Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 18 September 2023 | Download PDF

• The 15th of September was celebrated as an international day of democracy.

Key points:

• • This year’s theme of the day was “Empowering The Next Generation”.
• The theme focuses upon the young people’s essential role in advancing democracy.

Did you know?

• The United Nations has developed a democracy fund which is used to finance those  projects which ensure  a vibrant democracy .

• It is a Central Sector Scheme with a financial outlay of Rs.13,000 crore.
• Time period: Five years (FY 2023-24 to FY 2027-28).
• Aim: To strengthen and nurture the Guru-Shishya parampara or family-based practice of traditional skills by artisans and craftspeople working with their hands and tools.
• The scheme also aims at improving the quality, as well as the reach of products and services of artisans and craftspeople and to ensure that the Vishwakarmas are integrated with the domestic and global value chains.
• Under this scheme, the artisans and craftspeople will be provided recognition through PM Vishwakarma certificate and ID card, Credit Support upto Rs.1 lakh (First Tranche) and Rs.2 lakh (Second Tranche) with a concessional interest rate of 5%.
• The Scheme will further provide Skill Upgradation, Toolkit Incentive, Incentive for Digital Transactions and Marketing Support.
• Under the scheme, there will be two types of skilling programmes — Basic and Advanced and a stipend of Rs 500 per day will also be provided to beneficiaries while undergoing skills training.

• The cheetah is the fastest land animal, which has the fastest running speed record of 93 and 98 km/h (58 and 61 mph).
• It is considered to be a big cat and belongs to the Felidae family.
• They have a small rounded head, a lightly built body, and a roundly spotted coat.
• They have long thin limbs and long tails.

Project Cheetah

• The introduction of cheetahs in India is being done under Project Cheetah, which is the world’s first intercontinental large wild carnivore translocation project.

• • Santiniketan, the famed place in West Bengal where poet Rabindranath Tagore built Visva-Bharati over a century ago, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Key points

• Established in 1901 by poet and philosopher Tagore, Santiniketan was a residential school and centre for art based on ancient Indian traditions and a vision of the unity of humanity transcending religious and cultural boundaries.
• A ‘world university’ was established at Santiniketan in 1921, recognising the unity of humanity or “Visva Bharati”.
• Distinct from the prevailing British colonial architectural orientations of the early 20th century and of European modernism, Santiniketan represents approaches toward a pan-Asian modernity, drawing on ancient, medieval and folk traditions from across the region.

• Leaders of the former French colonies Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger inked a charter to form a military alliance of Sahel states in defiance to the Western nations after overthrowing the ruling governments and forging closer cooperation amongst the Junta rulers.

Key points

• African states have decided to militarily assist each other, individually or collectively to depose external aggression or internal threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their nations.
• The document signed by the three nations read that an “attack on the sovereignty or territorial integrity of one or more parties to the charter will be regarded as aggression against the other parties and will require their assistance, including the use of military force.”
• The charter also stated that the signatories would effectively fight terrorism and any organised terror activity in the Sahel states.

• A plan to issue permanent disability certificates to those above the age of five with sickle-cell disease has been stuck in a quagmire at three Union Ministries for nearly three years.
•  In a report tabled during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, a Standing Committee of Parliament urged the government to take a quick decision.

Key points

• The Health Ministry is responsible for determining the criteria and rules for disability certificates, while the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry issues the certificates, which are required for getting reservation and benefits of schemes.
• Given that sickle cell disease, a debilitating genetic blood disorder, is especially prevalent among tribal populations across India, the Tribal Affairs Ministry is keen on ensuring that the certificates are issued to patients with chronic anaemia, pain, and complications arising out of tissue and organ damage.

• India joins an exclusive club of 12 nations, today. India is now authorized to issue the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) – an international standard-setting body– approval certificates.

Key points

• India now can support its domestic manufacturers of weighing and measuring products like weighing devices, taxi meters, speedometers, agricultural measuring devices such as cereal moisture meters, health-related devices such as exhaust measurements and alcohol content of drinks, etc., to export to the international market.

The International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML)

• It  is an intergovernmental organisation that was created in 1955 to promote the global harmonisation of the legal metrology (science of measurement) procedures that underpin and facilitate international trade.
• It has 63 Member States and 64 Corresponding Members. India became a member in 1956.
• India is now an exclusive group of nations, including Australia, Switzerland, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, France, United Kingdom, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, and Slovakia, as the 13th country worldwide, authorized to issue OIML approval certificates.

Odisha state government launched a Rs 100 crore Startup Odisha Growth Fund (OSGF) with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) as the fund manager. 

Key points:

• SIDBI will serve as the fund manager for the growth fund and responsible for shaping its investment strategy and managing its portfolio.
•  The OSGF (fund of funds) is dedicated to investing Rs 100 crore over five years through alternative investment funds (AIF) in Odisha-based startups. 
• The collaboration is set to play a crucial role in bolstering the MSME sector, which contributes 33 per cent to India’s GDP and generates over 120 million jobs.

• The Odisha state Cabinet has decided to launch the ₹3,178 crore project on Gandhi Jayanti with 1,000 buses.

Key points

• The Odisha government would launch a bus service that would connect each of the 6,794 gram panchayats in the state to their block and district headquarters towns and state Capital Bhubaneswar.
• The project, named Location Accessible Multimodal Initiative(LAccMI), would see 1,000 Odisha State Road Transport Corporation buses running from gram panchayats to blocks, blocks to district headquarters and district headquarters to state capital. 
• The buses connecting district headquarters to state capital would be named Jagannath Express while those connecting district headquarter towns to panchayats would be called LAccMI Express.

Eminent author and daughter of legendary leader Biju Patnaik Gita Mehta passed away in Delhi 

Key points

• Gita had her education in India and University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. 
• She had penned several books including Karma Cola, Snakes and Ladders, A River Sutra, Raj and The Eternal Ganesha.

The Odisha government signed an MoU with Gopalpur Port for further development and expansion of the facility in Ganjam district

Key points

• The MoU was signed by Director Ports and Inland Waterway Transport, Commerce and Transport department, Padmalochan Rou and CEO, Gopalpur Port Private Limited in the presence of Commerce and Transport minister Tukuni Sahu
• The Gopalpur Port was operated by the Odisha government as a seasonal lighterage Port from 1986-87. 
• The Port was awarded to Gopalpur Ports Private Limited for transforming it into an all-weather direct berthing port in PPP mode. 

• In 2009, during the eighth World Bamboo Congress held in Bangkok, the World Bamboo Organisation (WBO) officially designated September 18 as World Bamboo Day. 

• Dhokra is a form of ancient bell metal craft practiced by the Ojha metalsmiths living in states like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Odisha, WB & Telangana
• The dhokra artifacts are made in brass & are unique in that the pieces do not have any joints

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