Beverage major "Coca-Cola India" on Thursday(1st Dec 2022) said it is partnering with Adani Group subsidiary -- Adani Digital Labs -- to optimise the reach of its brands to consumers across the country.

* As part of this, Coca-Cola India is working with Adani Digital Labs to use the consumer-centric platform for product sampling and develop deep consumer insights, a joint statement said.

 

* Coca-Cola is among the first brands to make its products available on this platform, it added.

 

* Under this, select new products under Coca-Cola India's portfolio, namely 'Fanta Apple Delite' and 'Charged by Thums Up' will be made available for sampling at some of India's top airports.

 

* Adani Digital Labs is the digital arm of Adani Group, which allows brands to interact with large numbers of travellers and target customers with high spending and purchasing power.

 

* The platform is currently live at the seven key airports located in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Mangalore, and Thiruvananthapuram & Adani CNG Stations, and will soon be available in many other categories of locations..

Source : Economic Times

Uttar Pradesh CM, Yogi Adityanath has launched One District One Sport (ODOS) on the lines of One District One Product (ODOP) scheme of the government.

 

 

* Promoting sports culture and keeping the younger generation healthy.

 

* Providing a platform for sportspersons to nurture talents and skills.

 

* Under this scheme, one sport will be identified in each of the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

 

* State govt will take necessary steps to find district-wise sport-specific talents.

* Since Deoria, Maharajganj, Azamgarh, Chandauli and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Kashi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Gorakhpur in Purvanchal have a golden history in wrestling, the government has made it the ODOS here..

Source : The Print

Odisha Government on Thursday(1st Dec 2022) signed an MoU with BSE -NSE to promote local MSMEs. In order to enable MSMEs to access capital markets.

* The State signed MOUs with BSE Ltd and NSE Ltd for facilitating the listing of MSMEs from Odisha under the aegis of the MOU, BSE and NSE shall provide handholding to MSME to impart training and education required for listing and improving financial credibility.

 

* The MoU was signed at the Make in Odisha Conclave 2022 where a Business Leadership Talk was organised by Finance Department on Emerging Solutions for Financing Industries and Infrastructure.

 

* The session was attended by S S Mundra, Chairman BSE, Ramann, CMD, SIDBI, Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director IIM Sambalpur, Moazzam Mekan from International Finance Corporation, The World Bank, Rachana Bhusari, VP-NSE and PR Jaishankar, MD, IIFCL.

* The session was moderated by Vishal Dev Principal Secretary Finance Department, Government of Odisha.

 

* The session dealt with two sub-themes, one focusing on financing MSME and the other on infrastructure.

 

* During the session, a few progressive and forward-looking initiatives were announced including, the launching of electronic Bank guarantees in collaboration with National EGovernance Services Ltd. (NESL).

 

* MR Mundra citing the benefits of listing in capital markets suggested to the state to prepare a list of 10-15 MSMEs which could aspire for listing and the government can hold seed equity in these through a dedicated corpus till they mature.

 

* Bhusari from NSE assured her support for the listing of state MSMEs on the NSE Emerge platform.

 

* Gulshan Malik, Dy Managing Director from SBI appreciated the projects announced by the State and assured all support for industrial growth. SBI also signed an MOU for financing start-ups and MSMEs of Odisha..

Source : Business Standard

Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region G Kishan Reddy and Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen will inaugurate the Sylhet Festival 2022 at Silchar in the Barak Valley of Assam on 2nd Dec 2022.

 

State Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Mizoram Governor K Hari Babu and Assam Industries & Commerce and Public Enterprises and Cultural Affairs Minister Bimal Bora are also expected to be attending the 5-day festival which is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Culture and India Foundation.

Around 100 dignitaries from Bangladesh will also join the programme. The program is being organised in the context of the historical relationship between Sylhet and Barak Valley of South Assam..

Source : AIR

National Pollution Control Day is observed every year on 2 December in India. The day is recognized to commemorate the precious lives that were lost in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, one of the greatest industrial disasters in the history of India.

 

AIM : The main aim and objectives of celebrating the National Pollution Prevention Day 2022 in India is to create awareness among people about the judicious use of industries to prevent uncalled-for industrial disasters. The day is dedicated to encourage the adoption of pollution control acts to prevent the environmental pollution caused by human negligence and industrial emissions.

 

The environment has been compromised for a long time because of air pollution, water, soil, noise, and several other types of pollution. The need of the hour is to wake up and protect our planet for the survival of its living beings.

 

National Pollution Control Day 2022 Date : The National Pollution Control Day 2022 will be celebrated in India today on Friday, 2 December 2022. The theme of National Pollution Prevention 2022 Day has not been announced yet.

 

National Pollution Control Day History and Significance : The history of National Pollution Day in India dates back to the heart-wrenching Bhopal Gas Tragedy in which thousands of people lost their lives. The incident happened on the night of 2 and 3 December 1984, and that is why the National Pollution Control Day is observed annually on 2 December.

 

On 3 December 1984, almost 45 tonnes of the hazardous gas methyl isocyanate (MIC) escaped from a pesticide plant owned by the Indian division of the American company Union Carbide Corporation. Within no time, the poisonous gas killed thousands of people and several thousands fled the city..

Source : The Quint

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is celebrated every year on 2 December to raise awareness regarding the suppression of contemporary forms of slavery like human trafficking, child labour, and sexual exploitation.

* Along with the traditional types of forced labour like debt bondage and bonded labour, more contemporary forms of forced labour are now existing.

* For instance, migrant workers get trafficked for all kinds of economic exploitation. These include work in the construction industry, food and garment industry, work in domestic servitude, agricultural sector, and forced prostitution.

 

* According to the United Nations (UN), there are an estimated 50 million individuals who are in modern slavery. This number includes 28 million people in forced labour and 22 million in forced marriage.

 

History : UN adopted the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of others on 2 December 1949. The proclamation of World Day for the Abolition of Slavery on 2 December was recommended by a UN report on the Working Group on Slavery in 1985. All forms of slavery were included in the recommendation. By 1995, this day came to be known as the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery to the world.

 

Significance and all you need to know : The day aims to bring together all sections of society for eliminating forced labour and modern slavery around the world. As per the UN, the main forms of modern slavery include:

 

Child labour : Almost 1 in every 8 individuals in forced labour are children. More than half of these children are victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

 

Trafficking in persons : Trafficking in persons includes transportation, transfer, recruitment, harbouring, or receipt of individuals by using threat, force, or other forms of coercion for exploitation purposes. Prostitution, forced labour, slavery, sexual exploitation, and removal of organs are some of the practices that come under exploitation. The trafficking of children is considered a crime even when done without the use of force.

 

Forced labour : In forced labour, a person is forced to work involuntarily and under the menace of penalty. Violence, intimidation, or subtle means like manipulated debt can be used to make someone do forced labour. At 86 per cent, most cases of forced labour are seen in the private sector..

Source : First Post

World Computer Literacy Day is celebrated on December 2 every year. Started in 2001, World Computer Literacy Day seeks to address the digital divide by taking computer literacy to the remotest corners of the world and particularly to encourage the use of technological skills among children and women in India.

* World Computer Literacy Day was first marked in 2001 by an Indian company, the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the institute. The day was initiated in response to a study that said that majority of computer users in the world are men.

 

* Speaking on the history of World Computer Literacy Day and its significance, the Chairman and Co-Founder of NIIT Group and Founder of NIIT University, Rajendra S Pawar : “World Computer Literacy Day was first observed on NIIT’s 20th Foundation Day on December 2, 2001.

* Members of Parliament were trained on computers in the presence of the then-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and a customized postal envelope to symbolise the spread of computer literacy across the country was also unveiled."

 

* This initiative, Mr Pawar added, soon turned into a movement being embraced by tens and thousands of learners across the world. "When NIIT was started 40 years ago, we had a very simple mission of 'bringing people and computers together,' which over the decades, has evolved into a broader theme of 'helping people realize their true potential,” he added..

Source : NDTV

Prasanth Kumar, CEO, South Asia of GroupM Media (India) Pvt Ltd, has been elected as the President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for fiscal 2022-23 at its annual general body meeting on Tuesday(29th Nov 2022).

 

* Rana Barua, Group CEO of Havas Group India was unanimously elected Vice-President of the Association. Immediate Past President, Anupriya Acharya will be the ex-officio member of the AAAI Board for 2022-23.

 

* On this occasion, Prasanth Kumar, President AAAI, said, “I’m extremely honoured to be elected President of this prestigious association. Advertising is, in my opinion, a dynamic and idea-driven industry. Collaboration with industry organizations will allow us to shape the industry in a progressive way that benefits everybody."

 

* He further added, "I look forward to building synergies with like-minded people and organizations and I believe that we will be able to achieve our goals if we work together. As always, I expect lots of support from my peers and colleagues within AAAI as well as from the broader ecosystem as well."

 

* With over 25 years of experience working across the industry, Kumar is a GroupM veteran. Before joining GroupM, he held positions at Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge, and McCann Erickson. Additionally, he served as AAAI's vice president from 2020 to 2022..

Source : Mint

International Lusophone Festival is being held from 3rd to 6th December 2022 in Goa. Ministry of External Affairs is organising the festival in partnership with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations and the Goa government. 

The festival seeks to further India’s connection with the Lusophone world.

 

It will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant at Durbar Hall in Raj Bhavan. Minister of State for External Affairs, Meenakshi Lekhi will be the Guest of Honour.

 

Goa has had historical linkages with the Lusophone world. This has been nurtured through the presence of Portuguese cultural institutions like the Orient Foundation and the Camoes Institute which promote the Portuguese language and culture in India.

As part of the festival, workshops on Lusophone music for artists and volunteers, as various workshops and exhibitions of unique Goan architecture, Goan handicrafts and Goan furniture are being organised.

The Lusophone Food and Spirits Festival will also showcase the culinary links between India and the Lusophone world..

Source : AIR

The Meghalaya cabinet has approved a policy aimed at addressing issues of mental health and social care through collaborative engagement with communities, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said.

 

* Meghalaya is the third state in the country to have introduced such a policy, paying attention to issues of mental health, especially among children, adolescents and youth..

 

* Officials said that the new policy seeks to address the social determinants of mental ill-health and ensure cultural security with collaborative engagement with the communities it intends to serve.

 

* It also aims to promote overall mental health and wellbeing and facilitate appropriate access and care pathways for common and severe mental health concerns, with focus on person-centred care.

 

* Health Minister James PK Sangma stated that the policy was culturally-rooted in the state, and looks to address the stigma linked with mental health.

 

* “It is a community-centric initiative and will improve recognition, rehabilitation and reformation, necessary for creating awareness and building support systems,” he explained.

 

* Sangma noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had highlighted the need to devise an inclusive and robust institutional response, especially for vulnerable groups.