1. 22 stranded tourists freeze to death in Pakistan after heavy snowfall
Tags: International News
At least 22 people, including 10 children, froze to death in their vehicles after heavy snowfall at the popular hill station Murree in Punjab province of Pakistan.
- Due to heavy snowfall, all routes leading to the hill station were closed causing all cars to remain stranded.
- Government has declared Murree as a calamity-hit area after heavy snowfall wreaked havoc in the city
2. PM Modi sends 100 pair of jute footwear for those working at Kashi Vishwanath Dham
Tags: National News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent 100 pairs of jute footwear for those working at Kashi Vishwanath Dham, Varanasi so that those performing their duties do not have to stay bare-footed in the chilling cold.
- Leather or rubber made footwear is not allowed within the temple premise hence the PM sent the jute made footwears to the temple worker.
3. Global Surya Namaskar on Makar Sankranti Day
Tags: National News
The Ministry of AYUSH( Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homoeopathy ) is organising a global Surya Namaskar demonstration programme for 75 lakh people on January 14, the day of Makar Sankranti.
- This occasion commemorates thanksgiving to 'Mother Nature' for bestowing health, wealth and happiness.
- According to the ministry ,the Surya Namaskar has been known to develop immunity and improve vitality, which is significant to our health during pandemic conditions. Exposure to the Sun further provides the human body with Vitamin D, which has been widely recommended in all medical branches around the world.
- Surya Namaskar is a set of eight ‘asanas’ performed in 12 steps with coordination of the body and mind. It is preferably performed in the early morning.
Union Minister for AYUSH : Mr. Sabananda Sonowal
4. Government to start counselling of NEET PG from January 12, 2022
Tags: National News
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has announced the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Postgraduate) (NEET PG) counselling from January 12 ,2022.
- NEET-PG is a qualifying and ranking examination for postgraduate medical courses in government or private medical colleges.
- The Supreme Court on January 7, in an interim order, allowed resumption of counselling for NEET-PG admissions for 2021-22 while upholding the validity of 27% Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 10% Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota.
- Results of the NEET-PG were declared in the last week of September 2021, following which students had been waiting for the counselling to begin for nearly 45,000 postgraduate seats.
- The process was stalled after the Health Ministry’s proposal to reserve seats for EWS was challenged in court. The Supreme court stayed the counseling and asked the Government of India to explain the criteria it used for deciding EWS quota .
- Kindly see the 1 December 2021 post on EWS controversy
5. 26th December as ‘Veer Baal Diwas’
Tags: National News
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on the auspicious occasion of the Parkash Purab of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, has announced that starting this year, 26th December shall be observed as ‘Veer Bal Diwas’ to mark the martyrdom of Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji and Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji.
- Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji and Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji were two of the four sons of Guru Gobind singhji who were killed by the Mughals during Aurangzeb rule due to treachery .
- Guru Gobind singh ji was the 10th Guru of the Sikhs and Guru Granth Sahib is considered as the 11th Guru of the sikhs .Guru Granth Sahib or Adi Sri Granth Sahib ji is considered to be the holy book of Sikhism and it contains all the actual words spoken by the ten gurus of Sikhism.
Sikh religion was founded by Guru Nanak and he was the first of the ten Gurus of the Sikhs other being Guru Angad, Guru Amar Das , Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjan Dev, Guru Hargobind, guru har rai sahib ,Guru Har Krishan, Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh.
The entire Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurumukhi script, official script for writing Punjabi in the State of Punjab.
6. Maldives inks key deals with China
Tags: International News
Maldives and China on 8th January 2022 signed key bilateral agreements during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit, on developing and maintaining infrastructure in the Indian Ocean archipelago, besides agreeing on a visa-free travel arrangement for Maldivians intending to travel to China.
Highlights of his visit:
- Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid and his Chinese counterpart unveiled a special official logo to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the countries.
- The visa-waiver agreement between the two countries would allow Maldivians to travel to China on a 30-day visa free basis once the pandemic restrictions are lifted.
- The two governments signed an agreement of ‘Economic and Technical Cooperation’ on grant aid, focusing on social, livelihood, and infrastructure projects.
- The Government of Maldives signed a ‘Letter of Exchange’ on a ‘Feasibility Study of Management and Maintenance of China-Maldives Friendship Bridge’, for Chinese assistance in maintaining the 1.4-km bridge connecting capital Male with the island of Hulhumale.
- The bridge is considered China’s flagship project in the Maldives. Male owes Beijing about $1.4 billion from past loans, which President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s government has sought to “restructure”.
- China also agreed to back a sea-water desalination project and cooperate in the health sector
7. India tops Sri Lanka’s tourism List
Tags: National News
According to the Sri Lanka’s Tourism Development Authority, Indians topped the list of holiday makers in Sri Lanka in the month of October 2021, as the island nation is showing a gradual revitalisation of leisure tourism after being impacted by the pandemic.
The Tourism Authority said:
- The total number of international tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka during October 2021 was 22,771.
- India, the UK, Pakistan, Russia and Germany were the top five international tourist generating markets during October.
- India was the largest source of tourist visits to Sri Lanka with 37 per cent of the total traffic received in October.
- The UK and Pakistan accounted for 10 per cent and 9 percent of the total traffic respectively.
About Sri Lanka
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a tropical island nation off the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent. It is separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Munnar and the Palk Strait.
- Capitals: Colombo (Executive and Judicial) and Sri Jayawardenepura (Legislative).
- Official Languages: Sinhala and Tamil
- Currency: Sri Lankan Rupee
- President: Gotabaya Rajapaksha
- Prime Minister: Mahinda Rajapaksha
8. The Election Commission of India has announced the schedule for the assembly election in Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Tags: National News
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said for the 690 Legislative Assembly seats of the five states all elections will be completed in seven phases.
- For 403 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in May, election will be completed in seven phases i.e. first phase on February 10th, second phase on February 14th, third phase on February 20th, forth phase on February 23rd, fifth phase on February 27th, sixth phase on March 3rd and seventh phase on March 7th respectively.
- For 117 seats of the Punjab Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in March, election will be completed in single phase on February 14.
- For 70 seats of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in March, election will be completed in single phase on February 14.
- For 60 seats of the Manipur Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in March, election will be completed in two phases on February 27 and March 3 respectively.
- For 40 seats of the Goa Legislative Assembly whose term is ending in March, election will be completed in single phase on February 14.
- The results of all five states will be announced on March 10.
- Basic preparations will be taken to ensure Covid-19 safe election, hassle-free voter experience and maximum voters participation
- A total of 18.34 crore electors including service voters will take part in this election. Out of this, 8.55 crore are women electors.
- EVMs and VVPATs will be utilized in all the polling stations. Election Commission has already made arrangements to ensure an adequate number of EVMs and VVPATs for the smooth conduct of elections. In case of Senior citizens above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities and Covid-19 patients vote by postal ballot can be cast.
- No yatra, procession, road show, cycle bike, padyatras or vehicle rally or physical rally by political parties will be allowed up to 15 January. The situation will be reviewed and fresh instructions to be issued later.
No victory processions will be allowed after declaration of the results.
9. Opposition Parties demand parliamentary probe into Tek Fog app
Tags: National News
Reacting to a news report that Tek Fog app is being used to spread misinformation, make hate speeches and manipulate social media trends, opposition parties demanded the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs to take up the matter as such apps posed “severe danger” to national security. Separately, they also urged the Supreme Court to take note of news report on Tek Fog app, and have it examined by the expert panel that’s already looking into the alleged use of the Pegasus spyware on some Indian citizens.
What is Tek Fog App
According to “The Wire” Tek Fog is an application software used by the information technology cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party as part of their social media campaigning to spread propaganda.
- Tek Fog was used to manage large number of inauthentic accounts on social media.
- Tek Fog was capable of hacking inactive WhatsApp accounts in order to mass message their contacts with propaganda messages, while impersonating the account owner.
- The App can allow its users to take control of the trends on the social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by 'auto tweeting' and 'auto sharing' tweets and posts.
- The App has a cloud database where citizens store information about their age, occupation, religion, gender, political inclinations, and other physical attributes.
- The app also allows the user to completely delete all the evidence of the past activities they might have performed using the App
10. FCRA nod for Missionaries of Charity restored
Tags: National News
The Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) on Friday restored the FCRA registration of missionaries of Charity (MoC),the Catholic religious congregation set up by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa.
- The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration is mandatory to receive foreign donations.
- The registration of nearly 6,000 NGOs ceased to operate from January 1 as the MHA refused to renew their application or the NGOs did not apply for renewal.
- After this decision by MHA came out, there was a debate in the U.K Parliament, seeking to know if the British government had raised with India the issue of blocking of overseas funds of the MoC or not.
For more details on FCRA kindly refer to the 28th December 2021 post.
