Home » Current Affairs Date: 19 December 2022

Current Affairs Date: 19 December 2022

National

Successful Flight Tests of VSHORADS Missile

⇒ DRDO conducted two successful test flight of Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missile on 27 September 2022 from a ground based portable launcher at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.

Designed and developed by:

VSHORADS is a Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPAD) designed and developed indigenously by DRDO’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad in collaboration with other DRDO laboratories and Indian Industry Partners.

About VSHORADS Missile:
    • VSHORADS missile incorporates many novel technologies including miniaturized Reaction Control System (RCS) and integrated avionics, which have been successfully proven during the tests.
    • The missile, meant for neutralizing low altitude aerial threats at short ranges is propelled by a dual thrust solid motor.
    • The design of the missile including launcher has been highly optimized to ensure easy portability. Both the flight tests have completely met the mission objectives.

Celebration of Bathukamma Festival

⇒ Ministry of Culture organized the celebration of Bathukamma festival being at Kartavyapath, India Gate, New Delhi, on 27 September 2022.

Bathukamma Festival is an annual celebration in Telangana that goes on for nine days and overlaps with the festival of Navratri. The festival is celebrated with colourful exotic flowers of the region and symbolises the collective spirit of the people of Telangana.

    • This year the Bathukamma festival was celebrated from 25 September to 3 October, 2022.
About festival:
    • This festival is to pray to the Goddess for the health and achievements of each family. Young women of the Hindu household get to pray to the Goddess for a life partner of their choice.
    • Bathukamma means “The Mother Goddess comes to life”.
    • It represents the culture and identity of the people of Telangana and involves the worship of Maha Gauri – “Life Giver” in the form of Gauri Devi (patron goddess of womanhood).
    • The festival involves young women arranging flowers in stacks and making rangoli to start the celebrations. The men also help celebrate this festival, by aiding in the preparations like by collecting different flowers such as Marigold, Lotus, Senna.
    • Some of the women dip a few flowers in vibrant colours and then arrange them in a wide plate and stack them in a pile.
    • The rituals of this festival are performed by the Hindu women, especially young girls, who gather around in large numbers in their local areas during the evening time. Forming a circle, they then perform the ritual which involves them singing a folk song and revolving around the Bathukamma, all the while clapping their hands and walking in synchronised steps.
    • This entire performance is to invoke the blessings of the goddess for good health and prosperity for their families.

Finance Minister’s Awards 2022

⇒ The prestigious Finance Minister’s Awards 2022 were conferred on employees of the Income Tax Department at a presentation ceremony held on 27 September 2022 at Kedarnath Sahni Auditorium, Civic Centre, Minto Road, Delhi.

About Finance Minister’s Award:

» The Finance Minister’s Award is conferred in different grades on employees, who, by their innovative ideas and special efforts as well as sustained devotion and commitment to duty, have contributed to promoting excellence in diverse areas of Direct Taxation.

    • The objective of the Award is to give due recognition to employees who have made exceptional efforts and contributed significantly in the diverse areas of Direct Tax Administration.
The areas for which the awards are considered include:
    1. taxpayer services and facilitation/communication, including ease of doing business and grievance redressal;
    2. designing and re-engineering of business processes including automation;
    3. enforcement, including tax assessment, investigation, recovery and prosecution;
    4. widening of tax base;
    5. international taxation and transfer pricing;
    6. litigation management and judicial functions;
    7. audit functions and improving accountability;
    8. infrastructure development;
    9. human resource development, including training and capacity building;
    10. policy making and Secretariat functions.

» The Finance Minister’s awards comprise a medal and a citation/certificate.

Finance Minister’s Award 2022:

Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs conferred the Finance Minister’s Award 2022 to twenty-six (26) employees of the Income Tax Department.

    • The awards were presented to the officers and officials who have contributed to promoting excellence in the field of Direct Taxation by their innovative ideas and special efforts as well as commitment to duty.
List of Award Winners (Official Link)

International

10th BRICS meet of Science & Technology Ministers

⇒ Union Minister of State (I/C) Science & Technology; Minister of State (I/C) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh addressed the 10th BRICS meet of Science & Technology Ministers through virtual mode on 27 September 2022.

    • Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh called for joint fight against common challenges.
    • The Minister also underlined the importance of Science, Technology & Innovation (STI) in bringing together our researchers to tackle new and emerging challenges.
Participation:

Mr. Wang Zhigang, Minister, Ministry of Science and Technology, China, Dr. Bonginkosi Emmanuel Nzimande, Minister, Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, South Africa, Mr. Paulo Alvim, Minister, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Brazil, Mr. Valery Falkov, Minister, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Russia took part in the 10th BRICS STI Ministerial Meeting along with senior officials and scientists.

Theme:

The main session theme of the meeting was “Strengthening BRICS STI Cooperation”.

    • Dwelling on the main session theme, Dr Jitendra Singh said, BRICS countries must deepen cooperation in the areas like Health, Agriculture, Water, Renewable Energy, biotechnology, Electric mobility, ICT, AI, Robotics and Environment.
    • He said, the network of BRICS countries can collaborate to develop joint S&T solutions, commercialized to fit their local economies.
The “BRICS STI Declaration 2022” & “BRICS Innovation Action Plan 2022-23” were adopted at the 10th Meeting of BRICS S&T Ministers.
    • In the closing session, where BRICS STI Declaration 2022 was adopted, Dr Jitendra Singh said, advancing BRICS innovation enterprises, developing next generation BRICS scientific leadership and enabling resource sharing should be our guiding strategy of BRICS STI partnership.
    • He said, BRICS countries may explore opportunities of technology transfer & mechanism thereof and adaptation of intra-BRICS technologies among member nations.
    • He said, “The BRICS Innovation Action Plan 2022-23” adopted would help sharing best practices and networking among BRICS Innovation ecosystem and innovation actors. India looks forward to deepen the BRICS collaboration in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation.

» China successfully hosted the 2022 BRICS Summit and organised a series of high-level sectoral meetings, including the 10th Meeting of BRICS S&T Ministers and 12th Meeting of Senior officials.

Source: PIB & Other News Reports

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