Daily Current Affairs and GK | 27 and 28 March 2022

Topic: Important Days

1. World Theatre Day 2022: 27 March

• Every year on March 27, World Theatre Day is celebrated.
• It is observed with the aim of recognizing and celebrating the value and significance of-the-art form "theatre."
• The theme of World Theatre Day has been the same over the years which is ‘Theatre and a Culture of Peace'.
• In 1961, the International Theatre Institute (ITI) established World Theatre Day.
• Since 1962, ITI Centres and the international theatrical community have been commemorating World Theatre Day.
• On World Theatre Day, French playwright Jean Cocteau wrote the first message.
• The first ITI conference was held in Helsinki, Finland, and the second in Vienna, Austria.

Topic: Sports

2. PV Sindhu clinched Swiss Open 2022 title.

• P V Sindhu won her second women's singles title in the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament by defeating Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
• Sindhu defeated Thai player 21-16, 21-8 at St. Jakobshalle in Basel.
• HS Prannoy lost 10-21, 18-21 in the men's singles final against Jonatan Christie.
• In the previous edition, Sindhu was defeated in the final by the Rio Olympic gold medalist Carolina Marin of Spain. 
• In January 2022, Sindhu won the Syed Modi International Super 300 in Lucknow.

Topic: State News/ Goa

3. Pramod Sawant took oath as Chief Minister of Goa for second term on 28th March.

• The ceremony took place at Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee's stadium near Panaji, where over 10,000 people attended.
• Dr. Sawant is a member of the Goa Legislative Assembly representing Sanquelim in North Goa.
• After the death of Manohar Parrikar, he sworn in as the Chief Minister of Goa for the first time in March 2019.
• The BJP won 20 seats in the recent assembly elections, falling one seat short of a majority in the 40-member House.
• The BJP has received backing from three independent MLAs and two members from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).

Topic: Awards and Prizes

4. Oscar Awards 2022: CODA wins Oscar in Best Film category.

• Jane Campion won the Best Director Award for the film "The Power of the Dog" at the 94^th Academy Awards.
• Ms. Campion held the record for being the first woman to compete in the category twice. She was nominated for The Piano in 1994.
• “Dune”, a science-fiction adventure film was nominated in ten categories and it has won in six categories.
• Troy Kotsur of the film "CODA" became the first deaf person to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
• Kenneth Branagh won the Best Original Screenplay award for Belfast.
• Siân Heder won Best Adapted Screenplay for CODA. Danny Glover received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
• The Honorary Academy Awards for 2022 was given to Samuel Jackson, Elaine May, and Liv Ullmann.
• In addition to the above-mentioned winners, other OSCAR Awards 2022 winners are given below:
  • Best Picture: “CODA”
  • Best Actress: Jessica Chastain for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
  • Best Actor: Will Smith for “King Richard”
  • Best Director: Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog”
  • Best Documentary Feature: “Summer of Soul”
  • Best International Feature: “Drive My Car”
  • Best Animated Feature: “Encanto”
  • Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose for “West Side Story”
• Oscar awards:
  • The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) presented the 94^th Academy Awards, which honored the best films released between March 1 and December 31, 2021.
  • The ceremony takes place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, and is hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes. 
  • The first Academy Awards was presented in 1929.
  • The Oscars winners are given a copy of the golden statuette (The Academy Award of Merit).

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Sports

5. Indian team has won 2022 SAFF U-18 Women’s Championship title at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.

• Though India lost the last league match to Bangladesh, it became champion of the tournament due to better goal difference.
• Lynda Kom was valuable player of the tournament and the highest goal scorer of the tournament.
• Lynda Kom scored five goal goals in the tournament. Lynda Kom is an Indian football player from Manipur.
• 2022 SAFF U-18 Women's Championship was the 3^rd edition of SAFF U-18 Women's Championship. It was held from 15–25 March 2022 in Jamshedpur.
• SAFF U-18 Women’s Championship:
  • It is a biennial tournament for women’s national football teams under age of 18.
  • It is governed by South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Indian Economy

6. India’s imports of all grades of Non-Coking Coal have declined.

• The imports have declined to over 125 Million Tonne (MT) during April to January 2022 from 163 MT during the corresponding months of the Financial Year 2020.
• This is a decline of about 23%. Domestic coal-based power generation till January 2022 is over 815 billion units, which is 12.55% higher as compared to 724 billion units during the corresponding period of FY20.
• Imported coal-based electricity generation, which peaked at nearly 78 billion units in April to January 2020, has dropped by 55% to 35.13 billion units in the same months of Fiscal Year 2022.
• The import of Non-Coking coal mainly used in power sector has declined by 60.87% from 58.09 MT to 22.73 MT up to Jan 2022 in comparison to same period of Financial Year 2020.
• India is third-largest energy-consuming country of the world. Its electricity demand grows by 4.7% each year.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

7. Union Minister Anurag Thakur launched TEJAS at Dubai Expo.

• Anurag Thakur, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, has launched TEJAS- Training for Emirates Jobs And Skills at Dubai Expo.
• The aim of this project is to provide skill, certificates and overseas employment to Indians.
• It also aims to create a 10,000 strong Indian workforce in UAE during the initial stage.
• World Expo 2020 Dubai is being organised by the Bureau International des Expositions with the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating future”. It is being held from 1 October 2021-31 March 2022.

Topic: State News/ Assam

8. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi announced CSR projects for Darrang district of Assam.

• Pralhad Joshi, Coal Minister, has announced that CSR projects worth Rs. 2 crores will be implemented in Darrang district of Assam.
• Darrang district is one of the aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog under the aspirational districts programme.
• Aspirational Districts are those districts that are affected by poor socio-economic indicators.
• These CSR projects will be implemented by Coal India Limited.
• The target areas under these projects are quality education and healthcare for all.
• Coal India Limited will help in building more classrooms in 19 government schools in addition to improving healthcare infrastructure.
• CSR- Corporate Social Responsibility was made a mandatory provision for companies under the Companies Act 2013 to take up projects towards social welfare activities.
• Coal India Limited is a coal mining and refinery company of Govt of India. It is a Maharatna PSU and is headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. Its current Chairman is Pramod Agarwal.

Topic: State News/Gujarat

9. Gujarat’s Surat has become India’s first city to get a road made of steel waste.

• The road has been built by Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India with CSIR and Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and NITI Aayog.
• This road, built in Hazira Industrial Area, consists of 100% processed steel slag.
• It is a 6-lane one kilometre long road. It is India’s first ever steel slag road.
• 100% processed steel slag has been used in all its layers. Steel slag is often considered as a waste material.
• Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) is located in New Delhi. It is a constituent laboratory of CSIR.

Topic: State News/Uttarakhand

10. Ritu Khanduri has been elected unopposed as Uttarakhand Assembly’s first woman speaker.

• Pro-tem speaker Banshidhar Bhagat made announcement about her election.
• Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami congratulated her.
• She is a BJP MLA. She won from Kotdwar. She is daughter of BC Khanduri, former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
• Members of the legislative assembly of a state elect the speaker of the legislative assembly of their state from among themselves.
• Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of Uttarakhand. The total number of MLA seats in the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly is 70.

Topic: State News/ Delhi

11. Delhi ranks third in per capita income in India: Economic survey

• According to the latest Economic Survey of Delhi 2021-22, Delhi’s per capita income is third highest after Sikkim and Goa.
• According to the survey, Delhi’s per capita income has reached to Rs 4,01,982 in fiscal 2021-22 by growing 16.81 percent.
• Delhi’s per capita income is three times higher than the national average in 2021-22.
• Per capita income is the money earned per person in a geographic region. The per capita net national income (NNI) of India is around Rs. 1,28,829.
• In the financial year 2021-22, Delhi's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has grown by 17.65 percent.
• In 2021-22, a revenue surplus of Rs 1450 crore has been recorded in Delhi.
• As per the survey, the fiscal deficit has increased in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20.
• In Delhi, the vehicular population has registered a growth of over 3%. Cars and jeeps account for around 28% of the total registered motorised vehicle.
• The forest and tree cover area has increased to 342 sq.km, which is 23.06% of the total geographical area of Delhi.
• Total fertility rate (TFR) of Delhi is 1.5 and the “crude death rate” of Delhi is 3.3%.

Topic: Sports

12. India finished its campaign with two medals at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender 2022.

• Manika Batra and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan won Silver medal in the Mixed Doubles pair event of the tournament.
• Achanta Sharath Kamal bagged Bronze medal in the Men's Singles event of the tournament.
• In mixed doubles, Manika Batra and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan lost to Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-Ching.
• In Men's Singles, China's Yuan Licen defeated Sharath Kamal in the semifinals.
• World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender 2022 was held at Doha in Qatar.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Miscellaneous

13. Earth Hour observed on 26^th March from 8.30 to 9.30 PM.

• Every year Earth Hour is observed on the last Saturday of March.
• The theme for this year’s Earth Hour event is "Shape our Future”, which highlight the collective responsibility of people towards environment.
• It is observed every year in more than 180 countries to raise awareness about the climate change and nature loss.
• It encourages individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights for one hour.
• Earth Hour was started in Sydney in 2007 as a symbolic lights-out event organized by World Wide Fund for Nature.
• Earth Hour is the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment.

Topic: Environment and Ecology

14. World Bank issued first wildlife bond to save black rhino of Africa.

• The World Bank issued first of its kind Wildlife Conservation Bond to increase the population of black rhino in Africa.
• The World Bank will raise $150 million to help in the efforts of conservation of black rhinos.
• The five-year 'rhino bond' will give returns based on the rate of growth of black rhino populations at South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) and the Great Fish River Nature Reserve (GFRNR).
• Investor will get no return if the population of black rhino doesn’t change.
• The buyers of the bond will receive a payment from the Global Environment Facility.
• Black rhinos:
  • These are found only in Africa.
  • Black rhinos are listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red list.
  • Their population has decreased to about 2,600 from 65,000 in 1970.
  • Illegal poaching, and competing species are the main threats for the Black rhinos.