National
CEO of NITI Aayog
⇒ Shri B.V.R. Subrahmanyam joined as Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog on 25 February 2023.
About Subrahmanyam:
- An Indian Administrative Service Officer of 1987 batch (Chhattisgarh cadre), Shri Subrahmanyam has held important assignments over the last three decades in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jammu & Kashmir, along with a stint at The World Bank.
- He has been Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Chief Secretary, Jammu & Kashmir, Principal Secretary, Government of Chhattisgarh, and has held positions in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Siang Unying Festival
⇒ Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal attended the colourful Siang Unying Festival in February 2023.
» Unying Festival is an important festival of the Adi community at Boleng, Arunachal Pradesh.
- The festival of Unying is celebrated to herald the season of cultivation, beginning of the Adi community’s new year, arrival of spring seasons as well as a great way to strengthen the bond among the community.
- The display of sacred worship & bonhomie at the festival adds strength to Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh unveiled the CCS (Extra-ordinary Pension) Rules, 2023
⇒ Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare conducts Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshops to facilitate a smooth transition for employees from service to retirement.
In this series, the Department conducted a 49th Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop on 27 February 2023 in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi under the Leadership of Union Minister for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (PP).
- The workshop benefited retiring central government civil employees and pension dealing officials.
Key Points:
Integration of Pension Portal of Canara Bank with the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal of Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare:
» On the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh launched the Integration of Pensioners Portal of Canara Bank with Bhavishya portal and also the New Services on SBI Integrated portal.
- With this integration, the pensioners can now get their pension slip, status of submission of Life Certificate and Form-16 through the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal. All 18 Pension disbursing banks will be integrated in Integrated Pensioners’ Portal.
The BHAVISHYA portal (An online tracking system for pension sanction and payment developed by DOPPW) has bagged the 3rd Rank as per the NeSDA Assessment 2021 among all the Central Government e-Governance Service Delivery Portals.
CCS (EOP) Rules Book, 2023:
» On this day, the Dr Jitendra Singh unveiled the book on “CCS (Extra-ordinary Pension) Rules, 2023”.
- The Central Civil Services Extraordinary Pension Rules, 2023 is the revised/streamlined version of “Extraordinary Pension Rules, 1939”. These rules have been revised after 84 years.
Mobile App:
» The Minister also launched a new mobile App “Dirghayu” for pensioners.
- The App has been developed by Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) and National Informatics Centre (NIC).
- Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) is providing various services to stake Pensioners through its Mobile App.
'Kisan-Mazdoor Samagam', Patna
⇒ Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah addressed the ‘Kisan-Mazdoor Samagam’ organized on the occasion of the Janm Jayanti of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati at Patna, Bihar on 25 February 2023.
- In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that Swami Sahajanand ji fought against the British Empire by making Bihar his Karm Bhoomi. He opposed the Zamindari system and led the laborer class. Rising above caste, religion, creed and sect Swami ji worked to unite the farmers across the country.
- He said that despite being an ascetic, when landlords were forcibly collecting taxes from the farmers, Swami ji actively participated in the freedom movement and gave the slogan “Kaise loge malguzari, lath hamara zindabad”.
International
2nd Women 20 (W 20) International Meeting
⇒ The 2nd Women 20 (W 20) International Meeting was held on April 13-14, 2023 in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Theme:
‘Women-Led Development: Leveraging Women’s Untapped Potential to Accelerate Inclusive & Sustainable Future’ was the theme of the 2nd Women 20 International Meeting.
The delegates arrived for the meeting on April 12. A session was held on the same day on the theme of ‘Jan Bhagidari: The Women’s Journey of Women Empowerment’, with Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State, Culture, Government of India as the Chief Guest.
Day 1: April 13
» The first day started with registration followed by the Inaugural Session.
Addressing the inaugural session, Sherpa of India in G 20 Amitabh Kant said that women-led development is the key priority of India because we see women as drivers of prosperity and inclusive development.
» The inaugural session concluded with the launch of the ‘Call to Action’-W20 Initiative: MISSION DIGITAL WOMEN- Financial & Digital Literacy and Skilling Programme.
- Session 1: Women’s economic empowerment: Building the Care Economy Ecosystem
- Session 2: Charting a Path of Equity & Equality through Bridging the Gender Digital Divide & Transformation
- Session 3: Setting Our Goals and Targets for a Sustainable Future
Day 2: April 14
» The second day witnessed an early start with an event – Leadership Development of Women through YOGA by Pujya Sadhvi Devapriya, Patanjali University.
» This was followed by a Plenary session on Grassroots Leadership and Entrepreneurship.
- The objectives of this session were identifying challenges and pathways to ensure equal participation by girls and women in political and public leadership at the grassroots level and discussing policy recommendations to promote women-led entrepreneurship.
Key Sessions of the day included:
- A Task Force Meeting in the morning and
- A Communique Meeting post lunch
- ‘W20 Delegate Meeting on W20 Governance, Knowledge sharing platform, June Summit and Way forward’.
» The second meeting of the W20 reiterated India’s commitment to gender equality and equity as part of the country’s G20 Presidency.
» This meeting held in Jaipur witnessed insightful deliberations and discussions in relation to women’s development and empowerment in view of how gender considerations can be incorporated at the centre of the wider G20 agenda of sustainable growth and inclusive development.
» The meeting also witnessed a reiteration of the specific goals of the Women-20 group of the G20 that has been created with the aim of ensuring dignity for women and removing all barriers to their growth and empowerment.
Previous Meeting: Women-20 (W-20) Inception Meeting
Important Day
75th Khanij Diwas
⇒ Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) under the Ministry of Mines organized the 75th “Khanij Diwas” to mark the Foundation Day on 1st March, 2023 in Nagpur.
About IBM:
- The Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) came into existence on the 1st March, 1948 based on the recommendations of the National Mineral Policy Conference.
- From a small beginning as a purely advisory body, over the years IBM has emerged as a premier national organization dealing with various aspects of the country’s mining and mineral industry; fulfilling the dual role of enforcing statutory provisions as well as engaging in various development activities.