GK and Current Affairs Updates

The Ministry of Textiles have taken an initiative to organize first ever “Investors Summit” exclusively for NER in association with Ministry of DONER and the Industry Associations FICCI and CII on 30-31 January 2017 at Shillong. The Summit aims to showcase the NER as a global destination for investment, and explore possibility of convergence of efforts of various central Ministries and North Eastern States to attract investment in NER.
●    The Summit will be attended by the all North Eastern States, Industries from North East and leading investors across the country. The Summit is expected to unlock huge potential of the NER in textile manufacturing and generate new avenues for employment in the region.
●    North Eastern Region has huge potential for investments particularly in the field of textiles and handicrafts due to its inherent strength for skilled work force and locally available raw material. Ministry of Textiles is implementing projects worth Rs 1050 cr for Handlooms, Handicrafts, sericulture, Apparel & Garmenting, Technical textiles etc. in the eight States of North East region in line with the “Act East” policy of the Government,
●    These projects have created a foundation for further growth of manufacturing in textile sector. Other line Ministries also have schemes where various incentives/ concessions are available for investments in NER. However, the information is mostly in silos and does not provide a comprehensive picture to the investors about the opportunities in 
●    North East.

The Ministry of Textiles has decided to establish a “Bunkar Mitra-Handloom Helpline Centre” where professional queries of weavers will be answered by the experts in the field. 
●    This helpline will function from 10.00 a.m to 6 p.m. and initially it will be provided in 7 languages viz., Hindi, English, and 5 other regional languages (Telugu, Tamil, Kannada Bengali & Assamese).
●    Currently 28 Weavers’ Service Centres (WSCs) are functioning across the country to provide technical assistance to handloom weavers in improving their skills. For seeking assistance, weavers have to personally visit the WSCs. 
●    As on date, there is no single point of contact where weavers can seek solutions for their technical issues/problems. The helpline aims to overcome these problems.
●    To set up this helpline, online bids were called by the Ministry by following due e-procurement process. M/s. MSD (I) P. Ltd., Bhopal has been selected as an agency for providing Handloom Helpline Centre and LOI was issued on 30.11.2016. The call centre will be operationalised within a month.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the ambitious Chardham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojna’on 27th December, 2016 at Parade Ground in Dehradun. 
●    The project aims at improving the connectivity to the Char Dham pilgrimage centres in the Himalayas, making journey to these centres safer, faster and more convenient. 
●    The Chardham project includes developing 900 km of national  highways in Uttarakhand at a total cost of Rs. 12000 crores. Work for 17 projects worth Rs 3000 crores have already been sanctioned and tendered. The entire length of the highways will be two-laned with paved shoulder and with a minimum width of 10 metres.  
●    There will be tunnels, bypasses, bridges, subways and viaducts to prevent traffic bottlenecks. A team of experts have been engaged to identify zones prone to landslides, and environment friendly techniques are being incorporated in the design to make these zones safer.  
●    Wayside amenities and public facilities will be constructed all along the Chardham route, including parking spaces and helipad for emergency evacuation.

The Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik on 22 December 2016 formally inaugurated the North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homoeopathy (NEIAH) in Shillong, Meghalaya.
●    The objective of the NEIAH is to provide good quality medical graduates in traditional medicine generate employment and promote tourism in the North East.
●    It is an autonomous Institute under Union Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.
●    With this inauguration, the institute has become the second Ayurvedic College in the North East Region with a Homeopathy college.
●    It is the only Central Academic Institute of AYUSH in the North East Region.
●    Its primary aim is to produce quality human resource in the area of AYUSH in general and the Ayurveda and Homeopathy in particular.
●    The institute will suitably help in implementing and improving the execution of national health policies.

Hong Kong, the special administrative region of China has withdrawn its previous visa-free facility for Indians. The announcement was made by the Hong Kong Immigration Department on its official website.
●    According to the Immigration department’s statement, all Indian tourists will have to complete a pre-arrival registration in order to gain permission to enter the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
●    The pre- arrival registration for Indian Nationals will be implemented from 23 January 2017. Its online service has already been opened. 
●    Hong Kong will be affected by about 5 million Indians who come to the island on business and leisure.
●    Hong Kong for the first time has strictly enforced rules.
●    In this city of more than 10 thousand refugees are pending. Over 80 percent of these people are Indians .

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 December 2016 laid the foundation stone of a Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Center in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The dedicated cancer centre will be built at an expense of Rs 500 crore.
●    After laying the foundation stone of the cancer centre, Modi said that the role of technology in medical science has increased and that’s why his government is making all efforts to provide best medical facilities across India. This is a time when quality and affordable healthcare should be provided to people, especially the poor.
●    Modi was on a one-day visit to his Parliamentary constituency Varanasi. During this visit, he also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of several other projects in the temple town. 
●    He laid the foundation of super speciality block of Institute of Medical Science of BHU.
●    He attended a cultural event being organised under Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav from BHU premises.

An Indian-American engineer has been elected as Mayor of South San Francisco city in the US state of California. 
●    Pradeep Gupta, an IIT Chennai alumni, was sworn in as the Mayor of the city early this month, a media release said. 
●    With this he has became the second Indian-American to be elected as the Mayor of the Californian city.
●    Gupta was appointed to the South San Francisco City Council for a one-year term on December 31, 2012 and was elected to a full four-year term in November 2013. 
●    Prior to his appointment to the City Council, he was on the South San Francisco Planning Commission for three years, serving as the Commission’s Chair in 2011.
●    He has a Master’s degree and a Doctorate from Purdue University in Electrical Engineering, specialising in the area of energy efficiency and long term planning of electric utility systems. 
●    He earlier served as Vice Mayor of the City. This election season, Savita Vaidhyanathan was elected as the new Mayor of Cupertino in California.

Sahitya Akademi on 21 December 2016 announced the Sahitya Akademi Awards for the year 2016 in 24 languages. Eight books of poetry, seven books of short stories, five books of novel, two books of criticism, one book of essays and a book of play have won the prestigious awards for the year.
●    The awards were recommended by distinguished jury members representing 24 Indian languages and approved by the Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi, under the Chairmanship of Dr. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, President of the Akademy.
●    The prestigious award will be presented to the winners at a special function to be held on 22 February 2017 in New Delhi. The Award includes a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs. 100000.
●    
●    The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India.
●    It is conferred annually on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the major Indian languages recognised by the Sahitya Akademi.
●    The Award was established in 1954.
●    Indian film-maker Satyajit Ray is designer of the plaque awarded by the Sahitya Akademi.
 

The Minister of State for AYUSH Shri Shripad Yesso Naik formally inaugurated the North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homoeopathy (NEIAH), an autonomous Institute under Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India, in Shillong, Meghalaya today. With this, it became the second Ayurvedic College in the North East Region with a Homeopathy college and the only Central Academic Institute of Ayush.
●    Minister of Health & F.W, Govt. of Meghalaya Smt. Roshan Warjri in her speech expressed her gratefulness to the Union government for providing an Institute of this stature which the region has long yearned for. 
●    The Director of NEIAH Prof (Dr) P K Goswami earlier in his inaugural speech said that the Institute will be a unique institution which will be independent and collocated beside NEIGRIHMS with multi-speciality, where education and health care facilities through Ayurveda & Homoeopathy will be provided under one platform.
●    The NEIAH has started functioning with one College of Ayurveda and one College of Homoeopathy from the academic session 2016-17. The Institute admitted 50 candidates each for BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine & Surgery) and BHMS (Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine & Surgery) courses which commenced from 30th   November, 2016.  
●    Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Shri Vincent Pala; Joint Secretary to Ministry of AYUSH, Shri Anurag Srivastava; Additional Chief Secretary to Government of Meghalaya, Shri Yeshi Tsering and other senior officers of Ministry of AYUSH and the Meghalaya Government were present at the function.

The Minister of Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi gave away National Awards to Anganwadi workers for exceptional achievement for the year 2014-15 and 2015-16 in the presence of Minster of State for Women & Child Development, Smt Krishna Raj. The Awards were given away at a function in New Delhi today. A total of 97 Anganwadi workers (49 for the year 2014-15 and 48 for 2015-16) from different states/UTs were conferred National level awards for the above years. Representatives from various States/UTs and heads of various organizations under the Ministry were also present at the function.
●    Smt Maneka Gandhi exhorted the anganwadi wokers to ensure the following:
●    Spread awareness about BBBP for giving good nutrition & education to the girl child.
●    Ensure that every child & every parent has an AADHAR Card.
●    Give education about cashless payments especially in the villages.
●    Selection of Anganwadi workers for the National Level Awards has been done out of State level awardees and their performance has been judged on the basis of contribution to (i) Supplementary Nutrition; (ii) Child Care; (iii) Convergence with Health Department; (iv) Pre-School Education; (v) Nutrition and Health Education (NHED); (vi) Community Participation; (vii) Cleanliness & Hygiene; and (viii) Innovations.
●    The Award comprises of Rs.25,000/- cash and a citation. National level Awards to AWWs for the year 2011-12, 2012-13 & 2013-14 were given to 118 awardees during a function held last year at New Delhi. Thus, awards pertaining to the last five years have been given.