The state of Punjab is set to start the Census of one of the world’s most threatened cetaceans, Indus River dolphin.
In the IUCN red list, Indus River dolphin is classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Until recently, dolphins were believed to be endemic to Pakistan. However, a remnant but viable population of Indus dolphins was discovered in Harike wildlife sanctuary of Punjab as well as in lower Beas River in 2007. Since its discovery, Punjab’s Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation is conducting research in association with the WWF-India on the habitat use, current distribution and population of dolphins.
In 2019, Indus River dolphin was declared as the State aquatic animal of Punjab.
Under the initiative by Punjab, extension programmes will be organised by a group of dedicated individuals called ‘Beas-Dolphin Mitras’ [friends and protectors] of river Beas. The project will also embark on dolphin eco-tourism.
On October 28, 2021, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) delivered the first ship of “Project 15B Class Destroyer Visakhapatnam” to the Indian Navy.
This ship is more versatile as compared to previous destroyers and frigates in the Naval inventory. It has all-round capability against enemy submarines, anti-ship missiles, surface warships and fighter aircraft which in turn will enable it to operate without a bevy of supporting vessels. It can accommodate a crew of 312 persons.
MDL is a shipyard located in Mazagaon, Mumbai. It manufactures warships and submarines for Indian Navy. It is involved in manufacturing of offshore platforms & associated support vessels for the purpose of offshore oil drilling. It also constructs tankers, passenger ships & ferries and cargo bulk carriers.
Government of Odisha announced full exemption of motor vehicles taxes and registration fees on electric vehicles (EVs) in the state.
State Transport Ministry has proposed to extend 15% subsidy on two-wheelers, three-wheelers as well as four-wheelers. Maximum amount on respective vehicles should not exceed Rs 5,000 Rs 12,000 and Rs 100,000. Ministry also proposed to provide interest-free loan on the electric vehicles to state government employees. It also proposes to provide incentives to government departments & PSUs for hiring such vehicles. Other proposals include subsidized parking fees Electric vehicles in municipal areas and battery charging facility across parking places.
Transport department had submitted a proposal to the government to allow subsidy on e-vehicles in order to attract customers. Government has now approved the proposal. However, these subsidies will not be provided as per the battery capacity, like other states including Delhi and Gujarat are providing.
states like Delhi, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have implemented the “e-vehicle policy”, apart from FAME II scheme.
India officially endorsed a website made by Indian climate experts, listing the historical carbon dioxide emissions of developed countries.
India is the third largest emitter of carbon emissions on yearly basis. However, it is the sixth largest with respect to its historical emissions. When the size of its population is considered, it is among the lowest per capita emitters. This highlights India’s demands for climate justice as focus of the negotiations and its reluctance to agree for a fixed time frame in a bid to reach net zero. India is the only important emitter that has not committed to a net zero target.
Website seeks to debunk the narrative provided by several developed countries, and global non-government organisations which focus on what developing countries must do.
The website is called as “Climate Equity Monitor”. This scientific initiative focusses on equity and climate action from a data & evidence-based perspective, which in turn will encourage discussions on crucial issues. On the website, performance & policies of Non-Annex-I Parties (developing countries) will be also provided to compare.
Union Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, launched the Dairy Sahakar Scheme on October 31, 2021. Scheme was launched at Anand, Gujarat with the objective of doubling farmer’s income and making a Atmanirbhar Bharat.
The scheme was launched with a total investment budget of Rs 5000 crore. It will be implemented by NCDC under Ministry of Cooperation to realize the vision, “from cooperation to prosperity”. NCDC will extend the financial support to eligible cooperatives for activities like milk procurement, bovine development, quality assurance, branding, packaging, transportation, storage of milk & milk products, and to export dairy products.
Scheme was launched during a function organized by Amul for celebrating 75th Foundation Year of Amul.
Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative society, based at Anand in Gujarat. It was established in 1946. It is managed Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF). GCMMF is owned by around 3.6 million milk producers in Gujarat and apex body of 13 District Milk Unions. It is spread across 13,000 villages in the state. Amul played a significant role in India’s White Revolution and made it the world’s largest producer of milk and milk products.
Kaira Union introduced the brand “Amul” to market its product range. Word Amul is derived from Sanskrit word Amulya, meaning priceless or precious. It was founded with the efforts of Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel. He became the chairman of the organisation under the guidance of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and led it until his retirement in the 70s.
Ministry of Culture has launched three nationwide competitions for Deshbhakti Geet writing, Lori writing and Rangoli Making on the occasion of National Unity Day.
This initiative was launched with the aim of encouraging participation to ensure substantive ‘Jan bhagidaari’.
It is an initiative by the Government of India, launched to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India. It is also celebrating the glorious history people, culture and achievements of India. This celebration is dedicated to the people of India, who are instrumental in bringing India this far in its journey. People of India also represents the social, political, cultural, and economic identity of India. Mahotsav also celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India.
Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Unity Day is celebrated on October 31, every year.
Rashtriya Ekta Diwas is observed to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Patel, acknowledging his efforts to unite the country. Sardar Patel had played a crucial role in the freedom movement of India as well as in its integration.
The National Unity Day will be marked as a reminder of strength of India. It will also highlight the resilience of India towards dangers posed against the security, unity and integrity of India.
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel is endeared as Sardar. He was an Indian statesman, who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister of India during 1947-1950. He was an Indian barrister and served as a senior leader of the Indian National Congress (INC). he played a leading role in the struggle for independence of India. He guided on the integration of India into a united, independent nation. He also served as Home Minister during political integration of India and during Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.
In the year 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had administered the National Unity Day pledge at the Statue of Unity, Gujarat.
Statue of Unity is a colossal statue of independence activist Vallabhbhai Patel. It is the world’s tallest statue. It has the height of 182 metres. The statue is located on Narmada River in Kavadiya colony in the state of Gujarat. It is facing Sardar Sarovar Dam. It is located at 100 kilometres southeast of Vadodara city and 150 kilometres from Surat.
In India, seven states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab & Madhya Pradesh and two union territories Lakshadweep & Puducherry are celebrating Foundation Day on November 1, 2021.
The state of Kerala was formed on November 1, 1956. Before its formation, it was divided into three independent provinces that is, Malabar, Travancore and Cochin. Name of the state was derived from the first ruler Keralian Thamboran.
On November 1, 2000, Chattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh. It is the 10th largest state of India. Separate state was made for easy administration and to reduce naxalism in this region.
Haryana was carved out from Punjab on November 1, 1966. This decision turned out to be boon for country as the state led the Green Revolution movement with respect to crop output.
Formation of Punjabi-majority Punjab State, Haryanvi-Hindi majority Haryana state and Union Territory of Chandigarh was the result of movement led by the Akali Dal. Formation of Punjab dates back to Punjabi Suba movement in the 1950s.
Madhya Pradesh was formed on November 1, 1956. It is the second largest state in India with respect to area.
Andhra Pradesh was created on November 1, 1956.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released a creative video titled “Don’t Choose Extinction” on Climate Change.
The creative video was released by the UNDP, as the centrepiece of the ‘Don’t Choose Extinction’ campaign. In the video, a dinosaur named Frankie makes a majestic entry, takes dais and cuts to the point. It underlines a key message that government backed fossil fuel subsidies needs to be cut for reducing greenhouse emissions and save the Earth. Frankie sarcastically remarks, “Imagine if we had spent some billions per year for subsidising giant meteorites. That’s what humans are doing right now.” Video was released in the aftermath of COP26, 2021.
COP 26, 2021 is being organised from October 31 to November 12 in United Kingdom. Doing away with fossil fuels for favouring renewable energy and to drastically cut emissions are the key topics of COP 26.
As per UNDP research, world spends around $423 billion annually to subsidize fossil fuels. This much amount can be diverted to cover a COVID-19 vaccination for every person across the world and is equal to three times the annual amount required to eradicate global extreme poverty.
On October 31, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Spanish Counterpart Pedro Sanchez following the G20 summit in Rome.
India raised concerns over situation in Afghanistan in the aftermath of Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021. India has underlined that, Afghanistan’s territory should not to be used to threaten or attack any country, to plan or finance terrorist attacks or to shelter or train terrorists.
India signed the contract for procurement of 56 C295 aircraft from Airbus Spain. Out of 56, 40 of which will be ‘Made in India’ in association with Tata Advanced Systems.
Two-day G-20 Summit was concluded on October 31, 2021. During the summit, Rome Declaration was adopted.
The Rome Declaration consists of 16 mutually agreed principles, which aims to guide joint action for preventing future health crises and to build a safer, equitable and sustainable world. 16 principles are as follows:
During the 15th India-Israel Working Group Meeting on October 29, 2021 in Tel Aviv, India and Israel decided to set up a new Task Force to boost the Defence Cooperation. They also decided to form a sub-working group.
India & Israel Joint Working Group (JWG) on Bilateral Defence Cooperation agreed to form a Task Force for formulating a comprehensive Ten-Year Roadmap in order to identify new areas of cooperation.
Joint Working Group is an apex body between “Ministry of Defence” of both the countries. It comprehensively review & guide all the aspects of Bilateral Defence Cooperation.
Countries also decided to establish a SWG on Defence Industry Cooperation. For this purpose, they signed a Terms of Reference. Creation of SWG will provide for efficient utilisation of bilateral resources, sharing of industrial capabilities and effective flow of technologies.
Bilateral relation between India and Israel are driven by their respective national interests like India’s goals of military modernisation, and Israel’s advantage in commercialising its arms industries. Defence cooperation between both the countries has expanded to include sectors like counter-terrorism, space and cyber security & intelligence sharing. In 2017, India was the largest arms customer of Israel, with the sale of about 715 million USD.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has appealed from exemption from Personal Data Protection (PDP) Law, to avoid the duplicity of laws.
UIDAI is a statutory authority established under Aadhaar Act, 2016, by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY). It was established to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID) called as “Aadhaar”, to the residents of India.
The bill was passed to provide protection to personal data of individuals. It seeks to create framework for processing personal data, by establishing a Data Protection Authority. It governs processing of personal data by government, companies incorporated in India, as well as foreign companies that deals with personal data of individuals in India. It categorises personal data like financial data, caste, religious & political beliefs, biometric data etc as sensitive personal data.
This act is also called as Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016. It provides legal backing to the Aadhaar unique identification number project. Lok Sabha had passed it on March 11, 2016.