1. 1000 Khelo India centers to be opened across country by August 15: Anurag Thakur
The Union Ministry for Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur on 9 December 2022 informed the Lok Sabha that one thousand Khelo India sports centers will be set up in the country by 15 August 2023. He said that the government has so far approved 773 centers.
Khelo India Sports Center Scheme
The Khelo India Centers have been launched by the Union Sports Ministry in partnership with the state governments to ensure the availability of grassroots-level sports infrastructure across the country.
In June 2020 the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had announced plans to set up 1000 new Khelo India Centers, all over India. At least each district of the country will have one Khelo India Sports Center.
An exception has been made for the North-East states, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Ladakh where two centers are to be established per district.
What will the Khelo India Sports Center Do?
The center will focus on developing sports infrastructure and provide training to the sportsperson in one discipline.
The respective state governments will have to hire former athletes to facilitate the management of these centers in a proposed low-cost and effective sports training mechanism.
The central government will provide financial assistance for the remuneration of the past champion athletes as coach, support staff, purchase of equipment, sports kits, consumables, participation in competition and events.
2. Over 16 lakh people renounce Indian citizenship since 2011
Tags: National
According to the government of India over 16 lakh Indians have given up Indian citizenship since 2011 including 183,741 this year. The information was given in the Rajya Sabha on 9 December 2022 by the Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan.
Number of Indian who gave up Citizenship
Year | Number of Indians who gave up their citizenship |
2011 | 1,22,819 |
2012 | 1,20,923 |
2013 | 1,31,405 |
2014 | 1,29,328 |
2015 | 1,31,489 |
2016 | 1,41,603 |
2017 | 1,33,049 |
2018 | 1,34,561 |
2019 | 1,44,017 |
2020 | 85,256 |
2021 | 1,63,370 |
2022( till 31 October ) | 1,83,741 |
Total | 16,21,561 |
The total number of Indians who gave up Indian citizenship since 2011 comes to 16, 21,561.
Foreigners who took Indian Citizenship excluding citizens of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
The minister said that excluding the citizens of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, the number of foreign nationals who took Indian citizenship was 93 in 2015, 153 in 2016, 175 in 2017, 129 in 2018, 113 in 2019, 27 in 2020, 42 in 2021 and 60 in 2022.
3. World Bank’s flagship Gender Toolkit launched
Tags: National News
The World Bank launched the 'Toolkit on Enabling Gender-Responsive Urban Mobility and Public Spaces in India' on 8 December.
The toolkit was launched at a session organised by the World Bank and the Chennai Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority in Chennai.
About Gender Toolkit
The toolkit from World Bank contains practical tools that can inform a wide set of policymakers as well as private or community-based organisations to help ensure safe and inclusive public transport for women in India.
It aims to guide Indian cities on how to design public transport that is more inclusive of women's travel needs.
It aims to spotlight gender issues surrounding mobility and city design.
It recommends integrating gender equality into new and existing transport policies and plans.
It also talks for increasing representation of women in decision making in key institutions such as urban local bodies and public transport authorities.
The continued poor representation of women as frontline workers in public transport reinforces the perception that women feel unsafe in public transport.
Background of the toolkit
The toolkit has been designed in response to a 2019 World Bank-supported survey of 6,048 respondents in Mumbai.
This survey found that between 2004 and 2019, men shifted to two-wheelers to commute to work, while women used auto-rickshaws or taxies, which tend to be more costly (per trip) than two wheelers.
India has amongst the lowest female labour force participation rates globally, at 22.8 per cent in 2019-20.
4. Japan, Britain and Italy to jointly build sixth generation fighter jets
Tags: Defence International News
Japan, Britain and Italy are merging their next-generation jet fighter projects to build an advanced front-line 6th generation fighter into operation by 2035. It is for the first time that Japan is collaborating in a defence project without the participation of the United States of America since World War Two. It is seen as a move by Japan to counter an increasingly assertive China and Russia in the region.
The project will merge the British-led Future Combat Air System project, also known as Tempest, with Japan's F-X programme in a venture called the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
Britain's BAE Systems, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Italy's Leonardo will lead design of the aircraft, which will have advanced digital capabilities in AI and cyber warfare.
The newly developed fighter plane will replace Britain’s Typhoon fighters and Japan’s F -22 fighter plane.
Britain, Italy and Japan are part of the US fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter program and parts of the planes are assembled in Italy and Japan. The new jet is not expected to affect the F-35 program.
China and Russia also are developing the 6th generation fighter plane. At present China has 5th generation fighter planes J-20 and J-31, while the Russian 5th generation planes are Su-57.
India which has the Rafale fighter plane is considered to be a 4.5 generation plane.
5. Govt extends rooftop solar scheme till March 2026
Tags: Government Schemes National News
The government on 8 December said the rooftop solar programme has been extended till March 31, 2026, and therefore, subsidy under the programme will be available until the target for the scheme is achieved.
Important facts
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has advised that all residential consumers should not pay extra amount to any company for applying on the National Portal, nor should they pay more than the amount fixed by the concerned distribution company for metre and testing.
The ministry said that any vendor, agency or individual demanding additional charges should be informed about the same through email.
Consumers wishing to install solar panels on the roof of their houses can apply through the National Portal.
Under this program, the central government gives a subsidy of Rs 14,588 per kilowatt to a person who installs solar panels on the roof of his house.
About Rooftop Solar Scheme
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is implementing the Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Scheme (Phase II) to generate solar power by installing solar panels on the roof of houses.
Phase II aims to achieve a cumulative capacity of 40,000 MW from Rooftop Solar Projects by the year 2022.
The objective of the programme is to promote the grid-connected SPV rooftop and small SPV power generating plants among the residential, community, institutional, industrial and commercial establishments.
To ease the implementation of the scheme, a National Portal was developed, which was launched by PM Modi on 30 July 2022.
The central government has set a target of 450 GW of renewable energy generation by 2030.
Under this, many schemes are also going on, in which a target has been set to provide more than 17 lakh solar pumps to farmers in the country through Pradhan Mantri-Kusum Yojana.
6. DCGI allows the export of SII made Ebola vaccine for export to Uganda
Tags: Science and Technology International News
The Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) on 8 December 2022 approved the export of India’s first Ebola vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) to Uganda.
The vaccine has been developed by SII in collaboration with Oxford University, United Kingdom. This vaccine will be used for solidarity clinical trials in Uganda.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has sought collaboration with manufacturers of Ebola vaccines for the prevention of the disease and has selected ChAdOx1 biEBOV as a potential vaccine for participation in a solidarity clinical trial in Uganda.
Oxford University signed an agreement with Serum Institute of India to manufacture ChAdOx1 biEBOV.
Serum Institute of India situated in Pune is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world. SII makes vaccines for Covid-19, diphtheria, BCG, measles, rubella and others.
CEO of SII: Adar Poonawala
Ebola Virus
It was first reported in 1972 in South Sudan and in a village near Ebola River in Democratic Republic of Congo. Hence it is called the Ebola virus.
The virus can spread through direct contact with an infected animal (bat or nonhuman primate) or a sick or dead person infected with Ebola virus.
7. Nirmala Sitharaman among 6 Indians on Forbes list of world's most powerful women
Tags: Reports International News
Forbes on December 7 released its annual list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World, 2022, in which six women from India feature.
Important facts
It includes Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, HCL Tech Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra and Nykaa CEO Falguni Nair along with two more names.
The Finance Minister of India has been included in this list for the fifth time in a row.
This list also includes 39 CEOs and 10 heads of state, apart from this it includes 11 billionaires, whose total assets are $ 115 billion.
The list was determined by four main metrics: money, media, impact and spheres of influence.
Name of six Indians
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman - ranked 36, is on the list for the fourth time in a row.
Roshini Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCLTech - ranked 53rd.
Madhabi Puri Buch, Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) -ranked 54th.
Soma Mondal, Chairperson of the Steel Authority of India - ranked 67.
Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited - ranked 72.
Falguni Sanjay Nayar, the founder and CEO of the beauty and lifestyle retail company Nykaa - ranked 89th.
Top 3 women in the world in Forbes list
The list was topped by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who played a key role in handling COVID -19 crisis, the Russia-Ukraine war, etc.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde stood at second position on the list.
US Vice President Kamala Harris ranked third on the list.
Iran's Zina "Mahsa" Amini was posthumously ranked 100th on the influential list. His death in September sparked one of Iran's worst public protests.
8. U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, COP 15 commences in Montreal, Canada
Tags: Environment place in news Summits International News
The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, known as Conference of Parties (COP-15) commenced in Montreal, Canada on 7 December 2022. The two weeklong conference (7-19 December 2022) was originally scheduled to be held in Kunming, China in October but was shifted to Montreal, Canada due to covid situation in China.
This is the second part of the COP15. The first part was hosted by China on 18 August 2021 virtually and the second part was to be held in a face to face conference but it has been shifted from China to Canada. However the host of the COP15 in Montreal is still China.
The Conference focuses on saving the nature
The Biological diversity conference focuses on nature. It is different from the UNFCCC (United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change ) organised Conference of Parties(CoP) which focuses on the problem of global warming and climate change due to emission of greenhouse gasses.
The Biological Diversity conference will focus on nature and how to stop and reverse the degradation of our nature by 2030.
Main issues that will be discussed at the Montreal conference are;
- One of the most notable draft targets is to conserve 30% of land and sea areas globally by 2030.
- It will aim to adopt a global framework for biodiversity to halt and reverse losses of the world's plants, animals, and ecosystems.
- Fair and equitable sharing of the benefits of natural genetics resources.
United Nation Convention on Biological Diversity
It is a multilateral treaty which was signed by the countries at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It came into force on 29 December 1993. At present 194 countries are its signatories.
It has 3 main objectives:
- The conservation of Biological diversity
- The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity
- The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
Conferences of the Parties/COP
- Countries which have signed the conventions are called Conferences of the Parties. The meeting of the Conferences of the Parties is also called COP
- The first COP -1 was held in Nassau, Bahamas 1994.
- The 14th meeting was held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt (17-19 November 2018)
- It is held after every two years but due to covid it was held in 2021.
9. Indiana sues social media app 'TikTok' over data security, inappropriate content
Tags: International News
Indiana's attorney general on 7 December sued Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, claiming it misled its users, particularly children, about the level of inappropriate content and security of consumer information.
Important facts
Indiana's attorney general Todd Rokita has accused TikTok's parent company ByteDance of violating the state's consumer protections laws.
Indiana is a US state in the Midwestern United States.
Two lawsuits have been filed in the US on Tiktok. The first lawsuit claimed the app provided inappropriate content to young users.
The second complaint alleges that TikTok does not disclose the Chinese government's ability to access sensitive consumer information.
The announcement of the lawsuits comes after other US states drafted legislation to ban TikTok.
Meanwhile, Texas, South Dakota and South Carolina have banned the use of TikTok from being used on state government equipment.
About TikTok
This is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
The app has been targeted by Republicans who say the Chinese government could access its user data like browsing history and location.
US armed forces also have prohibited the app on military devices.
Tiktok has been banned in India too in 2021.
10. Dina Boluarte assumes office as first female President of Peru
Tags: Person in news International News
Peru's President Pedro Castillo has been impeached. In his place, Vice President Dina Boluarte has been sworn in as President on 7 December. Dina is the first female President of the country. She will hold the post till 2026.
Important facts
In the 130-member parliament, 101 voted in favor of the motion, while only 6 voted in support of the president. 10 MPs abstained from voting.
Francisco Morales, head of Peru's constitutional court, ordered Vice President Dina Boluaarte to assume the presidency in a speech before parliament voted on an impeachment motion.
Police have taken Pedro Castillo into custody in the capital Lima.
Pedro Castillo was elected as the President of Peru in July 2021.
While in office, he faced an investigation over allegations of corruption.
About Peru
President - Dina Boluarte
Capital - Lima
Currency - sole
