Daily Current Affairs and GK | 24 December 2021

Topic: Miscellaneous

1. Docprime launched India’s first ABDM integrated Health Locker.

• Docprime technology has launched India’s first health locker integrated with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
• ABDM integrated Health Locker will provide users a digital and self-consented health data management system without any charges. It will store and manage health records electronically.
• Users can create digital Health IDs for themselves and for their family members on ABDM integrated Health Locker.
• Docprime Health Locker received the ABDM Sandbox approval for activating their ABDM integrated Health Locker.
• The users can also fetch and store their Cowin vaccination certificates through the ABDM integrated Health Locker.
• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) was launched in August 2020 for developing an integrated digital health infrastructure in the country.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

2. Divya Hegde received the UN Women's Award for Leadership Commitment to Gender Equality.

• Divya Hegde has won the UN Women's Award for Leadership Commitment at the 2021 Regional Asia-Pacific Women's Empowerment Principles Awards ceremony.
• She has been recognized for her efforts for promoting gender equality through climate action.
• She has established Baeru Environmental Services which worked for waste management, creation of livelihoods for rural women, and developing a circular economy in the region.
• Baeru Environmental Services works for the empowerment of women and provides training programmes in waste management and product development.
• Divya Hegde works for enhancing awareness about climate action issues among women. She encourages entrepreneurship in waste management. 

Topic: Important Days

3. National Farmer's Day: 23 December

• National Farmer's Day or Kisan Diwas is celebrated every year on 23 December.
• National Farmer's Day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Choudhary Charan Singh.
• This day is celebrated to praise farmers’ contribution to the economy and society and create awareness about the role of farmers in society.
• In 2001, the government decided to declare 23 December as Kisan Diwas.
• Chaudhary Charan Singh was the fifth Prime Minister of India from July 28, 1979, to January 14, 1980. He introduced many farmer welfare schemes during his tenure.
• Choudhary Charan Singh once said that "The true India resides in its villages."
• India is an agriculture-dependent country. The share of agriculture in GDP is 19.9 per cent in 2020-21.

Topic: Sports

4. Bangladesh win SAFF U19 Women’s Championship.

• Bangladesh has won the SAFF U19 Women’s Championship by defeating India in the finals.
• Shaheda Akter Ripa of Bangladesh scored the maximum number of goals in the tournament. She received the ‘most valuable player’ award.
• The 2021 SAFF U-19 Women's Championship was the 2^nd edition of the SAFF U-19 Women's Championship.
• It was organized from 11 to 22 December 2021 at BSSS Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Dhaka.
• Five countries have participated in the 2021 SAFF U-19 Women's Championship. Pakistan Football Federation was suspended by FIFA in April 2021 so it didn’t participate in this competition.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Defence

5. DRDO successfully conducted flight test of HEAT-Abhyas.

• DRDO has successfully conducted flight test of indigenously developed High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT)-Abhyas.
• The flight test was conducted from Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off the coast of Odisha on 23 December 2021.
• High subsonic speed trajectory at a very low altitude with high endurance was demonstrated during the flight trial.
• During the launch, two boosters provided initial acceleration and a small turbojet engine was used to sustain high subsonic speed with long endurance.
• The indigenous data link designed by Bengaluru based Industry partner has been successfully flown and tested during the flight.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Defence

6. A messaging app has been launched by Indian Army.

• Contemporary messaging application named ASIGMA has been launched by the Indian Army.
• ASIGMA stands for Army Secure IndiGeneous Messaging Application.
• It has been developed entirely in-house by a team of officers of the Corps of Signals of the Army.
• ASIGMA is being deployed on the Army’s internal network in the form of a replacement of Army Wide Area Network messaging application.
• Army Wide Area Network (AWAN) messaging application has been in service for past the 15 years.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: State News/ Maharashtra

7. Maharashtra Assembly passed Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill 2020.

• The Maharashtra assembly has unanimously passed the Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020 for crimes against women and children.
• The main objective of this bill is to curb crime against women and to provide stricter punishment for crime against women and children.
• The bill has the provision of the death penalty or life imprisonment for heinous offences like rape, and gang-rape on women below 16 years of age.
• It has also increased the minimum quantum of punishment in case of acid attacks on women and sexual assault of children and also fixed 30 day time limit for completing the probe.
• This legislation has also a provision to handle crime against women through digital and social media platforms. It has a provision of a fine of Rs 25 lakh or imprisonment up to three months in case of not sharing data for police investigation.
• Maharashtra becomes the second state in India after Andhra Pradesh that has approved the death penalty for heinous offences of rapes and gangrapes.

Topic: Banking System

8. RBI extends card tokenisation deadline by six months.

• Reserve Bank of India has extended the card tokenisation deadline by six months to June 30, 2022. The earlier deadline was December 31, 2021.
• As per RBI’s new rule, all merchants and payment gateways have to delete sensitive customer data and use encrypted tokens to carry out transactions after the deadline date.
• RBI has increased the deadline due to some operational challenges in adopting the token-based payments ecosystem.
• According to the new rule, sensitive customer information will be stored in the form of an encrypted 'token' to help secure transactions.
• These tokens will help in doing transactions without storing customer details on payment intermediaries. Customer information stored on merchant sites increases the risk of card data being stolen.
• Tokenisation refers to the replacement of actual card details with a unique alternate code called the 'token'.

Topic: State News/ Uttar Pradesh

9. UP government to launch ‘Free Smartphone Yojana’ on 25 December.

• The Uttar Pradesh government will launch ‘Free Smartphone Yojana’ on December 25, 2021.
• Under this scheme, the government will distribute mobile and tablets to final year students of graduation and above.
• In the first phase, 60,000 smartphones and 40,000 tablets will be given to final year students during a function in Lucknow.
• Government has made an order of about Rs 2035 crore for the distribution in the first phase. The state government has procured smartphones and tablets from companies including Lava, Samsung and Acer.
• Nearly one crore students including girls from each district of UP are likely to benefit from this scheme. This initiative has been launched to make students technically advanced.
• According to the state government, more than 38 lakh students have registered themselves on the Digi Shakti Portal.

Topic: Personality in News

10. Richard Rogers passes away in London.

• Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Rogers passed away in London.
• Rogers was a British-Italian architect who won Pritzker Prize in 2007.
• Pritzker Prize is also called as Nobel Prize of Architecture.
• Rogers also won Royal Gold Medal in 1985 and American Institute of Architect's Gold Medal in 2019. His architectural achievements are given below.
  • Three World Trade Center in New York
  • Centre Pompidou in Paris
  • Millennium Dome in London

Topic: National News

11. National Dope Testing Laboratory gets back WADA accreditation.

• National Dope Testing Laboratory has got back World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accreditation.
• WADA has restored NDTL’s accreditation. With this, NDTL’s Anti-Doping testing and activities will be resumed with immediate effect.
• NDTL’s WADA accreditation was suspended on 20 August 2019 on the basis of non-compliances observed during the on-site assessment of NDTL held in September 2018.
• Government is also keen to establish and recognize more Dope Testing Laboratories in the country.
• National Anti-Doping Bill 2021 has been introduced in the Parliament on 17 December 2021.

Topic: Important Days

12. Fifth Siddha Day celebrated by AYUSH Ministry.

• Fifth Siddha Day was celebrated by AYUSH Ministry on 23^rd December.
• AYUSH Minister Sarbananda Sonowal addressed a gathering on the occasion of Siddha Day.
• Siddha system of medicine is one of the oldest codified traditions of healthcare.
• It originated in the Indian sub-continent. It is still being practiced in the southern parts of the country.
• "Siddhargal" or Siddhars were the premier scholars of this system in ancient times.
• The word Siddha has its origin in the Tamil word Siddhi. Agastyar or Agasthya, is believed to be the founding father of Siddha Medicine.

Topic: International News

13. UNSC adopted a resolution to provide help to Afghanistan.

• The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution offered by the United States that will facilitate humanitarian relief in Afghanistan.
• The resolution passed states that “payment of funds, other financial assets or economic resources, and the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of such assistance or to support such activities are permitted”.
• Such help will support Afghanistan's "basic human requirements" and is "not a violation" of sanctions imposed on Taliban-linked entities.
• The US froze roughly $9.5 billion from the Afghan central bank after the Taliban took power, and the World Bank suspended aid to Kabul.
• On December 10, the World Bank said that by the end of the month, it would provide $280 million in humanitarian relief to UNICEF and the World Food Programme for distribution in Afghanistan.

Topic: Important Days

14. National Consumer Rights Day 2021: 24 December

• National Consumer Day, or Bharatiya Grahak Diwas, is celebrated on December 24.
• The theme of National Consumer Day 2021 is “Tackling Plastic Pollution”. It aims to create awareness regarding consumer rights.
• On 24 December 1986, the Consumer Protection Bill was passed.  24 December was marked as National Consumer Day under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
• Every year on March 15, World Consumer Rights Day is commemorated.