1. National Conference on E-Governance 2022
Tags: National News
The 24th National Conference on E- Governance 2022 was held at Hyderabad on 7 and 8 January 2022.
It was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh.
- The conference has been organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, in association with the State Government of Telangana
- The theme of this Conference is ‘India’s Techade: Digital Governance in a Post Pandemic World’.
2. South Asian Consultation on Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework
Tags: International News
A two-day meeting of the South Asian Consultation Meeting on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework was held in New Delhi on 6-7 January 2022.
- The meeting was attended by the representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan
- Afghanistan was not invited as no country in South Asia has recognised the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
- The meeting was inaugurated by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav.
3. India’s first Open Rock Museum inaugurated
Tags: National News
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated India’s first unique “Rock” Museum on the campus of CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI). Hyderabad .
- The Open Rock Museum displays around 35 different types of rocks from different parts of India with ages ranging from 3.3 Billion years to around 55 Million years of the Earth’s history.
- These rocks also represent the deepest part of the earth up to 175 kms of distance from the surface of the earth.
4. Cheetah to be Introduced in India
Tags: National News
An Action Plan regarding the introduction of Cheetah in India was released by the Union Minister for Environment and Forest Bhupendra Yadav .The action plan was released at the 19th Meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
- The Union Environment Minister announced that 50 Cheetahs will be introduced in the different National Parks in the country in a span of 5 years.
- The Cheetah, which is the fastest animal on land, was declared extinct in 1952 in India .
- The African Cheetah from South Africa was expected to be reintroduced in Madhya Pradesh-based Kuno National Park in November 2021,but it was delayed due to the Corona pandemic.
5. Government approves Green Energy Corridor Phase-II
Tags: National News
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today approved the Green Energy Corridor (GEC) Phase-II for Intra-State Transmission System (InSTS).
- The scheme will facilitate grid integration and power evacuation of approximately 20 GW of Renewable Energy (RE) power projects in seven States namely, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
- The transmission line is approximately 10,750 circuit kilometres (ckm).
Funding cost
- The scheme is targeted to be set up with a total estimated cost of Rs. 12,031.33 crore .
- The contribution of the Central Government will be 33% of the cost of around Rs 3970.34 crore .
Target date of completion
The transmission systems will be created over a period of five year from Financial Year 2021-22 to 2025-26.
- The scheme will help in achieving the target of 450 GW installed RE capacity by 2030.
Green Energy Corridor Phase-I
This scheme is in addition to GEC-Phase-I which is already under implementation in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu for grid integration and power evacuation of approx. 24 GW of RE power and is expected to be completed by 2022.
6. US records million daily new cases of Covid
Tags: International News
The United States became the first country in the world to report more than a million new cases of covid .
- It reported 1,080,211 cases on 3 January 2022.
- The Omicron variant of the coronavirus , accounts for the majority of cases in the US.
- The Covid-19 case was first detected in Wuhan, China .
7. Russia-led military alliance CSTO to send peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan
Tags: International News
The Russian Led military alliance ,Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), has said that it will dispatch peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan after the country’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked for help in controlling protests that escalated into violence in various parts of Kazakhstan and rioting in its largest city Almaty.
- The protest started after the government doubled the cost of liquefied petroleum gas which is used in vehicles as it was cheaper than other fuels .
- The protest later spread to many parts of the country with broader demands for increased political representation and improved social benefits.
- Prime Minister Askar Mamin resigned amid the protestand the government has imposed an emergency in the country .
- Alikhan Smailov has been appointed acting Prime Minister.
- Kazakhstan is an oil rich country but its rulers are considered to be corrupt and autocrats .
Kazakhstan
The capital of Kazakhstan is Nur-Sultan
Currency Tenge
President : Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organisation )
- It is a military alliance of the former Soviet Union countries .
- It was set up in 1992 as Unified Armed Forces , which was later renamed as CSTO in 2002.
- At present the member countries are Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
- The Headquarter of CSTO is Moscow, Russia
8. Logo and Mascot of the 25th National Youth Festival unveiled
Tags: National News
Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Shri Anurag Thakur and Lt. Governor of Puducherry Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan unveiled the Logo and Mascot of the 25th National Youth Festival on 5 January 2021 in Puducherry.
- The 25t National Youth Games will be held in Puducherry from 12th -16th January 2022.
- The festival will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi .
- The tag-line or theme of the National Youth Festival is , Shaksham Yuva Shashakth Yuva meaning Capable Youth- Forceful Youth, Able Youth- Strong Youth.
National Youth Festival
- National Youth Festival is organized by the Government of India every year in collaboration with one of the States from January 12th to 16th to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda i.e. 12th January.
- It was started in 1995 as a major activity under the programme of National Integration Camp (NIC)
- The 24 th National Youth Festival was held in Virtual mode due to Covid.
Swami Vivekananda's birthday on January 12 is always celebrated as National Youth Day and the week commencing from that day is known as the National Youth Week
9. Government of India launches SAAR
Tags: National News
As part of the Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav (AKAM) celebrations across the country, the Smart Cities Mission, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs ( MoHUA) has launched “Smart cities and Academia Towards Action & Research (SAAR)” program’
- It is a joint initiative of MoHUA, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and 15 leading Indian academic institutions of the country.
- Under the program, 15 premier architecture & planning institutes of the country will be working with Smart Cities to document landmark projects undertaken by the Smart Cities Mission.
- The compendium will act as a first point of reference for future research in the field, help disseminate learnings from projects under the Mission, act as a repository for Urban Projects, and contribute to dissemination of best practices and peer-to-peer learning.
- The 75 projects covered in the compendium are distributed across 47 Smart Cities. The partner institutes documenting the projects include inter alia Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Center for Environment Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi, and School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal.
The SAAR project includes 75 urban projects distributed across 47 Smart cities.
The cities include: Agra, Ajmer, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Dharamshala, Faridabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Saharanpur, Shimla, Srinagar, Belgavi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Kakinada, Kochi, Manguluru, Shivamogga, Thanjavur, Thiruchirapalli, Thiruvananthapuram, Tumakuru, Ahmedabad, Dahod, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Surat, Thane, Vadodara, Bhubaneswar, New Town Kolkata, Ranchi, Vishakhapatnam, Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Raipur, Sagar, Ujjain, Jabalpur, Agartala, Gangtok, and Namchi.
10. Six One District One Product brands launched under the PMFME scheme
Tags: National News
Union Minister for Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Shri Pashupati Kumar Paras and Minister of State, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel launched six, One District One Product (ODOP) brands under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme at New Delhi.
- The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has signed an agreement with NAFED for developing 10 brands of selected ODOPs under the branding and marketing component of the PMFME scheme. Out of these, six brands namely Amrit Phal, Cori Gold, Kashmiri Mantra, Madhumanthra, Somdana, and Whole Wheat Cookies of Dilli Bakes were launched on 5 january 2022.
Launched Brands :-
- Amrit Phal : It is an Amla juice extract exclusively developed under the ODOP concept for Gurugram, Haryana.
- Cori Brand: It has been developed for coriander powder which is the identified ODOP for Kota, Rajasthan
- Kashmiri Mantra Brand : It is a spice brand of Kulgam, Jammu and Kashmir.
- Madhu Mantra Brand: It has been developed under the ODOP concept for honey from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
- Whole wheat cookies: It is the second product developed under the brand Dilli Bakes for Delhi.
- Somdana Brand has been developed under the ODOP concept of millets from Thane, Maharashtra.
All the products will be available at National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) Bazaars, E-commerce platforms, and prominent retail stores across India.
For more information about PMFME Scheme click here.
To know more about One District One Product Scheme click here.
