Current Affairs

Current affairs for SSB exams, IAS and other competitive exams

CURRENT AFFAIRS 

April 2021

AWARDS & HONORS

Krithi: 1st to be chosen as a 'Wild Innovator'

 

·    Dr. Krithi K Karanth, Chief Conservation Scientist at Bengaluru-based Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS), has been chosen as the first Indian and Asian woman for the 2021 'WILD Innovator Award'.

·    This award is given by the 'WILD ELEMENTS Foundation'.

·    The other winners are Richelle Thomas (USA), Abigail Williams and Jayne Goss (United Kingdom), Erika Allen and Laurell Sims (USA), etc.

CII presents TS Intellectual Property awards

·    Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI) has bagged the Telangana State Intellectual Property Award for Best IP Portfolio under the PSU category.

·    Drugmaker MSN Laboratories is the winner of the Best IP Portfolio award under the large entity category.

·    Optimus Drugs and Zen Technologies have bagged the award under the medium entity and

the small entity categories.

Prime Focus Wins Academy Awards

·    Indian media services company Prime Focus Ltd has won the Academy Award for best visual effects for Christopher Nolan’s spy thriller Tenet.

·    The company had merged its VFX business with global visual effects provider DNEG (Double

Negative).·    This is the fifth Academy Award win for DNEG in the last seven years and its sixth win in total.

J&K: Five Gram Panchayats awarded·    In the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, five Gram Panchayats have bagged National Panchayat Awards-2021.

·    Gram Panchayat Kangroosa of the district Baramulla and Gram Panchayat Hakermulla of district Budgam won Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar (DDUPSP).

·    Gram Panchayat Kootah of Kathua district was conferred with Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar (NDRGGSP).

Second woman to win Best Director Oscar

·    Chloé Zhao has become the second woman in the history of the Oscars to be named as Best Director at 2021 Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

·    Chloé Zhao also becomes the first woman of Colour to win the Best Director Oscar.·    The 93rd Academy Awards started in Los Angeles on 26 April 2021 with Daniel Kaluuya winning Best Supporting Actor and Christopher Nolan's Tenet won for Best Visual Effects.

Argentina: Winner of ICC development awards·    Argentina, Brazil, Uganda and Vanuatu have been announced as the global winners of the ICC development awards for 2020.

·    The awards are given to members for working to grow cricket in emerging markets in partnership with the ICC.

·    The global award for the ICC Development Initiative of the Year has been awarded to

 

Cricket Argentina for producing 17 coaching, umpiring courses in Spanish.

Jhilli Dalabehera wins gold in weightlifting

 

·    India's Jhilli Dalabehera on 18 April 2021 clinched the gold medal in the 45kg category at the

Asian Weightlifting Championship.·    Jhilli lifted 69kg in the snatch & followed that up by 88kg in clean jerk for a total of 157kg to finish on top.

·    Her gold was India's 2nd medal of the tournament after weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won bronze by smashing the world record in the clean & jerk category.

 

Udhampur bags top position at national level

 

 ·    Udhampur district of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir has bagged top position at the national level for successfully implementing Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) during 2020-21.

·    The district has received top position for constructing roads of 560.49 km in 2020-21.·    4 more districts from the UT have also figured in the list of PMGSY top performing 30 districts in the country

. Kane Williamson awarded a medal

 

 ·    New Zealand cricket team captain Kane Williamson has been awarded the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for the fourth time in six years.

·    Amelia Kerr and Devon Conway claimed double honours at the New Zealand Cricket Awards for the 2020-21 season.

·    He has also won the International Test Player of the Year and the Redpath Cup.

 

NMSHE’s ICAR Team gets an award

 

 ·    A team of scientists from the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been awarded for excellence in the dissemination of agricultural practices and technologies from lab to farm.

·    They have been awarded by Agriculture Today, a national agriculture magazine.

·    Their work has been recognized for improving livelihood and subsistence production systems in remote areas like Leh.

Nomadland' wins four BAFTA awards

 

 ·    “Nomadland” won four prizes including best picture at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) on 11 April 2021.

·    “Nomadland” filmmaker Chloe Zhao became only the second woman, and the first woman of colour, to win the BAFTA for best director.

·    Frances McDormand was named best actress.

·    Emerald Fennell’s revenge comedy “Promising Young Woman” was named best British film.

Nishank presents AICTE Lilavati Awards 2020

 ·    Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' presented the AICTE Lilavati Awards 2020 on women empowerment to the winners in New Delhi on Apr 11, 2021.

·    Award is given across 6 sub-themes, which include, Women’s Health, Self-Defense, Sanitation and Hygiene, Literacy, Women Entrepreneurship & Legal Awareness.

·    The team that wins the AICTEs Lilavati award will get Rs 1lakh as a prize.

Indian Army officer breaks two records

·    Indian Army's Lt Col. Bharat Pannu has earned 2 Guinness World Records for his fastest solo cycling feats from Oct 2020.

·    The first record was created when he cycled from Leh to Manali (472 km), in just 35 hrs and

25 mins.

·    He created a second record when he cycled the 5,942-km-long 'Golden Quadrilateral' route, which connects Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, in 14 days, 23 hrs and 52 mins.

Ariel’s campaign: WARC's most awarded work

·    Procter & Gamble India’s long-running campaign for its brand Ariel has made it to the list of most awarded work for media excellence by the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) for 2020.

·    Ariel started the ShareTheLoad movement in 2015 to address the inequality that exists in

Indian society.

·     It then launched Sons#ShareTheLoad in 2019 to emphasize equality between sons and daughters.

Dutee to receive Chhattisgarh Veerni Award

·    Dutee Chand, the Jakarta Asian Games silver-medalist in 100 and 200 m, will receive Chhattisgarh Veerni Award.

·    Due to the ongoing pandemic, the inaugural edition of the awards ceremony will be held virtually on April 14, 2021.

·    In 2019, she became the 1st Indian woman to win a gold medal at the World University Games held in Italy.

·    She holds the national record of 11.22 secs in 100m.

DBS Bank India recognised as Best Bank

·    DBS Bank India has been named 'India's Best International Bank' by Asiamoney, a financial publication of Euromoney Institutional Investor Group.

·    The Asiamoney 'Best Bank Awards' aims to identify banks that have excelled across a range of core banking activities over the past 12 months.

·    DBS was selected 'India's Best International Bank' based on its operations in the country, etc.

Andhra Pradesh Governor receives an award

·    Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has been conferred the ‘Kalinga Ratna’ award for the year 2021.

·    The award instituted by Sarala Sahitya Sansad was presented to him during the 600th birth anniversary of Adikabi Sarala Das and the 40th annual celebrations of Sarala Sahitya Sansad.

·    The Kalinga Ratna award carried a silver statue of Goddess Saraswati and a copper plaque.

Sharan Kumar Limbale wins an award

·    Dr Sharan Kumar Limbale has bagged the Saraswati Samman, the country's highest literary award, for the year 2020 for his Marathi novel 'Sanaatan' published in 2018.

·    He is the former head of Nashik's Yashwantrao Chavan Open University and author of 40

books.

·    He is the first Dalit writer to get the award.

·    The award carries a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh and a citation.

Rajnikanth to be honoured with an award

·    Rajnikanth will be honored with the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2019.

·    The award will be given on 3 May 2021.

·    Dada Saheb Phalke award is the highest honor of Indian cinema.·    He has also been honored with the Padma Bhushan (2000) and the Padma Vibhushan (2016) by the Government of India.

·    He has appeared in 160 films in Tamil cinema.

Prime Minister’s Yoga Awards

·    The Ministry of AYUSH has invited applications for the Prime Minister’s Yoga Awards (PMYA).

·    The nomination process for 2021 began on 30 March 2021.

·    The award will be hosted on the My Gov platform.

·    The winners will be felicitated with a trophy, certificate, and a cash award of 25 lakh rupees, which will be announced on the International Day of Yoga on the 21st of June 2021.