DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Feb. 5, 2022

Therese Johaug of Norway win the first gold medal of Beijing Winter Olympics

Tags: Person in news Sports News

The first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics was won by Norwegian Therese Johaug in the 15-kilometer women skiathlon cross country race.

The silver medal was won by the Russian Natalya Nepryayeva and the Bronze medal was won by Teresa Stadlober of Austria.

Tower of Silence to be fenced

Tags: Science and Technology

 The Supreme Court has approved the Parsi(Zoroastrian ) community agreement with the Government of India to fence their Tower of Silence in order to follow Covid protocol regarding the disposal of dead bodies. The dead bodies of the community will be now fenced with a metallic net in their tower of silence .

• In  the Parsi Dokhamanshini tradition, the dead body is kept on the roof of a structure referred to as the tower of silence, to be eaten by vultures, and the remains are left to decompose under the sun.

• The Parsi community approached the court after the Government of India issued a guideline regarding disposal of dead bodies during covid pandemic. The bodies were to be fully covered and were to be either buried or burnt as coronavirus was found to be active on dead bodies for nine days .

• The Parsi community argued that it was against their custom of Dokhamanshini.

 Now in a compromise the community and the government have agreed to fence the dead body with metallic mesh in the tower of silence , so that it is not eaten by vultures and the spread of coronavirus can be stopped . 

According to the 2011 census the total population of Parsis in India was 57,624. 

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Tags: Science and Technology International News

The Prime Minister inaugurated the 50th Anniversary celebrations of ICRISAT. 

• He inaugurated ICRISAT’s Climate Change Research Facility on Plant Protection and ICRISAT’s Rapid Generation Advancement Facility. 

• These two facilities are dedicated to the smallholder farmers of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. 

• The Prime Minister also unveiled a specially designed logo of ICRISAT and launched a commemorative stamp issued on the occasion.

ABOUT ICRISAT 

 ICRISAT is a non-profit international organisation founded by renowned agricultural scientists M.S.Swaminathan,C.Fred Bently and Ralph Cummins in 1972 at Patancheru, Hyderabad.

• It was set up to conduct agricultural research for development in the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

• Its mission is to empower these poor people to overcome poverty, hunger and a degraded environment through better agriculture.

•  It helps farmers by providing improved crop varieties and hybrids and also helps smallholder farmers in the drylands fight climate change.

•  It has two regional hubs at Nairobi( Kenya) and Bamako( Mali). It has country offices in Niger, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia and Mozambique.

Prime Minister unveiled Statute of Equality in Hyderabad

Tags: National News

Prime Minister on a visit to Telangana on 5 February, has unveiled the ‘Statue of Equality’ at Munchital near Shamshabad and has also inaugurated Climate Change Research Facility on Plant Protection and  a Rapid Generation Advancement Facility at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), campus in Patancheru, Hyderabad.

Statute Of Equality

•  The 126 feet tall statue which is dedicated to the 11th century Bhakti Saint Sri Ramanujacharya is located in Muchintal, Shamshabad, Telangana near Hyderabad city.

• The unveiling of the Statue of Equality is a part of the 12-day Sri Ramanuja Sahasrabdi Samaroham, the ongoing 1000th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Ramanujacharya.  

• The Statue is made of ‘panchaloha’, a combination of five metals: gold, silver, copper, brass, and zync.

•  It is the second-largest sitting statue in the world after the Great Buddha Statue in Thailand which is  300 feet high. 

• It is mounted on a 54-ft high base building, named ‘Bhadra Vedi’. 

• The statue has been conceptualised by Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swami of Sri Ramanujacharya Ashram.

Iceland to stop hunting whales in 2024

Tags: International News

Iceland to stop hunting whales in 2024

Iceland, one of the three countries which commercially hunt whales, has decided to stop hunting from 2024 due to sharp decline in the demands of whale meat .

• Iceland's biggest market for whale meat was Japan. In 2019 Japan decided to resume commercial hunting of whales resulting in a sharp decline of Icelandic products in Japan.

• Iceland, Japan and Norway are the only three countries in the world which still allow commercial hunting of whales despite criticism from animal rights and environmental groups .

Iceland

It is a Nordic European island  country in the Northern Atlantic Ocean.

Nordic countries includes  Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden

The capital of Iceland : Reykjavik

Currency of Iceland :  Icelandic Krona 

Beijing the first city in the world to host both Winter and Summer Olympics

Tags: Sports News

With the inauguration of the 24th Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing by the Chinese President Xi Jingping on 4 February,Beijing became the only city in the world  to host Summer and Winter Olympics .

It hosted the 29th Summer Olympics 2008.

• The  opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium also called the  Birds Nest which incidentally also  hosted the 2008 summer olympics .

• The opening ceremony  was attended by 22 world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin  and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

• The Indian flag was carried by the lone Indian participant Arif Khan who will compete in the Slalom and Giant Slalom event .

Points to remember 

•  It is 24th Winter Olympics Games 

• The 23rd game was  held  in Tokyo, Japan in 2018.

• The 25 th Winter games will be held in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in 2026.

• The Mascot of the Beijing Olympics :  Bing Dwen Dwen -- a panda dressed in a full-body "shell" made out of ice. 

• Motto of the games :  Together for a shared future 

• Total participating country : 91

• Closing ceremony  on 20 February 2022.