On December 9, 2021, a global World Economic Forum (WEF) survey highlighted that, around 90 per cent people in India believe they & their colleagues at workplaces should be fully vaccinated while 93 per cent Indians agreed that they should wear mask at public places or in proximity with others, in order to be safe from covid-19.
WEF survey also notes that, there are wide differences in Covid and workplace-related behaviour and attitudes across the globe.
Support for mask-wearing mandates, testing and vaccination is highest in Eastern Asia, Southern Asia, Latin America and Saudi Arabia. While lowest in Central Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, and United States.
Out of all the surveyed countries, the majority of workers are still comfortable going to work in case no protective mandates were in place across seven states namely, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and the US. In China, only 12 per cent of workers would be comfortable in this scenario while 18 per cent would quit their job or work remotely instead.
The NITI Aayog has planned to establish 1000 Atal Tinkering Laboratories in Jammu and Kashmir.
ATL is a sub-mission under Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of Central Government in India. It is the flagship initiative of AIM, that seeks to nurture an innovative mindset amongst high school students across India. It is an important government scheme administered under NITI Aayog. The initiative also seeks to boost cognitive development among children where they are provided avenues to widen their understanding on scientific ideas.
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the flagship program of central government to foster a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. AIM under NITI Aayog is anticipated as an umbrella innovation organisation that play an instrumental role in aligning innovation policies between central, state and sectoral ministries. Important components of the AIM are:
Chennai is all set to adopt innovative water management strategies and transform into a sponge city to curb the urban flooding.
Sponge city is a new urban construction model for flood management, and to strengthen ecological infrastructure & drainage systems. This concept was proposed by Chinese researchers in 2000. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and State Council accepted this concept as “urbanism policy” in 2014. This system helps in alleviating urban flooding, urban heat island effect and water resources shortage. It also improves the ecological environment and biodiversity by absorbing & capturing rain water and using it to reduce floods. Sponge city policies are nature-based solutions, which use natural landscapes for catching, storing and cleaning water. This concept was inspired by ancient wisdom of adaptation to climate challenges, specifically in monsoon world.
The main idea of the sponge city is to make cities more permeable in order to hold and use water which falls upon it. These can all be delivered effectively by an urban mission along the lines of National Heritage City Development & Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT), and Smart Cities Mission.
In India, there is a need of Sponge cities because,
The Rajya Sabha passed the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2021, on December 9, 2021.
In Lok Sabha, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced on March 15, 2021. The bill seeks to amend National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Act, 1998. This act established the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research in Punjab and declared it an Institution of National Importance.
On December 9, 2021, Madhya Pradesh government issued notification to implement the police Commissionerate system in Bhopal and Indore.
The Police Commissionerate System essentially divide a district in two parts from policing point of view. Under this system, part of the city that forms large urbanised settlement are made a geographical area where responsibilities of District Superintendent of Police get transferred to Commissioner of Police. Apart from that, powers of the Sub-divisional Magistrates (SDM), District Magistrate (DM), and Executive Magistrates of crime, law & order also get transferred to the Police Commissioner.
On December 9, 2021, Google India announced the results for its Year in Search 2021 and has recapped the top search trends of 2021 in India.
After the commencement of world’s largest vaccination drive, searches for COWIN and Covid Vaccine were trending massively as people sought information on the vaccination’s options and their availability.
‘Near me’ searches in the year 2021 revolved largely across services related to Covid-19 pandemic. People largely searched for covid tests, vaccines, Covid hospitals, CT scans, and searches for oxygen cylinders during second wave of the pandemic.
It is an American multinational technology company, which provide Internet-related services & products, including online advertising technologies, cloud computing, a search engine, software, and hardware. It is one among the Big Five companies in American information technology industry, along with Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Meta (Facebook).
On December 9, 2021, Ministry of Labour and Employment told the Rajya Sabha that; a Global Pension Index that placed pension system of India towards bottom of the list was not prepared on the basis of reliable comparable international data.
NPS Trust is a specialised division of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority in India. It works under the parent head of Ministry of Finance. National Pension System (NPS) is a voluntary defined contribution pension system. It is an EEE (Exempt-Exempt-Exempt) instrument, in which entire corpus escapes tax at maturity. Under this system, entire pension withdrawal amount is tax-free. All the citizens of India including workers of unorganized sector can avail the benefits of NPS system on a voluntary basis. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also allowed the Non-Resident Indians (NRI) to subscribe to NPS on October 29, 2015. NPS is administered and regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
PFRDA is the regulatory body, working under the parent head of Ministry of Finance. It supervises and regulate pension in India. It comprises of a chairperson and not more than six members. Out of 6 members, at least three shall be whole-time members and to be appointed by Central Government.
Chile has passed a law permitting same-sex couples to marry on December 9, 2021.
In the year 1999, Chile had depenalized sex between consenting adults of the same sex. It had also outlawed arbitrary discrimination in the year 2012. In the year 2015, President Michelle Bachelet signed a law allowing gay civil unions. He also introduced the bill to allow same-sex marriages in 2017, which was passed on December 7, 2021, in both houses of Congress. In recent years, similar laws have been adopted across many Latin American nations.
In February 2021, Central Government had opposed same-sex marriage in Delhi High Court, noting that marriage in India can be recognised only if it is happening between biological man and biological woman, capable of producing children. Government had responded to petitions of 2020 seeking recognition of same sex marriages under Special Marriage Act, 1954 and Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
Supreme Court had only decriminalised a particular human behaviour, while reading down the provision of Section 377 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). It did not legitimise the human conduct in question.
In this case, the supreme court had held that, LGBTQ Community is Entitled to all Constitutional Rights. Court maintained that; they are entitled to full range of constitutional rights including liberties protected by the Constitution. They are also entitled to equal citizenship and equal protection of law.
56th and 57th Jnanpith Awards were announced recently, for the year 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Assamese Poet Nilmani Phookan received the highest literary honour ‘Jnanpith Award’, honouring his lifelong devotion to literature.
Assam has received Jnanpith Award for the third time. Before Nilmani Phookan, Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya won the award in 1979 while Mamoni Raisom Goswami won it in 2000.
Damodar Mauzo is a 77 years old Konkani writer. He has been awarded the 57th Jnanpith Award. He is known for his novels like Tsunami Simon and Karmelin as well as for short stories like Other Stories from Goa and Teresa’s Man.
Jnanpith Award is the oldest and highest literary award. Award is honoured annually by Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their contribution to literature. The award was established in 1961. It is bestowed only on the Indian writers who are write in the Indian languages mentioned in the 8th schedule of Indian Constitution, besides English.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the Rs 9,802 crore Saryu Canal National project in Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh on December 11.
Under this project, five rivers namely Ghagra, Rapti, Banganga, Saryu and Rohini, have been connected.
The canals are having a total length of 6,600 kilometres and have been linked to the 318 km long main canal.
The Saryu River originates at a ridge south of Nanda Kot Mountain in Bageshwar district of the Uttarakhand. It flows through Kapkot, Seraghant and Bageshwar, towns and finally discharging into the Sharda River at Pancheshwar, which is located at India—Nepal border. It then flows into Ghaghara River in Sitapur District of Uttar Pradesh. Lower Ghaghara is also known as Saryu River, especially when it flows through the city of Ayodhya. The river has been mentioned multiple times in the ancient Indian epic called Ramayana.
Parliament of Germany has elected Olaf Scholz as the ninth post-World War II chancellor, on December 8, 2021.
The Chancellor of Germany is officially called as the federal chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany. He is the head of federal government of Germany. He also acts as the commander in chief of German Armed Forces during wartime. He is the chief executive of Federal Cabinet and heads its executive branch.
The chancellor is elected by Bundestag, following the proposal of federal president and without debate in accordance with the Article 63 of German Constitution.
History of office of Chancellor dates back to the Holy Roman Empire, when the office of German archchancellor was held by archbishops of Mainz. The title was used in several states of German-speaking Europe. The modern office of chancellor was set up in 1867. With the enlargement of the federal state to German Empire, the title was renamed to Reichskanzler in 1871. In 1949, the title of Bundeskanzler was revived.
Olaf Scholz is a German politician, who is serving as Chancellor of Germany since December 8, 2021. He is the member of Social Democratic Party (SPD). He earlier served as the vice chancellor to Angela Merkel, as well as the finance minister from 2018 to 2021. He also held the office of First Mayor of Hamburg in between 2011 to 2018.