National:
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill 2021
- Recently, Lok Sabha has passed the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill 2021, to amend the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
The Bill will increase the role of district magistrates and additional district magistrates.
The amendments include authorizing District Magistrate including Additional District Magistrate to issue adoption orders to ensure speedy disposal of cases and enhance accountability.
Some other aspects of the Bill:
- Defining eligibility parameters for appointment of Child Welfare Committee members
- Categorizing previously undefined offences as serious offences, etc
A Bill to Set up a 'Development Finance Institution' (DFI)
- The Union Cabinet approved a bill to set up a Development Finance Institution (DFI) on 16 March 2021.
Development Finance Institution will be set up to generate funds for investment in the infrastructure sector, as the government moves to increase spending on roads, ports and energy.
Some Key Points:
- Government has proposed Rs 20,000 crore to capitalise the Institution.
- DFI will start with 100% govt ownership and will gradually be brought down to 26%.
- DFI will have 50 per cent non-official directors.
'Poshan Pakhwada' from 16-31 March, 2021
- Ministry of Women and Child Development celebrated Poshan Pakhwada from 16th to 31st March, 2021.
The key focus areas for Poshan Pakhwada 2021 was addressing nutritional challenges through Food Forestry and organizing Poshan Panchayat.
Poshan Panchayat was organized in which members of PRI participated to create awareness on the topics such as malnutrition prevalence and its consequences, Poshan Vatika, food forestry, identification of SAM/MAM children and its management.
Rajasthan International Film Festival 2021
- 7th edition of the Rajasthan International Film Festival was held from 20th March to 24th March, 2021 in hybrid format. RIFF Opening Ceremony was held at Miraj Cinemas, Jaipur, on 20th March 2021, & Closing Ceremony & Award Night was held at Jodhpur, on 24 March 2021. Read More About Rajasthan International Film Festival 2021
International:
International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) 2021
- An annual International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) was organized from 17 to 19 March 2021 by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the opening ceremony of ‘International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure’ via video conference.
The conference brought together stakeholders from partner countries representing national disaster risk management agencies, key infrastructure sectors, multilateral development banks, UN agencies, academia and research institutions, the private sector and policy think tanks.
About ‘Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure’ (CDRI):
CDRI was launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, at the 2019 UN Climate Summit.
It includes Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bhutan, Chile, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the USA. Six organizations are the supporting partners- ‘The World Bank Group’, ‘The Asian Development Bank’, ‘UNDP’, ‘UNDRR’, ‘ARISE’ and ‘CCRI’.
SAJ (Sports Journalists' Association) British Sports Journalism Award 2020
- Former West Indies cricketer Michael Holding has been named the ‘Best Pundit’ at the SJA British Sports Journalism Award 2020.
He came out in support of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement & delivered a powerful message against racism.