Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Finance and Banking
SBI cuts 1-year MCLR by 10 bps to 7.9% • State Bank of India has cut its one-year benchmark Marginal Cost of funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) by 10 basis points effective December 10. • After the latest cut, SBI's one-year MCLR comes down to 7.90 per cent per annum from 8.00 per cent per annum. • With India's largest bank linking floating rate home and MSME loans to an external benchmark (repo rate) with effect from October 1, 2019 and fresh loans being sanctioned with reference to the repo rate, the MCLR cut is likely to benefit only borrowers who have taken loans pre-October 1. • This is the eighth consecutive cut in MCLR by SBI this fiscal year.
Mastercard joins hands with Federal bank for additional digital security called ‘Mastercard Identity Check’ • Mastercard,an American multinational financial services corporation has tied-up with Federal Bank, a Private Sector, scheduled commercial bank, to provide an additional layer of security function called ‘Mastercard Identity Check’ for digital transactions done by bank’s cardholders. • The new layer of security will be provided by using latest authentication standards of EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) 3-D Secure.
ICICI Bank opens new service centre in Bahrain • ICICI Bank has inaugurated a new service centre of the bank in the Gulf nation Bahrain, making it the lender’s second physical touch point in the country. The bank already has a retail branch at the local Manama Centre. • The new service center will provide services for all products offered by the Manama branch, except cash deposit and withdrawal. • The bank offers retail, private banking and corporate banking services in Bahrain. It offers products, especially designed for customers in Bahrain, such as savings and current account, fixed deposits, global money transfer, life insurance products, and general insurance products.
Karnataka Bank launches car loan • Karnataka Bank Ltd has launched ‘KBL Xpress Car Loan’, a digitized version of car loan finance. • Launching this product, Mahabaleshwara MS, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said the bank has now acquired capabilities to sanction car loans within 20 minutes.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Edelweiss AMC launches India’s 1st corporate bond ‘Bharat Bond ETF’ • Edelweiss Asset Management Company (AMC), a subsidiary of Edelweiss Capital Limited (ECL) has launched India’s 1st Corporate Bond ETF (exchange trade fund) called the Bharat Bond ETF. • The ETF is a government initiative and Edelweiss AMC was given the mandate to design and manage the product. • Edelweiss aims to raise an initial amount of Rs 3,000 crore through this bond from institutional players with a greenshoe option of Rs 2,000 crore in the 3-year maturity period (2023) and Rs 4,000 crore with a greenshoe option of Rs 6,000 crore in the 10-year maturity bucket (2030). • Small retail investors will have to invest at least Rs 1,000 in this fund after which, there is a facility for multiple investments. Here they can invest up to 2 lakhs and the minimum amount for anchor investors has been fixed at Rs 10 crore.
Zest Money joins hands with Xiaomi to launch ‘Mi Credit’ personal loan service in the Indian market • Zest Money, an AI(Artificial Intelligence) -driven EMI(Equated Monthly Instalment) financing platform based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, has partnered with Chinese smartphone company, Xiaomi, to launch new loan service app called “MiCredit” in the Indian market. Through this, customers can get an instant loan ranging from Rs 7,000 – Rs 1,00,000. • Application process for loans can be completed within 5 minutes, and the repayment can be done over a period from 3 months – 3 years in easy EMIs. • To avail the service, the Mi credit app will first be installed in Xiaomi smartphones. It can be downloaded from Google Play store or in-house gate app.The partnership will simplify the process of taking loans with real-time approval.
Vakrangee join hands with Union Bank of India(UBI) for 20,000 Banking BC Points • Vakrangee Finserve Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vakrangee Limited (VL) has partnered with Union Bank of India (UBI), one of the largest government-owned banks of India for 20,000 Banking Business Correspondent (BC) points for Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra. • It has planned target to reach 3,00,000 Nextgen Vakrangee Kendras by 2024. Business correspondents are retail agents who represent banks and are responsible for delivering banking services at locations other than a bank branch/ATM (Automated Teller Machine).
About Vakrangee - Formation: 1990; MD & Group CEO: Mr. Anil Khanna
About Union Bank of India - Founded: 11 November 1919; Headquarters: Mumbai,
Maharashtra; MD & CEO: Rajkiran Rai G; Tagline: Good People to Bank with.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
IRDAI frames 10-member group headed by T. L. Alamelu to study loss prevention • IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India), an autonomous body constituted to regulate and develop insurance business in India, has constituted a 10- member working group (WG) headed by IRDAI member (non-life) T. L. Alamelu to make recommendations for loss prevention & minimization in the general insurance industry. It will submit its report within 12 weeks. • The group will examine current practices followed by insurance industry in the area of Loss Prevention and suggest segment-wise ways to coordinate all stakeholders towards a common end on a common platform. • The group also mandates to give recommendations for promoting research, education and services related to Loss Prevention & Mitigation.
About IRDAI
Founded: 1999; Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana; Chairman: Subhash Chandra Khuntia
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
National News
Inner Line Permit regime extended to Manipur, President Kovind signs order
• The Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime has been extended to Manipur. President Ram Nath Kovind signed an order in this regard.
• Manipur is the fourth state after Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram where the ILP regime has been made applicable.
• To visit the ILP-regime states, outsiders, including people from other states of the country, need to take permission.
Wipro makes India’s first metal 3D printer • Wipro 3D, the additive manufacturing arm of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, has developed India's first industrial- grade metal 3D printer in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science. • The 3D printer, which works on Selective Electron Beam Melting technology, will cater to the aerospace, defence, and oil & gas sectors. It will also have utility in the medical implants segment once commercialised.
Rajya Sabha passed International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019 • The bill was passed to set up a unified authority to regulate all financial services in IFSCs in India. Prior to RS, the Lok Sabha(LS) passed the bill on December 11, 2019 and will become a law once the President Shri Ram Nath Kovind gives his assent. • Financial centres that cater to customers outside their own jurisdiction are referred to as International Financial Centers (IFCs) or offshore Financial Centers (OFCs). • These centres deal with finance flows, financial products and services across borders. London, New York and Singapore can be counted as global financial centres. • The first IFSC in India has been set up at GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) City in Gandhinagar city of Gujarat. IFSCs can be set up in SEZ (Special economic zone) or as an SEZ after approval from the government. • As per the bill, the authority will comprise of a chairperson, and one member each nominated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority(PFRDA).
India Design Council launches two Initiatives to promote Design Education and Standards
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• The India Design Council (IDC) launched the Chartered Designs of India (CDI) and the Design Education Quality Mark (DEQM) in New Delhi. • These two initiatives of IDC and National Institute of design, Ahmedabad will help to address the 5 challenges of scale, quality of design, quality of education for design, raising the priority for design in industry and design for public purpose. • Creative manufacturing and design innovation will be the key drivers in the Make in India initiative of 2020 and beyond and further strengthening the brand “designed in India”. • India Design Council is an autonomous body of the Government of India established under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is a national strategic body for multi-disciplinary design and is involved in promotion of design to make India a design enabled country. • In 2007, India became one of the few countries to adopt a National Design Policy (NDP) and to enable the policy implementation the Government of India announced establishment of IDC in March 2009. • The two initiatives launched today will aid and support the profession of design and help in growing the profession and to establish professional standards. • The focus of CDI is the “Professional Designer” identified by a design qualification and or experience. CDI is a cohesive platform that adheres to the design practice to standards in professional design competence, ethics and service. • The Quality Code is the means to create this guiding framework. It has been based on the UK Quality Code for Higher Education published by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, UK (QAA).
Dell Technologies announced a new partnership with UNESCO MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace) to enable school teachers adopt technology in classrooms by using ICT tools. • The information and communication technology (ICT) tools have been developed by Dell Aarambh and Framer Space platform. • Framer Space, an artificial intelligence-based digital platform, would help teachers with rich content creation abilities coupled with analytical insight to improve the quality of education, the release said. • Dell senior vice-president P Krishna Kumar and UNESCO MGIEP director Anantha Duraiappah signed the partnership at the ongoing TECH-2019 • The partnership would enable achieving the UN Sustainable Goal 4.7 towards education for building peaceful and sustainable societies and also UNESCO MGIEP in its mission of building social and emotional learning, innovative digital pedagogies and empowering youth.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• The partnership between Dell Technologies and UNESCO MGIEP would be spread over three phases, with the first in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra where the teachers would be trained. • The training would focus on teaching the teachers the use of ICT and frontier technologies with the objective of achieving quality education. • Launched in 2016, Dell Aarambh has so far provided ICT training to more than 85,000 teachers across 4,530 schools in about 80 cities in India, the release added.
SC orders judicial enquiry in Hyderabad Encounter; Panel to be headed by ex-judge VS Sirpurkar • Supreme Court (SC) has appointed a 3-member inquiry commission to be headed by former apex court judge V S Sirpurkar to inquire into the encounter killing of the four accused involvedin the Hyderabad (Telangana) gang-rape and murder case of a veterinarian. • The report has to be submitted to the SC within 6 months. The bench comprising of Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, ordered that security to the commission will be provided by the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force). Landmark ‘ The Recycling of Ships Bill, 2019’ passed in Parliament for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships in India • Bill will ensure global standards for environmentally-friendly recycling of Ships and ensure adequate safety of the yard workers, will also boost employment and business opportunities: Shri Mansukh Mandaviya • The existing Shipbreaking Code (revised),2013 and the provisions of the Hong Kong Convention, 2009 are dovetailed in this Bill. • The Bill, upon becoming Act, will ensure environment friendly recycling process of Ships and adequate safety of the yard workers. • On this occasion, Union Minister of State for Shipping (I/C) and Chemical & Fertilizers, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya said that India is a leader in the global ship recycling industry with a share of over 30 per cent of the global market. • With the enactment of this bill, India will set global standards for safe and sound environmentally-friendly recycling of Ships, as well as ensure adequate safety of the yard workers. The Key Benefits of the bill are as follows: • The bill will harbinger significant increased number of global ships entering into Indian Shipyards for Recycling. • Recycling of Ships will boost business & employment opportunities and strengthen India’s position in the recycling industry.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• It will raise the brand value of our Ships Recycling Yards located at Alang in Gujarat, Mumbai Port, Kolkata Port & Azhikkal in Kerela. • 10% of country’s Secondary steel needs, as an outcome of Recycling of Ships, will be met in an eco-friendly manner. • Ships Recycling facilities will become compliant to International standards and Ships will be recycled only in such authorised facilities. • The tremendous growth of business activities will contribute to the country’s GDP.
MOU signed Between NSIC & ARAMCO Asia for development in Oil & Gas Sectors • A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and Suadi Aramco (Asia) for the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Ecosystem in India in Oil & Gas Sector. • The MoU will pave a way for accredited Indian MSMEs to carve out space as vendors in Global space.
Venkaiah Naidu Inaugurates FICCI ARISE Conference; Sets The Stage For Deliberation On Improvement In School Education • The Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Inaugurating the FICCI ARISE Conference on School Education on 9th December, advocated for including gender studies in the educational institutions so that children learn to respect and become sensitive towards people of all genders from an early age. • Further he called for value based education and said that education is not just for employment but also for empowerment and enlightenment of individuals and the society. • The theme for this year’s FICCI ARISE Conference was ‘Future Ready Learners and Schools’. The 2 day Conference witnessed participation of more than 700 delegates including state and central government officials, regulators, prominent educators, think tanks, consulting firms and institutions from across India and the world. • Sandip Somany, President, FICCI; Naga Prasad Tummala, Chairman, FICCI ARISE
INTACH to provide consultancy services for Post-Earthquake reconstruction of Cultural Heritage sites in Nepal
• The government of India has deployed Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) to provide consultancy services for Post-Earthquake reconstruction of 11 Cultural Heritage sites in Nepal.
• INTACH will provide Design and Project Management Consultancy services for the reconstruction of 11 Cultural Heritage sites in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Solukhumbhu districts of Nepal.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• INTACH will work with Nepal's Department of Archeology to reconstruct/conserve Cultural Heritage sites as per the Government of Nepal’s guidelines.
• INTACH is one of the largest heritage organizations of the world with over 190 chapters across India. It was awarded a special consultative status for United Nations Economic and Social Council in 2007.
Parliament passes "The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019"
• The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 has been passed by the Parliament. In Rajya Sabha 125 members supported the legislation while 105 opposed it.
• The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha. 311 members had voted in its favour and 80 members opposing it.
• The bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants of six communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship. The communities are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians.
About the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019
It amends the Citizenship Act of 1995 to provide Indian citizenship to illegal migrants who entered India on or before 31st December 2014. But it has no mention of the Muslim community. The bill also relaxes the citizenship period of migrants from 11 years to 5 years,
the immediate beneficiaries of the bill includes over 30,000 people.
Shireen Dalvi, journalist returns State Sahitya Akademi Award to protest against Citizenship Amendment Bill
• Shireen Dalvi (Shirin Dalvi), Mumbai based Urdu Journalist returned the 2011 Special Prize given by the Maharashtra State Urdu Sahitya Akademi namely Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya Akademi Award to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
Union Culture Minister Shri Prahlad Singh Patel Launches Indian Culture Portal
• The Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (IC), Shri Prahlad Singh Patel launched the Indian Culture web portal in New Delhi.
• The Indian Culture portal was envisioned by the Ministry of Culture and was developed by a team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay while the curation of the data has been done by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• Indian culture portal is the first government authorized portal where knowledge and cultural resources of various organizations of Ministry of Culture are now available in public domain on a single platform.
• This portal hosts documents, images, audio-video files and other data from archives, museums, academies and libraries across the nation. On this portal information about more than 90 lakhs items are currently available.
Ministry of Coal to establish “Sustainable Development Cell” to promote clean mining
The Coal Ministry will establish ‘Sustainable Development Cell’ (SDC) for promoting sustainable coal mining in the country.
Functions:
• It will address environmental concerns during the decommissioning or closure of mines.
• It will advise, mentor, plan and monitor the mitigation measures taken by the coal companies for maximizing the utilization of available resources in a sustainable way, minimizing the adverse impact of mining and mitigating it for further eco-system services.
• It will also formulate the future policy framework for the environmental mitigation measures including the Mine closure Fund.
• It envisages to address the environmental mitigation measures in a systemic manner and to provide a better environment to people working and residing in the vicinity of Mines.
Transforming Education Conference for Humanity (TECH): December 10 - 12, 2019
• TECH 2019 was organised by UNESCO MGIEP in partnership with the State Government of Andhra Pradesh, India and supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.
• It was held in the coastal city of Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Themes were as follows
• Transformative Pedagogies for Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) - Present research evidence, share good practices and provide hands-on training to deliver SEL in traditional and digital spaces.
• Reimagining Learning Spaces for Planetary Citizenship - Showcase innovative practices integrating diverse approaches such as ESD, GCED, SEL etc. for peace and sustainability.
• Data, Learning & Education - Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Apply design thinking, data science and machine learning to create scalable AI solutions for 21st century learning.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Defence ministry launched massive campaign against single-use plastic in New Delhi
• Minister of Defence (MoD) Shri Rajnath Singh, flagged off the ‘Swachhta Day’ event, organised by the Delhi Cantt in New Delhi on 7th December.
• The aim of the day was to create awareness to people, collect plastic waste and make the surrounding plastic free with participation from 50 lakh people. The cleanliness drive was part of the activities of Swachhta Pakhwada. The slogan for the event was ‘Plastic Se Raksha – Swachhata Hi Suraksha’.
• All the 3 service of the indian armed forces which are Indian Navy, Air Force and Army along with other defence establishments indulged in huge plugging programme in more than 400 locations throughout the country.
FSSAI and NASSCOM Foundation join hands to develop an app to prevent Food wastage
• FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) and NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) have signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) to develop an application to prevent the wastage of food.
• The plan includes a mobile application named ‘Food Donation in India’ that will be available all day, and a help-line number to connect donors who are ready to donate food to the needy.
• The plan also includes the registration of food distribution organizations. Initially, 81 organizations across PAN India, known as the Indian Food Sharing Alliance (IFSA) will be a part of the plan.
Walmart to train 50,000 MSME entrepreneurs
• US retail major Walmart will train 50,000 entrepreneurs from the micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME) sector. The objective will be fulfilled by opening 25 institute hubs in India in next five years which would train the MSME entrepreneurs.
• The institutes will be opened under the ‘Walmart Vriddhi Supplier Development Programe‘ across the nation.
• These institutes would be strategically located near the manufacturing clusters and will be the part of Walmart’s “long-term commitment to India”
• For the development of these institutes, Walmart has partnered with a local NGO Swasti which would also have academic support from the local universities.
ISRO launches RISAT-2BR1 & 9 customer satellites by PSLV-C48
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its fiftieth flight (PSLV-C48), successfully launched RISAT-2BR1 along with nine commercial satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.
• All 9 customer satellites including one each from Israel, Italy and Japan and six from the USA were successfully placed in their designated orbit by PSLV C48. These satellites were launched under a commercial arrangement with New Space India Limited (NSIL).
• The launch marks a significant milestone for the space agency as it is the 50th flight of PSLV and the 75th vehicle mission from Sriharikota.
• A book titled ‘PSLV@ 50’ was released by Dr. K. Sivan on this occasion marking PSLV's achievements in its 26-year history.
• The 628-kilogram RISAT-2BR1 is the second radar imaging satellite in the RISAT-2B series and along with the CARTOSAT-3 is part of a group of satellites that will boost India’s earth imaging capabilities from space. The satellite will help in agriculture, mining, forestry and coastal management, soil monitoring, disaster management support and round the clock border surveillance.
• The mission life of RISAT-2BR1 is 5 years. The RISAT satellites are equipped with a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) that can take pictures of the earth during day and night and also under cloudy conditions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs 1st meeting of National Ganga Council
• The meeting was held in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The first meeting of the Council aimed at reinforcing the importance of a ‘Ganga-centric’ approach in all departments of the concerned states as well as relevant Central Ministries.
• The Council has been given overall responsibility for superintendence of pollution prevention and rejuvenation of River Ganga Basin, including Ganga and its tributaries.
• Prime Minister urged for a holistic thinking process where ‘Namami Gange’ evolves to ‘Arth Ganga’ or a sustainable development model with a focus on economic activities related to Ganga.
WDO to launch World Design Protopolis in Bengaluru
• The World Design Organization is all set to launch its new global programme World Design Protopolis in Bengaluru. It is aimed at implementing holistic progress in megacities across the world and thus making them sustainable.
• The project also aims to measure the progress of the city, attract investments and solve problems so that the city becomes a better place for citizens.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• The mega event, witnessed the convergence of policymakers and government officials, design professionals from India and abroad, architects, interior designers, heads of various companies, thought leaders, besides the general public.
About The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design
It was founded in 1957 from a group of international organizations focused on industrial
design. It was renamed the World Design Organization in January 2017.
ISRO begins preparations for setting up third rocket launchpad
• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has begun preparatory works for setting up a third rocket launchpad in the small coastal hamlet of Kulashekhrapattinam in the Thuthukudi district of Tamil Nadu.
• At present, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has two launch pads at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
• The demand for additional launch pads has arisen as a result of the increase in the number of satellite launches from India, both for domestic and international customers. ISRO says that it had launched as many as 17 missions in 2018 alone.
Maldives foreign minister Abdulla Shahid arrives in New Delhi to attend Joint Commission Meeting
• Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid arrived in New Delhi on an official visit to attend the 6th India-Maldives Joint Commission Meeting, JCM. He is leading a delegation of various agencies for the meeting.
• The JCM was established under the agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation signed between the two countries in 1986. It aims at improving bilateral relations in all spheres.
• India has pledged a Line of Credit of 1.4 billion US dollars for development assistance in several fields, including water supply, fisheries and economic investment. Four MoUs between India and the Maldives were signed. India is helping build a cricket team of the Maldives and a cricket stadium is being planned at Hulhumale.
20th edition of GeoSmart India Conference 2019 in Hyderabad, Telangana
• It was the largest geospatial event of India with the aim of bringing the geospatial and emerging technologies together. The theme of the 2019 conference was “Ignite – Innovate – Integrate”.
• The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) was conferred with ‘Leadership in Rejuvenation and Protection of Fresh Water Systems in India‘ award during the conference
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre(HICC) in Hyderabad, Telangana. The award was given to NMCG for its transformative initiatives in the water sector.
• NMCG has set up the Namami Gange Pavilion at the conference, inaugurated by Executive Director (Technical) of NMCG, DP Mathuria. He also chaired the plenary session panel discussion at the GeoSmart India Conference, on the topic ‘Vision New India’.
• The NMCG is recognised as India’s leading initiative in using geospatial technologies for its river cleaning work. It also regulates the proposed protected and regulatory zone along the banks of river and monitors pollu-organisation using cutting edge technologies like LiDAR to attain high-resolution maps and data for the entire Ganga river basin.
About National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG)
Registered year: 12th August 2011 ; Act: Societies Registration Act 1860 ; Director General: Shri Rajiv Ranjan Mishra ; Agency responsible: Ministry of Jal Shakthi.
Amazon’s Audible launches app “Audible Suno” in India
• This app features original audio series which aims to expand Audible’s reach in India’s highly competitive digital entertainment and streaming space.
• The platform features hundreds of hours of Audible’s original audio series across a plethora of genres, steered by entertainers such as Amitabh Bachchan, Nawaazuddin Siddiqui, Anurag Kashyap, Tabu, Neena Gupta and Vir Das.
India up one rank in UN development index
• India ranks 129 out of 189 countries on the 2019 Human Development Index (HDI) according to the Human Development Report (HDR) released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
• Last year India’s was at 130th position in Human Development Index. The HDI measures average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development — life expectancy, education and per capita income.
• Norway, Switzerland and Ireland occupied the top three positions in that order. Germany is placed fourth along with Hong Kong, and Australia secured the fifth rank on the global ranking.
• Among India’s neighbours, Sri Lanka (71) and China (85) are higher up the rank scale while Bhutan (134), Bangladesh (135), Myanmar (145), Nepal (147), Pakistan (152) and Afghanistan (170) were ranked lower on the list.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• India’s HDI value increased from 0.431 to 0.647, which places it above the average for countries in the medium human development group (0.634) and above the average for other South Asian countries (0.642).
• In the Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI), India was ranked 130th, losing nearly half the progress (0.647 to 0.477) made in the past 30 years.
• The IHDI indicates percentage loss in HDI due to inequalities. In the Gender Inequality Index (GII), India is at 122 out of 162 countries.
India, Australia for collaboration to counter terror threat
• India and Australia emphasized the need for enhanced collaboration to counter the threat of terrorism and violent extremism through increased information sharing. They also exchanged views on achieving their shared objective of peace, prosperity and progress in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The two sides discussed bilateral defence engagements, areas to enhance cooperation in the field of defence industry and defence technology.
• They also held a discussion on the prevailing regional security concerns. The issues came up for discussion during the third India-Australia Secretary-level 22 Dialogue in New Delhi.
India among top 10 countries with higher climate performance: Report
• India, for the first time, ranked 9th in this year's Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) released at the COP25 climate summit in Spanish capital Madrid. The current levels of per capita emissions and energy use in India ranked 9th in the high category showing that emissions are still comparatively low.
• China, the largest global emitter slightly improves its ranking in the index to 30th place.
• While only two G20 countries, the UK (7th) and India (9th), are ranked in the high category, eight G20 countries are remaining in the worst category of the index.
• The index is jointly presented by Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute and Climate Action Network.
6th Indian Ocean Dialogue, Delhi Dialogue XI to be held from Dec 13-14
• External Affairs Ministry hosted the 6th Indian Ocean Dialogue and Delhi Dialogue XI at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in New Delhi on 13th and 14th December.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• For the first time, these two tracks 1.5 dialogues was held consecutively and on similar Indo- Pacific themes. For the Indian Ocean Dialogue the theme is "Indo-Pacific: Re-imagining the Indian Ocean through an Expanded Geography”.
• The theme for this year’s Delhi Dialogue is "Advancing Partnership in Indo-Pacific”.
Rashtrapati Bhavan hosted university heads’ conference
• Rashtrapati Bhavan hosted a conference of 46 Heads of Central Universities and Institutes of Higher Learning in several fields including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, aviation, design, petroleum and energy.
• Each of these institutes will be instrumental to the realization of the country’s socio-economic goals.
• During the conference, different sub-groups comprising of heads of various institutes made presentations on issues such as the promotion of research, promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship among students and building industry-academia linkages.
India has the 2nd -highest population of unvaccinated children for measles in 2018, Nigeria tops: MMWR report
• As per a joint report of World Health Organization(WHO) and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), India has the 2nd highest number of children who are not vaccinated against measles with 2.3 million in 2018 (2.9 million in 2017).
• Nigeria, an African country tops the list with 2.4 million unvaccinated children (4 million unvaccinated children in 2017) unvaccinated for measles
• After Nigeria & India, the other 4 countries with the most number of unvaccinated children are Pakistan (1.4 million), Ethiopia (1.3 million), Indonesia (1.2 million) and the Philippines (0.7 million).
• Despite being preventable by two doses of vaccination (first dose is given at nine-12 months of age and the 2nd dose is given at 16-24 months of age), which is part of India’s routine immunisation programme, there were nearly 70,000 cases of measles reported in India in 2018, the third highest in the world. But in 2019 it was reduced to over 29,000 cases, which have been reported to the WHO.
Sterlite Technologies, IIT-Madras sign pact for advancement of 5G
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• STL (Sterlite Technologies), a global data networks innovator, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Technology Madras, for sponsoring a Chair Professorship in 5G.
• Both will partner for research and advancements in 5G communications technology. The Chair Occupant will be a full-time institute faculty, who will be identified through the institute’s review and selection process.The first Chair Professor will take charge in the first quarter of 2020.
• The Chair Occupant will work towards accelerating the advancements in 5G by unifying IIT Madras’ research and domain knowledge with STL’s industry expertise in 5G and end-to-end network connectivity. The initiative will play a critical role in boosting innovation and developing young talent in the 5G domain.
7th India Skills Report 2020
• As per the report about 46.21% students were found employable or ready to take up jobs in 2019, compared with 33% in 2014, and 47.38% in 2018.
• The India Skills Report, is a joint initiative of Whee box (global talent-assessment company), People Strong and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) and AIU (Association of Indian Universities).
• The report was assessed across 28 states and 9 Union Territories. Over 3,00,000 candidates appeared for the test.
• Maharashtra emerged as the top ranked state in terms of employability. It was followed by Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh(UP) in the second and third rank respectively. Availability of employable talent has also improved over the past six years.
• In the terms of cities, Mumbai (Maharashtra) emerged as the top employable city. It was followed by Hyderabad(Telangana) in the second place respectively whereas Bengaluru(Karnataka), New Delhi, Pune(Maharashtra), Lucknow(UP), and Chennai (Tamil Nadu) have maintained their presence in the top 10 over the last 6 years.
• The report showed a growth rate of 47% in 2019 against 38% in 2017 and 46% in 2018 in female employability.
• The most employable candidates as per courses were MBA (Master of Business Administration) students at 54% rate. It was 40% in both 2017 and 2018.
Nirmala Sitharaman is world’s 34th most powerful woman: Forbes 100
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• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have been named among the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes. Sitharaman, a newcomer on the Forbes most powerful women list, is ranked 34th. She has also served as Defence Minister.
• The Forbes 2019 list of ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ is topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde in the second spot and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, ranked third.
• Also on the list is Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (29). Tech leader Roshni Nadar Malhotra is ranked 54th on the list. She is CEO of HCL Corporation.
• Pharma-giant Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, ranked 65, is India’s richest self-made woman and founder of the country’s largest biopharmaceutical firm Biocon.
• The Forbes list also includes Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Melinda Gates (6), IBM CEO Ginni Rometty (9), Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (18), New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (38), First Daughter and Advisor to President Donald Trump, Ivanka (42), singers Rihanna (61), Beyonce (66) and Taylor Swift (71), tennis star Serena Williams (81) and teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg (100).
India to Host 36th International Geological Congress in March 2020
• India will host the 36th International Geological Congress (IGC) in New Delhi during the first week of March 2020.
• The theme of the forthcoming conference is ‘Geosciences: The Basic Science for a Sustainable Development’.
• Popularly described as the Olympics of Geosciences, the IGCs are a prestigious global geoscientific events held once in four years and participated by around 5000-6000 geoscientists from all across the world.
37th National Symposium of Heads of Police Training Institutions organized by Bureau of Police Research & Development at New Delhi
• It was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Smt. Archana Ramasundaram, Member, Lokpal, Government of India.
• The theme of the two day Symposium was ‘Optimal Utilization of Resources-Through Sharing and Networking’.
Mongla and Chattogram declared as Ports of Call under the “Coastal Shipping Agreement’
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• The Ministry of Shipping (MoS) announced that Mongla and Chattogram (both in Bangladesh) have been declared as Ports of Call under “Coastal Shipping Agreement” between India & Bangladesh.
• The Port of Mongla is declared as Port of Call under PIWT&T (Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade ) and Chattogram port is not part of PIWT&T.
• An MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), agreement and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on the use of Chattogram Port & Mongla Ports for goods movement between India and Bangladesh has been signed between both the nations.
• The Ports of Call in India are Kolkata (West Bengal), Haldia (West Bengal), Pandu, Karimganj (Assam), Silghat (Assam), Dhubri (Assam).
ASI recognizes 138 monuments as “Must-see monuments”
As per the Minister of State (MoS) of Culture and Tourism, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), an Indian government agency attached to the Culture Ministry, has identified 138 numbers of monuments as ‘Must See’ Monuments.
A total of 38 World Heritage Sites currently present in India. Out of this, ASI has protected 22 Cultural Sites including monuments/buildings and caves.
The ‘Must See’ list of ASI features first-class Indian monuments and archaeological sites including those that feature on UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage List.
About ASI
It is the premier organization for archaeological excavations and researches, conservation of
monuments, and protection of the cultural heritage of the nation
Founder: Alexander Cunningham; Founded: 1871; Headquarters: New Delhi
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
International News
Maldives sign contract with joint venture of Indian companies for development of Addu • Maldives government signed a contract with a joint venture of Indian companies for preparation of project report and development of Addu, second biggest city in the island nation. • The contract was signed by L & T engineering limited and Lea associates south asia for the Addu Road and Reclamation Project. The scope of the project includes land reclamation, construction of roads and storm water drainage system in Addu. This will upgrade existing infrastructure and mitigate the flood situation in Addu. • It will be financed through 800 million US dollars line of credit extended by EXIM bank of India for strengthening of Indo- Maldives development cooperation. It is the second project after water and sanitation project in 34 islands.
‘Top 100 City Destinations’ of 2019 released by the UK based market research company Euromonitor International • 7 cities in India are included in the list including the capital Delhi (11th position due to the strong development in its tourism infrastructure, having a world class airport and is focusing on luxury, medical, sports and cultural tourism) .
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• Other Indian cities in list includes, Mumbai (14th), Agra(26th), Chennai (36th), Pink City Jaipur (39th position), Kolkata (76th) and Bengaluru (100th). • Hong Kong continues to hold the top position. Other cities include Bangkok, Macau, Singapore, London and New York City.
About Euromonitor Headquarters: London, United Kingdom; Founded: 1972
HubSpot Inc is the best company to work in US • Glassdoor’s annual rankings released for the Top 10 best places to work in the US. • HubSpot Inc, a cloud-computing software company, grabbed the No. 1 ranking while tech firms DocuSign Inc and Ultimate Software were ranked third and eighth, respectively. • Facebook, which has been rated as the best place to work three times in the past 10 years, was ranked 23rd. It’s the social media company’s lowest position since it first made the list in 2011 as the top rated workplace. • Google, voted best place to work in 2015 and a Top10 finisher the previous eight years, was ranked 11th on Glassdoor’s list. • Apple Inc, once a consistent Top25 finisher, was ranked 84th. Microsoft Corp moved to No. 21 from No. 34 a year ago.
Switzerland to be the partner country for 17th edition of Bio Asia 2020 hosted by Hyderabad, Telangana scheduled to be held from February 17-19, 2020 • The theme of the same is “Today for Tomorrow” • This information was provided by Jayesh Ranjan, Telangana Principal Secretary of Industries and Commerce and Information Technology (IT) at a press conference in Hyderabad on December 11, 2019. • In the year 2018 , India was Switzerland’s 8th largest trading partner with a total bilateral trade of $19.7 billion. • Switzerland is making innovations in the world of medical healthcare and that many pharmaceutical companies have emerged as the center of Switzerland. while the city of Hyderabad has become a hub in the field of health tech and will be introduced to the Switzerland Health Tech Ecosystem through the Bio Asia Summit.
Nuad Thai massage included in UNESCO heritage list • Thailand’s famous 2000-year-old massage, Nuad Thai was added to UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) prestigious heritage list.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• Nuad Thai is an intense form of massage in which the body is pulled and rotated well with the help of the thumb, elbow, knees and feet. • Thai massage originated in India and brought it to Thailand about 2,500 years ago by doctors and monks who carried its secrets for generations.
About UNESCO Formation: 4 November 1946; Headquarters: Paris, France ; Director-General: Audrey Azoulay.
NASA scientists map wind flow pattern on Mars, first for any planet: Study • In a first-of-its-kind study carried out on any planet, NASA scientists have mapped the global wind circulation patterns in the upper atmosphere of Mars -- 120 to 300 kilometers above the Red Planet's surface. • The researchers, including those from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in the US, reprogrammed probes aboard NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft to collect wind measurements on the Red Planet. • The reprogramming allowed an instrument called the Natural Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) aboard MAVEN -- that was normally stationary -- to "swing back and forth like a windshield wiper fast enough," the scientists said in a statement.
US Congress consents to designate India's NAVIC as allied navigational satellite system • The US Congress has consented to designate India's NAVIC (NAVigation with Indian Constellation) as its “allied” navigational satellite system along with the Galileo of the European Union and QZSS of Japan. • Approved as part of the conference report of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2020, it designates Russia's GLONASS and Chinese Beidou as a “non-allied system”. • It means that the US satellite navigation system will not co-operate or exchange data with these two satellite navigation systems. • Indigenously developed, NAVIC is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system that provides accurate real-time positioning and timing services.
US, Mexico and Canada sign revised trade deal to replace NAFTA • Officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States have signed a fresh overhaul of a quarter-century-old trade pact that aims to improve enforcement of worker rights and hold down prices for biologic drugs by eliminating a patent provision. • The signing ceremony in Mexico City launched what may be the final approval effort for Donald Trump’s three-year quest to revamp the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a deal he has blamed for the loss of millions of US manufacturing jobs.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Worldwide arms sales rise by nearly 5% in 2018 • Worldwide arms sales rose by nearly five per cent in 2018. According to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the market is dominated by the United States. • The turnover of the 100 biggest arms manufacturers came to 420 billion dollars. US manufacturers alone accounted for 59 per cent of the market, or a turnover of 246 billion dollars, up 7.2 per cent on the previous year. • Russia was second in the rankings for arms production, with 8.6 per cent of the market, just ahead of the United Kingdom on 8.4 per cent and France on 5.5 per cent. • The study did not include China, for lack of sufficient data, but SIPRI estimated that there were between three and seven Chinese businesses in the top 100 arms manufacturers. • The world's largest arms maker remains the US firm Lockheed Martin, as it has been since 2009. Its sales alone account for 11 per cent of the world market.
The United States(US) decided to shut down the appeal court of WTO (World Trade Organisation) in response to WTOs decisions against the federal trade rules imposed by the US administration. • WTO’s appeal court acts as a trade dispute settlement body for its member countries. • The appeal court which consisted of 7-member body was then cut down to a 3-member body in 2018. Recently, the terms of two of the last three judges on the WTO’s appellate body ended on December 10,2019. • Global commerce will lose its ultimate umpire, leaving countries unable to reach a final resolution of disputes at the World Trade Organization and instead facing what critics call “the law of the jungle.”
World's First commercial electric plane takes flight in Canada • The world's first fully electric commercial aircraft took its inaugural test flight, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver. • Vancouver-based Harbour Air Seaplanes and U.S. electric engine-maker magniX said the flight was the world's first by an all-electric commercial aircraft. • The Company said the technology would mean significant cost savings for airlines -- not to mention zero emissions. It hopes to be using the electric-powered planes to carry passengers by 2022.
2019 UK general elections: British PM Boris Johnson attains historic victory
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson won the United Kingdom (UK) general election after his Conservative Party crossed the required majority of 326 votes of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. • 15 Indian-origin politicians entered the UK’s House of Commons and the UK will be removed from the European Union (EU) in January marking Johnson’s win in the general election. • The 15 Indian origin politicians also included in the House of Commons in UK comprising of both, the ruling Conservative and Opposition Labour parties. They are: Gagan Mohindra, Claire Coutinho, Navendru Mishra, Munira Wilson, Priti Patel (former UK Home Secretary), Rishi Sunak, Alok Sharma ( former International Development Minister), Shailesh Vara, Suella Braverman, Navendru Mishra, Preet Kaur Gill, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Virendra Sharma, Lisa Nandy and Seema Malhotra.
Abu Dhabi selected as world’s leading sports tourism destination • Abu Dhabi has been selected as the world’s leading Sports tourism Destination at the 26th edition of the World Travel Awards (WTA) being held in Muscat. • This is the seventh time in a row that Abu Dhabi has been selected for this coveted award. • Abu Dhabi shined as a premium destination once again for sports tourism in 2019 after hosting some of the world’s top sporting events, such as the FIFA Club World Cup 2017 and 2018, the first edition of the UAE Tour, the AFC Asian Cup 2019, the Special Olympics World Games 2019, the UFC 242 showdown and the Brazil vs South Korea international friendly match. • The emirate has also recently won the rights to host the FINA Short Course World Championship in 2020. World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune elected President of Algeria He is a former Algerian PM who served under deposed leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
About Algeria:
Capital: Algiers; Currency: Algerian dinar
Bougainville: World’s newest nation after voted for independence from Papua New Guinea • The South Pacific region of Bougainville was voted to become the world’s newest nation by gaining independence from Papua New Guinea. The chairman of Bougainville Referendum Commission Bertie Ahern declared that 98% of the voters backed independence.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• In the total of 1,76,928 people that voted, only 3,043 voted in favour of remaining with Papua New Guinea itself with more autonomy. • Bougainville is an island in Papua New Guinea. The Bougainville referendum is a key part of a 2001 peace agreement that ended a civil war in which at least 15,000 people died in the cluster of islands to the east of Papua New Guinea mainland.
About Papua New Guinea
Capital: Port Moresby; Currency: Papua New Guinean kina; Prime minister: James Marape
About Bougainville
Capital: Buka; Currency PNG Kina; President: John Momis; Vice-President: Raymond
Masono
2019 Climate Change Conference 2-13 December 2019 | Madrid, Spain • The 25th United Nations(UN) Climate Change Conference held in Madrid, Spain from December 2-13, 2019. The conference featured 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the United Nations Framework Convention to Combat Climate Change (UNFCCC). • The 2019 Climate Change Conference has opened under exceptional circumstances. Four weeks before the start of the meeting, Chile, the meeting’s host and President, announced that it would suspend the conference due to ongoing social unrest in the country. • Spain offered to host on short notice, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Bureau accepted the offer. • Addressing the COP 25, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC), Shri Prakash Javadekar announced that India has reduced emission intensity of its GDP (gross domestic product) by 21% and is also on track to achieve the goal of 35% emission reduction by 2030. • Also, Secretary for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Shri Anand Kumar announced that Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), has planned to set up a dedicated “Green Window” to serve the unserved segments of renewable energy sector. • 8-year-old Indian climate activist Licypriya Kangujam from Bashikhong in Manipur participated in the COP 25 and urged the leaders to act effectively and efficiently on climate change. And also submitted a memorandum on behalf of the children of the world. Licypriya is considered as Indian Greta Thunberg. • A total of 73 countries agreed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. These 73 countries represent 13% of total global emissions. Most of the 73 countries’ emission rate is negligible when compared with big emitters such as the USA, China and India.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Pak, World Bank ink Khyber Pass economic agreement • Pakistan and the World Bank have signed a project agreement worth $406.6 million for financing the Khyber Pass Economic Corridor (KPEC) project with an aim to promote economic development. • The project is aimed at constructing a 48 km four-lane, dual carriageway, high speed and access-controlled motorway from Peshawar to Torkham border point with Afghanistan in a bid to promote economic development and ensure uplift of the areas adjoining the expressway and falling in Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa. • The global integration of South and Central Asia is intertwined with the Khyber Pass, which has served as the key node in trade for hundreds of years. The expressway between Peshawar and Kabul through the Khyber Pass represents a section of Corridors 5 and 6 of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation.
Israeli student’s made satellite “Duchifat-3” and launched from Sriharikota • “Duchifat-3” is a satellite jointly built by Herzliya Science Center and Sha’ar HaNegev High School students of Israel. • It is a remote sensing satellite through which students from all schools across the country will be able to experiment and carry through Earth observation. • “Duchifat-3” is the 3rd in the series of Israeli student-made satellites. • Duchifat-3 weighing 2.3 kg is a photo satellite to be used for ecological research of Earth from space. As Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C48) took off, three Israeli students waited with bated breadth at ISRO’s launch facility at Sriharikota.
8th edition of Embassy’s annual film festival inaugurated at Riyadh • The eighth edition of the Embassy’s annual film festival titled “Ambassador’s Choice: Screening of Films” was inaugurated on 7th December at the auditorium of Embassy of India, Riyadh. • Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament and India’s Sherpa to G-20 was present on the occasion as the Chief Guest. The inaugural event was attended by a number of Saudi nationals, Ambassadors, other members of diplomatic corps and members of Indian community. • The twelve-day festival, which is being held from 5th to 18th December, kicked off with the screening of three Arabic short movies titled: ‘The Swan Song’, ‘A Colourful Life’ and ‘Jaleed’, followed by an interactive session with the directors of the respective movies. • Besides Saudi and Indian movies, the festival will also feature popular movies from Brazil, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Spain, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Mexico.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
‘Birth Registration for Every Child by 2030: Are we on track?’ – A report released by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) • The number of registered births has significantly increased over the past decade especially in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. • The birth registration level in these regions has almost tripled from 23 % in the last two decades to 70%. The report analyzed the data from 174 countries. This improvement followed SDG (Sustainable Development Goal)16.9, which calls for providing legal identity to everyone by 2030. • The proportion of infants under the age of 5 registered globally is around 20 % of the last 10 years. This figure has increased from 63 % to 75%. • The number of registered children increased from 41% in 2005–2006 to 80 % in India. • However, around 166 million do not have birth registration. Half of the unregistered births have been accounted for by five countries including India (14%) has the highest numbers. • States like Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, UP and Jharkhand recorded the lowest birth registrations.
About UNICEF
The United Nations Children's Fund is a United Nations agency responsible for providing
humanitarian and developmental aid to children around the world. Wikipedia
Headquarters: New York, United States; Head: Henrietta H. Fore; Founded: 11 December
1946; Founders: United Nations General Assembly
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Facts of the Day (Important Days)
December 9 - International Anti-Corruption Day
• The United Nations General Assembly on October 31, 2003, adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and designated December 9 International Anti-Corruption Day, in order to raise awareness about corruption and of the role of Convention in fighting and preventing it.
• This convention came into force in the year 2005, and since then the day is being observed annually.
• Theme of the day is ‘United against corruption.’
December 9 - International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime
• The United Nations General Assembly established 9 December as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.
• The 9th of December is the anniversary of the adoption of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”).
• This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Convention.
• The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the Genocide Convention and its role in combating and preventing the crime of genocide, as defined in the Convention, and to commemorate and honour its victims.
10 December - Human Rights Day
• Human Rights Day is being celebrated on 10 December. The day was adopted in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly as the universal declaration of human rights.
• The theme for this year is "Youth Standing Up for Human Rights".
• The United Nations aimed at celebrating the potential of youth as constructive agents of change, amplify their voices, and engage a broad range of global audiences in the promotion and protection of rights.
11 December - International Mountain Day
• International Mountain Day is celebrated on 11 December every year.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• ‘Mountains matter for Youth’ is the theme of this year’s International Mountain Day, which is celebrated on 11 December.
• The day will also be an occasion to educate children about the role that mountains play in supporting billions up and downstream – by providing freshwater, clean energy, food and recreation.
11 December - UNICEF Day
• UNICEF was created by the United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) on December 11, 1946, as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund to provide emergency food, nutrition, education to children, devastated due to World War II.
• In 1950, UNICEF’s mandate was extended and it widens its mission & became a permanent part of the United Nations System in 1953 and it has since then reached out to millions of children whose lives are endangered by poverty, inequality, among others.
• Annual celebration of Universal Children’s Day (November 20) is part of the work carried out by UNICEF to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide.
12 December - International Universal Health Coverage Day
• The International Universal Health Coverage Day (UHC) is observed annually on December 12 under the resolution by the United Nations(UN) in 2017.
• The day aims to create awareness in providing strong and resilient health systems and universal health coverage with multi-stakeholder partners around the country and to provide access to quality and affordable health care for all.
• The theme for the UHC Day 2019 campaign is: “Keep the promise.”
• All UN Member States have agreed to achieve UHC by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals 3 (SDG-3) which is ‘Good health and well-being’.
• The overall theme of the HLM was “Universal Health Coverage: Moving together to build a healthier world.”
12 December - International Day of Neutrality
• The International Day of Neutrality is observed annually on December 12 under the resolution by the United Nations (UN). The day was adopted on 2 February 2017, at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and first observed on December 12 of the same year.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• According to the resolution the day aims at promoting neutrality among states so as to strengthen peace and security and also to develop mutual and beneficial relations among countries of the world.
• Neutrality is a legal status of a country that arises when it abstains all participation of war between other countries and maintains an attitude of impartiality towards the belligerent countries.
• The day was first introduced in Turkmenistan after the UN permanently declared it as a neutral state since 12 December 1995.
World Energy Conservation Day is observed on 14 December
• World Energy Conservation Day is observed on 14 December. The day aims to highlight the importance of energy consumption and creates a sense of urgency on the issues involved.
• In India, the National Energy Conservation Day is observed on 14 December every year. The day is organized by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under the Ministry of Power.
• BEE also observed National Energy Conservation Week from 9 to 14 December 2019, in order to drive mass awareness about the importance of energy efficiency and conservation.
• National Energy Conservation Awards Programme was conferred to the winners by BEE on the day. The Ministry of Power (MoP) organized programmes to sensitize the school children towards Energy Efficiency and Energy.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Facts of the Day (Awards)
Space startup with AI solution to stubble burning wins ‘Space Oscar’
• A Gurgaon-based startup working in utilizing satellite data to solve environmental problems has won an international prize for its AI (artificial intelligence) - based tool to measure and monitor farm fires and stubble burning across India.
• The application developed by Gurgaon-based startup, Blue Sky Analytics, is an AI-enabled platform that uses satellite data for improved monitoring, supply chain and pricing analysis as well as allocation of crop waste for use in other industries as raw material.
• The application, Zuri, has also won Copernicus Masters award given by the Earth observation program managed by the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA). It is also dubbed as ‘Space Oscars’. Zuri was selected under social entrepreneurship category.
• Ms Abhilasha Purwar and Kshitij Purwar, siblings has founded Blue Sky Analytics a year ago. Abhilasha is an engineering graduate from IIT-BHU and a master’s in environment management from Yale, while Kshitij is a college dropout.
Bureau of Energy Efficiency organises 29th National Energy Conservation Awards
• India celebrates the National Energy Conservation Day every year on 14th December to recognise and celebrate the efforts towards energy conservation, under the guidance of Ministry of Power, Government of India.
• The day highlights the importance of energy conservation in Country’s sustainable development approach.
• During the event, a Handbook for Implementation of Provisions of Energy Conservation Act 2001 was also released.
“International changemaker olympiad” founded by Rahul Adhikari wins “Oscars” of education 2019 in London
• “International Changemaker Olympiad (ICO)”, an annual international competition program founded by Rahul Adhikari,a Gold-Medalist from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT-R) has won the Wharton-QS Stars Reimagine Education Award 2019, popularly known as the “Oscars” of education under “Sustainability” category at the 2019 Reimagine Education Conference & Awards ceremony held in London, UK (United Kingdom), from December 8 -10,2019.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• The event was co-organized by QS Quacquarelli Symonds ,The Wharton School of Business & Wharton’s Alfred West Jr. Learning Lab.
Infosys receives UN award for its carbon-neutral goal
• IT services major Infosys Ltd was presented with the United Nations Global Climate Action Award in the ‘Climate Neutral Now’ category at the UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain.
• Infosys is the first Indian corporate to receive the award.
• Every year, the United Nations honours outstanding achievements in combating climate change through the Climate Action Awards.
• Infosys has won the award for its carbon neutral programme, which delivers scalable, innovative and practical climate actions that address climate change and help drive progress on many other sustainable development goals, such as gender equality, health and wellbeing and economic opportunity.
World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 26th Annual Crystal Awards 2020
• It announced its winners to celebrate the enduring contributions of exceptional artists to the society. The winners will be honoured in the World Economic Forum at its 50th Annual Meeting 2020 to be held on 20th January in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.
• Deepika Padukone, India, for her leadership in raising mental health awareness
• Theaster Gates, United States (US), for his leadership in creating sustainable communities
• Jin Xing, China, for her leadership in shaping inclusive cultural norms
• Lynette Wallworth, Australia, for her leadership in creating inclusive narratives
About World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum, based in Cologny-Geneva, Switzerland, is an NGO, founded in 1971. The WEF's mission is cited as "committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional,
and industry agendas".
Headquarters: Cologny, Switzerland ; Founder: Klaus Schwab; Founded: January 1971; Motto: Committed to improving the state of the world
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Padmeswar Gogoi, Educationist bestowed with the First edition of Siu-Ka-Pha Awards 2019
• Dr Padmeswar Gogoi, was bestowed with the first edition of Siu-Ka-Pha award for the year 2019 by the Central Committee of Different Ethnic Groups and the organizations of the Golaghat district at the Siu-Ka-Pha Samannay Kshetra in Golaghat, Assam.
• This award is given in order to promote the ideals of Chaolung Siu-Ka-Pha.
• Padmeswar is an educationist, botanist and a researcher in Folklore. He was bestowed with the Siu-Ka-Pha Award to recognize his contribution in the field of Botany and Science.
Right Livelihood Award 2019
• Activists Davi Kopenawa, Greta Thunberg, Guo Jianmei and Aminatou Haidar received the Right Livelihood Award 2019, also known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’.
• The award ceremony took place in Stockholm, Sweden at the end of a Final event of ten day- long programs held in Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden.
• Davi Kopenawa Yanomami from Brazil also called the ‘Dalai Lama of the Rainforest’ received the award for his effort taken in the protection of the Amazon Rainforest.
• Guo Jianmei, a lawyer from China has been honoured with the award for her efforts taken in protecting Women’s rights in China.
• Also known as the ‘Gandhi of Western Sahara’, Aminatou Haidar, from Western Sahara, a Human Rights Activist for fighting to attain justice and self-determination for the people of Western Sahara in a campaign for more than 30 years.
• Greta Thunberg, from Sweden, a climate activist was selected for inspiring “Fridays for Future”, a global youth-led movement protesting climate change.
About the Right Livelihood Award
It is awarded to honour people who have answered the urgent challenges faced by today’s
world. The prize was established in the year 1980 and is presented annually in early December. The prize money is 2,00,000 Euros which is shared among the four winners.
The award is also called as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ but it does not have any ties with the
organization awarding the Nobel prize nor it is similar to the Nobel prize in any way.
About Sweden
Capital: Stockholm; Monarch: Carl XVI Gustaf; Prime Minister: Stefan Löfven
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
FICCI India Sports Awards 2019
• Indian women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal and ace pistol shooter Saurabh Chaudhary won the Sports Person of the Year awards at the FICCI India Sports Awards 2019.
• The FICCI India Sports Awards are an attempt by FICCI to acknowledge and recognise the contribution of sportspersons and various stakeholders who deliver excellent results throughout the year.
• Rani played a crucial role in India’s qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, scoring the winning goal in the two-legged qualifier against the US in November.
• Saurabh, on the other hand, is touted as India’s biggest hope for a medal in shooting in Tokyo. He won gold at the 2018 Asian Games and has since won a number of individual and team honours at shooting World Cups.
• The FICCI India Sports Awards 2019 has been awarded to Railway Sports Promotion Board under the category of Best Company Promoting Sports.
• Railway Sports Promotion Board has been awarded for its immense contribution in the field of providing sports eco-system within the organization for the budding sports athletes to nurture and expose themselves to their optimum limits and bring laurels to the nation.
The 24th IFFK - 6 December 2019 to 13 December 2019
• The opening film was Passed by Censor (Gorulmustur; Turkish) by Serhat Karaaslan. The international jury was chaired by Egyptian director Khairy Beshara.
o The Golden Crow Pheasant Award (Suvarna Chakoram) for the Best film - Aru Sendo No Hanashi directed by Jō Odagiri from Japan
o Lifetime Achievement Award - Fernando Solanas from Argentina
o Audience Prize for Best Film and Special Mention, in the Category 'Best Director' - Jallikattu by Lijo Jose Pellissery
• The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India.
• This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala.
• The festival is held every year and is acknowledged as one of the leading cultural events in India
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Ethiopia's PM receives Nobel Peace Prize • Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has received the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to achieve international peace and co-operation. • This year's Nobel Peace Prize was the 100th to be awarded. The Nobel Peace Prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a cheque for nine million Swedish kronor (850,000 euros). • The Nobel Committee announce that it was honouring Abiy Ahmed for his efforts to resolve the long-running conflict with neighbouring foe Eritrea. On July 9, 2018, following a historic meeting in Eritrea's capital Asmara, Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki formally ended a 20-year-old stalemate between their countries in the wake of the 1998-2000 border conflict.
Greta Thunberg named Time’s ‘person of the year’ • Teen activist Greta Thunberg has been named Time’s Person of the Year. • The Swedish teenager has became the voice of conscience for a generation facing the climate emergency. The 16-year-old first hit the headlines for her solo strike against global warming outside Sweden’s parliament last year. For the first time, TIME has chosen the most influential person in a range of fields
Name Profession Category
Greta Thunberg Climate activist Person of the Year
Chairman and CEO of The Bob Iger Businessperson of the Year Walt Disney Company
The Public Servants Federal workers of the US Guardians of the Year
United States women’s Women’s Soccer Athlete of the Year national soccer team
Melissa Jefferson (Lizzo) Singer Entertainer of the Year
Jamaica's 'Tony-Ann Singh' crowned as 'Miss World 2019' • Tony-Ann Singh of Jamaica was announced as the winner of the Miss World 2019 beauty pageant held at the London. • She was crowned by her predecessor, Miss World 2018 Vanessa Ponce from Mexico. Miss World 2019 was the 69th edition of the contest and contestants from 120 countries competed for the title.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• 23 year old Singh is a Florida state university student and wanted to use her title to work for "sustainable change" for women and their children. • Ophely Mezino of France and Suman Rao of India were the first and second runners up of the beauty pageant respectively.
8th National Photography Awards • The Photo Division, under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, has invited entries for the 8th National Photography Awards. • The National Photography Awards are conferred under three categories: ➢ Lifetime Achievement Award ➢ Award for Professional Photographers ➢ Award for Amateur Photographers • This year’s theme for Professional Photographers is ‘Life and Water.’ • This year’s theme for the Amateur Photographers is ‘Cultural Heritage of India.’
Gulu Mirchandani bags CEAMA Lifetime Achievement Award • Gulu Mirchandani has been conferred with “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association. • Gulu Mirchandani is the founder chairman of Mirc Electronics Ltd. (Onida). • He has been awarded for his extensive contribution to the consumer electronics industry. • He has been associated with consumer electronics industry for more than 3 decades. • Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) is an all-India organisation in the consumer electronics and durables sector. It has been in existence for over three decades.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Facts of the Day (Sports)
PUMA signs Sunil Chhetri as brand ambassador for three years
• Indian men's football team captain Sunil Chhetri has signed a three-year deal with PUMA to be its brand ambassador.
• He is currently the second-highest goal-scorer in international football after Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo. With this deal, Chhetri has now joined the list of global players like France's Antoine Griezmann, Belgium's Romelu Lukaku, Uruguay's Luis Suarez and Argentina's Sergio Aguero among others.
• Chhetri is the most-capped Indian player and is also the all-time top goal scorer for the Indian team. He has been named as the AIFF Player of the Year six times. He was also conferred with the Arjuna award in 2011 and Padma Shri in 2019.
Ashleigh Barty named WTA Player of the Year
• Ashleigh Barty has been voted WTA Player of the Year after capturing her maiden grand slam singles title and reaching the top of the world rankings.
• Barty, who quit tennis to play cricket in 2014 before returning to the game in 2016, became the first Australian to win the French Open since Margaret Court in 1973. She also won the prestigious Miami title and became the first Australian woman to reach the WTA world No.1 ranking since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976.
• Barty’s 57 match wins this year was the most by any player, while she lost only 12 times.
• Andreescu took the newcomer award after winning the US Open to become the first Canadian to win a grand slam singles title, while Swiss Belinda Bencic was named comeback player of the year after regaining her place in the top 10.
WADA bans Russia from international sporting events for four years
• The World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, banned Russia for four years, from participation in global sporting events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, after accusing Moscow of falsifying data from an anti-doping laboratory.
• The ruling means Russian athletes will still be allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics as neutrals, but only if they can demonstrate that they were not part of what WADA believes was a state-sponsored system of doping. The Russian flag and national anthem have also been banned in global events.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Lakshmi G S becomes first woman Referee in Men’s ODI match
• Gandikota Sarva Lakshmi, former Indian Cricketer became the first woman referee in the Men’s ODI (One Day International) match after overseeing the opening match of the third series of the World Cup League 2 held in Sharjah Cricket Stadium, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• The match is between the UAE and the United States of America (USA).
• Lakshmi was born in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. As of now, she has overseen three women’s ODI matches, 16 men’s T20 Internationals and seven women’s T20 Internationals.
About International Cricket Council
Founded: 15 June 1909; Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Chief Executive Officer: Manu Sawhney
2nd National Level Sports Meet for students of EMRS inaugurated in Bhopal
• In Madhya Pradesh, the second National Level Sports Meet for the students of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) was inaugurated by Chief Minister Kamal Nath at TT Nagar Stadium, Bhopal.
• The event has a participation of around 4,500 students of 284 Eklavya Schools representing 24 states of the country. The five-day event will have competitions in 15 different disciplines of track and field. As many as 555 students of 26 residential schools of Madhya Pradesh will also exhibit their skills in various sports disciplines during the competition.
• The scheme of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) is one of the flagship interventions of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs introduced in the year 1997-98 to ensure tribal students get access to quality education in the remote tribal areas.
13th South Asian Games concluded in Kathmandu, Nepal
• 13th South Asian Games concluded in Kathmandu, Nepal.
• India finished on top with 312 medals comprising 174 gold, 93 silver and 45 bronze.
• In the medal tally Nepal was 2nd and Sri Lanka was at 3rd position.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Sports Minister announces cash awards to SAG medallists
• Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju announced a cash reward of 1.5 lakh rupees each for the 174 gold medallists of the South Asian Games held in Nepal.
• The silver winners will receive one lakh rupees and bronze winners 50,000 rupees each.
• Mr Rijiju said going forward, the government will have a structured cash reward policy for medallists in South Asian Games, like other multi-sporting events like the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
FIH unveils new world ranking system for 2020
• The International Hockey Federation (FIH) unveiled a new world ranking system for 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
• It will come into effect from the first of January. For a better reflection of current performances, the new ranking will be match-based instead of tournament-based calculation.
• The outgoing world ranking system was in existence since 2003. It was originally devised to allocate teams into pools at tournaments.
Rohit Sharma becomes La Liga’s first-ever brand ambassador in India
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• Cricketer Rohit Sharma joined hands with La Liga -- Spains top division football league -- as its brand ambassador in India.
• He is the first non-footballer in the history of the league to be a brand ambassador. Rohit comes on-board following a series of major initiatives by La Liga in India since 2017.
Indian shooter Ravi kumar & Boxer Sumit sangwan fail dope tests
• World Cup medal-winning rifle shooter Ravi Kumar who failed the dope test conducted on July 19,2019, has been banned for 2 years by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
• Significantly, Indian boxer Sumit Sangwan was also found positive in the dope test. The substance is included in Diuretics and masking agents under S5 of World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) 2019 Prohibited List.
• Ravi Kumar (from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh) has been a part of every major tournament and won the Bronze Medal in the World Cup and Commonwealth Games 2018.While,Sangwan (from Karnal, Haryana) won the silver medal in the 2017 Asian Championship and reached the quarter-finals of the 2016 World Championship.
About NADA
Motto: Play fair; Formed on: November 24, 2005; Headquarters: New Delhi
Bangabandhu BPL inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
• Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the special edition of Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL) T20 cricket championship to mark Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary in 2020.
• A total of 7 teams are participating in the BBPL event. The BBPL final will be held on January 17, 2020.
• This is the first time that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is organizing the Premier League matches without involving any franchise.
Wasim Jaffer becomes first Indian to play 150 Ranji matches
• Veteran opener Wasim Jaffer became the first player in Indian cricket to feature in 150 Ranji matches.
• Jaffer is followed by Madhya Pradesh batsman Devendra Bundela (145 matches) and Amol Muzumdar (136 matches), who have played for Mumbai and Assam.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• Jaffer has played 253 first-class games, scoring 19,147 runs at an average of 51.19. The former India opener is now just 853 runs away from completing 20,000 runs in first-class cricket, with 314 being his highest score.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
States
2019 World Habitat Awards - Odisha bags international award for Jaga Mission
• Odisha won the 'World Habitat Award', global recognition for its ambitious initiative -- Jaga Mission.
• This award is given by World Habitat, a UK-based organization, in partnership with United Nation (UN)-Habitat, every year, in recognition of innovative, outstanding, and revolutionary ideas, projects, and programmes from across the world.
• Jaga Mission is a slum land titling project, benefiting a million urban-poor living in the slums. Recently, this project was also awarded the 'India Geospatial Excellence Award' for technological innovation in transforming the lives of urban poor.
2019 World Habitat Awards - project that secured land for indigenous people in Karnataka
• The Restoration of Dignity and Human Rights of Indigenous Tribal Community in Karnataka project was bestowed with a gold prize in the 2019 World Habitat Award.
• The project started in the year 2000 and is executed by ActionAid India with Koraga Federation and Samagra Grameena Ashrama.
• The award was given by the World Habitat, a UK (United Kingdom) based organization, in association with the United Nations (UN)-Habitat.
• The ActionAid India has been working with the Koraga people and nine other tribal communities in Karnataka. It aims at supporting the indigenous communities to obtain government schemes.
Odisha to set up 45 new fast track courts
• To expedite the trial of cases relating to women and children, 45 new fast track courts will be set up in Odisha.
• 21 courts would be dedicated for cases of rape and sexual harassment of women. The remaining 24 fast track courts will specifically deal with Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) cases.
• The State government's action comes after Centre's decision to formulate a scheme for setting up 1,023 fast track special courts for expeditious trial and disposal of rape cases.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
3 more airports in Odisha included in UDAN scheme
• The central government has agreed to include three airports one each at Jeypore in Koraput, Rourkela in Sundergarh & Utkela in Kalahandi district of Odisha under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik).
• The scheme was launched in October, 2016, which seeks to provide connectivity to un-served and under-served regions through revival of existing air strips and airports.
UP Cabinet gives nod to set up 218 FastTrack Courts
• Uttar Pradesh (UP) Cabinet clears a proposal to set up 218 new Fast-track courts in UP, accounting to the increasing number of crimes against women and children. Out of which 144 courts will hear cases of rape and 74 courts will hear cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
• The estimated expenditure is Rs. 75 lakhs for each court while the total expenditure is expected at Rs 1,635 crore. 60% of the total cost will be borne by the Central Government and 40% by the State Government.
• These special courts will be part of the total 1,023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) which were proposed to be set up under the POCSO Amendment Act 2019. It is an initiative of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to expedite trials of rape cases.
Nilgiri Mountain Railway conducts special service for foreign tourists
• The UNESCO-recognized Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) conducted a special service for foreign tourists. 71 tourists from several countries, including the USA, the UK and France travelled by a special steam engine service from Coonoor to Ooty.
• They were presented with special mementoes and gift hampers as well as served with the replica of the original Edmonton type cardboard ticket.
• The NMR is one of the few railways in the world that uses the unique rack and pinion system, with its special third rail to negotiate gradients en route from Mettupalayam in the foothills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu to Ooty, the Queen of Western Ghats.
West Bengal government organizing two-day Business Conclave
• The West Bengal government is organizing two-day Business Conclave at Digha in East Midnapore District to attract more industrial investments in the State.
• Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the Conclave. Leading industrialists from the country and 35 foreign nations are likely to be present at the meet.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• A number of MOUs are likely to be signed between the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and Multinational companies for spreading industrial growth in the State.
Workshop on Bamboo cultivation to be held on 19 & 20 December in Jammu
• In Jammu and Kashmir, a first of its kind workshop on Bamboo cultivation will be held on 19th and 20 December in Jammu.
• Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh will inaugurate the exhibition. The workshop will focus on promotion of Bamboo cultivation in the potential Kandi areas of Jammu and its value addition as an economic activity and to generate entrepreneurship and employment opportunities.
Madhya Pradesh to host “Namaste Orchha” festival 2020 in Orchha
• Madhya Pradesh (MP) Tourism Department is going to organize a 3-day Cultural Festival ‘Namaste Orchha 2020’ in Orchha from March 6 – March 8, 2020, with the aim to promote MP Tourism through Orchha & especially to attract tourists.
• Orchha is a town in the Bundelkhand region, won the award for the best heritage city for 2017-18 at the National Tourism Awards 2017-18 and is already on the shortlist for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Sites.
• It is also famous for its unique Ram Raja Temple, built in honour of Lord Ram, Chaturbhuj Temple besides numerous monuments and royal palaces.
• The three-day festival will feature music, art, wellness, travel, nature, adventure, history and culture.
Odisha government included its agriculture department in state’s “Mo Sarkar” scheme • The Odisha government has brought Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Department under its flagship initiative 'Mo Sarkar'. • It was first implemented in the department of Home and Health and are in the process of expanding the same to various departments. • Under the new initiative, the chief minister and other ministers talk to common citizens to seek their feedback on the kind of response and service they received after they visit government facilities.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
About 'Mo Sarkar' initiative
It means 'My Government' in Odia, and is a transformative initiative of 5-T programme, which
was introduced by Naveen Patnaik. The 5-T mantra is based on the philosophy that transparency, teamwork, technology and time leads to transformation.
J&K Lt Governor Shri Girish Chandra Murmu inaugurates 72-metre all weather bridge in Rajouri
• Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Shri Girish Chandra Murmu dedicated the 72-metre-long Multi Cell Box Type Load Class 70 bridge to the Nation in Rajouri.
• The bridge spans over Draj nallah and connected Draj Area to Tehsil Kotranka area under District Rajouri.
• This bridge will facilitate all weather and speedy movement of Army troops as well as locals. Now the Draj bridge will provide all weather movements without any restriction on plying of heavy traffic as it is designed for load class 70.
• The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is playing an important role in the field of surface transport by connecting far flung inaccessible remote areas along borders.
Andhra Pradesh Assembly passes Disha Bill
• The Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed the Disha Bill to curb atrocities against women and children, paving the way for death penalty to perpetrators of heinous crimes such as rape.
• Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that such criminals should be dealt with in the sternest manner possible and “there is nothing wrong in awarding them death penalty.
• Fast-track courts would be set up in each of the 13 districts of the State to deal with such cases and the entire process should be over within 21 days and justice delivered.
National Tribal Dance Festival to be held in Raipur from Dec 27-29
• A three-day National Tribal Dance Festival will be held in Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur from December 27 to 29.
• Nearly 1,400 artists belonging to 151 art troupes from 23 states and guest artists from six countries including Sri Lanka, Belarus, Uganda and Bangladesh will participate in the three- day programme.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Puducherry government unveils start-up policy
• The Puducherry government unveiled a start-up policy. The policy, launched by Minister for Industries M.O.H.F Shahjahan, aims to create a corpus fund of ₹10 crores to support the setting up of start-up incubators and to develop co-working spaces.
• The department plans to provide a grant of ₹3 lakh to projects recommended by incubators established by the government/private sector/academic institutions as a start-up grant.
• The committee of experts constituted by the government under the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Committee will approve of the projects and monitor their progress.
AP’s first virtual police station to come up at Andhra University
• The setting up of ‘Virtual Police Stations’ in educational institutions is set to become a reality soon, with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy scheduled to inaugurate the first such facility in the State at Andhra University.
• The AU facility is being looked at as a pilot project, and this will later be replicated at other educational institutions.
• During the launch of Cyber Mitra and Mahila Mitra in Visakhapatnam city on August 8, the AU Vice-Chancellor had suggested the setting up of a virtual police station on the AU campus to Director-General of Police Gautam Sawang. Responding positively to the suggestion, the DGP gave his nod to set up the virtual police station stating that such initiatives would help bridge the gap between students and the police department, further resolving their issues.
500 Bee Boxes, 500 Pottery Wheels and 200 Leather Kits Distributed in Boondi District by KVIC
• To commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and to support the weaker section of the society in Boondi District, Rajasthan, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) organized an event, in which Shri Om Birla, the Speaker of Lok Sabha distributed 500 Bee Boxes, 500 Electric Pottery Wheels and 200 Leather Tool Kits in presence of Shri V. K. Saxena, Chairman, KVIC and MLA Shri Ashok Dogra.
• Quite noticeably, KVIC has been spear heading a mass campaign for the revival of bee keeping, pottery and leather industry since last 2 years under Honey Mission, Kumhar Sashaktikaran Mission and Leather Mission respectively.
• KVIC has distributed around 1.15 Lakh Bee boxes, 13000 Electric Pottery Wheel, 2500 Leather Kits across India so far, thus generating a livelihood for 17,000 bee keepers, 52,000 potters and 2500 Leather artisans so far.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Kerala launches ‘Vijayamritham’ & ‘Sahachari’ schemes to support differently-abled people
• In order to provide motivation and to become the helping hand for differently-abled persons, the state Government of Kerala has launched 2 social welfare schemes – ‘Vijayamritham’ and ‘Sahachari’.
• The ‘Vijayamritham’ scheme has been introduced to provide one time financial assistance for differently-abled people who battled odds and scored high marks in degree, PG and professional courses.
• Sahachari scheme aims to provide encouragement to NCC/NSS/SPC units functioning in schools that offer assistance to differently-abled students with over 40% disability in their studies as well as other extra-curricular activities.
• NSS/NCC and SPC units are considered for the award for assisting differently-abled students in their studies at their respective educational institutions and also for conducting various programmes such as medical camps for their welfare. Three best NSS, NCC or SPC units will be selected for the award with each being given a cash award of Rs 10,000 each besides certificates and plaques.
Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi expressway to be named after late Bal Thackeray
• Mumbai state cabinet Maharashtra minister Eknath Shinde has approved to name the under-construction Mumbai-Nagpur super communication Samruddhi expressway after Shiv Sena party founder late Bal Thackeray.
• The cabinet also approved an additional share capital of Rs 3,500 crores to reduce the burden of loan that will be raised for this project. This in turn will bring down the interest amount by Rs 2,500 crores.
• It is a 700-km super expressway, which is scheduled to be completed in 2021. This expressway is expected to cut down the travel time between Mumbai and Nagpur by than nine hours.
• The estimated total cost of the project is around ₹55,335 crores. The road construction of the project will be completed within the next 3 years.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Persons/events
George Laurer, inventor of bar code dies at 94
• George J. Laurer, who invented the Universal Product Code at IBM, has died. He was 94.
• Laurer was an electrical engineer with IBM in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park in the early 1970s when he spearheaded the development of the UPC, or bar code.
• The now-ubiquitous marking, composed of unique black bars and a 12-digit number, allowed retailers to identify products and their prices as they are scanned, usually at checkout.
V. S. Sundaresan has taken charge as ED at SEBI • V. S. Sundaresan has taken charge as the executive director at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). • Prior to his promotion, Mr. Sundaresan was working as the chief general manager in enquiries and adjudication department of the regulatory body. • Mr. Sundaresan joined the markets regulator in the year 1989 and has worked in various departments while supervising investigation in various cases related to market manipulation, insider trading, takeover of companies, public issues, collective investment schemes and compliance with continuous listing requirements, among others.
New Zealand three-times Olympic champion Peter Snell passed away • He was the last male athlete to have completed the 800m and 1500m double at an Olympic Games, which he achieved in Tokyo in 1964. • He also won 2 gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 1962 in the 880 yards and one mile run in Perth.
Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the US passed away • Volcker was the chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987 and was an undersecretary at the Treasury Department, to the President’s Richard Nixon’s administration. • In 2009, he served as the financial advisor to President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2011, he published a biography called “Keeping at It: The Quest for Sound Money and Good Government,” in the year 2018.
Veteran Telugu actor-writer Gollapudi dead
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• Veteran film personality and writer Gollapudi Maruti Rao died in Chennai. He was 80. He was a multi-faceted personality as he was a journalist, playwright, writer, actor and television personality.
• He was a former Nandi Award winner and renowned Telugu actor and writer. He enthralled people with his writings and acting for several decades and also acted in around 250 films in about four decades.
• He constituted the renowned Gollapudi Srinivas Rao award in the remembrance of his late son for the best Debut director in Indian Films.
Shrikant Madhav Vaidya to be new chairman of IOC
• Shrikant Madhav Vaidya will be the new chairman of the country's biggest oil firm, Indian Oil Corp (IOC). Vaidya currently is director (refineries) at IOC.
• Vaidya, 56, joined the IOC Board in October and will replace Sanjiv Singh who retires as chairman of the company at the end of June next year.
Vipin Sondhi is new CEO & MD of Ashok Leyland
• Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland announced the appointment of Vipin Sondhi as its new chief executive officer and managing director for a period of five years.
• Sondhi succeeds Vinod K Dasari, who had quit from the services of the commercial vehicle manufacturer in November 2018.
Sushil Modi became the head of GoM on IGST replacing Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
• Sushil Kumar Modi, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar replaced Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance (MoF) as the head of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST), stated by the GST (Goods and Services Tax) council.
• She was previously mentioned as the chairperson of the GST council to discuss issues related to IGST with Finance Ministers of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and deputy chief ministers of Delhi and Puducherry.
• As FM could not head the GoM panel being the Finance Minister and the chairperson of the GST council, Sushil Modi was made its convener. The panel was set up to look into the issue of splitting of the IGST between the centre and states.
Salman Khan appointed as Pepsi’s new brand ambassador
• Food and beverage giant PepsiCo has roped in Bollywood actor Salman Khan as the new brand ambassador of its flagship Pepsi brand of carbonated beverage in India.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• Khan had previously endorsed PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew drink. Now, he will be a crucial cog in its flagship brand’s campaigns against Ranbir Kapoor-endorsed Coca Cola.
Tara Sinha, doyen of Indian advertising dies at 87
• Advertising veteran Tara Sinha passed away. Best known as the mother of Indian advertising, Sinha was one of the earliest women in the field who worked across India, the US and the UK. She was 87.
• Then she founded Tara Sinha Associates, becoming the first woman to set up a national advertising agency.
• Sinha had also served as chairperson of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, a member of the advisory council of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and chairperson of the advertising sub-committee, Assocham.
FIA invites Anand Kumar for India’s Republic Day celebrations in New York
• The Federation of Indian Association (FIA) has invited Super 30 founder Anand Kumar to a function on the eve of India’s Republic Day celebrations in New York.
• The Federation of Indian Association is the oldest organisation of the non-resident Indians. Year “2020” also marks the 50th anniversary of FIA. Anand Kumar has been invited for his contribution in the field of education through his programme ‘Super 30’ that prepares 30 students from underprivileged sections of society for the prestigious IIT entrance test every year, without any fees.
Suniel Shetty signed as anti-doping brand ambassador NADA
• Actor Suniel Shetty has been selected as the brand ambassador of National Anti-Doping Agency NADA.
• The country’s anti-doping body is hoping that his celebrity status helps its efforts to clean up sports in the country from the menace.
• More than 150 athletes have failed dope tests this year though bodybuilders make up more than one-third of these offenders, which is not a welcome sign with less than eight months to go for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
• The suspension of National Anti-Doping Laboratory by the WADA earlier this year is another issue facing the country now that dope samples collected by the National Anti- Doping Agency from the athletes will have to be tested outside India.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Defence
Defence and Foreign Ministers to attend India-US 2+2 dialogue in Washington
• The Second India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue will be held in Washington DC on 18th December.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation. They will meet their US counterparts for a comprehensive review of cross- cutting foreign policy and defence and security issues in India-US relations.
• The India-US 2 plus 2 Ministerial Dialogue was initiated in September 2018 in order to provide a positive, forward-looking vision for the India-US strategic partnership and to promote synergy in diplomatic and security efforts.
UAE, US joint military exercise 'Iron Union 12' commences • ‘Iron Union 12’, a joint military exercise between the ground forces of the UAE and the United States, commenced in Abu Dhabi. • Spanning a few weeks, 'Iron Union 12' will see the two sides take part in joint military cooperation to enhance combat and tactical capabilities. • The joint military exercises of UAE Armed Forces with fraternal and friendly countries like US, takes place in a manner consistent with latest developments. Such exercises also reflect the UAE Armed Forces’ determination to stand firmly against all threats and challenges facing the region.
Indian Rafale fighter jets to fly with BS-series tail numbers honouring ex-IAF chief BS Dhanoa • The Indian Rafale fighter jets will fly with the tail sign 'BS' after the recently retired Air Force Chief Birender Singh Dhanoa. • While the two-sweater trainer Rafales will have the tail number initials of present Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria RB, the fighter versions will fly with the tail sign initials of BS after the previous chief Dhanoa. • The tail number initials are given by the operations branch of the Indian Air Force (IAF) as every aircraft in the force has a unique tail number in a series.
4th edition of International seminar cum exhibition on naval weapon systems – NAVARMS-19 occurred in New Delhi • A two day event of 4th edition of International Seminar cum Exhibition on Naval weapon Systems – NAVARMS-19 with the theme “Make in India – Fight Category: Opportunities and Imperatives” has occured at Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), Development Enclave, in New Delhi.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
• The conclave ,organized by the Ministry of Defence (MoD),consists of 5 sessions focusing on to create awareness and identify emerging prospects for Indian/International defence industry in the domain of Naval Weapon Systems.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Agriculture
ICAR and NABARD signs MoU to facilitate the action research and up-scaling of the various technologies and innovative farmer models
• With a view to promote sustainable agriculture and climate resilient farming systems the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Board of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
• This MoU will facilitate the action research and up-scaling of the various technologies and innovative farmer models developed by the ICAR that includes the successful climate resilient practices, models and integrated and hi-tech farming practices in a participatory model through adoptive research on watershed platform.
• Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR) and Shri Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, Chairman, NABARD signed the MoU in New Delhi.
Only Aadhar linked bank accounts to get PM-Kisan payments: Agriculture department
• As per a statement by the Agriculture Department, Government of India (GoI), the 4th instalment of the PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) finance support scheme due between December 2019 and March 2020 will be transferred only to Aadhar-linked bank accounts of more than 50 million beneficiaries.
• This was the 1st time the central government has insisted on the mandatory condition of Aadhar seeding since the launch of PM-KISAN scheme in February 2019.
• The centre has not yet decided the date and venue for disbursement of the installment but is expected to disburse over Rs.10,000 crore to farmers in a one day.
About PM-Kisan Yojana
Under this scheme, the Central government provides Rs 6000 annually in three equal
installments of Rs.2000 every four months in a year to 14 crore farmers of India. This move will enhance the rural economy at a time when GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth has hit
the lowest.
The amount is directly transferred into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.
As on November 30, 2019 the govt. has disbursed Rs. 36,000 crores under this.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
1st Pashu Kisan Credit Cards of India, distributed in Bhiwani, Haryana
• 1st Pashu Kisan credit cards (Animal husbandry Credit Card) in India were distributed to 101 animal farmers in Bhiwani district of Haryana.
• These credit cards were launched to promote animal husbandry and agribusiness. The haryana govt has also set a target to issue 10 lakh Pashu Kisan Credit cards by March 2021.
3 day “International Seminar on Climate Smart Farming Systems” for BIMSTEC countries organized in New Delhi
• The three day ‘International Seminar on Climate Smart Farming Systems’ for BIMSTEC countries organized by the Department of Agricultural Research & Education, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare and Indian Council of Agricultural Research organised from 11th December in New Delhi till 13th December.
• Participants from all the Seven BIMSTEC Countries viz. Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and BIMSTEC Secretariat have attended the Seminar.
• Inaugurating the seminar Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary DARE and DG ICAR emphasized that despite climate changes, farmers’ income can be enhanced effectively by adopting technological interventions.
• Mr. Han Thein Kyaw, Director, BIMSTEC Secretariat, Myanmar urged the farmers to adopt the modern technologies in farming and agriculture in accordance with the changing climate scenario in the world. He added that this would help to maintain the nutritional quality of crops and food products.
• The seminar has been organized as a Government of India initiative as announced earlier by the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi at the 4th BIMSTEC Summit at Kathmandu on 30-31st August, 2019.
• The objective of this International Seminar is to have experience sharing to enable improvement of tropical smallholder farming systems for greater productivity and resilience to climate change through ecological approaches.
About The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)
It is a regional organization comprising of seven member states in South Asia and Southeast Asia lying in littoral and adjacent areas of Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional
unity. This sub-regional organisation came into being on June 6, 1997, through the Bangkok Declaration.
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Weekly BeeBooster 9th Dec to 15th Dec 2019
Others
Viswanathan Anand launches his autobiography ‘Mind Master’
• Viswanathan Anand has launched his autobiography ‘Mind Master’. Anand’s autobiography is co-authored by sports journalist Susan Ninann.
• It has been published by THG Publishing Private Limited. The book covers wonderful memories of Viswanathan Anand’s journey.
Abanindranath Tagore’s Book ‘Nalak’, translated to English by Urbi Bhaduri
• Abanindranath Tagore’s Book ‘Nalak’ featuring the journey of life of Gautama Buddha, was translated to English by Urbi Bhaduri and was published by Niyogi Books.
• The English translation of the book has no chapters and has been featured in pen and ink style including a theme inspired by Buddhist tankha paintings.
• Abanindranath Tagore, nephew of Rabindranath Tagore, was born in Kolkata, West Bengal and was a famous artist of India well known for his painting and writing, he was also the principal innovator of the Bengal school of art. Some of his famous works in Bengali Children’s literature were Rajkahini, Budo Angla, Nalak, and Khirer Putul.
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