Daily Current Affairs 7 January 2021 are very important for Competitive Exams like SSC, Railway, RRB, Banking, IBPS, PSC, UPSC etc. We gkseries team compose these Daily Current Affairs from Newspapers like The Hindu and other competitive magazines.
PM laid foundation stone for permanent campus of IIM Sambalpur
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the permanent campus in the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sambalpur in Odisha.
Sambalpur is a city in Odisha. It is located on the banks of river Mahanadi.
Sambalpur is one of the ancient places of India, with recorded settlements in the prehistoric age.
It is known for Sambalpuri Saree which are known for their incorporation of traditional motifs like shankha (shell), chakra (wheel), phula (flower). It is made from fabric woven on a hand-loom.
Hirakud Dam, the longest earthen dam in the world and the largest artificial lake of Asia, is at Sambalpur.
Sambalpur derives its name from the Goddess Samalei who is regarded as the reigning deity of the region.
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), one of the subsidiaries of Coal India Limited, is headquartered at Sambalpur.
2020 recorded as the 8th warmest year since 1901
The annual statement of the climate in India issued by the IMD on January 4 has revealed that 2020 is the eighth warmest year the country has seen since 1901. The statement produced a detailed information of the country’s weather throughout the year.
The past two decades -2001-2010 and 2011-2020 – were also the warmest decades on record with anomalies of 0.23 degree Celsius and 0.34 degree Celsius respectively, indicating the overall rising temperature.
Twelve out of the 15 warmest years since 1901 were during the past 15 years — between 2006 and 2020.
The country’s averaged annual mean temperature during 1901-2020 showed an increasing trend of 0.62 degree C/100 years with significant increasing trend in maximum temperature (0.99 degree C/100 years) and relatively lower increasing trend (0.24 degree C/100 years) in minimum temperature.
During the year (2020), annual mean land surface air temperature averaged over the country was 0.29 degree Celsius above normal (based on the data of 1981-2010).
The five warmest years on record in order were: 2016 (0.71 degree C), 2009 (0.55 degree C), 2017 (0.541 degree C), 2010 (0.539 degrees C), and 2015 (0.42 degree C).
The 2020 Northeast monsoon season (October-December) rainfall over the country as a whole was normal (101 per cent of LPA).
Row over renaming Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar
As Maharashtra stares at the upcoming civic polls, a row over renaming Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar has erupted with the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partner Congress opposing the move.
Aurangabad is a city in Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region.
The entire area is covered by the Deccan Traps lava flows of Upper Cretaceous to Lower Eocene age.
The city is known as a major production center of cotton textile and artistic silk fabrics.
In 2019, the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) became the first greenfield industrial smart city of India under the country’s flagship Smart Cities Mission.
Vietnam buys Indian rice for first time as local prices skyrocket
Vietnam, the world’s third biggest exporter of rice, has started buying the grain from rival India for the first time in decades after local prices jumped to their highest in nine years amid limited domestic supplies.
The purchases highlight tightening supplies in Asia, which could lift rice prices in 2021 and even force traditional buyers of rice from Thailand and Vietnam to switch to India – the world’s biggest exporter of the grain.
In 2020 India exported a record 14 million tonnes of rice, provisional data from the trade Ministry showed.
Dwindling supplies and continued Philippine buying have lifted Vietnamese rice export prices to a fresh nine-year high. Vietnam’s 5% broken rice is offered around $500-$505 per tonne, significantly higher compared to Indian prices of $381-$387.
PM paid tribute to Sri Mannathu Padmanabhan on his jayanti
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tribute to Sri Mannathu Padmanabhan Ji on his jayanti.
Mannathu Padmanabhan (1878 – 1970) was an Indian social reformer and freedom fighter from Kerala.
He is recognised as the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS), an organisation created for the welfare of the Nair community that is found primarily in Kerala.
He revived and reshaped the old concept of village societies, the Karayogams, which practically set the tenor of family and village life.
He took part in the Vaikom (1924) and Guruvayoor(1931) temple-entry Satyagrahas.
As the first president of Travancore Devaswom Board he revitalised many temples which had almost ceased to function.
In 1959, he along with Christian Churches led a united opposition against the State Communist Ministry, which became known as the Vimochana Samaram (liberation struggle).
Awards and honours: He was honoured with the title Bharata Kesari by the President of India. He also received Padma Bhushan in 1966.
Centre starts Sagarmala Seaplane Services project with potential airline operators
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways kicked off the ambitious project of Sagarmala Seaplane Services (SSPS) with potential airline operators.
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is initiating the process of commencing operations of the Seaplane services, on the select routes, under a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) framework through prospective airline operators.
The project execution and implementation would be through Sagarmala Development Company Ltd (SDCL), which is under the administrative control of the Ministry.
Several destinations are envisaged for seaplane operations. The proposed Origin-Destination pairs under Hub and Spoke model include various islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep, Guwahati Riverfront & Umranso Reservoir in Assam, Yamuna Riverfront / Delhi (as Hub) to Ayodhaya etc.
One such Seaplane Service is already in operation between Kevadia and Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on 31st October 2020.
To run more such services in the coastal areas or proximity to water bodies, SDCL is keen to associate with the interested scheduled / non-scheduled airline operators.
Hundreds of Google employees unionize, culminating years of activism
More than 225 Google engineers and other workers have formed a union, the group revealed, capping years of growing activism at one of the world’s largest companies and presenting a rare beachhead for labor organizers in staunchly anti-union Silicon Valley.
The new union, called the Alphabet Workers Union after Google’s parent company, Alphabet, was organized in secret for the better part of a year and elected its leadership last month.
The group is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, a union that represents workers in telecommunications and media in the United States and Canada.
But unlike a traditional union, which demands that an employer come to the bargaining table to agree on a contract, the Alphabet Workers Union is a so-called minority union that represents a fraction of the company’s more than 260,000 full-time employees and contractors.
Workers said it was primarily an effort to give structure and longevity to activism at Google, rather than to negotiate for a contract.
India starts exports of Moringa powder
India has started exports of Moringa powder, keeping in mind its rising global demand and nutritional properties.
Moringa (botanical name Moringa oleifera) is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree of the family Moringaceae, native to the Indian subcontinent. India is the largest producer of moringa.
More generally, moringa grows in the wild or is cultivated in Central America and the Caribbean, northern countries of South America, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and various countries of Oceania.
Common names include moringa, drumstick tree, horseradish tree, and ben oil tree or benzolive tree.
Globally, the demand for Moringa products, such as Moringa Leaf Powder and Moringa Oil, has been witnessing healthy growth for its nutritional, medicinal, culinary uses.
Swasth Vayu Non-invasive Ventilator developed by CSIR-NAL
CSIR-NAL scientists along with medical professionals from CSIR-IGIB came forward to address the shortages of ventilators in the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and indigenously designed and developed the non-invasive bi-level positive airway pressure ventilator –Swasth Vayu, with additional features to treat Covid-19 patients and make the country self-reliant.
SwasthVayu developed by CSIR-NAL is a microcontroller based precise closed-loop adaptive control system with a built-in biocompatible “3D printed manifold and coupler” with HEPA filter (Highly Efficient Particulate Air Filter).
These unique features help to alleviate the fear of the virus spread. It has features like CPAP, Bi-Timed, Spontaneous / AUTO modes with provision to connect Oxygen concentrator or Enrichment unit externally.
CSIR-NAL has commercialized this technology with six private companies.
Govt launched Toycathon-2021 to promote indigenous industry
To promote indigenous toy industry and reduce imports, the Centre has launched Toycathon-2021, a special kind of hackathon where students and teachers from schools and colleges, design experts, toy experts and start-ups will get together to crowdsource ideas for developing toys and games that are based on Indian culture, ethos, folklores, heroes and value systems.
This is a special kind of hackathon where students and teachers from schools and colleges, design experts, toy experts and startups will get together to crowd source ideas for developing toys and games that are based on Indian culture & ethos and local folklore & heroes.
While this will greatly help India develop into a global hub for toys and games, it will also help our children to understand the ethos and values of Indian culture as envisaged in the National Education Policy 2020.
The Toycathon is based on nine themes viz. Indian Culture, History, Knowledge of India and Ethos; Learning, Education and Schooling; Social and human values; Occupations & specific fields; Environment; Divyang ; Fitness and sport; Out of the box, creative and logical thinking and Rediscovering/redesigning traditional Indian toys
The Toycathon will have 3 variants of tracks of Junior Level, Senior Level and Start up Level and will allow participation of students and teachers from schools, colleges and universities apart from startups and toy experts.
