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Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), inaugurated the 41st edition of the India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, Delhi, on November 14, 2022.
• The theme of the IITF 2022 is “Vocal for Local, Local to Global” and was held from November 14 – 27, 2022.
• The partner states of IITF 2022 are Bihar, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra, whereas the focus states are Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.
• IITF 2022 featured exhibitors from 29 States/Union Territories (UTs), with Leh (Ladakh) participating for the first time this year.
• At the 41st India International Trade Fair in 2022, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) pavilion was awarded for its “Outstanding Contribution Towards Public Communication and Outreach.
Hornbill Festival, the biggest and most important festival in Northeast India, is annually observed
from 1st – 10th December at the Naga Heritage Village of Kisama located at a distance of 12 km
from Kohima, in Nagaland.
2022 marks the 23rd edition of the Hornbill Festival.
Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice President of India, graced the inaugural function of the festival as the
Chief Guest.
It is the main celebration of the Naga Warrior Tribes and
is generally observed for 10 days.
• The festival is observed to encourage inter-tribal collaboration and to promote the cultural heritage of Nagaland.
• It aims to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland and display its extravaganza and traditions.
• In Kisama, 132 stalls were set up, 100 of which were taken by Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and 32 were temporary.
• Along with the daily cultural events, this 10-day festival will feature a variety of other events,
such as the Hornbill Music Festival, Photo Fest, Fashion Shows, Adventure Sports, Night Carnival, Hortiscape, etc.
• Tribes from all around Nagaland come to this highly popularised event dressed in breathtaking and magnificent finery.
Jammu-Kashmir’s Bandipora hosted the 1st-ever Tribal Winter Festival of Kashmir Valley which
was held at Ketson village in the Aloosa area of North Kashmir’s Bandipora district.
District administration Bandipora, in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and Tribal
Affairs, Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), Government
of India (GoI), organised a one-day Tribal Winter Festival.
The festival was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner
of Bandipora, Dr Owais Ahmad.
• Dr Owais Ahmad highlighted the role of various government sponsored, public-oriented schemes in raising the standard of living for people.
• The festival witnessed music, dance, and cultural events that fascinated the people.
• People from the Kashmiri community, Gujjars and Bakerwals danced together to the beats of dhol (drum) in a special demonstration of cultural unity in diversity.
• The 2 tribal communities performed the ‘gatka’, portraying the fighting spirit of the Gujjars amid all geographic, social and political odds.
• School children also performed a skit that highlighted the negative effects of drug abuse.
• The World Bank in its 37th Migration and Development Brief 2022 titled ‘Remittances Brave Global Headwinds, Special Focus: Climate Migration’ stated that India is all set to receive more than USD 100 bn in yearly remittances in 2022.
• This means migrant workers from India will send a record USD 100 bn in 2022 to their home country (India), despite global
headwinds like rising prices.
• This is for the first time a single country will receive more than USD 100 bn in yearly remittances.
• India remains the world’s top recipient of remittances.
• The growth of global remittance flows is expected to be 4.9% in 2022.
• Remittance flows to India will rise 12% which is ahead of China, Mexico and the Philippines.
India and South Korea signed an agreement for an Economic Development Cooperation Fund
(EDCF) loan worth 245.081 billion (approx. Rs. 1,495.68 crores) for the establishment of an
Intelligent Transport System on the Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway Project with
a goal to improve traffic management efficiency.
To enhance the efficiency in traffic management through establishment of the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) including traffic centre, for improving the efficiency in toll management through the establishment of the Toll Collection System (TCS).
• To establish a sustainable model of ITS and its O&M through transfer of technology from the Republic of Korea.
• The bilateral relationship between India and South Korea was upgraded to ‘Special Strategic Partnership’ in 2015, which further consolidates and strengthens the Special Strategic Partnership between India and Republic of Korea.
• In October 2016 Republic of Korea was designated as India’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) partner for development cooperation
Germany launched a proposal to grant 1 billion EURO (8440 crore) for energy transition projects
across India under a bilateral partnership for green and sustainable development.
The announcement was made ahead of German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s visit to India
in December 2022.
Germany will assist India in making its energy supply technically, economically, and
environmentally sustainable in the area of renewable energy.
India and Germany entered into an agreement on the funding
for more than 20 development projects in FY23.
• The fund will support India’s initiatives in the areas of renewable energy, sustainable urban development in smart cities, and sustainable resource use.
• The funding comprises 10% in grants and the remaining 90% will be in the form of lines of credit.
• The lines of credit will be provided by KfW Development Bank with ‘very cheap interest’ ranging from 2.7% to 3.2% for development projects in states including Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya.
• Note – Germany will support India with 10 billion EURO by 2030 under the umbrella of the new Indo-German partnership for green and sustainable development. This financial support will also include the funding of 1 billion EURO for the projects in India.
Tree Tag, a green start-up founded by climate-conscious individuals from Kerala, striving to reduce
carbon emissions through tech-integrated afforestation projects, has won the Climathon 2022, the
hackathon held at Kerala Technology Innovation Zone (KTIZ),
Kochi, Kerala from 26 to 27th November 2022.
• The Tree Tag team won the award under the category of Life On Land, addressing the problem statement such as ‘monitoring and protecting existing forest eco-systems’.
• Tree Tag team including Abhijith Kumar Meenakumari, Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Aashutosh B Sai, Chief Technology Officer(CTO), Mohamed Wazeer Chief Operating Officer(COO) and Anoop Babu Chief Strategy Officer(CSO) received a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.
Director General of Indian Coast Guard(ICG), VS Pathania, commissioned 840 Squadron (840 Sqn (CG), an ICG Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Mk-III squadron, at ICG Air Station, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The commissioning of 840 Sqn (CG) highlights the achievements towards self-reliance in the field of helicopter manufacturing, in line with “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” vision.
This would support strengthening the Coast Guard Region East and boost the abilities of the Indian Coast Guard in the security-sensitive waters off Tamil Nadu and Andhra region.
• Since its induction, the squadron has flown over 430 hours and conducted numerous operational missions.
• ALH Mk-III helicopters are indigenously manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
• ALH Mk-III features state-of-the-art equipment
including advanced RADAR as well as Electro optical sensors, Shakti engines, full glass cockpit, high-intensity searchlight, advanced communication
systems, automatic identification system as well as search-and-rescue homer.
• It can undertake maritime reconnaissance, and carry out search and rescue at extended ranges while operating from ships, both by day and night.
• It can switch roles from an offensive platform with a heavy machine gun to one carrying a Medical
Intensive Care Unit to facilitate the transfer of critically ill patients.
Israeli Navy successfully tested the first-of-its-kind long-range interceptor missile against an
“advanced” cruise missile LRAD,part of the Barak MX defense system. LRAD was launched from a Sa’ar 6-class corvette INS Magen, after detecting a target that resembled an advanced cruise missile and destroyed it. LARD was developed by the Israeli Aerospace Industries and the Defense Ministry’s research and development division, known by the Hebrew acronym MAFAT.
• The BARAK LRAD interceptor is part of the BARAK MX System that is an advanced Air & Missile Defense System.
• The interceptor system includes advanced radar, a weapon system, and a long-range interceptor.
• It deals with a wide range of aerial threats, including fighters, drones, cruise missiles, surface-tosurface missiles and rockets, anti-ship missiles and unarmed aerial vehicles (UAVs).
China launched a spacecraft with a 3-person crew to its under-construction Tiangong space station amid intensifying competition with the United States. It landed about 6 hours after the launch.
• The Shenzhou-15 spaceship carrying the aircraft was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Northwest China.
• The crew will spend six months in orbit and conduct a number of science experiments.
• The team for the six-month mission is led by veteran Fei Junlong and two first-time astronauts Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu.
United Nations(UN)’s World Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) Day is annually observed across the globe on 1st December to create awareness about AIDS and to unite people across the globe to show support the people living with AIDS and affected by HIV(Human Immunodeficiency Virus).
Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister(CM) of Uttar Pradesh(UP) launched the “One District One Sport” (ODOS) to promote indigenous sports in UP. The scheme aims to revive the indigenous sports that are losing their presence in the field. The Department of Sports, Uttar Pradesh is set to prepare the blueprint of the scheme and identify popular sports for each district.
The ODOS scheme is started in line with the One District one product(ODOP) scheme, which
promoted local items of each of the 75 districts of UP.
• India’s 1st permanent ramp for persons with disability was inaugurated at Marina beach, Chennai (Tamil Nadu).
This facility has been developed with funding from Singara
Chennai 2.0 at an estimated cost of Rs 1.14 crore.
• The facility was established by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).
• It was inaugurated by Municipal Administration and Water Supply Minister K N Nehru, Health Minister Ma Subramanian and Hindu Religious (HR) and Charitable Endowments (CE) Department Minister P K Sekar Babu in the presence of Member of Parliament (MP) Dayanidhi Maran and Chepauk Thiruvallikeni Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Udhayanidhi Stalin.