Current Affairs in English – January 27 2023

January 27, 2022

National Events:

President’s Medals:

• President’s Medals for fire service, and civil defence announced. On 26 Jan 2023, 47 personnel were awarded the President’s Fire Service Medals for distinguished service.
• Out of these, Jammu & Kashmir’s Firdous Ahmad Khan and Bashir Ahmad Ahanger were awarded Fire Service Medal for Gallantry.
• 55 personnel were also awarded President’s Home Guard and Civil Defence Medals for distinguished and meritorious services.

NMCG:

• Delhi hosts NMCG seminar to promote millet cultivation. National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) organized a seminar on ‘Millets for Life (Lifestyle for Environment): Developing Climate Resilient Local Communities in the Ganga Basin, in New Delhi in January 2023.
• The event was aimed at formulating strategies towards adopting sustainable development and promotion of natural farming practices in the Ganga basin.

‘Ideal Train Profile’:

• Railways introduces ‘Ideal Train Profile’ to maximize seat occupancy. ‘Ideal Train Profile’ is a seat capacity optimization decision aid. It allows more than 5,000 combinations of ticket and class for a single date train journey.
• It will also help Railways to review train quota from time to time to address the changing demand mix due to holidays, festivals etc. This module has been developed by the Railway team under the leadership of R Gopalakrishnan.

NIB:

• National Summit on Quality of Biologicals organised. The summit was organized by the National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) on 27 January 2023 in New Delhi. The summit was inaugurated virtually by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya.
• The National Summit will act as platform to bring together various stakeholders for interaction on various aspects of quality assurance of biologicals.

‘Green comet’:

• ‘Green comet’ appearing close to Earth after 50,000 years. A green comet, termed C/2022 E3 (ZTF), is estimated to come closest to Earth after 50,000 years. About Green Comet: Orbits sun in 50,000 years.
• It comes from the Oort cloud. It gets its beautiful green glow from diatomic carbon that is present in the comet’s head. When the ultraviolet rays of solar radiation fall on the comet, these molecules emit green light.

Veer Guardian 2023:

• Veer Guardian 2023-Joint exercise between India and Japan concludes. It was held between Indian Air Force (IAF) and Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) as the first bilateral air exercise at Hyakuri Air Base in Japan.
• It was first time when an Indian Air Force woman fighter pilot was part of Indian contingent for aerial war-games in a foreign land. It was held from 12 to 26 January 2023. IAF contingent comprised four Su-30 MKI, two C-17 & one IL-78 aircraft.

M.Yeoh:

• Yeoh becomes first asian to bag Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian to bag an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her movie “The ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once”, in January 2023.
• Malaysian descent, Michelle Yeoh has also won the Golden Globe Award in the Best Actress category for her performance in the movie ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’ She was also nominated for the Gotham Independent Film Awards 2022.

IPMA:

• Pawan Agarwal & V. Kulkarni elected IPMA President & Vice-President. Pawan Agarwal, Managing Director, Naini Papers Ltd. and Vadiraj Kulkarni, have been elected as new President and Vice President respectively of Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) at the 23rd Annual Session of IPMA in January 2023.
• IPMA is the apex body for Paper Industry in India. IPMA Awards for 2021-22 were also conferred to JK Paper Ltd., Rayagada at the 23rd Annual Session of IPMA.

Monument Scheme:

• Government to hand over 1,000 sites to private sector under Monument Scheme. The government will hand 1,000 monuments to the private sector for their upkeep under the Monument Mitra Scheme, announced by the Ministry of Culture in Jan 2023.
• The Ministry of Tourism has transferred the scheme to the Ministry of Culture. The government has set the target to hand over 500 sites under the revamped Monument Mitra Scheme by the end of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav on 15 August 2023.

Hero stone:

• A hero stone belonging to the Hoysala period and dated to early 13th century was discovered near Pandavapura town in Mandya district of Karnataka in January 2023.
• It was discovered by a team from the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada (CESCK) of Central institute of Indian Languages in Mysuru. The hero stone is said to be of the time of Veeraballala II of the Hoysalas.

Uttar Pradesh government:

• The Uttar Pradesh government has announced that the Jhansi district topped all districts in terms of investments at the Jhansi Investors Summit 2023.
• The Uttar Pradesh government said that MoUs worth Rs 65,000 crore were signed at an investment summit organized in Jhansi.
• The summit was organized ahead of the proposed Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit with the aim of encouraging investors.

International Events:

New dam:

• New satellite imagery has revealed that China is building a new dam in Tibet, close to the tri-junction of its borders with India and Nepal. Dam could be used to control the flow of water downstream.
• It is being constructed on Mabja Zangbo river. Mabja originates from Mount Kailash and flows downstream into the Ghaghara or Karnali river before eventually meeting the Ganges in India.

World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 report:

• The forecast was made in United Nations’s (UN) World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 report. The effect of tighter monetary policy and weak global demand has been cited as reason behind this cut.
• Growth in India is expected to remain strong at 5.8%, albeit slightly lower than the estimated 6.4% in 2022, as higher interest rates and a global slowdown weigh on investment and exports.

World Economic Situation and Prospects:

• World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 report has been published. It is published by United Nation’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs. It says that the economic growth of the world is slowing down.
• It is to reach 1.9% in 2023 from 3% in 2022. Global Inflation is to remain at 6.5% in 2023. Banks are to increase interest rates and therefore, the overall economic growth of countries will be at stake. Countries will face recession as they enter 2024.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: 27th January:

• Every year, this day is observed to reflect on the atrocities inflicted by Adolf Hitler, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated six million Jews.
• The day commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in January 1945 from Nazi control. The theme for year 2023 is “Home and Belonging”. The Holocaust was Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution” for eliminating all Jewish people.

Sports Events:

Australian Open Tennis:

• In the Australian Open Tennis, the Brazilian duo of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos won the Mixed Doubles title on 27 January 2023.They defeated the Indian pair Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza.
• The match was held in Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. This was also Sania Mirza’s last appearance at a Grand Slam before she retires. Sania had previously won the Australian Open mixed doubles title in 2009.

Debbie H.:

• New Zealand to introduce Debbie H. Medal to honour women cricketers. New Zealand Cricket announced the introduction of the Debbie Hockley Medal to honor the outstanding female cricketer.
• Cricketer Debbie Hockley played 118 ODIs and 19 Tests for New Zealand from 1979 to 2000. Hockley was the fourth woman to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, in 2013.

Aasif:

• Aasif become the 1st Nepali cricketer to win the ICC Spirit of Cricket. Nepal’s wicketkeeper Aasif Sheikh has been named the recipient of the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award 2022 for his decision not to run out Andy McBrine of Ireland while attempting a run.
• Aasif thus becomes the first player from Nepal to win the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award. The award is annually awarded by the ICC to recognize the player or team upholding the spirit of the game.

ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2022:

• South Africa bowling all-rounder Marco Jansen was crowned as the ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2022 in January 2022. Jansen beat India’s Arshdeep Singh, Afghanistan’s Ibrahim Zadran and New Zealand’s Finn Allen to win the award.
• In eight Tests, he took 36 wickets at an average of 19.02 and an economy rate of 3.18 in the 2022 season.