Daily Current Affairs and GK | 6 October 2021

Topic: Awards and Prizes

1. Manabe, Hasselmann, and Parisi win the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics.

• The Nobel Prize in Physics for the year 2021 has been awarded to Soukuro Manabe, Klos Hesselmann and Giorgio Parisi.
• The one half is jointly awarded to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann "for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming" and the other half to Giorgio Parisi "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales."
• Their discoveries recognize new methods for describing complex physical systems and help in predicting their long-term behavior.
• Syukuro Manabe is a citizen of the United States while Hasselmann is German and Parisi is an Italian.
• Last year, scientists Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez won the Nobel prize in Physics for their discoveries concerning black holes.
• The Nobel Prizes is being awarded since 1901. It is given in the memory of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel. It carries a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor.

Topic: Important Days

2. World Space Week: 4-10 October

• The week from 4-10 October was designated as the annual World Space Week by United Nations in 1999. It is the largest annual space event in the world.
• The 2021 theme of World Space Week is “Women in Space.”
• World Space Week is organized by the United Nations with the support of the World Space Week Association (WSWA).
• According to the reports, 20-22 percent of the entire space industry workforce consists of women.
• Many outreach events are organized by space agencies, aerospace companies, schools, planetaria, museums, and astronomy clubs during Space Week.
• First human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched on October 4, 1957.

Topic: Defence

3. Defence Minister felicitated winners of DRDO’s Dare to Dream 2.0 Contest on October 04, 2021.

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh felicitated the winners of DRDO’s Dare to Dream 2.0 Contest on October 04, 2021.
• Defence Minister presented awards to 40 winners. This included 22 in the individual category and 18 in the startup category. He also launched ‘Dare to Dream 3.0’.
• Dare to Dream is DRDO's pan-India contest. It promotes Indian academicians, individuals and startups to develop emerging defence and aerospace technologies/systems.
• The winners are provided technical and financial support by DRDO for the realisation of their ideas under the Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme.
• Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh also presented DRDO Young Scientists awards for the year 2019 to sixteen DRDO scientists, under the age of 35 years.
• On the occasion, three products/systems indigenously developed by DRDO were also handed over to the Armed Forces. They are given below:
  • ARINC818 Video Processing and Switching Module
  • Sonar Performance Modelling System
  • Bund Blasting Device Mk-II
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also exchanged for establishing Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Centre for Cyber-Security Research at Gujarat University.
• Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh also released DRDO Directed Research Policy & Records Management Policy.
• The two-day annual DRDO Directors' Conclave 2021 concluded on 04 October 2021. The conclave began on 03 October 2021.
• The theme of the conclave was ‘Redesigning the processes to meet the national aspirations’.

Topic: Sports

4. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar wins gold in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event in ISSF junior world championships.

• Indian shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar has won gold in men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event in International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) junior world championships in Lima.
• He bettered junior world record with a score of 463.4. Frenchman Lucas Kryzs won the silver with a score of 456.5 and Gavin Barnick of USA won bronze with a score of 446.6.
• India’s 14-year-old shooter Naamya Kapoor finally managed to win gold medal in the women’s 25m pistol event. 
• She was ahead of celebrated compatriot Manu Bhaker who won bronze medal.

Topic: Defence

5. Fifth edition of Japan-India bilateral maritime exercise ‘Jimex’ begins in Arabian Sea.

• The fifth edition of India – Japan maritime bilateral exercise, JIMEX, will be organized from 06 to 08 October 2021 in the Arabian Sea.
• Indigenously built Guided Missile Stealth Destroyer Kochi and Guided Missile Frigate Teg will represent the Indian Navy.
• JMSDF ships Kaga, an Izumo Class Helicopter Carrier, and Murasame will represent the Japanese Navy.
• P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft, Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft, integral helicopters, and MiG 29K fighter aircraft will also participate in the exercise.
• JIMEX-21 will enhance inter-operability between both navies and help in sharing the best practices between them.
• JIMEX-21 will further enhance the cooperation and mutual confidence between the two countries. The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in September 2020.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Report and Indices

6. Health Minister released State of the World’s Children report of UNICEF.

• Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, has released a report titled “The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind: promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health” in New Delhi.
• The state of World’s Children 2021 report is UNICEF’s global flagship publication. It consists of details of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health.
• According to this report, 14 percent of 15 to 24-year-olds in India often feel depressed or having little interest in doing things.
• As per the report, children with mental health disorders in India are mostly undiagnosed.
• Around 50 million children in India were affected from mental health issues, before the pandemic.
• This report has warned that children and young people for several years might feel the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health.
• Mental Health problems are on the rise in developing countries. The culture of nuclear families has increased alienation due to which mental distress has increased among people.

Topic: Biotechnology and Diseases

7. Breast cancer awareness month observed at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital.

• October is being observed as breast cancer awareness month. It is an annual campaign to educate people about breast cancer.
• Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the last 50 years.
• The main objective of the day is to raise awareness about Breast cancer and to help support life-saving research in the field of Breast cancer.
• Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) was launched in 1985 by the American Cancer Society and Imperial Chemical Industries to get regular mammograms.
• Breast cancer is cancer that develops in breast cells. It is caused when the DNA in breast cells mutate or change.

Topic: National News

8. Government launched ICMR’s drone-based vaccine delivery model for Northeast states.

• Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has launched ICMR’s Drone Response and Outreach in North East (i-Drone) delivery model.
• It is an initiative to facilitate COVID-19 vaccine delivery system in the hard-to-reach terrains of the Northeast states.
• As part of ICMR's delivery model, drones transported the vaccine from a district hospital in Manipur to Karang island in Loktak lake.
• This initiative has been launched to make sure that life-saving COVID vaccines should reach everyone.
• This is for the first time that a “Make in India” drone has been used in South Asia to transport the COVID-19 vaccine.
• At present, the drone-based delivery project has been granted permission in Manipur, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Nagaland.

Topic: MoUs/Agreements

9. FSSAI signed MoU with Food Processing Ministry to support micro enterprises.

• FSSAI has signed an MoU with the Food Processing Ministry to support micro-level food entrepreneurs and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs).
• The MoU has been signed to help Self Help Groups and producer’s cooperatives to improve the standard of their food businesses.
• FSSAI and the Ministry of Food Processing Industries will collaborate in the field of food safety training and registration of micro-enterprises.
• On the completion of training, the food handlers will get the ‘Food Safety Supervisor’ certificate by FSSAI.
• It will improve the quality of food products of micro-enterprises and make their products competitive in the market.

Topic: International News

10. WTO estimates Global Merchandise Trade Volume to grow at 10.8%.

• The World Trade Organization (WTO) has projected that the global merchandise trade volume will grow 10.8 percent in 2021.
• Earlier in March, WTO has forecasted 8 percent growth of the global merchandise trade volume.
• Due to a lower base, growth in the second quarter was 22 percent but the figure is projected to fall to 10.9 percent in the third quarter and 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter.
• WTO projected export volume growth of 8.7% in North America, 7.2% in South America, 9.7% in Europe, 5% in West Asia, and 14.4% in Asia in 2021.
• Imports are set to grow by 12.6% in North America, 19.9% in South America, 9.1% in Europe, 9.3% in West Asia, and 10.7% in Asia.
• India’s merchandise exports grow by 56.92% during the first half of the fiscal year to a record $197 billion. India has set a target of $400 billion of merchandise exports for FY22.

Topic: Indian Polity

11. Election Commission allocates new names and symbols for LJP factions.

• Election Commission (EC) has allocated new names and symbols to LJP factions.
• Chirag Paswan-led faction will now be known as Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and will be represented by the helicopter symbol.
• Pashupati Kumar Paras- led faction will be known as the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party and the sewing machine will be its election symbol.
• Earlier, Election Commission (EC) had decided to freeze the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) symbol and the party name.
• An election symbol assigned to a party designated as a national party couldn’t be used by any other parties in the country.
• Election Commission allocates symbols to parties under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.