National
‘Krishi-Mahotsav: Pradarshani evam Prashikshan’
⇒ A two-day event, – ‘Krishi-Mahotsav: Pradarshani evam Prashikshan’ was held on 24th-25th January 2023 at Dussehra Ground, Kota, Rajasthan to make Kota Division of Rajasthan advanced and leading in the field of agriculture and rural development.
Organized by:
The event was organized by Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, in association with Department of Agriculture, Government of Rajasthan.
Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla, Union Ministers, senior officers of Central Government, State Government and Indian Council of Agricultural Research and about 35,000 farmers, Agri startups, corporate bankers, extension workers and employees of private agricultural institutions participated in the event.
Key Points:
- Through the exhibition organized in Krishi Mahotsav, information about the various schemes of Central and State Government was disseminated through exhibitors.
- Also, private sector companies/institutions related to supply of various inputs of agriculture displayed their products through stalls.
- In this exhibition, 150 stalls were set up to provide updated information related to agriculture to the farmers.
- Keeping in view the need for Startups in the field of agriculture, 75 stalls of Startups were set up, which was one of the main features of this exhibition.
» The two-day mega Krishi Mahotsav – Exhibition and Training programme concluded in Kota, Rajasthan in the presence of thousands of farmers, with the Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla and Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar gracing the occasion.
International
Inception Meeting of the Business 20 (B20) Engagement Group
⇒ Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal addressed the Inception Meeting of Business 20 (B20), the official G20 dialogue forum with the global business community in Gandhinagar on 23 January 2023.
» The Inception Meeting of the Business 20 (B20) Engagement Group under India’s Presidency of the G20 took place in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on 22-24 January 2023.
Organiser:
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as the B20 India Secretariat, was the organiser of B20 India Inception Meeting.
Key Points:
- The three-day program was organised to showcase a unique Indian cultural experience in the form of art exhibitions, cultural performances, a yoga session, and excursions to Dandi Kutir, Punit Van, and Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.
- The Inception meeting officially commenced the work of the task forces and action councils under B20 India and sets the stage for deliberations on some of the most pressing global issues.
- B20 operates through 7 Task Forces and 2 Action Councils entrusted to develop consensus-based policy recommendations to the G20.
The three-day event attracted enthusiastic participation from overseas and Indian delegates who appreciated the insightful discussions at the various sessions.
Sessions:
- The opening session of the B20 Inception meeting, largely focused on the role and importance of B20.
- Special Plenary- B20 India Priorities
- Plenary I- Climate Action: Accelerating Towards Net Zero Energy for Greener and Sustainable Future
- Plenary II- Rethinking & Revitalizing Innovation to Drive Inclusive Impact
- Plenary III- Redefining the Global Digital Cooperation: A Call for Action
- Plenary IV- Building Resilient Global Value Chains: Advancing Inclusion & Integration of All
- Plenary V- Fostering Financial Inclusion and Empowering Societies
- Special Plenary Session- Gujarat’s G20 Connect
About B20:
- India assumed the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022. G20 is a premier forum for international economic cooperation.
- Established in 2010, B20 is among the most prominent Engagement Group in G20, with companies and business organizations as participants.
- B20 leads the process of galvanizing global business leaders for their views on issues of global economic and trade governance and speaks in a single voice for the entire G20 business community.
B20 Summit India 2023:
- B20 Summit India 2023 will be held on 25-27 August 2023 in New Delhi.
- The theme of B20 Summit India 2023 is ‘R.A.I.S.E.– Responsible, Accelerated, Innovative, Sustainable and Equitable Businesses’.
ECI hosts 2nd and 3rd International Conference under Cohort on Election Integrity
⇒ ECI hosts 2nd International Conference on ‘Use of Technology & Elections Integrity’
The Election Commission of India (ECI) hosted the 2nd International Conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology and Elections Integrity’ at New Delhi on 23-24 January, 2023.
This was the 2nd such Conference hosted by the Election Commission of India under the aegis of the Cohort on ‘Elections Integrity’, which was established under the Summit for Democracy – Year of Action Programme.
Inauguration:
Chief Election Commissioner of India Shri Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioner’s Shri Anup Chandra Pandey and Shri Arun Goel on 23 January inaugurated a two-day international conference on the theme ‘Use of Technology & Elections Integrity’.
During the last two days, detailed deliberations spread across three sessions were held.
» The first session on the ‘Technology for Election Administration’ was co-chaired by the Election Commissioner of India Shri Arun Goel and Electoral Commissioner of Mauritius Mr. Mohammad Irfan Abdool Rahman. The session had presentations from Election Authorities in Armenia, Australia, Croatia & Georgia.
» The second session on ‘Technology Solutions for Inclusive Elections’ was chaired by President & CEO IFES. The session had presentations from the Philippines, Angola & representative from International IDEA.
» During the conference, a booklet ‘Global Initiatives in the Use of Technology in Elections’ prepared by ECI was also unveiled. The book is a compilation of the best technology practices of EMBs worldwide.
- International Training Modules developed by IIIDEM for training & capacity building of officials from EMBs were also released.
Day 2:
The concluding ceremony of the two-day international conference was presided over by Election Commissioner Shri Anup Chandra Pandey.
» The third session on ‘Technology as an Enabler & Challenges of Digital Space’ was co-chaired by Dy Chairperson & CEC of Georgia and Vice-President/Minister, Tribunal Superior de Justicia Electoral, Paraguay. The session had presentations from Indonesia & IFES.
Participation:
Over 40 Participants from 16 Countries/EMBs including Angola, Armenia, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Croatia, Fiji, Georgia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Mauritius, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines and Suriname and participants from international organisations namely, IFES and International IDEA participated in the Conference besides the representatives from eight foreign missions located at New Delhi participated in the Conference.
⇒ ECI hosts the 3rd International Conference on ‘Inclusive Elections and Elections Integrity’
The Election Commission of India (ECI) hosted the 3rd International Conference on the theme ‘Inclusive Elections and Elections Integrity’ in virtual format on 09 March 2023.
Mauritius, Greece & International organization IFES joined the ECI as co-leads for the Cohort on Election Integrity. ECI invited International Foundation for Electoral Systems and International IDEA, apart from EMBs and Government counterparts dealing with the conduct of elections worldwide.
- The closing session was chaired by Mr. Mohd Irfan Abdool Rahman, Electoral Commissioner of Mauritius (Co-Lead).
Participation:
A total of 59 Participants from 31 Countries/EMBs including Angola, Armenia, Australia, Canada, Chile Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Dominica, Georgia, Guyana, Kenya, Rep. of Korea, Mauritius, Moldova, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, St. Lucia, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland and Zambia as well as representatives of two International organisations from International IDEA and International foundation for Electoral systems and representatives from two Civil Society Organisations viz. General Election Network for Disability Access in Indonesia and Association of Youth Organisations in Nepal participated in the Conference.
Background:
» ‘Summit for Democracy’, was an initiative of US President and hosted in December 2021. The Prime Minister of India spoke at the Leaders Plenary Session on December 9, 2021.
- Following this Summit, a “Year of Action” was proposed with events and dialogues on themes related to Democracy.
- The Summit also developed two platforms – ‘Focal Groups’ and ‘Democracy Cohorts’ to facilitate participation in the Year of Action.
» The 2nd Summit for Democracy was held on 29- 30 March 2023 and co-hosted by governments of Costa Rica, Rep. of Korea, Netherlands, Zambia and the US.
» As part of the ‘Summit for Democracy’ Year of Action, India through the ECI, is leading the ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’ to share its knowledge, technical expertise and experiences with other democracies of the world.
- ECI, as its lead, has proposed to also provide training and capacity building programmes to Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world and provide technical consultancy as per needs of other EMBs.
- Three International conferences were organized by the Election Commission of India under Cohort on Election Integrity led by the ECI.
- ECI, as its lead, also organised four training and capacity building programmes during Nov 2022 – Mar 2023, under the aegis of the Cohort for over 60 officials from 46 Election Management Bodies (EMBs) across the world.
1st international conference:
The first international conference of the Cohort was organized on 31 October – 01 November, 2022 at New Delhi on the topic ‘Role, Framework and Capacity of Election Management Bodies’ where nearly 50 representatives from the Election Management Bodies of 11 countries participated.
Important Day
Uttar Pradesh Divas
⇒ The Government of Uttar Pradesh celebrates ‘Uttar Pradesh Divas’ on 24 January every year, the day when the erstwhile United Provinces was renamed in 1950.
Background:
- On 24 January 1950, the Governor General of India passed the United Provinces Order, 1950 (Alteration of Name), according to which the name of the United Provinces was changed to Uttar Pradesh.
- The hill state of Uttarakhand was carved out of the undivided UP on November 9, 2000.
- The former Governor of Uttar Pradesh Shri Ram Naik had proposed to celebrate the foundation day of state as Uttar Pradesh Divas, during his tenure.
- Considering his proposal, the Uttar Pradesh Government celebrated ‘UP Divas’, the state’s foundation day, in year 2018, for the first time.
- From then onwards, every year on 24th January, foundation day of state is celebrated as ‘Uttar Pradesh Divas’.