National
Connect Karo 2021
⇒ The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh Puri addressed the inaugural session of ‘Connect Karo 2021 – Towards Equitable, Sustainable Indian Cities’ event on 13 September 2021.
The five-day event was organized by the World Resources Institute (WRI) from September 13 to 17, 2021.
Theme:
The theme of Connect Karo 2021 was ‘Clean, Green & Just’.
During the event, Connect Karo was focused on addressing critical challenges faced by Indian cities with an emphasis on our deep dive cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
About:
Connect Karo is WRI India’s flagship event that brings together Indian and global leaders and policymakers committed to designing inclusive, sustainable and climate forward Indian cities.
Addressing the inaugural session, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri said:
» By 2030, almost 70% of the national GDP will come from our cities as rapid urbanisation facilitates efficiencies of agglomerations.
» By 2030, the urban population in India will almost double to 630 million.
» There is eight-fold increase the total expenditure on urban development as over the past six years (2015-2021), this figure is about Rs 11.83 lakh crore against the Rs 1.57 lakh crores from 2004 to 2014.
» Under AMRUT, 1,831 parks over 3,700 acres have been developed, and 85 lakh street lights have been replaced, resulting in energy savings of 185.33 crore units (kWh).
» Government will be launching the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban), with an outlay of Rs 2.8 lakh crore to ensure universal water supply in all 4,378 urban local bodies in India.
» Government will be launching the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, with an outlay of Rs 1.41 lakh crores.
Three Indian villages have been nominated for UNWTO Award
⇒ Three Indian villages have been nominated for UNWTO Award for rural tourism in September 2021.
Three Indian villages:
The Union Ministry of Tourism has nominated Ladhpura Khas village near tourist town Orchha under the Best Tourism Village category for the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Award. Along with this, two other villages have been nominated – (one each) from Meghalaya and Telangana.
Ladhpura Khas:
Ladhpura Khas, a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Niwari district was one of the nominated villages. The ‘Rural Tourism Project’ has been started in villages across the state, including in Ladhpura Khas, with an objective of giving shape to the concept of village tourism by adding new dimensions.
» In the next five years, 100 villages will be developed from the point of view of rural tourism. Among these, suitable sites will be selected and developed around tourist places, including Orchha, Khajuraho, Mandu, Sanchi, Pachmarhi, Tamia, Panna National Park, Bandhavgarh National Park, Sanjay Dubri National Park, Pench and Kanha National Park, etc.
International
Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue
⇒ India and the United States of America (USA) launched the “Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD)” on 13 September 2021.
The CAFMD was formally launched by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Shri Bhupender Yadav and Mr. John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC), at an event held in New Delhi.
The CAFMD is one of the two tracks of the India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 partnership launched at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and US President Mr. Joseph Biden.
Speaking at the launch, Shri Yadav said:
The dialogue will not only strengthen India-US bilateral cooperation on climate and environment but will also help to demonstrate how the world can align swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development, taking into account national circumstances and sustainable development priorities.
The launch was preceded by a bilateral meet where both sides discussed at length a wide range of climate issues relating to COP26, Climate Ambition, Climate Finance, Global Climate Initiatives including International Solar Alliance (ISA), Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C).
Bilateral Meeting:
Shri RK Singh, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy met a delegation led by Mr. John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate on 13 September 2021.
Purpose:
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss further collaboration on climate change issues and to work towards a genuine partnership between the two countries to pave the way for the rest of the world on Energy Transition.
The US side appreciated India for its Energy Access drive and commitment to achieve 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
» SPEC proposed that USA is willing to enter into a genuine collaboration with India to enable us realise the ambitious target of reaching 450 GW Renewable Energy by 2030.
- This would pave the way to India achieving sub-2°C level, much more than what has been committed under Paris Climate Agreement.
» Both sides agreed that Indian labs could work with the US labs with the objective of reducing costs and finding alternative chemistry for making energy transition economically viable.
20th Imagine India Film Festival in Spain
⇒ Music composer Debojyoti Mishra has won the Best Music Director award at the 20th Imagine India Film Festival in Spain for his work in filmmaker Hari Viswananth’s “Bansuri: The Flute”.
The winners for the awards of different categories were announced on September 7, 2021.
Sports
2021 Italian Grand Prix Formula 1 Race
⇒ The 2021 Italian Grand Prix Formula 1 race took place on 12 September 2021 over 53 laps of the 5.793-kilometre Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Winner:
McLaren Mercedes Driver, Daniel Ricciardo won 2021 Italian Grand Prix (Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio D’italia 2021).
Important Day
World Suicide Prevention Day 2021
⇒ World Suicide Prevention Day is observed every year on 10th September.
Theme of World Suicide Prevention Day 2021:
International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) announced the new World Suicide Prevention Day theme for 2021-2023.
World Suicide Prevention Day new theme is “CREATING HOPE THROUGH ACTION”.
Aim:
World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) provides the opportunity for people across the globe, to raise awareness of suicide and suicide prevention.
World Suicide Prevention Day, exists as a platform to raise awareness of suicide and to promote preventative measures with the aim to reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts globally.
About WSPD:
World Suicide Prevention Day was first observed on 10 September 2003 by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and the World Health Organisation.