Current affairs 03 July 2023

All panchayats will be UPI-enabled from August 15.

All panchayats in India will be required to adopt digital payments for development projects and revenue collection starting this Independence Day, according to a letter issued by the Panchayati Raj Ministry.
By July 15, panchayats have to choose appropriate service providers and finalise vendors by July 30, as per guidelines by the ministry.
Panchayats have also been asked to choose a single vendor which covers the whole area so as to allow economies of scale. It has also been recommended to create a centralised dashboard for monitoring transactions in real time.
Training camps will be held at the district and block levels for officials.

New Zealand has become the first country to ban the thin plastic bags that supermarket customers use to collect their fruit and vegetables.
The new ban will also extend to plastic straws and silverware.
The government is expanding a campaign against single-use plastics that it started in 2019, when it banned the thicker plastic shopping bags that customers used to carry home their grocery items.
Lightweight plastic bags are banned in every state and territory across Australia, with some jurisdictions also banning or on track to ban plastic straws, cutlery and food and drink containers.

Sporting legend and India’s first-ever Olympic medallist in women’s boxing, Mary Kom, has been honoured with the Global Indian Icon of the Year award at the annual U.K.-India Awards in Windsor, south-eastern England.
She received the award from Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami at a ceremony held here.
The awards were selected from a shortlist by a jury of industry experts and marked the penultimate event of the six-day UK-India Week, which included a special reception hosted by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street during which he committed to working towards a truly ambitious free trade agreement (FTA) with India.
These awards are given for outstanding contributions of people in trade, professional services, government, culture and social influence and their remarkable achievements in strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries.

US-based automotive and aviation company Alef Aeronautics has announced that it's flying car has received a Special Airworthiness Certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Formed in 2015, the company had aimed to create world's 1st flying car and now in 2023, the company has become the first to receive an approval for their flying car Alef Model A from the US government.
The car is 100 percent electric and can be driven on public roads. The flying range is the car is 110 miles which is 177 km while the driving range is 200 miles which is 322 km.
The car will carry one or two occupants.

Chandigarh University (CU) has secured the first rank among India’s private universities in the latest edition of the coveted Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking.
As per QS WUR-2024, in which 2963 institutions were evaluated, Chandigarh University – keeping continuing its success streak – has secured an overall rank of 771-780, which is higher than its 801-1001 rank in the previous edition of the ranking released last year.
The university’s overall score in this year’s ranking is 15.2.
The university also stood at 233rd spot in Asia.