1. Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane inaugurates the first Coastal Security Conference in Chennai
Tags: place in news Defence Summits Person in news
Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane inaugurated the first Coastal Security Conference organised by the Indian Coast Guard under the aegis of Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) at Chennai on 1 December 2022. Director General, Indian Coast Guard V S Pathania was also present at the occasion.
Defence Secretary called upon the member countries to take concerted measures to counter transnational crimes and address identified areas to make the seas safer.
The two day (1-2 December) conference is being attended by India, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.
Theme of the conference: Collaborative Efforts for Coastal Security.
A range of issues including coastal security threat, collaborative response, international maritime law and role of empowered agencies, technological solutions for coastal security etc were discussed at the conference.
Colombo Security Conclave (CSC)
The CSC started as a trilateral maritime cooperation mechanism between India, Maldives and Sri Lanka in 2011. The membership of the Group was enlarged with the addition of Mauritius in March 2022.
The Secretariat of the CSC is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The members have identified five pillars for cooperation, namely-
- Maritime Safety and Security;
- Countering Terrorism and Radicalization;
- Combating Trafficking and Organised Crime;
- Cyber Security, Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Technology and
- Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief.
2. Sanjay Kumar takes charge as Secretary of Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education GoI
Tags: Person in news
Sanjay Kumar took charge as Secretary Department of School Education & Literacy on 1 December, 2022 in Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi.
Important facts
Prior to this, he was the Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
He succeeds Anita Karwal who held the position from November 28, 2020 to November 28, 2022.
Sanjay Kumar also served as the principal secretary of education department in Bihar. He is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the 1990 batch.
Kumar expressed his commitment towards providing quality, accessible and affordable education to every student of the country.
3. Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin dies aged 96
Tags: Person in news International News
Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin died on 30 November, 2022 at the age of 96 in Shanghai, of leukaemia and multiple organ failure.
Important facts
He was the first Chinese President to visit India in 1996 when India and China moved towards normalising the bilateral ties.
Jiang was China's president from 1993-2003.
Under his leadership, Hong Kong was peacefully handed over to China in 1997 and China joined the World Trade Organization, which laid the groundwork for China to become the world's second largest economy with high-speed development.
Jiang Zemin took command of China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
He consolidated the powers of the Communist Party of China, weeded out internal dissent, and in 1999 cracked down on the religious sect Falun Gong, which was seen as a threat to the party.
He is also credited with the country's further integration with the global order and higher status as a world power.
India - China relation in his tenure
His visit to India in 1996 was seen as a major step towards the normalisation of India-China bilateral relations.
During his visit, the two countries signed a comprehensive agreement to restore peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and reached a consensus on building a constructive and cooperative partnership.
Both sides signed several agreements for confidence building in the military sector along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Both sides also discussed reducing border troops.
This was followed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to China in 2003, when both sides decided to appoint their respective Special Representatives (SRs) to explore a solution to the boundary issue under the framework of the Boundary Agreement.
Jiang was then the chairman of the Central Military Commission and Hu Jintao took over as the Chinese President in 2002, a year earlier.
4. India’s Ambassador to US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu tenure extends for a year
Tags: Person in news
The tenure of India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, has been extended for a year till January 31, 2024 by the government of India. Sandhu was to retire in January 2023.
Important facts
Earlier, in 2020, Taranjit Singh Sandhu took charge as the new Indian Ambassador to the United States from his predecessor Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who is now G20 chief coordinator.
Sandhu was earlier India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
Sandhu, an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1988 batch, has served in Washington DC thrice as the deputy chief of mission between 2013 and 2017, and then as ambassador from early 2020.
He is considered a familiar face in Washington DC circles.
During the tenure of Taranjit Singh Sandhu, there has been a lot of intensity in Indo-US relations.
5. Stephanie Frappart of France to be first woman referee at men's World Cup
Tags: Sports Person in news
FIFA has announced on 29 November 2022 that Stephanie Frappart of France will be the first woman to referee a men’s’ World Cup match. She will officiate the match to be played between Germany and Costa Rica in Group E on 2 December 2022.
France's Stephanie Frappart is one of three women referees among the 36 selected for the tournament in Qatar, alongside Rwandan Salima Mukansanga and Japan's Yoshimi Yamashita.
She was the first woman to referee in France's domestic Ligue 1 in 2019, the same year she took charge of the women's World Cup final in her home country.
Frappart also officiated the 2019 UEFA Super Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea, before refereeing the Champions League in 2020 and then the French Cup final last season.
The FIFA World Cup 2022 is being held in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022.
6. SEBI approves Sundararaman Ramamurthy as the MD and CEO of BSE
Tags: Economy/Finance Person in news
The Securities Exchange Board of India(SEBI) has approved the appointment of Sundararaman Ramamurthy as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of BSE. His appointment is subject to the approval of the shareholders, BSE
Ramamurthy is currently the Chief Operating Officer-India at Bank of America.
Previously, he was associated with the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) in various roles for nearly two decades before leaving it in October 2014.
The top position at BSE has been vacant since July when Ashish Kumar Chauhan resigned as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of BSE and joined as CEO of NSE.
BSE
It was earlier known as Bombay Stock Exchange. It was set up in 1875 as ‘The Native Share & Stock Brokers' Association in Bombay (now Mumbai). It is the first stock exchange to be set up in Asia.
BSE's popular equity index - the S&P BSE SENSEX - is India's most widely tracked stock market benchmark index.
7. Government announces “Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards’ for year 2021
Tags: Sports Awards Person in news
The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has announced the name of the winners of the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards for the year 2021. The Ministry announced the National sports awards winner list on 14 November 2022 but the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award winners' names were not announced.
Winner of the award and category
Lifetime Achievement Award: Group Captain Bhawani Singh Samyal
Land Adventure category: Naina Dhakad
Water Adventure category: Shubham Dhananjay Vanmal
No one was chosen for the Air Adventure category.
They will be conferred the award by President Droupadi Murmu at a function in Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi on 30th November, 2022 along with the winners of other National sports awards .
They will receive statuettes, certificates and award money 15 lakh rupees each.
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award
It was set up in 1994 in the memory of Tenzing Norgay. He is an Indian of Nepali origin who along with a New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary scaled Mount Everest on 29 May 1953.
The award is given in adventure sports like mountaineering, skydiving, and open water swimming.
8. Former Health Secretary Preeti Sudan appointed as a member of UPSC
Tags: Person in news
Preeti Sudan, a 1983 batch (retired) IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre and former health secretary, was administered the oath of office as a member of the UPSC on November 29.
Important facts
Sudan also served in Women and Child Development and Defence Ministries.
In her cadre state Andhra Pradesh, she has held various positions in Finance and Planning, Disaster Management, Tourism and Agriculture departments.
In addition to serving in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Sudan also served in the Ministry of Defence.
She also worked as a consultant for the World Bank.
In addition to initiating two major flagship programs in the country - Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Ayushman Bharat, her notable contributions include legislation on the National Medical Commission, the Allied Health Professional Commission, and a ban on e-cigarettes.
In UPSC, a chairman heads the committee, which can have a maximum of 10 members.
At present the chairman of UPSC is Manoj Soni.
9. 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
10. 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
