ART AND CULTURE                                                                           

1. Tawang Festival 2019                                                                      

SOCIAL ISSUES                                                                                   

1. EK Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Parv                                                     

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                             

1. AYUSH Minister Inaugurates National Research Institute of Unani Medicine for Skin Disorders                                                                                                                                                                       

2. Fifth India International Science Festival                                            

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS                                                          

1. 16th India - ASEAN Summit in Bangkok                                            

ECONOMY                                                                                          

1. National Waterway -2                                                                     

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY                                                        

1. ISRO’s NavIC set to be commercialised by Antrix                            

SECURITY                                                                                           

1. India-Uzbekistan joint military exercise - Dustlik-2019                       

ART AND CULTURE

Tawang Festival 2019

GS PAPER - 01 ART AND CULTURE - Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times

Context :

• Recently, Tawang Festival was concluded in Arunachal Pradesh.

Tawang Festival :

• Tawang Festival is an annual festival which was started in 2012 and celebrates Arunachal’s rich cultural heritage, including Buddhist religious functions, traditional dances, indigenous sports, films and documentaries, food festivals and more.

• It starts with the religious tradition known as “Sebang” which is the process of monks of Tawang town moving to the festival spot in rallies from the Tawang monastery.

• Major attractions are the Dance of Yak and the Aji-lhamu Dance.

• Arunachal Pradesh also hosts Orange Festival, Ziro musical festival, Bascon organic festival and Mechuka Adventure festival.

                                                                                                                                                             Source :- AIR

SOCIAL ISSUES

EK Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Parv

GS PAPER - 01 ART AND CULTURE - Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Context :

• Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Parv’ culminated.

Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB) initiative:

• It was launched in October 2016

  •  to promote engagement amongst the people of different States/UTs so as to enhance mutual understanding and bonding between people of diverse cultures, thereby securing stronger unity and integrity of India.

Objective :

• To celebrate the Unity in Diversity of our nation and to maintain and strengthen the fabric of traditionally existing emotional bonds between the people of our country

• To promote the spirit of national integration through a deep and structured engagement between all Indian States and Union Territories through a year-long planned engagement between States

• To showcase the rich heritage and culture, customs and traditions of either State for enabling people to understand and appreciate the diversity that is India, thus fostering a sense of common identity

• To establish long-term engagements and

• To create an environment that promotes learning between States by sharing best practices and experiences.

                                                                                                                                                                     Source :- PIB

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

AYUSH Minister Inaugurates National Research Institute of Unani Medicine for Skin Disorders

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues related to Health ; Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• The Union Minister inaugurated the National Research Institute of Unani Medicine for Skin Disorders (NRIUMSD) upgraded from the Central Research Institute of Unani Medicine (CRIUM) at Hyderabad.

National AYUSH Mission :

• Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has launched National AYUSH Mission (NAM) during 12th Plan for im­plementing through States/UTs.

• The basic objective of NAM is to promote AYUSH medical systems through cost effective AYUSH services, strengthening of educational systems, facilitate the enforcement of quality control of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani & Homoeopathy (ASU &H) drugs and sustainable availability of ASU & H raw-materials.

•  It envisages flexibility of implementation of the programmes which will lead to substantial participation of the State Governments/UT.

Vision :

• To provide cost effective and equitable AYUSH health care throughout the country by improving access to the services.

• To revitalize and strengthen the AYUSH systems making them as prominent medical streams in addressing the health care of the society.

• To improve educational institutions capable of imparting quality AYUSH education

• To promote the adoption of Quality standards of AYUSH drugs and making available the sustained supply of AYUSH raw-materials.

                                                                                                                                                                   Source :- PIB

Fifth India International Science Festival

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• The Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Fifth India International Science Festival 2019 at Kolkata

India International Science Festival (IISF) :

• IISF 2019 is an annual event organised jointly by the Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences and Vijnana Bharati (Vibha).

  • The first festival took place in 2015.

• The theme for this year’s festival is ‘RISEN India – Research, Innovation, and Science Empowering the Nation’.

• The festival is probably the biggest platform in the country to bring together students, researchers, innovators, artists, and the general public to celebrate India’s achievements in science and technology.

• IISF is also an attempt to encourage young minds towards the field of science and to promote networking of stakeholders working towards the propagation of science.

• Almost 12000 participants are expected in this event from India and abroad.

• There will be a Students Science Village where more than 2,500 school students from all over the nation have been invited.

  • Under the Pradhan Mantri Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, every Member of Parliament has been asked to nominate five students each along with their teacher from their constituency for the village.

  • In six different houses named after our scientists, these students will be engaged in several science-fun activities and interact with scientists and technocrats.

• There will also be a Young Scientists’ Conference at the IISF 2019.

• There will also be exhibitions and a book fair.

• Another important event which will take place under the ambit of the festival is the Vigyanika Science Literature Festival.

  • It is being coordinated by the CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (CSIR-NISCAIR), Vigyan Prasar and Vigyan Bharati.

• There will also be a Women Scientists & Entrepreneurs Conclave.           

                                                                                                                                                                     Source :- PIB

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

16th India - ASEAN Summit in Bangkok

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the 16th ASEAN-India Summit in Bangkok, Thailand.

• PM Modi will also attend the 14th East Asia Summit and the third summit meeting of RCEP which is negotiating the trade deal.

More in the news:

• During the summit, the discussions were held to promote India-ASEAN strategic partnership along with cooperation in the field of maritime security and blue economy, trade and investment, connectivity, science and technology, and innovation.
   

  • On the socio-cultural front, the focus was made on enhancing people-to-people connectivity, cultural exchanges, humanitarian aid, and tourism.

• The Prime Minister also talked about the mutual coordination between India's vision of the Indo-Pacific region and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Outlook for maintaining strategic balance in the region, which has been witnessing growing Chinese assertiveness.

• At the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit, a trade negotiation deal is yet to be finalized after considering all issues that concern Indian interests in trade in goods, services, and investments.

• The PM addressed the Indian community at the 'Sawasdee PM Modi' event in Bangkok.
   

  • In the Thai language, the word ‘Sawasdee’ is used for greetings and goodbye.

• During the visit, the Indian PM held bilateral meetings with a number of other world leaders present at Bangkok.           

                                                                                                                                         Source :- PIB

ECONOMY

National Waterway -2

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Context :

• The first-ever container cargo movement on Brahmaputra (National Waterway -2) will sail via National Waterway-1 (River Ganga), Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route and National Waterway-2 (River Brahmaputra).

National Waterway - 2 :

• The Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra river (891 Km) declared as National Waterway-2 in 1988 is located in the state of Assam.

  • National Waterway-1 (Prayagraj-Haldia) with length 1620 km is the longest National waterway in India.

                                                                                                                                                                   Source :- PIB

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ISRO’s NavIC set to be commercialised by Antrix

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Achievement of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Context :

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its older commercial arm Antrix Corporation Ltd. are poised to commercialize India’s regional navigation satellite system, NavIC, with Antrix recently floating two separate tenders to identify industries that can develop dedicated NavIC-based hardware and systems.

NavIC :

• NavIC (Navigation in Indian Constellation) is the Indian system of eight satellites three satellites in geostationary orbit and five satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

• The main objective is to provide reliable position, navigation and timing services over India and its neighbourhood.

  • It works just like the established and popular U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) but within a 1,500-km radius over the sub-continent.

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its older commercial arm Antrix Corporation Ltd. are poised to commercialize India’s regional navigation satellite system, NavIC.

• Recently, ISRO has announced that Qualcomm Technologies Inc., a leading producer of semiconductor chips, had developed and tested NavIC-friendly chipsets across its user bases and that it would add NavIC to them.

• It has been certified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a global body for coordinating mobile telephony standards.

 Application :

• With certification by the 3GPP, NaVIC can be integrated into devices like smartphones and tablets.

  • It will gives  boost to India’s mobile telecom industry while also encouraging the use of NavIC throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

• Smartphones and cellular internet-of-things (IoT) devices that use location information will begin to use the NavIC system in contrast to the current usage of the American GPS system. This will bring NavIC technology to the mass market for use in 4G, 5G and Internet of Things (IoT).

• NavIC apps will benefit the common man through applications like terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers and visual and voice navigation for drivers.

• Disaster management;

• Vehicle tracking and fleet management (especially for mining and transportation sector)

                                                                                                                                                         Source :- The Hindu

SECURITY

India-Uzbekistan joint military exercise - Dustlik-2019

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• The first-ever India-Uzbekistan joint military exercise - Dustlik-2019 will begin at Chirchiq Training Area near Tashkent.

Dustlik - 2019 :

• The exercise Dustlik is the first ever military exercise between India and Uzbekistan.

• The exercise will be held at the Chirchiq Training Area in Uzbekistan.

• The aim of the exercise is to focus on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in mountainous, rural and urban scenarios under the United Nations mandate.

• The exercise will improve interoperability and confidence between the two armies and enable the sharing of best practices between the two countries.

                                                                                                                  Source :- AIR

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