Daily Current Affairs and GK | 24 January 2025

Topic: Personality in News

1. With JD Vance being sworn in as US Vice President, Usha became the first Indian-American Second Lady.

• Usha Vance became the first Indian-American and Hindu Second Lady when her husband J.D. Vance was sworn in as the 50th Vice President of the United States on January 20.
• Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh administered the oath to D. Vance.
• She is the youngest second (Second) lady, after 38-year-old Jane Hadley Barkley, wife of former President Harry Truman's Vice President Alben Barkley.
• Ms Usha had also worked as a clerk for Supreme Court Justices Kavanaugh and John Roberts.

Topic: Important Days

2. National Girl Child Day 2025: 24 January

• Every year, National Girl Child Day is observed on January 24.
• The day is observed to raise awareness about the inequalities girl’s 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 emphasize 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: Reports and Indices/Ranking

3. India’s digital economy will constitute nearly a fifth of overall GDP by 2030: ICRIER.

• India’s digital economy will contribute 13.42% in national income by the end of 2024–25. In 2022-23, its contribution was 11.74%.
• A report regarding the size of the digital economy was prepared by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).
• ICRIER in its report included the Digital share of traditional industries like trade, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) and education in the Digital Economy.
• Under this framework, the digital economy in 2022–23 was ₹28.94 lakh crore in Gross Value Added (GVA)] and ₹31.64 lakh crore (~$402 billion) in GDP.
• As per the report, Information and communications technology firms, telecom activities, and electronics manufacturing contributed 7.83% to the national GVA.
• As per the report, the contribution of sectors like e-commerce and digital-only services is currently limited.

Topic: Agriculture and allied sectors

4. 6th International Millets Festival was held in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

• As part of the festival, a conference called "Transformation of agrifood systems through agri-ecology: A Global Perspective" was organised.
• International organisations like GIZ Germany and FiBL Switzerland collaborated to host the event.
• The symposium featured experts from more than ten nations, including Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Australia, Kenya, Tanzania, Italy, Peru, and England.
• One of the leading producers of nutri cereals is Karnataka, which hosted the inaugural International Millets Festival in 2017.
• In the state, millets are cultivated on more than 18.37 lakh hectares (ha).
• Of the main millets, 8.27 lakh hectares are planted to ragi, 8.11 lakh hectares to jowar, and 1.68 lakh hectares to bajra.
• Minor millets namely fox millets, kodo millets and proso millets are cultivated in about 0.31 lakh ha in the state.