DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 06 January 2021
IGRUA Sets a Record of 19000 Flying Hours In 2021
- Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Academy is a pilot training institute located at Fursatganj Airfield, in Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh, India. Established in 1985, it was the first such institute in India. It is an autonomous institution and comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India.
- By way of preparedness for a likely boom after the slump in the aviation industry due to pandemics and to promote the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative by the Central Government, IGRUA has made all plausible efforts to increase the quantum of flying vis-à-vis number of graduates to cater for the requirements of the aviation industry.
- During the year 2021, IGRUA piled up 19000 hours of flying as against an average yearly flying output of 15000 per year during the previous five years while it was 11641 hours in 2020. IGRUA achieved this milestone of 19000 hours despite the continued effect of pandemic and inclement weather conditions due to the Tauktae Cyclone in 2021.
- During the concurrent period, 66 cadets have graduated as against 43 during the previous year.
- The achievement becomes more significant when it is done with a reduced fleet strength of 18 aircraft as against 24 during the previous years.
- IGRUA has already set the foundation to hit a target of 25000 flying hours in 2022 by inducting a record 121 cadets in 2021 and expanding the fleet strength in 2022.
“Smart Cities And Academia Towards Action & Research (SAAR)” Program Launched
- The Smart Cities Mission has launched the “Smart cities and Academia Towards Action & Research (SAAR)” program. It is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, National Institute of Urban Affairs, and the leading Indian academic institutions of the country.
- Under the program, 15 premier architecture & planning institutes of the country will be working with Smart Cities to document landmark projects undertaken by the Smart Cities Mission. The documents will capture learnings from best practices. It will provide opportunities to students for engagement on urban development projects and enable real-time information flow between urban practitioners and academia. The first activity envisaged under SAAR is to prepare a compendium of 75 landmark urban projects in India under the Smart Cities Mission.
- These 75 urban projects are innovative, multi-sectoral, and have been implemented across geographies. The program marks the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has said that the compendium of 75 urban projects would be launched by June this year.
Atal Pension Yojana Crosses Another Milestone
- The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 to provide old-age income security particularly to the citizens in the unorganized sectors.
- Finance Ministry said, over 65 lakh have been enrolled in Atal Pension Yojana in the current financial year so far. Apart from enrolments, male to female subscription ratio of 56:44 is improving and the asset under management is around 20 thousand crore rupees.
- The Ministry said, Atal Pension Yojana can be subscribed by any Indian citizen in the age group of 18 to 40 years having a bank account.
UJALA Completes 7 Years
- Launched on 5th January 2015, Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) program has completed 7 years. The program has evolved to be the world’s largest zero-subsidy domestic lighting program that addresses concerns like high electrification costs and high emissions that result from inefficient lighting.
- More than 36 crores 70 lakh LEDs have been distributed across the country so far.
- Over 47 thousand Million Kilowatt-hour per annum energy has been saved. 9 thousand 565 megawatts of peak demand have been avoided. There has been a substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. It has reduced annual household electricity bills.
- With UJALA, the retail price of LED bulbs has also come down significantly. The program encourages Make in India. Domestic manufacturing of LED bulbs has increased from 1 lakh per month to 4 crores per month.
- Garnering attention from management schools, the program is a Leadership case study in IIM, Ahmedabad. It is also under consideration for being included in the curriculum of Harvard Business School.
Theme Of National Science Day 2022 Launched
- Union Science and Technology Minister, Dr. Jitendra Singh today launched the theme of National Science Day 2022.
- The theme of this year is ‘Integrated Approach in Science and Technology for Sustainable Future’. The National Science Day is observed every year on 28th February to mark the discovery of the Raman effect.
- Launching the theme in New Delhi, Dr. Singh expressed hope that through this all the institutions across the country will be able to chart out programs to observe the day. He said this is the best time to give a push to this theme because a lot of awareness of science has been generated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been reiterating that we must come out of the culture of working in silos and now this is no longer only an option, it is a necessity. Dr. Singh said, for India to live up to the global benchmarks, it must live up to the global parameters.
25th National Youth Festival
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 25th National Youth Festival in the Union Territory of Puducherry on January 12 at the Pondicherry Central University campus.
- National Youth Day, also known as Vivekananda Jayanti, is celebrated on 12 January, being the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. In 1984 the Government of India declared this day as National Youth Day and since 1985 the event is celebrated in India every year.
- The Union Minister will oversee the preparations and logistics of the festival also. Around 7000 youth from across the country and 500 youth from Puducherry aged between 18 and 22 are expected to participate in the 5-day youth festival to be held from January 12 to 16.
- He will then virtually inaugurate the Kamarajar Manimandapam at Samipillaithottam, the National Youth Festival, and the tool room of the MSME center at the Puducherry Technological University campus.
COVID-19 Vaccine for Teenagers
- Over one crore youngsters between 15 to 18 age group have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the country.
- In a tweet, Union Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya said, there is superb enthusiasm among young India for vaccination.
- He made an appeal to all eligible young friends to get vaccinated at the earliest.
Railways Ministry to Implement ‘Plan Bee’
- Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw informed that Railway is mulling to implement ‘Plan Bee’ throughout the country to keep away elephants from railway tracks.
- Addressing the media after inspecting passenger amenities at Guwahati Railway Station yesterday, Vaishnaw said that ‘Plan Bee’ adopted by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is a unique method to keep elephants away from railway tracks and as it is a success story, plans are afoot to implement it all over the country to save the precious lives of elephants.
- The Union Minister also informed that work for double railway line upto Guwahati station will start very soon.
- Plan Bee is an amplifying system imitating the buzz of a swarm of honeybees to keep elephants from getting killed on the railway tracks. Through this device, the buzzing sound of bees is audible from over 400 metres.
- So far, the device has been installed at 56 locations under the NFR jurisdiction, where the train lines cut through forests or elephant habitats. The first such device was installed at the level crossing gate NN-274 between Azara and Kamakhya station under the Rangiya division.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
- Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy is affiliated to
- Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur
- Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore
- Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi
- Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi
ANSWER: A
- Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy was established by
- Pandit Nehru
- Indira Gandhi
- Rajiv Gandhi
- P V Narsimha Rao
ANSWER: C
- Smart Cities Mission was launched in
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- 2017
ANSWER: B
- Which is the smartest city in India in 2020?
- Indore
- Surat
- Kolkata
- Both A & B
ANSWER: D
- Which is the smartest city in the world?
- Singapore
- Zurich
- Oslo
- Geneva
ANSWER: A
- Which of the following is the Target Segment of Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
- People of BPL
- Under-Privileged
- Workers in the Unorganized Sector
- All the above
ANSWER: D
- Pick The Wrong Statement Regarding ‘Atal Pension Yojana’ (APY)
- The age of the subscriber should be between 18-40 years.
- It provides a minimum guaranteed pension ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 5000.
- The Pension is provided on attaining 60 years of age.
- None
ANSWER: D
- It is the world’s largest domestic lighting project.
- UJALA
- Ujwala
- Uday
- IPDS
ANSWER: A
- Sir C.V. Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in ______.
- 1928
- 1929
- 1930
- 1931
ANSWER: C
- National Youth Day Is Celebrated on Birth Anniversary of
- A P J Abdul Kalam
- Swami Vivekananda
- C V Raman
- Pandit Nehru
ANSWER: B
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