1. Bulandshahr prison foods becomes the 2nd jail in UP to be rated five star by FSSAI
Tags: place in news State News
The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has awarded the food provided by the Bulandshahr prison of Uttar Pradesh a five-star rating and the tag 'Eat Right Campus'. Bulandshahr Jail is the second prison after Farrukhabad jail to get this tag from Uttar Pradesh.
The FSSAI team inspected the kitchen's food quality, storage and hygiene on stringent measures, based on which the Bulandshahr prison was given a five-star rating, the 'Eat Right Campus' tag in addition to the remark of 'Excellent' by the FSSAI.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been set up under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
- It was set up on 5 September 2008.
- It comes under the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
- FSSAI is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety.
Headquarters: New Delhi
Chairperson of FSSAI: Rita Teaotia
2. Dharmadam, Kerala becomes first complete library constituency in India
Tags: place in news National State News
The Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s constituency Dharmadam has become the first complete library constituency in India. In his Facebook post, the chief minister Vijayan said that out of the total 138 wards in the constituency, there were no libraries in 63 wards. However, with the help of a people’s organization, People’s Mission for Social Development, this task was completed.
Library and Kerala
Kerala which was the first state to achieve 100% literacy status in India is also perhaps the only state in India that has a library in every village.
Puthuvayil Narayana Panicker of Kerala is also known as the Father of the Library Movement in India.
- He started Granthashala Sangam with about 50 small libraries in 1945 in Kerala which grew into a large network of thousands of libraries.
- To honour and acknowledge P.N.Panicker ,Kerala Government declared June 19, his death anniversary, as Vayanadinam (Reading Day) in 1996
- In 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared June 19 his death anniversary as National Reading Day in India. The following month is also observed as National Reading Month in India.
3. Madhya Pradesh Government to build Atal Bihari Vajpayee's grand memorial in Gwalior: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Tags: place in news State News
The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that the state government will build a huge statue of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and a research centre as part of his grand memorial in Gwalior.
He was speaking on 25 December 2022 at the 'Gwalior Gaurav Diwas' function to mark the 98th birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The event was also attended by Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narendra Singh Tomar. Vajpayee was born in Gwalior on December 25, 1924.
The Madhya Pradesh government has allotted nearly 4,050 hectares of land in Sirol area of Gwalior to build a memorial of Vajpayee.
On the occasion, noted sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, eminent scientist Dr VK Saraswat, cardiologist Dr Jamal Yusuf, international hockey player Ishika Chowdhary and educationist OP Dixit were awarded the 'Gwalior Gaurav Samman', while renowned poet Hariom Pawar was presented the 'Atal Kavi Samman'.
4. Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur inaugurates Sports Science Center in Udupi, Karnataka
Tags: place in news Sports Person in news State News
Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur inaugurated the Sports Science Centre in Udupi on 24 December 2022. The sports science center has been set up by the government of Karnataka.
The state government has set up two sports science centers at Udupi and Bengaluru .These centers will conduct research on medicines, nutritious food, treatment and rehabilitation measures for sportspersons, which would help them to boost their abilities. The Minister said that many more such sports science centers will come up. In the future.
National Center of Excellence
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) under the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has also set up its own Sports Science Center at its
21 National Centres of Excellence (NCOE) and two high performance centers (Bengaluru and Patiala).
It has also set up a National Centre for Sports Sciences and Research (NCSSR) in New Delhi which is the hub of SAI Sports Science Center.
The National Centers of excellence provides specialized training in selected sports disciplines and also has a well-functioning Sports Science Center. The National centers of Excellence are at Alleppey and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Aurangabad and Mumbai in Maharashtra, Bengaluru in Karnataka, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, Guwahati in Assam, Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Imphal in Manipur, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Jagatpur in Odisha, Kolkata in West Bengal, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Patiala in Punjab, Rohtak, Sonepat in Haryana and 5 centers in New Delhi.
5. Tamil Nadu government announces Rs 1000, rice and sugar to ration holders on the occasion of Pongal
Tags: Festivals Person in news State News
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has announced that the ration card holders in the state will get Rs 1000, one kg of rice and sugar each on the occasion of pongal harvest festival to be held in January 2023.
According to the state government all ’Rice’ ration card holders will be eligible for including the families residing in Sri Lankan Rehabilitation Camps.
It is expected to benefit 2.19 crore ration card holders and the government will entail an additional expenditure of Rs 2,356.67 crore.
The chief minister will launch the Pongal Gift scheme on January 2. The festival will be celebrated on 15 January 2023.
Pongal festival
Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by the Tamil community. It is a celebration to thank the Sun, Mother Nature and the various farm animals that help to contribute to a bountiful harvest. Celebrated over four days, Pongal also marks the beginning of the Tamil month called Thai, which is considered an auspicious month. It usually falls on the 14th or 15th of January each year.
Pongal is also the name of the dish made and eaten during this festival. It is a mixture of boiled sweet rice. It is derived from the Tamil word pongu, which means “to boil over”.
First day of pongal is called Bhogi Pongal. The second day is called Surya Pongal where Sun god is worshiped. The third day is called Maatu pongal where the cattles (Maatu) are worshiped and the 4th day is observed as Kaanum Pongal.
6. Noted Telugu actor, producer, director Kaikala Satyanarayana no more
Tags: Person in news State News
Veteran Telugu actor, producer and director Kaikala Satyanarayana died on 23 December 2022 in Hyderabad due to age related ailments. He was 87 years old.
Kaikala Satyanarayana, also known as Navarasa Natana Sarvabhouma, was born on July 25, 1935, in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh
He acted in around 750 movies and was known for 'Kurukshetramu' (1977), 'Daana Veera Soora Karna' (1977) and 'Sri Krishnarjuna Yudham' (1963).
He also had a brief political career and was a Member of Parliament for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Mr Satyanarayana received several awards including the Raghupati Venkaiah Award (2011), Filmfare Lifetime Achievement award for Telugu cinema (2017) and the Andhra Pradesh government's Nandi film awards.
7. CM Naveen Patnaik launches 24×7 ‘Drink from Tap’ project in 19 cities of Odisha
Tags: Government Schemes Person in news State News
The Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched a 24×7 piped drinking water project — ‘Drink from Tap’ — in 19 cities of the state on 21 December 2022. About 5.5 lakh people in these cities will be benefited from the project.
Addressing the event, the chief minister said providing safe drinking water to every family has been his dream for a long time and it has always been the priority of his government.
He said that households in these cities will get drinking water directly from the tap adhering to the quality parameters of the Bureau of Indian Standards.
The state government scheme is different from the central government scheme of Jal Jeevan Mission which was launched on 15 August 2019. Under the Jal
Within the Jal Jeevan Mission, Har Ghar Nal se Jal scheme, aims to provide potable, quality drinking water to every rural household by 2024.
Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu became the first ‘Har Ghar Jal’ certified State and Union Territory in the country respectively,
Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh is the first certified ‘Har Ghar Jal’ district in India.
8. Kashmir's harshest winter period Chillai Kalan begins, Srinagar records coldest night
Tags: State News
Srinagar recorded the season's lowest temperature on December 21 as the harshest 40-day period of winter, locally known as 'Chillai Kalan', began in the Kashmir Valley.
Important facts
According to the Meteorological Center Srinagar, the night temperature in Srinagar dropped to -4.2 degrees Celsius, while the Pahalgam tourist resort in south Kashmir recorded a night temperature of -6.2 degrees Celsius.
The lowest temperature ever recorded in the valley in the month of December was -12.8 degree Celsius in the year 1934.
What is 'Chillai Kalan'?
'Chillai Kalan' is the coldest and harshest winter period in the valley with high chances of snowfall and rain in Kashmir's Srinagar.
Due to intense cold wave conditions in Chillai Kalan, taps and water bodies freeze during the night and people have to heat water supply lines to de-freeze the taps.
Chillai Kalan starts from 21 December and lasts for 40 days till 31 January.
During this period of 40 days, Kashmir remains in the grip of intense cold waves. Nighttime temperatures are usually several degrees below the freezing point.
The 40 day period (Chillai kalan) is followed by the 20 day long Chillai Khurd (small cold) and the 10 day long Chillai Bachcha (baby cold).
9. PM Modi to inaugurate National Youth Conference in Karnataka on 12 January 2023
Tags: Festivals place in news State News
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced on 21 December 2022 that the 26th National Youth festival 2023 will be held in the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad. The chief minister said that the National Youth Festival will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 12 January 2023.
The National Youth Festival is organised by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, in collaboration with one of the State Governments.
The National Youth Festival is organised to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand which falls on 12 January.
The first National Youth Festival was started in 1995 as a major activity under the programme of National Integration Camp.
The 25th National Youth Festival was organised in Puducherry.
Swami Vivekananda's birthday on January 12 is always celebrated as National Youth Day and 12-16 January every year is observed as the National Youth Week.
10. Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar becomes only University in India to get A grade by NAAC
Tags: National State News
The Guru Nanak Dev University ,Amritsar, Punjab has become the first University in India to get A grade by scoring 3.85 in National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grading.
National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) was established in 1994 as an autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission (UGC) with its Headquarter in Bengaluru.
The NAAC conducts assessment and accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions such as colleges, universities or other recognised institutions to derive an understanding of the 'Quality Status' of the institution.
Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU)
Guru Nanak Dev University was established at Amritsar on November 24, 1969 to mark the 500th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. It was set up by an act passed by the Punjab state legislature.
The University has also been conferred with the status of “University with Potential for Excellence” by UGC.
GNDU has been awarded the prestigious Maulana Abul Kalam Azad trophy for overall excellence in sports for a record 23 times.
Vice Chancellor of the University: Dr Jaspal Singh Sandhu
