1. First Sylhet-Silchar Festival
Tags: Festivals State News
The first Sylhet-Silchar Festival to celebrate the close cultural ties between the neighbouring regions of India and Bangladesh began on December 2, 2022 in Assam's Barak Valley.
Important facts
Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Minister AK Abdul Momen led a delegation of around 75 members to participate in the two-day event.
The festival is being organised by the 'India Foundation' in association with the 'Bangladesh Foundation for Regional Studies' under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Culture.
The objective of the festival is to promote bilateral relations between the two countries.
The event is being organised to commemorate 75 years of India's independence and 50th anniversary of Bangladesh's liberation from Pakistan.
Sylhet is located in north-east Bangladesh.
About Sylhet-Silchar Festival
2022 is the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
Among the many similarities between India and Bangladesh, there are significant links between the cities of Silchar and Sylhet.
To celebrate the age-old people-to-people connect of the region, the India Foundation proposes to organise the first Silchar-Sylhet Festival on December 2-4, 2022, in Silchar city of Assam.
The festival aims to revive the common values and shared heritage of both the cities and their people separated by international boundaries.
The festival will showcase tribal culture, cuisine, literature, arts and crafts.
About Barak Valley
The Barak Valley is located in the southern region of Assam. The main city of the valley is Silchar.
The region is named after the Barak river. The Barak valley mainly consists of three administrative districts of Assam - Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi.
2. Election commission set up a polling booth for a single voter in Gujarat
Tags: State News
The Election Commission of India has set up a polling booth for a single voter in the Gir forest of Somnath district. This center has been built for Mahant Haridas Udasin of Baneshwar Mahadev Temple, situated in dense forests.
Gir is the only sanctuary for Asiatic lions in the world.
The election to elect the 15th Legislative Assembly of Gujarat is being held on 1st and 5th of December 2022 and the counting will be done on 8 December 2022.The term of the current and 14th Legislative Assembly will end on 18 February 2023.
3. PM addresses Manipur Sangai Festival via video message
Tags: Festivals State News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Manipur Sangai Festival via video message on 30 November.
Important facts
Every year the State of Manipur celebrates the “Manipur Sangai Festival” from 21st to 30th November.
It started in the year 2010 and over the years has grown into a great platform to showcase the rich tradition and culture of Manipur to the world.
The theme of the festival is “Festival of Oneness”. It promotes a sense of belonging and creates pride in ownership of land among people.
The festival showcases the glorious cultural heritage of the state and the love for art that is inherent in the various tribes living in the state of Manipur.
Manipur’s famous martial arts- Thang Ta (a combination Spear and Sword skills), Yubi-Lakpi (a game played with greased coconut like rugby), Mukna Kangjei (a game that combines hockey and wrestling), and Sagol Kangjei- Modern Polo (believed to have evolved in Manipur) were all form part of the festival.
Celebrated as the grandest festival in the state, the Manipur Sangai Festival helps in promoting Manipur as a world-class tourist destination.
The festival is named after the state animal, the Sangai, a deer found only in Manipur.
About Sangai Deer
It is an endemic and endangered subspecies of brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur, India.
It is found in its natural habitat only in Keibul Lamjao National Park, locally in the south eastern part of Loktak Lake.
It is the state animal of Manipur.
IUCN status : Endangered
4. Hornbill Festival begins at Naga Heritage village Kisama in Nagaland
Tags: Festivals State News
23rd edition of the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland started on December 1, 2022 at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama.
Important facts
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, the chief guest of the Hornbill festival, was present at the opening ceremony.
Nagaland Governor Professor Jagdish Mukhi was the chief host of the festival while Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was its host.
The opening ceremony was followed by a cultural performance titled "This is Nagaland".
It may be noted that India is assuming the G20 chairmanship from 1 December, which coincides with Nagaland Statehood Day and the start of the Hornbill festival.
Organized by the Government of Nagaland, the Hornbill Festival showcases Nagaland’s deep-rooted traditions and its rich cultural heritage in all its ethnicity, diversity, and grandeur.
This festival will continue till 10 December. Jio is the official media partner of the festival.
About Hornbill Festival
Hornbill Festival is celebrated in Nagaland every year in the first week of December. It is also called “Festivals of Festivals”.
It is one of the biggest indigenous festivals of the country.
It is organised by the State Tourism and Art & Culture Departments, supported by the Union Government.
This Festival is held at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama which is about 12 km from Kohima.
The objective of the festival is to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland and to showcase its extraordinary traditions.
The festival is named after the bird 'Hornbill' which is the most revered and admired bird for the Nagas.
The festival is a tribute to this bird, known for its qualities of grandeur and alertness.
5. Adani Group bags Dharavi Redevelopment Project as highest bidder
Tags: Economy/Finance Government Schemes State News
Gautam Adani-led Adani Properties on 29 November bagged the Dharavi redevelopment project, Asia's second largest slum colony, as the highest bidder.
Important facts
Adani Properties, the highest bidder offered Rs 5,069 crore as its investment in the project.
The Adani group quoted Rs 5,069 crore for this project, followed by Rs 2,025 crore quoted by the DLF group.
Dubai-based infrastructure firm Seclink Technologies Corporation turned out to be a successful bidder in January 2019 against Adani.
Dharavi redevelopment will involve a massive investment of money upfront, amid tricky complications of land acquisition and rehabilitation.
What is the Dharavi redevelopment project?
Dharavi is only a short drive from India's richest business district, the Bandra-Kurla Complex, which has the largest concentration of commercial offices in the country.
The slum, spread over 2.8 sq km, is home to an informal leather and pottery industry that employs over a lakh people.
The state government had envisaged to convert this slum area into a cluster of skyscrapers with better urban infrastructure.
It entailed resettling 68,000 people, including slum dwellers and those with commercial establishments.
In 1999, the BJP-Sena government first proposed to redevelop Dharavi.
Thereafter, the Maharashtra government in 2003-04 decided to redevelop Dharavi as an integrated planned township, and an action plan for this was approved.
6. Agra, Ghaziabad and Prayagraj get first Police Commissioners
Tags: State News
The Uttar Pradesh government issued an order on November 29, 2022, appointing the first police commissioners in three districts of Uttar Pradesh, Agra, Ghaziabad and Prayagraj.
Important facts
The Uttar Pradesh government on 25 November decided to introduce the police commissionerate system in Agra, Ghaziabad and Prayagraj after it was implemented in Noida, Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur.
The cabinet declared these three districts as metropolitan cities as per the rules of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) before the commissionerate system was introduced.
Agra has been included in the list considering its growing population, its significance in terms of national and international tourism.
Ghaziabad has been included keeping in view its growing population, it being a busy district of the National Capital Region and its new industrial scenario.
Prayagraj has been included because of its population and religious and cultural significance.
What is a Commissionerate System?
Various committees to suggest police reforms have recommended the introduction of a police commissionerate system in cities that have witnessed rapid urbanisation and have a population of more than one million.
Under the Commissionerate system the Commissioner of Police exercises the powers and duties of a District Magistrate.
These powers are also available to any officer under the commissioner who is not below the rank of an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
This means that such police officers now have the powers of preventive arrest by invoking section 144 of the CrPC Act.
According to the commissionerate system the commissioner of Police will directly report to the government, in place of District Magistrate.
7. External Affairs Ministry to organize the International Lusophone Festival in Goa from 03-06 December 2022
Tags: Festivals place in news State News
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in partnership with Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Government of Goa is organizing the International Lusophone Festival in Goa from 03-06 December 2022.
The International Lusophone Festival will be inaugurated on 03 December 2022 by Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister of Goa and Smt Meenakashi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs and Minister of State for Culture would be the Guest of Honour.
What is Lusophone World?
The Lusophone world are countries that speak Portuguese as their official language and were colonized by Portugal. With 300 million speakers, Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language on the planet.
The Portuguese speaking countries set up the ‘Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP)’, in 1996.
The member countries of the CPLP are Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe, Timor Leste and Equatorial Guinea.
India joined CPLP as an associate observer in July 2021. As part of India’s engagement with CPLP, the Ministry of External Affairs celebrated the World Portuguese Language Day in Delhi on 05 May 2022, soon after joining CPLP.
Goa was also a colony of Portugal and it was liberated by the Indian government in 1961 through an action of the armed forces code named Operation Vijay.
8. Uttarakhand Government appoints Prasoon Joshi as its Brand Ambassador
Tags: Person in news State News
The Uttarakhand government has named Prasoon Joshi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of McCann Worldgroup India, the state’s brand ambassador. Padma Shri awardee Prasoon Joshi is a native of Uttarakhand and is currently the Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (Censor Board). He is a famous and highly awarded member of the Indian advertising and media fraternity.
Prasoon Joshi has also written the lyrics for songs in popular Bollywood movies such as Rang De Basanti, Fanaa and Taare Zameen Par. He has also written the script for the award-winning 2013 film, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.
Awards to Prasoon Joshi
Earlier this month, the Uttarakhand government bestowed the Uttarakhand Gaurav Samman honour to Joshi for his contributions to art, literature, culture and advertising.
He has received several prestigious international honours such as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2006. He was also the first Asian to become the jury president at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity in 2014 for the prestigious Titanium category.
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand was formed on 9th November 2000 as the 27th State of India.
Governor: Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh
Chief Minister: Pushkar singh Dhami
Capital: Dehradun
9. KVIC Chairman Manoj Kumar inaugurates the ambitious RE-HAB Project in Nainital
Tags: Environment place in news National Person in news State News
Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Chairman Manoj Kumar inaugurated the ambitious RE-HAB, Project (Reducing Human Attacks using Honey Bees) of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission at village Chausla, in Forest Range Fatehpur, Haldwani, District Nainital, and Uttarakhand on 28 November 2022. He also distributed 330 Bee-boxes, bee-colonies and toolkits along with the honey extractors to the rural beneficiaries in Chausla village.
Project RE-HAB,
Government is promoting the use of bees to discourage attacks of wild elephants on human settlements. KVIC has launched a project RE-HAB, in the states of Assam, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Orissa.
How it works
- Under Project RE-HAB, “Bee-fences' ' are created by setting up bee boxes in the passageways of elephants to block their entrance to human territories.
- The boxes are connected with a string so that when elephants attempt to pass through, a tug or pull causes the bees to swarm the elephant herds and dissuade them from progressing further.
- It is a cost-effective way of reducing human-wild conflicts without causing any harm to the animals.
- It is scientifically recorded that elephants are annoyed by the honey bees. Elephants also fear that the bee swarms can bite their sensitive inner side of the trunk and eyes. The collective buzz of the bees is annoying to elephants that force them to return.
- Project RE-HAB is a sub-mission of KVIC’s National Honey Mission.
- While the Honey Mission is a programme to increase the bee population, honey production and beekeepers’ income by setting up apiaries, Project RE-HAB uses bee boxes as a fence to prevent the elephant attacks.
- As a new initiative, the RE-HAB project will be run by KVIC at selected locations for a period of one year.
The Khadi Village and Industries Commission (KVIC)
- The Khadi Village and Industries Commission (KVIC) was set up in 1957 under the Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act of 1956.
- It is under the Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.
- It is responsible for planning, promotion, organisation, and implementation of programs for the development of Khadi and other village industries in the rural areas along with other agencies engaged in rural development wherever necessary.
Chairperson of KVIC: Manoj Kumar
10. Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff, Karan Kundrra join Goa CM in beach clean-up drive
Tags: Environment State News
Actors Jackie Shroff and Karan Kundrra, on 28 November 2022. Joined Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to launch the state government’s ‘CleanAThon’ initiative, at Miramar Beach in Panjim.
The ‘CleanAThon’ initiative was also joined by the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Phadnavis, Amruta Fadnavis also joined the initiative.
Goa is famous for its beaches and which attracts lakhs of domestic and International tourists. Miramar Beach in Panjim is one of the most popular beaches with tourists.
For this cleanliness drive, several people gathered at the beach, dressed in black and white uniforms, to get rid of the garbage.
Goa
It is the smallest state by area of India located along the Arabian Sea coast.
It was earlier a colony of Portugal and the government of India launched operation Vijay to liberate Goa in 1961.
It became a Union Territory in 1962 and became the 25th State of India on 30 May 1987.
When it became a state, Daman & Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli were separated from it and made a Union Territory.
Capital: Panjim
Governor: P S Sreedharan Pillai
