All in One Current Affairs

Winners of 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards announced

The winners of the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced at an event held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, USA. The award honours the year’s biggest achievements in TV and film

The list of winners of the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards:

• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries – Sam Rockwell (Fosse/Verdon)
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries – Michelle Williams (Fosse/Verdon)
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series – Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series – Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show)
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series – Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel)
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series – Phoebe Waller-Bridg (Fleabag)
• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series – The Crown
• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series – Game of Thrones
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role – Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) 
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role – Renee Zellweger (Judy)
• Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role – Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role – Laura Dern (Marriage Story)
• Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture – Parasite
• Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture – Avengers: Endgame

Arjun Munda elected as new president of Archery Association of India

Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda has become the new President of the suspended Archery Association of India (AAI) after the elections held as per the Delhi High Court order. He was elected to the position during elections conducted on January 18, 2020.

The much-delayed elections were conducted smoothly, as it was conducted in the presence of three observers, one each from World Archery, Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association. Arjun Munda won a clear majority over his rival BVP Rao with 34-18 votes. He will now serve a full term of four years.

A three-time Jharkhand Chief Minister, the 51-year-old Munda is a hugely popular tribal leader who also runs an archery academy which was instrumental in the rise of former world number one Deepika Kumari. Maharashtra’s Pramod Chandurkar has won the election for the post of Secretary.

Government appoints Nripendra Misra as the chairman of NMML

Nripendra Misra, former principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been appointed the chairman of the Executive Council of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, the highest decision making body of the institution.

The eight-member council has also been reconstituted, with Prasar Bharati Chairman, A Surya Prakash as the new the vice chairman, replacing MJ Akbar, former minister and BJP member who resigned from the cabinet.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations Chairman Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, academic Kapil Kapoor who is also chairperson of Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) and Rajya Sabha member and writer Swapan Dasgupta are among the other members of the EC.

K-4 Ballistic Missile successfully test-fired from Andhra Pradesh

The nuclear-capable K-4 ballistic missile has been successfully test-fired by India at Vizag coast in Andhra Pradesh. The nuclear-capable missile having the range of 3,500-kilometre was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

With this test, India has moved one more step towards the induction of this ballistic missile on the INS Arihant class of nuclear submarines. The three-metre-tall missile carries a nuclear warhead of over one tonne with a circular error probability far lower than that of Chinese ballistic missiles. Only the US, Russia and China have submarine-launched ballistic missiles of 3,500-kilometre range.

Vinesh Phogat wins gold medal at the Rome Ranking Series event

A dominant Vinesh Phogat overpowered Ecudor’s Luisa Elizabeth Valverde by 4-0 to win her first gold medal of the 2020 season at the Rome Ranking Series event held in Rome. Anshu Malik settled for a silver in 57 kg competition. Vinesh will now fight for her first gold of the season with Ecuador’s Luisa Elizabeth Valverde Melemdres.

Indonesia Masters title 2020 won by Ratchanok Intanon

Thailand’s Badminton player Ratchanok Intanon won the Indonesia Masters title 2020 in Women’s Singles category on 19 January. It was her first badminton title of the year 2020. She defeated former world number one Carolina Marin. She secured 2-1 to claim the title. She was awarded $30,000 and the trophy.

Intanon defeated Marin 21-19, 11-21, 21-18 in one hour and twenty minutes long match. The clash went into three-games and both the shuttlers tried their 100 per cent to turn things in their favour. Despite losing the first game, the Spanish shuttler made a comeback in the second game and claimed the game by 21-11. Intanon won the match by claiming the third game by 21-18.

50th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum begins in Davos

The 50th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum begins in Davos, Switzerland. This year the theme is “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World”. US President Donald Trump, Britain’s Prince Charles, German Chancellor Angela Merkel would be among the world leaders attending the annual meeting.

The welcome message was followed by the annual crystal awards and this year’s recipients included celebrity film star Deepika Padukone. The awards is given to cultural leaders, who are improving the state of the world through their contributions to inclusive and sustainable change. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will lead the Indian delegation to the WEF.

This year’s programme focuses on achieving maximum impact on the Forum’s platform for public-private cooperation across six core areas of activity: ecology, economy, society, industry, technology, and geopolitics. Among the initiatives to be launched at the annual meeting is one that aims to plant one trillion trees over the next decade and to equip one billion people with the necessary skills in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The Integrated Check-Post inaugurated at India-Nepal border

The Integrated Check-Post (ICP) in Biratnagar has been inaugurated at India-Nepal border. The inauguration was done by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli.

ICP Biratnagar, designed to handle around 500 trucks per day has been built on 260 acres of land at a cost of around 140 crore rupees. It has the facilities for immigration clearance of foreign passengers, export and import cargo handling.

ICP Biratnagar is equipped with modern warehousing facilities like refrigerated cargo, electronic weighing bridges, 100% power backup, fire safety, dedicated communication network and 24×7 monitoring through CCTV and public announcement systems.

‘Fit India Cyclothon’ flagged off in Goa

The Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant and Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju flagged off the ‘Fit India Cyclothon‘ event. The Fit India Mission under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in collaboration with the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of Goa organised the inaugural event.

The Cyclothon was flagged off from the Campal Parade Ground and culminated at Bal Bhavan. More than 500 cycling enthusiasts participated in the event and cycled through a five-kilometer stretch within the city of Panaji.

“The Fit India Cyclothon event was not a race but a leisure activity organised with the aim to get the people involved in outdoor activities and start a cycling culture in the state,” Sawant said in a statement.

1st squadron of Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft inducted by Indian Air Force

The Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Bhadauria inducted its 1st squadron of Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft. This aircraft is carrying the BrahMos missiles in the South at its Thanjavur based in Tamil Nadu.

Thanjavur is strategically located in the southern peninsula. From  there, the Tigersharks can dominate the seas and provide very close and integrated support to the Indian Navy. It  can also provide support to the land forces.

The newly reinstated 222-squadron, also known as the Tigersharks, would serve as a lethal weapons platform capable of carrying both aerial and maritime roles in the Indian Ocean Region. The Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft integrated with the supersonic cruise missiles BrahMos is the strongest maritime combination that we have, in terms of weapon capability.

2nd NIC Tech Conclave 2020 inaugurated in New Delhi

The 2nd edition of NIC Tech Conclave 2020 is being held on 21-22 January 2020 at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. The Union Minister for Law & Justice, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated the conclave. The two-day event is organized by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The theme of the NIC TechConclave 2020 is ‘Technologies for NextGen Governance‘. 

The conclave will discuss the steering application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at various levels in the Government. The Conclave will contribute immensely to the capacity building of Government officers across the country and help in delivering high-quality citizen-centric services. The speakers in the Conclave are experts from the IT industry who will share their expertise in various areas like Cyber Security, Design Thinking, Hyperscale Architecture, etc.

World Economic Situation and Prospects Report 2020 released by UN

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the five United Nations Regional Economic Commissions have jointly released the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020 (WESP) recently. The report warns about strong economic risks, deep political polarization and increasing scepticism about the benefits of multilateralism.

The report suggested that India needs to implement structural reforms to face a global as well as Indian economic slowdown. The combination of fiscal stimulus, loose monetary policy and financial sector reforms is expected to support a recovery in growth to 6.6 %. India experienced a sharp drop from 6.8% in 2018 to 5.7 % in 2019. The report also indicated that India may be among the few countries where the per capita GDP growth rate could exceed 4% in 2020.

Uber Eats India acquired by Zomato in an all-stock transaction

Online food delivery and restaurant discovery platform Zomato has acquired the Indian operations of Uber Eats, the food delivery business run by Uber, for around $350 million (Rs 2,485 crore). The all-stock transaction will give the US-based ride-hailing company 9.99% shareholding in Gurgaon-based Zomato.

Uber Eats will cease to exist as a separate brand locally and users on its platform will be redirected to Zomato’s app. Zomato will not absorb Uber Eats’ team in India. This means around 100 executives will either be reallocated to Uber’s other verticals here or laid off.

Loan amount of nearly Rs. 70,000 crore disbursed under MSMEs scheme

As per the data by the Ministry of Finance, loan amount of nearly Rs 70,000 crore has been disbursed till 13 January 2020 under the scheme of providing loan to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) within 59 minutes.

The government has introduced loan provision to MSMEs through a dedicated online portal- www.psbloansin59 minutes.com for ease of access to credit for MSMEs.

The portal acts as a single interface portal which facilitates in principal approval of bank loans to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises upto Rs 5 crore within 59 minutes.

West Bengal becomes top State in vegetable production

West Bengal has emerged as the top state in the country in vegetable production in 2018-19, according to horticulture production data released by the Central government recently. West Bengal witnessed a production of 29.55 million tonne (MT) of vegetables during 2018-19 which was the maximum in the country in that period.

Uttar Pradesh was in the second place with 27.71 million tonne of vegetable production in the same period. UP produced 14.9 per cent of the country’s vegetable production, while Madhya Pradesh recorded 9.6 per cent followed by Bihar 9 per cent and Gujarat 6.8 per cent. In 2017-18, West Bengal was in the second place with 27.70 MT of vegetable production while UP held the top position with a production of 28.32 MT.

While in the Production of Fruits, Andhra Pradesh continued to hold on to the top position in with 17.61 mt, followed by Maharashtra (10.82 mt) and UP (10.65 mt). While Andhra Pradesh marginally improved its position, Maharashtra overtook Assam, which occupied the second position in 2017-18. UP, too, moved several notches up from 2017-18 levels to reach the third rank.

Bharat Electronics Ltd commissions real time train info system

Bharat Electronics Ltd, a public sector undertaking, has commissioned the first phase of the real time train information system for Indian Railways to increase its operational efficiency and improve passenger safety.

The system has been commissioned through the Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), under the technical guidance of Space Applications Centre at ISRO. RTIS provides real-time positional information of locomotives to the Railways.

It facilitates automatic acquisition of train movement data, including that of arrival, departure and run-through timings, at the stations en route. The control chart of trains, which has RTIS-enabled locomotives, gets plotted automatically in the Control Office Application system of the Railways.