Current Affairs Nov 2016 - Places in NEWS

News 1 - International Seminar on 'Understanding the tribes of Asia' inaugurated in Shillong

The Union Minister of Tribal Affair, Jual Oram, inaugurated the International Seminar on 'Understanding the tribes of Asia' at Synod College, Shillong. Recently, UNESCO declared around 190 languages of India as vulnerable or endangered.

The two day programme which has drawn participation from India and abroad is being organized by the department of History and Education of Synod College Shillong so that such seminars will promote better understanding of the tribal population, their culture and their languages.

News 2 - Grand Hearing Aid Distribution function held at Imphal

Grand Hearing Aid Distribution function was held at Imphal with an attempt to provide hearing aid to around 6,300 beneficiaries with an estimate cost of 444 lakh rupees. 4,345 such camps were held in the last two years all over India and till now 560 thousand hearing impaired have been benefited.

Centre is planning to provide Universal Identity Card to such beneficiaries. In addition to the central funding, additional 250 lakh rupees was also contributed from the state government.

News 3 - Competition Commission of India (CCI) selected to host ICN 2018 Annual Conference in New Delhi

International Competition Network (ICN) has accepted the proposal and decided that Competition Commission of India would host the 2018 ICN Annual Conference. This will be held at Delhi in March –April 2018, to recognize the growing stature of Competition Commission of India (CCI) in the world.

CCI has also been inducted as an ex-officio member of the steering group member of the ICN for a period of 3 years. CCI eagerly looks forward to host this international event which will provide a rare opportunity to attract domestic and international competition enforcement experts.

News 4 - 9^th International Regulatory Cooperation Meeting for Herbal Medicines inaugurated in New Delhi

The Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge), Shri Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated the 9^th Annual Meeting of International Regulatory Cooperation for Herbal Medicines (IRCH) in New Delhi. The three-day meet was organized by the Ministry of AYUSH in New Delhi.

The objectives of IRCH meeting were to Globally promote and facilitate the safe use of herbal medicines, through regional initiatives, sharing information and fostering dialogue; facilitate and strengthen cooperation between national regulatory authorities. IRCH is a global network of regulatory authorities created by WHO.

News 5 - President of India inaugurated 36^th edition of the India International Trade Fair

The President of India inaugurated the 36^th edition of the India International Trade Fair 2016 in New Delhi. India International Trade Fair is commitment towards bringing the benefits of economic reform to its people. 2016 theme was ‘Digital India’.

It provided information of the policies, progressive reforms and the new schemes launched by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India under the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-2020).

Apart from featuring the state–of–the-art technologies, products, services and innovations along-with CSR initiatives, the fair showcased immense variety and kaleidoscopic repertoire of India’s handicrafts and handlooms.

News 6 - Festival of India to be organized in Oman from 15 November, 2016 to 24 March, 2017

A Festival of India is being organized in Oman from 15^th November, 2016 to 24^th March, 2017, to showcase diverse Indian culture, i.e. classical and folk dance, music, Indian cuisine and Exhibition on Islamic Art Calligraphy.

The events will be held in four cities of Oman, namely, Muscat, Sur, Sohar, and Salalah.

Various events are being organized like Food Festival by India Tourism Development Corporation, fashion show by NIFT, exhibition of Islamic Art Calligraphy, classical dance and Vocal Sufiana music.

News 7 - Aligarh topped Swachh Bharat awareness campaign in urban areas

Aligarh topped 500 cities in undertaking Swachh awareness generation activities under the fortnightly thematic activities as required under the Swachh Survekshan-2017, launched by the Ministry of Urban Development.

During the evaluation of IEC (Information, Education and Communication) activities by the Ministry, Aligarh scored the maximum marks. IEC performance has been assessed by the Ministry while evaluation of other parameters of Swachh Survekshan-2017 will be done by the Quality Council of India.

The other cities in the top slot in this regard were Vasai-Virar (Maharashtra), Hyderabad, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Madurai (Tamil Nadu) and Vadodara and Rajkot (Gujarat).

News 8 - Sachin Tendulkar's adopted village declared as open defecation free

Rajya Sabha member Sachin Tendulkar announced that his adopted village Puttam Rajuvari Kandriga in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh is open defecation free. Tendulkar visited the village in Gudur mandal that he had adopted under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana two years ago.

Upon adoption, Sachin had contributed almost 3 crore rupees to PR Kandriga and the district administration mobilized another 3 crores for taking up various works.

News 9 - India's first Cherry Blossom Festival celebrated in Meghalaya

Meghalaya became the first state to start India's first Cherry Blossom Festival. The fourday festival is widely celebrated in Japan. It provided opportunities to showcase the unique beauty of pink and white cherry blossoms as well as Meghalaya's traditional arts, culture and cuisine to the naturalists and tourists.

The festival was inaugurated by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma. Cherry blossoms are in full bloom in several parts of the city and the suburbs.

News 10 - ITPO to hold national participation in ‘INTERMODA’ FAIR, MEXICO

India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) will be holding India’s country level participation in IM INTERMODA-International Apparel & Textile Fair at Expo Guadalajara Exhibition Centre, Guadalajara (Mexico) from January 17 to 20, 2017.

Being a regular participant, ITPO aims to provide an excellent business opportunity in high potential Mexican markets which attract a large number of buyers from North America and Latin American regions.

The participation offers excellent opportunities for Indian companies to export apparel, textile, leather garments, fashion accessories blouses, skirts, evening wear, etc.

News 11 - 2016 World Internet Conference organized in Wuzhen

Third World Internet Conference was organized in Wuzhen, China, based on theme ‘Innovation-driven Internet Development for the Benefit of All – Building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace’ and ‘World Internet Conference Internet Culture Forum’ was organized in the Wuzhen based on theme ‘Mutual-learning among Civilizations and Development of the Internet Culture’.

Three sessions with two panel discussions were conducted under themes ‘Enhancing People-to-People Exchanges, Promoting Mutual Learning among Civilizations and Pushing for Better Cyberculture.

News 12 - 5^th International Tourism Mart being organized in Imphal, Manipur from 23-25 November, 2016

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in association with the North Eastern States and West Bengal organized the “International Tourism Mart” in Imphal, Manipur from 23^rd to 25^th November, 2016.

This was the 5^th International Tourism Mart and an annual event organized in the North Eastern region with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region in the domestic and international markets.

Buyer and Media delegates from around the world and from different regions of the country are participated in the Mart and engaged in one-to-one meetings with sellers.

News 13 - 47^th International Film Festival of India concluded at Goa

The 47^th International Film Festival of India concluded at Goa. Iranian film "Daughter" bagged the Best film award at the IFFI with a cash prize of 40 lakh rupees.

Iranian actor Farhad Aslani won the Best Actor (male) award for his portrayal of the strict father in the same film ‘Daughter'.

Other awards:

Best Director: Baris Kaya and Soner Caner for the Turkish film Rauf
Best Actress: Elina Vaska for the Latvian film “Fellow Mud”
Special Jury award: Lee Joon-ik for the Direction of the movie “The Throne”
ICFT -UNESCO Gandhi Medal: Turkish film maker Mustafa Kara’s ‘Cold of Kalandar’.
Special Mention under the ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal competition: Canadian multi-lingual film ‘The Apology’