National
Inauguration of the Campus of IIMC North East
⇒ Smt Droupadi Murmu, the President of India on her visit to Mizoram in November 2022 inaugurated the Campus of IIMC North East located at Mizoram University in virtual mode.
- The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is an autonomous Institution under the Ministry of I&B.
Background:
- The IIMC North East Campus began functioning in 2011 from a temporary building made available by Mizoram University.
- The construction work for the campus began in 2015 and completed in 2019. The total cost is 25 crores.
- The IIMC permanent campus on the 8 acres of land given by Mizoram University has separate Administrative and Academic buildings along with hostels and staff quarters.
About IIMC:
- The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is a premiere Journalism Institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
- It was inaugurated in 1965 to cater the training needs of media professionals in the country and other developing countries.
- The IIMC has expanded and has institutionalized 5 regional campuses in different part of the country with the aim to meet the need of Media education in the country.
Ganga Utsav- The River Festival 2022
⇒ The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti organized Ganga Utsav- The River Festival 2022 on 4th November, 2022 at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi in two sessions. This was the sixth edition of ‘Ganga Utsav’.
Key Points:
- Ganga Utsav 2022 was dedicated to ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, which celebrates 75 years of independent India.
- As part of this initiative the National-level event was organized at New Delhi and over 75 special events was observed across 5 Ganga Basin States.
- Ganga Utsav shall be celebrated in Ganga Basin States till August 2023 as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
- It is planned to have 75 separate events in Ganga and its tributary basin cities and towns, by August 2023, 3-day events in 15 major cities like Haridwar, Mathura, Delhi, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur, Kolkata etc., 1-day events in 60 smaller towns/cities, in which local and pan-India culture based events will be promoted.
- Taking inspiration from the speech of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 26th September 2021, the central aim of the Ganga Utsav- The River Festival 2022 was to celebrate all the rivers of India (Nadi Utsav).
- NMCG organized Ganga Utsav 2022 in association with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), INTACH, GIZ, National Book Trust, Ganga Task Force, Ganga Vichar Manch, NGOs, schools, colleges, Resident Commissioners, State Tourism Department, State Cultural Units, Tree Craze Foundation, APAC, Water Digest, and other stakeholders.
- The Ganga Utsav 2022- The River Festival was developed as a model for River Festivals with the aim to connect people to the rivers and inculcate its importance.
Arth Ganga:
Ganga Utsav 2022 also had Arth Ganga as its focus area as it aims to establish people-river connect through the “bridge of economics” and will be an excellent platform to communicate the importance of rivers vis-a-vis the employment generational initiatives taken up under Arth Ganga model, which includes Natural Farming, Ghat Pe Haat, Jalaj, Training of Ganga Sewaks, Ganga Artis etc.
- The six important verticals of Arth Ganga are Zero Budget Natural Farming, Monetization and Reuse of Sludge & Wastewater, Livelihood Generation, Public Participation, Cultural Heritage & Tourism and Institutional Building.
- Activities under Arth Ganga such as Ghat Mein Haat, Ghat Par Yoga, Ganga Artis etc., were organised.
Background of the Ganga Utsav:
- Initially, the festival started off as ‘Ek Shaam Ganga Ke Naam’, a small event involving limited stakeholders in 2017. With the help of international association such as Indo-German collaboration, the event subsequently developed into ‘Bal Ganga Mela’ in 2018. The Bal Ganga Mela 2018 was organized in association with HCL Foundation.
- In 2019, the event progressed as a carnival wherein it witnessed enthusiastic participation of thousands of people with a focused approach towards roping in school students and youth.
- The third edition of Ganga Utsav 2020 was a three-day virtual event and steadily took shape as the River Festival. The event was an interesting amalgamation of technology and cultural events.
- Ganga Utsav 2021- the River Festival was celebrated as a festival part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
» NMCG has been celebrating Ganga Utsav since 2017 every year on 4th November, the day on which river Ganga was declared the National River of India in the year 2008.
Rankings report published by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, for October 2022
⇒ The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has been again placed at the top amongst all Group A Ministries, Departments and Autonomous Bodies for resolving public grievances in the rankings report published by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances for the month of October 2022.
- This is the third month in a row when UIDAI has topped the rankings.
Key Points:
- UIDAI has a robust grievance redressal mechanism comprising of UIDAI HQ, its Regional Offices, Technology Centre, and engaged contact centre partners.
- A resident centric coordinated approach is enabling UIDAI to resolve nearly 92% of CRM Grievances within a week.
- The organization is facilitating ease of living, and is further committed to strengthen its Grievance Redressal Mechanism.
- UIDAI is gradually rolling out advanced and futuristic Open-Source CRM solution. The new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution has been designed with advanced features to enhance UIDAI service delivery to residents.
- In order to further enhance residents’ experience, UIDAI has also launched its new AI/ML based Chatbot, Aadhaar Mitra. The new Chatbot comes with enhanced features like – check Aadhaar enrollment/update status, tracking of Aadhaar PVC card status, information on enrollment centre location etc.
International
9th Round of India-ROK CEPA Up-Gradation Negotiation
⇒ The 9th round of India-Republic of Korea (ROK) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) up-gradation negotiation was held in Seoul from November 3-4, 2022.
Key Points:
- The two sides underlined the need to have negotiations, which are based on win-win approach, are forward looking and outcome oriented.
- Both sides shared the hope that the CEPA upgradation negotiations would play an important role in strengthening and deepening economic cooperation between both countries. Sub Groups on Trade in Goods, Services, Rules of Origin, Investment, SPS/TBT issues held in-depth discussions.
- India raised serious concerns on the growing trade deficit between the two countries and discussed market access issues.
- Both sides agreed to work closely to address tariff and non-tariff barriers and deepen the relationship in the services sector.
- The Chief Negotiators also shared the view that both sides should promote conducive trade environment to enable both sides to fully utilize benefits under the CEPA. It was agreed that the 10th round of CEPA upgradation negotiations will be hosted by India in early 2023.