National
Annual National Earth System Sciences Awards-2022
⇒ Union Minister of State (I/C) Science & Technology; Minister of State (I/C) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh presented National Science Awards and lauded India’s “Deep Sea” initiatives.
- Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh lauds the MoES scientists for conducting world’s first locomotion trials of the Deep-Sea Mining System in the Central Indian Ocean at depth of 5270 meters.
Dr Jitendra Singh gave away Eight National Awards 2022 including Lifetime Excellence Award, Lady Scientist Award, 2 Young Researcher Award and one each in Geo, Polar, Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences.
In recognition to the outstanding research contributions in the various disciplines under the Earth System Science, MoES honours the researchers/academicians in the country by bestowing them with the following awards at the national level:
- Lifetime achievement award
- National Awards (Ocean Science and Technology, Geoscience and Technology, Atmospheric Science and Technology)
- National Award for Women Scientist
- Young Researcher Awards
- Certificate of Merit for the Best Employees of MoES institutions
» These awards are given away on the occasion of MoES Foundation Day 27 July, every year.
List of Awardee (Official Link)
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh was speaking as Chief Guest on the 16th Foundation Day of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
» The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) celebrated its foundation day on 27 July.
About Ministry of Earth Sciences:
- The Ministry of Earth Sciences, under the Government of India, is mandated to provide services for weather, climate, ocean and coastal state, hydrology, seismology, and natural hazards; to explore and harness marine living and non-living resources in a sustainable manner for the country and to explore the three poles of the Earth.
- MoES was formerly the Department of Ocean Development (DOD), which was created in July 1981 as a part of the Cabinet Secretariat directly under the charge of the Prime Minister of India. It came into existence as a separate department in March 1982.
- In July 2006, the Ministry of Ocean Development was reorganized by the Government of India vide Presidential notification into the new Ministry of Earth Sciences.
» On this occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh launched a first-of-its-kind and state-of-art fully automated buoy-based coastal observation and water quality nowcasting system for the Indian Ocean.
- It is developed by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad.
- The system includes high-end sensors onboard an automated buoy integrated to a coastal observatory located in Kochi.
- The system will benefit various stakeholders, including coastal dwellers, fisherfolk, maritime industry, researchers and agencies dealing with pollution, tourism, fisheries, and the coastal environment.
- It will provide real-time data of 19 water quality-related measurements such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, etc., which will help generate accurate nowcasts about coastal water quality, improve indices of coastal ecosystems’ health, and calibrate and validate sensors onboard satellites such as Oceansat-III.
- Another such observatory in Vishakhapatnam is imminent.
» Dr Jitendra Singh also released a special issue of the popular Indian journal-magazine Geography and You (GnY), themed ‘India’s fragile coast’.
» Dr Jitendra Singh also unveiled a unique compendium of the monthly seismological bulletins (2011-2020) published by the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), New Delhi.
» Another important publication released by Dr Jitendra Singh entitled ‘Climatological Tables of Observatories in India 1991-2020’ would benefit a variety of stakeholders from sectors such as climatology, agriculture, geography, hydrology, biology, economics, ecology, and environment.
- The publication provides average values of climate elements such as temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, winds, clouds, visibility, extreme values of temperature and rainfall, and frequency of occurrence of weather phenomena from all meteorological observatories in India.
- Prepared by the National Data Centre, office of Climate Research and Services, Pune, India Meteorological Department (IMD), the document would be updated every ten years for public utility and benefit.
National Family Planning Summit 2022
⇒ Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar addressed the National Family Planning Summit 2022, 27 July 2022. Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar chaired the National Family Planning Summit, 2022.
Organized by:
The National Family Planning Summit, 2022 was organized by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in New Delhi.
Theme:
Prime Minister’s vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, the theme of the summit was “Sustaining efforts, Steering Partnerships, Shaping Vision in Family Planning – Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas & Sabka Vikas”.
Speaking on the occasion, she stated that “India understood the importance of Family Planning early and went on to be the first country to launch a National Family Planning programme in 1952.”
- Dr Pawar informed that “India has achieved replacement level fertility with as many as 31 states/ UTs having achieved a Total Fertility Rate of 2.1 or less and modern contraceptive usagehas increased substantially to 56.5% (NFHS 5).
- The Minister highlighted that India is an important member of the FP2020, now transitioned to FP2030 partnership. She informed that as part of India’s commitment to this partnership, 3 billion USD has been invested in family planning.
» During the event, the Minister also unveiled the India Family Planning 2030 vision document and launched the Medical Eligibility Criteria Wheel Application, E-Module of Family Planning Logistics Management System (FPLMIS) and Digital Archive on Family Planning under the category of Digital Intervention.
» To empower the community and show the Government’s unwavering commitment to providing inclusive services, Dr Pawar also introduced the National Family Planning helpline manual, Community Health Officer (CHO) booklet, and ASHA brochure and leaflet (Family Planning).
Award:
Dr Pawar felicitated the states under the categories of Male Participation, Spacing Methods, Self-care Methods, PPIUCD and Injectable MPA.
Service Provider Awards were also presented to Doctors (under the categories of Male and Female Sterilization), Nurses (under the categories of PPIUCD and Injectable MPA), Health and Wellness Centres for best performance in Family Planning and to ASHA workers for motivating vasectomy clients.
- The northeastern state of Meghalaya was awarded 1st prize for its exemplary performance in Expansion of Antara Program at the National Family Planning Summit, 2022.
- The Bengal government bagged the second prize at the National Family Planning Summit, 2022. Bengal had secured the second prize among all states for its exemplary performance in postpartum intrauterine contraceptive devices (PPIUCD) services.
Sports
41st Villa de Benasque International Open chess tournament
⇒ GM Aravindh Chithambaram won the 41st Villa de Benasque International Open chess tournament in Benasque, Spain on 15 July 2022.
- Aravindh scored eight points from 10 rounds along with 10 others, but finished first on tie-break rules.
- GM Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia finished second while India’s GM Raunak Sadhwani was third.
Important Day
Raising Day of CRPF
⇒ The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) celebrated on its Raising Day on 27 July.
About CRPF:
- The Central Reserve Police Force was established on 27 July, 1939 as the Crown Representative Police.
- After Independence, this force was named Central Reserve Police Force by an Act of Parliament on 28 December 1949.
Death
Noted Assamese writer Shri Atulanada Goswami
⇒ Noted Assamese writer Shri Atulanada Goswami passed away at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital on 27 July 2022. He was 87.
Born in 1935, the erudite litterateur was awarded the Sahitya Academy award for his novel ‘Seneh Jorir Ganthi’ in 2006. Goswami’s other notable works include ‘Namgharia’ ‘Hamdoi Pulor Jon’, ‘Rajpaat’, ‘Polatok’ and ‘Ashray’.
The Kumar Kishore Memorial Award was also presented to Goswami and in 1992, he also won the Katha award for creative writing for his work ‘Boliya Hathi’.
He translated many English, Bengali and Odia texts into Assamese, and also Assamese texts into English.