National
National Florence Nightingale Awards for the years 2022 and 2023
⇒ The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu presented the National Florence Nightingale Awards for the years 2022 and 2023 to the Nursing professionals at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 22, 2023.
Winners of National Florence Nightingale Awards for the years 2022 and 2023:
» A total of 30 Nursing professionals (15 award winners for each year) were awarded for the years 2022 and 2023.
- President Smt Droupadi Murmu has conferred the National Florence Nightingale award on Additional Director General (ADG) of Military Nursing Service (MNS) Major General Smita Devrani and Brigadier MNS, Headquarters, Southern Command Brigadier Amita Devrani for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.
- Bihar’s ANM Ms. Gaytri Kumari has been honored with the National Florence Nightingale Awards 2023.
Winners of National Florence Nightingale Awards for the years 2022 and 2023
About Award:
The National Florence Nightingale Award was instituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India in the year 1973 as a mark of recognition for the meritorious services rendered by the nurses and nursing professionals to the society.
Ocean sailing expedition on board Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) TARINI for the Cape to Rio Race- 23
⇒ In yet another historic event in the maritime calendar of India, INSV Tarini touched the Indian shores as she entered Goa harbour and secured alongside the INS Mandovi jetty on successful completion of a 17000nm trans-ocean inter-continental voyage, after 188 days.
The Indian Navy received its six-member crew of INSV Tarini, including two women officers, at the ‘Flag in’ ceremony on 23 May 2023 at the Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centre (INWTC), INS Mandovi, Goa.
Key Points:
- The aim of the expedition was to train the crew onboard, in essential seamanship skills including Navigation, Communication, Technical, Planning, etc.
- The expedition was an important milestone in training of the two women officers onboard for undertaking solo circumnavigation sailing expedition of the globe.
- The officers that participated in this expedition were shortlisted from volunteers after rigorous selection at the Ocean Sailing Node (OSN) which was established on 24 Aug 16 with the aim of promoting and undertaking ocean sailing activities and is located at INS Mandovi.
- This expedition was conducted under the aegis of Indian Naval Sailing Association (INSA) based at New Delhi.
Background:
- INSV Tarini was sailed for an expedition to Cape Town, South Africa for participating in the 50th edition of Cape to Rio Race 2023.
- This ocean sailing race was flagged off from Cape Town on 02 Jan 23 and culminated at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The race is one of the most prestigious Trans-Atlantic Ocean races.
- During this expedition whilst transiting from Goa to Rio de Janeiro via Cape Town and back, INSV Tarini covered a distance of almost 17000nm (approx. 30000 km).
» INSV Tarini is known for circumnavigating the globe with an all-women officer crew in the historic expedition titled ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’ in 2017.
International
SAI20 Summit in Goa
⇒ The SAI20 Summit took place in the state of Goa from 12th to 14th June 2023.
Chair:
The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) of India was the Chair of the Supreme Audit Institutions-20 (SAI20) Engagement Group under the India’s G20 Presidency.
The SAI20 Summit of the SAI20 Engagement Group under India’s G20 Presidency concluded on 13 June 2023 in Goa.
The two-day meeting of the SAI20 Summit saw a participation of National and International delegates from-
- G20 member SAIs viz. Australia, Brazil, Korea, Indonesia, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye
- Guest SAIs viz. Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman, Spain and UAE
- Invited SAIs viz. Morocco and Poland
- International Organization viz. USAID and World Bank
- Engagement Groups viz. Think20 and Youth20
» Shri Girish Chandra Murmu, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India and the Chair of the Supreme Audit Institutions-20 (SAI20) Engagement Group, delivered the concluding remarks.
- Shri Murmu highlighted that collectively, SAIs have chartered a path to heighten efficiency, accountability and transparency in the optimized maturing of the new-age areas of the Blue Economy and Artificial Intelligence.
- Shri Mumu stated that considerable deliberations amongst SAIs as well as the voices of experts, had sensitized all to the multi-layered, cross-cutting nature and impact of the two priority areas, and consequent solution-oriented policy and operational dimensions.
Under the guiding philosophy for India’s Presidency of G20, Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam i.e. “One Earth, One Family, and One Future”, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had proposed the collaboration of SAI20 Engagement Group on two priority areas —
- Blue Economy
- Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Blue Economy is the Sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of our ecosystem. With AI making greater inroads into governance, SAIs must inevitably prepare themselves for auditing AI based governance systems. Simultaneously SAIs must look for opportunities to adopt AI into their audit techniques to increase their effectiveness.
Deliberation:
» Shri Girish Chandra Murmu, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, as the Chair of the Supreme Audit Institutions-20 (SAI20) Engagement Group, led the deliberations.
- Recognising the well-defined and effective role the SAIs plays in good governance, in conjunction with the timeless and essential principle of independence of SAIs, the SAI20 members deliberated according the SAI20 group a distinct, independent, institutional track in the G20 structure.
- The SAI20 Summit meeting focused on the deliberations and adoption of the final draft of the SAI20 Communique. The final SAI20 Communique, an inclusive, decisive, and action-oriented document, was adopted upon consensus by SAI20 member SAIs in the SAI20 summit.
- During the meeting, insights on Blue Economy were provided by eminent personalities in this field, who shared their valuable knowledge and experience on the different aspects of the Blue Economy.
» After the concluding session, there was a consensus that SAI20 represented an action-oriented forum for the SAIs of G20 countries to collaborate on sharing of best practices, capacity building and development of appropriate auditing guidelines and actionable tool kits for auditing national priorities, which was also reflected in the SAI20 Communique adopted during the Summit.
- The President of the Federal Court of Accounts – Brazil will Chair the SAI20 in 2024.
SAI20 ENGAGEMENT GROUP COMMUNIQUE (Official Link)
Sports
First Janjatiya Khel Mahotsav 2023
⇒ The first Janjatiya Khel Mahotsav 2023 was organised at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University in Bhubaneswar, Odisha from June 9-12, 2023.
Host:
The grand sporting extravaganza was hosted by KIIT and was a joint initiative of the Ministry of Culture and the Odisha Government.
Opening ceremony:
The opening ceremony was attended by Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal, Union Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey, Joint Secretary in Ministry of Culture Uma Nanduri and KIIT and KISS Founder Achyuta Samanta.
Mascot:
Bheema, the event mascot, was unveiled during the opening ceremony.
Participation:
The first edition attracted the participation of 5,000 tribal athletes and 1,000 officials from 26 states.
Winners of 1st Janjatiya Khel Mahotsav 2023:
- In the event, Odisha emerged as the overall champions in both the men’s and women’s categories.
- Karnataka emerged as the 1st runners up and Jharkhand as the 2nd runners up in the overall.
- In Rugby, team Odisha won the Gold in both the men’s and women’s categories.
- In Hockey as well, Odisha was the winner in both the men’s and women’s categories.
- In Kabaddi, Odisha bagged the 1st position in Men’s category while Karnataka bagged the 1st position in the women’s category.
- In Volleyball, Karnataka bagged the 1st place in both men and women category.
- In football Odisha emerged winner in the men’s category, while Chhattisgarh emerged winner in the women category.
- In Kho Kho, Odisha emerged the winner in both men and women category.