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January 24th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. PM interacts with recipients of Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, 2020
2. Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA)
3. 10th National Voters’ Day
4. Maharashtra Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project
5. Reaching out, taking education to the last mile
6. DefExpo 2020
7. International Summit on Women in STEM–“Visualizing the Future: New Skylines”

1. PM interacts with recipients of Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, 2020

What’s in News?

Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awards were conferred by the President of India on 22 January 2020.

This topic has been covered in 22^nd January 2020 PIB Summary and Analysis. Click here to read.

2. Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA)

What’s in News?

Chief Election Commissioner of India, Shri Sunil Arora has assumed the Chairmanship of The Forum of the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for the year 2020.

This topic has been covered in 23^rd January 2020 PIB Summary and Analysis. Click here to read.

3. 10th National Voters’ Day

What’s in News?

10th National Voters’ Day is being celebrated on 25th January 2020.

• Theme for NVD 2020 is ‘Electoral Literacy for Stronger Democracy’.
• This year marks an important milestone in the history of Indian democracy as Election Commission of India (ECI) completes 70 years of its journey.
• Belief in the Ballot-2, an anthology of 101 human stories from across the nation about Indian elections, developed in collaboration with the Publication Division will be launched on the occasion.
• ‘The Centenarian Voters: Sentinels of Democracy’with 51 stories of veteran voters across the nation who braved difficult terrain, poor health and other challenges to come out and vote will be launched on the occasion by the Hon’ble President.
• The National Awards for the Best Electoral Practices shall be conferred on District and State level Officers for their outstanding performance in the conduct of elections in different spheres such as IT initiatives, Security Management, Election Management and contribution in the field of voter awareness and outreach.

National Voter’s Day (NVD):

• NVD has been celebrated on January 25 every year since 2011, all across the country at over ten lakh locations across the nation, to mark the Foundation day of Election Commission of India, which was established on 25th January 1950.
• It is being celebrated in order to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process.
• Dedicated to the voters of the country, the Day is utilized to spread awareness among voters for promoting informed participation in the electoral process.

4. Maharashtra Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project

What’s in News?

Government of India and the World Bank sign USD 210 million loan agreements for State of Maharashtra’s Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project.

• The Government of India, the Government of Maharashtra and the World Bank today signed a loan agreement of USD 210 million.
• The agreement aims to support small holder farmers participate in competitive agriculture value chains, facilitate agri-business investments, increase market access and productivity in focus commodities, and build resilience of crops to recurrent floods or droughts in Maharashtra.
• The USD210 million Maharashtra Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project, will help:
  • Build capacity of the nodal departments and institutions.
  • Increase private sector investments in agricultural value chains.
  • Remove constraints for producers and entrepreneurs in accessing emerging domestic and export markets.
  • Build the capacity of the state to respond to commodity-price fluctuations by providing access to timely information on markets and production trends.
  • Enhance adoption of climate resilient production techniques in the state.

5. Reaching out, taking education to the last mile

What’s in News?

• In continuation of Union Government’s outreach initiative, Union Minister of Human Resource Development inaugurated NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement).
• NISHTHA is a two day orientation workshop for the teachers of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir at SKICC, Srinagar.
• A number of completed projects and initiatives were e-launched by the minister on the occasion.

NISHTHA:

• NISHTHA is a capacity building programme for “Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training“.
• It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage.
• The basic objective of this massive training programme is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.
• The initiative is first of its kind wherein standardized training modules are developed at national level for all States and UTs. It is also the world’s largest teachers’ training programme of its kind.
• NISHTHA is a benchmark programme that will raise the standards of education throughout the country.
• It will prove to be helpful in inculcating creativity among children and stimulate their imagination as well as physical and mental wellbeing.
• It has already been launched in 20 states of the country and around 21000 e-resource persons have been trained so far.
• The main objective of the initiative is to help the overall development of students as better citizens.
• The art modules included in the programme instil cooperation and spirit of unity with responsibility.

6. DefExpo 2020

What’s in News?

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to showcase indigenously-developed military systems and technologies at DefExpo 2020.

DefExpo 2020:

• The 11th biennial editionof DefExpo India-2020 is scheduled to be held in Uttar Pradesh’s capital Lucknow.
• The main theme of the DefExpo India-2020 will be ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’.
• Focus will be on “Digital transformation of defence”.
• The previous two editions of the biennial DefExpo were held in Chennai and Goa.

Significance of DefExpo 2020:

The DefExpo will provide an opportunity to the major foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to collaborate with the Indian defence industry and help promote ‘Make in India‘ initiative.

7. International Summit on Women in STEM–“Visualizing the Future: New Skylines”

What’s in News?

The Department of Biotechnology has organized an International Summit on Women in STEM–“Visualizing the Future: New Skylines”.

• The Summit was organized with the overall aim to boost the participation of women in STEM field for the development of scientific career.
• During the summit, different sessions of the summit included mechanisms of leadership building, empowering women through networking, career opportunities and interactive exercises with scientists.
• The aim was to showcase women in STEM successes as real-world examples of successful women scientists, doctors and engineers demonstrating the excitement of being in the STEM fields as well as the rewards associated with it.

January 24th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here 

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