Current Affairs

1. PRESIDENT OF       INDIA PRESENTS    SPORTS         AND   ADVENTURE AWARDS 2023 –

• Recently, the President of India presided over a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan to bestow the prestigious National Sports and Adventure Awards 2023.The awards are administered by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India.

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award-

• India’s highest sporting honor established in 1991-92. Named after hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
• Notable awardees include MC Mary Kom, PV Sindhu, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virat Kohli.2023: Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (badminton).

Arjuna Award-

• Instituted in 1961, it was India’s highest sporting honor before the Khel Ratna came into being.Named after the Mahabharata character Arjuna.
• First awarded to football Olympian PK Banerjee in 1961.First woman awardee: Hockey player Anna Lumsden.2023: Aditi Gopichand Swami (archery), Mohammed Shami (cricket), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (shooting), among others.

Dronacharya Award-

• India’s highest sports honor for coaches, instituted in 1985. Named after Dronacharya, Arjuna’s coach in Mahabharata.Awardees receive a bronze statue of Dronacharya, a certificate, and a cash prize.First woman awardee: Athletics coach Renu Kohli in 2002.
• Regular Category: Lalit Kumar (wrestling), RB Ramesh (chess) among others.
• Lifetime Category:Jaskirat Singh Grewal (golf), Bhaskaran E (kabaddi) among others.

Major Dhyan Chand Award-

• Instituted in 2002, honors lifetime achievements in sports. Recognizes contributions to the promotion of sports in an individual capacity.First awardees include Olympian boxer Shahuraj Birajdar and hockey player Ashok Diwan.2023: Manjusha Kanwar (badminton), Vineet Kumar Sharma (hockey), Kavitha Selvaraj (kabaddi).

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy (MAKA)-

• Oldest National Sports Award in India, instituted in 1956–1957. Given to an institution or university for top performance in inter-university tournaments.2023: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar-

• Instituted in 2009.Awarded to organizations and individuals for sports promotion and development.
• Categories include talent   identification,  corporate        social   responsibility, employment of sportspersons, and sports for development.
• 2023: JAIN (Deemed-to-be-University), Odisha Mining Corporation Limited.

Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award-

• It has been presented since 1993-1994 and is named after Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two individuals to reach the summit of Mount Everest along with Edmund Hillary in 1953.
• The recipients are honored for their “outstanding achievement in the field of adventure activities on land, sea and air” over the last three years.
• The status of this award is considered to be equivalent to the Arjuna Award conferred in the field of sport.
• 2022: Late Ms. Savita Kanswal (land), Shri Tulsi Chaitanya Mothukuri(water), Shri Anshu Kumar Tiwari (air).

 

2. THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA INAUGURATED THE MUMBAI TRANS HARBOUR LINK (MTHL) OFFICIALLY KNOWN AS ATAL SETU NHAVA SHEVA SEA LINK, A MONUMENTAL 22 KM SEA BRIDGE –

• This mega-infrastructure project aims to revolutionize travel between Sewri and Chirle, promising a significant reduction in travel time.
• Atal Setu is the longest bridge in India and also the longest sea bridge in the country.
• The bridge is about 21.8 km long six-lane bridge having about 16.5 km length over sea and about 5.5 km on the land.
• The bridge has been named after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The bridge originates from Sewri in Mumbai and ends at Nhava Sheva in Uran taluka in Raigad district.
• The project is financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), covering 80% of the total project cost, while the remaining portion is shared between the state and central governments.
• According to a study conducted by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and JICA, the MTHL will bring down the average travel time between Sewri and Chirle from 61 minutes currently to less than 16 minutes.
• Close to 40,000 vehicles are expected to use the link every day in the opening year (2024).
• The project is expected to facilitate greater economic integration of Navi Mumbai with Mumbai, with benefits extending to Panvel, Alibaug, Pune, and Goa.
• The bridge also reduces the distance between Mumbai and Pune Expressway.

3. THE SUPREME COURT DECLINED A REQUEST FOR AN INTERIM STAY ON THE CEC AND OTHER ELECTION COMMISSIONERS (APPOINTMENT, CONDITIONS OF SERVICE AND TERM OF OFFICE) ACT, 2023 –

• The Act replaces the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991.
• The Act set the salary of the CEC and ECs at the same level as a Supreme Court judge.
• It did not provide for their appointment process, which continued to be decided by the President.
• In 2023, while examining the appointment of the CEC and ECs, the Supreme Court declared that their appointment should not be done solely by the Executive.
• The Court noted that the ECI should be independent of Executive control. It mandated a selection process, which would hold until Parliament made a law.
• The Court directed that the appointment should be done by the President on the recommendation of a Selection Committee. The Selection Committee will consist of: (i) the Prime Minister, (ii) the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, and (iii) the Chief Justice of India.