1. 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.
2. Shah Rukh Khan only Indian to feature on British magazine's list of 50 greatest actors of all time
Tags: Person in news
Shah Rukh Khan is the only Indian actor who has been included in an international list of 50 greatest actors of all time by a prominent British Magazine Empire.
The 57-year-old Bollywood superstar has been included in the Empire magazine's list which also includes Hollywood giants like Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Anthony Marlon Brando, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, and others.
The magazine said Khan has a career that has now spanned four decades of "near unbroken hits, and a fanbase of pretty much billions".
The magazine highlighted Khan's notable characters from four movies — Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed "Devdas", Karan Johar's "My Name Is Khan" and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", and "Swades", directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar.
His dialogue from the 2012 movie "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" — "Zindagi toh har roz jaan leti hai… Bomb toh sirf ek baar lega" (Everyday life kills us a little. A bomb will kill you only once) — has been recognised as the "iconic line" of his career.
"Jab Tak Hai Jaan" was made by filmmaker Yash Chopra's and featured Khan as an Indian Army Major named Samar Anand. The film also starred Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma.
3. Former athlete PT Usha nominated to Vice-chairman panel in Rajya Sabha
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Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has nominated legendary former athlete and MP PT Usha to the panel of Vice chairpersons in the Upper House.
Important facts
This is the first time that a nominated member has been appointed to the panel of Vice Chairman of Rajya Sabha. Along with him, YSRC MP Vijay Sai Reddy has also been nominated.
Other Vice Chairmen in the panel are Bhubaneswar Kalita, Saroj Pandey and Surendra Singh Nagar (BJP), Sukhendu Sekhar Ray (Trinamool Congress), L Hanumanthaiah (Congress), Sasmit Patra (BJD) and Tiruchi Siva (DMK).
PT Usha was also elected as the president of the Indian Olympic Association recently.
The 58-year-old Usha, a multiple Asian Games gold medallist and fourth-place finisher in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics 400m hurdles final.
4. Rajasthan Government to provide LPG cylinder at Rs 500 per cylinder; Ashok Gehlot
Tags: Person in news State News
The Rajasthan Government will provide 12 LPG cylinders per year to the poor families at Rs 500 per cylinder from 1 April 2023. This was announced by the Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Alwar on 19 December 2022.
He said the decision was taken to provide relief to the people suffering from unprecedented inflation and unemployment.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)
‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ (PMUY) was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 May 2016 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh.
Under the scheme a poor household headed by a woman is provided with a free LPG gas stove and free first LPG Cylinder.
However under the scheme the beneficiaries have to buy the subsidized LPG cylinder.
The target of the PMUY was to release 8 crore LPG connections by March 2020 which was achieved on 7 September 2019.
PMUY 2.0
It was launched virtually by PM Modi on 10 August 2021 at Mahoba, Madhya Pradesh.
It aims to provide additional 1.6 crore LPG connections with special focus on migrant households.
Connection is provided to an adult woman belonging to a poor household.
The beneficiaries should belong to any of the following categories:
- Eligible as per Socio Economic Caste Census 2011 list,
- Belongs to SC/ST households, be a beneficiary of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Forest dwellers, Most Backward Classes (MBC), Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, People residing in river Islands.
5. Major General Mohit Seth takes over as GoC Kilo Force
Tags: Defence Person in news
Major General Mohit Seth took over as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Counter Insurgency Force Kilo on 20 December.
Important facts
Major General Sanjiv Singh Slaria on relinquishing the command, moves to Headquarter Northern Command, Udhampur.
Major General Sanjiv Singh Slaria’s tenure saw the Kilo Force take distinctive steps towards peace and stability in North Kashmir.
In December 1991 the General Officer was commissioned in the 3 Madras Regiment.
An alumnus of the National Defense Academy, the General Officer attended the prestigious NDC at New Delhi.
In his distinguished military career spanning over three decades, the General Officer has held various prestigious staff and command appointments in J&K, North East and Army Headquarters.
He has also served as the Indian Army Liaison Officer, High Commission of India, United Kingdom.
6. 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.
7. India ranked 3rd globally in the publication of scientific papers; Union Minister Jitendra Singh
Tags: Reports National Science and Technology Person in news
According to the Union Minister for Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh India has been ranked 3rd globally in the publication of scientific papers. Quoting the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Science & Engineering Indicators 2022 report of the United States, India’s position globally in scientific publications, has improved from 7th position in 2010 to 3rd position in 2020. He also said that India’s scholarly output increased from 60,555 papers in 2010 to 1, 49,213 papers in 2020.
China leads the world in the publication of the maximum number of scientific papers followed by The United States of America.
Dr Jitendra Singh also said that India now ranks 3rd in terms of the number of PhDs in science and engineering.
The National Science Foundation is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering.
8. Leo Varadkar re-elected as the Prime Minister of Ireland
Tags: Person in news International News
Indian origin Leo Varadkar was elected as the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland for the second time on 17 December 2022. He took over from Michael Martin under an arrangement struck between their two parties under a 2020 coalition pact. Michael Martin has become the deputy Prime minister and Foreign minister.
Earlier in a special session in the lower house of the Irish parliament, Dail voted to approve Leo Varadkar’s nomination as the prime minister. It was later also confirmed by the Irish President Michael D. Higgins.
After the 2020 general election Martin’s Fianna Fail party and Varadkar's Fine Gael party entered into a coalition deal under which powers were to be shared between the two parties.
Leo Varadkar was earlier Prime Minister of Ireland from 2017 to 2020.
Republic Of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland is a western European country which shares a boundary with Great Britain.
The Parliament of Ireland is called the Oireachtas. The lower house of the parliament is called Dail and the upper house is called Seanad Éireann (Senate).
The term of Dail is five years.
President of Ireland: Michael D. Higgins
Currency: Euro
Capital: Dublin
9. M P government set up a task force to recommend regulation of online gambling and gaming
Tags: committee Person in news State News
In an order issued on 16 December 2022 the Madhya Pradesh government has constituted a high-level task force, which will make recommendations about regulating online gambling and gaming in the state after examining the technical and legal aspects.
This task force will be headed by the state chief secretary Iqbal Singh Bains.
The task force has been constituted to examine various judicial precedents, legal situations and technical aspects related to prevention and controlling online gambling and gaming and make recommendations to the state government.
The government took this step after a number of incidents were reported in the state where children addicted to online games were committing suicide after being scolded by parents.
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chauhan
10. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar host a millet based lunch in New York for Top UN diplomats
Tags: place in news Person in news International News
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar hosted a millets based lunch in New York on 15 December 2022 for the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and other top diplomats of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) member states to commemorate the International Year of Millets 2023 (IYM 2023).
The External Affairs minister was in New York to chair two key UNSC debates being held under the Presidency of India. India is the President of the UNSC for the month of December 2022. India’s 2 year term as the non -permanent member of the UNSC ends on 31 December 2022.
The United Nations General Assembly at its 75th session in March 2021, had adopted an Indian sponsored resolution to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
In his message at the opening ceremony of the International Year of Millets at Rome, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that “India will steer the IYM 2023 celebrations worldwide and organise campaigns to promote the cultivation and consumption of millets,"
Millet is one of the oldest known foods to humans .They are called a superfood as they are rich in nutrients such as copper, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese. They are low on glycaemic index.
