Current Affairs 27th January 2021| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS : DAYS 

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2021 Observed On Jan 27

• The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is an international memorial day observed on January 27 every year.
• The day commemorates the tragedy of the Holocaust during the Second World War.
• The day was officially proclaimed in November 2005 as International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust by the United Nations General Assembly.
• The International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the genocide that resulted in the death of million Jews and 11 million others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.
• Aim : The day aims to address the residual trauma, maintain effective remembrance policies and promoting education, documentation and research about the genocide to help prevent future acts of genocide.
• The theme of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2021 is “Facing the Aftermath: Recovery and Reconstitution after the Holocaust”

CURRENT AFFAIRS : NATIONAL NEWS

Indian Railways’ longest freight train ‘Vasuki’ sets a new record

• Indian Railways’ South Eastern Central Railway(SECR) zone has created another record when it operated the longest freight train on the Indian Railways network.
• The total length of the freight train was around5 kilometers after joining the five rakes and it was named ‘Vasuki’.
• The distance between Bhilai to Korba is 224 kilometers and the long-haul freight train named ‘Vasuki’ covered the whole distance with five rakes of a freight train.
• SECR on 22 January operated the long haul rake of five freight trains named ‘Vasuki’ With the help of one loco pilot, one assistant loco pilot, and one guard.
• The train took around seven hours to cover the distance from Bhilai D cabin to Korba railway station.
• The Vasuki, comprising 300 wagons of long haul rakes of five goods trains, ran with the help of one pilot, one assistant Loco pilot and a guard.

About Indian Railways :

• Founded : 16 April, 1853
• Headquarters : New Delhi
• Comes Under Ministry of Railways

About South Eastern Central Railway :

• Founded : 20 September 1998
• Headquarters : Bilaspur Junction

CURRENT AFFAIRS : STATE NEWS

Odisha’s famous ‘Toshali National Crafts Mela’ begins

• The 15th edition of the famous ‘Toshali National Crafts Mela’ began in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar on January 21.
• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the grand mela through video conferencing.
• This year, around 250 stalls have been opened at the mela.
• Mela has become one of the most popular handlooms and handicrafts fairs in Eastern India.
• On the occasion, the Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts Minister Padmini Dian felicitated three artisans with State Handicrafts Award- 2019.
• Three winners are Dilip Kumar Swain (palm leaf engraving), Divyajyoti Dehera (stone sculpting), and Priyanka Patra (terracotta).

About Odisha :

• CM : Naveen Patnaik
• Capital : Bhubaneswar
• Governor : Ganeshi Lal

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING NEWS 

IMF revises India growth forecast, sees GDP shrinking at sharper 8% in FY21

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has pegged contraction in India’s economy at 8 percent in the current financial year, higher than the 7.7-per cent decline projected by the government’s advance estimates.
• However, the international organisation expects a growth rate of 11.5 per cent in the next financial year.
• The IMF projected the global growth to contract at 3.5 percent in 2020.
• The global economy is projected to grow 5.5 per cent in 2021 and 4.2 per cent in 2022.

About IMF :

• Founded : 27 December 1945 United States
• Founders : John Maynard Keynes

Dhanlaxmi Bank approves appointment of Shivan as MD and CEO

• Board of Directors of Kerala-based Dhanlaxmi Bank have given approval to appoint J K Shivan as managing director and CEO of the Bank.
• It may be recalled that the shareholders of the Kerala-based company had voted against MD & CEO Sunil Gurbaxani On September 30, 2020.
• Then, in December that year, the lender appointed Shivan as the new MD & CEO.

About Dhanalaxmi bank :

• Founded : 1927
• Headquarters : Thrissur, Kerala

Indian economy estimated to contract by 9.6% in 2020, grow at 7.3% in 2021: UN

• India’s economy is projected to grow at 7.3% in 2021, even as it is estimated to contract by 9.6% in 2020.
• The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2021, produced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
• The global economy shrank by 4.3% last year, over two-and-a-half times more than during the global financial crisis of 2009.
• The modest recovery of 4.7% expected in 2021 would barely offset the losses of 2020.

About UN DESA :

• Headquarters : New York , United States
• Head : Liu Zhenmin
• Founded : 1948

India’s GDP to contract 8% in fiscal year 2021, – FICCI

• India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract by 8 per cent in 2020-21, according to the latest round of FICCI’s Economic Outlook Survey.
• In addition to that, FICCI expects the economy to perform much better in the financial year 2021-22 with GDP growth rate of 9.6 percent in FY22.

About FICCI :

• Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry
• Founded : 1927
• Headquarters : New Delhi
• Secretary General : Dilip Chenoy

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCHEMES

Ministry of Tribal Affairs Virtually Launches “Shramshakti” 

• The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda virtually through a Video Conference launched “ShramShakti”, a National Migration Support Portal at a programme held at Panjim, Goa.
• It would effectively help in the smooth formulation of state and national level programs for migrant workers.
• He also launched a tribal migration cell, a tribal museum at Goa and “ShramSaathi”, a training manual for migrant workers.
• This portal will address the data gap and empower migrant workers who generally migrate in search of employment and income generation.
• The government would also be able to link the migrant population with the existing welfare scheme under Atam Nirbhar Bharat.
• This in turn was preventing them from formulating effective strategies and policy decisions for the welfare of migrant workers.
• The data collected through the portal will include demographic profile, livelihood options, skill-mapping and migration pattern.

About Goa :

• Governor : Bhagat Singh Koshyari
• Capital : Panaji

CURRENT AFFAIRS : DEFENCE NEWS

DRDO’s successful flight test of Smart Anti Airfield Weapon

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful trial of the indigenously developed Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) off the Odisha coast from the Hawk-I jet of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). 
• The smart weapon was successfully test fired from Indian Hawk-Mk132 of HAL.
• It was a text book launch, which met all mission objectives.
• This was the ninth successful test of the system conducted over the last five years.
• SAAW is indigenously designed and developed by DRDO’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI) Hyderabad.
• This is a 125-kilogram class smart weapon, capable of engaging ground enemy airfield assets such as radars, bunkers, taxi tracks, and runways, up to a range of 100 kilometres.

About DRDO :

• Founded : 1958
• Headquarters : New Delhi

DRDO conducts maiden launch of Akash missile at integrated test range in Odisha

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted the maiden launch of the new generation of surface-to-air Akash missile from integrated test range off the coast of Odisha.
• The new generation missile is designed for use by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in order to intercept high maneuvering aerial threats.
• The test launch at Odisha was carried off in presence of DRDO, BDL (Bharat Dynamics Ltd), the ammunition and missile system manufacturer and BEL (Bharat Electronics Ltd.), the public aerospace company. Representatives from the IAF were also present at the test launch site.

About Akash missile :

• Akash-NG is a new generation Surface to Air Missile meant for use by Indian Air Force with an aim of intercepting high maneuvering aerial threats.

About Indian Air Force :

• Founded : 8 October 1932
• Headquarters : New Delhi
• Commander in Chief : Ram Nath Kovind

CURRENT AFFAIRS : AWARD NEWS

Indian mathematician Nikhil Srivastava named joint winner of Michael and Sheila Held Prize

• Nikhil Srivastava, a young Indian mathematician, has been named winner of the prestigious 2021 Michael and Sheila Held Prize along with two others for solving long-standing questions on the Kadison-Singer problem and on Ramanujan graphs.
• Srivastava from the University of California, Berkeley, Adam Marcus, the Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Daniel Alan Spielman from Yale University will receive the 2021 Michael and Sheila Held Prize.
• The prize consists of a medal and USD 100,000.
• The Michael and Sheila Held Prize is presented annually and honours outstanding, innovative, creative, and influential research in the areas of combinatorial and discrete optimisation, or related parts of computer science, such as the design and analysis of algorithms and complexity theory.
• The prize was established in 2017 by the bequest of Michael And Sheila Held.

51st IFFI concludes with grand closing ceremony

• The closing ceremony of the 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India was held in the Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Stadium in Goa.
• Due to the COVID-19 the festival was held in hybrid mode, there was physical and virtual screening of 50 films out of 224 films across various categories.
• Bangladesh was the country focus of the festival. Four films of Bangladesh were included in the ‘country of focus’ section.
• The winners of the IFFI awards are listed below

1. Golden Peacock Award for Best Film– Into the Darkness
2. Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor – Male – Tzu-Chuan Liu, The Silent Forest
3. Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor – Female – Zofia Stafiej, I Never Cry
4. Silver Peacock Award for Best Director – Chen-Nien Ko, The Silent Forest
5. Best Debut Director Award – Cássio Pereira dos Santos, Valentina
6. Special Mention Award – Kripal Kalita, Bridge
7. Special Jury Award – Kamin Kalev, February
8. ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Award – Ameen Nayfeh’s 200 Meters
9. Indian Personality of the Year Award – Biswajit Chatterjee
10. Lifetime Achievement – Vittorio Storaro (Italian cinematographer)

Govt announces Subhash Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar 2021

• Rajendra Kumar Bhandari, who laid the foundation of scientific studies on geo hazards, was  selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for 2021 for his work in disaster management.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs said while Bhandari has been selected in the individual category of the award, the Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS) has been picked for the award in the institutional category for the year.
• The award is announced every year on January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The award carries a cash prize of ₹51 lakh and a certificate in case of an institution and ₹five lakh and a certificate in case of an individual.
• The award is given to recognise and honour the invaluable contribution and selfless service rendered by individuals and organisations in India in the field of disaster management by the central government

About Ministry of Home Affairs :

• Headquarters : New Delhi
• Founded : 15 August 1947
• Ministry Executive : Ajay Kumar Bhalla
• Minister : Amit Shah

Federal Bank’s Shyam Srinivasan is Business Standard Banker of the Year

• Shyam Srinivasan, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Federal Bank, is the Business Standard Banker of the Year for 2019-20.
• This award was given mainly for his bank’s consistent healthy performance at a time when most of its peers witnessed large stress on asset quality, registered losses, or even invited regulatory actions.
• The unanimous decision was taken by a high-profile jury of five, chaired by former RBI deputy governor S S Mundra. He was chosen for his bank’s consistent healthy performance at a time when most of its peers witnessed losses or other issues.

 About Federal Bank :

• Headquarters : Aluva
• CEO : Shyam Srinivasan
• Founder : K.P.Hormis
• Founded : 23 April, 1931

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SPORTS NEWS

ITBP wins IHAI National Ice Hockey Championship in Gulmarg

• The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has won the 10th National Ice Hockey Championship organised by the Ice Hockey Association of India, after defeating Ladakh with five goals to one.
• The match was held at Gulmarg Ice Rink.
• On behalf of ITBP, Urgyan and Tashi scored two goals each while Punchuk scored one goal.
• The championship, which concluded on Friday, was held at an altitude of 8,694-feet and temperatures below freezing point.
• Top eight teams of ice hockey in India participated in the event.
• Ladakh has been considered as the capital of ice hockey in India where local men and women play this game with great enthusiasm.

About ITBP :

• Founded : 24 October 1962
• Headquarters : New Delhi
• Director General : S S Deswal

About Ice Hockey Association of India :

• President : K L Kumar
• Membership : 27 April 1989

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES 

Former India and Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Prasanta Dora Passed away

• Former India and Mohun Bagan, East Bengal goalkeeper Prasanta Dora died aged 44.
• Having made debut in the group IX Olympic qualifier home match against Thailand in 1999, Prasanta went on to represent India at the SAFF Cup, SAF Games later and made five appearances.
• Prasanta was also adjudged Best Goalkeeper in Bengal’s successive Santosh Trophy triumphs in 1997-98 and 99.
• At club-level, Prasanta started his career at the Tollygunge Agragami before moving to Calcutta Port Trust, Mohammedan Sporting, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.
• At national level, Dora made five appearances in competitions such as SAFF Cup and SAF Games.

Daily CA on Jan 26 :

• Every year on 26^th January, International Customs Day (ICD) is celebrated worldwide
• India is Celebrating the 72nd Republic Day on 26 January 2021, at the Rajpath in New Delhi.
• In UP, a new 3300 meter long airstrip has been constructed near Kurebhar On Purvanchal Expressway
• Mongolia’s Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa submitted his resignation to parliament
• On 24 Jan 2021, SpaceX created a unique world record of launching 143 satellites on a single vehicle.
• China climbed to the 1 ranking globally attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) of $163 billion in 2020.
• For the 71st foundation day of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched ‘Udyam Sarathi’ app
• To mark the National Girl Child Day, Haridwar teenager Srishti Goswami will take charge as the chief minister of Uttarakhand for one day.
• Border Security Force (BSF) launched Operation Sard Hawa on the western international border of Rajasthan.
• AMPHEX – 21 was conducted in the Andaman & Nicobar group of islands from 21 – 25 Jan 2021.
• Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa won a landslide reelection.
• Amit Shah has launched the Ayushman CAPF health scheme in Guwahati for about 28 lakh Central Armed Police Forces and their families in all the states where Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana is operational.
• Civil servant, historian, author, poet and chronicler Narendra Luther passed away. He was 89.

Daily CA On Jan 27 :

• The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is an international memorial day observed on January 27 every year.
• Indian Railways’ South Eastern Central Railway(SECR) zone has created another record when it operated the longest freight train on the Indian Railways network.
• The 15th edition of the famous ‘Toshali National Crafts Mela’ began in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar on January 21.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has pegged contraction in India’s economy at 8 percent in the current financial year, higher than the 7.7-per cent decline projected by the government’s advance estimates.
• Board of Directors of Kerala-based Dhanlaxmi Bank have given approval to appoint J K Shivan as managing director and CEO of the Bank.
• India’s economy is projected to grow at 7.3% in 2021, even as it is estimated to contract by 9.6% in 2020.
• India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract by 8 per cent in 2020-21, according to the latest round of FICCI’s Economic Outlook Survey.
• The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda virtually through a Video Conference launched “ShramShakti”, a National Migration Support Portal at a programme held at Panjim, Goa.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful trial of the indigenously developed Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) off the Odisha coast from the Hawk-I jet of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). 
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted the maiden launch of the new generation of surface-to-air Akash missile from integrated test range off the coast of Odisha.
• Nikhil Srivastava, a young Indian mathematician, has been named winner of the prestigious 2021 Michael and Sheila Held Prize along with two others for solving long-standing questions on the Kadison-Singer problem and on Ramanujan graphs.
• The closing ceremony of the 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India was held in the Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Stadium in Goa.
• Rajendra Kumar Bhandari, who laid the foundation of scientific studies on geo hazards, was  selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for 2021 for his work in disaster management.
• Shyam Srinivasan, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Federal Bank, is the Business Standard Banker of the Year for 2019-20.
• The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has won the 10th National Ice Hockey Championship organised by the Ice Hockey Association of India, after defeating Ladakh with five goals to one.
• Former India and Mohun Bagan, East Bengal goalkeeper Prasanta Dora died aged 44.