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Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (MoYAS), launched the Khelo India Dashboard in New Delhi, Delhi, which has all the statistical data related to the Khelo India Scheme and the Khelo India events.
• Nisith Pramanik, Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports and senior officials of MoYAS and Sports Authority of India (SAI) were also present at the occasion.
• The unique platform also includes a database of Khelo India Centres (KICs), Khelo India Academies, SAI Training Centres, and National Centres of Excellence (NCOEs).
• It will assist athletes in locating the nearest facility where sports training in various disciplines is available.
According to the Forbes’s World’s Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2022, Indian Badminton player PV Sindhu is ranked 12th with a total earning of USD 7.1 million (0.1 million on-field and USD 7 million off-field). She is the only Indian and the only badminton player among the top 25 of the list.
• Naomi Osaka of Japan(Tennis) tops the list with USD 51.1 million(USD 1.1 million on-field and USD 50 million off-field.
• Serena Williams of United States of America(USA) (Tennis) is ranked 2nd with USD 41.3 million (USD 0.3 million on-field and USD 41 million off-field followed by Eileen Gu of China (Freestyle Skiing) ranked 3rd with USD 20.1 million (USD 0.1 million and USD 20 million off-field).
• Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, known as PV Sindhu is hailing from Hyderabad, Telangana.
• She is the first and only Indian to become the badminton world champion and only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games
• She won silver in 2016 Olympic (Rio de Janerio) and Bronze in 2020 Olympic (Tokyo).
Professor Thalappil Pradeep, an Indian scientist from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, was awarded the “VinFuture Special Prize 2022” in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. He received the “Special Prize for Innovators from Developing Countries” for developing a low-cost filtration system to remove arsenic and other heavy metals from groundwater.
• Professor (Prof.) Thalappil Pradeep has identified the most suitable and advanced materials for removing certain contaminants from water in the most cost-effective and sustainable manner.
• He was previously awarded the ‘Padma Shri Award 2020’ for his work in developing affordable and safe drinking water solutions utilizing nanomaterials.
• He was also conferred with the 25th Nikkei Asia Prizes (2020) in Science and Technology (S&T) category in recognition of his pioneering work in nanotechnology-based water purification.
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has been honoured with the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) Excellence Award 2022 under ‘Best Security Practices in Government Sector’ category.
• The award recognises UDAO’s contribution in securing national critical ‘Aadhaar’ infrastructure which provides digital identity based welfare services to residents.
• The award was given during the 3-day Annual Information Security Summit (AISS) of Data Security Council of India (DSCI) in New Delhi, Delhi.
• UIDAI was the first Government organisation to be Privacy Certified on leading industry standard (ISO27701).
• It is also one of the leading government institutions that is ahead in innovation and incubation of indigenized technology implementation.
The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2021-22 has been jointly won by Sudeep Sen for his genre and form bender “Anthropocene: Climate Change, Contagion, Consolation” published by Pippa Rann Books & Media in 2021and Shobhana Kumar for her haibun collection “A Sky Full of Bucket Lists” published by Red River in 2021 at the Multipurpose Hall, India International Centre in New Delhi, Delhi. The award carries a cash prize of USD 10,000 each. A Rabindranath Tagore statuette was chosen from a shortlist of 11. The Tagore Prize for social achievement was awarded to Sanjoy K Roy, producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival.
• The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize was instituted in 2018 which annually recognises and honours literary and social accomplishments.
• This award was initiated by Peter Bundalo of the United States (US)- based independent and non-profit publishing house Maitreya Publishing Foundation (MPF) to honour the legacy of Rabindranath Tagore.
• The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize was split into 2 folds in 2019, they are,
• Literary Prize– awarded to the finest in Indian Literature.
• Social Achievements Prize– to recognise a person who has made a positive and lasting impact on society.
International cyclist Swasti Singh hailing from Odisha has been honoured with the 30th Ekalabya Puraskar for the year 2022 during a programme organized by Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT), the charitable wing of IMFA.
• She received a cash award of Rs 5 lakh, a citation, and a trophy.
• She was honoured for her performance from 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2022 at both national and international levels.
• Swasti Singh has won 2 gold and several silver medals at the national level representing Odisha and was credited with the best individual brilliance from 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2022.
Board of Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) has decided to extended the term of PN Vasudevan as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for a period of 3 years of with effect from 23rd July 2022, subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). PN Vasudevan is the founder of Equitas SFB and his current term as MD & CEO expires on 22nd July 2023.
• Vasudevan holds a bachelor’s degree in science (physics) from University of Madras and is a qualified company secretary from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
• He has extensive experience in the financial services sector and has served as the executive vice president and head of consumer banking group in Development Credit Bank Limited, for more than one and half years.
• He has worked in Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited, part of the Murugappa Group for about two decades. He joined as a management trainee and resigned as the vice president and head of vehicle finance.
• He was also the chairman of the managing committee of the South India Hire Purchase Association for 2006 and joined Equitas SFB in 2016, prior to which he was the Managing Director of EHL.
Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) forthcoming Chandrayaan-3 mission will carry scientific instruments of the United States of America (USA).
• In the last 5-years, India has signed 4 cooperative agreements to collaborate on space exploration.
• Apart from the USA, India has also signed an agreement with Japan to conduct a feasibility study for a joint lunar polar exploration mission, while the United Kingdom (UK) has an agreement to conduct a feasibility study for collaboration in future space science missions.
National Consumer Day or Bhartiya Grahak Diwas is annually observed across India on December 24 to create awareness about consumer rights and responsibilities. The day also aims to protect consumers from market exploitation like defective products or expensive pricing.
• The Day commemorates the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986, which received assent from the President of India on 24th December 1986.
• The 1st National Consumer Day was observed on 24th December 1986.
Manipur Chief Minister (CM) N. Biren Singh launched an upgraded Inner Line Permit (ILP) System portal, for saving the indigenous population of Manipur. The portal also makes it convenient for visitors from outside Manipur to apply for ILP. This portal had been launched with new development added to the earlier ILP system.
• ILPs were earlier issued manually at Mao gate bordering Myanmar, the Imphal airport and Jiribam bordering Assam and this can now be issued by the Deputy Commissioners and Labour Commissioners of Manipur through online.
• The bar code has also been put in the ILP, through which the identity of the possessor can be identified by simply scanning. Also, duplicity and fraud in ILP could be checked.
• The temporary permits will be issued for 30-days; regular permits for 3-months and labour permits for a year.