National
Assam’s first Vande Bharat Express Train
⇒ The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi flagged off Assam’s first Vande Bharat Express on 29 May 2023 via video conferencing.
- The Prime Minister also dedicated 182 Route kilometers of newly electrified sections and inaugurated a newly constructed DEMU/MEMU shed at Lumding in Assam.
About Assam’s first Vande Bharat Express:
- The state-of-the-art Vande Bharat Express will provide people of the region the means to travel with speed and comfort. It will also boost tourism in the region.
- The New Jalpaiguri – Guwahati Vande Bharat Express is India’s 18th Vande Bharat Express train, connecting the city of Siliguri in West Bengal with city of Guwahati in Assam.
- The Vande Bharat Express will connect Guwahati with New Jalpaiguri Guwahati and the journey will take 5 hrs 30 mins.
- It is the first Vande Bharat Express train serving the North East of India.
» Prime Minister also dedicated 182 Route Kms of newly electrified sections.
- This will help provide pollution free transportation with trains running at higher speed and reduced running time of trains. It will also open the doors for trains running on electric traction to enter Meghalaya.
» Prime Minister also inaugurated a newly constructed DEMU/MEMU shed at Lumding in Assam.
- This new facility will be helpful for maintaining DEMU rakes operating in this region, leading to better operational feasibility.
PM dedicates New Parliament House to the nation
⇒ The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi dedicated the new Parliament House to the nation on 28 May 2023.
- Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister installed the Sengol with Nandi at the top facing East-West direction in the new Parliament House. He also lit up the Diya and offered flowers to the Sengol.
About New Parliament House:
- The new Parliament of India building was constructed as a part of the Central Vista Redevelopment Project in New Delhi.
- The Parliament House houses the Lok Sabha (888 seat) and the Rajya Sabha (384 seat). The Lok Sabha chamber able to house 1,272 members in case of a joint session.
- The shape of the new Parliament of India is hexagonal. The design of this Parliament building resembles the Vijaya Temple of Vidisha.
- The built-up area of the building is 20,866 square meters (224,600 sq ft) (this also includes an open-sky area of 2,000 square meters (22,000 sq ft) for a banyan tree).
- The Parliament House has three entrances, named Gyan Dwar (knowledge gate), Shakti Dwar (power gate), and Karma Dwar (karma gate). There are six guardian statues that man the three entrances, namely, Gaja, Ashwa, Garuda, Makar, Shardula, and Hams.
- A foucault pendulum is suspended from the ceiling of the central foyer. This pendulum, created by the National Council of Science Museums in Kolkata, is the largest of its kind in India, standing at a towering height of 22 meters and weighing a 36 kg.
International
2nd Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Ministerial Meeting
⇒ The second Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Ministerial Meeting was held in Detroit on 27 May 2023 hosted by the US.
- Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal virtually participated in the Ministerial meeting.
Highlights of the Meeting:
» At this Ministerial Meeting, negotiations under the Supply Chains (Pillar-II) were substantially concluded; while good progress was reported under the other IPEF Pillars.
» Under the Supply Chains (Pillar-II), IPEF partner countries are seeking to: make supply chains more resilient, robust, and well-integrated through crisis response measures; cooperation for mitigation of disruptions to better ensure business continuity, and improve logistics and connectivity; promoting investments particularly in critical sectors and production of key goods; and worker role enhancement through requisite upskilling and reskilling, and increasing comparability of skills credentials frameworks across IPEF.
» Under the Clean Economy (Pillar-III), IPEF partners are aiming to advance cooperation on research, development, commercialization, availability, accessibility, and deployment of clean energy and climate friendly technologies, and facilitate investment towards climate-related projects in the region.
- Further, interested IPEF partners are introducing a regional hydrogen initiative to encourage widespread deployment of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives in the region.
» Under the Fair Economy (Pillar-IV), IPEF partners are working toward development of the text of an agreement that will strengthen implementation of effective anti-corruption and tax measures to boost commerce, trade, and investment among IPEF economies.
About IPEF:
- IPEF was launched jointly by the USA and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region on May 23, 2022 at Tokyo.
- IPEF has 14 partner countries including Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam & USA.
- It seeks to strengthen economic engagement among partner countries with the goal of advancing growth, peace and prosperity in the region.
- The framework is structured around four pillars relating to Trade (Pillar I); Supply Chains (Pillar II); Clean Economy (Pillar III); and Fair Economy (Pillar IV).
- India had joined Pillars II to IV of IPEF while it has an observer status in Pillar-I.
Important Day
Menstrual Hygiene Day 2023
⇒ Menstrual Hygiene Day is observed globally on May 28th each year with the aim of breaking silence and fostering awareness around menstrual health and hygiene.
The day is observed on the 28th day of the fifth month of the year because menstrual cycles average 28 days in length and people menstruate an average of five days each month.
Theme:
The theme for Menstrual Hygiene Day 2023 was “Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030.”
History:
- Menstrual Hygiene Day was started by Germany-based NGO WASH United in 2013 when a 28-day social media campaign was launched to spread awareness around different aspects of menstruation.
- Motivated by the positive response around the campaign, Menstrual Hygiene Day was observed for the first time on May 28, 2014 with rallies, exhibitions, workshops, speeches etc.
» The National Commission for Women celebrates the event every year by holding discussions, awareness programs, and street plays to raise awareness on menstrual health and hygiene among women and girls.
- The National Commission for Women (NCW), in collaboration with SheWings, held discussions to observe the Menstrual Hygiene Day at the Commission’s premises.
- The objective of the event was to break taboos surrounding menstruation and empower women by raising awareness around menstrual health and hygiene.