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November 4th, 2019 PIB:- Download PDF Here

Prime Minister to participate in East Asia and RCEP Summit in Bangkok

Context:

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will participate in the East Asia and RCEP summits in Bangkok.

Details:

• The Prime Minister would be steering India’s negotiations at the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or the RCEP.
• He sought to dispel the notion that India is reluctant to join the RCEP trade deal.
• But India is looking for a win-win outcome.
• He added that addressing India’s concerns over unsustainable trade deficits is important.
• Modi further stated that a mutually beneficial RCEP, in which all sides gain reasonably, is in interests of India and of all partners in the negotiation.

For more on this issue, check our CNA dated 4^th Nov 2019.

Principal Secretary to PM reviews measures to curb air pollution

Context:

Air pollution levels in Delhi and the surrounding region. State Chief Secretaries apprise PMO of efforts being taken to improve the situation.

Details:

• The Principal Secretary to Prime Minister reviewed once again, the measures taken by the States of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi to tackle air pollution.
• Measures taken:
  • In Punjab, hotspots are being identified. FIRs are also being registered for violation of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
  • In Haryana, efforts are being taken to reduce stubble burning.
  • In Delhi, water sprinkling has been intensified, and identified hotspots and corridors are being focussed upon to improve the situation. Open dumping of garbage in the city has been stopped and maximum fine is being imposed and collected from the violators of these norms.
• For more on this issue, check our CNA dated 4^th Nov 2019.

Kung Fu Nuns of the Drukpa Order

Context:

Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture meets the Kung Fu Nuns of the Drukpa Order at New Delhi.

Details:

• The Kung Fu Nuns received the Game Changer Award from Asia Society for their heroic human rights activism.
• The nuns received the award in New York for their path-breaking work to empower women and dismantle gender stereotypes in the Himalayas.

About the Kung-Fu Nuns:

• They represent a new generation of Buddhists who use spirituality to inspire real-life action & impact.
• They are a strong community of 700 nuns and growing, with a thousand-year-old Drukpa legacy.
• They belong to the Drukpa Lineage, a thousand-year-old Buddhist tradition that began in the Himalayas.
• The Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual leader and founder of the Drukpa order, encouraged his nuns to train in Kung Fu to build confidence as leaders.
• In doing so, he flouted centuries of Buddhist tradition that barred nuns from physical exercise.
• They are the only Buddhist nuns in the world to practice Kung Fu. The nuns use their martial arts expertise to challenge gender roles in India’s conservative culture.
• The nuns use Jigme as their first name. Jigme means ‘fearless’.
• Most of the nuns hail from Ladakh.

About the Asia Society Game Changer Awards:

• Founded in 1956, the Asia Society is a nonpartisan, non-profit educational institution with offices in many cities across the globe.
• The society is dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among people, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context.
• Each year, the Asia Society honours individuals, organizations, or movements that have inspired, enlightened, and shown true leadership in areas that reflect Asia Society’s core pillars of policy and business, arts and culture, and education.

5^th Global Exhibition on Services (GES)

Context:

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry launched the curtain raiser of the 5^th Global Exhibition on Services (GES).

About the GES 2019:

• The GES is organised by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce in partnership with the Services Export Promotion Council and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
• The four-day event will be held in Bangalore.
• The GES is an annual event that seeks to enhance strategic cooperation and develop synergies to strengthen multilateral relationships between all stakeholders, tap the potential for services’ exports and increase FDI inflow.
• Key objectives of the event: An annual flagship global initiative for
  • Increasing trade in services
  • Enhancing strategic cooperation
  • Strengthening relationships among stakeholders
• This initiative will enhance the competitiveness of India’s service sectors through the implementation of focused and monitored Action Plans.
• These sectors include some of the largest and most critical sectors with the highest potential for global trade and investment, growth and employment.
• The objective is to give focused attention to the following 12 identified Champion Services Sectors for promoting their development and realizing their potential:
  • Accounting & Finance
  • IT & ITES
  • Infrastructure & Construction
  • Transport & Logistics
  • Communications
  • Education
  • Media and entertainment
  • Health and wellness
  • Legal
  • Banking, finance and insurance
  • Tourism and hospitality
  • Environment
• The ‘India Services’ brand was created by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to represent the services sector of India.
• The services sector having overtaken agriculture and manufacturing in terms of growth and size is a key driver of global trade and a very valuable source of employment.

19^th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation

Context:

The Defence Minister will co-chair the 19^th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC) in Moscow.

About the IRIGC-M&MTC:

• The IRIGC-M&MTC (sometimes referred to as IRIGC-MTC), was set up in 2000.
• The two Defence Ministers meet annually, alternately in Russia and India, to discuss and review the status of ongoing projects and other issues of military-technical cooperation.
• There are two Working Groups and seven Sub-Groups under the IRIGC-MTC, which review and discuss an array of military-technical issues.
• In 2008, a high level committee called the High Level Monitoring Committee (HLMC) was set up with Defence Secretary from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of India and Director of Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) from the Russian Federation as its co-chairs.
• Bilateral projects currently underway include indigenous production of T-90 tanks and Su-30-MKI aircraft, supply of MiG-29-K aircraft and Kamov-31 and Mi-17 helicopters, upgrade of MiG-29 aircraft and supply of Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher Smerch.
• Over the years, cooperation in the military-technical sphere has evolved from a purely buyer-seller relationship to joint research, design development and production of state of the art military platforms. Production of the Brahmos cruise missile is an example of this trend.
• The two countries are also engaged in joint design and development of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft and Multi-Role Transport Aircraft.

SCOJTEX-2019

Context:

SCOJtEx 2019 inaugurated by the Home Minister.

Details:

For more on the SCOJtEx 2019, check our PIB dated 2^nd Nov, 2019.

Mission Innovation (MI) Face-to-Face Meeting of Innovation Challenges

Context:

The Union Minister of Science & Technology inaugurated the Mission Innovation (MI) Face to Face meeting of Innovation Challenges (IC).

About the Mission Innovation (MI) Face to Face meeting of Innovation Challenges (IC):

• The objective of the meeting is to take stock of the deliverables by MI and its plans until 2020. Another major objective is to identify major gap areas in Clean Energy Innovation and how to address these beyond 2020 to make MI more impactful.

About the Mission Innovation:

• Mission Innovation was announced on November 30, 2015 due to pioneering efforts by India, France and the USA, as world leaders came together in Paris to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate changes.
• Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 24 countries and the European Union to dramatically accelerate global clean energy innovation.
• As part of the initiative, participating countries have committed to double their governments’ clean energy research and development (R&D) investments over five years, while encouraging greater levels of private sector investment in transformative clean energy technologies.
• Mission Innovation has identified eight Innovation Challenges which are global calls to action aimed at accelerating research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) in technology areas where increased international attention would make a significant impact in shared fight against climate change.
• The Innovation Challenges cover the entire spectrum of RD&D; from early stage research needs assessments to technology demonstration projects. India is also co-leading Smart Grids, Off Grids and Sustainable Biofuels Innovation and is actively participating in all ICs and other activities of MI. These challenges taken up under Analysis and Joint Research and co-led by India and Canada include:
  • Smart Grids
  • Off-Grid Access to Electricity
  • Carbon Capture
  • Sustainable Biofuels
  • Converting Sunlight
  • Clean Energy Materials and
  • Affordable Heating and Cooling of Buildings Innovation Challenge

Skills Build platform

Context:

The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship launched the Skills Build platform in collaboration with IBM.

About the Skills Build platform:

• The Directorate General of Training (DGT), under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched the platform.
• As part of the programme, a two-year advanced diploma in IT, networking and cloud computing, co-created and designed by IBM, will be offered at the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) & National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs).
• The platform will be extended to train ITI & NSTI faculty on building skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
• Skills Build offers digital learning content from IBM and partners such as CodeDoor, Coorpacademy and Skillsoft.
• The digital platform will provide a personal assessment of the cognitive capabilities and personality via MyInnerGenius to the students.
• They will then learn foundational knowledge about digital technologies, as well as professional skills such as resume-writing, problem solving and communication.
• Students will also receive recommendations on role-based education for specific jobs that include technical and professional learning.
• This initiative is part of IBM’s global commitment to create a job-ready workforce and to build the next generation of skills needed for new collar careers.
• The platform is deployed with the support of leading NGOs like Unnati and Edunet Foundation.
• IBM Volunteers along with the NGOS will offer students personalised coaching and experiential learning opportunities.
• IBM joined hands with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) in early 2018 to launch a first-of-its-kind ‘New Collar Curriculum.
• Post the successful completion of the course, in September 2019, 19 students were offered a five-month paid internship at IBM.

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