Daily Current Affairs for State Exams: 03 December 2021

Daily Current Affairs 03/12/2021

Skill India launches a programme to upskill Street Food Vendors
Why in News

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) announced to skill the street vendors of East Delhi and makes them eligible for e-cart licenses, improving the hygiene conditions in food preparation and aesthetics of vending.
The initiative will be implemented under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) component of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 3.0.

Key Points

The project will be implemented by the Tourism and Hospitality Sector Skill Council (THSSC) and training partners of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
The two training partners recommended by THSSC are Learnet Institute of Skills and Tata STRIVE.
Under the initiative, the Street Food Vendors will be educated on health and safety standards, safety provisions under COVID-19 protocols, effective communication techniques with staff and customers, new-age skills such as digital literacy, financial literacy, digital payments and e-selling.
The vendors will also be supported with loans under the Mudra Scheme.
In its pilot phase with East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), Skill India aims at upskilling 2,500 vendors, aged between 23 to 55 years.
Further, this initiative will also provide social security and safety to 4,000 vendors of East Delhi and 25 lakh street vendors, nationally.

Note: India is land to 55 lakh Street Food Vendors, their contribution to the informal economy is 14% which is not a small number and highlights the important role played by them in India’s economy.

Other Schemes related to Food vendors:

PM SVANidhi Scheme
The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014
Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

Source: PIB

India-ITU Joint Cyberdrill 2021
Why in News

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have commenced India-ITU Joint Cyberdrill 2021.
It is a four days virtual event starting from 30 November to 3 December 2021.

Key Points

This Cyberdrill is intended for Indian entities especially Critical Network Infrastructure operators.
Several high level speakers, panellists and experts from ITU, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and other eminent organizations participated in the inaugural session.

Note: India secured 10th rank in the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020.

Source: PIB

Mystery behind the high abundance of Lithium in some evolved stars traced
Why in News

Scientists have found a clue to the mystery behind the high abundance of Lithium— a trace element on Earth, and a key component of rechargeable batteries, in some evolved stars.

Key Points

For more than four decades, Astronomers have known that a class of stars has an anomalous amount of Lithium on their surface.
The reason and processes behind the high abundance of Lithium in about one percent red giants has remained a puzzle since the models of how stars evolve predict the Lithium must have been destroyed in the hot plasma of the star.
Deepak from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) Bangalore, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India and Professor Emeritus David L. Lambert from the University of Texas at Austin and an Honorary Fellow of IIA Bangalore have for the first time confirmed that all the lithium-rich stars are burning helium in their core.
The survey GALAH - named after a common Australian bird -- provided a collection of about 500,000 stars with well-determined physical and chemical properties, including lithium

About Lithium:

Lithium is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3.
It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal.
Under standard conditions, it is the lightest metal and the lightest solid element.

Source: PIB

Barbados – the world’s newest republic

Why in News

Nearly 400 years after the country became a British colony, Barbados has become the world’s newest republic.
The Caribbean island nation removed Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the state.

Key Points

Dame Sandra Mason, the island's governor-general since 2018, was named as president-elect of the nation.

Note:

Barbados was one of England's first slave colonies.
English settlers occupied the island in 1627.
Slavery was abolished in Barbados in 1834 and the country became fully independent in 1966.

Source: Indian Express

IRS officer Vivek Johri takes charge as CBIC Chairman

Why in News

Senior bureaucrat Vivek Johri took charge as the Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).

Key Points

Johri, a 1985-batch Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes) officer, has been a member of the board.
He succeeded M Ajit Kumar, who completed his tenure on November 30.

Source: Business Standard

52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2021

The 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), held in Goa in a hybrid format from November 20 -28, 2021 screened international films drawn from 73 countries at the festival.
As many as 148 films were presented to film lovers in the International Section that included the World Premiere of 12 films, 7 International Premiere and 24 Asia Premiere.
Uttar Pradesh has been picked as the most friendly state for film shooting.

Winners List

Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award: Martin Scorsese, István Szabó
Indian Film Personality of the Year: Hema Malini, Prasoon Joshi

Golden Peacock Award

Best Film: Ring Wandering (Directed by Masakazu Kaneko)

Silver Peacock Awards

Best Director: Václav Kadrnka (Saving One Who Is Dead)
Best Actor (Male): Jitendra Joshi (Godavari)
Best Actor (Female): Ángela Molina (Watch Charlotte)

ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal: Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

BRICS Film Festival

Winner(s): Best Film: Barakat (South Africa), The Sun Above Me Never Sets (Russia)

Source: PIB

Bihar wins gold award in 40th IITF 2021

Why in News

Bihar pavilion won a gold medal in the 40th India International Trade Fair (IITF) 2021 for “excellence in display” in state government/union territory pavilion category.
IITF 2021 was organised at Pragati Maidan in Delhi from November 14 to 27.

Key Points

This is the 6^th gold medal for the Bihar pavilion in the last 7 years.
Bihar is the partner state for the 40^th IITF and the focus states are Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Assam has been awarded the Silver Medal.

About India International Trade Fair (IITF):

It was first organized in 1979.
The fair is organized by the Trade Promotion Organization of India, a trade promotion agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

Source: HT

S K Sohan Roy becomes first Indian to be honored with ‘Knighthood of Parte Guelfa

Why in News

Dr S K Sohan Roy, a Forbes-listed entrepreneur from Kerala has become the first Indian who has been awarded the honorary title of 'Knighthood of Parte Guelfa' in Italy.

Key Points

The knighthood was conferred on Roy for his humanitarian and environmental protection efforts in business and movies.

About Order of the Guelph Part:

Order of the Guelph Part or Ordo Parte Guelfae which was initially known as Societas Partis Ecclesiae is an order of pontifical foundation established by Pope Clement IV in 1266.
The Guelph part is concerned with environmental protection and the knighthood is recognised as the protector of the World Environment.

December 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2021

Why in News

International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is a global observance celebrated every year on December 3.

Key Points

The theme for IDPD this year is “Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world.”
The annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons was proclaimed in 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly.

Note:

Today, the world population is over 7 billion people, and more than one billion people or approximately 15 percent of the world’s population live with some form of disability; 80 percent live in developing countries.

Source: un.org