National
7th edition of Swachh Survekshan
⇒ Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the seventh consecutive edition of Swachh Survekshan, the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey conducted by Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) at New Delhi on 27 September 2021.
Highlights:
- Designed with ‘People First’ as its driving philosophy, Swachh Survekshan 2022 is curated towards capturing the initiatives of cities for the overall welfare and well-being of frontline sanitation workers.
- The Swachh Survekshan 2022 will aim to capture feedback from senior citizens as an integral part of the survey.
- Additionally, the survey is set to protect India’s ancient legacy and culture by nudging citizens to take ownership and initiative to clean urban India’s monuments and heritage spots.
Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge:
Along with Swachh Survekshan 2022, MoHUA also flagged off the field assessments for the Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge launched a year ago.
The Challenge aims to help move cities towards mechanization of sewers and septic tank cleaning operations along with making provisions for personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety kits for workers in case of manual entry under unavoidable circumstances.
DAY-NULM MIS Portal
⇒ Ministry of Food Processing Industries in association with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises Scheme launched the Seed Capital Module on Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) MIS Portal.
- MIS Portal has been launched for seed capital assistance to members of urban Self Help Groups working in the food processing sector in India.
- The seed capital portal can be accessed for Self Help Groups to avail the seed capital assistance of Rs 40,000 per SHG member under the PMFME Scheme.
About PMFME:
The Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme that was launched under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
PMFME Scheme aims to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and promote formalization of the sector and provide support to Farmer Producer Organizations, Self Help Groups, and Producers Cooperatives along their entire value chain.
ASSOCHAM’s Virtual Conference
⇒ Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Shri Parshottam Rupala, addressed the fisheries and aquaculture industry at ASSOCHAM’s Virtual Conference on Fisheries & Aquaculture on 27 September 2021.
Organized by:
ASSOCHAM, an apex chamber of commerce of India organized this Virtual Conference on Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry.
Theme:
The theme of the virtual conference was “Strategic roadmap towards enabling Blue Revolution & Economic Growth”.
Objective:
The objective behind this virtual conference was to deliberate upon the issues which can improve the rate of growth in this sector and to record all the necessary steps to enter into a new era of fisheries and aquaculture to improve productivity. The focus was on technology, marketing, finance, export and infra facilities, considering the latest opportunities associated with this sector.
Karanth Award
⇒ Girish Bharadwaj, popularly known as the Bridgeman of India, was conferred with the prestigious Dr Shivarama Karanth Huttoora Prashasthi (Award) instituted by Dr Shivarama Karanth Huttoora Prashasthi Prathistana at Kota Shivarama Karanth Theme Park, Kota on 10 October 2021.
Bharadwaj from Sullia of Dakshina Kannada, who is credited with building nearly 140 low-cost suspension bridges across rivers and streams for rural connectivity, was selected for the award considering his contributions to the welfare of rural people.
The award committee has been honouring achievers considering their contributions in their respective fields by conferring the award from the past 16 years.
Chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulations
⇒ The Chief Marketing Officer of United Breweries Group, Debabrata Mukherjee has been elected as the chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for the year 2021-2022.
He has a wide range of professional experience in general management, marketing and sales operations, business strategy and innovation.
About ABC:
- Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is a non-profit circulation-auditing organisation.
- ABC certifies and audits the circulations of major publications, including newspapers and magazines in India.
International
4th Indo-US Health Dialogue
⇒ Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar addressed the inaugural session of the 4th Indo-US Health Dialogue, hosted by India, at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 27 September 2021.
The two-day Dialogue leveraged as a platform to deliberate upon multiple ongoing collaborations in the health sector between the two countries.
Discussion:
The issues related to areas of concern pertaining to strengthening of epidemiological research and surveillance, vaccine development, One Health, zoonotic and vector-borne diseases, health systems and health policies etc. were discussed during the two-day dialogue.
Concluding session:
Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare addressed the closing session of 4th Indo-US Health Dialogue on 28 September.
Two MoUs were also signed at the concluding session.
» One MoU was signed between the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of the India and Department of Health and Human Services of the USA concerning cooperation in the field of Health and Biomedical sciences.
» Another MoU was signed between Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) & National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for cooperation on International Centre for Excellence in Research (ICER).
Important Day
Foundation Day of NDMA
⇒ National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) celebrated its 17th Foundation Day on 27th September 2021.
Theme:
The theme of this year’s Foundation Day is ‘Stopping Impact of Disaster Incidents in the Himalayan Region’.
About NDMA:
- The NDMA was formally constituted on 27 September 2006.
- The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), headed by the Prime Minister of India, is the apex body for Disaster Management in India.
- Setting up of NDMA and the creation of an enabling environment for institutional mechanisms at the State and District levels is mandated by the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
- NDMA is mandated to lay down policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management.