DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Jan. 3, 2022

Defence Minister inaugurates Kalpana Chawla Research Centre at Chandigarh

Tags: National News

Defence Minister  Rajnath Singh inaugurated Kalpana Chawla Centre for Research in Space Science & Technology (KCCRSST) at Chandigarh University on January 03, 2022. 

• The state-of-the-art KCRESST would be the Ground Control Station for the Chandigarh University's Student Satellite (CUSat), an in-house developed nano-satellite being designed by the students of the university and a Geo-Spatial Centre for research, besides other projects.
• The CUSat will be among the 75 student-built satellites to be launched into space on the eve of the 75thIndependence Day in 2022.
• The Chandigarh University has joined the list of 13 institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, IIT Bombay and became the first university in North India to design and develop its own satellite.

Kalpana Chawla 

• She was an American Indian who was born at  Karnal, Haryana.
• She was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space in 1997 on board the Columbia space shuttle.

She died in a space disaster  when her space shuttle Columbia crashed in 2003.

Census first phase, National Population Register(NPR) data collection deferred till Sept 2022

Tags: National News

• The first phase of Census 2021 — the House listing and Housing Census along with updating the NPR — was scheduled to be held between April and September 2020, whereas the second and main phase of population enumeration was scheduled to be concluded by March 5, 2021
• The decennial exercise was postponed multiple times due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The Registrar­ General of India (RGI) had informed the States that the deadline for finalization of administrative boundaries is extended till 30th June 2022.
• Finaliztion of administrative boundaries, at least three months prior to the exercise, is a pre­requisite for conducting the census.
• The preparation of this unambiguous list of administrative units is termed as “Census Frame” which covers the entire area but without omission or duplication of any administrative unit at any level.
• For Census 2021, all the changes between January 1, 2010, i.e. after the date of finalization of boundaries for Census 2011 up to the date of finalization of boundaries for forthcoming exercise (presently up to June 30, 2022) are to be considered for preparing the Census Frame.

For more information about Census 2021, click here.

Pune’s NFAI to restore Satyajit Ray’s Film Pratidwandi

Tags: National News

On the occasion of  legendary film director Satyajit Ray’s birth centenary year, Pune ­based National Film Archive of India (NFAI) has started the process of restoring Ray’s films as part of National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM).

• “Pratidwandi” film is based on Sunil Gandopadhyay’s novel of the same name,  
• It is the first of his films to be taken  up for restoration. 
• It is the first film in the Calcutta trilogy,the other being , Seemabaddha , and Jana Aranya.
• The films were made in Bengali.

Satyajit Ray  received an Honorary Academy Award(Oscar award) in 1992.

 About 

National Film Archive of India (NFAI)

The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in February 1964 to:

• trace, acquire and preserve for posterity the heritage of Indian cinema;
• to classify, document data and undertake research relating to films;
• to act as a centre for the dissemination of film culture.

About 

National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM)

The NFHM was started in 2017 by the I&B Ministry with a mandate to collect, assess, and preserve film reels as well as non-film materials associated with cinema, such as posters, flyers, or booklets, which have historical and aesthetic value.

• National Film Archive of India (NFAI) is the nodal organization for the implementation of this project.

Haldia Jetty and Inland Terminal to be operational soon

Tags: National News

• Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways, and Ayush Shri Sarbananda Sonowal announced that the contract has been awarded for the Haldia inland waterway terminal in West Bengal.
• This will facilitate export-import and inland cargo movement to Pandu terminal in Guwahati connecting the northeast with Kolkata. 
• This will provide an alternative to the chicken neck route for easy and cost-effective movement of cargo to and from the northeast to the foreign countries and other states of India.
• This is a unique opportunity of using the sea and river route combinations (National Waterway 1 and National Waterway 2) via Kolkata port.

For more details on National Waterways kindly refer to the link below.

Vice President’s visit to Lakshadweep and Kerala

Tags: National News

• The Vice President is on a 5 days state visit to  Lakshadweep and Kerala from 31st December 2021 to 4th January 2022.

Important highlights of his Lakshadweep visit:

• He visited Lakshadweep on 31st December, 2021.
• He  inaugurated two Colleges of Arts & Sciences in the Kadmat and Andrott islands of Lakshadweep on 1st January, 2022.

He then visited Kerala on 2nd January 2022:

• He visited Kochi, where India’s Indigenous Naval Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant is under construction at the Cochin Shipyard Ltd.
• Addressing an event later at Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), a DRDO facility in Kochi he unveiled Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial.
• He also laid the foundation stone of a Towed Array Integration Facility and handed over an Automated Sonar Trainer to the Navy.

INS VIKRANT :

The motto of the ship is "Jayema Saṁ Yudhi Spr̥dhaḥ", which is taken from Rigveda and means "I defeat those who fight against me".

• INS Vikrant, also known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1 (IAC-1) is the first aircraft carrier to be built in India, it is being constructed by the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for the Indian Navy.
• It is named 'Vikrant' as a tribute to India's first aircraft carrier, Vikrant (R11). 

Fiji tops the NewsOnAir Radio Live-stream Global Rankings

Tags: National News

In the latest rankings of top countries in the world (excluding India) where All India Radio live-streams on NewsOnAir App are most popular, Fiji has toppled the United States to take the first position.

•  The top three countries where the News on Air app are most popular are  Fiji, United States and Australia
• More than 240 Radio Services of All India Radio are live-streamed on NewsOnAir App, Prasar Bharati’s official App.

Fire ravages South African parliament

Tags: International News

A massive fire in South Africa’s Parliament in Cape Town has completely destroyed its lower house , the National Assembly  on 2 January 2022.l

• The name of South Africa’s Parliament is: “The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa ''.
• The South African Parliament consists of two houses 
• The lower house is called the National Assembly and the Upper House is called the National Council of Provinces .

South Africa

President: Cyril Ramaphosa

Capitals: Cape Town (Legislative), Pretoria (Executive), Bloemfontein (Judicial)

Currency : Rand 

Railways earned ₹500 cr. from Tatkal ticket sale

Tags: Economics/Business

The Indian Railways has earned ₹403 crore from tatkal ticket fares, an additional ₹119 crore from premium tatkal ticket fares, and ₹511 crore from dynamic changes in 2020-21.

• The national transporter earned ₹1,033 crore from these three categories in the financial year 2020-21 despite much of its normal operations remaining suspended through most of the year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 
• The transporter had earned ₹1,313 crore from dynamic fares, ₹1,669 from tatkal tickets and ₹603 crore from premium tatkal tickets in 2019-20, when there were no restrictions in train operations.

The Railways said that it earned ₹240 crore from dynamic fares, ₹353 crore from tatkal tickets and ₹89 crore from premium tatkal charges in the financial year 2021-22 till September.

Ashok Elluswamy appointed head of Tesla Auto Engineering project

Tags: Person in news

Tesla has hired Indian origin American Ashok Elluswamy as the head of its Autopilot Engineering project .

• Ashok Elluswamy  did his B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering  from the college of Engineering Guindy in Chennai.
• The owner of Tesla is Elon Musk .
• The Auto Engineering project of Tesla is to build a car which does not require human assistance. 

Denmark not to use fossil fuels on Domestic flights by 2030

Tags: International News

• The Prime Minister Mette Frederilksen  has announced that by 2030 the domestic airlines will not use fossil fuels in order to meet its emission target .
• The Danish Government has set a target of reducing its carbon emission by 70 % by 2030.
• Airline uses ATF(Aviation Turbine Fuel) is derived from hydrocarbons which are either Kerosene type or naphtha type.
• Green fuel for airlines or Sustainable Aviation Fuels is produced from agricultural residues , waste oil from a biological  origin etc .