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.
