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• On December 5, 2022 i.e. on the occasion of World Soil Day (WSD), and on the lines of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the National Conclave on Soil Health Management for Sustainable Farming 2022 was inaugurated at New Delhi, Delhi by the Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) as its Chief Guest.
• It was organized by the NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog in collaboration with GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation) affiliated to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany.
• During the conclave, a National Mission on Natural Farming as a separate scheme with an expenditure of Rs. 1,584 crores was approved by the Government.
A comprehensive migration and mobility partnership was signed between India and Germany for easier access to study, research and work between both countries. Signatories: It was signed by India’s Union Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA); and Federal Foreign Affairs Minister of Germany, Annalena Baerbock.
• It will facilitate two-way movement of students, professionals and researchers, and also address the challenges of illegal migration.
• It will aid in expanding the internationalization of higher education systems by interlinking innovation and research areas of both countries, and also strengthen the structures for Vocational Education and Training.
• Indian students can now get increased opportunity to participate in research programs in Germany which is known for its higher education system, research and development efforts especially in the field of Science and Technology.
• Indian students can now get joint degrees and dual degrees through collaboration between Indian and German universities at university level.
• It also ensures joint efforts in tackling future pandemics by reforming and strengthening the World Health Organization (WHO) as directing and coordinating authority on international health work.
• The pact will also facilitate German business owners to travel to India and invest here.
SHE STEM 2022, the annual event organised as a part of the Sweden India Nobel Memorial Week to celebrate the women in the field of Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), was held in New Delhi, Delhi on 5th December 2022.
This marks the 3rd edition of the SHE STEM event, a flagship event of the Sweden-India Nobel Memorial Week. SHE STEM is The event was organised by the Embassy of Sweden in
India in partnership with the Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, the Government of India and the German Centre of Innovation and Research (DWIH New Delhi).
• The winners of the #SHESTEM2022 Video Challenge were announced and honoured during the event.
• SHE STEM 2022 hosted the #SHESTEM2022 Video Challenge, following the success of the Insta-reels Video Challenge in 2021.
• The challenges were hosted across Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Google Drive for students of ages 13 to 17.
• This encouraged the students to imagine themself in 2047 and speak about their innovative solutions to tackle climate change.
• Jury Team of the 2022 Challenge were,
• Atal Innovation Mission Team led by Dr Chintan Vaishnav
• Swedish Embassy team led by Dr Per-Arne Wikström
• German Centre for Research and Innovation led by Dr Katja Lasch.
• The videos were accessed based on the Novelty of the idea; Clarity of thought and articulation; and Sustainability or climate action angle.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s new analysis titled “Preventing injuries and violence: An overview”, Road traffic injuries are the 2nd leading cause of death among children aged 5 to 14 years. The analysis states that Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among youth aged 15 to 29 years old. Around 271,990 youths have lost their lives due to road traffic injuries. The report was released on 28th November 2022 during the 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, held in Adelaide, Australia.
• In 2019, an estimated 4.4 million people(~8% of all deaths) globally lost their lives due to injuries from unintentional causes and violence.
• Among these, unintentional injuries were the reason for the death of 3.16 million people and violence-related injuries caused the death of 1.25 million people.
• 1 in 3 of this death was due to road traffic crashes; 1 in 6 was due to suicide and 1 in 9 from homicide and 1 in 61 from war and conflict.
• 3 of the top 5 causes of death in people aged 5 to 29 years are injuryrelated, road traffic injuries, homicide and suicide.
• According to the report, drowning is the 6th leading cause of death.
Fintech platform Razorpay announced a first-of-its-kind move, in partnership with Axis Bank, to enable merchants to accept credit card transactions via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with minimal changes to the existing setup. This facility has been enabled for the customers of HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Union Bank and Indian Bank.
At present, UPI enables customers to make transactions through their bank accounts.
• This offering is in line with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s innovation in digital space. In October 2022, the NPCI allowed the linking of RuPay credit cards with the BHIM UPI app.
• Around 250 million Indians use UPI for their day-to-day transactions, and nearly 50 million users have one or more credit cards.
Bharti Airtel (Airtel) announced a collaboration with Meta Platforms, Inc, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, to support the growth of India’s digital ecosystem.
Airtel and Meta will invest collaboratively in global connectivity infrastructure and new-age digital solutions based on Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) to support the evolving requirements of users and enterprises in India. Subsea cable infrastructure is required to digitally connect the world since data flows between countries over the internet are not possible without it.
• As India prepares to bring out 5G networks later this year
(2022), foundational connectivity infrastructure such as subsea cable systems is crucial for supporting increased demand for high-speed data and digital services.
• Airtel will partner with Meta and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) to extend 2Africa Pearls, a subsea cable system, to India.
• Airtel and Meta will extend the cable to Airtel’s landing station in Mumbai, Maharashtra, and acquire the dedicated capacity to expand its submarine network portfolio.
Veena Nair, an Indian-origin teacher in Melbourne, Australia, has received the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science 2022 under the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools category.
• Veena Nair, a leading educator in STEAM began her teaching career in Mumbai, Maharashtra (India), where she provided computers to low socio-economic schools and taught students how to code.
• She has more than 20 years of experience teaching science-based subjects across three different countries: India, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia.
• In 2018, she won the Educator of the Year Award from the Design and Technology Teachers’ Association of Australia.
• She has helped increase the number of students studying STEAM subjects at Viewbank College, notably the number of female students.
• She has led the development of curricular and extracurricular STEAM projects, including several new electives (3D printing, emerging technologies, engineering, etc.).
The Oxford English Dictionary has chosen ‘Goblin mode’ as the word of the year 2022 by an online vote. Goblin Mode received 93% of the votes against contenders “metaverse” (2nd) and “#IStandWith”(3rd).
• ‘Goblin mode’ is a slang term, that refers to the type of behaviourwhich is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy,
typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.
• It is often used in the expressions ‘in goblin mode’ or ‘to go goblin mode’.
• The term was 1st seen on Twitter in 2009 and gained popularity in 2022 as people across the globe emerged uncertainly from pandemic lockdowns
Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP), a Pune (Maharashtra) based Non-Government Organisation (NGO) won the Local Adaptation Champions Award under the “capacity and knowledge” category for its work in supporting women farmers to adopt more resilient and sustainable agricultural practices in Marathwada in Maharashtra. The award was announced by the Global Centre on Adaptation(GCA), at the Conference of Parties (COP) 27 climate summit held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The award constitutes a cash award of EURO 15,000, a certificate
and a memento.
• The award to SSP offers recognition to the women farmers and helps to get more adopters of the women-led climate resilient farming model (or one-acre model).
• SSP has trained more than 3 lakh rural women across India to
adapt climate change with this model which is being implemented in 8 districts in Maharashtra (Osmanabad, Solapur, Latur, Landed, Washim, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar and Jalna).
• SSP has worked mostly with the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, Tamil Nadu tsunami in 2004, floods in Bihar in 2007 and Kerala in 2018 and is working extensively in three states of India including Kerala, Bihar and Maharashtra.
• Three Chinese astronauts landed back on earth on board the re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft after completing a six-month mission on China’s space station.
• The three astronauts were commander Chen Dong and teammates Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe.
• They left for space on June 5, 2022 to supervise the Tiangong space station’s final phase of construction, which was finished in November 2022. The construction of China’s Space Station was initiated in April 2021.
Odisha Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik launched the Trophy tour of the FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey) Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, and handed over the trophy to Dilip Tirkey, President of Hockey India
• The trophy will travel to 13 States and 1 Union Territory (UT) before returning to Odisha on December 25.
• The FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 will be held at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from 13th -29th January 2023.