SPORTS

Sports Ministry discontinued the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award.

• The Sports Ministry has decided to discontinue the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award, aiming to streamline national sports awards.

• From this year, the Arjuna Award (Lifetime) will be introduced to honor lifetime contributions to sports development.

• The Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award, named after hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, was instituted in 2002.

• This award previously recognized those who competed in Olympic, Paralympic, Asian, and Commonwealth Games.

• The Dronacharya Award will continue to honor coaches, especially those contributing at the grassroots level.

• The Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy will now be awarded to universities excelling in the Khelo India University Games.

• In 2023, the Dhyan Chand Award went to former shuttler Manjusha Kanwar, hockey player Vinit Kumar, and kabaddi player Kavitha Selvaraj.

Sharapova and Bryan brothers have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

• Maria Sharapova and American twins Bob and Mike Bryan have been selected for induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Class of 2025.

• Their official induction ceremony is set for August 23, 2025, in Newport.

• Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, became the first Russian woman to achieve the world No. 1 ranking in 2005.

• She also earned a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, adding to her achievements.

• The Bryan brothers, with 16 Grand Slam men’s doubles titles, held the No. 1 ranking for a record 438 weeks.

• They won Olympic gold at the 2012 London Games and were part of the U.S. team that won the Davis Cup in 2007.

• This Hall of Fame induction honors their outstanding contributions and legacies in tennis.

In Table Tennis, India’s Yashaswini Ghorpade and Krittwika Roy won the women’s doubles title.

• Yashaswini Ghorpade and Krittwika Roy claimed the women’s doubles title in Table Tennis.

• The Indian duo achieved this victory at the WTT Feeder Cagliari 2024 tournament in Italy.

• In the final, they triumphed over South Korea’s Yoo Siwoo and Kim Haeun with a score of 3-1.

• Earlier in the tournament, they defeated the Italian team of Arianna Barani and Maria Picu 3-0 in the first round.

• They advanced to the finals by overcoming Japan’s Sachi Aoki and Sakura Yokoi in the quarter-finals.

• Their impressive run included a 3-1 win against German players Sophia Klee and Franziska Schreiner to secure a spot in the final.

NATIONAL NEWS

Cabinet committee appointed a full-time MD for NAFED for five years.

• Deepak Agarwal has been appointed as the full-time MD of NAFED for a five-year term by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

• The ACC oversees the appointment of senior officials in central government and public sector bodies.

• Established on October 2, 1958, NAFED works to promote cooperative marketing of agricultural products.

• NAFED’s primary goal is to benefit farmers by supporting the cooperative marketing of their produce.

• Headquartered in Delhi, NAFED has regional offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata.

• It has also played a role in “Operation Greens,” an initiative aimed at stabilizing prices to support farmers’ incomes.

• NAFED operates as the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.

• The organization has been a significant contributor to India’s efforts in agricultural price stability and farmer support.

AWARDS

Bibhab Kumar Talukdar received ‘The Harry Messel Award’.

• Bibhab Kumar Talukdar from Assam was honored with ‘The Harry Messel Award for Conservation Leadership’ by the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC).

• He received this prestigious award at the ongoing 5th IUCN SSC Leaders’ Meeting in Abu Dhabi.

• The meeting gathered 300 conservation experts to tackle biodiversity and climate change crises.

• Talukdar was recognized for his impactful contributions to species conservation and leadership within the SSC.

• His work has significantly advanced conservation efforts, making a lasting impact on wildlife preservation.

• The Harry Messel Award celebrates global leaders making a difference in conservation initiatives.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

No party got a clear mandate in the Japan election.

• Japan's recent election resulted in no party securing a clear majority, leaving the future government uncertain.

• The lack of a decisive mandate has caused the yen to fall to a three-month low.

• Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling coalition obtained 215 seats in the lower house of parliament.

• The main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), increased its representation to 148 seats, up from 98.

• A total of 233 seats is needed to establish a governing coalition.

• Parties have a 30-day period to negotiate and form a coalition capable of governing.

• This political instability occurs amid economic challenges and heightened security concerns in East Asia.

• The situation is exacerbated by aggressive posturing from China and threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.

IMPORTANT DAYS

Indian Army celebrated 78th infantry day on 27 October 2024.

• The Indian Army celebrated its 78th Infantry Day on October 27, 2024.

• Ceremonies were held at Leimakhong Military Station in Manipur and Jakhama Military Station in Nagaland to honor the bravery and sacrifice of infantry soldiers.

• This day marks the anniversary of the Indian infantry's arrival at Srinagar airfield in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947.

• The operation was led by the 1st Battalion of the Sikh Regiment.

• The Indian Army also observes Shaurya Diwas to commemorate the successful landing at Srinagar on October 27, 1947.

• This event was significant as it represented independent India’s first successful military campaign.

• Wreaths were laid at war memorials in Leimakhong and Jakhama to remember the courage of fallen infantry heroes.

• The celebrations served to reaffirm the Indian Army's commitment to honor its past and recognize the valor of its soldiers.

MISCELLANEOUS

To reduce the burden on the Sasan in Gujarat, a new lion safari is being built in Barda.

• A new lion safari is being established in Barda, Gujarat, to alleviate pressure on the Sasan (Gir National Park).

• The first phase of the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary and Barda Jungle Safari will be inaugurated on October 29 at the Kapurdi check post in Devbhoomi Dwarka.

• This initiative aims to promote wildlife tourism in Gujarat and enhance the region's natural attractions.

• Forest and Environment Minister Mulubhai Bera will officiate the inauguration ceremony.

• The Barda Jungle Safari spans approximately 192 square kilometers, encompassing diverse high and low hills designated as a sanctuary.

• The safari area features scenic landscapes within the Bhanvad-Ranavav region and the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary.

• The sanctuary is home to 368 plant species, with 54% classified as shrubs.

• It provides a vital habitat for various mammals, including 22 wild species such as the Asiatic lion, leopard, hyena, and fox, among others.

Sarvam AI has launched a new language model for 10 Indian languages.

• Sarvam AI has launched Sarvam-1, a new language model supporting 10 Indian languages.

• This model covers Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu.

• Sarvam-1 was trained on NVIDIA’s NeMo framework using Yotta Shakti Cloud with HGX H100 systems.

• With 2 billion parameters, it is a small language model (SLM) developed to enhance Indic language processing.

• Sarvam AI’s first foundational model, Sarvam 2B, was released in August 2024.

• Compared to previous models, Sarvam-1 uses fewer tokens per word, making it more efficient with Indic scripts.

• Its inference speeds are 4-6 times faster than larger models like Gemma-2-9B and Llama-3.1-8B.

• The model's design allows for improved efficiency and faster processing in Indian languages.