Daily Current Affairs and GK | 11 November 2022

Topic: Reports and Indices/Ranking

1. Mother tongue survey of 576 languages and dialects has been completed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

• The government is planning to set up a web archive at the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to preserve the indigenous mother tongue.
• The field videography of 576 mother tongues has been completed under the Mother Tongue Survey of India (MTSI) project.
• Mother Tongue Survey of India is a project that documented salient features of selected languages. It surveyed the mother tongues, which are present for two and more Census decades.
• NIC and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) are documenting and preserving the linguistic data of mother tongues in audio-video files.
• After the sixth Five Year Plan, the Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) has become a regular research activity in India.
• For archive purposes, the videographed speech data of mother tongues is going to be uploaded on the NIC server.
• Note:
  • According to the 2011 linguistic census data, around 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken in India as mother tongues.
  • Hindi is the most spoken mother tongue in India. Hindi is the mother tongue of 52.8 crore people (43.6 percent of the population).
  • Bengali is in the second spot. It is the mother tongue of 9.7 crore individuals.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

2. VP Jagdeep Dhankhar will attend the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and the 17th East Asia Summit in Cambodia.

• Cambodia is hosting these summits as the current Chair of ASEAN.
• This year is being celebrated as the ASEAN-India Friendship Year to mark the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations.
• During the summit, Indian and ASEAN leaders will review the commemorative activities and also exchange views on the future relationship.
• The East Asia Summit has played a key role in the strategic and geopolitical evolution of East Asia.
• India is one of the founding members of the East Asia Summit. Leaders will discuss strategies to strengthen the East Asia Summit mechanism as well as regional and international issues at this year's summit.
• Jagdeep Dhankhar will be on a 3-day visit to Cambodia. It will be his first foreign visit as Vice President.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

3. India hosted the 2^nd meeting of Agriculture Ministers of BIMSTEC.

• On 10 November, the second Agriculture Ministerial-level meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was held in New Delhi.
• Agriculture Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in the meeting chaired by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
• Addressing the meeting, Shri Tomar called upon the member countries to develop a comprehensive strategy to strengthen mutual cooperation for radical change in the agriculture sector.
• He mentioned the importance of millets as a nutritious food and India's efforts to promote millets and their products during the International Year of Millets - 2023.
• He urged the member countries to provide a conducive agricultural food system and a healthy diet for all.
• Shri Tomar emphasized on promotion of natural and ecological farming to conserve agricultural biodiversity and reduce the use of chemicals.

Topic: Important Days

4. National Education Day 2022: November 11

• Every year on 11 November, National Education Day is celebrated in India.
• This day is celebrated every year since 2008 to mark the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
• The birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is celebrated to remember his ideals of nation-building and to celebrate his most important contribution to shaping the education system.
• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the first education minister of independent India who served the country from 1947 to 1958.
• In 1992, India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna, was awarded to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was born on November 11, 1888, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and passed away on February 22, 1958.
• International Day of Education is celebrated every year on 24 January.

Topic: Indian Economy

5. International Trade Settlements in Indian Rupees have been allowed for export promotion schemes.

• On 9 November, the Union Government allowed international trading bodies to transact in Indian Rupees for export promotion schemes under the Foreign Trade Policy.
• They have been allowed for invoicing, payments, and settlement of exports/imports in Indian Rupees.
• The change under Para 2.53 of the Foreign Trade Policy has been implemented to allow the fulfilment of export profits/export obligations for export receipts in Indian Rupees.
• Under the Foreign Trade Policy, the fulfillment of profits/export obligations has been extended to realization in Indian Rupees as per RBI guidelines dated July 11, 2022.
• Foreign Trade Policy was launched in 2015. Government has recently extended the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 time period for second time.

Topic: National News

6. India’s first national repository for life science data has been launched on 10 November.

• India’s first national repository for life science data, the “Indian Biological Data Center (IBDC)” has been launched by Dr. Jitendra Singh at Faridabad, Haryana.
• It has been set up at the Regional Centre of Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad, with a data disaster recovery site at the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Bhubaneswar.
• It has been set up with the support of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
• The Ministry of Science and Technology stated that it has a data storage capacity of around 4 petabytes and has a 'Brahma' high-performance computing (HPC) facility.
• IBDC has started nucleotide data submission services through two data portals.
• Over 200 billion bases have been accumulated from 2,08,055 contributions from more than 50 research institutes across India.
• It has been accumulated by the 'Indian Nucleotide Data Archive (INDA)' and 'Indian Nucleotide Data Archive-Controlled Access (INDA-CA)'.
• Earlier, life science data was collected in 'repositories' in Europe and America.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

7. Writers Madhu Kankariya and Dr Madhav Hada have won the 31st and 32nd Bihari Puraskar, respectively.

• Madhu Kankariya has won the award for her 2018 novel ‘Hum Yahan The’.
• Kankariya has been given the Bihari Puraskar 2021. Her novel, ‘Hum Yahan The’, is based on the struggles of the tribals in Jharkhand.
• Pattakhor, Khule Gagan ke Laal Sitaare, Salaam Aakhri and Bhaari Dupahr ke Andhere are books written by her.
• In the past, she has won the Kathakram Puruskar, Hemchandra Smriti Sahitya Samman, Vijay Verma Katha Samman and Pratham Vidya Sahitya Samman.
• Dr Madhav Hada has been awarded for his 2015 literary criticism book ‘Pachrang Chola Pahar Sakhi Ri’. Hada has been awarded Bihari Puraskar 2022.
• Indravardhan Trivedi, vice-chancellor of Mohan Lal Sukhadia University in Udaipur presented the award to the Rajasthani authors during a program at the university premises.
• Bihari Puraskar:
  • It was instituted by KK Birla Foundation in 1991. It is named after the famous poet Bihari.
  • It carries a cash prize of ₹2.5 lakh, a plaque and a citation.
  • It is given every year for an outstanding work published in the last 10 years by a Rajasthani author in Hindi or Rajasthani.

Topic: National News

8. Government changed Aadhaar regulations.

• It has specified that Aadhaar number holders may update supporting documents at least once on completion of every 10 years from the date of enrolment for Aadhaar.
• This would ensure the continued accuracy of Aadhaar-related information in the Central Identities Data Repository.
• Last month, UIDAI asked people to update identification and residence proof documents, if they were issued the unique ID more than 10 years back but had not updated their details since then.
• 134 crore Aadhaar numbers (12 digit unique identification number) have been issued till date.     
• Over 1,000 State and Central government schemes use Aadhaar for identification and authentication of beneficiaries and transfer of benefits.

Topic: Environment and Ecology

9. Nine countries joined Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA) at the UN COP27 climate summit.

• The Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA) was set up by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Denmark, and the Global Wind Energy Council in September 2022.
• It was established to encourage the development of offshore wind power.
• Nine countries-Britain, Germany, the United States, Belgium, Colombia, Ireland, Norway, Netherlands, and Japan have joined the alliance.
• IRENA and the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that offshore wind capacity needs to be increased from 60 GW to 2000 GW by 2050.
• It aims to increase global offshore wind capacity by 670 per cent — from 57 GW in 2021 to 380 GW in 2030.
• Germany is the third-biggest offshore wind power producer in the world.
• In short timeframes and at a competitive cost, offshore wind can be deployed at a large scale.

Topic: International News

10. India and Belarus have reiterated their commitment to broadening cooperation.

• The 11th session of the India-Belarus Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Cooperation was held in New Delhi.
• India and Belarus will enhance cooperation in different sectors such as pharmaceuticals, financial services, science and technology, heavy industries, culture, tourism, and education.
• Both sides agreed to promote cooperation among various states in India and regions in Belarus.
• The Intergovernmental Commission reviewed the results of bilateral cooperation. The Commission has directed ministries and departments to focus on key sectors in the trade & investment field.
• The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, was on a two-day visit to India.
• India and Belarus are strategic partners since 1991. India was one of the first countries to recognize Belarus as an independent country in 1991.
• India and Belarus have a comprehensive partnership, and the annual bilateral trade between both countries was 569.6 million in 2019.
• Belarus:
  • It is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe.
  • It shares borders with Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland.
  • Minsk is the capital of Belarus, and the Belarusian ruble is the official currency.
  • Aleksandr Lukashenko is the current president.

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

11. 18^th edition of the International telemedicine conference, “Telemedicon 2022” is being organised from 10th November to 12th November 2022.

• The conference is being organised by the Telemedicine Society of India in association with its Kerala chapter.
• The conference is being held at Amrita Hospital in Kochi.
• The theme of the conference is “Strengthening Health Systems Through Sustainable Telemedicine and Digital Health”.
• The sessions will cover topics like space Telemedicine programs, Telehealth tourism, AI-based Telehealth systems, the Internet of Things, etc.
• In 2020, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the telemedicine service “eSanjeevani”.
• National Conference on Telemedicine was held in Lucknow in 2001.
• Participants at the conference resolved to form a scientific society for Telemedicine awareness at the national level.
• As a result of the resolution, Telemedicine Society of India was formed.

Topic: State News/Odisha

12. 10^th November 2022 was observed by the Odisha government as ‘Millet Day’.

• The day is selected as per the Hindu calendar, the 1st Thursday of margasira month.
• The aim of celebrating Millet Day is to promote millets as a highly nutritive and eco-friendly food product.
• Odisha Millet Mission (OMM) was launched by the Odisha government in 2017 to revive the inclusion of millets in the diet.
• In 2017, OMM was launched in 30 blocks spread over 7 districts.
• For 2022-23, it is set to extend to 142 blocks of 19 districts.
• Under Public Distribution System in Odisha, ragi is provided at the rate of Rs. 2 per kg to ration cardholders.
• Millets:
  • Millets are rich in protein, fibre, minerals, iron and calcium. They require less water.
  • Millets were notified as nutri-cereals in April, 2018. Year 2018 was celebrated as the National Year of Millets.
  • Year 2023 is declared as the International Year of Millets.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Important Days

13. World Science Day for Peace and Development 2022: 10 November

• Every year on 10 November, World Science Day for Peace and Development is observed.
• The day is observed to highlight the important role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues.
• The theme of World Science Day for Peace and Development 2022 is "Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development".
• UNESCO and the International Council for Science organized the first World Scientific Conference in Budapest in 1999.       
• The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared this day in 2001, but the day was first celebrated in 2002.
• World Science Day for Peace and Development 2022 is the 21st edition.

Topic: Personality in News

14. Sir David Butler, the father of modern electoral science, passed away at the age of 98.

• He was born on 17 October 1924.
• He was the in-house analyst for the BBC's first ever TV election results program in 1950.
• Butler was known for developing the concept of swing.
• Butler introduced the Swingometer to the BBC’s election night broadcast in 1955.
• It gained a more prominent position in the BBC's 1959 election broadcast and became a major focus of election coverage around the world.
• He also wrote the book "Political Change in Britain: Forces Shaping Electoral Choice" with US political scientist Donald E. Stokes.