DAILY GK 29-30 DEC 2024
1.
NHRC CHAIRPERSON
·
President
of India, Droupadi Murmu appointed former Supreme Court (SC) Justice
V. Ramasubramanian as the 9th Chairperson of
the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC) for a three-year
term ending in December 2027.
·
The President also appointed child rights
activist Priyank Kanoongo and retired Justice Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi as
NHRC members.
·
A
former Chief Justice of India(CJI) or a retired judge of the top court
is appointed as NHRC chairperson by the President on the recommendation of the
selection committee.
·
The NHRC,
established in 1993 as a statutory body,
is tasked with protecting and promoting human rights.
2.
NEW CJS OF HIGH COURTS
·
Justice Gurmeet Singh (G.S.) Sandhawalia has been appointed as the Chief
Justice (CJ) of the Himachal Pradesh
(HP) High Court (HC).
·
Justice Guhanathan Narendar has been appointed as the CJ of the Uttarakhand HC.
3. DIRECTOR OF IARI
·
An
agricultural scientist from Andhra Pradesh (AP) ,Cherukumalli Srinivas
Rao was appointed as the Director of the Indian Agricultural Research
Institute (IARI), New Delhi.
·
The Agricultural Research Institute
(ARI) also called Pusa Institute, was founded in 1905 in
Pusa, Bihar.
·
In
1911, its name was changed to the Imperial
Institute of Agricultural Research.
·
It
was then renamed as the Imperial
Agricultural Research Institute in 1919.
·
After the Independence of India, it was renamed as the IARI.
·
It
was relocated to New Delhi in 1936.
·
It
is administered by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
·
Chairman – Ashok Kumar Singh.
4.
SECRETARY
GENERAL OF IORA
·
The
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that Senior Indian Foreign Service
(IFS) officer Sanjiv Ranjan has been appointed as the Secretary
General of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Secretariat in Ebene,Mauritius.
·
His
term will last for three years .
·
IORA
Founded in 1997, IORA
is an inter-governmental organization
dedicated to promoting regional economic cooperation across the Indian Ocean.
·
IORA comprises 23 member states: India, Australia, Bangladesh,
Comoros, France, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, the Maldives,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri
Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
·
In
2015, IORA was granted observer status
at both the United Nation General Assembly(UNGA) and the African Union.
·
Chair – Sri Lanka.
·
Vice-Chair – India.
·
India will take over the
chairmanship from Sri Lanka for the 2025-2027 term.
5.
DG
OF CRPF
·
The
Government of India appointed Vitul Kumar, as an additional
charge as Director General (DG) of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) upon
the superannuation of incumbent DG of CRPF, Anish Dayal Singh.
·
The
CRPF, initially established as the
‘Crown Representatives Police’ on July 27, 1939, assumed its current name
when the CRPF Act was passed on December 28, 1949.
·
The
force has since evolved into a substantial and diverse organization with a
Directorate, four Zonal Headquarters, 21 Administrative Sectors.
6.
CEO
OF UIDAI
·
The
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) appointed Bhuvnesh Kumar, additional
Secretary of the MeitY, as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) with effect
from January 2, 2025.
·
The
UIDAI was initially set up in 2009,
as an attached office under the aegis of
the Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog).
·
The
UIDAI was established as a statutory
authority in 2016 by the Government of India (GoI) under the MeitY,
following the provisions of the Aadhaar
Act 2016.
·
It
is mandated to assign a 12-digit unique
identification (UID) number (Aadhaar) to all the residents of India.
·
Headquarters- New Delhi .
7. PUNJAB TO PROVIDE 100% PIPED
WATER SUPPLY TO RURAL HOUSEHOLD
·
Punjab has become the fifth state in India
to provide 100% piped water supply to rural
households under the “Jal Jeevan Mission(JJM) – HarGhar Jal (HGJ)” Scheme.
·
As
of December 2024, all states and Union territories (UTs) have more than 50%
coverage of tap water connections in rural households with 11 states and UTs
having 100% coverage.
·
Har Ghar
Jal (Water to Every Household) is a scheme launched by the Ministry of Jal
Shakti (MoJS), Government of India (GoI), as part of the Jal
Jeevan Mission (JJM) in 2019.
·
The
scheme aims to provide 55 liters(l) of
tap water per person per day to every rural household.
·
100% tap water supply certified states and Union Territories (UTs) are Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry,
Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Arunachal Pradesh , Haryana
and Punjab.
·
Goa and D&NH and
D&D became the first ‘Har Ghar Jal’
certified State and UT in the country respectively.
·
100% tap water supply reported states and UTs are Telangana, Mizoram,
Himachal Pradesh (HP), Gujarat.
8.
FIRST BORDER SOLAR VILLAGE IN INDIA
·
Masali village in Banaskantha district, Gujarat, has
become India’s first border solar village.
·
Masali is one of 17 villages of
Banaskantha district under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) ,Centrally
Sponsored Scheme (CSS) .
·
The
project, with a total cost of Rs 1.16 crore, is funded by a Rs 59.81 lakh
subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, along
with Rs 20.52 lakh in public contributions and Rs 35.67 lakh in Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) support.
·
Masali
village is Located 40 kilometers from the Pakistan border.
·
Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana scheme was launched in February 2024, aims to
provide free electricity to one crore households in India that install rooftop
solar units, offering 300 units of free electricity per month.
9.
INDIA’S 1ST ZERO-WASTE AIRPORT
·
Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport in Indore, Madhya Pradesh(MP),became India’s 1st zero-waste airport
with the inauguration of 3,000 square feet (sq.ft)
Material Recovery Facility(MRF) at the airport.
·
The airport’s zero-waste achievement is
based on the 4R strategy: Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle, and Restore.
10.
INDIA’S FIRST BIO-BITUMEN NATIONAL HIGHWAY
·
India’s
first sustainable road using lignin-based bio bitumen was
inaugurated at the Nagpur-Mansar Bypass
on NH (National Highway)-44.
·
Bio-bitumen saves India
Rs.4,000–Rs.4,500 crore annually in foreign exchange on imported bitumen and promotes
sustainable road development.
·
The
project aims to replace crude-derived
bitumen with up to 15% lignin bio-bitumen, reducing greenhouse gas
emissions by 70% compared to fossil-based bitumen, while the remaining 85% is
still crude bitumen.
·
Bio-Bitumen is an eco-friendly
alternative to petroleum-based
bitumen, made from renewable sources like agricultural waste.
