National
Shri Bhupender Yadav releases white tiger cubs in arena of white tiger enclosure in National Zoological Park
⇒ Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupender Yadav released white tiger cubs in arena of white tiger enclosure in National Zoological Park, New Delhi by flagging off on 20 April 2023.
- The Union Minister has named female cub as “Avani” meaning earth & male cub as “Vyom” which means universe. The parentage consists of father Vijay and mother tigress Sita.
- Tigress Sita delivered these cubs on 24 August 2022. Now these two cubs, one male and one female, are about 8 months old.
Renaming of CHEETAHS introduced from NAMIBIA and SOUTH AFRICA
⇒ The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat on 25th September 2022 had urged the citizens to come with suggestions for cheetahs reintroduced from Namibia and South Africa, with an intention to popularize and to sensitize the general public about Project Cheetah.
In this regard, a competition was organized on Government of India platform mygov.in from 26th September to 31st October 2022.
- In response, a total of 11,565 entries were received suggesting new names for reintroduced cheetahs.
- The entries were scrutinized by a selection committee and based on the significance and relevance of the suggested names for their conservation and cultural value the following new names have been selected for cheetahs for Namibian and South African cheetah.
New names for Namibian and South African cheetahs (Official Link)
International
Exercise INIOCHOS-23
⇒ The Indian Air Force (IAF) participated in Exercise INIOCHOS-23, a multi-national air exercise hosted by the Hellenic Air Force.
- The exercise was conducted at the Andravida Air Base in Greece from 24 Apr 2023 to 04 May 2023.
- The Indian Air Force participated with four Su-30 MKI and two C-17 aircraft.
Objective:
The objective of the exercise was to enhance international cooperation, synergy and interoperability amongst the participating Air Forces.
Key Points:
- The exercise was conducted in a realistic combat scenario involving multiple types of air and surface assets.
- It also enabled the participating contingents to engage in professional interactions, providing valuable insight into each other’s best practices.
Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah chaired the meeting of Heads of Departments of SCO Member States responsible for Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations
⇒ Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah chaired a meeting of Head of Departments of Member-States of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), dealing with Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations, in New Delhi on 20 April 2023.
- Shri Amit Shah also held bilateral meetings with the Ministers of some of the SCO Member States, on the sidelines of the SCO meeting.
Shri Amit Shah said that to further strengthen the approach of SCO, 5 major areas can be identified to work –
- Confidence Building Efforts in Asia,
- Collective Responsibility Approach,
- Expanding Cooperation in Communication and Information Sharing,
- Identification of Priority Areas, and,
- Use of newly developed technology in disaster resilience capacity building.
Key Points:
- During the meeting of Heads of Departments of SCO Member States for Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations, the delegates from SCO Member States shared information relating to the large-scale emergency situations which occurred in their respective territories and the measures taken to handle them.
- The delegates also shared their views on the innovative practices, technologies and future prospects for cooperation in the field of prevention and elimination of emergency situations within the framework of the SCO.
- Based on these deliberations, the Member-States will enhance cooperation in the field of preparedness, emergency response and to jointly mitigate the impact arising out of natural and man-made disasters within the framework of the SCO.
- The participants also discussed and approved the Action plan for the implementation of the Agreement between the SCO Member States on cooperation in providing assistance in the elimination of emergency situation in 2023-2025.
- The Action plan will contribute to stepping up cooperation in dealing with prevention and elimination of emergency situations among SCO Member-States.
India as SCO Member:
- Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India has been actively participating in SCO and providing substantial support to various mechanisms in the forum.
- Since its accession as a full – fledged Member State in 2017, India has maintained an active engagement with the organization.
- India is focusing on initiating proposals for mutual benefit of SCO Member States, Observers and Dialogue Partners.
- India assumed the rotating presidency of the SCO at the 2022 SCO Summit held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan).
First Global Buddhist Summit 2023
⇒ The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the inaugural session of the Global Buddhist Summit at Hotel Ashok in New Delhi on 20 April 2023.
Hosted by:
The two-day Summit was hosted by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) on 20-21 April 2023.
- IBC, a global Buddhist umbrella body, is headquartered in New Delhi.
Theme:
The theme of the Global Buddhist Summit was “Responses to Contemporary Challenges: Philosophy to Praxis”.
It was an effort towards engaging the global Buddhist Dhamma leadership and scholars on matters of Buddhist and universal concerns, and to come up with policy inputs to address them collectively. The discussion at the Summit explored how the Buddha Dhamma’s fundamental values can provide inspiration and guidance in contemporary settings.
Participation:
- The Summit witnessed the participation of eminent scholars, Sangha leaders and Dharma practitioners from all over the world, who discussed pressing global issues and looked for answers in the Buddha Dhamma based on universal values.
- About 170 International Delegates from more than 30 different countries of the world participated in this Global Buddhist Summit.
The Summit was divided into two separate parallel sessions – a Sangha Session and an Academic Session with several diverse sub-themes.
The discussions were held under four themes:
- Buddha Dhamma and Peace
- Buddha Dhamma: Environmental Crisis, Health and Sustainability
- Preservation of Nalanda Buddhist Tradition
- Buddha Dhamma Pilgrimage, Living Heritage and Buddha Relics: a resilient foundation to India’s centuries-old cultural links to countries in South, South-East and East Asia
» The two-day Global Buddhist Summit discussed topics like Peace, Environment, Morality, Health, sustainable development and Buddhist Confederation.
The two-day Global Buddhist Summit 2023 successfully concluded with the New Delhi Declaration on 21 April.
- The focus of the Global Buddhist Summit was on modes of disseminating and internalizing universal values and to find ways to work together, to address the burning challenges both within and globally and offer a sustainable model for future of the world.
- There has been general agreement that the basic fundamental which can provide inspiration and guidance in the light of Buddha’s message of Peace, Well-being, Harmony and Compassion for Universal Peace need to be highlighted and worked upon.