Daily News Analysis (Prelims + Mains) – 27th October 2018
Topics for Prelims
Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management Award
- India wins Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management Award (CAPAM), 2018.
- CAPAM has been announcing its International Innovations Awards (IIA) Programme bi-annually since 1998.
- The CAPAM Awards celebrate the spirit of innovation in the public service by recognizing organizations that have made significant contributions to improve governance and services in the public sector.
- Initiative like Unnayan Banka– Reinventing Education Using Technology of Banka District, State of Bihar has been awarded under the Category “Innovation Incubation”. It is an initiative which envisages “Quality education for all’ especially for those at the bottom of the Pyramid, using latest technologies. It’s a holistic model of overall development of youths from Education to Employability.
- Another initiative entitled Unified Agriculture Markets of Co-operation Department of Government of Karnataka has also been selected under the Category ‘Innovation in Public Service Management’.
About CAPAM
CAPAM is a non-profit association representing an international network of over 1100 senior public servants, Heads of Government, leading academics and researchers located in over 50 different countries across the Commonwealth.
The association is guided by international leaders who believe in the value of networking, knowledge exchange and the promotion of good governance for the betterment of citizens in the Commonwealth countries.
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is an institutional member of CAPAM.
Earth Heroes Awards
- Vice President addressed and presented ‘Earth Heroes Awards’ 2018.
- The awards have been instituted by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and the eight winners for the year were chosen for their significant contributions towards protecting and conserving the valuable resources of our planet and for going above and beyond their call of duty to save the planet’s ecological assets.
- Dr. Brij Gopal, Mr. Peera Ram Bishnoi, Mr. Devender Singh Chauhan, Ms. Rita Banerji, Mr. Abhilash Khandekar, Mr. Lalit Kumar Bora, Late Mr. S. Manikandan and the Special Task Force (Wildlife), Madhya Pradesh Forest Department were honored with the ‘Earth Heroes’ awards.
World Agriculture Prize
- Vice President Presents the 1st World Agriculture Prize to eminent scientist Prof. M.S. Swaminathan.
- The World Agriculture Prize has been instituted by Indian Council of Food and Agriculture to recognize the contribution of eminent people who served the mankind though agriculture and allied services.
- Prof. Swaminathan is father of Indian green revolution and laid a firm foundation for India’s food security.
Top Challengers Award
- Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), a Mini Ratna Public Sector Undertaking, under the Ministry of Defense, received the prestigious ‘Top Challengers Award 2018’ for the excellent performance during financial year 2017-18 and Best Seller in Crawler Equipment- Dozers and Rigid Dump Truck segment for mining sectors.
- The award is instituted by ASAAP Information Global Group and is awarded based on the performance evaluation – ‘that grew top line and bottom line, stayed profitable and managed to keep financial health within defined limits.
Experiencing North East
- The ‘Experiencing North East’ festival depicting the uniqueness of North Eastern culture is being organised at India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi.
- The five-day festival, a part of Destination North East series, is being organised by North Eastern Council (NEC), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in collaboration with India International Centre.
- The festival showcases the vibrant strengths of North East India and display its art, handicraft, handlooms, tourism, food, culture etc. Special performances daily by eminent cultural troupes, bands and artistes from North East.
Vigilance Awareness Week
- Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) observes Vigilance Awareness Week 2018 from 29th Oct-3rd Nov.
- Theme for this year is ‘Eradicate Corruption-Build a New India’
- “Awareness Gram Sabhas” are also organized for dissemination of awareness in Gram Panchayats (in rural and semi-urban areas) to sensitize the rural citizens about the ill-effects of corruption. In 2017 a total of 67,131 such Gram Sabhas were organized during the Vigilance Awareness Week.
- Seminars, discussions and other outreach events are also organized involving the private sector, professional associations, trade unions and associations for wide participation of all sections of civil society.
- A new feature is the establishment of ‘Integrity Clubs’ in schools and colleges to cultivate ethical values in the leaders of tomorrow.
Technology Summit
- India will host the 24th edition of Technology Summit with Italy as the partner country.
- This is the first time that Italy has been selected as partner country for this prestigious event.
- Aerospace, Cleantech, Cultural Heritage, Education, Heathcare, ICT and Renewables are the seven focus sectors for this year’s summit.
About summit
- Technology Summit was first (CII Technology Summit) organized in 1995 with an aim to facilitate global technology collaborations.
- After a few successful yearly summits, CII became partner with the Department of Science & Technology in organizing these Summits since 2004.
- Several countries have become partner countries in Technology Summit. These include Israel, Germany, France, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia, Canada, ASEAN block, Belarus, Finland, Spain, South Korea, UK and USA.
- Yearly Technology Summit benefitted Indian industry and academic & research institutions immensely in forging collaborations with global partners, including policy making which triggered private sector’s investment in R&D and technology significantly.