Daily Current Affairs and GK | 10 January 2024

Topic: State News/ Uttar Pradesh

1. UP emerged as the top state as a significant contributor to India's MSME sector.

• As per the CBRE report, UP is among the top three states in contribution to India’s MSME sector.
• CBRE South Asia Private Limited released a report titled ‘MSMEs: Unleashing the Engines of Economic Prosperity’.
• MSME activities are mainly concentrated in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
• Three states account for around 40% of the total MSMEs registered in India.
• This report was released at the two-day event at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Trade Facilitation Centre in Varanasi.
• Women entrepreneurs and MSME industrial park developers have supported the MSME ecosystem in Uttar Pradesh.
• Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Meerut and Ghaziabad emerged as MSME clusters in Uttar Pradesh.
• The report highlighted the key role played by the Udyam scheme.

Topic: International Appointments

2. Gabriel Attal becomes the youngest Prime Minister of France.

• Gabriel Attal has been named the next Prime Minister of France.
• Gabriel Attal is presently working as an education minister.
• At the age of 34, Mr Attal is the youngest Prime Minister in modern French history.
• Socialist Laurent Fabius was 37 years old when he was appointed by François Mitterrand in 1984.
• Mr Attal replaces Élisabeth Borne. Élisabeth Borne resigned after 20 months in office.
• Mr Attal has become France’s first openly gay head of government.
• The new head of government will be the fourth prime minister since 2017 under Macron.
• Macron cannot run again in the 2027 presidential elections.
• Mr Attal’s selection as prime minister comes ahead of European parliament elections.
• In the European Parliament elections in June, Macron's Renaissance party risks defeat at the hands of Le Pen's National Rally.
• Macron has faced protests over unpopular pension reforms and controversy over immigration legislation.

Topic: International News

3. People’s Democratic Party has won parliamentary elections in Bhutan.

• People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is the party of former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay.
• It has won most seats in the parliamentary elections of Bhutan. It will form the new government.
• PDP had won 30 of the 47 National Assembly seats. Bhutan Tendrel Party had won 17 seats.
• Tobgay is expected to become Prime Minister for the second time.
• Nearly half a million voters selected the members of parliament from 94 candidates presented by the Bhutan Tendrel Party and the PDP.
• A primary round of voting in November eliminated three other parties.
• These parties included the governing centre-left Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa party.

Topic: Defence

4. Ugram has been launched by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and a Hyderabad-based firm.

• Ugram (ferocious) is an indigenous assault rifle. DRDO has launched it for the Indian Army.
• A DRDO lab has for the first time collaborated with private industry to manufacture a 7.62 x 51 mm caliber rifle.
• The rifle is designed and developed to fulfil the needs of the Indian armed forces, paramilitary forces and state police forces.
• The weight of the rifle is less than four kg. It has a firing range of 500 meters.
• Shailendra Gade, the director general of the DRDO’s Armament and Combat Engineering (ACE) system, unveiled the rifle. ARDE developed the design of the rifle.
• G Ram Chaitanya Reddy, director of Dvipa Armour India, said we have developed five rifles for testing in the first slot.
• He said we would give 15 more rifles to the ARDE for advanced testing.
• A dedicated barrel manufacturing facility has been established by the ARDE on its campus.

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

5. On 9 January, the Regional Conference on the theme “e-Governance” held in Guwahati.

• Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances organized a two-day regional conference on the theme "e-Governance" in collaboration with the Government of Assam in Guwahati.
• Governor of Assam Shri Gulab Chand Kataria and Union Minister of State, Dr. Jitendra Singh, attended the inauguration ceremony.
• Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Dr Jitendra Singh said that Prime Minister Modi's governance reforms have helped bring the Northeast into the mainstream.
• The Minister said that the Central Government had made reforms to simplify governance and ease the delivery of services.
• During the session, a booklet on travel to 25 regional conferences and an e-journal MGMG (July-December, 2023 edition) on e-governance initiatives was released.
• The main objective of this conference is to bring together national and state-level public administration organizations on one platform to bring innovations in public administration, transforming future public solutions to improve the quality of life.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: State News/ West Bengal

6. The 'Yogyasree' was launched by CM Mamata Banerjee for SC/ST students in West Bengal.

• Under the name of "Yogyasree", a free training module has been introduced for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students in West Bengal for various entrance and competitive examinations.
• CM introduced a toll-free anti-ragging number for the students and said that notification should be sent to all colleges and universities.
• On 8 January, the Chief Minister has launched this scheme at a program in Kolkata.
• “Fifty centers will be opened across the state where SC and ST students will be able to take full training for competitive examinations.
• Similar 46 centers will provide free training to the aspiring SC & ST students for government jobs, civil services, etc.
• She also started a student internship program, where 2500 students will receive such an internship.
• She spoke about the various social welfare schemes introduced for students, including Kanyasree, Sabujshree, and the Student's Credit Card scheme.

Topic: Art and Culture

7. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched National Kala Utsav on 09 January 2024 at National Bal Bhawan in New Delhi.

• Minister of State for Education Annpurna Devi was also present on the occasion.
• National Kala Utsav is an initiative of the Ministry of Education.
• It aims to promote arts in learning and education. It also aims to nurture and showcase the talent of school students.
• The Kala Utsav 2023 is being organised by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) at National Bal Bhavan and the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi.
• It is a three-day long event from 9-12 January 2024. It will witness performances in 10 art forms.
• These art forms include Classical and Traditional Folk Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, Classical and Folk Dance, Visual Arts, Indigenous Toys and Games and Solo acting.
• In all these genres, almost 700 students from 36 States and Union Territories will present their artistic creations.

Topic: Personality in News

8. Ustad Rashid Khan dies at the age of 55 in Kolkata.

• The music maestro passed away after a prolonged battle with cancer.
• He was born in Uttar Pradesh’s Badayun.
• He was from the Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana. He is the great-grandson of gharana founder Inayat Hussain Khan.
• He is also the nephew of Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan.
• He received his initial training from his maternal grand-uncle Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan.
• He delivered his debut concert at the age of eleven.       
• He was awarded the Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2006. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2022.
• Pandit Bhimsen Joshi once remarked that Rashid Khan was the "assurance for the future of Indian vocal music".

Topic: National News

9. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw unveiled the Indian Railways Construction Manual, 2023.

• The construction manual will help in Land acquisition, forest clearance, bridge design, contract management, and construction of tunnels and under bridges.
• The manual will also help in developing India’s fastest-growing rail network.
• This manual will help in providing the required knowledge for the execution of construction projects at a faster pace.
• According to the National Rail Plan, Indian Railways has to develop capacity by 2030 to cater to the growing demand up to the year 2050.
• To achieve the demand, Indian Railways has to increase its pace of building its infrastructure.
• The manual has been prepared in simple language. Field officials can easily understand it.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

10. PM Modi inaugurated the 10^th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar.

• On 10th January 2024, PM Modi inaugurated the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.
• UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi and President of Timor Leste José Ramos-Horta attended the summit.
• Prime Minister Modi will also attend a meeting with CEOs of top global corporations.
• The Global FinTech Leadership Forum will be also organized at the GIFT City.
• 'Gateway to the Future' is the theme of the tenth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.
• The main focus of the summit will be on sectors like semiconductors, green hydrogen, e-mobility, and space manufacturing.
• A series of seminars on globally relevant topics like Industry 4.0, Technology and Innovation, and renewable energy will be also organized.
• There are 34 Partner countries and 16 Partner organizations for this year’s Summit. Around 200 global CEOs attended the summit.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Awards and Prizes

11. National Sports Awards 2023 presented by President Droupadi Murmu in Rashtrapati Bhavan on 9 January.

• She presented the Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, and others.
• She presented the Arjuna Award to 26 sports person, including cricketer Mohammed Shami, chess player R Vaishali, archers Ojas Pravin Deotale and Aditi Gopichand Swami, golfer Diksha Dagar, and many others.
• She presented the Dronacharya Awards to Wrestling coach Lalit Kumar, Chess coach R. B. Ramesh and others.
• During the function, she presented Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar to Jain Deemed to be University and Bengaluru and Odisha Mining Corporation Limited.
• The awards ceremony, which was usually held on August 29 to commemorate the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, was postponed due to the Hangzhou Asian Games held from September 23 to October 8 in 2023.
• The recipients of the 2023 awards:

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Important Days

12. World Hindi Day 2024: 10 January

• Every year on 10 January, World Hindi Day is celebrated.
• It is celebrated to mark the anniversary of the first World Hindi Conference organized in Nagpur on 10 January 1975.
• The theme of World Hindi Day 2024 theme is  “Hindi – Bridging Traditional Knowledge and Artificial Intelligence.”
• In 2006, the first World Hindi Day was celebrated by the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
• Its main aim is to promote the Hindi language across the world.
• Hindi is the third most-spoken language in the world.
• In India, Hindi Diwas is observed every year on 14th September.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: State News/ Karnataka

13. Karnataka High Court banned mining activities near the KRS reservoir.

• Karnataka High Court banned all mining activities within a 20-km radius of Krishnarajasagar (KRS) dam in Mandya district.
• The ban will be also applicable to those mining activities within a 20km radius for which licenses were granted by the authorities.
• The Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research is currently conducting a dam safety survey.
• All mining activities will remain banned till the completion of a study by experts.
• The Krishnarajasagara reservoir supplies water for the irrigation of about 1,25,000 acres of land in the arid area of the Mandya district.
• Krishna Raja Sagara dam:
  • The dam was built across the river Kaveri in 1924.
  • It is the main source of water for the districts of Mysore.
  • The water released from this dam flows into the state of Tamil Nadu and is stored in the Mettur dam.

Topic: Personality in News

14. French PM Borne resigns from her post after political turmoil over immigration.

• After recent political turmoil over a new immigration law, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has decided to resign from her post.
• She is the second woman to hold the position of Prime Minister of France after Édith Cresson.
• After Castex's resignation, she was appointed as Prime Minister on 16 May 2022.
• She was then minister of labour, employment and integration in the Castex government from 2020 to 2022.
• She is a member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance.

(Source: News on AIR)