DAILY GK 22-24 DEC

 DAILY GK 22-24 DEC

1.          2022 SOCIAL PROGRESS INDEX: INDIA RANKS 110TH

·            The Institute for Competitiveness released the annual 2022 Social Progress Index (SPI) which was published by Social Progress Imperative.

·            India secured a global rank of 110 with score of 60.19 in Tier 4 countries.

·            The index is topped by Norway with a score of 90.74 in Tier-1 countries i.e. high income countries.

·            The SPI 2022 for States and Districts made by the Institute for Competitiveness and Social Progress Imperative was submitted to Economic Advisory Council- Prime Minister (EAC-PM).

·            Puducherry got the highest SPI score of 65.99 due to its remarkable performance across components like personal freedom and choice, shelter, and water and sanitation.

 

2.          TENTATIVE LIST OF UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES

·            According to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), 3 new Cultural Sites in India have been added to the provisional list of United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCOWorld Heritage sites.

·            They are as Sun Temple, Modhera, Gujarat and its adjoining monuments,Vadnagar – A multi-layered Historic town, Gujarat,Rock-cut Sculptures and Reliefs of the Unakoti, Unakoti Range, Unakoti District, Tripura

·            With this addition, India currently has 52 sites on the UNESCO Tentative List.

·            There are 40 sites in India that have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

 

3.          THE STATUS OF CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE SCHEME ‘AYURSWASTHYA YOJANA’

·            the Ministry of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) issued a notification regarding the status of the centres of excellence scheme ‘AYURSWASTHYA Yojana‘.

·            AYURSWASTHYA Yojana, a Central Sector Scheme under the Ministry of Ayush is currently run with 2 componentsAYUSH and Public Health (PHI) & Centre of Excellence (CoE) from the Financial Year (FY) 2021-2022 by merging two erstwhile schemes of AYUSH Ministry.

 

4.          INDIA’S FIRST GREEN STEEL BRAND – “KALYANI FERRESTA”

·            This was manufactured by a Saarloha Advanced Materials (Saarloha) Pune-based Kalyanigroup company, by using renewable energy resources, leaving zero carbon footprints in the environment.

·            India is presently leading the countries which have committed to achieving carbon neutrality, with ongoing green steel manufacturing.

·            Sweden was the 1st country in the world to manufacture fossil-free steel which is also known as green steel.

·            Green steel is manufactured using low-carbon energy sources such as hydrogen, coal gasification and electricity rather than using coking coal.

·            India is the world’s second-largest producer of crude steel after China.

 

5.          UI GREEN METRIC WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2022

·            According to the UI Green Metric World University Rankings 2022 released by The Universitas Indonesia (UI) on the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal (town within Udupi), Karnataka is ranked No. 1 in India and 121st worldwide for being the most sustainable university.

·            MAHE is followed by Mangalore University, Mangaluru, Karnataka, and S R M University (Institute of Science and Technology) Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu are ranked 2nd & 3rd in India.

·            Wageningen University & Research of Netherlands topped the list followed by the United Kingdom(UK)’s Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

 

6.          DIGITAL INDIA AWARDS 2022

·            The Smart Cities Mission of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has won the Platinum icon award in the Digital India Awards (DIA) 2022 under the Data Sharing and Use for Socio Economic Development category for their initiative “DataSmart Cities: Empowering Cities through Data”.

·            Digital India Awards (DIA) are instituted under the aegis of National Portal of India to honour and encourage innovative digital solutions by government entities at all levels(Centre, State & local bodies) to fulfil the Digital India vision.

 

7.          BRITISH MAGAZINE’S LIST OF 50 GREATEST ACTORS

·            Indian Actor and Bollywood superstar, Shah Rukh Khan has become the only Indian to be named on the 50 Greatest Actors Of All Time List of Empire Magazine, a British monthly film magazine.

·            The list also features Hollywood giants like Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Anthony Marlon Brando, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and many others.   

 

8.          INDIAN NAVY GETS 5TH SCORPENE CLASS SUBMARINE ‘VAGIR’

·         The fifth Scorpene-class conventional submarine, “Vagir”(S25), of “Project 75”, Kalvari Class submarines, Yard 11879, was delivered to the Indian Navy by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai, Maharashtra.

·            It will be commissioned into the Indian Navy in January 2023 as “Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vagir,” a fully combat-worthy submarine capable of operation in all modes and deployment regimes.

·            Six Scorpene-class submarines are to be built indigenously under Project-75.

·            The first submarine, “INS Kalvari,” was commissioned in December 2017, followed by 2nd submarine “INS Khanderi“ in September 2019, 3rd submarine “INS Karanj” in March 2021, and 4th submarine “INS Vela” in November 2021.

 

9.          INDIAN NAVY LAUNCHES ITS FIRST ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE SHIP “INS ARNALA”

·            The Indian Navy launched the Indian Naval Ship (INS) “Arnala,” the first of eight indigenously built Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) [Yard 3029], at shipbuilding facility of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) in Kattupalli, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

·            It is built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. (GRSE), Kolkata, West Bengal.

 

10.       GIXI: IGX LAUNCHES INDIA’S FIRST GAS PRICE INDEX

·            The Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) launched GIXI, the first ever, nationwide price index to reflect benchmark natural gas prices for India. This launch is on the lines with international benchmarks such as JKM (Japan Korea Marker), HH (Henry Hub), WIM (West India Marker), TTF (Dutch).

·            IGX Price Index is calculated for various hubs and delivery points with IGX prices being discovered based on actual deliveries making it reflective of the true market situation.

·            IGX is Promoted by the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), it is India’s first automated national level Gas Exchange.
Managing Director & CEO– Rajesh Kumar Mediratta

 

11.       SCO-IBC MEETING HELD AT NEW DELHI

·            The 19th meeting of the Experts and Coordinators of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Interbank Consortium (SCO-IBC), the first to be held under India’s presidency, came to an end in New Delhi, Delhi.

·            The SCO IBC will be led by India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) from October 26 to October 25, 2023.

·            Recently, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi attended the 22nd SCO Summit, which took place on September 15-16, 2022, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

·            The SCO Presidency for the upcoming years 2022–2023 was transferred from Uzbekistan to India during the summit.

·            The SCO is an eight-nation group composed of India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

·            In July 2005India was granted ‘observer status’ in the SCO during the Astana Summit held in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan.

·            India became a full member of the SCO during the SCO summit in Astana in June 2017.

 

12.       HEMANT GUPTA APPOINTED AS CHIEF OF NDIAC

·            The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Justice Hemant Gupta, retired Supreme Court Judge, as the Chairperson of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC) and Ganesh Chandru and Anant Vijay Palli as part-time members of NDIAC.

·            He has delivered several important judgments, including the verdict in the Karnataka Hijab ban case

 

13.       NATIONAL MATHEMATICS DAY 2022 – DECEMBER 22

·            National Mathematics Day is annually celebrated across India on December 22 to mark the birth anniversary of renowned Indian Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who was born on 22nd December 1887 in Erode, Madras Presidency, British India (now Tamil Nadu, India).

·            22nd December 2022 marks the 135th birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.

 

14.       SANIA MIRZA TO BECOME INDIA’S 1ST MUSLIM WOMAN FIGHTER PILOT

·            Sania Mirza  from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, who cleared the National Defence Academy (NDA) exam and secured 149th rank, is set to become India’s 1st Muslim female fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and UP’s 1st IAF pilot.

·            The NDA exam was held to fill 400 seats, 19 of which were reserved for women candidates. 2 of these 19 seats were reserved for fighter pilots.

·            In 2016, the IAF commissioned 3 women as fighter pilots. Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth, and Mohana Singh created history by becoming the 1st female combat pilots in the IAF.

·            The 1st female Rafale fighter pilot is Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh, who was commissioned in 2017.

·            Captain Abhilasha Barak is the 1st woman Combat Aviator in the Indian Army.

 

15.       WINNERS OF SAHITYA AKADEMI AWARDS 2022

·            The Sahitya Akademi announced the winners of Sahitya Akademi Awards 2022, the annual awards that recognises the literature works in 24 Indian languages (including English).

·            Novelist Anuradha Roy, Tamil author M. Rajendran, Telugu writer Madhuranthakam Narendra and Sanskrit Poet Janardan Prasad Pandey ‘Mani’ were among 23 litterateurs awarded the Sahitya Akademi Awards for 2022.

 

16.       UIDAI HQ BUILDING WINS TOP GREEN BUILDING AWARD

·            The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Headquarter in New Delhi (Delhi) has won the prestigious GRIHA Exemplary Performance Award 2022, a top national level Green Building Award.

·            GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) is a national rating system for green buildings in India.

·            PGIMER satellite centre at Sangrur, Punjab has balso een declared winner in the GRIHA Exemplary Performance competition in the category of energy management.

 

17.       2022 IWF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

·            Indian weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won the  Silver medal, under 49 kg Women category, at the 2022 IWF World Championships held in Bogota, Colombia

·            Jiang Huihua of China took home the gold medal with a combined weight of 206 kg.

·            Saikhom Mirabai Chanu was born at Nongpok Kakching, Imphal, Manipur.

·            She was the 1st Indian Weightlifter to win a Silver at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 and the 2nd Indian Weightlifter after KarnamMalleswari to win an Olympic medal.

·            Hidilyn Diaz, a Filipino weightlifter (Philippines), has won 3 gold medals under the 55Kg Women’s category at the 2022 IWF World Championships in Bogota, Colombia.

 

18.       FIFA RANKING: BRAZIL RANKED NO.1

·            FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) officially announced the 2022 world rankings, and Brazil hold on to their No. 1 spot and 22nd FIFA Men’s World  Cup 2022 Champions Argentina ranked 2nd.

·            Morocco has improved from 22nd to 11th

·            France is at 3rd place

 

19.       KISAN DIWAS OR NATIONAL FARMERS DAY 2022 – DECEMBER 23

·            Kisan Diwas, also known as National Farmers Day, is annually observed across India on December 23 to recognise and honour the major role of farmers in the growth and development of India.

·            The day also marks the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Charan Singh, a farmers’ leader who became India’s 5th Prime Minister (PM) (1979-1980).