1. BJP wins eight out of 16 Rajya Sabha seats while Congress bags five seats
Tags: National News
The BJP won eight of the 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states, while the Congress won five in a tight contest.
Biennial elections to the Upper House of Parliament were held on June 10 for six seats in Maharashtra, four each in Karnataka and Rajasthan and two in Haryana.
Winners from BJP include Union Minister Piyush Goyal, former state minister Anil Bonde and party leader Dhananjay Mahadik.
NCP's Praful Patel, Congress' Imran Pratapgadi and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were also elected to Rajya Sabha.
In Haryana, BJP candidate Krishan Lal Panwar and Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, have won the two Rajya Sabha seats.
BJP got three seats and Congress got one seat from Karnataka.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor Jaggesh and MLC Lehar Singh Siroya have been elected to Rajya Sabha from BJP.
Jairam Ramesh of Congress won the remaining one seat.
The Congress won three of the four Rajya Sabha seats while one seat was won by the BJP In Rajasthan.
Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari are the winners from Congress.
Ghanshyam Tiwari won a seat for the BJP in Rajasthan.
Important facts about Rajya Sabha
Article 80 of the Constitution provides provisions for members of the Rajya Sabha.
Members - 245 - including 233 elected members and 12 nominated members
Upper House of parliament strength cannot exceed 250
Nominated members - nominated by the President of India in the field of art, literature, science and social service
Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha - Vice-President
Tenure of members - six years
Elections to one-third seats are held every two years
Process of election - members are elected indirectly by the people, that is, by the MLAs.
Voting is by single transferable vote
NOTA button is available in the Upper House polls
2. Global Travel and Tourism Development Index
Tags: International News
India has slipped to the 54th position this year in the Global Travel and Tourism Development Index as compared to the 46th position in the year 2019.
India topped the list of South Asian countries.
Japan tops the global list. It was followed by the USA, Spain, France, Switzerland, Australia, UK, Singapore and Italy respectively.
117 economies have been included in the Travel and Tourism Development Index.
This index is released every two years by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
According to the data between January 2021 and January 2022, the number of international tourists has increased in 2022 instead of 2021.
About World Economic Forum (WEF)
The World Economic Forum is a non-profit organisation based in Switzerland.
It aims to set a global, regional and industrial direction by bringing together leaders in the world's business, political, educational and other fields.
Establishment- 1971
Headquarters- Cologny, Switzerland
CEO- Klaus M. Schwab
3. World Economic Forum launches alliance to supercharge India's climate action
Tags: International News
The World Economic Forum (WEF) on 23 May announced a new 'Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders India'. It will work towards fast-tracking India's net-zero carbon journey as well as decarbonisation.
The coalition will strive to achieve the goals set out in the White Paper Mission 2070, released last year, as part of the World Economic Forum's Climate Task Force.
It will bring together the government, corporations and other key players to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet his ambitious 'Panchamrut' target, which includes a net-zero target for the country by 2070.
The alliance is a collaboration between management consulting firm Kearney and Indian think tank Observer Research Foundation.
It will serve as a high-level platform to assist business leaders in developing and implementing plans and programs to meet climate goals, including net-zero economic growth.
About World Economic Forum (WEF)
Founded - 24 January, 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab.
Headquarters - Cologny, Switzerland
Chairperson - Borge Brende
Purpose of Formation - International Organisation for Public-Private Cooperation
4. Piyush Goyal to lead India at WEF's Davos meeting
The Indian delegation will be led by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos from May 22 to 26.
During this meeting, many big issues affecting the whole world like the Ukraine crisis, climate change, and the Corona epidemic will be discussed.
The meeting will be addressed by several world leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Union President Ursala von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In this conference, more than 2500 leaders, officials and experts, including heads of 50 countries and states from around the world, will give their views on various issues.
From India, a large team led by Union Minister Piyush Goyal is going there, including Union Health Minister Mansukh Lal Mandaviya and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, besides two Chief Ministers Basavaraj Bommai and Jaganmohan Reddy.
Aaditya Thackeray from Maharashtra, KT Rama Rao from Telangana etc. Many big leaders and CEOs will also participate in this meeting.
The theme of the conference will be 'History at a turning point'.
Key points of discussion during the meeting -
This conference will mainly focus on six issues
These include promoting global and regional cooperation, restoring stability to a new era of geopolitical conflict and tension, as well as advancing trade, prosperity and partnership, achieving economic recovery and shaping a new era of development.
In the conference, it will also be discussed how to strengthen health services in view of future diseases, moving from the health emergency to the corona epidemic.
During this time the focus will be on suggesting ways to accelerate the global economy, promoting the Fourth Industrial Revolution and finding ways to face the biggest challenge to humanity like climate change.
About World Economic Forum (WEF) -
The World Economic Forum is a non-profit organisation based in Switzerland.
It aims to set a global, regional and industrial direction by bringing together leaders in the world's business, political, educational and other fields.
Establishment- 1971
Headquarters- Cologny, Switzerland
CEO- Klaus M. Schwab
5. PM address the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Davos Agenda
Tags: National News
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi delivered ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda on 17 January 2022, via video conferencing.The WEF's annual meeting, which has been taking place in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos for 50 years now, could not take place in 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic and has been deferred till early summer this year.
Highlight of his speech
- Referring to the Mission LIFE, that he gave at the CoP26 conference held at Glasgow , the Prime Minister said that making LIFE into a mass movement can be a strong foundation for P-3 i.e ‘Pro Planet People’. LIFE i.e. ‘Lifestyle for Environment’, is a vision of a resilient and sustainable lifestyle that will come handy in dealing with the climate crisis and other unpredictable challenges of the future.
- He said that "We contribute 5 percent of global carbon usage but our commitment to phasing out non-renewable energy is 100 percent,". India has set a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2070.
- He said that India has given the entire world a "bouquet of hope". "The bouquet contains - trust towards democracy, technology to empower 21st century and talent & temperament of us Indians,".
- In the times of Covid, we saw India's vision of one Earth, One Health which helped save millions of lives by sending medicines to countries. India is today the pharmacy of the world.
The World Economic Forum's Davos Agenda Virtual Summit will host world leaders and heads of important institutions and organisations around the world who will discuss areas of concern and present their ideas on how to address them.
The three main areas of concern at the summit are Climate Action, Pandemic Recovery, and Economic and Social Resilience.
See 21 December 2021 post on WEF
6. World Economic Forum (WEF) defers annual Davos meet
Tags: International News
- The World Economic Forum (WEF) has deferred its 2022 annual Davos meet from its original schedule of January 17-21, 2022 owing to rising concerns over the Omicron corona virus Variant.
- The in-person event will be replaced by an online series of “State of the World” sessions.
World Economic Forum (WEF)
- The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
- It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
- It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German economist Klaus Schwab as a not-for-profit foundation.
- Mission - Improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas
- It is known for its annual event in Davos, the annual meeting brings together various Heads of Government, top business leaders of the world, economist executives, and activists from around the world to discuss global economic and business issues.
Important Reports of WEF-
- Global Competitiveness Report
- Global Information Technology Report
- Global Gender Gap Report
- Global Risks Report
- Global Travel and Tourism Report
- Global Enabling Trade Report
