• Eighteen years old Harshada Sharad Garud has become India’s first weightlifter to have won a gold medal at the IWF Junior World Championships that is being organized in Heraklion, Greece from 2nd to 10th May 2022.
• She has secured the gold medal in the women’s 45 kg category
• She won the gold with a total effort of 153kg i.e. 70kg+83kg. Along with her Gyaneshwari Yadav and V Rithika have also won medals in the 49 kg category.
• Till now only six Indians have won medals at the Junior World Championships for the country.
• The Junior World Championships is organized by the International Weightlifting Federation. The first tournament was held in the year 1975 in Marseille, France.
• International Weightlifting Federation was founded in the year 1905 and its headquarter is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Key points:

• It is the first time the Marché du Film has an official Country of Honour and India is chosen as the first country.
• The Marché du Film (Film Market) is the business counterpart of the Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival) and one of the largest film markets in the world. It was established in 1959 and it is held annually in conjunction with the Cannes Film Festival.
• It will ensure India’s presence as Focus Country at the Opening Night of Marche Du Films. There will be a spotlight on India’s cinema and its rich cultural heritage.
• There will be special performances by Indian Choir bands along with Folk Music. Indian Cuisine will also be served at the event, along with French cuisine.

About Cannes film festival

The Cannes Festival is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films from all around the world. It was founded in 1946.

Key Points:

• The exhibition will be held from February 1 to February 5, 2023, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
• It will attract international plastic players to India.
• It will provide opportunities for the exchange of best practices and technologies among industry players.
• It will provide opportunities for employment generation, facilitate the growth of the Indian plastic industry and make India a hub for sourcing plastic for global needs.

Important Fact:

• The domestic production and consumption of plastic is estimated at 25 million tonnes (MT) currently, which will touch 30 million tonnes (MT) by 2030.

Context: Recently, the United States and 60 other partner countries signed a political declaration called the “Declaration for the Future of the Internet”.

About Declaration for the Future of the Internet

• The Declaration aims to foster “an interconnected communications system for all humanity.”
• It is an inclusive initiative, and the partners under the declaration will continue to reach other governments to involve them in the Declaration.
• All partners will reach out to the private sector, international organizations, the technical community, academia, and civil society, and other relevant stakeholders worldwide to work in partnership to achieve the vision of an open, free, global, interoperable, reliable and secure Internet.
• The Declaration and its guiding principles are not legally binding.

Aim:

• The Internet must reinforce core democratic principles, fundamental freedoms and human rights  as reflected in the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Internet should operate as a single, decentralized network of networks, where digital technologies are used in a trustworthy way, avoiding unfair discrimination between individuals and allowing for contestability of online platforms, and for fair competition among businesses.
• The aim is to protect human rights, promote a single global internet, promote trust and inclusivity, and protect a multistakeholder approach to internet development.

Important Fact

• India, China and Russiaare among the large nations that are not part of this declaration.
• India also did not sign the Budapest Convention on cybercrime, 2001.

Key points:

• According to the recently released annual report on Vital Statistics based on the 2020 Civil Registration System Report (CRS), the Union Territory of Ladakh recorded the highest sex ratio at birth in the country in 2020.
• The report was published by the Registrar General of India.

Findings:

• The Union Territory of Ladakh (1104) recorded the highest sex ratio at birth in the country in 2020, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tripura and Kerala.
• Lowest sex ratio at birth was reported by Manipur (880), followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (898), Gujarat (909), Haryana (916) and Madhya Pradesh (921).
• In 2019, the highest sex ratio at birth was reported by Arunachal Pradesh (1024), followed by Nagaland (1001).

What is Sex Ratio at birth?

Sex ratio at birth is the number of females born per thousand males. It is an important indicator to map the gender gap of a population

About State of the World’s Forests Report 2022

• Released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• The report is published bi-annually and is widely regarded as one of the most important stock takes on forest ecosystems.

Highlights of the report

• The 420 million hectares (mha) of forests have been lost between 1990 and 2020, due to deforestation, though forests cover 4.06 billion ha of the earth’s geographical area.
• 15% of 250 emerging infectious diseases have been linked to forests.
• Example: Covid-19, Drug-resistant infections (Antimicrobials), Zika Virus, etc.

The world population is projected to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, which will increase competition for land, as the demand for food for this large population will rise by 35 to 56% by the 2050s

Context:

After sending missions to the Moon and Mars, the ISRO is now readying a spacecraft to orbit Venus

Key Points:

• Purpose: to study what lies below the surface of the solar system’s hottest planet, and also unravel the mysteries under the Sulfuric Acid clouds enveloping it.
• ISRO is planning to launch the mission in December 2024.

About Venus:

• Venus is the second planet from the sun and the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface temperature of 500C – high enough to melt lead.
• The planet’s thick atmosphere has cranked the surface pressure up to 90 bars.
• A day on Venus is longer than a year. It takes Venus longer to rotate once on its axis than to complete one orbit of the Sun.
• That’s 243 Earth days to rotate once – the longest rotation of any planet in the Solar System – and only 224.7 Earth days to complete one orbit of the Sun.
• Venus has been called Earth’s twin because of the similarities in their masses, sizes, and densities and their similar relative locations in the solar system.
• Venus is one of just two planets that rotate from east to west. Only Venus and Uranus have this “backwards” rotation.

Context: The Lokpal has now got its own office at World Trade Centre in south Delhi.

Key Facts

About Lokpal Act of 2013:

• The Act allows setting up of anti-corruption ombudsman called Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta at the State-level.
• The Act also incorporates provisions for attachment and confiscation of property acquired by corrupt means, even while the prosecution is pending.
• The States will have to institute Lokayukta within one year of the commencement of the Act.
• The Lokpal will consist of a chairperson and a maximum of eight members.

Jurisdiction and powers of Lokpal:

• The Lokpal can inquire into allegations of corruption against anyone who is or has been Prime Minister, or a Minister in the Union government, or a Member of Parliament, as well as officials of the Union government under Groups A, B, C and D.
• The body also covers complaints against chairpersons, members, officers and directors of any board, corporation, society, trust or autonomous body either established by an Act of Parliament or wholly or partly funded by the Centre and any society or trust or body that receives foreign contribution above ₹10 lakh.
• The Lokpal will have the power of superintendence and direction over any investigation agency including CBI for cases referred to them by the ombudsman.
• As per the Act, the Lokpal can summon or question any public servant if there exists a prima facie case against the person, even before an investigation agency (such as vigilance or CBI) has begun the probe.
• Any officer of the CBI investigating a case referred to it by the Lokpal, shall not be transferred without the approval of the Lokpal.
• An investigation must be completed within six months. However, the Lokpal or Lokayukta may allow extensions of six months at a time provided the reasons for the need of such extensions are given in writing.
• Special courts will be instituted to conduct trials on cases referred by Lokpal.

• Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has announced that a stadium will be built in Olympic gold-medal list Neeraj Chopra’s native village in Panipat.
• A stadium would be built in Neeraj Chopra’s village for Rs 10 crore.
• Last year, Chopra became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Olympic track and field.

Key Points:

• Recently, the Ministry of Culture has ordered the restoration of Historic Anang Tal lake in South Delhi.
• The lake is situated in Mehrauli, Delhi and is claimed to be created by Tomar King, Anangpal II, in 1,060 AD.
• He is known to have established and populated Delhi in the 11th century.
• The millennium old Anang Tal signifies the beginning of Delhi.
• Anang Tal has a strong Rajasthan connection as Maharaja Anangpal is known as nana (maternal grandfather) of Prithviraj Chauhan whose fort Rai Pithora is on the list of the ASI.