Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 16 December 2023 | Download PDF

• Vijay Diwas is observed on 16th December every year to mark India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war.
• The Government of India decided on 3rd December 1971, that India would go for war with Pakistan to save Bengali Muslims and Hindus.
• This war was fought between India and Pakistan for 13 days.
• On 16th December 1971, the chief of the Pakistani forces with 93,000 soldiers had surrendered unconditionally to the allied forces consisting of Indian Army and Mukti Bahini in Dhaka.
• Mukti Bahini refers to the armed organizations that fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was a guerrilla resistance movement.
• Bangladesh was born on this day. Hence, Bangladesh celebrates its independence day (Bijoy Dibos) on 16th December every year.

• Classical pianist Daniel Barenboim and peace activist Ali Abu Awwad have been named the winners of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2023 
• It is given for their efforts in bringing together the youth and people of Israel and the Arab world for a non-violent resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

About

• The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development is a prestigious award presented annually to individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the promotion of international peace, disarmament, and development. 
• The award is named after the late Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, and was established in 1986 by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.

• India’s net direct tax collections had grown 23.4% to hit ₹10.64 lakh crore by November 30, attaining 58.34% of the Budget estimates for the year
• The gross direct tax kitty by the end of last month had reached ₹12.67 lakh crore, a 17.7% rise over the same period of the earlier year. 
• Refunds paid out to income tax payers had reached ₹2.03 lakh crore.

• A report has been released by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) commissioned by the Commerce and Industry Ministry.
• It highlighted that India’s logistics costs had reduced from a range of 8.6% to 9.8% in 2013-14 to 7.8%-8.9% of GDP in 2021-22
• The estimate dispels earlier estimates that pegged the country’s logistics costs as high as 14% of GDP.
• The data is relied on National Accounts Statistics for data such as the output of transport services, storage and warehousing sectors

• Antim Panghal (53kg) has been named United World Wrestling (UWW) Rising Star of the Year 2023 in women’s section. 
• Antim won a silver in her senior Asian championships debut, defended her U-20 World title and then won bronze at the World championships.
• She has been a two-time World under-20 champion and senior Worlds bronze medallist

• Tokyo Olympics champion Manish Narwal claimed gold in the 10m air pistol SH1 category of the Khelo India Para Games
• In table tennis, Paralympics and Para Asiad medallist Bhavina Patel won 3-0 over Gujarat statemate Shamim Chawda in the Class 4 category.
• The Khelo India Para Games (KIPG) are an annual sports event under the Khelo India initiative for disabled athletes

• The Government has allowed the use of cane juice, B-molasses to make ethanol
• It is a reversed decision as initially the decision was to ban the use of sugarcane juice for making ethanol as it allowed utilisation of the juice as well as B-heavy molasses to produce the green fuel but capped the diversion of sugar at 17 lakh tonnes

• The Sports & Youth Services department, in collaboration with ‘Aspire for Her,’ introduced the initiative ‘Her Sport Ki Champion’ aimed at empowering and supporting women in sports post their athletic careers.

Key Points:

• ‘Her Sport Ki Champion’ focuses on the 3E track: Education, Employment, and Entrepreneurship, providing financial freedom and comprehensive support to women transitioning from sports to post-athletic careers.
• The key features of the program revolve around financial empowerment, career opportunities, mentorship programs, and entrepreneurial opportunities.
• ‘Aspire for Her’ is a gender diversity movement aiming to enable over 1 million women to contribute to the economy and add $5 billion to India’s GDP by 2025 through increased female participation in the workforce.

Chief Minister laid foundation stones for four developmental projects worth Rs 159.29 crore in Ekamra-Bhubaneswar Assembly constituency in Bhubaneswar

Key points

• The Chief Minister laid foundation stones for an in-stream storage structure at Dhauli, a two-lane road project, a mega drinking water project at Basuaghai and a 33/11 KV sub-station at Itipur under Ekamra-Bhubaneswar Assembly segment.
• The state government will execute the in-stream storage structure with an expenditure of Rs 77.74 crore while it has allocated Rs 22 crore for the road project

• The State Food Security Scheme got an extension of five years.
• For the implementation of the scheme for the next five years, the State Government will spend Rs 1,250 crore at the rate of Rs 250 crore per year.
• Around 9.97 lakh persons from 3.14 lakh families in the state have been receiving 5 kg rice per month free of cost.

• Vijay Diwas is observed on 16th December every year to mark India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war.
• The Government of India decided on 3rd December 1971, that India would go for war with Pakistan to save Bengali Muslims and Hindus.
• This war was fought between India and Pakistan for 13 days.
• On 16th December 1971, the chief of the Pakistani forces with 93,000 soldiers had surrendered unconditionally to the allied forces consisting of Indian Army and Mukti Bahini in Dhaka.
• Mukti Bahini refers to the armed organizations that fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was a guerrilla resistance movement.
• Bangladesh was born on this day. Hence, Bangladesh celebrates its independence day (Bijoy Dibos) on 16th December every year.

• Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO of travel-tech platform OYO, recently announced his plans to set up five healthcare centres in his home state of Odisha for the underprivileged over the next year.
• These will be operated by the health-tech startup ‘Last Mile Care’, which already runs 11 health centres across India.
• The centres will use health-tech and options of hybrid care to provide high-quality and affordable healthcare in small towns

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