Current Affairs in English – January 16 2023

January 16, 2022

National Events:

 ‘Think 20’:

• ‘Think 20’ meeting under G20 began in Bhopal on 16 January, 2023. The meeting was attended by 94 representatives from different countries, besides intellectuals and officials from India.
• During the meeting, experts and foreign guests will discuss various topics including ‘Global Governance with LiFE, Values, and Wellbeing’.
• The G20, or Group of 20, is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies.

National Startup Day:

• With a focus on promoting and encouraging upcoming businesses in the country, January 16 was adopted as the National Startup Day in 2022. On January 15, 2022, PM Modi first announced the adoption of the day.
• To celebrate this day, Ministry of Commerce has organized Startup India Innovation Week from 10 to 16 January, 2023. On this day, several events are being organized in more than 75 places.

WPI:

• As per data from Commerce Ministry, India’s WPI(Wholesale Price Index)-based inflation eased to 4.95% in December 2022 from 5.85 % in November on an annual basis. The inflation rate has slipped below 5 % for the first time since Feb 2021.
• Decline in the rate of inflation in December 2022 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum and natural gas, textiles and chemicals.

MoMA:

• Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) has discontinued the Padho Pardesh scheme. The scheme provided interest subsidy on education loans for overseas studies for students belonging to minority communities.
• The objective was to provide opportunities for higher education at Master, M.Phil and PhD levels abroad and enhance their employability. It was being implemented through Canara Bank.

IMD:

• 148th Foundation Day of India Meteorological Department (IMD) was celebrated on 15 Jan 2023 in New Delhi. IMD is the chief government agency dealing in meteorology, seismology, and associated subjects.
• IMD was founded in 1875. IMD works under Ministry of Earth Sciences. IMD is one of the six Regional Centres of the World Meteorological Organization. Headquarters: New Delhi.

Doppler weather radar network:

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on 15 Jan 2023 informed that by 2025, the entire country will be covered by Doppler weather radar network. The purpose is to predict extreme weather events more accurately.
• The number of Doppler radars in the country has increased from 15 in 2013 to 37 in 2023. India will set up 25 more radars in the next 2 to 3 years, taking the number to 62.

Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu Festival:

• 16 January – Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu Festival celebrated in Assam. Magh Bihu is a festival of farmers. It is celebrated in the month of ‘Magha’ in the middle of January. After the annual harvest, it is celebrated with community feasts.
• The main attraction of this festival is food.The night before ‘Bhogali Bihu’ which falls on 15th January is called ‘Uruka’ which means the night of feasts.The Sun God is worshipped on this day.

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav:

• Google on 15 January 2023, celebrated the 97th birth anniversary of Indian wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, also known as Pocket Dynamo, with a doodle. He became independent India’s first athlete to win an Olympic medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki.
• In 2000, Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav received the Arjuna Award posthumously in recognition of his contributions to wrestling.

Tamil Nadu Events:

 ‘Jallikattu’:

• ‘Jallikattu’ celebrations begin in Tamil Nadu from 14 January 2023. Jallikattu is a popular bull-taming sport practised in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is also known as ‘Eru Thazhuvuthal’ or ‘Mancuvirattu.
• It is practised as a part of Pongal celebrations on the day of Mattu Pongal. It is a sport where a bull is let loose among a crowd, and people participating are supposed to take control of the bull by holding on to its hump for as long as they can.

16 January 2023-Thiruvalluvar Day:

• Thiruvalluvar Day is usually celebrated either on the 15th or 16th of January in the state of Tamil Nadu. The occasion honours the poet, Thiruvalluvar, and is a part of the Pongal celebrations. Thiruvalluvar was a renowned philosopher and poet who lived in the 4th century BCE.
• Best known for penning Thirukkural, a collection of couplets on ethics, political and economic matters, and love.

Policy to control blindness:

• Rajasthan has become the first state to implement a policy to control blindness, with the objective of ensuring the “right to sight”, on 14 January 2023.
• Under the policy, a massive drive will be undertaken in the state to reduce the rate of blindness. The prevalence rate of blindness, which was 1.1% in 2020, will be brought down to 0.3%, through the policy.

IWG:

• The first-ever Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) meeting of the G20 Group under India’s G-20 presidency will be held in Pune, Maharashtra on January 16-17, 2023. The meeting is being hosted by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
• Australia and Brazil are joining as co-chairs. The theme of the Indian G-20 presidency of 2023 is, ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future.’

International Events:

OECD:

• United Kingdom’s Clare Lombardelli , has been appointed as the new Chief Economist of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
• She is currently UK Treasury’s chief economic adviser. Lombardelli has 20 years of experience in economic analysis. She will lead the OECD’s economic work, replacing France’s Laurence Boone, who has held the post since 2018.

Oxfam International:

• As per annual inequality report released by Oxfam International, the richest 1 % have bagged nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world population put together over the past two years.
• As per the report, billionaire fortunes are increasing by USD 2.7 bn a day A tax of up to 5 % on rich could raise USD 1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift two billion people out of poverty. As per Oxfam, richest 1% in India now own more than 40 % of country’s total wealth.
• Bottom half of the population of India together share just 3 % of wealth. A one-off tax on unrealized gains from 2017-2021 on Gautam Adani would raise enough to employ 5 million Indian primary school teachers for a year.

Critics Choice Awards 2023: Winners List:

• The awards were held on 15 January 23, in Los Angeles, US. S.S. Rajamouli-directed RRR won 2 awards, one as Best Foreign Language Film and another for Best Song (Nattu Nattu).

Best Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Best Actor: Brendan Fraser for “The Whale”.

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett for “Tár”.

Best Director: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

India & Cuba:

• India announced on 15 January 2023, the donation of 12,500 doses of pentavalent vaccines to Cuba. The pentavalent vaccine provides protection to a child from five life-threatening diseases- Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Hib.
• It was announced during the Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi’s official visit to Cuba from January 12 to January 14, 2023.

World Economic Forum 2023:

• World Economic Forum 2023 Summit to begin on January 16. The 53rd edition of the annual World Economic Forum Summit would be held in Davos, Switzerland from January 16 to 20, 2203.
• A delegation of Indian Ministers Union ministers including Ashwini Vaishnaw, Mansukh Mandaviya, Smriti Irani, and RK Singh would be present during the event. The theme of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 meeting is ‘Cooperation in a fragmented world.’

Sports Events:

Virat Kohli:

• Indian cricketer Virat Kohli became the fifth-highest run-scorer in history of ODI cricket on 15 January 2023. He scored this during India’s third and final ODI of the series against Sri Lanka in Kerala.
• Virat had 12,652 runs in 268 ODIs at an average of 57.78, with 45 tons and 65 half-century. He overtook Mahela Jayawardene, who has scored 12,650 runs in 448 matches.