Home » Current Affairs Date: 06 November 2021

Current Affairs Date: 06 November 2021

National

Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana

⇒ Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology launched Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana, a program under the aegis of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), in Rail Bhavan on 17 September 2021.

Objective:

To empower youth by way of providing entry level training in industry relevant skills through Railway training institutes as part of 75 years of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav

About Program:
    • The training will be provided to 50000 candidates over a period of three years. Initially, the training will be provided to 1000 candidates.
    • The training will be provided in four trades viz. Electrician, Welder, Machinist and Fitter and will comprise of initial basic training of 100 hours.
    • The program curriculum has been developed by Banaras Locomotive Works, the nodal PU for this scheme, which will also standardize assessments and maintain centralized database of participants.
    • 75 Railway Training Institutes spread across the country have been shortlisted to provide training.

Pollution Control Excellence Award 2021, Odisha

⇒ The Panchpatmali Bauxite Mine of National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) under the Ministry of Mines, won the prestigious Pollution Control Excellence Award 2021 of the State Pollution Control Board, Odisha.

State Pollution Control Board in Bhubaneswar, Shri Bikram Keshari Arukha, Minister of Forest & Environment and Parliamentary Affairs, Govt of Odisha handed over the Award to the mines team of National Aluminium Company Ltd for effective pollution control measures and sound environment management practices.

Two-day "Nutri-Cereal Multi-Stakeholders’ Mega Convention 3.0"

⇒ Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the two-day “Nutri-Cereal Multi-Stakeholders’ Mega Convention 3.0” at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), in Hydrabad on 17 September 2021.

Organised by:

The two-day convention was organised by the ICAR- Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN and the Union Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Objective:

The objective of this event was to prepare blue print of series of events planned to celebrate the “International Year of Millets, 2023” as declared by the United Nations.

Report on measures to ramp up urban planning capacity in India

⇒ NITI Aayog launched a report on measures to ramp up urban planning capacity in India.

Report Title:

The report, titled ‘Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India’, was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, CEO Shri Amitabh Kant and Special Secretary Dr K. Rajeswara Rao.

Report on Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India

Kaushalacharya Awards 2021

⇒ Union Education Minister and Skill Development Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan virtually presented Kaushalacharya Awards 2021 to 41 skill trainers for their exemplary contribution to the skill ecosystem.

These 41 trainers are from several initiatives and training programmes of Skill India—Directorate General of Training (DGT), Apprenticeship, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) and Entrepreneurship.

Trainers were honoured for their contribution under various categories:
    • Five trainers were awarded under the two categories of PMKVY Trainer and Excellence in PMKVY Master Trainer.
    • Nine trainers received the award under JSS and two trainers were rewarded for their contribution to entrepreneurship.
    • In addition, five candidates received awards under the apprenticeship category and two trainers were awarded from DGT for non-engineering category.
    • Two awardees were felicitated in Engineering category.
    • Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), pillars of India’s vocational training ecosystem, had as many as 11 trainers who were felicitated.
Official Link to Download list of awardees

International

21st meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State

⇒ The 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was held on 17 September 2021 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in hybrid format.

Chaired by:

The meeting was chaired by H.E Emomali Rahmon, the President of Tajikistan.

Participants:

The SCO Summit was attended by the leaders of the SCO Member States, Observer States, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), President of Turkmenistan and other invited guests.

Discussion:

» This year the organization is celebrating its 20th anniversary. At the Summit, the leaders reviewed the organization’s activities over the past two decades and discussed the state and prospects of future cooperation.

» Topical issues of regional and international importance were also discussed.

India at the Summit:

This was the fourth Summit in which India participated as a full-fledged member of SCO.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi led the Indian delegation. At Dushanbe, India was represented by External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar.

Prime Minister participated virtually in the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), and through video-message in the Joint SCO-CSTO Outreach Session on Afghanistan.

Highlights of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s Address:
    • Highlighted the problems caused by growing radicalisation and extremism in the broader SCO region, which runs counter to the history of the region as a bastion of moderate and progressive cultures and values.
    • India’s experience of using digital technologies in its development programmes, and offered to share these open-source solutions with other SCO members.
    • He noted that recent developments in Afghanistan could further exacerbate this trend towards extremism.
    • He suggested that SCO could work on an agenda to promote moderation and scientific and rational thought, which would be especially relevant for the youth of the region.
    • Prime Minister stressed that connectivity projects should be transparent, participatory and consultative, in order to promote mutual trust.
The SCO Summit was followed by an Outreach session on Afghanistan between SCO and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).

» Prime Minister suggested that SCO could develop a code of conduct on ‘zero tolerance’ towards terrorism in the region, and highlighted the risks of drugs, arms and human trafficking from Afghanistan.

» Noting the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, he reiterated India’s solidarity with the Afghan people.

G-33 Virtual Informal Ministerial Meeting

⇒ The G-33 Virtual Informal Ministerial Meeting organized by Indonesia was held on 16 September 2021.

Discussion:

The meeting was held to discuss the Agricultural Priority Issues of G33 and the Way Forward for the Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC-12) scheduled to be held from 30th November to 3rd December 2021.

Chaired by:

The Informal Ministerial Meeting was chaired by the Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Muhammad Lutfi.

Indian Representative:

India’s official delegation for the meeting was headed by Shri Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles.

Conclusion:

The meeting concluded with the adoption of the G-33 Joint Ministerial Statement reaffirming commitment for expeditious resolution of the WTO’s mandated issues in agriculture.

The meeting also called for satisfactorily addressing the development issues of developing countries and LDCs with Special and Differential Treatment as an integral part of international trade negotiations.

Source: PIB & Other News Reports

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