Focus Merit

Category: All Current Affairs

Kolkata: 9th International Children’s Film Festival begins

January 20, 2020

National Award winner Children actor, Talha Arsad Rishi inaugurated  the 9th International Children’s Film Festival in Kolkata, West Bengal. The week-long festival will feature the screening of about 250 films from 45 countries.

The Festival began with the screening of Hamid directed by Aizaz Khan. Ten venues in the city have been selected for the festival. Besides the screening of films, an exhibition on the children’s film festival will also be organised.

12th National Tribal Youth Exchange Programme to begin in Puducherry.

January 19, 2020

A week-long National Tribal Youth Exchange Programme will begin in Puducherry. The 12th edition of National Tribal Youth Exchange Programme being arranged with a view to ensure development and empowerment of the tribal youths.

Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Director of NYKS N. Nataraj informed that two hundred youths from Naxal-affected districts of Chattisgarh will be taking part in the programme. Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Dr Kiran Bedi will inaugurate this Programme.

The programme is being jointly organized by the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and Puducherry Government. They will be visiting many places to know about the language, customs, culture, arts, dressing patterns, food pattern and other aspects of Puducherry.

NIC sets up ‘Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology’ in Bengaluru

January 19, 2020

National Informatics Centre (NIC) has set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Blockchain Technology in Bengaluru, which will provide Blockchain as a service and allow stakeholders to benefit from shared learning, experiences and resources. The Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has stated that the country is witnessing digital transformation as most of the State Governments are adopting technologies widely in their governance.

The Centre for Excellence will provide world-class blockchain services to government by identifying and sharing suitable data for the use of government departments. Around 16,000 courts have been transformed as e-courts in India and technologies related to Direct Benefit Transfer and e-scholarship developed by NIC have been widely accepted by people as they are user-friendly.

Chhattisgarh: CM launches ‘Rojgar Sangi’ mobile app

January 19, 2020

The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel has launched ‘Rojgar Sangi’ an employment oriented mobile app at the ceremony of youth fest 2020 held at Science College premises in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The app is developed by state run Chhattisgarh State Skill Development Authority (CSSDA).

The app is designed to provide employment to trained youths under their skill development programme. It is expected that through this app, lakhs of unemployed youth of the state will be able to get employment. Information of trained and certified youths from more than 400 courses has been included.

The app will act as a bridge between the employment generating institutions or individual and skill-trained youth. In this, the institutions or individuals providing employment can contact the youth trained in skill training as per their requirement. Any organization and person can post information on vacancies as per their requirement through this app.

Novel coronavirus grips Wuhan city of China, 2 dead

January 19, 2020

China’s Wuhan city is in grip of a new respiratory virus called Novel coronavirus that has killed two people in China and sickened at least 45 persons including overseas cases with some new cases being detected in the city.

The illness has been identified as a new strain of coronavirus, which is in the same family as the deadly severe acute respiratorysyndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

The illness was first reported in late December in Wuhan, in central China. It is not certain that the virus spreads from person to person. Symptoms of coronaviruses can range from fever and coughing to pneumonia with severe effects.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the health commissions in China have been notifying people of the latest development and China has been actively notifying the WHO and other relevant international organisations and countries of the infection cases.

Qatar signs $470 mn solar deal for its first solar energy plant

January 19, 2020

Gas-rich Qatar signed a $470-million deal to build its first solar energy plant, capable of meeting up to one-tenth of peak national power demand. The capital cost of the venture is 1.7 billion riyals ($470 million), with state firms taking a 60-percent stake and foreign investors 40 percent.

The Al-Kharsaah plant, near the capital, is a 10 square kilometre joint venture with French and Japanese partners due for completion in 2022 ahead of the football World Cup. Eight times the solar power pledged in the World Cup bid will be produced.

Qatar’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, vowed at the United Nations last year that the tournament would be carbon neutral, but gave little detail on how this would be achieved. By contrast, Abu Dhabi’s Sweihan plant, one of the world’s largest solar projects, produces 1,177 megawatts.

New Delhi: CM releases ‘Guarantee card’ ahead of Assembly Polls

January 19, 2020

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday released a “guarantee card” listing 10 promises, including free bus rides for students and deployment of ‘mohalla marshals’ for women’s safety, that his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will fulfil if it is re-elected in Delhi.

The card, “10 guarantees of Kejriwal“, also promises to continue the scheme for free electricity up to 200 units, free health facilities, to plant two crore saplings, clean Yamuna river and reduce pollution in Delhi over the next five years.

He will launch a comprehensive manifesto in 7-10 days which will have more things specifically for students, teachers, among others. The “guarantee card” also promises more than 11,000 buses and to increase the length of the Delhi Metro network to over 500 km.

National Immunization Day observed in India

January 19, 2020

On January 19, 2020, the National Immunization Day (NID) was observed all over India as a part of Pulse Polio Programme, 2020. Around 17.4 crore children of age less than 5 years were administered polio drops to sustain polio eradication in India. India has eradicated polio completely in 2012.

The National Immunization Day are one of the four strategies that are recommended by the WHO to eradicate polio completely. According to WHO, the NID has to be conducted twice a year at a gap of 2 to 4 weeks. The next round of National Immunization Day is to be held in March 10.

National Disaster Response Force celebrated its 15th Raising Day

January 19, 2020

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was founded on 18th January 2006. NDRF celebrated its 15th Raising Day on 18th January 2020. Workshops on ‘Urban flooding & challenges’ and ‘Biological Emergencies & New Technology in Disaster Management’ were also conducted during the celebrations.

The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Nityanand Rai was the chief guest on this occasion and Shri G.V.V. Sarma, Member Secretary, NDMA was the Guest of Honor.

The organization plays an important role in Disaster Management and Community awareness for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the country. NDRF has saved more than One lakh lives in its 3100 operations and rescued over 6.7 lakh people during disasters.

Titular Queen of Bhopal, Saleha Sultan passes away

January 19, 2020

Princess Saleha Sultan, the titular queen of Bhopal and wife of the late Nawab Bashir Yar Jung of the Paigah family, passed away in Hyderabad on Sunday. She was 80. The funeral will take place in Bhopal on Monday. Her husband Nawab Bashir Yar Jung from the Paigah family, whose father constructed the Falaknuma Palace, passed away in 2019.

Princess Saleha was the eldest child of the Nawab of Pataudi senior Hajji Nawab Hafiz Muahmmad Hamidullah Khan and Nawab Begum of Bhopal Sajida Sultan. She was the sister of Nawab Muhammad Mansur Ali Khan Bahadur known as Tiger Pataudi.

Though she was elder to Tiger Pataudi, she was never recognised as the ‘Nawab’ of Bhopal. After the death of Sajid Sultan, the ‘Nawab Begum of Bhopal’, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was recognised as the head of the royal house of Bhopal and retained that title till his death.