WHY IN NEWS?

• Two-time Olympic gold medallist in hockey, Keshav Dattpassed away. He was part of India’s historic feat at the 1948 Olympics where they beat home team Britain 4-0 at the Wembley Stadium in London to win the first gold post-
• Before the 1948 Olympics, Datt had toured East Africa under the leadership of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chandin 1947. An integral part of the Indian team, Datt also captained the Mohun Bagan hockey squad from 1951-1953 and again in 1957-1958

WHY IN NEWS?

• Senior Congress leader and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, has passed away. The veteran politician was the 4th and longest-serving Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.
• He served as the Chief Minister of the state six times, from April 8, 1983, to March 5, 1990, December 3, 1993, to March 23, 1998, March 6, 2003, to December 29, 2007, and then for the sixth time from December 25, 2012, to December 26, 2017.
• Apart from this, Singh also served as union deputy minister in Tourism and Civil Aviation, Minister of State for Industries, Union Minister of Steel and Union Minister of micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME).

WHY IN NEWS?

• Indian economist Kaushik Basu has been awarded the Humboldt Research Award for Economics. The award was conferred on him by Professor Dr Hans-Bernd Schäfer of Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany.
• A former chief economist of the World Bank, Basu is currently a professor of Economics at Cornell University. He also served as the Government of India’s chief economic advisor from 2009 to 2012. Basu is also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India.
• The prestigious award is sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and awarded to as many as 100 recipients each year.
• The Humboldt Research Award honours scientists and economists from across the world for their work. The award entails prize money of 60,000 euros and an offer to carry out research projects at a scientific institution in Germany for up to 12 months.

WHY IN NEWS?

• N Venudhar Reddy, an Indian Information Service, IIS Officer of 1988 batch took charge as Director General of All India Radio. Currently Working as Principal DG of News Services Division, All India Radio, he was given additional charge of AIR, upon the approval of the Appointments Committee of the cabinet. All India Radio, officially known since 1957 as Akashvani.
• Reddy brings with him vast experience in media planning and management, administration and newsgathering. He has also served in various capacities earlier with All India Radio News and Doordarshan News.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station also known as Bengaluru City Railway Station has become the first railway station in India with a movable freshwater tunnel aquarium.
• The state-of-the-art aquarium has been jointly opened by the Indian Railway Stations Development Cooperation Limited (IRSDC) in collaboration with the HNi Aquatic Kingdom.
• The Aquatic Kingdom aquarium is based on the concept of the Amazon River and is 12-feet long. The entrance of the station now gives a glimpse into marine life, with a beautiful dolphin humbly greeting visitors with a slight bow and a smile. A 3D selfie area, 20 feet of glass periphery are also some attractive features of the new facility

WHY IN NEWS?

• Amazon has launched its first Digital Kendra in India in Surat, Gujarat. Amazon Digital Kendra was inaugurated by Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister of Gujarat.
• Digital Kendras of Amazon are centres that will provide micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) the opportunity to learn about the benefits of e-commerce.
• MSMEs can visit the Amazon Digital Kendra and avail of third party services including training on the benefits of eCommerce, GST and taxation support, shipping and logistics support, cataloguing assistance and digital marketing services.
• The company has focused on enabling sellers to reach customers across India and globally, and has made significant investments in technology, logistics, delivery infrastructure and digitising payments that collectively helped more customers and businesses to come online.

QUESTION: Amazon has launched its first Digital Kendra in India in-

WHY IN NEWS?

• Ministry of Defence has implemented SPARSH (System for Pension Administration Raksha), an integrated system for automation of sanction and disbursement of defence pension.
• This web-based system processes pension claims and credits pension directly into the bank accounts of defence pensioners without relying on any external intermediary.
• A Pensioner Portal is available for pensioners to view their pension-related information, access services and register complaints for redressal of grievances, if any, relating to their pension matters.
• SPARSH envisages the establishment of Service Centres to provide last-mile connectivity to pensioners who may be unable to directly access the SPARSH portal for any reason.
• In addition to several offices of the Defence Accounts Department, which are already functioning as Service Centres for pensioners, the two largest banks dealing with defence pensioners – State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) – have been co-opted as Service Centres.

WHY IN NEWS?

After the cases of Delta Variant of Covid-19 continuously rising, a new variant called Lambda Variant (LV) is emerging as a new threat.

• Lambda Variant is dominant in Peru; India has not yet reported any case of LV.

About:

• The strain was first identified in Peru in December 2020. Lambda is the dominant variant in the South American country with 81% samples found to be carrying it.
• Until recently, it was largely concentrated in a handful of South American countries, including Ecuador and Argentina, but since April it has been detected in more than 25 Countries.
• Previously known by its Formal Scientific Name C.37, the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated this variant seventh and the newest Variant of Interest (VOI).
  • Another four have been designated as ‘variants of concern’.

WHY IN NEWS?

Recently, a rare Melanistic Leopard (commonly known as Black Panther) has been recorded in Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) of Maharashtra.

About:

• Leopards (Panthera Pardus)are either light colored (pale yellow to deep gold or tawny) with black rosettes or with black fur.
• The melanistic leopards, which are either all-black or very dark in coloration, are known as black panthers. It is a color variant of spotted Indian leopards, reported from densely forested areas of south India

Habitat:

• They are mainly in Southwestern China, Burma, Nepal, Southern India, Indonesia, and the southern part of Malaysia.
• In India they can be spotted in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra etc.

Threats:

• Habitat loss.
• Collision with vehicles.
• Human encroachment.

Protection Status:

• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable.
• CITES: Appendix I.
• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I

WHY IN NEWS?

The Indian Chief of Army Staff (COAS) will inaugurate an Indian Army Memorial in the Cassino town of Italy during an official visit to the U.K. and Italy.

• The memorial commemorates over 3,100 Commonwealth servicemen who took part in the effort to liberate Italy in World War II (1939-1945).
• 900 Indian soldiers were also commemorated on this memorial.

About:

• Three infantry divisions of the Indian Army took part in the Italian campaign. These were the 4^th, 8^thand 10^th Indian Divisions.
  • The first one to land in the country was the 8 Indian Infantry Division that saw action in Iraq and Iran when the British invaded these countries in 1941.
  • The second one arrived was the 4 Indian Division that came to Italy from North Africa in December 1943. In 1944, it was deployed in Cassino.
  • The third, which is the 10 Indian Divisions, was formed in 1941 in Ahmednagar and moved to Italy in 1944.
• Men from the Punjab, and Indian plains, coped with the extremely hostile conditions experienced in Italy.
  • Even the Gurkhas from Nepal struggled with the heavy and persistent rain, and freezing nights in the Italian mountains.
• All three Divisions performed well in the Italian Campaign and were highly respected by the Allied and Axis commanders alike.