National
Saryu Nahar National Project
⇒ Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Saryu Nahar National Project in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh on 11 December 2021.
About Project:
- The Saryu Nahar National Project has been built with a total cost of more than Rs.9800 crore, out of which more than Rs 4600 crore was provisioned in the last four years.
- The project also involves interlinking of five rivers – Ghaghara, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga and Rohini to ensure optimum usage of water resources of the region.
- The project will provide assured water for irrigation of over 14 lakh hectares of land and benefit about 29 lakh farmers of over 6200 villages.
- It will benefit nine districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh namely – Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj.
Background:
» The work on the project started in 1978 but due to lack of continuity of budgetary support, interdepartmental coordination and adequate monitoring, it got delayed and was not completed even after nearly four decades.
In 2016, the project was brought under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana with the target to complete it in a time bound manner.
Global Methane Initiative Steering Leadership Meeting
⇒ India co-chaired the Global Methane Initiative Steering Leadership Meeting. A Steering Leadership meeting of GMI was held virtually.
During the meeting, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Shri VK Tiwari as the Vice Chairman of this global initiative informed the participants about the work being carried out by India to mitigate the emission of methane.
- Emission of methane is a big concern as it is a greenhouse gas having 25-28 times harmful effect than carbon dioxide.
About Global Methane Initiative:
- Global Methane Initiative (GMI) is a voluntary Government and an informal international partnership having members from 45 countries including the United States and Canada.
- The forum has been created to achieve global reduction in anthropogenic methane emission through partnership among developed and developing countries having economies in transition.
- The forum was created in 2004 and India is one of the members since its inception.
- India has taken up Vice-Chairmanship for the first time in the Steering Leadership along with USA.
- The Chairperson of the Steering Leadership is from Canada.
Infosys Prize 2021
⇒ The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) awarded the winners of the Infosys Prize 2021 for their outstanding contributions to science and research in six fields.
These six fields include Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences.
Winners of 13th Infosys Prize (Infosys Prize 2021):
- Engineering and Computer Science
Dr. Chandrasekhar Nair (CTO of Molbio Diagnostics in Bengaluru) - Humanities
Dr. Ângela Barreto Xavier (Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal) - Life Sciences
Prof. Mahesh Sankaran (National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru) - Mathematical Sciences
Dr. Neeraj Kayal (Microsoft Research lab, Bengaluru) - Physical Sciences
Prof. Bedangadas Mohanty (National Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhubaneswar) - Social Sciences
Dr. Pratiksha Baxi (Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, JNU, New Delhi)
- Engineering and Computer Science
About Infosys Prize:
- The Infosys Prize is awarded by the Infosys Science Foundation, a not-for-profit trust set up in 2009.
- The award comprises a pure gold medal, a citation and a prize-purse of USD 100,000.
- The Infosys Prize is the highest prize for science and research in India.
International
G20 International Seminar
⇒ Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt Nirmala Sitharaman participated virtually from New Delhi in the G20 International Seminar hosted in Bali by the G20 Presidency of Indonesia on 09 December 2021.
Speaking on the G20’s theme for the year, “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”, the Finance Minister stressed on the fact that for a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive recovery of the global economy, it is imperative to ensure collective progress of all countries.
Towards achieving this goal, she said that the critical role of multilateralism and collective action.
UK's Royal Gold Medal 2022
⇒ Ahmedabad-based Balkrishna Doshi will receive the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the world’s highest honour for architecture.
The award will be presented to Doshi at a special ceremony in 2022.
The Royal Gold Medal is “approved personally by Her Majesty The Queen and is given to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence on the advancement of architecture”.
International
Human Rights Day
⇒ Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December.
This day is a celebration of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
Theme:
The theme of Human Rights Day 2021 was ‘Equality’.
The theme is taken from Article 1 of the UDHR. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration states “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
About UDHR:
The UDHR is a milestone document, which proclaims the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.