1. G20’s TROIKA
India joined the G20 ‘Troika’.
About:
- With this move, India has started the procedure for taking over the G20 presidency next year.
- Troika refers to the top grouping within the G20 that consists of the current, previous and the incoming presidencies — Indonesia, Italy and India.
- India will assume the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022 from Indonesia, and will convene the G20 Leaders’ Summit for the first time in India in 2023.
- Italy hosted the G20 summit during October 30-31 that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi where India had raised the issue of Afghanistan’s future following the takeover by the Taliban.
- Indonesia took over the G20 presidency on December 2, 2021. Next year’s summit will be organised along the overall theme of “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”.
- As a Troika member, India will work closely with Indonesia and Italy to ensure consistency and continuity of the G20’s agenda.
Source: The Hindu
2. CRYPTOCURRENCY
A relatively lesser known cryptocurrency token named after the Greek letter Omicron saw its price surge more than 10 times in a matter of two days outperforming top digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, soon after the World Health Organization (WHO) named the latest Covid-19 variant of concern Omicron.
About:
- From Friday to Monday morning, the price of Omicron surged to $688 from less than $70 earlier.
- Little is known about this decentralized finance project, and robust data surrounding the project is proving hard to come by. Omicron’s official website describes itself as a “decentralized currency protocol built on Arbitrum".
- A similar surge in prices was also witnessed with the crypto token SQUID following the popularity of Netflix show Squid Game despite there being no relation between the show and the currency.
- The WHO is following the Greek alphabet to name significant Covid-19 variants, and the next Greek letter Pi also has a cryptocurrency named after it.
Source: Indian Express
3. GENDER INCLUSION FUND (GIF)
National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 provides for setting up a Gender Inclusion Fund (GIF) to build the nation’s capacity to provide equitable quality education for all girls as well as transgender students.
About:
- The above objectives of NEP for Equitable and quality education for girls and transgender children are being met through specific provisions under Samagra Shiksha 2.0 by allocating dedicated resources for SEDGs.
- This information was given by the Union Minister of Education, Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Source: PIB
4. INDIA-ITU JOINT CYBERDRILL 2021
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have commenced India-ITU Joint Cyberdrill 2021.
About:
- This Cyberdrill is intended for Indian entities especially Critical Network Infrastructure operators.
- It is a four days virtual event starting from 30 November to 3 December 2021.
- Several experts from ITU, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and other eminent organizations participated in the inaugural session.
- Ms Atsuko Okuda, Director of ITU Regional Office, Asia and Pacific Region highlighted significant achievement of India in securing 10th rank in the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI).
- More than 400 participants participated from critical sectors, namely, power, insurance, finance, CERT-In and CSIRT, industry, academia, telecom service providers and field units of DoT.
Source: PIB
5. EMPLOYMENT OF RURAL YOUTHS
The Ministry of Rural Development is presently implementing three welfare schemes for employment generation.
The details in this regard are as follows: –
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): This is a demand driven wage employment programme which provides at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
- Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY): This is a placement linked skill development programme for wage employment.
- Skill development through Rural Self Employment and Training Institutes (RSETIs): This enables a trainee to take bank credit and start his/her own Micro-enterprise. Some of such trainees may also seek regular salaried jobs.
- While MGNREGS provides direct employment, DDU-GKY and RSETI schemes promote employability through either wage or self-employment leading to economic and social development of youths of rural area of the country.
Apart from the above mentioned schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development, various other Ministries/Departments are also implementing the programmes/schemes for employment generation which are as follows:
- Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY): Under Skill India Mission, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is implementing its flagship scheme PMKVY for Skill based training of the youth across the country including of youth belonging to Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe/ Economically weaker Section under Short Term Training (STT) courses and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
- Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP): Ministry of MSME is implementing PMEGP, a major credit-linked subsidy programme aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and unemployed youth. It was launched during 2008-09.
6. PRAGYATA GUIDELINES
Keeping in view the availability of digital infrastructure PRAGYATA Guidelines on Digital Education had been issued to all State governments as well as Schools directly under Central Government as advice.
About:
- The guidelines brief on various modes of digital education including online mode that depends more on availability of internet, partially online mode that utilizes the blended approach of digital technology and other offline activities, and offline mode that utilizes television and radio as a major medium of instruction of education.
- This information was given by the Union Minister of Education, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Source: PIB
7. ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY (REGULATION) BILL, 2020
The Lok Sabha passed the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020, that proposes the establishment of a national registry and registration authority for all clinics and medical professionals serving in the field.
About:
- The ART bill seeks to set minimum standards and codes of conduct for fertility clinics and egg/sperm banks.
- The bill provides for the “safe and ethical practice of assisted reproductive technology services”, including egg or sperm donation, in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), intrauterine insemination (IUI), and gestational surrogacy.
- The bill also aims to introduce protections for egg donors, gestational surrogates, and children conceived through ART services.
- Offences under the bill include clinics offering sex selection, abandoning or exploiting children born through ART, the selling, buying, or importing of human embryos, and exploiting the couple or donors concerned in any form. Proposed jail terms for violations range from five to 12 years, and fines from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.
Source : The Hindu
8. GST COLLECTIONS
Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections hit ₹1,31,526 crore in November, the second highest since it was implemented in July 2017, and the second month in a row that collections have crossed ₹1.3 lakh crore.
About:
- The revenues for November were 25% higher than that in the corresponding month last year and 27% over the pre-pandemic levels of 2019-20.
- Economists, however, said the November collections, reflecting transactions undertaken in October, were underwhelming in the context of the record generation of e-way bills in October.
- Tax collections from import of goods were 43% higher, while revenues from domestic transactions, including import of services, were 20% higher than the respective collections in November 2020.
- The Union Finance Ministry also revised downwards GST collections for the first three months of 2021-22, starting with the record revenues of April that were originally reported as ₹1,41,384 crore. Those collections have now been pared by ₹1,676 crore to ₹1,39,708 crore.
- Emphasising that November’s GST kitty was second only to the collections this April, the Ministry sought to differentiate the significance of the former by stressing that April’s collections related to year-end revenues.
Source : The Hindu
9. ELEPHANTS DEATH
A whopping 1,160 elephants were killed in the country for reasons other than natural causes in the 10 years up to December 31, 2020, according to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
About:
- While electrocution claimed the lives of 741 elephants, train hits led to the death of 186 pachyderms, followed by poaching (169) and poisoning (64), a document accessed from the Ministry through the Right to Information (RTI) Act revealed.
- Karnataka and Odisha lost 133 elephants each to electrocution during the period and Assam reported 129 deaths.
- Among elephant casualties due to train hits, Assam stood first with 62 deaths, followed by West Bengal at 57.
- A total of 169 elephants were killed by poachers in the 10 years and Odisha reported the highest of 49, followed by Kerala 23. Assam reported the highest number of elephants poisoned, 32, and Odisha stood second with 15.
- India had a total of 29,964 wild elephants as per an estimate done in 2017. The southern region comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra accounted for the highest population — 14,612 elephants.
- A Permanent Coordination Committee has been constituted between the Ministry of Railways and the MoEFCC for preventing elephant deaths due to train hits.
Source : The Hindu
10. UAPA, 1967
Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of arrests under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, followed by Jammu and Kashmir, and Manipur, according to data tabled by the Government in the Rajya Sabha.
About:
- Uttar Pradesh recorded 361 UAPA arrests, Jammu and Kashmir 346, and Manipur 225 in 2020.
- As per the National Crime Record Bureau’s report, “the number of persons arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the years 2019 and 2020 are 1,948 and 1,321 respectively”.
- Since 2016, 7,243 were arrested under UAPA. Of those, only 212 were convicted and 286 were acquitted.
Source : The Hindu