DAILY GK 14-16 APRIL
1.
NTPC LAUNCHES
NEW EDITION OF GIRL EMPOWERMENT MISSION
·
NTPC Limited (formerly National Thermal
Power Corporation) launched the latest edition of the Girl Empowerment Mission (GEM), its flagship Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) initiative.
·
The new GEM will add around 3000
underprivileged children at 42 locations of NTPC., the mission will expand to
benefit a total of 10,000 girls.
·
This is in line with Government of
India’s “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” campaign
2.
JOHN
DIRKS CANADA GAIRDNER GLOBAL HEALTH AWARD 2024
·
The Toronto (Canada) based Gairdner
Foundation honoured Indian microbiologist and virologist Gagandeep Kang with the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health
Award 2024 for her achievements in global health research.
·
She is the first Indian woman to get this award.
·
The John
Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award is annually awarded to the
researchers who used rational, scientifically based research which has improved
the health and well-being of people who face health inequities across the
globe.
3.
ACM
A.M. TURING AWARD
·
The Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) has named Israeli
mathematician and computer scientist Avi Wigderson as
the recipient of the 2023 ACM A.M.
Turing Award, which is often called the “Nobel Prize of Computing”.
·
The award carries a cash prize of USD 1 million.
·
The award was named after Alan M. Turing, a British
mathematician who is considered the father of modern computer science.
4.
NEW
MEMBERS OF UGC FOR 3 YEAR
·
Department of Higher Education, Ministry
of Education has notified the appointment of Ashish Kumar Chauhan, Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive
Officer(CEO), National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Sridhar Vembu, CEO, Zoho Corporation as members of the University
Grants Commission(UGC) for a
period of 3 years.
·
UGC
The Sargent Report of 1944 proposed for the first time
to form the national system of education in India.
·
UGC was established by an Act of
Parliament in 1956
·
Chairman: MamidalaJagadesh
Kumar
·
Headquarters: New
Delhi, Delhi
5.
INTERIM
PRESIDENT OF VIETNAM
·
Vietnam’s Vice-President Vo Thi Anh Xuan (54
years old) was appointed Interim
President of Vietnam .
·
She will serve as the acting president
until Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) elects a new president.
·
Vietnam:
Prime Minister– Pham Minh Chinh
·
Capital–
Hanoi
·
Currency–
Vietnamese dong
6.
PM
OF ICELAND
·
Bjarni Benediktsson,
chairman of Iceland’s Independence Party took office as Prime Minister (PM)
of Iceland he
succeeded KatrÃn Jakobsdóttir,
who resigned as PM of Iceland to run for President of Iceland.
·
Iceland
President Guoni Th. Johannesson
·
Capital–
ReykjavÃk
·
Currency–
Icelandic Króna (ISK)
7.
RUSSIA
LAUNCHED 1ST ANGARA-A5 HEAVY LIFT SPACE ROCKET
·
Russian space agency Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities(ROSCOSMOS) successfully
launched the 1st Angara-A5 space
rocket from the launch pad in VostochnyCosmodrome in the far eastern
Amur region, Russia.
·
This will replace Proton M as Russia’s heavy-lift
rocket, which has been in operation since the mid-1960s.
·
The rocket
was launched into space, reaching more than 25,000 kilometres per hour (Km/hr)
in minutes.
·
Angara-A5
was launched ahead of the celebration of Russia’s
Cosmonaut Day on 12th April 2024 which marks the 63rd anniversary of the
day on which Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin
became the first man in outer space.
8.
INDIA
LOST 2.33 MILLION HECTARES OF TREE COVER SINCE 2000
·
According to the Global Forest Watch (GFW) monitoring project data, India has
lost 2.33 million hectares (Mha) of tree cover since 2000 which is equivalent to a 6% decrease in tree cover during 2001-2023.
·
The data showed that India lost 4,14,000 hectares(414 Thousand hectares (Kha)) of
humid primary forest(4.1%) from
2001 to 2023 which is 18% of its total tree cover loss in the same period.
·
Assam
saw the most tree cover loss at 3,24,000 hectares(324kha) compared to
average of 66.6kha, followed by
Mizoram(312kha), Arunachal Pradesh(262kha), Nagaland(259kha) and
Manipur(240kha).
·
Arunachal
Pradesh had the most tree cover at 6.11million hectares(6.11Mha) compared to an average of 957 kha,
then followed by Assam(2.57Mha), Chhattisgarh(2.28 Mha), Kerala(2.28Mha) and
Odisha(1.92Mha).
·
Global Forest Watch is an initiative of
World Resources Institute(WRI) launched in 2014 in partnership with Google, USAID(United States Agency for International Development), among
others.
9.
INDIA
AMONG 12 NATIONS RESPONSIBLE FOR 60% OF WORLD’S MISMANAGED PLASTIC WASTE
·
According to the EA Earth Action’s 2024
report titled “Plastic Overshoot
Day- September 5, 2024” ,India is among the top 12 nations that
contribute to around 60% of world’s mismanaged plastic waste.
·
The 12 countries are China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico,
Vietnam, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, the United States of America (USA) and Turkiye.
·
India’s
Plastic Overshoot Day is expected on April 23rd, 2024.
10. IMF REAPPOINTS KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA
AS MD
·
The International Monetary Fund(IMF) Executive Board reappointed
Bulgarian Economist Kristalina
Georgieva as Managing Director(MD) of
IMF for a 2nd five-year term starting on 1st October 2024.
·
IMF
Headquarters: Washington D.C
·
Established
in 1944, formed after the Bretton Woods Conference held
in 1944 in USA
·
Member
nations- 190
11. DRDO & INDIAN ARMY CONDUCTED
FLIGHT TRIALS OF MPATGM WEAPON SYSTEM
·
Indian
Army and
the Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO) successfully conducted the warhead flight trials of the
Man Portable Anti-tank Guided Missile
(MPATGM) Weapon System at the Pokhran Field Firing Range(PFFR) in Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan.
·
MPATGM Weapon system includes a MPATGM,
Launcher, Target Acquisition System(TAS)and Fire Control Unit(FCU).
·
MPATGM was indigenously designed and
developed by DRDO in partnership with Hyderabad, Telangana based VEM
Technologies Private Limited.
·
DRDO
Chairman- Dr. Samir VankatpatiKamat
·
Headquarters- New
Delhi, Delhi
·
Established
in 1958
12. 2024 BADMINTON ASIA CHAMPIONSHIPS
·
Badminton Asia Championships 2024 held in Ningbo, China.
·
The Indonesian player Jonatan Christie won the gold medal in
the men’s singles category defeating the Chinese shuttler Li Shi Feng.
·
World no. 9 Chinese player Wang Zhi Yi
won her continental women’s singles title by defeating the Olympic champion
and compatriot Chen Yu Fei.
13. AISHWARYA MISHRA’S 400M BRONZE TO
BE UPGRADED TO SILVER
·
The Indian athlete Aishwarya Mishra’s bronze medal
won during the women’s 400 m sprint event of the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 held
in Bangkok, Thailand, is set to be upgraded to silver medal after the original silver medalist Farida Soliyeva of Uzbekistan failed a dope test.
·
Soliyeva tested positive for meldonium, a substance added to
the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) list
of banned substances in 2016.
14. SAM PITRODA BOOK “THE IDEA OF
DEMOCRACY”
·
Padma Bhushan awardee, SatyanarayanGangaramPitroda, aka Sam Pitroda, an Indian engineer and
entrepreneur, virtually launched his new book titled “The Idea of Democracy”.
·
The book shares the author’s concern
about the state of democracy and the
potential challenges in countries like India and the United States of
America(USA).
15. 105TH ANNIVERSARY
OF JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE – 13 APRIL 2024
·
13th
April 2024 marks the 105th Anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (also
known as the Amritsar Massacre),
held on 13 April 1919 in Amritsar,
Punjab, British India (now in Punjab).
·
On 13 April 1919, on the day of Baisakhi, thousands of people
gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh Garden in Amritsar for a political
meeting to protest against the
Rowlatt Act; and the arrest of
pro-independence activists Dr. Satyapal and
Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew.
·
In response, the acting Brigadier-General, Colonel Reginald Edward
Harry Dyer deployed his 50 troopers, blocked the exits, and opened fire on unarmed civilians attending
a peaceful gathering.
·
The firing continued for approximately
10 minutes; in all 1650 rounds were fired.
·
It
killed an estimated 379 people including men, women,
and children, and injured over a thousand more.
·
The British colonial government passed
the Rowlatt Act, officially known as
the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, based on the
recommendations of the Sedition
Committee, under Mr Justice Rowlatt.
16. NATIONAL FIRE SERVICE DAY 2024 –
APRIL 14
·
National
Fire Service Day is annually observed across India
on 14th April and
the National Fire Service
Week is annually observed from 14th to 20th April to honour the firefighters who lost their
lives in the line of duty and to educate the public and students about fire
safety practices.
·
The theme of National Fire Service Day 2024/National Fire Service
Week 2024 is “Ensure Fire
Safety, Contribute towards Nation Building”.
·
On 14th April 1944, the ship “SS Fort Stikins” stocked with a cargo
of explosives docked at No 1 Victoria Dock, Bombay Port exploded. It killed
around 231 people and around 476 were injured. This includes around 66 firemen.
