INTERNATIONAL

· Saudi Arabia elected to UNESCOs World Heritage Committee

Saudi Arabiawas elected to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee for the first time on 27 November 2019. The Kingdom was elected to the UN heritage body’s executive board for the term 2019-2023.
The approval confirms Saudi Arabia’s international status and its role in building peace and contributing effectively to the establishment of the principles of culture and science.

The World Heritage Committee meets once every year. The committee consists of representatives from21 member states to the convention elected by the United Nations General Assembly. The committee decides and approves of whether a property can be added to the World Heritage List.

NATIONAL

· Particles’ wins the Golden Peacock Award at IFFI 2019

Particles’ directed by Blaise Harrison and produced by Estelle Fialon has won the coveted Golden Peacock Award at the 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which concluded in Goa on November 28, 2019.

The Golden Peacock Award carries a cash prize of Rs 40 lakhs to be shared equally between the Director and the Producer, Trophy and the citation.

Seu Jorge gets Best Actor (Male) Award

Usha Jadhav gets Best Actor (Female) Award

Lok Sabha passed The Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Amit Shah, on November 25, 2019. The Bill amends the Special Protections Group Act, 1988.

The Act provides for the constitution and regulation of the Special Protection Group (SPG) to provide security to the Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers, and their immediate family members.

Under the Act, the SPG provides security to the Prime Minister and his immediate family members.

It also provides security to former Prime Ministers and their immediate family members for a period of one year from the date on which they cease to hold the office.

Beyond this period, the SPG security is provided based on the level of threat as decided by the central government.

Lokpal Logo & Motto launched

The Chairman of Lokpal, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose launched the logo of Lokpal, at an event held in New Delhi.

The motto of Lokpal “मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम्” (Do not be greedy for anyone’s wealth) was also adopted.

The Logo design of Prashant Mishra, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh was selected for adoption as Logo of Lokpal.

The logo of Lokpal is based upon literal meaning of LOKPAL which means: LOK- meaning people and PAL- meaning caretaker, i.e. ‘caretaker of people’. The logo is in tricolor representing the national essence of LOKPAL and symbolizes how Lokpal protects and cares for people of India by establishing justice as per law.

HRD Ministry launches Kartavya Portal

Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ launched the kartavya.ugc.ac.in portal for holding monthly essay competitions for students.

The portal was launched as part of yearlong ‘Nagrik Kartavya Paalan Abhiyan’ being observed throughout the country.

The Department of Higher Education under HRD Ministry will be holding 11 rounds of National Essay Competitions during the year.

The topics of the essay will be based on one Fundamental Duty every month.

· Rajya Sabha passed the 2019 Chit Funds Amendment Bill

The Rajya Sabha passed the Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2019 . The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 20 November 2019. The Bill will amend the Chit Funds Act, 1982.The Bill was introduced by the Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs,Anurag Singh Thakur.

The Bill will facilitate the orderly growth of the chit fund sector and enable greater financial access to people.
Under a chit fund, people pay a certain amount from time to time into a fund.
Periodically, one subscriber will be chosen by drawing a chit to receive the prize amount from the fund.

The Bill proposed to increase the maximum amount of chit funds. Theindividuals can collect from 1 lakh to Rs.3 lakhand Firms can collect from Rs.6 lakh to Rs.18 lakh.

· Centre to set up Atal Innovation Mission

The Government has set up theAtal Innovation Mission (AIM)at NITI Aayog. It encourages the schools to provide exposure to science and technology to students so that they can be acquainted with futuristic technology platforms. It was announced by the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.

The main objective of establishing AIM is to create scientific character and innovative thoughts among the young minds of the country.

AIM is to establish Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATL) across the country for students between grade 6th to 12

The lab will be equipped with the latest emerging technologies such as electronics, Internet of things (IoT), 3D printing, Robotics, etc.

In schools, AIM will facilitate to set up a network of ATL in India.

· Lok Sabha passed a bill to merge Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman

The Lok Sabha passed the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu(Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019on 27 November. The Bill awaits Rajya Sabha’s approval.

The merger bill seeks to merge the two union territoriesDadra and Nagar Haveli and Damaninto one.

The move after Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two UTs namely Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The two UTs are located along the western coast near Gujarat.

The mnerger will bring better administration and check duplications of various work.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli one district while Daman and Diu has two districts.

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