Current Affairs 2024 – Daily, Weekly, Monthly And Yearly PDF
Day of the Year
International Tiger Day
- This was first celebrated in 2010 and was founded at an international summit that had been called in response to the shocking news that 97% of all wild tigers had disappeared in the last century, with only around 3,000 left alive.
- Tigers are on the brink of extinction and International Tiger Day aims to bring attention to this fact and try to halt their decline. Many factors have caused their numbers to fall, including habitat loss, climate change, hunting and poaching and Tiger Day aims to protect and expand their habitats and raise awareness of the need for conservation.
Latest Updates
Manu’s historic bronze opens India’s medal hunt
- Three years ago, Manu Bhaker broke down in tears at the conclusion of a dismal campaign at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where she finished medalless across three events.
- On Sunday at Chateauroux, the 22-year-old, who is competing at her second Olympics, wiped away tears from her eyes once again. This time though they were of joy following the conclusion of the women’s 10m air pistol event where she won a bronze medal, opening India’s medal count at the Paris 2024 Games.
- The medal was also the first won by an Indian woman shooter.
- After qualifying for the final in third place, Manu hit the ground running. Of the 22 shots she took, just 7 were in the ‘9’ ring.
News Capsule
Planning better The NITI Aayog suffers from both structural and functional issues
With 10 State and Union Territory representatives skipping the ninth Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — seven of them boycotted it — the think tank’s role has been called into question. The Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand did so because of concerns with the perceived lack of allocations and projects to their States in the Union Budget. But the boycott and, later, the walkout by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, suggest that the role of the think tank, limiting itself to an advisory body to the Union Government, has led to disenchantment among States, even if the protests were limited to leaders belonging to the political opposition. Constituted by the NDA government in its first term, the NITI Aayog was to replace the Planning Commission, doing away with the “top-down” approach of the earlier body, and to focus on “cooperative federalism”.
CITES eases norms for agarwood export; move to benefit lakhs of farmers from the Northeast
- India has successfully prevented the inclusion of agarwood (Aquilaria malaccensis) in the Review of Significant Trade (RST) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
- The CITES also notified a new export quota of the highly valuable and aromatic resinous wood and oil of the tree from India from April 2024.
- Since agarwood is cultivated in different parts of India, especially in the northeastern States, this development is going to benefit lakhs of farmers in certain districts of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura.
- Aquilaria malaccensis was listed in Appendix II of the CITES (a category of species that are not necessarily threatened but whose trade must be controlled) for the first time in 1995 based on India’s proposal at CoP9 in 1994.
Cargo carrier structurally stable and operational after fire: Coast Guard
- The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has deployed five ships, two helicopters, and one Dornier aircraft for rescue operations over 10 days after m.v. Maersk Frankfurt, a Panamanian flag cargo carrier, reported a major fire on July 19.
- The owners of the vessel have contracted a specialised salvage agency to take over firefighting efforts and for further disposal of the vessel while salvors and ocean-going tugs have already been roped in, the ICG said on Sunday.
- The fire broke out around 80 nautical miles west of Goa, with the ICG launching rescue efforts under ‘Operation Sahayata’.
- “Further, ICG specialised pollution response team is on standby since the commencement of operations, in coordination with stakeholders, to effect suitable response in an unlikely event of oil spill. However, ICG’s pollution preventive stance has ensured that no risk exists to the marine environment and coastal areas of Karnataka from the fire onboard MV Maersk Frankfurt,” the ICG said in a statement.
