DAILY GK : 12 , 13 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK : 12 , 13 JAN 2021

1. CHERRY BLOSSOM MAO FESTIVAL HELD

•      An annual Cherry Blossom Mao Festival was held at Mao in Senapati district, Manipur.

•      It was virtually inaugurated by CM of Manipur Nongthombam Biren Singh from the CM Secretariat in Imphal, amid COVID-19.

•      The festival marked the beginning of pink season in the district.

•      The cherry blossom flower is also known as Prunus cerasoides.

 

 2. ‘SINGLE WINDOW CLEARANCE SYSTEM’ FOR COAL SECTOR

•      Amit Shah virtually launched ‘Single Window Clearance System’ for coal mines.

•      The platform is expected to ease the process of obtaining clearances for the smooth operationalisation of coal mines.

•      It will help in reducing the time taken to grant approvals in the sector.

•      The Unified platform will reduce the need for companies to approach different for operationalisation of coal mines, which is the main cause for delay.

 

3. DIGITAL EVOLUTION SCORECARD 2020

•      3rd edition of Digital Evolution Scorecard 2020 developed by Tufts University’s Fletcher School in partnership with Mastercard was released in which India ranked 4th.

•      The scorecard is topped by China followed by Azerbaijan, Indonesia.

•      It should be noted that India doubled its mobile internet connectivity in the last four years.

•      It will add 350 million smartphones by 2023.

 

4. COMMITTEE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF COVID-19 VACCINE

•      Government of India appointed RS Sharma as head of a 10 member empowered committee for administration of COVID-19  vaccine.

•      The members of the committee comprises senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) and the Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI).

 

5.     BOOK -‘GAZING EASTWARDS: OF BUDDHIST MONKS AND REVOLUTIONARIES IN CHINA, 1957’

•      The book titled  ‘Gazing Eastwards: Of Buddhist Monks and Revolutionaries in China, 1957’ was authored by Romila Thapar, an Indian historian.

•      The book is published by  Seagull Books London Ltd.

•      She declined the Padma Bhushan award in 1992 and 2005.

 

6.     WORLD HINDI DAY 2021: JANUARY 10

•      World Hindi Day(Vishwa Hindi Divas) is annually celebrated on January 10 across the world to promote Hindi language worldwide and to present Hindi as an international language.

 

7.     REVAMPED WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP PLATFORM

•      As part of the efforts to enhance community experience for women entrepreneurs in India, Flipkart & NITI Aayog have collaborated to launch the updated Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP).

•      WEP is a first of its kind, unified access portal launched by NITI Aayog in 2017 to support Women Entrepreneurs.

 

8.     MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION OF NP & WLS, 2018-19

•      Prakash Javadekar released the ‘Management Effectiveness Evaluation(MEE) of 146 National Parks & Wildlife Sanctuaries in India, 2018-19’ report.

•      Great Himalayan NP & Tirthan WLS of Himachal Pradesh Scored high and topped among the National Parks(NP) & Wild Life Santuaries(WLS).

•      The report has been prepared by MoEFCC with technical inputs from Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

Top Ranked NPs & WLS:

NP & WLS           State                                       Score

Jaldapara NP        West Bengal                         80.83

Raiganj WLS        West Bengal                         81.03

Sainj WLS             Himachal Pradesh               82.50

 

9.     INDIA BECOMES 2ND LARGEST MANUFACTURER OF PPE KITS & SUITS

•      Union Minister for Textiles, Smriti Irani has stated that India has become the 2nd Largest Manufacturer of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Kits & Suits, China is the leading manufacturer.

•      India has achieved the feat in a record 3 months’ time during the lockdown caused by Pandemic in March 2020.

 

10.  ONE PLANET SUMMIT (OPS) 2021

•      4th edition of One Planet Summit (OPS) 2021 was virtually organized by France, the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank from Paris (France) to prepare negotiations for setting global biodiversity targets in order to protect nature in next decade.

•      The theme of the summit is “Let’s act together for nature!”.

•      The event was opened by Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron, and President of the World Bank Group David Malpass.

 

11.  INDIAN STUDENT AMONG WINNERS OF NASA APP DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE

•      Aryan Jain, a high school student Gurugram is part of the 6-member winning team of National Aeronautics & Space Administration’s (NASA) Artemis Next-Gen STEM – Moon to Mars App Development Challenge.

•      The challenge was to develop an app to visualize the Lunar South Pole to assist in mission planning and exploration activities. 

•      The main aim of the NASA Artemis Mission is to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024.

 

12.  NATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2021

•      National Youth Day(Yuva Diwas) is celebrated annually on January 12 across India to  recognise and honour the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.

•      This year(2021) marks the 158th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.