26 January 2018 Current Affairs

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Nation Celebrates 69th Republic Day

The Country celebrates its 69th Republic Day on 26th January. The family members of Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala (Posthumous) of the Indian Air Force (IAF), who died fighting militants in Kashmir valley, received India’s highest peacetime gallantry award, Ashok Chakra. This is the third Ashok Chakra for the IAF and its first for ground combat.


Padma Awards 2018 announced: Full list of recipients

The President has approved the awards for 85 individuals, which includes 3 Padma Vibhushan, 9 Padma Bhushan and 73 Padma Shri. Fourteen of the awardees are women and 3 persons have been awarded posthumously. In sports personalities, former India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and multiple world champion cueist Pankaj Advani have been conferred with the third-highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan. The 2017 World Weightlifting Champion Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and former Asian Games gold medallist tennis player Somdev Devvarman have been conferred with the Padma Shri. The awards are announced on the eve of the Republic Day every year.
Padma Vibhushan (2nd highest civilian award):

S. No. Winner Category
1. Ilayaraja Art (Music)
2. Ghulam Mustafa Khan Art (Music)
3. Parameswaran Parameswaran Literature & Education

Padma Bhushan (3rd highest civilian award):

S. No. Winner Category
1. Pankaj Advani (Billiards/Snooker)
2. Mahendra Singh Dhoni Sports (Cricket)
3. Alexander Kadakin (Foreigner/Posthumous) Public Affairs
4. Ved Prakash Nanda Literature and Education
5. Laxman Pai Art Art (Painting)
6. Arvind Parikh Art Art (Painting)
7. Sharda Sinha Art Art (Painting)
8. Philipose Mar Chrysostom Others (Spiritualism)
9. Ramachandran Nagaswamy Others (Archaeology)

 


IAF Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala posthumously conferred with Ashok Chakra

President Ram Nath Kovind awarded India’s highest peacetime military decoration Ashok Chakra (31) posthumously to Indian Air Force (IAF) Garud commando Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala. He had laid down his life after gunning down two terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. He is the third Ashok Chakra for the IAF and its first for ground combat. Other two IAF officers are Rakesh Sharma (first and still only Indian citizen to go to space) and Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon posthumously decorated with the Param Vir Chakra in 1972.


Rajesh will be next Ambassador to Niger

Shri Rajesh Agarwal, presently Counsellor, High Commission of India, Port Moresby has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Niger. He is expected to take up his assignment shortly. Niger is a landlocked country in Western Africa named after the Niger River. The capital city is Niamey.


Usha Ananthasubramanian becomes 1st Woman IBA Chief

Usha Ananthasubramanian, MD and CEO, Allahabad Bank, has been elected the first woman chairman of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). Usha was elected IBA Chairman for the year 2017-18 by its Managing Committee. IBA Chairman’s position fell vacant following the superannuation of Jatinder Bir Singh. Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, State Bank of India, was elected Deputy Chairman of IBA for the year 2017-18.


Prime Minister’s Shram Award for 2016 announced

The government announced that the Prime Minister’s Shram Awards for 2016 are to be awarded to 50 workers with departmental undertakings, public sector undertakings and private sector units employing 500 or more workers. This year, no nomination was found suitable for the prestigious ‘Shram Ratna Award’. Twelve workers from SAIL, BHEL and TATA Steel Ltd have been awarded ‘Shram Bhushan’, which carries a cash award of Rs 1 lakh and a Sanad. Eighteen workers from Naval Dockyard, Ordnance Factory, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, TATA Steel, Hindalco Industries, Paradeep Phosphates Ltd, Brahmos Aerospace will receive Rs 60,000 and a Sanad as Shram Vir/ Shram Veerangana Award. Twenty workers will receive a cash award of Rs 40,000 and a ‘Sanad’ as Shram Shree/ Shram Devi Award from Cement Corporation of India, Naval Ship Repair Yard, TATA Motors, Surat Lignite Power Plant, Larsen & Toubro Ltd etc.


Book titled “Dilli Meri Dilli: Before and After 1998” by Sheila Dixit released

The evolution of Delhi and many of its little-known facets have been captured in a book of photographs by one of its architects – former chief minister Sheila Dikshit. In “Dilli Meri Dilli: Before and After 1998”, Dikshit tries to look at Delhi not as someone who was its chief minister for 15 years but as a resident who has lived almost her entire life here. The pictorial book traces the evolution of the city of Delhi over the centuries, and puts in perspective its impressive transformation since the beginning of the new millennium.


Chinese scientists for first time successfully clone monkeys

Chinese scientists for first time have successfully cloned two identical long-tailed macaques (monkeys), named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua using same technique that produced Dolly sheep two decades ago. This development makes them world’s first primates – the order of mammals that includes monkeys, apes and humans – to be cloned from non-embryonic cell.


India ranks 177 In Environmental Performance Index

India ranks 177 among 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2018, according to a biennial report by Yale and Columbia Universities along with the World Economic Forum. India ranked 141 in 2016 report. The report was released on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Switzerland leads the list, followed by France, Denmark, and Malta.


Kolkata becomes 1st Indian Metro to get a Floating Market

Kolkata has become the first Indian Metro to get a Floating Market. The market will be located on a water-body with boats doubling up as shops. The market, located on the eastern fringes of the city, was inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The aim is to rehabilitate over 200 shopkeepers from a nearby market that was demolished for the widening of the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. The market will host at least 114 boats, each one accommodating two shops.


Vijender rises to 6th in WBO rankings for Super middleweight category

Indian boxing star Vijender Singh has risen four rungs to sixth in the latest WBO rankings for the super middleweight category. Vijender, who successfully defended his WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental super middleweight belts against Ernest Amuzu of Ghana last month, could next be seen in action in April next. He is likely to challenge for the Commonwealth title to add to his belts. Smith, a 2010 Commonwealth Games silver-medallist, held the European, British, and WBC Silver super-middleweight titles from 2015 until last year.


 

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