1. Harmanpreet singh to captain Indian team at the FIH men’s world cup 2023
Tags: place in news Sports Person in news
Hockey India has announced Dragflicker Harmanpreet Singh as the captain of the Indian men’s Hockey team for the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023. Amit Rohidas has been named as the vice-captain of the squad. The team coach is Graham Reid.
The FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup is held every four years and the 2022 event was postponed to 2023 due to the corona pandemic .The last 14th FIH Men’s World Cup Hockey was also played in Odisha in 2018.
The 15th FIH men’s world cup will be held at the Kalinga Stadium Bhubaneswar and at the newly built Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium, Rourkela from 13-20 January 2023. The newly built Birsa Munda stadium is the largest hockey stadium in India with a seating capacity of 20,000 people
The final match will be played at the Kalinga Stadium on 29 January 2023.
This is the fourth time India is hosting the FIH men’s world cup. It has hosted it in 1982, Bombay, 2010 New Delhi, 2018 Bhubaneswar and 2023 in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.
15th FIH Men’s’ World Cup
A total of 16 teams are participating in the World cup and they have been divided into 4 pools.
Pool A: Australia, South Africa, France, Argentina
Pool B: Belgium, Japan, Korea, Germany
Pool C: Netherlands, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand
Pool D: India, Wales, Spain, England
Belgium are the defending team having won the 1028 edition.
India has won the world cup only once in 1975 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They defeated Pakistan in the final and the Indian team was led by Ajit Pal Singh.
Pakistan is the most successful team having won it 4 times. However the Pakistani team has failed to qualify for the 2023 edition.
FIH
FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey) is the governing body of men’s and women’s International hockey.
Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland
President:Mohammad Tayyab Ikram
Members: 137 countries
2. Goa to host first ever World Table Tennis (WTT) Series event in India
Tags: place in news Sports
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Panaji, capital of Goa will host India's first ever World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender series event from 27-February to 5th March 2023 at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, Goa University campus.
The event will be hosted by Stupa Analytics Company, in association with the Goa government and the Table Tennis Federation of India. (TTFI)
World Table Tennis (WTT)
World Table Tennis (WTT) was created by the International Table Tennis Federation in 2019 to create and manage professional men’s and women’s Table Tennis events around the world.
The WTT organizes a series of events around the year and the highest ranked tournament being the four Grand Smashes.
In a year six Star Contender events are organised involving 48 men and women Table Tennis players around the world who play in the respective singles' main draws.
3. 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.
4. India-Indonesia Investment and Business Forum meeting held in Port Blair
Tags: place in news Summits
A meeting of the Joint Task Force Committee of "India-Indonesia Investment and Business Forum" to identify new areas of cooperation, develop infrastructure, tourism, trade and connectivity to enhance business relations was held in Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar on 20 December 2022.
This is the second meeting of the Task Force Committee. The first meeting was held in the Indonesian Capital of Jakarta on November 25, 2019.
Indonesia's Sabang port in Aceh is around 90 nautical miles from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. India is keen to expand trade and tourism with Indonesia.
The meeting with Indonesian delegates was attended by Andaman and Nicobar Lieutenant Governor D K Joshi, Director for South and Central Asian Affairs of the Indonesian government, Jatmiko Heru Prasetyo.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Indonesia in 2018, he called for a Joint Task Force Committee from both sides to boost bilateral investments.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs Indonesia is the second largest trading partner of India amongst the ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations). Singapore is the largest trading partner of India amongst ASEAN countries.
India is one of the largest buyers of coal and crude palm oil from Indonesia and imports minerals, rubber, pulp & paper and hydrocarbons reserves. India exports refined petroleum products, commercial vehicles, telecommunication equipment, bovine meat, animal feed, agriculture products, steel and plastics to Indonesia.
5. Sun Temple at Modhera, Vadnagar town Rock cut sculpture, Unakoti added to tentative list of UNESCO heritage sites
Tags: place in news National
The Union Ministry of Culture announced on 20 December 2022 that Vadnagar town ,Gujarat, Sun Temple Modhera, Gujarat and Rock Cut Sculptures and reliefs of the Unakoti,Tripura have been added to the tentative list of UNESCO’s world heritage sites.
The submissions were made by Archaeological Survey of India, which is responsible for the conservation and preservation of Indian monuments.
With the addition of these three sites, UNESCO has 52 proposals in the tentative list of India.
According to UNESCO, countries are encouraged to submit their Tentative Lists which mentions the properties which they consider to be cultural and/or natural heritage of outstanding universal value and therefore suitable for inscription on the World Heritage List.
The newly included sites in the tentative list;
Vadnagar
Vadnagar also known as Chamatkarpur, Anandpur, Snehpur and Vimalpur is located in the Mehsana district in Gujarat. The city has been mentioned in the Puranas as well by the Chinese traveller, Hieu-en-Tsang (7th century). Vadnagar is famous for its Buddhist sites, torans, a pair of 12th century Solanki-era columns, 40 feet tall and built in red and yellow sandstone to celebrate a war victory.
Sun Temple, Modhera and its adjoining monuments
Modhera is known for the Sun temple situated on the bank of the Pushpavati River. The temple was built after 1026-27 CE during the reign of Bhima I of the Chalukya dynasty. Modhera village is the first solar powered village in the world.
Rock-cut Sculptures and Reliefs of the Unakoti
Unakoti is famous for its massive stone and rock-cut sculptures that have been carved out from the hillside in the Kailashahar Subdivision of Tripura. Surrounded by lush greenery, this place is also a Shaivite pilgrimage site dating back to the 8th or 9th centuries CE.
Unakoti literally means ‘One Less Than a Crore’. According to Hindu mythology Lord Shiva once spent a night here en route to Kashi. He was accompanied by 99, 99,999 gods and goddesses. He had asked his followers to wake up before sunrise and make their way towards Kashi. Unfortunately, none awoke, except for Lord Shiva himself. Before he set out for Kashi alone, he put a curse on the others turning them to stone. And that’s how the site got its name
Indian sites in the UNESCO World Heritage List
There are 32 cultural, 7 natural, and 1 mixed property in the 40 UNESCO World Heritage sites in India. In 2021 Dholavira, an Indus Valley site in Gujarat and Rudreswara temple (Ramappa Temple) at Palampet, Warangal, and Telangana were the 40th and 39th sites respectively.
The first Indian sites to be included in the UNESCO list were Ajanta, Ellora Caves, Taj Mahal and Agra Fort in 1983.
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN).
- It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in Education, Science and Culture.
- Headquarters: Paris, France
- Director General: Audrey Azoulay
- Founded: 16 November 1945 in London, United Kingdom
- The organisation has 193 members and 11 Associate members.
6. Gaya and Nalanda of Bihar selected by Union Government for development under Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme
Tags: place in news Government Schemes State News
Gaya and Nalanda in Bihar has been included by the Government of India under the Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme. Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi District of Bihar has been selected for development under the PRASHAD Scheme of the Government of India.
This information was given by the Union Tourism Minister G. KIshan Reddy in the Lok Sabha on 19 December 2022.
Swadesh Darshan 2.0
Government of India launched Swadesh Darshan scheme in 2014-15 for integrated development of theme based tourist circuits for eg Buddhist circuit, Ramayana circuit, desert circuit etc. It was later revamped and re-launched as Swadesh Darshan 2.0 with the focus on developing sustainable and responsible tourism destinations.
The Central government provides assistance to the State /Union Territories government to develop the tourism Infrastructure.
Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)
The Government of India launched the PRASAD scheme in the year 2014-2015 under the Ministry of Tourism. This scheme focuses on developing and identifying pilgrimage sites across India for enriching the religious tourism experience. Under this scheme the Central government provides assistance to the state government.
7. Gujarat CM unveils Urban G20 logo, website and social media handle
Tags: place in news Summits Person in news
Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel unveiled the logo, website and social media handles of the Urban-20 conference in Gandhinagar on 19 December 2022. The ceremony was attended virtually by the Union Minister for Urban Development and Urban Housing Hardeep Singh Puri.
Urban 20
The UNESCO heritage city Ahmedabad will host the Urban 20 meetings as part of G 20 meetings between Februarys to July 2023.
In July 2023, the U20 mayor’s summit will be held in Ahmedabad to discuss urban development issues.
The Urban 20 will provide a platform for the G20 cities to facilitate discussions on important issues of urban development including climate change, social inclusion, sustainable mobility, affordable housing, and financing of urban infrastructure to propose collective solutions.
Indian Presidency of G 20
India officially assumed the Presidency of G20 on 1 December 2022 from Indonesia. The summit meeting of the Head of the States and the leaders of the G20 is scheduled to be held in September 2023 in New Delhi.
To prepare for the summit meeting a series of meetings is to be held by India.
The first meeting was the G-20 Sherpa meeting held in Udaipur in the first week of December 2022.
G-20
The G-20 was founded back in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis.
The Group of Twenty (G-20) comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and the European Union.
The G-20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.
8. Latvia host Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) summit at Riga
Tags: place in news Summits International News
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Latvia hosted the 3rd summit meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) on 19 December 2022 in Riga. The summit meeting has been convened on the Initiative of the Prime Minister of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš, with the support of the United Kingdom.
The JEF was founded in 2015 after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit meeting in Wales in 2014. It comprises Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The JEF has been set up to prepare a high readiness force which can respond to crises in the High North and Northern Europe (caused by Russian aggression).
The summit meeting of the JFF was held virtually on 25 February 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The second Summit was hosted by the United Kingdom in London on 15 March 2022.
The third summit was dominated by the aggressive war of Russia in Ukraine and consequent changes in the security climate in the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the High North regions. They agreed to provide further assistance to Ukraine in its fight with the Russians.
Latvia
Latvia lies in North Eastern Europe and is one of the three Baltic countries. The other Baltic countries are Lithuania and Estonia.
It is called Baltic country as it lies along the Baltic Sea.
Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union and it became Independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Capital: Riga
Currency: Euro
Prime Minister: Krisjanis Kariņs
9. 22nd National Athletics Championship of Blinds commences in New Delhi
Tags: place in news Sports
The 22nd National Athletics Championship for the Blind commenced at the Thyagaraj Stadium in New Delhi on 14 December 2022. The biennial championship is being organised by the Indian Blind Sports Association from 14-16 December 2022.
The event was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi. She also launched the first book of the IBSA, Play the Dots. The first copy of the book was handed over to Arjuna Awardee and first Indian blind athlete to take part in the Rio Paralympics 2016, Ankur Dhama.
A total of 59 (31 for men, 28 for women) international and indigenous games will be organized at the State and Institution level under three categories – T11, T12, and T13.
A record number of 550 visually impaired athletes along with officials from different states including Tripura, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra, UP, West Bengal, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, M.P, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh will take part in the championship.
Indian Blind Sports Association (IBSA)
Indian Blind Sports Association (IBSA) was founded in 1986 to develop and promote sports for blind youngsters.
It is the sole Indian Affiliate of the International Blind Sports Federation, the apex sports organization for blind sports in the world. It is also affiliated to the Paralympic Committee of India.
Chairman: Radhika Bharat Ram
Headquarters: New Delhi
10. India and Sri Lanka to launch ferry service between Kankesanthurai port and Pondicherry in January 2023
Tags: place in news National
According to the Sri Lankan Ports, Shipping, and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva a passenger ferry service between Kankesanthurai port in Jaffna district and Karaikal ports in Puducherry will start in January 2023.
The Minister said that passenger transport services will also be started from Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu) to Colombo in Sri Lanka in near future.
He said that till now no firm conclusion has been reached about starting the ferry service between Thalaimannar (Sri Lanka) and Rameshwaram (India).
Ferry Service
The ferry service between Tamil Nadu and the Northern part of Sri Lanka which is dominated by Sri Lanka Tamils was disrupted in 1980’s due to the civil war in Sri Lanka. After the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009, efforts were made to revive the old transportation link between the two countries.
In 2011 a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the two countries to start ferry service between the two countries.
In 2018 India provided $45.27 million for upgrading the Kankesanthurai harbour into a commercial port.
Benefits of the Ferry service
The ferry services will make travel to Sri Lanka easier from south India, thus providing a boost to tourism in Sri Lanka, which is suffering from its worst-ever economic crisis. Indians are the largest source of tourists to Sri Lanka.
They will also strengthen the cultural bonds between the two regions with linguistic similarities.
Boost to religious tourism
Tamils from Sri Lanka who are Hindus often visit India for religious purposes. The majority Sinhalese population of Sri Lanka are Buddhist and frequently visit the Buddhist tourist places in India.
Similarly many Tamils from India visit the temples of Sri Lanka .The ferry service will make travel easier for pilgrims from both nations.
India is separated from Sri Lanka by a narrow channel of seas formed by the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar.
