Current Affairs Today - Latest Current Affairs Questions 2024

Recently, Britain has launched an unprecedented project to build the world's most powerful laser named “Vulcan 20-20” in the country with an investment of £85 million from “UK Science and Technology Facilities Council”. This laser is estimated to be one million billion times brighter than the Sun, which is expected to have a profound impact on various scientific fields including clean energy and cancer treatment.

Recently Gujarat has banned the Conocarpus plant due to environmental and health hazards. This fast-growing exotic mangrove species, locally known as Saptaparni, has over the years become a popular choice for increasing green cover in the state.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has introduced ‘CRIIIO 4 GOOD’, a new set of online life skills learning modules aimed at promoting gender equality among both girls and boys. The initiative was unveiled at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in collaboration with the International Cricket Council, UNICEF and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Recently the Global Innovation Index 2023 was released by the World Intellectual Property Organization. India remains at 40th position out of 132 economies in this index. In the Global Innovation Index (GII), India has moved up from 81st position in 2015 to 40th position in 2023.

The opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rituraj Gaikwad gave a fast start to India. 63 runs were scored in the first 6 overs without losing any wickets. Rituraj was out after this but Yashasvi stood firm and completed his century in 48 balls. He has become the first player from India to score a century in the Asian Games.

Foreign exchange reserves declined by $2.335 billion to $590.702 billion in the week ending September 22, 2023. The data released by the Reserve Bank of India has confirmed this. Earlier, in the week ending September 15, foreign exchange reserves had declined by $ 867 million to $ 593.04 billion.

The ‘India Aging Report 2023’ was recently released by the International Institute for Population Sciences and the United Nations Population Fund. According to a new United Nations report, by the year 2046, the number of elderly people in India will exceed the number of children in the age group of 0-14. Ultimately, by 2050, India's elderly population may exceed 20% of the total population. The decadal growth rate of India's elderly population is estimated at 41%.

The enchanting whistling village “Kongthong” nestled in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya has been awarded the prestigious ‘Best Tourism Village (Bronze)’ award at the National Tourism Awards 2023 by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. This remarkable recognition was given to Kongthong by the Union Ministry of Tourism at a glittering ceremony held at Bharat Mandap, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Meghalaya implements the Homestay Scheme, which provides a subsidy of up to Rs 7 lakh per homestay. Around 300 homestays were sanctioned in the state last year. And the state aims to build 2,000 more homestays in the next five years.

The recent report ‘Smart Cities Mission, India: Localization of Sustainable Development Goals’ has been prepared by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and UN-Habitat. It revealed that about 70 per cent of the projects under SCM are in line with the SDGs on “cities, clean water, sanitation, clean energy and economic growth”.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha has launched the e-Cabinet system in the state secretariat to develop digital infrastructure in the state. Thus, Tripura has become the fourth state and second in the North-East to launch the e-cabinet system after Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.