1. CHITTARANJAN NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
Prime Minister Narenda Modi will inaugurate the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) in Kolkata.
About:
- The second campus of CNCI has been built in line with the Prime Minister's vision to expand and upgrade the health facilities in all parts of the country.
- The second campus of CNCI has been built at a cost of over 530 crore rupees, out of which around 400 crore rupees have been provided by the Union government and rest by the West Bengal government, in the ratio of 75:25.
- The campus is equipped with modern facilities like Nuclear Medicine (PET), 3.0 Tesla MRI, 128 slice CT scanner, Radionuclide therapy unit, endoscopy suite, modern brachytherapy units etc.
- The campus will also work as an advanced cancer research facility and will provide comprehensive care to cancer patients especially those from Eastern and North-Eastern parts of the country.
Source : All India Radio
2. EXPENDITURE LIMIT FOR CANDIDATES IN PARLIAMENTARY AND
ASSEMBLY POLLS
The Election Commission has enhanced the existing election expenditure limit for candidates in Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies.
About:
- These limits will be applicable in all upcoming elections.
- The ceiling on parliamentary poll expenditure has been raised from 70 lakh to 95 lakh rupees in bigger states and 54 lakh to 75 lakhs in smaller states.
- The bigger states include Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka, and the smaller states include Goa, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and UTs.
- The ceiling on poll expenditure in UT of Jammu and Kashmir has been raised to 95 lakhs.
- For Assembly constituencies, expenditure limits have been enhanced from 28 lakh rupees 40 lakh rupees in bigger states and from 20 lakhs to 28 lakhs in smaller states.
- Last major revision in the election expenditure limit was carried out in 2014, which was further increased by 10 percent in 2020. EC had formed a Committee to study the cost factors and other related issues, and make suitable recommendations.
Source : All India Radio
3. INTRA-STATE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM - GREEN ENERGY CORRIDOR PHASE-II
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the CCEA has approved the Intra-State Transmission System - Green Energy Corridor Phase-II.
About:
- The scheme will add approximately 10,750 circuit kilometres of transmission lines and around 27, 500 Mega Volt-Amperes transformation capacity of substations.
- The scheme will facilitate grid integration and power evacuation of approximately 20 GW of Renewable Energy power projects in seven states.
- These states are Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
- The scheme is targeted to be set up with a total estimated cost of over 12 thousand 31 crore rupees and Central Financial Assistance at 33 percent of the project cost, that amounts to over 3970 crore rupees.
- The transmission systems will be created over a period of five years from the Financial Year 2021-22 to 2025-26. The scheme will help in achieving the target of 450 GW installed Renewable Energy capacity by 2030.
Source: All India Radio
4. CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGE OVER MAHAKALI RIVER
The Union Cabinet , chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Nepal for construction of bridge over Mahakali River at Dharchula (India)- Dharchula (Nepal).
About:
- With the signing of MoU, diplomatic relation between the two countries will further improve.
- As close neighbours, India and Nepal share unique ties of friendship and cooperation characterized by an open border and deep-rooted people-to-people contacts of kinship and culture.
- Both India and Nepal have been working together on different regional forums i.e. SAARC, BIMSTEC as well as global fora.
Source: PIB
5. 24th CONFERENCE ON E-GOVERNANCE 2020-21
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh will inaugurate the 24th Conference on e-Governance 2020-21 in Hyderabad on January 7, 2021.
About:
- The two-day conference themed 'India’s Techade: Digital Governance in a Post Pandemic World’ will be organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, in association with the Government of Telangana.
- During the event, National Awards for e-Governance 2021 will be presented under 6 categories to 26 e-Governance initiatives at Central, State and District levels and also to Academic and Research Institutions and Public Sector Undertakings.
- This includes 12 Gold, 13 Silver and 1 Jury Award.
- Delegates from 28 States and 9 Union Territories along with academia, research institutions, IT Industry would be participating in the conference through Virtual Mode.
Source : All India Radio
6. STC (SCHEDULED TRIBE COMPONENT) PROJECT AT ATTAGATTI IN ANAMALAI TIGER RESERVE (ATR)
ICAR – Sugarcane Breeding Institute (ICAR-SBI), Coimbatore in collaboration with Anamalai Tiger Reserve, conducted a campaign on “Knowledge empowerment of tribals’ and launched its STC (Scheduled Tribe Component) project at Attagatti in Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR), on 5 January 2022.
About:
- Unlike other tiger reserves, the Anamalai Tiger Reserve has diverse groups of indigenous people, he mentioned.
- The ‘Malasar’ tribes are of great help to the Forest Department in training the elephants with their profound knowledge and skill on handling Asian elephants, the Deputy Director said that saving tribals is akin to saving forests.
- This is the first time this project is being implemented in ATR.
- The interventions by the Institute for implementing STC, was finalized based on a systematic need assessment by conduct of Focus groups among two tribes viz., ‘Malasar’ and ‘Malai malasar’ tribes belonging to the tribal settlements of Nagaroothu -1, Nagaroothu – 2, Old Sarkarpathy, Chinnarpathy, Koomaatti and Paalakinaru.
- Since over 47 lakhs of Indian tribal children suffer from chronic nutrition deprivation, the tribal community in these settlements, will be educated on setting up and maintaining a nutrition garden and kitchen garden seed kits will be distributed during this campaign on ‘knowledge empowerment of tribals’ .
Source: PIB
7. RAILWAY PROTECTION FORCE (RPF)
A brief of the achievements of Railway Protection Force (RPF) during the year 2021 is as under.
Key initiatives
- RPF has been saving lives in mission mode under “Mission Jeewan Raksha”. RPF personnel have saved 1650 lives from the wheels of the running trains at railway stations in last four years under this mission.
- An initiative “Meri Saheli” was launched to provide security to lady passengers in long distance trains particularly travelling alone or those who are vulnerable to crime.
- During the year 2021, RPF retrieved left behind luggage having value to the tune of more than 23 Crores belonging to 12377 passengers and returned to them after due verification. RPF has been doing this service to passengers under “Operation Amanat”.
Source: PIB
8. INDIA’S FIRST OPEN ROCK MUSEUM
Union Minister of Science & Technology inaugurated India’s first unique “Rock” Museum and later addressed the Hyderabad Scientists at the CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI).
About:
- The Open Rock Museum, set up with the aim to educate and enlighten the masses about several lesser known facts, displays around 35 different types of rocks from different parts of India with ages ranging from 3.3 Billion years to around 55 Million years of the Earth’s history.
- These rocks also represent the deepest part of the earth up to 175 kms of distance from the surface of the earth.
- “Big Earth data” occupies the strategic high ground in the era of knowledge economies and India is fully exploiting this new frontier contributing to the advancement of Earth science.
Source: PIB
9. COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION (CSTO)
A Moscow-led military alliance dispatched troops to help quell mounting unrest in Kazakhstan as the police said dozens were killed trying to storm government buildings.
About:
- Long seen as one the most stable of the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, energy-rich Kazakhstan is facing its biggest crisis in decades after days of protests over rising fuel prices escalated into widespread unrest.
- Under increasing pressure, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appealed overnight to the Russia-domina- ted Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which includes five other ex-Soviet states, to combat what he called “terrorist groups” that had “received extensive training abroad”.
Important Info :
Key facts
- The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia that consists of select post-Soviet states.
- Membership: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
- Headquarters: Moscow, Russia.
Source: The Hindu
10. SUDHIR KUMAR SAXENA COMMITTEE
Union Home Ministry has constituted a committee to enquire into the serious lapses in the security arrangements during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab.
About:
- The three-member committee will be led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat and will comprise Balbir Singh, Joint Director, IB and S. Suresh, IG, SPG.
- The committee has been advised to submit the report at the earliest.
Source : All India Radio