Current Affairs Assam – January 2018 e-Magazine
January 10
Anchal Thakur Bags Bronze-India’s 1st International Medal in Skiing
Aanchal Thakur made history by winning India’s first ever international medal in skiing. The 21-year-old Manali resident clinched bronze in the coveted Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup.
The Championship was organised by the Federation Internationale de Ski (skiing’s international governing body) in Erzurum, Turkey. She won the medal in the slalom race category.
World’s Largest Ice Festival Held in China
World’s largest Ice Festival ‘International Ice and Snow Festival’ was held in Harbin, China. This is one of China’s coldest cities in the winter. It is the 34th annual Ice Festival in Harbin, north-east China.It features sculptures of Moscow’s Red Square and Bangkok’s Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
January 11
Dr Sivan K is appointed as the new Chairman of ISRO
Sivan K was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Kerala. Sivan joined the ISRO in 1982 in Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project. The appointment has been made for the tenure of three years.
He has replaced A.S. Kiran Kumar. He is the 9th chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
FACTFILE – ISRO
- The Indian Space Research Organisation is the space agency of the Government of India headquartered in the city of Bangalore.
- Formed in 1969, ISRO superseded the erstwhile Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) established in 1962 by the efforts of scientist Vikram Sarabhai.
- It is managed by the Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of India.
- ISRO built India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, which was launched by the Soviet Union on 19 April 1975.
- In 1980, Rohini became the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle, SLV-3.
- ISRO subsequently developed two other rockets: the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for launching satellites into polar orbits and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for placing satellites into geostationary orbits.
- In January 2014, ISRO successfully used an indigenous cryogenic engine in a GSLV-D5 launch of the GSAT-14.
- ISRO sent one lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, on 22 October 2008.
- It’s Mars orbiter, Mars Orbiter Mission, which successfully entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014, making India the first nation to succeed on its first attempt, and ISRO the fourth space agency in the world as well as the first space agency in Asia to successfully reach Mars orbit.
- On 15 February 2017, ISRO launched 104 satellites in a single rocket (PSLV-C37) and created a world record.
- ISRO launched its heaviest rocket, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mk III), on 5 June 2017 and placed a communications satellite GSAT-19 in orbit. With this launch, ISRO became capable of launching 4 ton heavy satellites.
Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world : Bloomberg Report
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazonhas become the richest man as per Bloomberg Report.
The Index showed that Bezos’ net worth had hit USD 105.1 billion.
The founder and chief executive officer of the retail juggernaut added $10.4 billion to his net worth as Amazon shares rose 13 percent, the most in 2 1/2 years.
January 12
ISRO launches its 100th satellite into space
ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its forty second flight, successfully launched the 710 kg Cartosat-2 Series Remote Sensing Satellite along with 30 co-passenger satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.
This flight is designated as PSLV-C40.
PSLV has successfully launched 51 Indian satellites and 237 customer satellites from abroad till far.
FACTFILE – PSLV
- The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, commonly known by its abbreviation PSLV, is an expendable launch system developed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- PSLV was designed and developed in the early 1990s at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
- It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into sun-synchronous orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV in 1993, commercially available only from Russia.
- PSLV can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
- Some notable payloads launched by PSLV include India’s first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, India’s first interplanetary mission, Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) and India’s first space observatory, Astrosat.
National Youth Day is observed on 12 January
National Youth Day is celebrated in India on 12 January on the birthday of Swami Vivekananda, the greatest social reformers, thinkers and philosophers of India.
The Theme of the Festival is ‘Sankalp Se Siddhi’.
In 1984 the Government of India declared the day as the National Youth Day and since 1985 the event is celebrated in India every year.
FACTFILE – Swami Vivekananda
- He was born as Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna.
- He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century.
- He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India, and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India.
- Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission.
- He is perhaps best known for his speech which began, “Sisters and brothers of America …,” in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893.
