1) The President of India has promulgated ordinance for constitution of commercial courts.
Commercial Courts Bill, 2015
- The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill, 2015 was introduced in Rajya Sabha on April 29, 2015 by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Arun Jaitley.
- The Bill enables the creation of commercial divisions in high courts, and commercial courts at the district level.
- Commercial dispute: A commercial dispute is defined to include any dispute related to transactions between merchants, bankers, financiers, traders, etc. Such transactions deal with mercantile documents, partnership agreements, intellectual property rights, insurance, etc.
- Commercial courts: Commercial courts, equivalent to district courts, may be set up in all states and union territories, by the state governments after consulting with their respective high courts
- Valuation of dispute: Such commercial divisions in high courts and commercial courts will deal with all matters relating to commercial disputes involving an amount of Rs one crore or more.
- Commercial appellate divisions: Commercial appellate divisions may be set up in all high courts to hear appeals against: (i) orders of commercial divisions of high courts; (ii) orders of commercial courts; and (iii) appeals arising from arbitration matters that are filed before the high courts.
- Any appeal filed in a high court against the orders of certain tribunals like: (i) Competition Appellate Tribunal; (ii) Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal; (iii) Intellectual Property Appellate Board; (iv) Company Law Board or the National Company Law Tribunal; (v) Securities Appellate Tribunal; and (vi) Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate tribunal may be heard by the commercial appellate division of the high court if it relates to a commercial dispute.
- Transfer of pending suits: All suits, that are yet to reach judgement, of a value of Rs one crore or more that are pending in the high court or district court shall be transferred to the commercial division, after it is constituted.
2) Third Indo-African Summit to be held in New Delhi.
Indo-African Summit
- The India–Africa Forum Summit is the official platform for the Inida-Africa relations. It was first held New Delhi, India. It was the first such meeting between the heads of state and government of India and 14 countries of Africa chosen by the African Union.
- Topics
agricultural sector
trade
industry and investment
peace and security
promotion of good governance and civil society
information and communication technology
3) Unakoti – Rock Cut Carving , Tales of a lost Civilization
- Unakoti , situated in North Tripura , hosts finest of rock-cut architecture and stone- images.
- Unakoti pantheons are of two types namely rock-carved and stone images. Central to these rock cut carvings are the Shiva and Ganesha. The colossal image of Shiva head, of 30 ft height, carved in a vertical rock is known as ‘Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava’
- Near by, there is a rock cut image of goddess Durga standing on a lion, while on the other there is an image of goddess Ganga sitting on a Capricorn. There are also images of Nandi Bull lying half buried in the ground
- At the bottom of Unakoti, a beautiful spring descending the hill terraces fills up a cavern, called “Sita Kunda”, having a dip into which is regarded as sacred.
- Unakoti is believed to have had the influence of the Shiva cult originating from the Pala-era of the mediaeval period of Indian history. At the same time, the influences of several other cults like Tantric, Shakti, and Hatha yogis are also found to be present around this archaeological wonder. According to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI),Unakoti dates back to the 8th or 9th century AD. Yet, many others differ with the opinion, conceding that it dates back longer further holding that those images were carved out in different spell of time.
4) Deprtment of Atomic Energy, Mandates and Achievements
- Mandate:-
- Research Innovation Education
- National Security
- Advanced technology and water resources
- Food, Agriculture and Industrial Applications
- Healthcare
- Nuclear Power and Fuel Cycle
- Highlights:-
- Tummalapalle (A.P) uranium mine: Processing plant to be commissioned in 2015-16.
- India will host the International Thorium Energy Conference (ThEC) in Mumbai in October 2015
- DAE Units supply over 23,000 consignments of radiopharmaceuticals to over 150 nuclear medicine centres and hospitals all over India.
- Vitrified Cesium-137 pencil, First-of-a-kind in the world, developed by BARC by recovery from High Level Waste. First set of 10 pencils delivered for use in Blood Irradiator units produced by BRIT-DAE.
- High yielding pigeon-pea variety Trombay Akola Red Arhar released for commercial cultivation
- Radiation processing plants set up with DAE technology at Unnao, Lucknow and Bavla, Ahmedabad
- Low-cost wound dressing (BaNOcol) developed at BARC – very effective against a broad spectrum of infection-causing microbes
- Strengthened collaborative involvement with LHC- CERN; process to become an Associate Member of CERN initiated.
5) Mission IndraDhanush :-
- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has launched Mission Indradhanush on 25 December, 2014 as a special nationwide initiative to vaccinate all unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children under the Universal Immunization Programme and sustain it by health system strengthening by 2020
- The Mission focuses on interventions to expand full immunization coverage in India from 65% in 2014 to at least 90% children in the next five years
- The programme provides immunization against seven life-threatening diseases (diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B) in the entire country. In addition, vaccination against Heamophilus influenza type B and Japanese Encephalitis is provided in select districts/states.
6) International Tourism Mart:-
- The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in association with the North Eastern States and West Bengal has been successfully organising the International Tourism Mart over the last three years in various North Eastern States with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region in the domestic and international markets. This Mart also brings together the tourism business fraternity and entrepreneurs from the eight North Eastern States and West Bengal.
Sorces- PIB and Various relevant newspapers
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[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.