1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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
4. 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).
5. 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 .
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. PM Modi releases the 10th Installment of PM KISAN
Tags: National News
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi released the ₹20,900 crore to more than 10.09 crore farmers as the 10th instalment of financial benefit under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme on 1st January, 2022 via video conferencing.
- Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKISAN) scheme, a financial benefit of ₹6,000 a year is provided to the eligible farmer families, payable in three equal instalments of ₹2,000.
- The money is transferred directly to the bank account of the beneficiaries.
- During the virtual event, the Prime Minister also released an equity grant of more than ₹14 crore to about 351 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), benefiting 1.24 lakh farmers.
- The PM-KISAN scheme was announced in the February 2019 Budget and the total amount provided under the scheme has touched about ₹1.8 lakh crore.
For more information about PM-KISAN click here
10. PM laid foundation of Major Dhyan Chand sports University in Meerut
Tags: National News
Important Highlights:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh on 2nd January 2022, to inculcate sporting culture and establish world-class sporting infrastructure in the country.
- The Sports University will be established at Salawa and Kaili villages of Sardhana town at an estimated cost of about 700 Crore rupees.
- The Sports University will be equipped with modern and state-of-the-art sports infrastructure including synthetic Hockey ground, Football ground, Basketball, Volleyball, Handball, Kabaddi ground, Lawn tennis court, Gymnasium hall, Synthetic running stadium, Swimming pool, Multipurpose hall, Cycling Velodrome etc.
- Meerut Is the birthplace of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand
- Last year the Government of India renamed India’s highest sporting award the Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna award into Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna award.
- Major Dhyanchand birth date 29 August is celebrated in India as the National Sports Day in india
