11th November, 2021 Current Affairs

Sakshi Education

NATIONAL
India celebrates National Education Day to mark birth anniversary of MaulanaAbulKalam Azad

Nov 11th is National Education Day. It is observed to mark the birth anniversary of MaulanaAbulKalam Azad since 2008.
MaulanaAbulKalam Azad was the first education minister of independent India. He served the nation from August 15, 1947, to February 2, 1958. MaulanaAbulKalam Azad was a reformer and freedom fighter. He was not merely a scholar but committed to building the nation through education.
Every year on 11th November, schools conducts various interesting and informative seminars, symposia, essay-writing, rallies. Students and teachers come together to talk about the importance of literacy and the nation’s commitment to all aspects of education. National Education Day is also a tribute to all the great contributions made by MaulanaAbul Azad in the field of the education system of Independent India.

Ayushman Bharat-Digital Mission: Digital registration of all medical facilities starts

The Union Health Ministry has launched digital registration of all medical facilities and all doctors under the Ayushman Bharat-Digital Mission in order to digitise health records.
Under this initiative, government hospitals have been asked to procure Hospital Information Management System software.
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 27, 2021.
Under this mission, every Indian will be provided a unique health ID which will also work as a health account, with which personal health records can be linked.
Mission will create interoperability within digital health ecosystem, on the lines of role played by the Unified Payments Interface in revolutionizing payments.
Citizens would be able to access healthcare facilities by a single click.

ECONOMY
PM Modi to launch RBI Retail Direct and Integrated Ombudsman Scheme on Friday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch two innovative customer-centric initiatives of the Reserve Bank of India on 12th Nov.
These initiatives are the RBI Retail Direct Scheme and the Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will also attend the event.
The RBI Retail Direct Scheme is aimed at enhancing access to the government securities market for retail investors.
It offers them a new avenue for directly investing in securities issued by the Government of India and the State Governments. Investors will be able to easily open and maintain their government securities account online with the RBI, free of cost.
The Reserve Bank - Integrated Ombudsman Scheme aims to further improve the grievance redress mechanism for resolving customer complaints against entities regulated by RBI. The central theme of the scheme is based on One Nation-One Ombudsman with one portal, one email, and one address for the customers to lodge their complaints. There will be a single point of reference for customers to file their complaints, submit the documents, track status, and provide feedback. A multi-lingual toll-free number will provide all relevant information on grievance redress and assistance for filing complaints.

INTERNATIONAL

Delhi Declaration on Afghanistan – Highlights

A regional security summit was hosted by India on November 10, 2021. The summit was attended by eight nations including Iran and Russia.
Conference was represented by the national security advisors of each country.
During the conference, it was announced that Afghanistan & its territories cannot be used to shelter or train terrorists, or to finance any act of terrorism.
Countries issued a joint statement, dubbed as “Delhi Declaration on Afghanistan”. As per the statement, eight participating nations discussed the evolving Afghan situation including the global ramification in the aftermath Taliban’s takeover.
They paid special attention to issues like Threats from terrorism, current political situation in Afghanistan, radicalisation & drug trafficking.
The eight nations, which attended the conference include India, Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

US joins International Solar Alliance as a member country

United States of America (USA) became the 101st member country to join International Solar Alliance (ISA).
USA joined ISA as member country to accelerate the global adoption of solar energy.
This announcement was made at UNFCCC COP26 on November 10, 2021.
Now, USA will catalyse global energy transition through solar-led approach.
The ISA framework was first circulated in 2016 for the support of countries. It emphasises on delivering global relevance and local benefit through collaborations for all countries. Key interventions of ISA will focus on readiness and enabling activities, innovative financing instrument and risk mitigation in order to facilitate promotion and deployment of solar technologies.
ISA is an alliance of 124 countries. It was initiated by India. Most of the member countries are sunshine countries, lying either partly or completely between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. This alliance was launched with the objective of working for efficient consumption of solar energy and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. It was first proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2015. It is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. It is the largest grouping of states across the world.
Countries that do not lie within the Tropics can also join ISA and enjoy all benefits as other members. However, they do not get voting rights.

US-China announce to boost co-operation on climate change

Activists and politicians have cautiously welcomed an unexpected US-China declaration vowing to boost climate cooperation in the next decade.
The EU and UN described the move as encouraging and an important step. However, Independent Global campaign network Greenpeace International said both countries needed to show more commitment. The US and China are the world's two biggest carbon emitters. They said they would work together to achieve the 1.5-degree Celsius temperature goal set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The announcement by the two global rivals was made at the ongoing COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are now expected to hold a virtual meeting as early as next week.

Today is World Science Day; Theme for this year is 'Building Climate-Ready Communities

World Science Day for Peace and Development was celebrated on 10th Nov.
The theme of this year is 'Building Climate-Ready Communities'.
The objective is to bring science closer to society by highlighting some key scientific aspects and possible solutions provided by science, technology and innovation to some of the major global challenges society is facing today. It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives.
World Science Day aims to ensure that citizens are kept informed of developments in science.
It also underscores the role scientists play in broadening our understanding of the remarkable, fragile planet we call home and in making our societies more sustainable. The day offers the opportunity to mobilize all actors around the topic of science for peace and development - from government officials to the media to school pupils.
UNESCO strongly encourages all to join in celebrating World Science Day for Peace and Development by organizing your own event or activity on the day.

AWARDS
Bangladesh liberation war fighter QuaziSajjad Ali Zahir and archeologistDr.EnamulHaque receive Padma Shri in Delhi

President Ram NathKovind conferred Padma Shri for the year 2021 on 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War fighter Lt. Col. (Retd) QuaziSajjad Ali Zahir. He was conferred one of India’s most prestigious civilian awards for his contribution to the field of public affairs.
Two other Bangladeshi luminaries renowned scholar and archeologistDr.EnamulHaque and Former Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali (posthumous) were also conferred Padma honours earlier on Monday for the year 2020.
Lt. Col. (Retd) QuaziSajjad Ali Zahir is a veteran of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh. He deserted the Pakistan army and crossed over to India to fight the liberation war of Bangladesh. He organized the 2nd Artillery Force under Sector 4 in the Sylhet region.
He was given the death sentence for deserting the Pakistan army which he still carries against his name.
He has also done pioneering work in documenting the contribution of liberation war fighters of both Bangladesh and India. He is a recipient of ShwodhintaPadak, the Independence Award which is the highest civilian award of Bangladesh.
The Padma Shri citation described Lt. Col. Zahir as a Bangladesh Liberation War Veteran and founder of ‘ShudhoiMuktijuddho’.
Dr.EnamulHaqueis a renowned scholar and archeologist. He is the founder Director General of the National Museum of Bangladesh. He has taught at several universities. He is credited with finding and protecting several invaluable sculptures from various archaeological sites in Bangladesh. President Ram NathKovind in his tweet called Dr.Haque a distinguished archaeologist and highly respected Cultural activist of Bangladesh.
Former High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India Syed Muazzem Ali was honoured with Padma Bhushan posthumously for his contribution in the field of Public Affairs. Muazzem Ali was associated with starting energy cooperation and land connectivity between India and Bangladesh, said the citation.