National
SWADESH, World’s First Multimodal Brain Imaging Data and Analytics
⇒ SWADESH, World’s First Multimodal Brain Imaging Data and Analytics, was inaugurated by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (I/C) for the Ministry of Science and Technology on 19 November 2021.
Developed by:
DBT-National Brain Research Centre (DBT-NBRC) have developed project SWADESH, a unique brain initiative focusing on certified neuroimaging, neurochemical, neuropsychological data and analytics that are made accessible to researchers for managing brain disorders.
- SWADESH is the first large-scale multimodal neuroimaging database designed specifically for Indian population with big-data architecture and analytics for various disease categories under one platform.
About SWADESH:
» To strengthen Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research and help scientific community come up with promising treatments.
- SWADESH proposes a big-data architecture that manages and analyzes six modules, namely neurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric, neurodevelopmental, COVID-19-related disorders, other disorders, and healthy subjects.
» SWADESH is supported by JAVA-based workflow environment and Python.
Project SIREN Awards 2021
⇒ The first edition of Project SIREN Awards 2021 has been announced.
Project SIREN Award for Newspapers 2021: The Hindu
- For its consistent high performance on the Project SIREN scorecards measuring responsible reporting on suicide between June 2020 and June 2021
Project SIREN Award for Journalists 2021: Geetika Mantri, Senior Editor at the The News Minute
- For her piece titled ‘How the coverage of Sushant Singh’s death was a disservice to mental health reportage’
About:
- Project Siren has been constituted by the Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy at Indian Law Society (ILS), Pune.
- Launched on 10th September 2020, World Suicide Prevention Day, Project SIREN completes one year of assessing media reports on suicide in September 2021.
International
Executive board of the UNESCO
⇒ India was re-elected to the executive board of the UN’s cultural and education organisation (UNESCO) for the 2021-25 term with 164 votes on 17 November 2021.
India was re-elected to Group IV of Asian and Pacific States which also include Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Cook Islands and China.
About Executive Board of UNESCO:
- The executive board of the UN’s cultural and educational organisation is one of three constitutional organs of the UN agency. The other two are the General Conference and the Secretariat.
- The executive board consists of 58 member-states, each with a four-year term.
- It examines the programme of work for the organisation and corresponding budget estimates submitted to it by the director-general.
9th BRICS Science & Technology Ministers meeting
⇒ India’s Minister for Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh chaired the 9th BRICS Science & Technology Ministers meet held on 26 November 2021.
- Dr. Jitendra Singh has called for working towards rightful place for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in the Global Innovation Index. He said, it can be achieved through further strengthening the cooperation in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).
Theme:
India, for its Chairship, chose the overall theme of ‘BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus’.
Participants:
Vice Minister of Science and Technology, China; Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, South Africa; Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Brazil and Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, Russia and senior officials from BRICS countries attended the meet and adopted the agenda.
During the 9th BRICS Science Technology Innovation Ministerial Meeting:
All the member states have adopted the BRICS innovation Action Plan 2021-24, BRICS STI Declaration 2021 and Calendar of BRICS STI Activities 2022 which will act as a roadmap to take the cooperation forward.
Women’s Involvement in Science and Engineering Research (WISER) program
⇒ A first-of-its-kind programme to promote women in the field of research and development through lateral entry was launched on 25 November 2021.
The programme called Women’s Involvement in Science and Engineering Research (WISER) program was launched by Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC) for encouraging women researchers in joint R&D projects.
WISER program by IGSTC, a joint initiative of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Government of Germany, will support women scientists holding regular/long term research positions in academia or research institutes/industry.
Sports
Chairman of the ICC men’s Cricket Committee
⇒ BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has been appointed as the Chairman of the ICC men’s Cricket Committee in November 2021.
» ICC Chairman: Greg Barclay
Host cities of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
⇒ Seven Australian cities, including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, will host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup from October 16 to November 13 in 2022.
The final will be hosted under lights at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on 13 November 2022.
In all, a total of 45 matches will be played across Adelaide, Brisbane, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney between 16 October and 13 November.