Daily Current Affairs- 2 December

Today's Current Affairs-2nd December 2022

NATIONAL

Meghalaya Cabinet on Tuesday passed its first ever Mental Health & Social Care Policy

• The Meghalaya cabinet has approved a policy aimed at addressing the issues of mental health and social care through collaborative engagement with communities. The Meghalaya Mental Health & Social Care Policy was approved at the cabinet meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister. In 2014, the Centre launched the first-ever National Mental Health Policy in an attempt to provide universal psychiatry care.
• Meghalaya is the third state in the country to have a comprehensive policy on mental health and social care, paying attention to these issues, especially among children, adolescents and youth. Kerala and Karnataka are the other two states in the country to have such policies.
• India being a signatory to it, launched her national mental health policy (NMHPolicy) in 2014.
• The policy was in concordance with WHO’s mental health (MH) policy, plan, and program (2005), and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2007).
• Further, it aligned with and was supported by contemporary laws such as the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPWD, 2016), Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA, 2017), etc.

Nagaland: 23^rd Hornbill Festival 2022 kicks start

• 23rd Hornbill Festival 2022 begins at Naga Heritage Village Kisama in Nagaland. Nagaland’s famous Hornbill Festival is scheduled from 1st December to 10th December 2022. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar graced the inaugural function of the festival as the Chief Guest. Now it has been more than 20 years that the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland has welcomed visitors from around the world. In 10 days festival, a visitor gets the opportunity to view all the Naga tribes, their culture and distinctiveness in one place.
• Hornbill Festival of Nagaland is also popularly known as the ‘Festival of Festivals’ and showcases Nagaland’s rich culture. It is organized by the Government of Nagaland, mainly to encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote the cultural heritage of Nagaland. This year, in the 10-day festival, more than 130 stalls are set up in Kisama wherein, 100 stalls are taken up by the Micro Small & Medium Enterprises and 32 are temporary stalls. The daily cultural events include activities such as music festivals, photo fest, fashion shows, adventure sports, night carnivals, etc.

International Lusophone Festival to be held from 3-6 December in Goa

• Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in partnership with Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Goa government will organize the International Lusophone Festival in Goa from 3-6 December. It will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant at Durbar Hall in Raj Bhavan. Minister of State for External Affairs, Meenakshi Lekhi will be the Guest of Honour. AIR correspondent reports that Lusophones are people that speak Portuguese as a native or as a common second language.
• The festival seeks to further India’s connect with the Lusophone world. Goa has had historical linkages with the Lusophone world, which has been nurtured through the presence of Portuguese cultural institutions like the Orient Foundation and the Camoes Institute which promote Portuguese language and culture in India. This has deepened our economic, cultural co-operation and people-to-people ties with the CPLP member countries.
• The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa) also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (Comunidade Lusofona), is a multilateral forum, founded on 17 July 1996 at the 1st CPLP Heads of State & Government Summit in Lisbon.

J&K Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha inaugurates Amar Jawan Shourya Sthal in Reasi

• J&K Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday inaugurated Amar Jawan Shourya Sthal at Pouni, Reasi. On the occasion LG paid obeisance to Param Poojya Sant Balak Yogeshwar Das Ji Maharaj.
• While addressing the gathering LG saluted Veer Naris, and veterans, and paid tributes to all those martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for our country.
• Lt Governor observed that after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the ecosystem nurturing terrorism has been dismantled. He said the nation is truly indebted to the brave Jawans for safeguarding national security.  

UP Govt Launches ‘One District One Sport’ Scheme to Promote Sports Culture

• In his mission to promote sports and sportspersons in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has launched One District One Sport (ODOS), modeled after the government's highly successful One District One Product (ODOP) scheme.
• The scheme serves the government's two interconnected goals of promoting sports culture and keeping the state's younger generation healthy and providing a platform for athletes to develop their talents and skills to compete in prestigious national and international championships and win medals.
• According to a press release from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), under ODOS, one sport will be identified in each of UP's 75 districts and necessary steps will be taken to find district-specific sport-specific talents and hone their skills to enable them to represent the district, state, national, and international level tournaments and championships.
• Because wrestling has a long history in Deoria, Maharajganj, Azamgarh, Chandauli, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Kashi, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Gorakhpur in Purvanchal, the government has made it the ODOS here. Many local wrestlers have even flown the tricolor at national and international competitions.

India to assume chairmanship of wassenaar arrangement on january 1 2023

• India will assume chairmanship of the plenary of the Wassenaar Arrangement for a year on January 1, 2023, just five years after joining the 42-member voluntary export control regime that monitors transfers of conventional weapons and dual-use goods.
• At the 26th annual plenary of the Wassenaar Arrangement held in Vienna during November 30- December 1, Ireland’s ambassador Eoin O’Leary handed over the chairmanship to India’s ambassador Jaideep Mazumdar, who is the permanent representative to the UN and international organisations in Vienna.
• India joined the Wassenaar Arrangement in December 2017 as its 42nd participating state. The body is a multilateral export control regime that works to promote transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies through regular exchanges of information among its members.
• The regime is aimed at tracking such transfers and preventing “destabilising accumulations” of conventional arms and dual-use goods, the external affairs ministry said.

Civil Aviation Minister launches Digi yatra for three Airports in India

• Union Minister for Civil Aviation Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia today launched Digi Yatra from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi for three airports in the country, namely New Delhi, Varanasi and Bengaluru. Digi Yatra is conceived to achieve contactless, seamless processing of passengers at airports based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT).
• Speaking about the Digi Yatra project conceived by Digi Yatra Foundation under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Minister said that the project envisages a traveller today pass through various check points at the airports through a paperless and contactless processing using facial features to establish her identity which could be linked to the boarding pass. To use this facility, one-time registration on Digi Yatra app is required using Aadhar based validation and a self-image capture. The project has tremendous advantages of improving passenger convenience and ease of travel.
• About the privacy features of the project, the Minister said that keeping in mind the privacy, there is no central storage of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Passenger’s ID and travel credentials are stored in a secure wallet in the passenger’s smartphone itself. The uploaded data will utilise blockchain technology and all the data will be purged from the servers within 24 hours of use.

APPOINTMENS & RESIGNATIONS

GroupM Media's CEO Prashanth Kumar elected president of AAAI

• Prasanth Kumar, CEO, South Asia of GroupM Media (India) Pvt Ltd, has been elected as the president of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI). He has an experience of over 25 years in the Industry. Before joining GroupM, he held positions at Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge, and McCann Erickson. He has served as AAAI’s vice president from 2020 to 2022.
• Rana Barua, group CEO of Havas Group India, was elected vice-president of the association. Anupriya Acharya, outgoing president, will be the ex-officio member of the AAAI board for 2022-23.
• Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) is the official, national organisation of advertising agencies, formed in 1945, to promote their interests. The Association promotes professionalism, through its founding principles, which uphold sound business practices between Advertisers and Advertising Agencies and the various media.

 IMPORTANT DAYS

National Pollution Control Day 2022: 2^nd December

• National Pollution Control Day is observed every year on 2 December in India. The day is recognized to commemorate the precious lives that were lost in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, one of the greatest industrial disasters in the history of India. The main aim and objectives of celebrating the National Pollution Prevention Day 2022 in India is to create awareness among people about the judicious use of industries to prevent uncalled-for industrial disasters.
• The significance of celebrating the National Pollution Control Day is to avoid similar catastrophes like the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and save the earth from the damage caused by pollution. The day is dedicated to encourage the adoption of pollution control acts to prevent the environmental pollution caused by human negligence and industrial emissions.

World Computer Literacy Day 2022: 2^nd December

• December 2 is observed as International Computer Literacy Day. It was started in 2001 by NIIT, a world-famous Indian computer firm. The day is entirely devoted to Computers and how they are a significant source of concern with the modernisation of the planet. The aim is to highlight the importance of computer literacy, which is essential for the present times. 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.
• World Computer Literacy Day was launched in 2001 by an Indian company called N.I.I.T to celebrate its 22nd anniversary. Founded in 1981 by Rajendra Singh Pawar and Vijay K. Thadani, N.I.I.T, which stands for National Institute of Information Technology, is a skills and talent development company. World Computer Literacy Day was founded by the company in response to a study that revealed that men formed the majority of computer users in the world. As a result, N.I.I.T took up the cause to educate more women and children by equipping them with computer literacy skills. Since its inception in 1981, the company has spread to over 30 countries of the world.