26th August, 2022 Current Affairs

Sakshi Education

NATIONAL
INS Vikrant To Be Commissioned On Sept. 2

The first indigenous carrier which has been constructed by Cochin Shipyard Ltd, will soon be commissioned as INS Vikrant on September 2. The warship will play the role of ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
The aircraft landing trials on board INS Vikrant will begin in November and will be completed by mid-2023. INS Vikrant will be commissioned in Cochin in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the vice chief said, adding the equipment for the aircraft carrier has been manufactured in 18 states and union territories.

India to have 1.8 lakh Kms of Highways & 1.2 lakh Kms of Rail Lines by 2025

India is set to construct more railways and motorways in 2025. The length of all national highways in India is anticipated to reach 1.8 lakh kilometres and the railway lines would be 1.2 lakh kilometres by 2025 according to the report of Bank of America Securities India.
Between the years 1950 to 2015, 4000 kilometres of new national highways were constructed in India and it was 77,000 kilometres in 2015.
The expected milestone which is for highways to reach 1.8 lakh kilometres by 2025, is more than double the current length.
In 1950, the railway network in India was only 10,000 kilometres of rail lines and by 2015 there were 63,000 kilometres of railway lines.
The milestone for 2025 is to make the railway network reach up to 1.2 lakh kilometres.

Jitendra Singh unveiled first completely indigenously built hydrogen fuel cell bus

Union Minister Jitendra Singh in Pune, unveiled the first hydrogen fuel cell bus made in India. Dr. Jitendra Singh referred to Green hydrogen as a superb clean energy vector that enables deep decarbonization of hard-to-abate emissions from the refining industry, the fertiliser industry, the steel industry, the cement industry, as well as from the heavy commercial transportation sector.
The minister explained to the crowd that the Hydrogen fuel cell, which could be the most environmentally friendly form of transportation to date, uses hydrogen and air to generate electricity to power the bus.
Hydrogen-powered vehicles offer a great way to get rid of the pollution produced by big commercial traffic on the road.
The Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus is the result of KPIT and CSIR-collaborative NCL’s development efforts.

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INTERNATIONAL

S Jaishankar embarks On A 3-Nation Visit To South American Continent

Looking forward to augmenting relationships with all nations of the Latin American Region, External Affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar has embarked on a three-nation visit. During the Minister’s meeting with top leaderships of these three countries as well as his counterpart, focus will be on food and energy security, defence and security, space, IT, and aerospace. This is the minister’s first visit to the South American Region when he travels to Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina starting August 22-27.
The minister, accompanied by senior officials, will have bilateral engagements with his counterparts and will also call on the top leadership in all the three countries.

17-year-old pilot Mack Rutherford sets record for solo flight around world

A 17-year-old pilot, Mack Rutherford became the youngest person to fly solo around the world in a small aircraft after he landed in Bulgaria, where his journey kicked off five months ago. Mack Rutherford, a Belgian-British dual national, landed on an airstrip west of Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, to complete his task and claim two Guinness World Records.
Along with becoming the youngest person to fly around the world by himself, Rutherford is the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe in a microlight plane.

Weekly Current Affairs (Awards) Bitbank: With which field The 'Dinesh Shahra Lifetime Award' is associated?

ECONOMY

ICRA expects Indian GDP to grow by 12-13% in Q1-FY23

Rating agency ICRA (Investment and Credit Rating Agency of India Limited) predicted that the Indian economy will grow 12–13% in the first quarter (Q1) of the new fiscal year, i.e. FY23.
ICRA gave this rating citing the second-highest reading of the business activity index in 13 months in April. However, ICRA has kept its annual GDP prediction at 7.2% for this fiscal year, citing concerns over inflation and the ensuing tightening of RBI policy.

SPORTS

14th Asian U-18 Championship: Indian men’s volleyball team won bronze medal

Indian men’s volleyball team has won the bronze medal by defeating Korea 3-2 in the 14th Asian U-18 Championship in Tehran, Iran.
In the preliminary league match too, India defeated Korea but lost to Iran in the semifinal. The Indian U-18 team has qualified for the FIVB World U-19 Men’s Volleyball Championship. Japan clinched the gold after beating Iran in the final match. China finished fifth and Chinese Taipei was placed sixth at the end of the competition.
However, this is not the first time, India has won a medal in this event. In 2003, India won its first medal after defeating Iran to secure gold. Ever since, India has always come close to gold but has never it. From 2005-2008, India has won two bronze and one silver medal, while coming a close fourth in 2010.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

World’s first fleet of hydrogen passenger trains by Germany

The world’s first fleet of hydrogen-powered passenger trains was launched by Germany. The first fleet of hydrogen-powered passenger trains has replaced 15 diesel trains that were previously operated on nonelectrified tracks in Lower Saxony, Germany. The engine of the trains is powered by electricity generated using hydrogen fuel cells.
The use of hydrogen is a clean alternative to fossil fuels as per the German government’s announcement. The state governor Stephan Weil said that Lower Saxony has invested a total of 93 million euros for the first fleet of hydrogen-powered passenger train projects. This invitation is an excellent example and effort to make the economy of Germany greener.

AWARDS
Former German chancellor Angela Merkel wins Unesco Peace Prize 2022

Former German chancellor Angela Merkel has been awarded the Unesco Peace Prize 2022 for “her efforts to welcome refugees”. In the summer of 2015, as refugees were streaming into Europe, Merkel opened her country’s borders and famously declared to Germans “Wir schaffen das”, “We can do this.”
She eventually pulled back on her pro-immigration stance as support eroded among the public and within her own conservative party. All the members of the jury were touched by her courageous decision in 2015 to welcome more than 1.2 million refugees, notably from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea.

Liberty Medal 2022 to be awarded to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy

The Liberty Medal 2022 will be awarded this fall to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The National Constitution Center has announced that Zelenskyy will be honoured in a ceremony in October for what it called “his heroic defence of liberty in the face of Russian tyranny.”
President Zelenskyy has bravely led the Ukrainian people in their defence of freedom against Russian tyranny, and his courage has inspired people around the world to defend liberal democracy and the rule of law.

Bangladeshi Fahmida Azim won the Pulitzer Prize 2022

Bangladesh-born Fahmida Azim working for the Insider online magazine of the US has been selected for the Pulitzer Prize 2022. She will be awarded under the category of Illustrated Reporting and Commentary.
She is among the four journalists including Anthony Del Col, Josh Adams and Walt Hickey of Insider being published from New York, selected for their work on the Chinese oppression of the Uyghurs. The work ‘I escaped a Chinese internment Camp’ has illustrations by Fahmida Azim.

APPOINTMENTS

Indian scientist Samir V Kamat appointed as DRDO Chairman

According to a Personnel Ministry order, Distinguished scientist Samir V Kamat was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Kamat, who is Director General, Naval Systems & Materials, at the DRDO will succeed G Satheesh Reddy who has been named as scientific adviser to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Kamat as Secretary of the Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman of DRDO from the date of his assumption of charge till he attains the age of 60 years.

GoI named former CEA K Subramanian as Executive Director for India at IMF

Former Chief Economic Adviser, KV Subramanian was appointed as the Executive Director for India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). His term will begin from November and will continue for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, by curtailing the tenure of eminent economist Surjit S Bhalla as ED (India), IMF up to 31 October 2022.
Bhalla was appointed as the Executive Director for India on the board of the IMF in 2019. He succeeded former RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn, who died in the US on 30 July after a brief illness.

Published date : 26 Aug 2022 06:15PM