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By admin: Oct. 19, 2022

Sajan Bhanwala becomes the first Indian wrestler to win a Greco Roman medal at the U-23 World Wrestling Championships

Tags: place in news Sports Person in news

Sajan Bhanwala won the first medal for India at the U-23 World Wrestling Championships 2022 being held in Pontevedra, Spain from 17 -23 October 2022. Wrestler who are below 23 years of age participate in the championship.

Sajan Bhanwala won the bronze medal in the Greco Roman 77kg category by defeating Ukraine’s Dmytro Vasetskyi in a closely-fought match on 19 October 2022. 

It is for the first time that India has won a medal in the Greco Roman event at the U23 Wrestling World Championship.

Denial of Visa to Indian wrestler 

India is competing with a depleted squad at the ongoing U-23 World Wrestling Championship 2022 in Pontevedra after host country Spain denied visas to 21 of the 30 wrestlers chosen to represent India at the meet. According to the Spanish embassy in Delhi these wrestlers were likely to illegally overstay in Spain. 

National Conference on Tourist Police Scheme held in New Delhi

Tags: place in news Summits

The Union Ministry of Tourism in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) organised the National Conference on Tourist Police Scheme in New Delhi on 19 October 2022.

The conference was addressed by the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Minister for Tourism G. Kishan Reddy and others.

Status of Tourism in India 

According to the Tourism Statistics 2022 released by the Union Ministry of Tourism; 

• The total number of domestic tourists in 2021 was 677.63 million as compared to 610.22 million in 2020, an increase of 11.05 percent. 
• Tamilnadu received the maximum number of domestic tourists (140.65 million) followed by Uttar Pradesh (86.12 million).
• Due to restrictions related to COVID-19, the number of Foreign Tourists visiting India during 2021 decreased to 1.52 million as compared to 2.74 million in 2020, registering a negative growth of 44.5%.
• The favourite destination of the foreign tourists in 2021 was Tamilnadu (1.26 million tourists) followed by Maharashtra (1.23 million).
• India received maximum foreign tourists from the United States of America followed by Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Nepal.
• In 2021, foreign exchange earnings from tourism were US $ 8.797 billion as compared to US$ 6.959 billion in 2020, registering a positive growth of 26.4%.

PM Modi unveils Hal’s indigenous trainer aircraft HTT-40

Tags: Defence

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled HTT-40, an indigenous trainer aircraft designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), at the India Pavilion during 12th DefExpo in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on October 19, 2022. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendrabhai Patel were among those present on the occasion.

The HTT-40 would be used for basic flight training, aerobatics, instrument flying and close formation flights whereas its secondary roles would include navigation and night flying.

Earlier in the day the Prime Minister inaugurated the 12th DefExpo being held in Gandhinagar from 18-20 October 2022. The theme of the 12th DefExpo is Path to Pride Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 

It is owned by the Government of India. It comes under the ministry of Defence. 

Headquarters: Bengaluru

PM launches Gujarat government’s Mission Schools of Excellence at Trimandir, Adalaj, Gujarat

Tags: place in news Government Schemes State News

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi launched Mission Schools of Excellence at Trimandir, Adalaj, Gujarat on 19 October 2022.The Mission will help strengthen education infrastructure in Gujarat by setting up new classrooms, smart classrooms, computer labs and overall upgradation of the infrastructure of schools in the State.  During the event at Trimandir, the Prime Minister also launched projects worth around Rs 4260 crores. 

Mission Schools of Excellence 

 It is a five year Gujarat government project that aims to improve the quality of education in the state.  It is a World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) funded project. 

Budget of the project 

The total budget for the mission is Rs 10,000 crore. World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will provide a loan of Rs 7,500 crore for the Gujarat government's Mission School of Excellence project.

Aim of the Project 

• It will cover all 35,133 government and 5,847 grant-in-aid schools in the state. 
• The funds will be spent on building 50,000 new classrooms, creating 1.5 lakh smart classrooms, 20,000 new computer labs and 5,000 Atal  tinkering labs in 41,000-odd government and grant-in-aid schools across the state.
•  It is estimated that nearly one crore school students will benefit directly from this ambitious project in the next five years.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) 

• It is a multilateral development bank which was set up in 2016. 
• Its area of operation is in Asia and it provides loans to build Infrastructure of tomorrow -green infrastructure with sustainability, innovation and connectivity at its core.
• However its members are from around the world. At present it has 104 member countries.
• China is the majority shareholder of the bank and India is the second largest shareholder of the bank 
• The United States and Japan are not the members of the bank 
• AIIB has given maximum loans to India 

Current President of the Bank: Jin Liqun of China.

Headquarters: Beijing, China 

Madhya Pradesh to develop Meghdoot forest in Ujjain

Tags: Environment place in news State News

Madhya Pradesh government will develop land freed from illegal encroachments in and around Mahakal temple in Ujjain as an urban forest called as Meghdoot. It is being built under the second phase of Shri Mahakal Lok project. 

The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan performed bhoomipujan for the proposed Meghdoot forest in Ujjain on 18 October 2022. 

Mahakal Lok project has been launched by the Madhya Pradesh Government to develop the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain on the model of Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi. The first phase of the Mahakal Lok project was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 12 October 2022.

Meghdoot forest 

The Madhya Pradesh government has freed about 7 acres of land around the temple area which was under illegal encroachment. This area will be developed by the Ujjain Smart City as an urban forest named Meghdoot,  at a cost of Rs 11.36 crore. 

In the Meghdoot forest, there will be a beautiful entrance area, greenery area, walkways, along with seating, restaurant and a beautiful environment on the river banks.

Madhya Pradesh 

It is the second largest state area wise in India after Rajasthan.

According to the Indian State of Forest Report -2021, Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country area wise. 

25.14 % of its area is under forest cover.

14th World Spice Congress to be held on 16-18 February in Maharashtra

Tags: Summits National News

The 14th World Spice Congress (WSC), organised by Spices Board India in association with various trade and export farmers will be held on 16-18 February at CIDCO Exhibition and Convention Centre, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Important facts

• Organised by Spice Board India, this biennial event is the premier forum that brings together the global spice industry to deliberate on the problems and prospects in the spice sector.

• The event will deliberate on aspects such as production, processing, value addition, quality and safety, trade and supply chain management of spices in the new normalcy.

• The Spice Board is organising the World Spice Congress as G20 during India's G20 Presidency for the period from December 2022 to November 2023, with a greater focus on further strengthening India's trade ties with the G20 countries.

• 14th World Spice Congress Theme - ‘Vision 2030: SPICES’ (Sustainability– Productivity – Innovation – Collaboration- Excellence and Safety)."

About World Spice Congress

• It is a conglomerate of the global spice industry, which in its three decades long presence has become the most appropriate forum to deliberate upon the concerns and views of the sector.

• It is organised under the leadership of the Spices Board, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

• It was established in 1990.

• Spices Board (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) is the premier organisation for the development and worldwide promotion of Indian spices.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge elected as new party chief

Tags: Person in news

Mallikarjun Kharge was elected as the new Congress President on October 19, 2022 after securing 7,897 votes out of 9,385 votes. He defeated former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor.

Important facts

• This is the first time in more than 20 years that the Congress president will be from a non-Gandhi family, with Sitaram Kesari being removed without any formalities in 1998, two years after his five-year tenure.

• Kharge replaces Sonia Gandhi who is the widow of late PM Rajiv Gandhi, who served as the party president for 19 years.

• His son Rahul Gandhi was elected unopposed in 2017 but stepped down two years later, taking responsibility for the party's defeat in the 2019 general elections.

• Since then, Mrs Gandhi has been leading the party as interim president.

About Mallikarjun Kharge

• He is a member of the Dalit community from the southern state of Karnataka.

• He was born in 1942 in Bidar district.

• He studied law in his early days and represented labour unions, took an active interest in politics from his student days and joined the Congress party in 1969.

• He emerged as a Dalit leader, but he has been very fair with all other communities as well.

• Kharge served as a minister in several state governments.

• In 2009, he moved to central politics in Delhi and was elected as a Lok Sabha member from Gulbarga constituency for the first time.

• In 2009, he moved to central politics in Delhi and was elected as a Lok Sabha member from Gulbarga constituency for the first time.

• In 2021, he was elected to the upper house.

• In the 2019 elections, the Congress won only 53 seats as the BJP swept the elections with 303 seats in the 545-member house.

PM inaugurated India Urban Housing Conclave 2022 in Rajkot

Tags: National National News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated ‘Indian Urban Housing Conclave-2022’ (IUHC2022) a three-day event being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India from 19-21 October 2022 at Rajkot, Gujarat.

Important facts

• Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor were present on the occasion.

• The objective of the conclave is to showcase the achievements of other urban missions of MoHUA along with the successful implementation of PMAY-U by the States/UTs and their roadmap/action plan for promoting economic development and improving the quality of life of the people.

• In this Swachh Bharat Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart City Mission, Urban Transport, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana, National Urban Livelihoods Mission, SWANIDHI etc. Other urban missions will participate in this event.

The program included the following components -

1. Inauguration of Light House Project (LHP) Rajkot, Gujarat

2. National Exhibition on Innovative Construction Practices

3. Exhibition on best practices adopted by States/UTs under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban including Gujarat

4. affordable housing discussions

5. PMAY (U) Awards 2021 honoured