Daily Current Affairs – 18 December 2021 | Gkseries

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Daily Current Affairs 18 December 2021

Arvind Kumar has joined as Director General of Software Technology of India (STPI). Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India. STPI is fuelling the culture of tech entrepreneurship and innovation in the country by launching 25+ Centres of Entrepreneurship in emerging technology domains.

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Currently, STPI-registered units have crossed the Rs 5 lakh crore exports mark.  STPI is one of the largest tech incubators in India with an area of approx.13 lakh sq. ft. spread across various Tier 1/2/3 cities. STPI is also assisting in formulation of India BPO Promotion Scheme 2.0. Further to strengthen the electronics sector, STPI has undertaken rolling out of the Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme.

‘Raj Kapoor: The Master at Work’ book by Rahul Rawail – Indian Vice President Shri M Venkaiah Naidu has released the book titled ‘Raj Kapoor: The book launch event was held at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, coinciding with Raj Kapoor’s 97th birth anniversary. The book has been authored by Rahul Rawail. M Venkaiah Naidu described the book as a “labour of love and dedication”.

India’s TVS Motor Company said that it will develop electric vehicles (EV) with BMW’s motorcycle brand in the country, joining a host of Indian automakers that have sought to expand their clean mobility offering. The tie-up comes at a time when new-age start-ups like Ola Electric & Ather are ramping up investment in electric scooters.

Under the extended scope of the partnership, the companies plan to come up with an electric vehicle platform in addition to the existing internal combustion platform for both global and domestic markets. The first product under the enhanced co-operation, an electric model suited for the urban ecosystem, is expected to make its debut in the next 24 months.

NASA has announced that the Parker Solar Probe has flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere, the corona, for the first time. While there, the probe sampled particles and magnetic fields and captured historic, close-up photos of coronal streamers. In 2018, launched the Parker Solar Probe aims to unravel the mysteries of the Sun by travelling closer to it. After three years of launching, Parker has finally arrived in the solar atmosphere. Parker Solar Probe has flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere for the first time in history – the corona. The probe sampled particles and magnetic fields there.

The new milestone marks one major step for Parker Solar Probe and one giant leap for solar science. Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the very stuff the Sun is made of will help scientists uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the solar system.

Meta-owned WhatsApp has announced the Digital Payments Utsav for 500 villages in India. WhatsApp’s Digital Payments Utsav is a pilot program that promotes digital payments to empower individuals and businesses and is meant as a project to further the cause of financial inclusion. The aim is to empower people with access to digital payments through ‘payments on WhatsApp’.

At the Fuel For India 2021 event:

• WhatsApp announced the Digital Payments Utsav – a pilot program that is going to adopt 500 villages in Karnataka and Maharashtra in an effort to “accelerate financial inclusion”.
• The pilot called ‘Digital Payments Utsav’, began on October 15 in Kyathanahalli village in Mandya district of Karnataka, where villagers were familiarised with various aspects of digital payments including signing up for UPI, setting up a UPI account and safety best practices of using digital payments.

Union Sports minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday inaugurated the first-ever national-level Khelo India Women’s Hockey League (Under 21) at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi. The winner of the Khelo India Women’s Hockey League will get a cash prize of 30 lakhs. In the first phase, total of 14 teams are competing in the first phase of the tournament to be held from December 15 to 21. As many as 42 matches will be played during the first phase, while the second and third phase will be held early next year.

The second and third phases will be organized in early next year. The Sports Authority of India and Hockey India are jointly organizing the first-ever national-level Khelo India league. This is the first big event that will be organized at the Major Dhyanchand Stadium after 2015.

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh gave away Raksha Mantri Awards for Excellence 2021 on the occasion of 96th Raising Day of Directorate General Defence Estates in New Delhi. 

Recipients were awarded for innovation and digital achievements in the fields of health, education, and sanitation along with public service and land management. These categories are Swachh Chhawani Swasth Chhawani, Digital Accomplishments, Innovation in Public Services, Land and Record management, Improvement in Cantonment General Hospital, and Implementation of ‘e-Chhawani’ Project.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be hosting the third meeting of the India Central Asia Dialogue in New Delhi from 18th to 20th December.

External affairs minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will host the dialogue that will be attended by foreign ministers of five countries – Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan – according to the foreign ministry.

The second meeting was organized by India in October 2021 via video conferencing. The dialogue discusses further strengthening of relations with a particular focus on trade, connectivity, and development cooperation.

Aimed at creating awareness around cyber security and develop an empowered and strong cyber ecosystem in Government organisations in India, the National e-Governance Division under the Ministry of Electronics and IT is conducting a six-day Deep Dive Training program for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT officials from various Ministries & Departments, Government & Semi-Government organisations from Central and State Governments, PSUs, banks, among others.

It is a part of a series of workshops under Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative. It will help CISOs and other participants to equip themselves with better understanding of the emerging cyber threat landscape, understand best practices in cyber security.

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, MoS Civil Aviation & MoRTH, General Dr. V K Singh (Retd.) flagged off the first direct flight of Indigo airlines on Guwahati (Assam) to Pune (Maharashtra) route. Chandra Mohan Patowary, Minister for Transport, Industries & Commerce, Skill Development, Welfare of Minorities, Government of Assam, Queen Oja, Member of Parliament – Lok Sabha. Bhubaneswar Kalita, Member of Parliament – Rajya Sabha, graced the event virtually from Guwahati and Girish Balchandra Bapat, Member of Parliament – Lok Sabha joined the event from Pune.

Guwahati is connected with 24 cities of the country with 885 aircraft movements. Commencement of the flight operations on this route will assist people of Guwahati and its adjoining areas as well as passengers from Pune with seamless movement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the All India Mayors’ Conference in Varanasi via video conferencing. As many as 120 mayors from various states are participating in the conference whose theme is ‘New Urban India’. It is being organized by the Dept of Urban Development, UP.

Govt has launched multiple schemes and initiatives to address the issues of dilapidated urban infrastructure and lack of amenities. A 3-day exhibition is also being organized to showcase achievements of Centre and UP govt in the sphere of urban development.   

The book titled ‘Rewinding of First 25 years of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’ authored by S S Oberoi, the former adviser at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) was launched by Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary of MeitY.

The book consists of life experience, challenges working as an advisor under the MeitY. He was the first head of the Software Development Agency and the first adviser of Information Technology.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has risen to the top ten of the World’s Most Admired Men list for 2021, demonstrating his global appeal once more. The list was compiled based on a survey conducted by data analytics firm YouGov. PM Modi is ahead of Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Virat Kohli. The survey was conducted with more than 42,000 people in 38 countries and territories to compile the list.

Apart from PM Modi, the other Indian men who, according to the survey, were the most admired in 2021 include Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Virat Kohli. The list also includes the most admired Indian women of 2021 has Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sudha Murty.

List of the world’s 20 most admired men:

List of the world’s 20 most admired women:

International Migrants Day is observed on 18 December every year to raise awareness about the social and economic conditions as well as circumstances of migrants.

The day is marked by the United Nations, through the UN-related agency International Organization for Migration (IOM). The day is observed to highlight the contributions made by the 272 million migrants, which includes more than 41 million people who are internally displaced persons, and the challenges they face.

The theme of International Migrants Day 2021 is Harnessing the potential of human mobility.

Every year, December 18 is celebrated as the Minorities Rights Day to uphold the right to freedom and equal opportunities for the ethnic minorities in India and create awareness about the respect and dignity of the minorities. India has faced many obstacles since the British Rule regarding basic human rights. However, these rights were safeguarded after the independence and people must be made aware of it. Thus we celebrate Minorities Rights Day on 18th December every year.

In India, we observe Minorities Rights Day every year on December 18 with an aim to create awareness about their rights. The day also focuses on the issues facing minorities in the country.

History of the day:

The Minorities Rights Day in India was first observed on December 18, 2013. On 18th December 1992, the United Nations had declared the Statement on the Individual’s Rights belonging to Religious or Linguistic National or Ethnic Minorities. In India, it is the responsibility of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) to carry out the events on this day. The NCM was established by the Union Government under the National Commission for Minorities Act, in 1992.

World Arabic Language Day is celebrated every year on 18 December since 2012. The Arabic language is one of the pillars of the cultural diversity of mankind. It is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, used daily by more than 400 million people. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of the history, culture and development of the language by preparing a program of special activities and events. The date coincides with the day in 1973 that the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Arabic as the sixth official language of the Organization.

THEME:

The theme of this year’s World Arabic Language Day is “The Arabic Language and Civilizational Communication”, and it is considered as a call to reaffirm the important role that the Arabic language plays in building bridges of connection between people on the rise of culture, science, literature and many other fields.