1. NUSANTARA
Indonesia’s parliament passed a law approving the relocation of its capital from slowly sinking Jakarta to a site 2,000 kilometres away on the jungle-clad Borneo island that will be named “Nusantara”.
About:
- The House of Representatives vote provides the legal framework for the move, which was first tipped by President Joko Widodo in April 2019, citing rising sea levels and severe congestion on densely populated Java island.
- Home to more than 30 million people in its greater metro area, Jakarta has long been plagued by serious infrastructure problems and flooding exacerbated by climate change.
- The new capital will cover about 56,180 hectares in East Kalimantan province on the Indonesian part of Borneo.
Source : The Hindu
2. MARITAL RAPE
At a consultation organized by the National Commission for Women on amendments to criminal law, there was unanimity among speakers that marital rape should be criminalised.
About:
- After the discussions, The NCW will send the recommendations to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is looking at a review of the criminal laws, including the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
- The meeting comes at a time the Delhi High Court is hearing multiple petitions on making marital rape an offence and the Centre has sought more time to present its stand.
- The petitions have sought striking down the exception to Section 375 of the IPC, which says forcible sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being 18 years, is not rape.
- The meeting also discussed the interpretation of consent. There should be a broader understanding of when consent stands vitiated.
Important Info :
Other issues
- On the issue of age of marriage being raised for women to 21 years to make it equal to that of men, most speakers agreed that 18 years should be the age of marriage for both men and women.
- The meeting also discussed the need for gender-neutral anti-rape laws which the civil society has demanded to recognise same-sex assaults among gay, lesbian and bisexual people as well as sexual crimes against transgender persons.
Source : The Hindu
3. NORTHEAST CANE AND BAMBOO DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (NECBDC)
NECBDC sponsored a training programme on “Bamboo Shoot Processing and Preservation” which was conducted by the NECBDC empanelled cluster M/s Delicacies food processing Center, Meghalaya the same venue from 13th to 17th, December 2021.
About:
- North East Cane and Bamboo Development Council (NECBDC) is under the Ministry of DoNER, Govt. of India.
- Formerly known as Cane and Bamboo Development Council (CBDC), NECBDC was incorporated with the objective of organizing the hitherto untapped bamboo sector of NE India.
- It is located in Byrnihat, Assam.
Important Info :
Bamboo shoots?
- Bamboo shoots or bamboo sprouts are the edible shoots (new bamboo culms that come out of the ground) of many bamboo species including Bambusa vulgaris and Phyllostachys edulis. They are used as vegetables in numerous Asian dishes and broths.
Source : PIB
4. STREETS FOR PEOPLE CHALLENGE; NURTURING NEIGHBOURHOODS CHALLENGE
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) organized an online event wherein it announced eleven winning cities for the Streets for People Challenge, and ten winning cities for the pilot stage of the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge.
About:
- These cities will now enter the scale-up stage of the challenge wherein the projects are undertaken in the pilot stage will now be scaled up in a sustainable manner.
- At the event, the Ministry also launched Season-2 of India Cycles4Change and Streets for People Challenges and a book titled ‘Nurturing Neighburhoods Challenge: Stories from the Field”.
- Since 2020, the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) has been anchoring inter-city challenges to make public spaces more people-friendly. This is in line with the 2006 National Urban Transport Policy, which called for a paradigm shift from car-centric roads to people-centric streets.
- Over the past 18 months, these challenges vis. Cycles4Change and Streets for People, have transformed into a nationwide movement beyond the 100 Smart Cities.
- Under the ‘Streets for people Challenge’, 38 cites piloted re-imaginations of an important street each by prioritizing them for pedestrians.
Source : PIB
5. NATIONAL CENTRE FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE (NCGG)
In order to promote inclusive good governance, strengthening of local institutions and effective implementation of government programs, the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Government of India and National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD & PR), Hyderabad signed MoU on 17th January 2022.
About:
- The main purpose of having this agreement is to focus on different collaborative activities by drawing upon the strengths of these two national institutions for bringing better good governance mechanisms into practice across all programmes and schemes.
- The National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) is an autonomous institute under the aegis of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India. Its head office is at New Delhi and branch office at Mussoorie.
- The National Centre for Good Governance traces its origin to the National Institute of Administrative Research (NIAR). NIAR was set up in 1995 by the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) the Government of India's apex training Institute for higher civil services.
- NIAR was subsequently rechistened with an expanded mandate, as National Centre for Good Governance, which was inaugurated on February 24th, 2014.
Source : PIB
6. INTERNATIONAL ROAMING
As part of the policy reforms initiated in telecom sector, the Department of Telecom (DOT) has issued the “Revised terms & conditions for issue/renewal of NOC for sale/rent of International Roaming SIM Cards/ Global Calling Cards of Foreign Operators in India”.
About:
- The revised terms & conditions strengthens the mechanism to protect the interests of the Indian public visiting abroad and also streamlines the procedures in line with the other licenses/registrations.
- The revised policy mandates the NOC holders to make provision for providing information regarding customer care service, contact details, escalation matrix, itemised bills, information related to tariff plans, services offered, etc.
- Provision has also been made to strengthen Billing and consumer grievance redressal mechanism to facilitate time bound resolution of grievance by the NOC holders with provision for Appellate Authority in DOT.
- Further, the revised policy also streamlines the application process/ other procedures for the NOC holders in line with the other licenses/ registrations etc. in the DOT and to facilitate the resolution/ management of the issues of the NOCs holders.
Source: PIB
7. NARAYAN DEBNATH
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed deep grief over the demise of noted cartoonist Shri Narayan Debnath Ji.
About:
- Narayan Debnath (25 November 1925 – 18 January 2022) was an Indian comics artist, writer and illustrator.
- He was the creator of the popular Bengali comic strips of Handa Bhonda (1962), Bantul the Great (1965) and Nonte Phonte (1969).
- His other creations like Rabi Chobi was published to celebrate the birth centenary of Rabindranath Tagore in the May 1961 issue of the weekly magazine called Anandamela.
- He holds the record of longest running comics by an individual artiste for Handa Bhonda comics series which completed its continuous 53 years of running.
- Debnath was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in the year 2021.
Source : PIB
8. ALTIMETERS
The chief executives of major US passenger and cargo airlines have warned of a “catastrophic” aviation crisis this week as AT&T and Verizon deploy new 5G services.
About:
- They said the new C band 5G service set to begin could render a significant number of aircraft unusable, causing chaos for US flights and potentially stranding tens of thousands of Americans overseas.
- The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned that the new 5G technology could interfere with instruments such as altimeters, which measure how far above the ground an airplane is travelling.
Important Info :
Altimeters?
- Altimeters operate in the 4.2-4.4 GHz range and the concern is that the auctioned frequencies sit too close to this range.
- In addition to altitude, altimeter readouts are also used to facilitate automated landings and to help detect dangerous currents called wind shear.
Source : Indian Express
9. ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
Microsoft Corp announced on January 18 that it would buy Activision Blizzard, the maker of superhit video games Call of Duty and Candy Crush, for $68.7 billion in cash.
About:
- This is the largest deal in the sector, and makes Microsoft, maker of the Xbox gaming console, the third-largest gaming company by revenue after Tencent and Sony, the company said.
- The acquisition underlines the importance Microsoft attaches to video games in the coming digital world dominated by virtual and augmented reality.
- The deal is expected to boost Microsoft against Facebook, the biggest player in the metaverse. By adding Activision, Microsoft is betting that people would want to play major games on not just phones, consoles, or computers, but also in VR.
Source : Indian Express
10. SUSTAINING FOOD PRODUCTION UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh addressed the India-UK meet on “Sustaining Food Production under Environmental Stress” through virtual mode.
About:
- The Workshop is being organized jointly by National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Mohali, an institute under Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and University of Birmingham, UK and supported by Newton Bhabha Fund and British Council.
- Dwelling on the issue of Sustainable Food Production, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the South Asian region is facing the shrinking arable land, besides the problem of global climate change that needs to be addressed.
- Quoting World Bank data, the Minister pointed out that the Arable land in South Asia was reported at 43.18 % in 2018 which has been stagnant since the early 1970s and recently declining.