or through the use of OTP.
• It is being used by financial services players, and government agencies.

MoPNG Successfully completed Barauni Guwahati pipeline.

• The Ministry of Petroleum has successfully completed the Bihar portion of the Barauni Guwahati pipeline (BGPL) under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project.
• It will connect six districts in Bihar to the National Gas Grid.
• Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Project is also known as Jagdishpur – Haldia & Bokaro – Dhamra Pipeline Project (JHBDPL) project.
• Launched: 2016
• Aim: Caters to the energy requirements of five states (UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and WB).