DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 26 – 27 December 2021
Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya Jayanthi
- Madan Mohan Malaviya (25 December 1861 – 12 November 1946) was an Indian scholar, educational reformer, and politician notable for his role in the Indian independence movement, as the three times president of Indian National Congress and the founder of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha. He was respectfully addressed by the title Pandit and addressed as Mahamana.
- Malaviya strived to promote modern education among Indians and eventually co-founded the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) at Varanasi in 1916, which was created under the B.H.U. Act, 1915. It is the largest residential university in Asia and one of the largest in the world, having over 40,000 students across arts, commerce, sciences, engineering, linguistic, Ritual, medicine, agriculture, performing arts, law, and technology from all over the world. He was the vice-chancellor of the Banaras Hindu University from 1919 to 1938.
- Malaviya was one of the founders of the Bharat Scouts and Guides. He also founded a highly influential, English newspaper, The Leader published from Allahabad in 1909. He was also the Chairman of the Hindustan Times from 1924 to 1946. His efforts resulted in the launch of its Hindi edition named Hindustan Dainik in 1936.
- He was posthumously conferred with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, on 24 December 2014, one day before his 153rd birth anniversary.
Shri A B Vajpayee Remembered on his Jayanti
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 to 1999, followed by a full term from 1999 to 2004. Vajpayee was one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu nationalist volunteer organization. He was the first Indian prime minister not of the Indian National Congress to serve a full term in office. He is also noted as a poet and a writer.
- During his tenure as prime minister, India carried out the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998. Vajpayee sought to improve diplomatic relations with Pakistan, traveling to Lahore by bus to meet with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. After the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan, he sought to restore relations through engagement with President Pervez Musharraf, inviting him to India for a summit at Agra.
- The administration of Narendra Modi declared in 2014 that Vajpayee’s birthday, 25 December, would be marked as Good Governance Day. In 2015, he was conferred India’s highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, by the president of India, Pranab Mukherjee. He died on 16 August 2018 of an age-related illness.
Good Governance Index 2021
- Good Governance Index 2021 launched on Good Governance Day, December 25, 2021, by Union Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah.
- 20 States have improved their composite GGI scores in 2021.
- Gujarat tops the composite ranking in the 58-indicator index followed by Maharashtra and Goa. Uttar Pradesh registers an 8.9 percent improvement in GGI indicators in the period 2019 to 2021. Jammu and Kashmir registered a 3.7 percent improvement in GGI indicators in the period 2019 to 2021. Delhi tops the Union Territories category composite ranking.
- Good Governance Index, GGI 2021 Framework covered ten sectors and 58 indicators. The sectors of GGI 2020-21 are 1) Agriculture and Allied Sectors, 2) Commerce & Industries, 3) Human Resource Development, 4) Public Health, 5.) Public Infrastructure & Utilities, 6) Economic Governance, 7) Social Welfare & Development, 8) Judicial & Public Security, 9) Environment, and 10) Citizen-Centric Governance. The GGI 2020-21 categorizes States and UTs into four categories, i.e., (i) Other States – Group A; (ii) Other States – Group B; (iii) North-East and Hill States; and (iv) Union Territories.
South Africa anti-apartheid hero dies aged 90
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who helped end apartheid in South Africa, has died aged 90.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa said the churchman’s death marked “another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans”.
- Archbishop Tutu had helped bequeath “a liberated South Africa,” he added.
- Tutu was one of the country’s best-known figures at home and abroad.
- A contemporary anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was one of the driving forces behind the movement to end the policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government against the black majority in South Africa from 1948 until 1991.
- He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1984 for his role in the struggle to abolish the apartheid system.
COVID-19 vaccination for Children between 15 and 18 years to begin from Jan 3
- The Prime Minister announced last night that the COVID-19 vaccination for children between 15 and 18 years of age will start from the 3rd of next month. In his address last night, Mr. Modi said, this will strengthen the country’s fight against COVID.
- Mr. Modi said the government has also decided that it will begin precaution doses for the healthcare workers and frontline workers from the 10th of January. He said citizens above 60 years of age with co-morbidities will also have the option of a precautionary dose of the vaccine on the advice of their doctor from 10th January onwards.
- Earlier yesterday, Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine ‘ Covaxin ‘ received approval for Emergency use in children between 12 and 18 years of age.
- In a statement, Bharat Biotech said, Covaxin is formulated uniquely such that the same dosage can be administered to adults and children. It said Covaxin has established a proven record for safety and efficacy in adults for the original variant and subsequent variants.
Mission Indradhanush
- Mission Indradhanush which was launched on 25th December 2014 as a special drive to expand full immunization coverage in India has completed seven years today. In a tweet, Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya said that seven successful years of Mission Indradhanush has ensured full immunization coverage to children and mothers in eliminating diseases for building a healthy India.
- Under the Mission, 701 districts across the country have been covered and 3 crores 86 lakh children have been vaccinated. He said around 97 lakh pregnant women have also been immunized under the Mission.
- The Minister said that full immunization coverage among children aged 12 to 23 months has increased to 76.4 percent.
James Webb Space Telescope Launched
- World’s largest and most powerful space telescope has been launched successfully into orbit to make breakthrough discoveries on the origins of the Universe and Earth-like planets beyond our solar system.
- The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s premier space observatory of the next decade, launched in an Ariane rocket from the European Space Agency’s base in French Guiana on Christmas Day.
- The Webb telescope will reach its destination in solar orbit some 1.5 million km from Earth – about four times farther away than the moon. And Webb’s special orbital path will keep it in constant alignment with the Earth as the planet and telescope circle the sun in tandem.
- It will see farther into our origins, from the formation of stars and planets to the birth of the first galaxies in the early Universe. It intends to show humans what the Universe looked like even closer to its birth nearly 14 billion years ago.
- Webb, named after one of the architects of the Apollo Moon landings, is the successor to the Hubble telescope. Jointly built by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency, the new observatory is, however, 100 times more powerful.
- The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It is intended to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA’s flagship mission in astrophysics.
- JWST was launched on 25 December 2021 on Ariane flight VA256. It is designed to provide improved infrared resolution and sensitivity over Hubble and will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including observations of some of the most distant events and objects in the Universe such as the formation of the first galaxies, and allowing detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
- Madan Mohan Malaviya became INC president first time in _____
- 1909
- 1918
- 1932
- 1946
ANSWER: A
- Madan Mohan Malaviya was born in ____
- Prayagraj
- Kanpur
- Lucknow
- Agra
ANSWER: A
- 1932 Poona Pact on Behalf of Gandhiji was signed by
- Dr. B R Ambedkar
- Madan Mohan Malaviya
- Pandit Nehru
- Babu Jagjivan Ram
ANSWER: B
- A B Vajpayee was born in ____
- Indore
- Gwalior
- Bhopal
- Jabalpur
ANSWER: B
- The name _____ means the abode of the cow/buffalo herder
- Indore
- Gwalior
- Bhopal
- Jabalpur
ANSWER: B
- Who was Pakistani PM when Vajpayee undertook Lahore Bus meet in 1999
- Nawaz Sharif
- Yousaf Raza Gillani
- Raja Pervaiz Ashraf
- Benazir Bhutto
ANSWER: A
- Immunization Programme in India was introduced in
- 1978
- 1985
- 1987
- 1992
ANSWER: A
- Pulse Polio Immunization program was launched in India in
- 1992
- 1994
- 1997
- 1999
ANSWER: B
- Desmond tutu got Nobel peace prize in
- 1964
- 1974
- 1984
- 1994
ANSWER: C
- The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in
- 1990
- 1995
- 2000
- 2005
ANSWER: A
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