Daily Current Affairs 4th January 2020 | Daily GK Update

National News

1. MEA sets up new emerging and strategic technologies (NEST)

• The External affairs ministry announced the setting up of new emerging and strategic technologies (NEST) division.
• The division will work to increase investment coordination among the states of the country and also with the foreign countries.
• NEST will act as the nodal division within the ministry for issues pertaining to new and emerging technologies.
• It will help in collaboration with foreign partners in the field of 5G and artificial intelligence.
• The division will also hold responsibility for matters that involve negotiations with multilateral fora like the United Nations, G20.
• This will help to safeguard India’s interests as such forums govern the rules of access to such technologies.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• Union Minister of External Affairs: Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

2. 4th All India Police Judo Cluster Championship 2019

• Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, inaugurating the 4th All India Police Judo Cluster Championship 2019, in New Delhi.
• The 4th All India Police Judo Cluster Championship organized this year by CRPF is being attended by 34 participating teams consisting of 1207 sportspersons from across the country, with a total of 15 Trophies and 214 Medals, including one Medal for the Best Gymnast, in contention.
• Earlier, this cluster has been organized by Sashtra Seema Bal (SSB) in 2016, West Bengal Police in 2017 and Odisha Police in 2018.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• Union Minister of State for Home Affairs: Nityanand Rai.

International News

3. Iran names Esmail Qaani as new Commander

• Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named the Deputy Head of the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm Esmail Qaani to replace Qasem Soleimani as its commander.
• Soleimani was killed in a pre-dawn US strike in Baghdad.
• Qaani was one of the most decorated commanders of the Guards during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• Iran Capital: Tehran; Currency of Iran: Rial; President of Iran: Hassan Rouhani.

4. WHO designated 2020 as “Year of Nurse and Midwife”

• In the honour of 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the World Health Organization designated the year 2020 as the “Year of Nurse and Midwife”.
• This year, WHO is to focus on nursing and midwifery in order to achieve Universal Health Coverage.
• The organization is leading the development of “World Nursing Report” that is to be launched in 2020.
• The report is first of its kind. The year is being dedicated to the midwifery as well as WHO is also a partner of The State of the World’s Midwifery Campaign.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• WHO Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland, Director general: Tedros Adhanom.

State News

5. Gujarat CM unveils world’s 2nd tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

• Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani unveils world’s 2nd tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the world at Ahmedabad.
• 50 feet tall bronze statue with a weight of 70 thousand kilograms has been unveiled at the Sardardham campus near Vaishnodevi Circle in Ahmedabad.
• The statue of Sardar Patel has also been designed by Padma Bhusan Ram V. Sutar, the same sculptor who had designed the Statue of Unity.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• Gujarat CM: Vijay Rupani; Governor: Acharya Dev Vrat; Capital: Gandhinagar.

6. ‘Cyber Safe Women’ initiative launched by Maharashtra Govt

• Maharashtra Government has launched a ‘Cyber Safe Women’ initiative under which awareness camps will be held across all the districts of the state regarding cyber safety.
• The initiative will help in educating women about how the web is used by anti-social elements and child predators to commit various types of crimes.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• Maharashtra CM: Uddhav Thackeray; Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari;
• Capital: Mumbai.

Appointments

7. Abhinav Kumar gets extension as BSF IG

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the proposal of Ministry of Home Affairs for extending the deputation tenure of IPS Abhinav Kumar, Inspector General, Border Security Force (BSF), up to June 27, 2021, in relaxation of IPS Tenure Policy.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• BSF formed: 1 December 1965; DG BSF: V K Johri.

Ranks and Reports

8. Manav Thakkar becomes world no.1 in ITTF rankings

• Indian paddler Manav Thakkar became world no.1 in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings in the Under-21 men’s singles category.
• With this, Thakkar became the fourth Indian to achieve the feat after Harmeet Desai, G Sathiyan and Soumyajit Ghosh.
• Manav Thakkar achieved the top spot after clinching the Under-21 men’s singles title at the ITTF Challenge Plus Benemax-Virgo North American Open in Markham, Canada.
• He was also worlded no. 1 in the Under-18 category in February 2018.
• He was part of the Indian men’s team which won a bronze medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• President of ITTF: Thomas Weikert; Headquarters of ITTF: Lausanne, Switzerland.
• ITTF founded: 1926.

Important Days

9. World Braille Day: 4 January

• The world Braille Day is observed annually on 4 January. World Braille Day celebrated since 2019, is observed to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people.
• The day is marked remembering the birth anniversary of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille – for people with visual disabilities.
• Louis Braille was born on 4th January 1809 in the town of Coupvray in northern France.

Miscellaneous

10. India’s Malavath Poorna scales Antarctica’s Highest Peak

• Indian mountaineer Malavath Poorna, the youngest girl to have climbed the world’s highest mountain Mt. Everest 5 years ago, accomplished another feat by conquering Mt. Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest mountain peak (4,987 mts).
• With this, the 18-year-old becomes the first and youngest tribal woman in the world to set foot on the six tallest mountain peaks across six continents.
• She has already scaled Mt Everest (Asia, 2014), Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa, 2016), Mt. Elbrus (Europe, 2017), Mt. Aconcagua (South America, 2019), Mt. Cartsnez (Oceania region, 2019), and now Mt. Vinson Massif (Antarctica, 2019).

11. KVIC opens 1st silk processing plant in Gujarat

• The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) opened its first “Patola Saree” silk processing plant at Surendranagar in Gujarat.
• The aim of the plant is to make silk readily available to Patola saree manufacturers to boost its production.
• Patola is the trademark saree of Gujarat.
• They are highly expensive and were once worn only by royal aristocratic families. With the new plant, the comedown.
• The Patola silk was founded by the Salvi caste (Scheduled) in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
• They moved to Gujarat in the 12th century in order.

Daily Current Affairs 3rd January 2020 | Daily GK Update