Daily Current Affairs and GK | 24 January 2024

Topic: Awards and Prizes

1. Indian documentary feature film 'To Kill A Tiger' gets nominated for the 96^th Academy Awards.

• In the Best Documentary Feature Film category, the Indian documentary film 'To Kill A Tiger' has been nominated for the 96th Academy Awards.
• To Kill A Tiger is directed by Delhi-born Nisha Pahuja.
• This documentary is an emotional journey of an ordinary man facing extraordinary circumstances.
• The film shows Ranjit's uphill battle to find justice for his 13-year-old daughter who was abducted and later sexually assaulted by three men.
• Last year, this film received a theatrical release in North America.
• The four other nominees in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards are Bobi Wine: The People’s President, The Eternal Memory, Four Daughters and 28 Days in Mariupol.
• Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer has got 13 major nominations.
• The 96th Academy Awards will be given on 10 March at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Topic: Sports

2. Rohit Sharma was selected as captain of the ICC Men’s ODI team of the year in the ICC Awards 2023.

• Pat Cummins has been named as the captain of the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year.
• India spinner R Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, Usman Khawaja and Joe Root are also part of the ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year.
• As part of the ICC Awards 2023, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced five ICC Teams of the Year across formats for men and women.
• Chamari Athapaththu has been selected as captain of the ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year. She is also named the captain of the Women’s T20I Team of the Year.
• Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Daryl Mitchell, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Shami are part of the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year award.
• Suryakumar Yadav has been selected as captain of the ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year.

Topic: Important Days

3. National Girl Child Day 2024: 24 January

• Every year, National Girl Child Day is observed on January 24.
• The day is observed to raise awareness about the inequalities girls encounter. It also advocates equal opportunities for girls in education, healthcare, and nutrition.
• It is also observed to mark the anniversary of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 January 2015.
• The government's main aim is to emphasise the principles of equality and dignity for every girl child.
• National Girl Child Day was launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development launched this day in 2008.
• National Girl Child Day aligns with various campaigns and programs run by the Indian government, including Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

4. Former CM Bihar Karpoori Thakur will be honoured with Bharat Ratna posthumously.

• On January 22, Rashtrapati Bhavan announced in its communique that prominent socialist leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur will be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna.
• The announcement of conferring India's highest civilian award on Karpoori Thakur has been made a day before his 100th birth anniversary.
• He was a prominent socialist leader. Thakur is also revered by his followers as 'Jannanayak', who was known for his efforts to strengthen the backward castes.
• He was born on 24 January 1924 and died on February 17, 1988. Thakur was jailed during the Quit India Movement against British rule.
• He won the election for the first time in 1952 and since then has not lost a single election in his career.
• In 1978, Karpoori Thakur paved the way for reservation for backward castes in government services in Bihar.
• He served as Chief Minister of Bihar from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Defence

5. 14^th All India Police Commando Competition started in Visakhapatnam on 22 January.

• The competition is being organized at the A.P. Police Greyhounds training facility, Visakhapatnam.
• The event was inaugurated by the Commissioner of Police, Visakhapatnam, A. Ravi Shankar.
• Around 16 states have sent their elite commando forces for the competition.
• It includes forces like the Special Operations Group (SOG) from Odisha and Chhattisgarh, C- 60 from Maharashtra, the paramilitary forces such as BSF, CRPF, Assam Rifles, ITBP, RPF, SSB, and CISF, among others.
• Each team will consist of 13-15 commandos and the competition will be conducted in five phases over a week, testing the skills, stamina, and teamwork of the participants.
• An expert team from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) will assess the commandos.

Topic: Important Days

6. International Education Day: 24 January

• International Day of Education is celebrated on 24 January every year worldwide.
• This year marks the sixth year of the celebration of International Day of Education.
• 24 January was declared as International Day of Education in 2018.
• The first International Day of Education was celebrated on January 24, 2019.
• This year, the theme for the celebration of International Day of Education is ‘learning for lasting peace’.
• UNESCO has dedicated the celebration of this year’s International Day of Education to the crucial role education and teachers play in countering hate speech.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

7. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar inaugurated the 'Hamara Samvidhan, Hamara Samman' campaign on 24 January 2024.

• It is a year-long pan-India campaign to commemorate the 75th Year of India as a Republic.
• The campaign intends to reaffirm the collective commitment to the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India.
• It also aims to celebrate the shared values that bind the nation.
• It also envisages instilling pride and responsibility to keep the ideals outlined in the constitutional framework.
• Sabko Nyay -Har Ghar Nyaya, Nav Bharat Nav Sankalp and Vidhi Jagriti Abhiyan are some of the themes to be covered during the campaign.
• Sabko Nyay -Har Ghar Nyaya intends to bring together the villagers through the Village Level Entrepreneurs of the Common Service Centers.
• Sabko Nyay -Har Ghar Nyaya intends to encorage villagers to read the Sabko Nyay pledge.
• Nyay Sahayaks will spread awareness about the different citizen-centric legal services to the masses.
• At the State and UT levels, Nyaya Seva Mela would be organized.
• Nav Bharat Nav Sankalp intends to give support to the masses to embrace the resolutions of Panch Pran by reading the Panch Pran Pledge.
• Vidhi Jagriti Abhiyan intends to make the students to take part in spreading the message of Panch Pran in the villages adopted by the Law colleges, under the Pro Bono Club scheme.
• Nyaya Setu has also been launched. It is a step that intends to expand the reach of legal services till the last mile.
• The achievement booklet of the ‘Designing Innovative Solutions for Holistic Access to Justice’ (DISHA) scheme has also been released.
• Under the DISHA scheme, the Tele Law Programme has brought together over 67 lakh citizens for pre-litigation advice.
• DISHA scheme was launched in 2021 by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India for a period of five years (2021-2026).

Topic: International News

8. Sweden is soon likely to become a NATO member.  

• Turkey has approved Sweden’s membership bid. Turkey’s parliament ratified the NATO membership bid of Sweden.
• This cleared the biggest remaining hurdle to expand the Western military alliance after a delay of 20 months.
• Turkey’s general assembly voted 287-55 to approve the application that Sweden first made in 2022.
• The applications from countries seeking to join the alliance are required to be approved by all NATO members.
• After Parliament approval, Turkiye President Erdogan will sign the bill into law.
• The Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, said his country is one step closer to becoming a full member of NATO.
• NATO’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed the vote.
• He expects Hungary to ratify Sweden’s application as soon as possible.
• When Sweden becomes a member of NATO, the complete Baltic coastline will become a NATO territory, with the exceptions of the Russian coast and Kaliningrad. 

Topic: Committees/ Commissions/Taskforces

9. Central government formed a committee to recommend steps to safeguard the interests of scheduled caste communities.

• To safeguard the interests of scheduled caste communities like the Madigas and other groups, a high-level committee has been formed to make recommendations.
• This committee will ensure fair allocation of benefits to most disadvantaged communities within the Scheduled Castes.
• This committee will be chaired by the cabinet secretary. The secretaries of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Department of Personnel and Training, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Department of Legal Affairs and the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment will be the members of the committee.
• The first meeting of the committee of secretaries took place on 23rd January 2024.
• The main concern of the government is that the benefits of reservation and welfare/developmental schemes are not percolating evenly among the scheduled castes.
• Reservation to the SCs and STs in direct recruitment by open competition is given at the rate of 15% and 7.5% respectively.
• According to the 2011 census, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are about 16.6% and 8.6%, respectively, of India's population.

Topic: Economy/Banking/Finance

10. The government expanded the scope of activities at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

• The government has included services such as bookkeeping, and accounting to be undertaken at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).
• Various services including book-keeping, accounting, taxation, and financial crime compliance will be undertaken as part of the financial services at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).
• The Ministry of Finance has issued a notification regarding expanding services at the International Financial Services Centre.
• The financial services are provided by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) to non-residents.
• IFSCA:
  • IFSCA is a statutory body. It was set up in April 2020 under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.
  • It was established to regulate all financial services in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs).
  • At present, GIFT City, Gandhinagar in Gujarat is India’s first and only operational International Financial Services Center.

Topic: International News

11. International students will now be allowed to stay in Canada for only two years.

• Canada has decided to set a two-year limit on allowing international students with immediate effect.
• The Canadian government says it will also restrict work permits to some postgraduate students as the country faces a record increase in the number of new visitors and a worsening housing crisis.
• Canadian Immigration Minister Mark Miller said the move will allow approximately 360,000 students to study in 2024, which is 35% less than in 2023. Last year, around 5,60,000 study visas were issued.
• In addition, the government has said that it is imposing an immediate two-year limit on new international student visas to target institutional "bad actors".
• Some private institutions have taken advantage of international students by operating under-resourced campuses, lacking support for students, and charging high tuition fees, even as their number of international students has increased significantly.
• The federal government will work with provinces to focus their education systems on reducing student attrition.
• The move is expected to impact students from India who look at Canada as a preferred destination for higher studies.
• India ranked first among the top ten origin countries of study permit holders in Canada in 2022, with a total of 3,19,000 students.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

12. Shubhman Gill and Ravi Shastri will be honoured at the BCCI Awards.

• On January 23, former India all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri will be honoured with BCCI's Lifetime Achievement Award in Hyderabad.
• India's young top-order batsman Shubman Gill will receive the Cricketer of the Year award for outstanding performances in the last 12 months.
• In 2023, Gill became the fastest player to cross the milestone of 2000 runs in ODIs and notably scored five centuries in the format.
• In 2014, Shastri was appointed as the director of Team India.
• Under Shastri, as India's head coach, the Virat Kohli-starrer team made it to the semi-finals of the ICC World Cup 2019.
• Shastri remained the head coach of India till the T20 World Cup in 2021.
• The BCCI Awards will be held for the first time since 2019. The awards were first given in 2006–07.

Topic: Biotechnology and Diseases

13. Jammu CSIR lab found that the cannabis plant compound has antibiotic effects.

• As per the study, tetrahydrocannabidiol obtained from cannabis could fight methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
• Jammu CSIR lab scientists found that phytocannabinoids, a class of compounds found in the cannabis plant, have some antibiotic properties.
• Cannabinoids are a class of compounds found in the cannabis plant. They bind to receptors in the bodies of animals to produce a variety of neurological effects.
• Researchers extracted cannabidiol from a cannabis plant and reacted with hydrogen with palladium as a catalyst.
• It yielded a mixture of molecules with the same composition and order of atoms but different structures and one of them was THCBD.
• Antibiotics are chemical compounds which are obtained from one microorganism and are used to kill another microorganism.
• The overuse of antibiotics in India, their misuse in animal husbandry, and poor waste disposal have increased the concern.
• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major health concern in India. India reported 2.97 lakh deaths in 2019 due to AMR.

Topic: Books and Authors

14. A book titled ‘Conversations with Aurangzeb’ has been authored by Charu Nivedita.

• Tamil writer Charu Nivedita’s Conversations with Aurangzeb has been translated by Nandini Krishnan.
• This book reimagines the story of the most controversial Mughal emperor.
• The writer and Aurangzeb speak of the past and present of the Mughals and Marxism.
• Charu Nivedita is the author of more than sixty works in Tamil.
• This book is a unique fusion of historical narrative and satirical commentary.