November 1 is celebrated as the Chhattisgarh Foundation Day - or Chhattisgarh Rajyotsava - since 2000 when the Union government declared it an independent state.

Earlier, Chhattisgarh was a part of Madhya Pradesh. This year is the 23rd edition of the state's foundation day.

 

As part of the celebrations, Raipur will host the 3rd National Tribal Dance Festival from November 01-03.”  It added that on behalf of chief minister "Bhupesh Baghel", state representatives were visiting other states to personally invite the chief ministers, ministers and public representatives to the event.

 

Tribal dance groups from all the states and union territories of India and some countries including Mozambique, Mongolia, Tongo, Russia, Indonesia and Maldives would be taking part in the National Tribal Dance Festival in Raipur..

Source : Hindustan Times

ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute has got its first ever woman director in over a century of the institution’s existence.

 

Dr G Hemaprabha was appointed Director of the institute up to 2024 on the recommendations of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board, New Delhi, under the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, an official release said on Friday(28th Oct 2022).

 

The senior researcher has assumed charge of the director’s post, it said.

 

About Dr. G Hemaprabha : Hemaprabha is the first woman director of the 111-year-old institution and at present, ‘Co’ (Coimbatore) varieties developed at the institute occupy over 78 per cent of the area under sugarcane cultivation in the country.

 

With over 34 years of research experience in sugarcane genetic improvement. she has so far developed 27 sugarcane varieties and registered 15 sugarcane genetic stocks..

Source : The Print

Twitter Inc will charge $8 a month for its Blue service, which includes its sought-after "verified" badge, new boss Elon Musk said on Tuesday(1st Nov 2022) as he seeks to boost subscriptions and make the social media network less reliant on ads.

 

"Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month," Musk said in a tweet, adding that the price will be adjusted by "country proportionate to purchasing power parity."

 

A blue check mark next to a person's user name on the social media platform means Twitter has confirmed that the account belongs to the person or company claiming it. Twitter is currently free for most users..

Source : Reuters

Vigilance Awareness Week 2022 (VAW-2022) was inaugurated in BPCL with a function held in the Corporate Office today(1st Nov 2022) by Arun Kumar Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, BPCL, in presence of Smt. Meenaxi Rawat, IES, Chief Vigilance Officer, BPCL; Vetsa Rama Krishna Gupta, Director (Finance) & Director (HR); Sukhmal Jain, Director (Marketing); Sanjay Khanna Director (Refineries); S. Srikanth, Chief General Manager (Vigilance) and other senior officials of BPCL.

 

Vigilance Awareness Week is being observed from 31st October 2022 to 6th November 2022.

Theme 2022 : The theme of "Corruption Free India for a Developed Nation". A host of activities have been planned in the company, during the week to spread awareness and promote good governance amongst employees..

Source : Business Standard

The Supreme Court on 31 October 2022, reiterated the ban on the “two-finger test” in rape cases, warning that persons using such tests will be deemed guilty of misconduct.

Observing that the test was based on a patriarchal mindset that assumed that sexually active women could not be raped, the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli regretted that such a method of examination was being used even today.

 

What Did The Honorable SC Said : “This court has time and again deprecated the use of two finger-test in cases alleging rape and sexual assault. The so called test has no scientific basis. It instead re-victimises and re-traumatises women. The two finger test must not be conducted. The test is based on an incorrect assumption that a sexually active woman cannot be raped. Nothing can be further from the truth.”

 

The bench, directing the Union Health Ministry to ensure that survivors of sexual assault and rape are not subjected to the two-finger test. “The probative value of a woman’s testimony does not depend on her sexual history. It is patriarchal and sexist to suggest that a woman cannot be believed when she states that she was raped merely because she is sexually active,” the bench added.

 

The apex court’s remarks were made while deciding on an appeal filed against a judgment of the Telangana High Court which overturned the conviction recorded by a trial court in a rape case.

 

What Is the Two-Finger Test : A “per vaginal” or two-finger test is an explicitly intrusive physical examination wherein a doctor inserts two fingers inside the vagina of a rape survivor to check if the hymen is intact or not. It examines the laxity of vaginal muscles in order to determine if the woman has engaged in or has been subjected to sexual intercourse – a proof of virginity. In some cases, it is done by inspecting the size of a vaginal opening and for tears in the hymen.

 

Erstwhile Judgement Of SC : In May 2013, the Supreme Court had banned the two-finger test on rape victims on the grounds that it violates their right to privacy. The court had asked the government to provide better medical procedures in order to confirm sexual assault.

 

In 2018, United Nations (UN) Human Rights, UN Women, and the World Health Organization (WHO) had called for a ban on two-finger test in order to eliminate violence against women. They declared it a “medically unnecessary, often times painful, humiliating and traumatic practice that must end.”

 

Yet, the two-finger test continues to be practised in some cases. In 2018, an Indian Air Force officer at the Coimbatore Air Force Administrative College had accused her batchmate of rape and had further alleged that she was subjected to the banned ‘two-finger test’ for confirming sexual assault..

Source : National Herald India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared Mangarh Dham in Rajasthan a national monument, as per a government statement released on Tuesday(1st Nov 2022). He was addressing the ‘Mangarh Dham ki Gaurav Gatha’ programme at Mangarh Dham in Rajasthan's Banswara district.

 

The Prime Minister also paid tribute to Bhil freedom fighter "Shri Govind Guru" in Banswara apart from the tribals who were massacred by the British army in 1913 in Mangarh in Rajasthan.

 

PM Modi also shared the dais with Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Bhupendra Patel, the CM of Gujarat at the event on Tuesday(1st Nov 2022).

 

Addressing the event, Gujarat CM Patel claimed that the massacre of tribals at Mangarh in 1913 was more gruesome than that at Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab, while his Rajasthan counterpart Gehlot said Modi gets respect in the world because he is the prime minister of a country where the roots of democracy have been strong. 

 

"When Modi goes abroad, he gets so much respect. Why he gets the respect, he gets the respect because Modi is the prime minister of a country that is the country of Gandhi, roots of democracy are deeper and even after 70 years, democracy is alive. People know this and give respect," Gehlot said. 

 

The dham, a memorial for around 1,500 tribals massacred by the British army in 1913, is located in the district on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border, a region with a large tribal population...

Source : Times of India

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday(31st Oct 2022) declared ‘Union Home Minister’s Special Operation Medal-2022’ for four special operations conducted by the security forces in areas of terrorism, border action, arms control, prevention of narcotics smuggling and rescue operations.

 

A total of 63 police officers having different ranks from Constable to Additional Director General of Police have been awarded the ‘Union Home Minister’s Special Operation Medal-2022’.

The President of India, "Smt. Droupadi Murmu" inaugurated the 7th India Water Week today(1st Nov 2022) at the India Expo Centre in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, in august presence of Governor, Uttar Pradesh, Smt. Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh, Shri Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ministers of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, and Shri Bishweswar Tudu. 

 

Shri Pankaj Kumar, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti welcomed all the dignitaries and the event commenced with the auspicious ceremony of “Jal Bharo” by the President and other dignitaries present on the dais by pouring water into the vessel, strengthening the vision of Jal Shakti.

India’s first integrated aqua park will be set up in Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh for developing the fisheries sector in the state, chief minister Pema Khandu informed on Saturday(29th Oct 2022).

 

The park will be set up at Tarin in Ziro area of the district with an estimated cost of Rs 43.59 crores under the Pradhan Mantri Matasya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), as per an official document.

 

Out of the total expenditure on the park, around Rs 39.23 crores will be given by the Central government, as per the department of fisheries. The Central government will release its share of the funds in four equal instalments.

 

“The release of each instalment will subject to utilization of at least 75 per cent of the funds previously released,” as per the fisheries department.

 

The proposal was approved by the Project Appraisal Committee in a meeting held on July 19, 2022.

 

The PMMSY scheme aims to bring about Blue Revolution through sustainable and responsible development of the fisheries sector in India..

Source : New Indian

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister "Yogi Adityanath" inaugurated North India's first hyper-scale data centre Yotta Yotta D1 built at the cost of Rs 5,000 crore and spread over an area of 3,00,000 square feet at the upcoming Data Centre Park in Greater Noida on Monday(31st Oct 2022).

 

Memorandums of Understanding worth Rs 39,000 crore were also signed between the Yogi Government and Hiranandani Group to be spent on projects in the next five years on the occasion.

 

The data centre will increase the data storage capacity of the country, which until now stood at two percent only despite the fact that 1.5 billion mobile phones and 650 million internet users in the world are from India using 20 per cent of data. Yet for storage of data, we had to look for centres abroad.

 

According to an official statement, the Data Center Policy was notified in 2021. Under the policy, the work of setting up of 04 Data Center Parks by various investors is currently under process with an investment of more than Rs 15,950 crore. 

 

These include M/s NIDP Developers Pvt Ltd of Hiranandani Group (Rs 9134.90 crore), M/s NTT Global Centers and Cloud Infrastructure India Pvt Ltd of Japan (Rs 1687 crore), and two projects of Adani Enterprises Ltd of Rs 2414 crore and Rs 2713 crore. With the start of these projects, thousands of people will also get employment..

Source : Business Standard