NATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
Centre Constitutes 5 member committee to monitor implementation of Central
Vista Project: The
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has formed a five-member committee for
timely completion of various projects executed under the Central Vista
Redevelopment Plan. The Central Vista Redevelopment Project is the ongoing
reconstruction and renovation of the Central Vista, India’s central
administrative buildings located near Raisina Hill, New Delhi. The committee
will be headed by former finance secretary Ratan P Watal.
Other member of the panel are:
(1) Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General
(CAG) -P K Tiwari,
(2) Former director of L&T – Shailendar
Roy
(3) IIT Delhi professor – Prof. Mausam
(4) Joint secretary of Ministry of Housing
and Urban Affairs
The terms of reference of the
‘Central Vista Oversight Committee’ will be to ensure:
(1) Coordination among multi-agency and
stakeholder for seamless integration of different project works of Central
Vista
(2) Continuous monitoring of the pace of
execution of various projects to ensure their timely completion.
2.
7th India International Science Festival to be held in Panaji, Goa: The 7th edition of
the four-day India International Science Festival (IISF) is scheduled to be
held in Panaji, Goa, from December 10 to 13, 2021. The festival theme in 2021
is “Celebrating Creativity in Science, Technology and Innovation for Prosperous
India”. The first IISF was held in New Delhi in 2015. The Goa-based National
Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), under the Ministry of Earth
Sciences, is the nodal agency to organise IISF 2021. The festival will be
organised jointly with the Departments of Atomic Energy (DAE), Science and
Technology (DST), Biotechnology (DBT), and Space (DoS) and the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
3.
1st ever Aharbal Festival held in J&K to promote tourism: Kulgam district
administration and the Department of Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir organized the
1st ever Aharbal Festival at Kulgam, J & K to promote tourism in Kashmir,
particularly at the Aharbal waterfall. Aharbal falls, also known as “Niagara
Falls” of Kashmir, is a hill station in the southwestern part of Kashmir Valley
in the Jammu and Kashmir. The department organized the 1st ever Lolab festival,
a one-day festival at Chandigam Lolab in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district,
J&K, and Doodhpathri Festival, a 3-day tourism festival at Budgam, J&K,
to promote Doodhpathri as an attractive tourist destination.
Note: Lieutenant Governor of J&K: Manoj
Sinha.
4.
“Indian Innings: The Journey of Indian Cricket from 1947” authored by Ayaz
Memon: A
book titled ‘Indian Innings: The Journey of Indian Cricket from 1947’ authored
by Ayaz Memon released. It is an anthology of Indian Cricket and marked several
insights of Indian cricket of the last 70 years. The book has covered the era
of veteran cricketers K N Prabhu to P N Sundaresan and Dicky Rutnagar to
Ramachandra Guha and Suresh Menon, those years of famous victories consist of
experiences about World Cups, various Test cricket, etc.
5.
National Pollution Control Day 2021: 2nd December: National Pollution Control
Day is observed on 2nd December every year. The day is observed as a national
pollution control day to commemorate the lives of the people who died in the
Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984. The main objective of this day is to educate the
people and to make them aware of pollution control acts and industrial
disasters. This year will be marked as the 37th national pollution control day.
To know more about this day, candidates are advised to read the article below.
History of National Pollution
Control Day:
The day is observed in the memory of people who lost their lives in the Bhopal
gas disaster. The industrial accident occurred in 1984 when the gas Methyl
Isocyanate leaked on the night of December 2–3 and killed thousands.
Objectives of the day:
(1) Spread awareness of managing and
controlling industrial disasters
(2) Prevent the pollution produced by
industrial processes or human negligence
(3) Make people and industries aware of the
importance of pollution control acts
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
UAE’s Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi elected as President of INTERPOL: The International
Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) has elected Inspector General Ahmed
Naser Al-Raisi (United Arab Emirates) as its President for a 4-year term at the
89th Interpol general assembly meeting held in Istanbul, Turkey. He replaces
Kim Jong Yan from South Korea. In the final round, the UAE candidate received
68.9 per cent of votes cast by member countries. As president, Al Raisi’s role
during his four-year term will be to chair meetings of the executive committee
which supervises the implementation of decisions taken at the General Assembly.
Note: INTERPOL Formed: 1923; INTERPOL
Headquarters: Lyon, France; INTERPOL President: Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi; INTERPOL
Member states: 195; INTERPOL Secretary-General: Jürgen Stock; INTERPOL Motto:
connecting police for a safer world.
2.
India and Germany launches WISER program for lateral entry for women
researchers in joint R&D projects: The Indo-German Science & Technology
Centre (IGSTC) has launched a first-of-its-kind programme to promote women
researchers in the field of research and development (R&D) through lateral
entry. The programme is called Women’s Involvement in Science and Engineering
Research (WISER). WISER will encourage women researchers in joint R&D projects.
IGSTC is a joint initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST),
Government of India and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF),
Government of Germany.
3.
World Computer Literacy Day 2021: 2nd December: World Computer Literacy Day
is observed on 2nd December every year all over the world. The day is
celebrated as the world computer literacy day to create awareness and drive
digital literacy in underserved communities worldwide. The day promotes
technological skills, especially in children and women, and aims to inspire
them to learn more and make their work easier by the use of computers. To know,
more about the World Computer Literacy day candidates are advised to read the
below article.
History of World Computer Literacy
Day:
The day was originally founded by the Indian computer company NIIT to mark its
20th anniversary in 2001. World Computer Literacy Day was first observed and
held in the year 2001 on 2nd December. As mentioned above, the day is
celebrated to create awareness and drive digital literacy in underserved
communities worldwide.
4.
International Day for the Abolition of Slavery: 2 December: International Day
for the Abolition of Slavery is observed annually on 2nd December since 1986 by
the United Nations General Assembly. The focus of this day is on eradicating
contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual
exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced
recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
History of the day: The International
Day for the Abolition of Slavery, 2 December, marks the date of the adoption,
by the General Assembly, of the United Nations Convention for the Suppression
of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
(resolution 317(IV) of 2 December 1949).
OTHER UPDATES:
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
RBI approves to increase LIC’s stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank: The Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) has given its approval to Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to raise
its stake in private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank to 9.99 per cent. Currently,
LIC holds 4.96% stake in the private lender. Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited has received
an intimation from LIC stating that the RBI had granted its approval to LIC,
for increasing its holding in the Bank up to 9.99 per cent of the paid-up
equity share capital of the Bank. Key points:
(1) The approval of the central bank will
be valid for one year. As per RBI norms, prior approval of the RBI is required
to increase the stake in private banks beyond 5 per cent.
(2) LIC is one of the biggest institutional
investors in India’s stock market and has a stake in a number of private and
public sector banks. LIC has a stake in as many 24 scheduled commercial banks,
data from Capitaline shows.
(3) Among other major banks, LIC holds 8.8
per cent in Canara Bank, 8.3 per cent in Punjab National Bank and State Bank of
India, 8.2 per cent in Axis Bank, and 7.6 per cent in ICICI Bank.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1.
Indian-origin executive Parag Agrawal new Twitter CEO: Indian-origin
technology executive, Parag Agrawal has been appointed as the new CEO of
Twitter after the social media giant’s co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down. He
is now the youngest CEO in the S&P 500 elbowing Meta Platform Inc. CEO Mark
Zuckerberg. However, Agrawal is 37 and the same age as Mark Zuckerberg. Parag
joined Twitter 10 years ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees. He has
been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around. He’s
curious, probing, rational, creative, demanding, self-aware and humble.
About Parag Agrawal: Parag did his
undergrad at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
Following this, he went on to do his masters from Stanford University. He
completed his PhD in Computer Science from the same place in 2012.
Note: Twitter formed: 21 March 2006;
Headquarters of Twitter: San Francisco, California, United States.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1.
6th BRICS Film Festival Awards 2021 announced: The 6th edition of
the BRICS Film Festival awards was announced at the 52nd International Film Festival
of India in Goa. For the first time, BRICS Film Festival was held alongside
IFFI from November 20 to November 28, 2021. The Jury for this competitive
festival had 5 members, one from each of the BRICS countries. The jury selected
the awards under five categories after examining twenty films.
Awardees:
(1) South African Film ‘Barakat’ by
Director Amy Jephta and Russian Film ‘The Sun above Me Never Sets’ by Director
Lyubov Borisova shared the Best Film Award in the Sixth edition BRICS Film
Festival.
(2) Brazilian filmmaker Lúcia Murat was
awarded Best Director for her documentary ‘Ana’.
(3) Indian actor Dhanush won Best Actor
(Male) for his role in ‘Asuran’.
(4)Brazilian actor Lara Boldorini was
honoured with Best Actor (Female) for her role in ‘On Wheels’.
(5) Jury Special Mention Award was presented to Director Yan Han for his film A Little Red Flower from China.
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