National
Lokmanya Tilak National Award
⇒ The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi was conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award in Pune, Maharashtra on 01 August 2023.
- The Prime Minister became the 41st recipient of the award. The Prime Minister donated the cash prize to the Namami Gange Project.
About Award:
- The Award was constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983 to honor the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak.
- It is awarded to people who have worked for the progress and development of the nation and whose contribution can only be seen as remarkable and extraordinary.
- It is presented every year on the 1st of August – Lokmanya Tilak’s death anniversary.
- The 103rd death anniversary of freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak was celebrated on 01 August 2023.
- It has previously been presented to luminaries such as Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mrs Indira Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, Shri N. R. Narayana Murthy, Dr E. Sreedharan among others.
Meri Maati Mera Desh Campaign
⇒ The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi participated in the programme marking the culmination of Meri Maati Mera Desh campaign’s Amrit Kalash Yatra at Kartavya Path in New Delhi on 31 October 2023.
Meri Maati Mera Desh campaign was envisaged as a culminating event of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ commenced on March 12, 2021, and witnessed extensive public engagement (Jan Bhagidari) through the organization of over 200,000 programs across India.
Key Points:
- The nationwide campaign “Meri Maati Mera Desh” was launched on August 9, 2023 to honor the courageous individuals, known as ‘Veers,’ who sacrificed their lives for the nation.
- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had announced this campaign during the broadcast of his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme.
- The purpose of this campaign was to salute the brave freedom fighters and heroes who sacrificed their lives for the country.
- In the spirit of Jan Bhagidari, the campaign comprises many activities and ceremonies conducted across the country at Panchayat/Village, Block, Urban Local Body, State and National levels. The activities included building of Shilaphalakam (Memorial) to express heartfelt gratitude to all the bravehearts who have made the supreme sacrifice; ‘Panch Pran’ pledge taking by the people at Shilaphalakam; planting of saplings of indigenous species and developing ‘Amrit Vatika’ (Vasudha Vandhan) and felicitation ceremonies for honoring the freedom fighters and the families of deceased freedom fighters (Veeron ka Vandan), among others.
- The campaign became a massive success, with over 2.3 lakh Shilaphalakams built in 36 States/UTs; nearly 4 crore Panch Pran pledge selfies uploaded; 2 Lakh plus ‘Veeron ka Vandan’ programs nationwide; more than 2.36 crore indigenous saplings have been planted; and 2.63 lakh Amrit Vatikas created under the Vasudha Vandan theme across the country.
Finale event of Meri Mati Mera Desh:
The finale event of Meri Mati Mera Desh saw vibrant participation from all 36 States and Union Territories of the nation, embodying the true spirit of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat.
Amrit Kalash Yatra:
‘Meri Maati Mera Desh’ campaign also includes the Amrit Kalash Yatra, which comprises a collection of mitti (soil) and rice grains from over 6 lakh villages in rural areas and from wards in urban areas, which is sent to block level (where mitti of all villages in the block is mixed) and then to the state capital. The mitti from the state level is sent to the National Capital, accompanied by thousands of Amrit Kalash Yatris.
- Over 25,000 Amrit Kalash Yatris from 7000 blocks of 766 districts of the country marched on Kartavya Path/Vijay Chowk with songs of patriotism and beautifully choreographed cultural dance presentations.
- Representatives from every State and Union territory poured soil and rice from their State/UT Amrit Kalash into one giant Amrit Kalash embodying the unity in plurality of our great nation.
Amrit Vatika, Amrit Mahotsav Memorial and MY Bharat:
During the program, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of Amrit Vatika and Amrit Mahotsav Memorial and launched ‘Mera Yuva Bharat’ – MY Bharat platform for youth of the country.
Amrit Vatika and Amrit Mahotsav Memorial:
» The Amrit Vatika and Amrit Mahotsav Memorial, whose foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister, will be built from the soil collected from every part of the country.
MY Bharat:
‘Mera Yuva Bharat’ – MY Bharat is being established as an autonomous body to serve as a one-stop whole-of-government platform for the youth of the country.
- In line with the Prime Minister’s vision to provide equitable opportunities to every youth of the country, MY Bharat will leverage technology to provide an enabling mechanism across the entire spectrum of the Government so that they can realize their aspirations and contribute to the building of ‘Viksit Bharat’.
- The aim of MY Bharat is to inspire youth to become community change agents and nation builders and enable them to act as the ‘Yuva Setu’ between the Government and the citizens.
- In this sense, ‘MY Bharat’ will provide a major boost to ‘Youth Led development’ in the country.
Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Awards:
During the program, Shri Modi also presented the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Awards to the top 3 performing States or Union Territories as well as Ministries or Departments.
- The top 3 performing states or union territories are Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Haryana and Rajasthan for the joint third position, while the top 3 performing ministries are Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Education for the joint third position.
International
G20 Ministerial Conference on Women Empowerment
⇒ The G20 Ministerial Conference on Women Empowerment was held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The conference took place from August 2-4, 2023 and saw participation by Women and Gender Equality Ministers from across the G20 and Guest countries.
Participation:
The Conference had a total participation of over 138 International delegates from 15 G20 Countries namely Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, European Union, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, United Kingdom, and USA and 5 Guest Countries namely Bangladesh, Mauritius, Netherlands, Singapore and UAE. There were over 60 speakers at the Conference.
Inaugural session:
The Inaugural session of Conference was virtually addressed by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi.
“Women in India have also been brand Ambassadors for ‘Mission LiFE- Lifestyle for Environment”, the Prime Minister said as he highlighted their traditional wisdom to reduce, reuse, recycle, and re-purpose. He also mentioned that under India’s G20 Presidency, a new Working Group on ‘Women Empowerment’ is being established.
A few achievements by the G20 Empower are mentioned as follows:
- Under India’s Presidency, 149 model initiatives from 19 G20 countries have been added to the Best Practices Playbook for G20 EMPOWER, substantially scaling up the insights and best practices from across industries and businesses available to the public and private sectors. The Playbook has been digitised to make it easily accessible. Previously, the Best Practices Playbook had 3 focus areas; India added a new chapter in the EMPOWER playbook to support women at the grassroots.
- For the first time, the KPI Dashboard for G20 EMPOWER would look at the role of women in Small and Medium Enterprises.
- India’s Presidency has added substantially to G20 EMPOWER advocates (comprising CEOs, association heads and other leaders) promoting women’s advancement. These have increased from 380 to 544, with 100 of the new additions coming from India. The G20 EMPOWER advocacy pledge has also been updated to strengthen commitments to gender equality.
- 73 inspirational stories from 9 G20 countries highlighted women surmounting barriers have been placed on the G20 EMPOWER website.
- Over 300,000 citizens were engaged through Janbhagidari events or Citizen Engagement to showcase Women–Led Development through Women community leaders, artisans, Self Help Groups, SMEs, corporates, and business entities from various states participated in these events to make this is a truly people’s G20.
- The W20 engagement group added emphasis on the role of women in climate change resilience with a first responders’ framework having been developed towards this. This aligns with India’s Mission LiFE or Lifestyle for Environment.
Exhibition:
As part of the Ministerial Conference, an exhibition organized by Ministry of Women and Child Development in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
- The exhibition titled ‘India@75: Contribution of Women’ focused on women in craft; women in health; women in trade and economy; women in STEM, science and technology; women in nutrition and food; women in education and skill; women in sports; women in defence services; and a showcase of Padma awardees.
- Innovative anamorphic content was used to highlight women’s achievements in these areas.
Joint Expedition of Scientists – Colombo Security Conclave
⇒ A joint expedition of ocean scientists from India, Bangladesh and Mauritius was organised by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences under the regional framework of Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) concluded on 24 July 2023.
Objective:
The primary objective of the expedition was to build capacity in ocean observation and services apart from collection of ocean data to predict and manage changes in the regional environment of the Indian Ocean.
Key Points:
The expedition onboard ORV Sagar Nidhi was unique in nature, as it was the first of its kind under the CSC framework; wherein the participants undertook collaborative activities such as measurement and modeling of ocean parameters, which would eventually lead to better forecast and services for the common benefit of all in the region.
» The expedition onboard ORV Sagar Nidhi which commenced on 29 June 2023 is an outcome of the maiden collaborative venture of CSC Oceanographers and Hydrographers held at Goa and Hyderabad in Nov 2022.