Daily Current Affairs and GK | 8 May 2021

Topic: Miscellaneous

1. Border Roads Organisation celebrated its 61^st Raising Day.

• Border Roads Organisation celebrated its 61^st Foundation Day on 7 May.
• It is a road construction agency under the Ministry of Defence. Its main aim is to provide connectivity to border areas.
• It is responsible for constructing and maintaining the road along Northern and Western frontiers.
• It has also constructed roads in many neighboring countries of India like Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, etc.
• On this occasion, Director General Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhary said that this year 75 infrastructure projects would be dedicated to the nation under the vision of Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav.
• Border Roads Organisation (BRO):
  • It was formed on 7 May 1960.
  • It is headquartered in New Delhi.
  • Rajeev Chaudhary is the current Director-General of BRO.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Awards and Prizes

2. Justice Gita Mittal Conferred Arline Pacht Global Vision Award.

• Justice Gita Mittal, former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, has been conferred the Arline Pacht Global Vision Award for 2021 by the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ).
• She has shared this award with Justice Margarita Luna Ramos of Mexico.
• She has been honoured with this award at IAWJ’s Biennial Conference.
• She has been awarded for her effort in raising awareness about the right to equality for every human being.
• She was the first woman Chief Justice of J&K High Court. At present, Gita Mittal is the Chairperson of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC).
• Arline Pacht Global Vision Award:
  • It was constituted in 2016.
  • It is given to a sitting or retired woman judge for her remarkable work.

Topic: Sports

3. Two Indian rowers, Arjun Jaat and Arvind Singh, qualify for Tokyo Olympics.

• Two Indian rowers, Arjun Jaat and Arvind Singh succeeded in qualifying for Tokyo Olympics.
• They qualified for the Men’s Double sculls event. Jakar Khan finished fourth in the Men’s Singles sculls final.
• Arjun Lal and Arvind will be the only Indian rowers in the Tokyo Games that would open on 23^rd July.
• In sailing, four Indians have already qualified for the Tokyo games. Nethra Kumanan became the first Indian female sailor to qualify for the Olympics.
• International Olympic Committee (IOC) has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pfizer Inc and its partner BionNTech SE.
• The MoU aims to donate doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Games participants from National Olympic and Paralympic Committees all over the world.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Sports

4. Stop Tokyo Olympics, an online petition for cancelling of Tokyo Olympics, gets public support.

• Stop Tokyo Olympics, an online petition for cancelling of Tokyo Olympics, is getting public support.
• The petition has received almost 2, 00,000 signatures in the past few days.
• 2020 Summer Olympics are scheduled to be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

Topic: Personality in News

5. Padma Shri awardee music composer Vanraj Bhatia passes away.

• Padma Shri awardee music composer Vanraj Bhatia has passed away.
• He scored the music for the TV series ‘Yatra’ and ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’. He also scored music for Shyam Benegal classics like ‘Ankur’ and ‘Bhumika’.
• He also created the soundtracks for Aparna Sen’s ‘36 Chowringhee Lane’ and Kundan Shah’s ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’.
• An opera titled ‘Agni Varsha,’ which was performed in New York was his last work.
• He won National Award for Best Music for Govind Nihalani’s TV series ‘Tamas’. He also won Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. He received Padma Shri in 2012.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Space and IT

6. Saturn’s interior may have high temperatures in the equatorial region.

• Saturn’s interior may have high temperatures at the equatorial region as per the models published in the journal AGU advances.
• As per the models, Saturn’s interior may have lower temperatures at high latitudes at the top of the helium rain layer.
• New Johns Hopkins University simulations of Saturn’s interior suggest that a thick layer of helium rain influences the magnetic field of Saturn.
• Magnetic field of Saturn appears to be almost perfectly symmetrical around the rotation axis.
• As per the authors, measurements of the magnetic field from the last orbits of NASA’s Cassini mission provide an opportunity to understand Saturn’s deep interior, where the magnetic field is generated.
• Cassini mission:
  • Under the Cassini mission, a space probe was sent to study planet Saturn and its system.
  • Cassini mission involved a collaboration among NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. It was launched in 1997.

Topic: International News

7. The Council of EU approves inviting three countries to take part in EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) defense initiative.

• The Council of European Union has approved inviting three countries to take part in the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) defense initiative.
• The names of the three countries are US, Canada and Norway. They are the first three countries to be invited to take part in a PESCO project.
• The Council authorized the coordinator of the project –the Netherlands- to invite US, Canada and Norway to participate in the PESCO project Military Mobility.
• PESCO project Military Mobility aims at improving the exchange of information between EU countries.
• The Council of European Union is informally known as the Council of Ministers. It is one of three legislative bodies of European Union.

Topic: Important Days

8. World Red Cross Day is celebrated every year on May 8.

• World Red Cross Day is celebrated every year on May 8 to honour the beliefs of Red Crescent Movement and the International Red Cross.
• The theme for World Red Cross Day 2021 is ‘Together we are #unstoppable!’.
• 08 May is the birthday of Henry Dunant, the founder of ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross). Henry Dunant was awarded Nobel Prize in 1901.
• The first Red Cross Day was celebrated on May 8, 1948. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was founded in 1919. Red Cross is headquartered in Washington DC in US.

Topic: Books and Authors

9. Meghan Markle makes announcement of her first children’s book.

• Meghan Markle has made an announcement of her first children’s book.
• The book is about the relationship between Prince Harry and their son, Archie.
• The book will be titled as The Bench. It will be released in June.
• Christian Robinson will make visuals for the book and Meghan will narrate the audiobook edition.

Topic: Personality in News

10. V Kalyanam, Mahatma Gandhi’s personal secretary from 1943-1948, passed away.

• V Kalyanam, Mahatma Gandhi’s personal secretary from 1943-1948, passed away in Chennai on 4 May 2021.
• He was Mahatma Gandhi’s personal secretary from 1943 to 1948, when Mahatma was assassinated.
• He joined the freedom struggle during the Quit India Movement in 1942.
• He was 99 years old. He passed away due to age related ailments.