National
Smt Murmu Launches Mobile App for Women’s Safety
⇒ The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu graced the function organized to mark the completion of 75 years of the Gauhati High Court at Guwahati on April 7, 2023.
On the occasion, Smt Murmu launched a mobile app ‘Bhoroxa’ made for the safety of women and elderly people.
Developed by:
The mobile app ‘Bhoroxa’ (trust) has been developed by the Gauhati High Court.
Women in distress will now be able to send instant SOS messages with geo location to emergency contact numbers and also call up those numbers just by shaking the phone through a mobile app ‘Bhoroxa’ (trust).
Gaj Utsav-2023
⇒ The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the Gaj Utsav-2023 at the Kaziranga National Park on April 7, 2023.
» Kaziranga National Park hosted Gaj Utasav 2023 on April 7 and 8, 2023.
Kaziranga National Park, the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Assam, which is famous for being home to world’s two-third populations of one-horned rhinos and a large breeding populations of elephants, swamp deer and wild water buffalo.
Key Points:
- Gaj Festival 2023 was celebrated by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to commemorate the successful rendition of 30 years of Project Elephant, which was started in 1991-92 to boost the conservation efforts.
- Moreover, as per reports, Assam is home to the second largest population of wild elephants and also a large number of elephants reside here under human care.
- As the festival was a celebration of Project Elephant, which focused on Elephant Conservation Efforts.
- The aim of the Gaj Utsav 2023 in Kaziranga was to promote what more can be done in conserving the animals, how to prevent elephant-human conflicts, and how to protect their corridors and habitats.
Commemorative postage stamp on the 200th birth anniversary of Swami Dayanand Saraswati
⇒ The Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar released the commemorative postage stamp on the 200th birth anniversary of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, in New Delhi on 07 April 2023.
Releasing a commemorative postage stamp, he highlighted that Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s vision and action for combating social evils continue to remain relevant to this day, and find resonance in Government initiatives such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and the New Education Policy.
Organized by:
The postage stamp release program was organised by the Satya Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications & IT, and Ministry of Culture.
Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2023
⇒ Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2023. It was cleared at the Lok Sabha on March 29, 2023.
- The Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks to amend the Competition Act, of 2002.
The amendments have been on several aspects of the existing framework. Major amendments made in the bill:
- The bill proposes to reduce the overall time limit for assessment. Previously, the duration of the assessment used to be 210 days, but now it needs to be completed within 150 days from the date of filing of the combination notice by the parties. “Prima facie opinion be framed on combination notifications within a time period of 30 days from the receipt of such notice, failing which the combination shall be considered as deemed approved”.
- The amendment proposes that the Commission should have the power to appoint the Director General (DG), instead of the Central Government, for bringing in more operational and administrative efficiency in the functioning of the Commission. However, the Ministry clarified that such an appointment will be after the prior approval of the Central Government – as a check and balance and to ensure the independence of the working of the office of DG.
- A Green Channel route will be introduced for certain combinations which shall be eligible for deemed approval in a trust-based framework, upon the filing of a combination notice. The Green Channel Route is an automated approval scheme that acts as a filter for certain kinds of merger transactions or combination filings which is devoid of any risk of harm to competition regimes. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) introduced a Green Channel in 2022, for the automatic approval of combinations. This is a first-of-its-kind, trust-based system, where notifiable transactions having no overlaps are approved upon filing.
- To be at par with the best global practices, the size of the transaction test will be introduced in terms of ‘value of transaction’ as another criterion for notifying combinations. “All deal values involving acquisitions, mergers and amalgamations exceeding Rs 2000 crore having target enterprise in India shall be notified to the Commission for approval before their consummation”.
- The amendment has proposed the introduction of a Settlement and Commitments framework so that in cases of abuse of dominance and anti-competitive agreements (except for horizontal agreements), third parties can claim compensation, if aggrieved.
Important Day
World Health Day 2023
⇒ World Health Day (WHD) is celebrated every year on 7 April.
World Health Day is observed to mark the anniversary of the foundation day of World Health Organization (WHO).
World Health Day is a day to reaffirm our gratitude and appreciation to all those who work day and night to keep our planet healthy. It’s also a day to reiterate our commitment to supporting research and innovation in healthcare.
This day is very important as it about raising awareness about global health issues and highlights the importance of health and well-being.
Theme:
The theme for World Health Day 2023 was ‘Health for All’.
History:
- World Health Day is been observed since 1950, commemorating the establishment of the World Health Organization in 1948. Since then, the WHO organised numerous events and programmes.
- The WHO was founded on 07 April 1948, with the principle that all people should be able to realize their right to the highest possible level of health.
- The World Health Organization celebrated its 75th anniversary this year.