France Takes over EU Presidency for Six Months 2022
France assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union with effect from January 2022. The country will continue to hold the EU presidency for the next six months till June 30, 2022. This is the 13th time that France took over the rotating presidency. The motto of France as EU President is "recovery, strength, belonging."
France will work to place the continent's digitization and climate protection at the forefront. The presidency of the EU rotates every six months among the member states of the 27-nation bloc. Upon the completion of six months presidency, France will be replaced by the Czech Republic.
ONGC Appoints Alka Mittal as Company's First ever Female Chairman & MD
Alka Mittal, the Director for Human Resources (HR) at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was given the additional charge as the public sector undertaking's Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), making her the first woman to head the energy major.
This development comes two days after Subhash Kumar, the Director (Finance) who was holding additional charge of CMD, superannuated on December 31, 2021.
She was the senior-most ONGC Board Member after Kumar's retirement. She joined the ONGC Board in November 2018 and was the first woman to hold the charge of a full-time Director in ONGC's history.
Reliance Becomes Promoter in SWREL
Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy Ltd (SWREL) said that Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd (RNESL) has become its promoter post payment of balance Rs. 1,583 crore for acquisition of 25.90 per cent equity in it.
With this transaction, RNESL and other group firms together hold over 40 per cent stake in SWREL.
RBI Gives Nod to Fino Payments Bank's International Money Transfer Service
Customers of Fino Payments Bank will be able to receive remittance money sent from overseas as it was granted approval by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to offer the international money transfer service.
Fino Bank received the RBI approval to commence the international remittance business under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS).
The lender will undertake inward cross-border money transfer activities in association with an overseas principal, the details of which are being worked out.
Hubble Space Telescope Observes Conjunction of Two Spiral Galaxies
While it looks like a spiral galaxy called NGC 105 is plunging edge-on into a collision with a neighboring spiral galaxy, this is just the result of the chance alignment of the two objects in the sky.
NGC 105 is located approximately 215.5 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces.
Otherwise known as IRAS 00226+1236, LEDA 1583 and UGC 241, this spiral galaxy has a diameter of 83,700 light-years.
NGC 105 was discovered by the French astronomer Édouard Stephan in October 1884.
Quadrantid Meteor Shower
The Quadrantid meteor shower occurs in January every year. The radiant of the shower lies in the Bootes constellation.
The meteor showers are caused due to debris or trail of dust left by a comet. When the earth moves through the left-over dust particles, they catch fire. How do they fire up? Earth revolves around the sun at a speed of 1,00,000 km/sec! When the dust particles encounter such huge speeds, large amounts of frictional forces are generated. These frictional forces produce the heat energy and fire the particles. Just like a match stick! Match stick is the earth and match box is the particle (not considering the weight).
Nehra all Set to Become Head Coach of Ahmedabad IPL Team
Former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra will be Ahmedabad IPL franchise's head coach during the 2022 Indian Premier League season while England opener of yesteryears Vikram Solanki is in line to become 'Director of Cricket'.
World Cup-winning former India coach Gary Kirsten will be the 'Mentor' of the franchise which is expecting to get its formal 'Letter of Intent' (LOI) during the month.
Vini Mahajan Takes over as Jal Shakti Ministry Secretary
Former Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan assumed the charge as Secretary in the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Prior to this, she was serving as Punjab Chief Secretary from 26th June 2020. Earlier she served as Additional Chief Secretary of the Departments of Housing & Urban Development, Government of Punjab and Industries & Commerce, IT and Investment Promotion. She was ACS/ Principal Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Welfare since April 2012 for 5 years.
Congress Launches Uttarakhand Poll Theme Song, Slogan
The Congress launched the election campaign theme song for the upcoming Uttarakhand elections and said that polls would be fought with people as the face of the party.
Putting up a united front days after intra-party rivalries in the state came to the fore, Congress Uttrakhand campaign head and former chief minister Harish Rawat, state unit chief Ganesh Godiyal, AICC in charge Devendra Yadav and senior leader Pritam Singh said the theme song was a marker of the changing mood of the people.
The punch line of the Congress theme song in the state is 'Teen Tigada Kaam Bigada, Uttarakhand mein nahi aayegi ab Bhajpa dobara' – a pun on the ruling BJP changing three CMs in five years.
Four Additional Judges in Two High Courts Elevated as Permanent Judges
According to the Department of Justice in the Law Ministry, four additional judges, one from the Calcutta High Court and three from the Bombay High Court, were elevated as permanent judges.
One additional judge of the Bombay High Court was also given a fresh one-year term from March 4 this year to continue as an additional judge.
Five World Powers Issue Pledge to Prevent Nuclear War
Five of the world's nuclear powers pledged to prevent the proliferation of nuclear arms and have also said that nuclear war is not an option.
In a rare statement issued jointly, China, France, Russia, the UK and the US said: "We believe strongly that the further spread of such weapons must be prevented."
There was also affirmation that nuclear weapons — for as long as they continue to exist — should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war.
The permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council (P5) agreed "to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control."
The joint pledge was issued ahead of what was to be the latest review of the Treaty of the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Indian Navy's 1971 War Veteran Vice Admiral S.H. Sarma Passes Away
The Indian Navy's 1971 Indo-Pak war veteran Vice Admiral S.H. Sarma died at the age of 100.
Sarma was the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet during the 1971 war. India had defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war leading to the creation of Bangladesh.
Officials said Sarma also served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC in C) of the Eastern Naval Command.
Vice Admiral Sarma had celebrated his 100th birthday on December 1 last year.
World Braille Day is an international day on 4 January and celebrates awareness of the importance of braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and visually impaired people. The date for the event was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly via a proclamation in November 2018, and marks the birthday of Louis Braille, creator of this writing system. The first World Braille Day was celebrated on January 4, 2019.
Ramnath Goenka Awards: Book on Influence of Politics in Tech Wins in Non-Fiction Category
Some stories need a deeper understanding and analysis to assess the enormity of their impact on people's lives. This is why the Ramnath Goenka Awards have a non-fiction book category that recognises published work that covers an issue on a scale that newspapers or television channels cannot attempt. The award is for books published in English.
Arun Mohan Sukumar won the award in this category for Midnight's Machines: A Political History of Technology in India, which was published in 2019. In his book, Sukumar examines how politics in India has led the country to reject or embrace certain technologies. He takes a broad view, from 1947 to the present, to look at how politics, and the political class, in India shape the way citizens think about technology.
Pradhan Launches NEAT 3.0 to Provide Best-developed ed-tech Solutions
Union Education Minister and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) 3.0, a single platform to provide the best-developed ed-tech solutions and courses to students of the country.
The minister also launched AICTE prescribed technical books in regional languages.
NEAT will be a game-changer in bridging the digital divide, especially among the economically disadvantaged students and also in fulfilling the knowledge-based requirement of India and the world.
National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) is an initiative to provide the use of best-developed technological solutions in the education sector to enhance the employability of the youth on a single platform for learners' convenience.
These solutions use artificial intelligence for a personalised and customised learning experience for better learning outcomes and skill development in the niche areas.
Gujarat to Host International Education Conference
A two-day international conference of academic institutions will be organised on January 5-6 in the run-up to the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, with a focus on the implementation of the National Education Policy, 2020.
The conference will aim to "effectively clarify the way to strengthen the relationship of industries, academia and students by explaining the roadmap for National Education Policy, 2020.
The conference will be held at Science City in Ahmedabad. Around 120 panel speakers, including 40 from abroad, will share their experiences across 21 different sessions.
Australia, Canada, Norway, UK and France will join as partner countries for the international conference. The British Council, the Australia India Business Exchange, Institute of International Education etc have joined as international participants.
Archaeologists Find 800-Year-Old Figurine of Falconer in Norway
Archaeologists excavating the medieval town of Oslo in Norway unearthed a finely carved figurine of a king or a queen with a falcon perched on his/her arm.
The figurine is 7.5 cm long and made of organic material, either bone or antler.
The artifact, probably a knife handle, is decorated on both sides and has a flat oval cross section.
The depticted person wears a long robe. The face is gentle and smiling with marked pupils.
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