National
Secretary, Department of Commerce
⇒ Shri Sunil Barthwal assumed charge as Secretary, Department of Commerce in New Delhi on 30 September 2022.
- Prior to this he was serving as Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment. Shri Barthwal is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer of Bihar Cadre.
- He has also worked in the Competition Commission of India. He has been on the Boards of SAIL, NMDC, MECON, MSTC & NIIF. He was the CEO of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, which is the largest social security organisation of India.
42nd Annual Awards for Excellence in Book Production 2022
⇒ The apex body of Indian publishers, The Federation of Indian Publishers’ (FIP) 42nd Annual Awards for Excellence in Book Production 2022 was held on 30 September 2022 in New Delhi.
Directorate of Publications Division won nine awards in various categories for its titles.
DPD won six first prizes in the Categories:
- General and Trade Books (English) for ‘Balancing the Wisdom Tree’
- General and Trade Books (Hindi) for ‘Bharat Vibhajan Ki Kahani’
- Art and Coffee Table Books (Regional Languages) for ‘Courts of India (Marathi)’
- Reference Books (English) for ‘India 2022’
- Scientific/Technical/Medical Books (Hindi) for ‘Covid-19: Vaishik Mahamari’
- Journals and House Magazines (Hindi) for ‘Kurukshetra’
One Second Prize in the category:
- General and Trade Books (Hindi) for ‘Loktantra ke Swar’
Two Third Prizes in the categories:
- Children Books (General Interest) (0-10 Years) (Hindi) for ‘Pinushi’ and
- Journals and House Magazines (Regional Languages) for ‘Ajkal (Urdu)’
» Last year, Publications Division won ten awards for its various publications in different categories.
About DPD:
- DPD is a repository of books and journals which highlight the subjects of national importance and India’s rich cultural heritage.
- Established in 1941, Publications Division is a premier publishing house of Government of India offering books and journals in different languages and on diverse themes including history, art, literature, culture, finance, science and sports, Gandhian literature, children’s literature as well as speeches of national leaders and autobiographies of renowned personalities.
SFURTI Mela at Dilli Haat
⇒ Khadi and Village Industries Commission, a Statutory Body under Ministry of MSME, organized a SFURTI Mela at Dilli Haat, INA, New Delhi from 1st October to 15th October, 2022.
- This national level exhibition of traditional products from SFURTI clusters was organized for the first time, also commemorating the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Aim:
The purpose of this SFURTI Mela was to promote the traditional products from across the country among the citizens, during the festive times.
- Besides, this mela also opened new avenues for the artisans for marketing and sales of these cluster products.
Key Points:
- Under SFURTI, traditional artisans were organized into clusters for manufacturing value added traditional products to enhance their income.
- These clusters cover traditional sectors such handloom, handicrafts, khadi, coir, agro-products, etc.
- Government of India provides assistance for infrastructure development, capacity building, marketing and design promotion, etc. Till date, 498 clusters have been supported under SFURTI across the country directly benefiting around 3 lakh artisans.
» During the SFURTI Mela, 100 artisans from 50 SFURTI clusters covering 28 States showcased their traditional products of handloom, handicrafts, khadi, coir, agro-processing.
These included clusters such as:
Sozni Embroidery cluster of Jammu and Kashmir, Cane and Bamboo cluster of Meghalaya, Channapatna Toy cluster of Karnataka, Natural Dye Cluster of Rajasthan, Madhubani painting Cluster of Bihar, Kolhapuri Traditional Jewellery cluster of Maharashtra, Coir cluster of Kerala, Carpet and Durrie Cluster of Uttar Pradesh, Millet Cluster of Odisha, Eri Silk Khadi Cluster of Arunachal Pradesh among others.
About SFURTI:
- Government of India has launched the ‘Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries’ (SFURTI) with a aim to recognize the talent, creativity, enterprise of hard work of rural artisans in a variety of fields, ranging from food products to handicrafts; leather products to ayurvedic medicines and to make the traditional industries more productive, profitable and capable of generating sustained employment and subsequently empowering and converting the artisans as self-governing entrepreneurs.
- It is a Cluster-based scheme of Government of India.
- The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises is implementing a ‘Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries’ (SFURTI) with a view to organize traditional industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive and increase their income.
International
South Korean Naval Ships visit Chennai
⇒ Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy Cruise Training Task Group consisting of two naval ships, ROKS Hansando and ROKS Daecheong arrived in Chennai on a three-day visit on 28 September 2022.
Key Points:
- Rear Admiral Kang Dong-goo, Commander of Cruise Training Task Group along with Capt Ko Dae-jong, Commanding Officer ROKS Daecheong, Cdr Park Jin-sung, Commanding Officer ROKS Hansando and other officials of the consulate of Korea had discussions with the Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Naval Area on matters of common interest.
- During the visit, professional interactions and friendly sports activities were conducted between the personnel of the Indian Navy and ROK Navy.
- The goodwill visit strengthened the ties between the navies of the two countries.
- ROKS Hansando is South Korea’s first dedicated training ship and ROKS Daecheong is the logistics support ship.