Current Affairs of the date: 15 Nov 2022

1. Madhya Pradesh becomes the 8th state to notify PESA Rules in scheduled areas of the state

Tags: State News

 Madhya Pradesh has become the8th state in India to notify its Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) PESA Rules on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on 15th November, 2022.   At the State Level Janjatiya Gaurav Divas Sammelan at Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh, Governor of Madhya Pradesh Mangubhai Patel handed over the first copy of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA Act) Manual to the President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu.

It will empower the Gram Sabhas to take decisions on the rules and regulations with regard to all natural resources in the forest areas. The PESA Act will give more constitutional rights to the tribal people to reap the benefits of natural resources from the forest areas where they live.

In India Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana have notified their State PESA Rules under their respective State Panchayati Raj Acts.  Chhattisgarh had notified their PESA Rules on 8th August, 2022.

Scheduled Areas in India

The constitution has made special provision for the administration of areas which are mainly populated by the Scheduled Tribes. 

The constitution under article 244(1) makes special provision for the administration of certain areas called Scheduled Areas in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. These Scheduled areas are mentioned in Schedule 5 of the constitutions.

The Tribal areas under the state of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Meghalaya and provisions regarding administration are mentioned in Schedule 6 of the constitution.

Presently, 10 states Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana, have Fifth Schedule Areas in their respective States.

Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996” (PESA)

To bring the people residing in Fifth Schedule Areas in the mainstream, the Parliament, in terms of Article 243M(4)(b) of the Constitution, has enacted “the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996” (PESA) to extend Part IX of the Constitution, relating to Panchayats, to the Fifth Schedule areas, with certain modifications and exceptions. States, having Fifth Schedule Areas, have been empowered to frame Panchayat laws and rules for these areas.

All the states in the 5th Schedule have framed their state PESA rules under their respective State Panchayati Raj Acts, except Jharkhand and Odisha.

Panchayats are mentioned in the State list of the seventh schedule and the state government has the power to make rules law on it.

However, to bring uniformity in the Panchayats across the country and provide a framework, the Parliament passed the 73rdConstitutional amendment act 1992 which gave a constitutional status to the Panchayati raj institutions in India. However the power to frame the rules for their panchayat system is with the state government.

2. BASIC group ministerial meeting held at the COP27 in Egypt

Tags: Environment place in news Summits

The Ministers of Brazil, South Africa, India and China (BASIC group) met on 15 November 2022 at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP 27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. 

The meeting was chaired by the South African Environment minister Barbara Creecy and was attended by the Indian Environment minister Bhupendra Yadav, Brazilian Environment minister Joaquim Leite, Chinese special envoy on Climate change XIE Zhenhua. 

Currently South Africa is the chairman of the BASIC group and it rotates annually amongst the member countries. 

The ministers pledged their full support to the Egyptian COP27 Presidency for a successful conference. They emphasised the principle of common but different responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of national circumstances.

They expressed concern that the developed countries are not keeping up their promise of providing USD 100 billion per year financial aid to the Developing countries to deal with the adverse effect of climate change. In the 15th Conference of Parties meeting at Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009. The developed countries had promised such aid to the developing countries.

BASIC Group 

The BASIC Group of countries was formed by India, Brazil, South Africa and China in November 2009 just before the 15th Conference of Parties (COP) meeting at Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009.

The group was formed so as to collectively bargain with the Developed countries on issues such as reduction of greenhouse gasses and need of climate financing.

Brazil, South Africa, India and China together have one-third of the world's geographical area and nearly 40% of the world’s population.

China is the largest emitter of Carbon dioxide in the world and India is the third largest .The United States is the second largest emitter of Carbon dioxide in the world.

3. Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurates ‘Conference of Ministers of Industry/Mines/Steel of State Governments’ in New Delhi

Tags:

The Union Minister for Steel and Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated the “Conference of Ministers of Industry/Mines/Steel of State Governments “in New Delhi on 15 November 2022. The Conference has been organised by the Union Ministry of Steel.

Speaking on the occasion the minister said that India has made remarkable progress in the steel sector in the last 8 years. He said that the country which was earlier a net importer of the steel has now become a net exporter and is also the second largest producer of steel in the world after China.

On 28 October 2022 the Prime Minister while inaugurating the ArcelorMittal Nippon steel plant in Hazira had said that the government intends to double the production of crude steel to 300 million tonnes per annum in the next 9 to 10 years.   

Chairpersons/CMDs of PSUs under Ministry of Steel, representatives from the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Goa participated in the Conference. The  Union Ministries of Mines, Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Coal, NITI Aayog also  participated in the Conference.

4. Odisha Govt announces Rs 200 crores relief for drought hit distressed farmers

Tags: Economy/Finance State News

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on 15 November 2022 announced an input Assistance of Rs 200 crores for the distressed farmers of the drought-affected areas of the state. The entire expenditure would be borne by the State Government.

About 2,63560 hectares of cropland in 12 districts have suffered crop loss of 33 percent and above due to the drought in the state .  According to the Odisha government many affected farmers have not yet received their Crop Insurance dues from the Insurance companies. 

To help the farmers of the state the Chief Minister has decided to provide assistance out of the state’s own resources.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

• The Government of India launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in 2016 to provide a comprehensive insurance cover against the failure of the crops.
• The scheme has replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme.
• The scheme is being administered by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Family Welfare. 
• The insurance facilities to the farmers are provided by approved Insurance companies .
• The scheme has been made optional to the farmers since the 2020 Kharif season.

Premium to be paid for crop insurance by the farmers 

Government has fixed the premium which has to be paid by the farmers. They are as follows:

• For the Kharif crops (all food grains and oil seeds) the farmer has to pay 2% of the premium.
• For the Rabi crops (all food grains and oil seeds) the farmers will pay 1.5% of the premium.
• For the annual (Rabi and Kharif) horticulture and commercial crops the farmers will pay 5% of the premium.
• The rest of the premium amount is shared by the Central government and the concerned state government.

5. Telugu film superstar Krishna Garu passes away

Tags: Person in news

Veteran actor Ghattamaneni Krishna, famous as Krishna Garu and known in the Telugu film industry as ‘superstar, died on 15 November 2022 in Hyderabad. He was 80 years old.

He was the father of the Telugu film superstar Mahesh Babu. He starred in over 350 movies during his long career in the film industry. His first film was  Thene Manasulu released in 1965.  In 2009, he received the Padma Bhushan.

6. India hosts LeadIT Summit with Sweden at COP27, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Tags: Environment place in news Summits

India and Sweden hosted the LeadIT (Leadership for Industry Transition) Summit, on 15 November 2022 on the side-lines of Conference of Parties (COP) 27 being held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from 6-18 November 2022. The initiative focuses on low carbon transition of the industrial sector which is a major source of carbon emission in the world.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav co-hosted the summit with the Swedish Minister for Climate and the Environment  Ms. Romina Pourmokhtari.

Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT)

The Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) was launched by the governments of Sweden and India at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019 at New York City, United States of America.

It brings together countries and companies that are committed to action to achieve the 2016 Paris Agreement on reduction of carbon emission.

The LeadIT members are committed to achieving a net zero carbon emission.

7. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal inaugurates international travelling Exhibition “Vaccines Injecting Hope”

Tags: Festivals place in news Science and Technology Person in news

Union Minister of State for Culture & Parliamentary Affairs Ajun Ram Meghwal inaugurated an international travelling exhibition “Vaccines Injecting Hope” at the National Science Center, New Delhi on 15 November 2022.

The exhibition “Vaccines Injecting Hope” has been organised by the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) and Science Museum Group, London. 

The exhibition tells the story of the global effort to develop  covid vaccine  started on 15 November 2022 and will tour five cities of Delhi, Nagpur, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata till September 2025 and is expected to reach out to more than 2 million people.

The exhibition has sections on ‘The Arrival of New Virus’, ‘Designing a New Vaccine’, ‘Trials, Results and Approvals’, ‘Scaling Up and Mass Production’, ‘Vaccine Rollout’, ‘Living with COVID’.

Novel Coronavirus or Covid-19 

The novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan,China in December 2019 and was later declared a Public health emergency of International concern by the World Health Organisation on 30 January 2020 and a Pandemic on 11 March 2020.

The first case of the virus in India was confirmed in Kerala on 30 January 2020. 

Bharat Biotech, Indian Council of Medical Research and National institute of Virology, Pune developed an indigenous corona vaccine called Covaxin.

The Covid vaccination in India was started on 16 January 2021.

National Council of Science Museums (NCSM)

It is an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Culture. It is a premier body in the field of science communication.

It popularizes Science and Technology through a network of science centers, Mobile Science Exhibitions (MSE) units that visit rural schools and organise various activities for public and students in particular.

Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal

8. Jeff Bezos Amazon Company becomes the first company in history to lose $1 trillion market capitalisation

Tags: Economy/Finance International News

Jeff Bezos’s company Amazon has become the first publicly listed company in the world to lose a trillion dollars in market value as a combination of fear of recession, rising inflation, tightening monetary policies and slowdown in the earnings updates triggered a historic selloff in the stock. 

Shares in the e-commerce and cloud company have been declining in October and November month pushing its market value to about $879 billion from a record close at $1.88 trillion in July 2021. 

The Big five Tech companies of America, Intel, Microsoft, Alphabet (owner of Google),Meta (formerly Facebook) and Amazon share prices are falling in the United States as their growth prospects look uncertain in an economy plagued by fear of recession.

The top five US technology companies by revenue have lost nearly $4 trillion in market value this year. 

In October 2022, Amazon projected the slowest revenue growth for a holiday quarter in the company’s history as shoppers reduce their spending in the face of economic uncertainty. That sent its market value below $1 trillion for the first time.

What is Market capitalisation or M-cap?

Market capitalisation refers to the total number of free floating shares of a company in the market multiplied by the current market price of each share.

Explanation 

Suppose there is a company called Tata motors and its promoter is Mr Ratan Tata. The company has 100 shares and all the shares of the company are with Ratan Tata. Ratan Tata decides that he needs money. He decided to sell 20 shares of Tata motors to the public through the Tata Motors Initial Public offering (IPO) at Rs 10 per share. People will buy the shares and the Tata motors company will be listed on an Indian Stock Exchange like BSE after the completion of the process. 

Now Ratan Tata has only 80 shares of the company.

Keep in mind only 20 shares of the company will be listed on BSE as the company has sold only 20 shares to the public.  In Stock market language it will be said that the Tata motors free float is 20 shares not 100.

Now suppose the price of the Tata motors in the market is Rs 100 then the Market capitalization of the Tata Motors will be: Free floating share of the company X market price of the company’s single share.

Thus it will be 20X Rs 100= Rs 2000 

Types of Market capitalisation 

In India on the basis of market capitalization companies are classified into Large Cap, Mid-Cap and Small Cap. Here cap means capitalisation.

Publicly listed companies which have a market capitalization of Rs 20,000 crore or more are called as Large Cap companies.

Mid-Cap: Publicly listed companies which have a market capitalization of less than Rs 20,000 crores and up to Rs 5000 crore.

Small Cap: Publicly listed companies which have a market capitalization of less than Rs 5,000 crores. 

9. Central government releases Rs 13,000 crore from Contingency Fund for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana -Gramin

Tags: National Economy/Finance Government Schemes

The Union Finance Ministry has authorized release of Rs 13,000 crore from the Contingency Fund of India to meet the additional financial demand for implementing the Government of India's flagship Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Gramin (PMAY-G) programme in 2022-23. This amount is in addition to the Rs 20,000 crore allocated for the programme in the Union Budget 2022-23.

Reason for such unusual step 

The Government of India under the PMGY-G has set a target of building 52.78 lakh houses under the scheme in 2022-23.

In the first seven months (April-October 2022), the Union Rural Development Ministry has utilized Rs 16,785 crore which is about 84 per cent of the Rs 20,000 crore under the PMAY-G scheme. 

With several states demanding extra funds for construction of rural houses, the Union Rural Development Ministry had approached the Ministry of Finance way back in June for additional allocation

Funding pattern of the PMAY-G and Central government share 

Under the PMAY-G scheme, the government provides financial assistance of Rs 1.20 lakhs per beneficiary for construction of houses in rural areas in plain areas and in the North East and Hilly areas the assistance amount is Rs 1.30 lakhs per beneficiary.

The financial assistance shared between the Center and the States are as follows:

• In the plain areas the ratio of the Center and States is 60:40.
• In the hilly areas (8 Northeastern states, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) the ratio of the Center and States is 90:10.
• In the Union Territories the centre’s share is 100%.

PMAY-G and financial obligation of the Central Government for the remaining period 

• The Narendra Modi government when it came to power in 2014 changed the name of the Indira Awas Yojana to Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Gramin (PMAY-G) and it was re- launched on 20 November 2016.
• It set a target of providing “Housing to All” for rural areas to eligible beneficiaries by 2022 which was later extended to 2024. A total of 2.95 crore houses were to be constructed under the scheme.
• According to the government a total of 2.02 crore houses have been built till 15 August 2022.
• The government has set a target to build 52.78 lakh houses in 2022-23 and 57.34 lakh houses in 2023-24.
• According to the estimates of the Union Ministry of Rural Development which is implementing the scheme, a Central share of Rs 48,422 crore would be required to complete the target of 52.78 lakh houses in 2022-23. 
• However only Rs 20,000 crore was allocated in the Budget 2022-23. Thus the Union Rural Development Ministry asked the Union Finance Ministry to release the additional fund otherwise it will not be able to release the Centre’s share of the fund to the state government and the scheme will not be able to achieve the target.

Why Release of Funds from Contingency Fund?

• In the Union Budget the government mentions how much money is allocated to a Union Ministry and for which purpose.  If the ministry’s need for funds is more than those allocated in the budget then permission of the Parliament is needed. 
• For this purpose a supplementary demand for grants is brought before the Parliament requesting for extra funds. The Parliament authorizes the extra expenditure by passing the supplementary grants.
• In this case the Parliament's next winter session is expected to start in December 2022. The Rural development ministry wanted the extra fund now so that the scheme can achieve its target in time. The Finance Ministry agreed and released the fund from the 
• Contingency fund of India.

What is the Contingency Fund of India?

• Article 267 of the constitution provides for a Contingency Fund of India for the central government and for each state government. Parliament can set the fund for the Government of India and the concerned state legislature set up for its state government.
• The Contingency fund of India was set up under the Contingency Fund of India act 1950.
• Its corpus was increased from Rs 500 crore to Rs 30,000 crore in 2021-22. This fund is used to meet unforeseen expenditure like natural calamities etc.
• The Secretary, Ministry of Finance manages this fund on behalf of the President of India. There is no need for prior approval from the Parliament to spend the money from the Contingency Fund of India.

Union Minister for Finance: Nirmala Sitharaman 

Union Minister for Rural Development: Giriraj Singh 

10. "In our LiFEtime" Campaign launched by India at COP 27

Tags: Environment State News

The Ministry of Environment,  Forest and Climate Change and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), jointly launched the “In Our LiFEtime” campaign at an event of the COP 27 in Egypt on 14th November 2022.

Important facts

• The campaign aims to encourage youth between the age group of 18 to 23 years to become the messengers of sustainable lifestyles.

• The concept of LiFE was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP 26 in Glasgow on 1 November 2021.

• The campaign seeks to recognize young people around the world leading climate action initiatives that resonate with the concept of LiFE.

• Under this campaign youth will be encouraged to submit their climate actions which contribute lifestyle for the environment within their capacity.

• Youth are able to popularise new habits, adopt different technologies and are in a better position to contribute to the fight against climate change.

• Young people need to make low-carbon career choices and adopt such lifestyles as a part of their daily lives.

11. INDO - US Joint training Exercise“YUDH ABHYAS 2022” to commence in Uttarakhand

Tags: Defence National News

The 18th edition of Indo-US joint training exercise "Yudh Abhyas 22" will be held in Auli, Uttarakhand in November 2022.

Important facts

• The 'Yudh Abhyas' between India and the US is held annually with the aim of exchanging best practices, strategies, techniques and procedures between the armies of the two countries.

• The previous edition of this exercise was conducted in October 2021 at Joint Base Elmdorf Richardson, Alaska (USA).

• The US Army soldier from the 2nd Brigade of the 11th Airborne Division and Indian Army soldier from the Assam Regiment will participate in the exercise.

• The training schedule focuses on employment of an integrated battle group under Chapter VII of the UN Mandate.

• The training program will cover all functions related to peacekeeping and peace enforcement.

• Soldiers of both the countries will work together to achieve common objectives. The joint exercise will also focus on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.

• Troops of both the countries will practise launching quick and coordinated relief efforts in the wake of any natural calamity.

• The exercise was started in 2004 under the US Army Pacific Partnership Program.

Other Exercises between India and the USA

• Exercise Tiger Triumph - Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief exercise

• Exercise Vajra Prahar - Special Forces’ Exercise

• Cope India - Air Force

• Malabar Exercise - Quadrilateral naval exercise of India, USA, Japan and Australia

• Red Flag - US’ multilateral air exercise

12. World Population crosses 8 billion on 15 November 2022: United Nations

Tags: National International News

According to the United Nations (UN) the world human population has crossed the 8 billion mark on 15 November 2022 and it is expected to grow to 10.4 billion by 2080’s. The United Nations attributed the rise in population to a gradual increase in human longevity due to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene, and medicine. 

Historical growth of Human Population 

• According to the UN Population Fund , it took 12 years for the global population to go from 7 billion to 8 billion.
• In less than 100 years since 1930, the world population has grown four times. 
• The global human population crossed the billion milestone in 1804 and it took another 126 years to cross the 2 billion population mark in 1930.
• It crossed the 3 billion mark in the next 30 years, 4th billion in the next 14 years and the 5th billion in the next 13 years.
•  The annual population growth rate was highest between 1963 and 1972, at over 2 per cent. 
• The growth rate has declined since then, and has fallen below 1 per cent since 2021.

Future Projections of Human population growth 

• According to the United Nations it will take around 15 years until 2037 for it to reach 9 billion.
• It has been projected that the world population could grow to nearly 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.4 billion in 2100. 
• More than half of the projected increase in global population till 2050 will be concentrated in Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, and Tanzania. 
• India is projected to cross China as the world’s most populous country during 2023. 
• The most populous regions on Earth are Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with 2.3 billion people and Central and Southern Asia with 2.1 billion people. India and China 

According to the World Bank population projection:

• In 2022 China and India account for over a third of the world’s population, with China‘s share at 18.2 per cent and India’s at 17.7 per cent. 
• The world’s third most populous country, the United States of America and the fourth most populous Indonesia at present in 2022, have a share of 4.2 per cent and 3.5 percent of the global population respectively.
• This is expected to change by 2050, with India having the world’s highest population share at 16.8 percent, while China’s population share would have declined by over 4.2 per cent.
• India is projected to add over 2.3 billion people by 2050, while China’s population is projected to decline from 2030 onwards.
• At present Asia has the largest share of the world’s population, Africa is home to the youngest population with a median age of just 20, and Europe will have the oldest population on the globe  with a median age of around 43.

13. National Newborn Week

Tags: Important Days

In India, National Newborn Week is celebrated every year from 15 to 21 November.

Important facts

• The theme of this week is 'Safety, Quality and Nurturing Care - Every Newborn's Birth Right'.

• This week aims to reinforce the importance of neonatal health as a priority area of the health sector and reduce infant mortality by improving health care conditions for infants in the neonatal period.

• The main purpose of celebrating this week is to raise awareness about the care of newborn babies.

• The period of a child's neonatal period (the first twenty-eight days of life) is critical, as this period carries a higher risk of death than any other period during childhood.

• According to government statistics, every year 2.6 million babies die in the first week and in addition 2.6 million babies are stillborn every year.

• Prematurity, complications during birth and severe infections are the major causes of neonatal death.

14. Union Minister of Power & New and Renewable Energy launches the Green Energy Open Access portal

Tags: National National News

The Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, RK Singh, launched the Green Energy Open Access Portal through video conferencing on November 11, 2022, in continuation of several initiatives of the Government of India to promote clean and green energy.

Important facts

• This portal will allow electricity consumers with a sanctioned load of 100 kW or more to get the supply of renewable energy.

• Under the new system, any consumer with a sanctioned load of 100 kW or more "can get renewable energy through an open access portal from any renewable power generation plant set up by him or any developer."

• This open access has to be given within 15 days. An application for open access can be made on this portal.

• These stakeholders include Open Access Participants, Traders, Power Exchanges, National/Regional/State Load Despatch Centres, Central/State Transmission Utilities.

• The portal provides a transparent, simplified, uniform and streamlined process for providing open access to green energy.

• This will be instrumental in making electricity markets more convenient and enabling integration of renewable energy (RE) resources into the grid.

Objectives of the Portal

• The portal aims to ensure affordable, reliable, sustainable and green energy for all. Consumers can now easily access renewable energy.

Green Energy Open Access Rules, 2022

• The Ministry of Power had notified the Electricity (Promotion of Renewable Energy through Green Energy Open Access) Rules- 2022 on June 6, 2022.

• The objective of these rules is to promote production, purchase and consumption of green energy including electricity from waste to power plants.

• As per the rules, green open access is allowed to any consumer and the open access transaction limit for green energy has been reduced from 1 MW to 100 kW so that even small consumers can buy renewable energy through open access.

15. The third edition of Coastal Defence Exercise 'Sea Vigil-22' began on 15 November

Tags: Defence National News

The third edition of the two-day 'Sea Vigil-22' is commencing on the eastern seaboard from November 15 as part of an all-India coastal defence exercise.

Important facts

• The exercise was conceptualised in the year 2018 among various measures initiated to enhance maritime security since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

• The exercise will be conducted along the country's 7,516 km long coastline covering India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

• The exercise will involve all coastal states, union territories and other maritime stakeholders including fishing and coastal communities.

• The exercise is being conducted by the Indian Navy in coordination with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the ministries tasked with maritime activities.

• This exercise is a build-up towards the major Theatre Level Readiness Operational Exercise (TROPEX), which is conducted by the Indian Navy every two years.

• 'Sea Vigil' and 'TROPEX' together will cover the entire spectrum of maritime security challenges.

• Assets from the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Customs and other maritime agencies will participate in the 'Sea Vigil' exercise.

• Apart from the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Customs and other Central/State agencies are also assisting in the conduct of this exercise.

• The exercise will provide a realistic assessment of India's strengths and weaknesses, which will help further strengthen maritime and national security.

16. Mary Kom, PV Sindhu, Mirabai Chanu and Gagan Narang elected in IOA Athletes Commission

Tags: Sports Sports News

Olympic medalists MC Mary Kom, PV Sindhu, Mirabai Chanu and Gagan Narang are among 10 eminent sports persons selected as members of the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) Athletes Commission on November 14, 2022.

Important facts

• The other seven members of the apex body are - Tokyo Olympics silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, 2012 Olympics bronze winner shooter Gagan Narang, veteran table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal, hockey player Rani Rampal, cyclist Bhavani Devi, rower Bajrang Lal and former shot putter OP Karhana.

• All the 10 elected members of the apex body, five men and five women, were elected unopposed in the election.

• India's first Olympic individual gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindra and former hockey captain Sardar Singh will join the commission as members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Asian Olympic Council (OCA), both with voting rights.

• Bindra was elected a member of the IOC Athletes Commission for eight years in 2018 while Sardar Singh became a member of the OCA Athletes Commission for four years in 2019.

• Under the new constitution of the Indian Olympic Association, the commission should have an equal number of female and male representatives.

• Two members of the commission will be in the IOA Executive Council whose election is to be held on December 10.

President of the Indian Olympic Association  - Adil Sumariwala  

President of the International Olympic Committee - Thomas Bach 

Headquarters of IOC - Lussanne , Switzerland

17. Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement award will be given to Spanish film director Carlos Saura at 53rd IFFI

Tags: Festivals

Spanish film director and writer Carlos Saura will be honoured with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 at the upcoming 53rd edition of the International Film Festival of India in Goa.

Important facts

• The 53rd edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be held in Goa from November 20 to 28, 2022.

• This year 280 films from 79 countries will be screened here. 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films from India will be screened in the 'Indian Panorama', while 183 films will be part of international programming.

• This year the feature film and non-feature segments will see the opening of 'HadinLentu' and 'The Show Must Go On' festivals.

• France is the 'Spotlight' country this time and 8 of its films will be screened under the Country Focus package.

• The 'Homage' section will include 15 Indian and 5 international films.

• To promote films from Northeast India, 5 feature and 5 non-feature films will celebrate the golden jubilee of Manipuri cinema.

• Other special attractions include the Shigmotsav (Spring Festival) on November 26 and the Goa Carnival on November 27, 2022.

• CBC will organise an exhibition on the theme of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

• Austrian film 'Elma and Oscar' directed by Dieter Berner will open the festival, while Christoph Zanussi's 'Perfect Number' will be the closing film here.

18. Janjatiya Gaurav Divas

Tags: Important Days

In the year 2022, for the second time in the country, Janjatiya Gaurav Divas is being celebrated on 15 November. Jharkhand's foundation day is also celebrated on 15 November, the birthday of Birsa Munda, who is known as Dharti Aaba. Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in the year 2000 as a new state.

Important facts

• President Droupadi Murmu paid tributes to Bhagwan Birsa Munda at Ulihatu village in Khunti district of Jharkhand on this occasion.

• The Central Government declared 15 November as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas in the year 2021 to remember the contribution of tribal communities in the history and culture of the country.

• The date was chosen because it is the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, who was an Indian freedom fighter, religious leader and folk hero of the Munda tribe of the Chota Nagpur plateau region.

• Tribal communities such as the Santhals, Tamars, Kol, Bhil, Khasi and Mizos participated strongly in India's freedom struggle through several movements.

• Santal rebellion, Khasi rebellion, Phukan and Barua rebellion, Naga struggle, Bhutia Lepcha rebellion, Palamu rebellion, Kharwar rebellion etc. are many such movements for independence, which shook the foundation of British rule.

About Birsa Munda

• Birsa Munda was an Indian freedom fighter, religious leader and folk hero of the Munda tribe of the Chota Nagpur Plateau region.

• He was born on 15 November 1875 at Ulihatu in the erstwhile Bengal Presidency which is now in Khunti district of Jharkhand.

• He took Hindu religious lessons from a Vaishnava saint and studied ancient scriptures along with Ramayana and Mahabharata.

• He led an Indian tribal movement in the tribal region of modern Jharkhand and Bihar during British rule in the late 19th century.

• Munda Rebellion was one of the most important tribal movements, led by Birsa Munda in the south of Ranchi in 1899-1900.

• In March 1900, while fighting the British with his guerrilla army, Munda was arrested in the Jamkopai forest of Chakradharpur. He died a few months later, on 9 June, while in custody.

19. Jitendra Singh dedicates first Indian Biological Data Center to the nation

Tags: Science and Technology

Union Minister of state for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh dedicated India’s first national repository for life science data ‘Indian Biological Data Center’ (IBDC) to the nation on 10 November 2022 at Faridabad. 

About Indian Biological Data Center

• In this data centre Indian researchers will store biological data from publicly funded research.

• The digitised data will be stored on a four-petabyte supercomputer called ‘Brahm’. A petabyte equals 10,00,000 gigabytes (gb).

• The government has mandated that data on all publicly funded research should be stored in this central repository.

• It will not only provide researchers a platform to securely store their data within the country, but also provide access to a large database of indigenous sequences for analysis.

• The Bio-Bank currently accepts nucleotide sequences to digitise the genetic of humans, plants, animals and microbes.

• The bio-bank now has 200 billion base pair data, including 200 human genomes sequenced under the '1,000 Genomes Project', an international effort to map genetic variations in people.

• The project will also focus on populations that are vulnerable to certain diseases.