Daily Current Affairs Analysis today : 07 – feb-2023 for various competitive exams
Grammy Awards 2023 Winners List
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was a music awards ceremony held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
With nine nominations, Beyoncé is the most nominated artist this year.
Viola Davis became only the third Black woman in history to acquire the elusive and prestigious EGOT status.
She won her first Grammy for her reading of her biography “Finding Me” on audiobook.
As the first transgender woman to get a Grammy in the best pop duo/group performance category, Kim Petras created Grammy history.
Bengaluru-based composer Ricky Kej won a Grammy for Best Immersive Audio Album for his most recent album Divine Tides with rock-legend Stewart Copeland (The Police), making him the only Indian to win three Grammy awards.
Ricky Kej has previously won two Grammy Awards under the Best New Age Album category — in 2015 for his album ‘Winds of Samsara’, and in 2022 for his album ‘Divine Tides’.
The event is hosted for the third year in a row by comedian Trevor Noah .
Grammy Awards 2023 Winners List:
Record of the year: Lizzo
Best Music Video: Taylor Swift for ‘All Too Well: The Short Film’
Best Immersive Audio: Ricky Cage of India – Divine Tides
Best Dance/Electronic Album: Beyoncé – Renaissance
Best Rap Album: Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Best Music City Album – Bad Bunny – Un Verano Sin Te
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance – Sam Smith & Kim Petras – Unholy
Best Country Album – Willie Nelson – A Beautiful Time
Best R&B Song – Beyoncé – Cuff It
Best Pop Vocal Album – Harry Styles – Harry House
Best Dance/Electronic Recording – Beyoncé – Break My Soul
Best Global Music Performance – Wouter Kellermann, Jacques Bantwini and Nomsebo Zicode – Baythe
Best Country Singer Single Performance – Willie Nelson – Live Forever
Best R&B Performance – Muni Long
Best Rap Performance – Kendrick Lamar – The Heart Part 5
Best Metal Performance – Ozzy Osbourne with Tony Iommi – Degradation Rules
Name the only Indian to win three Grammy awards? Ricky Kej
Shamika Ravi appointed as member, EAC-PM
Economics professor and researcher Shamika Ravi has been appointed as a member of the Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
She is currently non-resident senior fellow of the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution Washington D.C.
EAC-PM, chaired by economist Bibek Debroy, currently has one member and six part-time members.
Member Sanjeev Sanyal welcomed Ravi in a social media post. Part-time members of the advisory body include economist Rakesh Mohan and Sajjid Z. Chinoy, Managing Director and Chief India Economist at J.P. Morgan.
EAC-PM:
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is an independent body constituted to give advice on economic and related issues to the Government of India, specifically to the Prime Minister.
The Terms of Reference of EAC-PM include analyzing any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the Prime Minister and advising him thereon, addressing issues of macroeconomic importance and presenting views thereon to the Prime Minister. These could be either suo-motu or on reference from the Prime Minister or anyone else. They also include attending to any other task as may be desired by the Prime Minister from time to time.
At present, the composition of EAC-PM is: Dr. Bibek Debroy (Chairman), Shri Sanjeev Sanyal (Member), Shri Rakesh Mohan (Part-Time Member), Dr. Sajjid Chinoy (Part-Time Member), Dr. Neelkanth Mishra (Part-Time Member), Shri Nilesh Shah (Part-Time Member), Prof. T.T. Ram Mohan (Part-Time Member) and Dr. Poonam Gupta (Part-Time Member).
Who is the chairman of Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister (EAC-PM)? Dr. Bibek Debroy
5 new Supreme Court judges take oath of office
The five judges whose appointment to the Supreme Court was cleared by the Centre were administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud. Justices Pankaj Mithal, Sanjay Karol, PV Sanjay Kumar, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Manoj Misra took oaths at the ceremony.
All the five names for the judgeship in the top court were recommended by the six-member Supreme Court Collegium on December 13 last year. The Law Minister cleared the appointments on February 4.
Before their elevation to the top court, Justice Pankaj Mithal, Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar – were the chief justices of the high courts of Rajasthan, Patna and Manipur respectively, while Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Manoj Misra were judges of the Patna High Court of the Allahabad High Court.
Once the judges take oath, the strength of the Supreme Court will go up to 32 judges. Currently, the Supreme court is functioning with 27 judges, including the Chief Justice of India.
Two more names remain to be cleared by the Centre, after which the Supreme Court could function at its full capacity of 34 judges.
With the swearing in of 5 new judges of the Supreme Court recently, the strength of the Supreme Court will go up to ___ judges. 32
Indian wrestler Ashu wins Greco-Roman 67kg bronze at Zagreb Open
Indian wrestler Ashu won the 67kg bronze medal in the Greco-Roman category on the concluding day of the Zagreb Open Ranking Series.
The Asian Championships bronze medallist beat Lithuania’s Adomas Grigaliunas 5-0.
This was India’s second bronze at the tournament.
Freestyle wrestler Aman Sehrawat, the Under-23 world champion, had won the men’s 57kg bronze on the inaugural day.
2023 Grand Prix Zagreb Open:
Host city: Croatia Zagreb, Croatia
Stadium: Dom Sportova
Champions:
Men’s freestyle: United States
Men’s Greco-Roman: Iran
Women’s freestyle: Japan
Medal table:
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Iran 8 6 5 19
2 Japan 6 3 2 11
3 United States 6 2 6 14
4 Azerbaijan 2 3 7 12
5 China 1 2 5 8
Which Indian wrestler won the 67kg bronze medal in the Greco-Roman category at Zagreb Open Ranking Series 2023? Ashu
Legendary Playback Singer, Padma Bhushan Awardee Vani Jayaram Passes Away
Vani Jayaram, a legendary playback singer from the South film industry passed away on Saturday. She was 78
The National Awardee recipient died due to age-related issues. On this year’s Republic Day, she was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan to recognize her contribution to Indian music for over 50 years.
Vani Jayaram passed away before accepting the award. Along with this, Vani has also bagged four State Awards, three National Awards, International awards, and many more.
Vani started her career back in 1971. With a career spanning over five decades, she has recorded over 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, etc.
She also had her own devotional and private albums. From working with RD Burman to Madan Mohan and OP Nayyar, she has worked alongside legendary composers.
About Vani Jayaram
Vani won the National Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer three times and also has won State Government awards from the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat. In 2012, she was honored with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South for her achievements in South Indian film music.
Padma Bhushan Awardee Vani Jayaram, who passed away recently, was a legendary ____. playback singer
C-DAC developing India’s 1st indigenous family of microprocessors
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing is working on India’s first indigenous family of microprocessors.
C-DAC has made significant progress in the development of the VEGA series of dual-core and quad-core microprocessors and two designs are ready for fabrication, Director General Magesh Ethirajan said.
The first one is a 32-bit embedded processor which could be used in smart energy meters, smart water and gas meters, IoT devices, multimedia processing and AR/VR application.
The country depends on imports for its microprocessors and C-DAC wanted to reduce this dependence. Apart from C-DAC’s Vega series of processors, IIT Madras has developed the Shakti series of microprocessors and has also made significant progress in this initiative of making the country self-reliant.
Key Points:
C-DAC has also developed another microprocessor Teja, which is a high-end 64-bit chip 180-nanometer technology. This is being fabricated at the semiconductor laboratory foundry in Chandigarh.
Under the ministry of electronics and information technology’s (MeitY), National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) programme, a power-efficient AUM HPC processor based on ARM architecture is being designed. C-DAC has also indigenously designed and developed a computer server, Rudra. Rudra, along with the AUM processor and Trinetra interconnect technology would help the country achieve self-reliance in supercomputing
C-DAC has a target to achieve 64 PetaFlops (PF) of cumulative compute power across the country by the end 2024. The 40 PF compute power will be based on the indigenously developed Rudra servers being manufactured in India. Supercomputing systems with a cumulative computing power of 24 PF have already been deployed at various premier academic institutions across the nation.
C-DAC has signed a contract with VVDN Technologies for the manufacturing of C-DAC’s Rudra servers. These servers will be used in the upcoming PARAM series of supercomputers to be built under NSM. Rudra server is designed as a dense form factor and targeted for HPC and hyperscale data centres.The transfer of technology for manufacturing of C-DAC’s Rudra server was already under process.
The one PF supercomputing system based on the Rudra servers is going to be installed at the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observatory under National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA). It would be conducting a real-time commensal search for Fast Radio Bursts and Pulsars. This instrument aims to discover more than a few hundred fast transient sources with host galaxy associations over the next few years of scientific operation. The demanding real-time application would be an acid test for the resilience and robustness of the technology developed by C-DAC.
Which software developer is working on India’s first indigenous microprocessors? C-DAC (Center for Development of Advanced Computing)
Dr Peggy Mohan bags ‘Mathrubhumi Book of The Year’ award
Author Dr Peggy Mohan has bagged the ‘Mathrubhumi Book of The Year’ award at the fourth edition of Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL 2023).
Her book ‘Wanderers, Kings and Merchants,’ portraying evolution of language as the outcome of migrations, won the award that carries Rs two lakh as cash prize and a sculpture.
Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah presented the award to Mohan at the valedictory ceremony of the four-day MBIFL 2023.
The Trinidad-born author, also a linguist who earned a PhD in linguistics from the University of Michigan, USA, migrated to India and worked as a professor of Language Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia University, New Delhi.
MBIFL 2023:
MBIFL 2023, also known as ‘Ka’ in Malayalam, featured Nobel and Booker Prize winners and Jnanpith awardees and others among over 400 names in creative fields.
The fourth edition of MBIFL under the theme “Shadows of history, Lights of the future” makes a comeback at a fitting time as Mathrubhumi celebrates its centenary year. At this time, this festival becomes a contemplative platform to examine a journey emerging from the shadows and reaching the light.
The award includes a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh, a plaque and a citation.
What is the theme of the fourth edition of Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL 2023)? “Shadows of history, Lights of the future”
IIT Madras in collaboration with ISRO plans to develop astronaut training module
ISRO and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) plans to develop a training module for the Indian Spaceflight Programme using Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality / Mixed Reality (AR / VR / MR).
ISRO aims to utilise the advanced technologies created at the newly-established eXperiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC) at IIT Madras to promote Research and Development (R&D) in the domain of Extended Reality.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed recently between ISRO and IIT Madras for collaboration on the application of Extended Reality (XR) and other technologies in the Indian Human Spaceflight Program.
Key Points:
The project will include building virtual models and simulations of human physiology, as well as space systems, which will be key to understanding how the human body reacts and adapts to long duration spaceflight — such as a journey to the moon. Other aspects of the project include visualizing and optimizing the design and architecture of space-faring equipment, such as the interiors of a mission’s crew module.
The project will also tap into XTIC’s network of industry and startup associations, in order to attract interest in building applications and solutions using XR technologies.
XR, to be sure, includes an amalgamation of AR, VR and MR solutions to simulate a physical object. Using XR technologies can help manufacturers and researchers visualize how an object would work in the physical reality, before it is built and applied. Such solutions have been used in various fields, such as healthcare, aviation and other fields, where reaching a real-world usage space (such as oil fields, in mid-air flights, or in between critical surgeries) is difficult.
To create such platforms, companies typically develop a highly accurate digital replica of a product or an environment, typically called a ‘digital twin’, and use it to assess and validate products.
With which Indian Institute of Technology, ISRO is planning to develop a training module for the Indian Spaceflight program using Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality/Mixed Reality (AR/VR/MR)? IIT Madras
Reliance Retail Partners With Banks to Accept Digital Rupee
In the process of the adoption of the Central Bank of Digital Currency (CDDC), Reliance Retail started accepting digital rupees or e-rupee for payments at its store. The payment through digital currency has been started in Reliance Retail’s Freshpik store in Mumbai but will soon be expanded to other 17,000 stores of India’s largest retailer.
The initiative of pioneering digital currency acceptance at the Reliance stores is in line with the company’s strategic vision of offering the power of choice to Indian consumers.
Key Points:
Reliance Retail has partnered with Innoviti Technologies, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank to enable acceptance of the digital rupee.
Customers using their choice of digital rupee app powered by ICICI Bank or Kotak Mahindra Bank need to simply scan the QR code in the terminal and enter their passcode to authorize payment through e-rupee.
Cashiers and consumers get instant confirmation of the e-rupee transfer from the consumer to Reliance Retail.
E-rupee is an innovative strategy in the digital revolution unleashed in the country.
All customers having e-rupee wallets will be able to enjoy an effortless, safe, and instant way of digital transactions at Reliance Retail stores.
On 1st December 2022, the digital rupee was first introduced by the Reserve Bank of India for retail markets across select Indian cities in a pilot mode with access limited to consumers of certain identified banks.
Initially the idea was limited to four cities including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar.
It was later extended to nine other cities. Eight banks including ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank have been identified for phase-wise participation.
Customers of these banks will be able to transact with e-rupee through a digital wallet offered by them.
In the process of the adoption of the CDDC, Reliance Retail started accepting digital rupees for payments at its store. what does CDDC stands for? Central Bank of Digital Currency
Also read: