Current Affairs 2024 – Daily, Weekly, Monthly And Yearly PDF
Day of the Year
Pluto Demoted Day
- Many people are fascinated by outer space and its many mysteries. Earth’s own solar system went through an important and, for some people, very dramatic change in classification in 2006. This was the time when Pluto was demoted from being considered as a full sized planet to being a dwarf planet.
- The process of demoting Pluto began in 2005 when a dwarf planet named Eris was discovered in a region outside of Neptune’s orbit in the same belt as Pluto. Because this dwarf planet, Eris, was actually larger than Pluto, it created complications with classification.
Latest Updates
Not neutral, India on the side of peace: PM in Kyiv
- The war in Ukraine was high on the agenda in the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar saying India was “willing to do whatever we can” to end the conflict “…because we do think that the continuation of this conflict is terrible, obviously for Ukraine itself and for the world as well”.
- The “landmark” visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister since Ukraine became independent in 1991, saw the signing of four agreements.
- In his talks with Mr. Zelenskyy, Mr. Modi said India is always ready to play an “active role” to restore peace in Ukraine. “We (India) are not neutral.
News Capsule
The road to 2047 for Indian agriculture
- India’s centennial year of independence is still away, in 2047, but the goal of becoming a developed nation looms large. Achieving this requires a significant increase in per capita Gross National Income (GNI) to about six times the current level. This necessitates a comprehensive development approach, especially in agriculture.
- Transforming Indian agriculture depends on adopting sustainable practices that ensure long-term productivity and environmental health. Precision farming, genetically modified crops, and advanced irrigation techniques such as drip and sprinkler systems are leading this transformation.
The annual accusation of board exam mark inflation
School boards in India are often accused of inflating the marks of students in classes 10 and 12 in the board examinations. The usual evidence provided for this accusation that is levelled is the high pass percentages in the board examinations. There are nearly 42 boards conducting board examinations for classes 10 and 12. The combined pass percentage of students in class 10 was 85% while the pass percentage in class 12 was 82% in 2023. Besides, the percentage of students securing more than 60% marks was around 61% in class 10, and 56% for class 12. Most of the marks clustering at the higher level is known as mark compression, the twin sister of mark inflation. Mark inflation and mark compression not only undermine the credibility of our education system but also hamper the prospects of students, as they are not adequately prepared for higher education or the job market.
Implement school safety guidelines, Centre tells States
- In view of protests over the alleged sexual assault on two four-year-old girls at a school in Badlapur near Mumbai last week, the Union Education Ministry has directed all States and Union Territories to implement its guidelines to ensure safety and security of children in schools.
- The Ministry has also asked them to inform the status of notification of the guidelines that it had issued in 2021 in accordance with the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
- The Education Ministry’s “Guidelines on School Safety and Security” contain provisions for fixing accountability on the school management in matters of safety and security of children studying in government, government-aided and private schools.
‘Space sector contributed ₹20,000 crore to India’s GDP over the last decade’
- India’s space sector has directly contributed about $24 billion (₹20,000 crore) to India’s Gross Domestic Product over the last decade. It has directly supported 96,000 jobs in the public and private sector. For every dollar produced by the space sector, there was a multiplier effect of $2.54 to the Indian economy and India’s space force was 2.5 times “more productive” than the country’s broader industrial workforce.
- These “preliminary findings” were part of a presentation by Steve Bochinger, Affiliate Executive Adviser, Novaspace, a European consultancy, at the National Space Day celebrations here on Friday.
- The Space Day celebrations are to commemorate the first anniversary of the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on August 23 last year.