GK & CURRENT AFFAIRS
IN FOCUS
G20, The Premiere Economic Forum
- The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries and the European Union.
- The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom and the United States.
- The G20 was founded in 1999. It works towards international economic cooperation.
- It is a forum for all Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to discuss global economic and financial issues.
- The G20 Summit is held annually, under the leadership of a rotating presidency.
- India holds the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023.
- The G20 initially focused largely on economic issues.
- Now, it has expanded its agenda to business, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, environment, climate change and anti-corruption issues.
Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s Longest serving Monarch, Dies
- Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longestserving monarch, passed away on September 8, 2022. She was 96.
- Elizabeth became queen on February 6, 1952 after the death of her father, King George VI. She reigned for 70 years, 7 years longer than her greatgreat- grandmother, Queen Victoria.
- As queen, she was served by 15 Prime Ministers of Great Britain, including Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and more recently, Boris Johnson.
The War Continues...
- Many people have been displaced and cities destroyed in the ongoing Ukraine–Russian war.
- Many Indian immigrants were brought safely back to India by the effort of Indian government.
- The ongoing war caused a shortage of oil supply in the world, resulting in extreme inflation in many countries.
- It has also escalated the tension between Russia and the United States.
- The United Nations has been working tirelessly to stop a breakout of a full-scale global war.
Global Warming: Warning Signs from Mother Earth
- In Asia, global warming has accelerated the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas resulting in flash floods.
- In China, heat waves and drought dried up parts of the Yangtze River to the lowest level since 1865.
- Conversely, the same areas got heavily flooded during the rains in August 2022.
- In India, off-seasonal hailstorms followed by sharp increase in heat has spoiled crop harvests.
- Extreme heat in Europe led to wildfires, especially in Spain and Portugal.
- In Spain, drought dried up a reservoir, revealing the long-submerged Spanish Stonehenge, an ancient circle of megalithic stones believed to date back to around 5000 BC.
- Electricity generation in France plummeted, as rivers with reduced volume of water failed to cool nuclear power generators.
- The Great Lakes in North America have much lesser number of frozen days. This has severely affected the polar boar, fish and the native flora population.
- Hurricanes are more frequent and have repeatedly ravaged the eastern coast of North America.
- In central America, the rising sea temperatures have caused the fish and coral reefs to die out.
- The Amazon basin suffered through severe forest fires and floods, causing many species to become extinct.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Neeraj Chopra Clinched India’s First-ever World Athletics Championships Silver Medal and Diamond League Crown
Dalai Lama Honoured with Gandhi Mandela Award
James Webb Space Telescope Sends First Images of a Distant Universe
India Elects Droupadi Murmu as First President from Tribal Community
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s Longest-serving Monarch, Dies on September 8, at the Age of 96
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HISTORY
- About 150 million years ago, dinosaurs lived on the Earth. The word dinosaur in Greek means terrible lizard’.
- There were more than 700 types of dinosaurs. Some were big, some were small. Some of them were flesheaters and some ate plants.
- The Tyrannosaurus Rex was one of the most ferocious dinosaurs. Dinosaurs became extinct around 66 million years ago. It is believed that they could not survive because of climate change.
- The Indus Valley Civilization was a civilization in the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent, lasting from 3300 to 1300 BCE.
- There was a widespread use of Bronze during this period. That is why the Indus Valley Civilization is placed in a time called the Bronze Age.
- Two other major civilizations—the Mesopotamian and the Egyptian—also flourished in this age.
- This civilization was characterized by progress in sewage system, roadways, storage of grains, trade with West Asia and the development of the Harappan writing system.
- Savitribai Phule was the first Indian woman teacher and headmistress.
- She and her husband Jyotiba Phule played a key role in women’s education in India.
- They worked tirelessly to establish schools for girls. They also fought against caste and gender bias in society.
- Her close friend was Fatima Begum Sheikh, the first Indian Muslim woman teacher.
- While caring for plague victims, she herself caught the deadly disease and died on 10 March, 1897.
- Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an economist, educationist, lawyer and the chief architect of the Indian Constitution.
- He was the first Indian and South Asian to have a double doctorate in Economics, that too from prestigious universities abroad.
- He led Chavdar Tale Satyagraha on March 20, 1927 to protest against discrimination on using water from a public tank in Mahad, Maharashtra.
- His birthday, 14 April, is observed as Ambedkar Jayanti and celebrated in many parts of India.
SPORTS
- India’s medal tally at the 2022 International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games in Portugal was 34 medals, including thirteen gold, twelve silver and nine bronze medals.
- Some prominent victors were: Yogesh Khatuniya, Nishad Kumar and Praveen Kumar.
- He is the fourth Indian to beat Carlsen in a Chess tournament play after Viswanathan Anand, P Harikrishna and Praggnanandhaa.
- Born on 29 May 2006 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, he is also the third-youngest person in history to qualify for the title of Grandmaster.
- In August 2022, Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra finished on top at the Lausanne Diamond League with a throw of 89.08 metres in his very first attempt.
- Earlier, in July 2022, he also became the first ever Indian to clinch a silver medal at World Athletics Championships with a historic throw of 88.13 metres.
- Commonwealth Games 2022 were held in Birmingham—from July 28 to August 8. Nearly 200 Indian athletes competed for medals across 16 different sports.
- In the games, Indian athletes won 61 medals—22 golds, 16 silvers and 23 bronze.
- India stood 4th in the overall medal tally behind Australia, Canada and England.
- Next Commonwealth Games will be held across four cities in the Australian state of Victoria from 17 to 29 March 2026.
AWARDS
Every year, the Government of India presents its highest civilian honours—the Padma Awards—on people who are outstanding in their respective fields. The list of 2023 Padma Vibhushan Awardees is:
- Shri Balkrishna Doshi (Posthumous), for Architecture
- Shri Dilip Mahalanabis (Posthumous), for Medicine
- Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav (Posthumous), for Public Affairs
- Shri Zakir Hussain, for Art
- Shri S M Krishna, for Public Affairs
- Shri Srinivas Varadhan, for Science & Engineering
There were no recipients for Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in 2023.
Learn More
The National Film Awards is the most prestigious awards in the film and entertainment industry in India. Since 1954, National Film Awards are presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals. The President of India presents the awards.
- Best feature film: Soorarai Pottru
- Best direction: Sachy, Ayyappanum Koshiyum
- Best children’s film: Sumi
- Best actress: Aparna Balamurali, Soorarai Pottru
- Best actor: Ajay Devgn, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior; Suriya, Soorarai Pottru
- Best Film on Environment Conservation: Taledanda
- Best Male Playback Singer: Rahul Deshpande
- Best Female Playback Singer: Nanjiyamma
FUN TIME
Solve this crossword puzzle with the help of given clues.
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bit.ly/3VbGyle |
| Global Warming | on.nrdc.org/41zytJx |
| James Webb Telescope | go.nasa.gov/43ZCR65 |
| Queen Elizabeth II | bit.ly/440oPRC |
| Pakistan Floods ’22 | uni.cf/3V61Y2T |
| Commonwealth Games 2022 | birmingham2022.com |
| Savitribai Phule | bit.ly/3V4pb5C |
| Civilian Awards | bit.ly/33nZ5PG |
| National Film Awards | dff.gov.in/NFA.aspx |