National
Visit India Year 2023
⇒ Shri G Kishan Reddy, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region launched the Visit India Year 2023 initiative and unveiled its logo at New Delhi on 31 January 2023, kicking off the year of grand plans and activities for promoting tourism in India.
» On the occasion, Union Minister for Tourism said that the logo of Visit India Year 2023 is being launched and this in an important year as India is heading G20.
- The Union Minister also said that more than one lakh foreign delegates will visit India this year and they will be showcased entire gamut of India’s Culture, including monuments and festivals.
About Visit India Initiative:
- Encouraging the inbound travel and particularly in the backdrop of India’s G20 Presidency as well as grand celebrations of India@75 Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Ministry of Tourism is celebrating this year as ‘Visit India Year 2023’.
- The focus is on inbound travel to India, to highlight varied tourism offerings of our country and showcase them to the global tourists.
- The priorities include highlighting the unique tourism offerings of every state by leveraging country’s richness in culture, heritage, spirituality, natural beauty and focusing on promoting diverse categories of tourism like sustainable tourism, rural tourism, medical tourism, MICE, and others.
- The ‘Incredible India’ brand will continue to be leveraged, embellished, and polished to match the renewed expectations of travelers around the world.
Visit India Year 2023 logo:
- The logo design is inspired by our belief system of Atithi Devo Bhava, the ‘Visit India Year 2023’ logo is a thoughtfully-designed visual identity that is shaped like a grand namaste.
- Namaste holds cultural significance in India as it is not just a quintessential way to greet people but also a noble gesture to welcome them.
- Here, by folding our hands, India and its citizens are inviting the world to visit India. But there is more to the logo than meets the eye.
- On a closer look, one will find that the Namaste is in fact a colourful medley of the vibrant experiences, illustrious heritage, rich culture, sumptuous delicacies, enchanting wildlife, intricate art forms and a lot more that India stands for.
- Every icon shown in the logo represents India, in its own unique way. The ‘Visit India Year 2023’ logo is an open invitation to the world to come and experience the Incredible India.
ACIC-CBIT Research and Entrepreneurship Foundation in Hyderabad
⇒ Dr. Chintan Vaishanv, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog inaugurated ACIC-CBIT centre on January 31, 2023 in Hyderabad.
Along with the inauguration of the centre, ACIC-CBIT hosted the first Startup 20X event in the form of talks from four startup founders working in different areas ranging from infrastructural development, millet manufacturing, mental health and upskilling rural innovators. These startups are working to bring about a change for the betterment of the community and nation at large.
About ACIC CBIT:
Objectives:
- ACIC-CBIT has been established with an aim to build a community innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem to nurture innovators and startups of unserved and underserved regions.
- ACIC believes and mandates the creation of a strong community innovation ecosystem to include expert mentors; access to infrastructural support such as maker space; funding facilitation; building capacities through training and mentoring.
Sectoral Focus Areas:
- Health-tech
- AI/ML/IoT Based Smart Engineering Products
- Renewable Energy & Environmental Sustainability
Targeted SDGs:
- Good Health & Well-being (Goal 03 in UN SDGs)
- Industry Innovation & Infrastructure (Goal 09 in UN SDGs)
- Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 11 in UN SDGs)
About Atal Innovation Mission (AIM):
- AIM is the Government of India’s endeavor to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
- Its objective is to serve as a platform for the promotion of world-class innovation hubs, grand challenges, start-up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas.
One-day deliberation meet “Manthan: Charting New Paths”
⇒ With the ever-evolving digital landscape in India, rural areas have also experienced a need for better e-Governance platforms by the Government.
In order to harness use of digital technology pursuing ‘Next Generation’ reforms with the policy objective of ‘Maximum Governance – Minimum Government’, Ministry of Panchayati Raj organised a one-day deliberation meet.
- A one-day deliberation meeting ‘Manthan: Charting New Paths’ was organised on 30th January 2023 in New Delhi to brainstorm and develop a roadmap for improving its current e-Governance applications primarily e-Gram SWARAJ.
Key Points:
- The conference ascertained holistic inputs towards developing a common understanding on the way ahead to create a more effective e- Gram SWARAJ 2.0, transforming the scale, and scope of MoPR’s e-Governance applications on key parameters of accessibility, content availability, ease of use, information security & privacy, integrated service delivery etc, so that not only the revamp of the applications can be carried out in an efficient manner but also simplify the day to day works of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
- The event was attended by industry experts from organisations of national/ international repute, representatives/ Senior Officials and Policymakers from different States and Resource Persons involved in Governance domain.
International
President of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly visited India
⇒ The President of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (PGA), Mr. Csaba Korosi called on Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 30 January 2023.
During the meeting, Mr. Csaba Korosi lauded India’s transformational initiatives for communities, including in the area of water resource management and conservation. Acknowledging India’s efforts towards Reformed Multilateralism, Mr. Csaba Korosi underscored the importance of India being at the forefront of efforts to reform global institutions.
Prime Minister thanked Mr. Csaba Korosi for making India his first bilateral visit since assuming office. He appreciated Mr. Csaba Korosi’s approach based on science and technology to find solutions to global problems.
Key Points:
- President of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Csaba Korosi arrived in New Delhi on 29 January on a three-day visit to India.
- This was his first bilateral visit to any country since he assumed UNGA Presidency in September last year.
- During the visit, Mr Korosi also held talks with External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar on key multilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.
Important Day
National Anti-Leprosy Day 2023
⇒ In India, National Anti-Leprosy Day is observed on 30th January every year.
30th January is Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdom day. He was deeply committed to the cause of leprosy-affected persons. Leprosy is also one of the neglected tropical diseases.
Theme:
The theme of the National Anti-Leprosy Day 2023 was “Let us fight Leprosy and make Leprosy a history”.
» Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya virtually addressed the event to observe the National Anti-Leprosy Day on 30 January 2023.
He said that “India is making progress and new leprosy cases are declining year after year. With the whole of government, whole of society support, synergy and cooperation, we can achieve the target of Leprosy Mukt Bharat by 2027, three years ahead of the SDG”.
Key Points:
- National Strategic Plan & Roadmap for Leprosy (2023-27) and National Guidelines for Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) Surveillance in leprosy were also released during the event along with launch of Nikusth 2.0 Portal.
- The strategy and roadmap will aid in advancing the campaign against leprosy, to stop transmission, by speeding case detection efforts and maintaining a robust surveillance infrastructure.
- As India is progressing towards leprosy eradication, a need of strong AMR surveillance system is required to gear up the system. These guidelines will provide the technical guidance in developing and sustaining a robust surveillance system for AMR surveillance in leprosy patients.
- Nikusth 2.0 is an integrated portal for leprosy case management under National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP). It will aid in efficient data recording, analyzing and reporting of the data in the form of indicators and a real time dashboard at center, state and district levels.
About National Leprosy Eradication Programme:
» National Leprosy Eradication Programme is a centrally sponsored scheme. Its vision is “Leprosy-free India”. Under this, action is taken for early case detection, complete treatment of detected cases and to contain the onset of disease in close contacts.
- National Leprosy Control Programme (NLCP) was launched by the Govt of India in 1954- 55. Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) came into wide use from 1982, and the National Leprosy Eradication Programme was introduced in 1983.