current affairs 24 December 2022

Goa to host 1st ever World Table Tennis series in India.

• India’s first ever World Table Tennis (WTT) series event will be hosted by Goa from February 27 to March 5 2023.
• The event will be held at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor stadium, located at the Goa University Campus.
• Stupa Analytics, a homegrown sports analytics firm, will be the tournament host with active support from the Goa government.
• WTT Series is the official professional table tennis series of events, with the world’s best players.

Petroleum Ministry organizes musical event "Dance to Decarbonise".

• The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has organised one of its kind musical event, Dance to Decarbonise at the National Stadium in New Delhi on 23rd Dec 2022.
• As per the ministry, the renewable energy generated through dance will be used to charge electric vehicles.
• Aim: To showcase the India’s target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 weighing against the country's growing economy, and rising energy requirements over transformational energy systems for the future.

Odisha CM launches "Drink From Tap" facility in 19 cities, towns.

• Odisha CM, Naveen Patnaik has launched the Drink From Tap project in 19 cities and towns of the state.
• Aim: To provide safe drinking water provision at every home in the state.
• Earlier, this facility was unveiled in Puri and Gopalpur.
• Under the project, drinking water will be supplied round the clock through taps installed in households.
• CM has announced that at least 5.55 lakh people in the 19 cities and the towns would benefit from the project.

Aloke Singh to be chief of Air India LCC business from January 2023.

• The Air India management has appointed Air India Express CEO, Aloke Singh as the new chief executive officer of Air India's Low Cost Carrier (LCC) business from January 1, 2023.
• The LCC business will comprise AirAsia India and Air India Express.
• The current AirAsia India CEO, Sunil Bhaskaran will assume the leadership of a new initiative -- an aviation training academy.
• AirAsia India was launched in 2014 while Air India Express started operations back in 2005.

Prof. Thalappil Pradeep received VinFuture special prize 2022.

• Renowned researcher and Madras IIT Professor, Pradeep Thalappil has received the VinFuture Prize 2022 instituted by the VinFuture Prize Council to honour breakthrough research projects.
• He has been awarded the Special Prize dedicated to Innovators from Developing Countries for his development of a low-cost filtration system to remove arsenic and other heavy metals from groundwater.
• He was also honoured with the Padma Shri (2020), Nikkei Asia Prize (2020).