GK Snapshots on 1 December 2021
 

Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare 2021 – November 30

United Nations(UN)’s Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is annually observed across the globe on November 30th as a tribute to the victims who lost their lives or suffered due to chemical warfare.

The day also reaffirms the commitment of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to eliminate the threat of chemical weapons and promote peace, security, and multilateralism.

Objective:

• To assess the progress made towards preventing the use of Chemical weapons.

• To renew the commitment to achieve a world free of chemical weapons.

Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare’ will be held on 30th November each year or, when appropriate, on the first day of the regular session of the Conference.

iv.It also decided to proclaim the 29th April as International Day for the Foundation of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (“OPCW Day”).

• The Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare has been observed on 30th November since 2016.

NITI Aayog releases report on Online Dispute Resolution policy for Speedy Access to Justice

National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog released a report on Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) namely ‘Designing the Future of Dispute Resolution- the ODR Policy Plan for India’ which states a futuristic model for speedy access to justice.

• For the initiation of ODR, NITI Aayog constituted a committee in 2020 to formulate an action plan for ODR. It is headed by Justice (Retd) Arjan Kumar Sikri as its Chairman.

• ODR is aimed at resolving disputes outside of the court system through arbitration, mediation, and negotiation. Mainly, it is the use of technology to resolve disputes.

What is in the report?

It proposed measures at three levels viz. Structural Challenges, Behavioral Challenges, and Operational Challenges, to address the challenges in adopting ODR.

• It recommended increasing digital infrastructure, building capacity, regulatory framework, including permission for online notorization, and implementing it in a phased manner, etc.

Key Highlights of Report:

i.The report is a culmination of the action plan made by a committee headed by Arjan Kumar Sikri.

ii.ODR can help reduce the burden on the court by integrating them in court-annexed ADR (Adjudicatory Dispute-Resolution) centres, and introduced within Government departments for its internal disputes, as well as through e-Lok Adalat.s

• Notably, as of September 23, 2020, the government had 5,80,132 cases pending in different courts across the country.

iii.Currently, physical copies of documents and physical presence for verification are essential. The report recommends mainstreaming of e-stamping, integration of eSign for electronic signature and electronic seal, maintaining secure electronic records, etc.

iv.At the structural level, the report recommends increasing access to digital infrastructure while at behavioural level, it recommends adopting ODR for government litigation.

52nd IFFI 2021 held in Goa;Hema Malini & Prasoon Joshi won 2021 Indian Film Personality of the Year

52nd edition of the Asia’s oldest and largest film festival, International Film Festival of India (IFFI), held in Goa from November 20 to 28, 2021 in hybrid mode (that combines both virtual and physical modes) to showcase the excellence of film art and filmmakers from all over the world while boosting creativity and cultural exchange.

• Who Organised the 52nd IFFI?

It was organised jointly by the Directorate of Film Festivals (under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) and the Entertainment Society of Goa, Government of Goa, and Indian Film Industry.

• Indian Film Personality of the Year Award for 2021: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Singh Thakur, announced the Indian Film Personality of the Year Award for 2021 which was conferred to Hema Malini, Actor and Member of Parliament from Mathura, Uttar Pradesh and Prasoon Joshi, Lyricist and Chairperson, CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification).

• Opening film of 52nd IFFI: Carlos Saura’s The King of All the World (El Rey de Todo El Mundo).

• Closing film of 52nd IFFI: ‘A Hero’ an Iranian film written and directed by Asghar Farhadi.

Dr Jitendra Singh launches ‘unique’ face recognition Technologies for all Pensioners

The Union Minister of State for Personnel,Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh launched a “Unique” face recognition technology for all pensioners in the country. It will work as a proof of ‘life certificate’ for pensioners.

• This face recognition technology has been devised by the National Informatics Center (NIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in collaboration with the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India).

• The initiative to provide digital life certificates was launched by the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW).

Key points:
i.All pensioners are mandated to submit their life certificate annually to continue receiving pension.
ii.The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has already implemented a facility to provide these certificates through digital manner.
Process:
i.The integration facility has been created with ‘Bhavishya’ software. Bhavishya will provide an option to retiring employees, to link their Digi-locker account with their “Bhavishya” account and obtain their e-PPO in a seamless manner.

• Bhavishya is an online Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System implemented by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions.

65th Ballon d’Or: Argentina’s Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or Award for 7th time; Alexia Putellas won Women’s Award

Argentina’s Lionel Andrés Messi (Lionel Messi), who plays as a forward for Paris Saint-Germain has won the Ballon d’Or award or Golden Ball Award for the record 7th time and Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas has won the Women’s Ballon d’Or award or Ballon d’Or Féminin Award. This is Alexia’s first Ballon d’Or Award.

• The year 2021 marks the 65 edition of the Ballon d’Or Ceremony.

• The 2021 Ballon d’Or ceremony was held on 29th November 2021 in Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France.

Key Points:

i.Previously Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or award in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.

ii.Messi tops the list of Ballon d’Or recipients with 7 awards followed by Cristiano Ronaldo with 5 awards.

iii.Alexia Putellas is the 3rd recipient of the Women’s Ballon d’Or award after Ada Hegerberg in 2018 and Megan Rapinoe in 2019.

Other Winners:

i.Italy and PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has won the 2021 Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper.

ii.Bayern Munich and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski won the Striker of the Year award 2021.

iii.19-year-old Pedro González López, known as Pedri, of Spain won the Kopa trophy which is presented to the best male player age 21 or under.

iv.Chelsea FC won the 2021 Club of the Year at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony.

Indian-American Parag Agrawal Takes Over as CEO of Twitter; Jack Dorsey Stepped Down

The board of directors of Twitter has decided to appoint Indian American, Parag Agrawal, the Chief Technology Officer(CTO) of Twitter, as the new Chief Executive officer(CEO) of Twitter. He was appointed following the resignation of Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, from the post of CEO.

• Parag Agrawal will also be joining the board of directors of Twitter.

• Bret Taylor, a member of the board of Directors, Twitter, has been named as Independent Chair of the board succeeding Patrick Pichette.

About Parag Agrawal:

i.Parag Agrawal is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and Stanford University.

ii.He joined Twitter in 2011 as a software engineer and has been serving as the CTO since October 2017.

About Jack Dorsey:

 i.Jack Dorsey the co-founder of Twitter is also the CEO and Co-Founder, Square, a digital payments company.

ii.Jack Dorsey will remain a member of the board of Twitter till 2022.

iii.He has served as the CEO of Twitter from 2006 to 2008, and again from 2015 to 2021.

Sweden elect 1st Female Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson

The former Finance Minister of Sweden, Eva Magdalena Andersson from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) won her 2nd election and became 1st female Prime Minister (PM) of Sweden.

• On 24 November 2021 she was first elected as the PM but later resigned after her coalition partner (Green Party) quit the government and the budget failed to pass.

• Swedan’s Parliament is known as Riksdag.

• Sweden is the last Nordic country to get a female Prime Minister.

About Magdalena Andersson:
i.Magdalena Andersson was born on 23 January 1967. She is a 54 year old Swedish politician and economist serving as the PM from the Social Democratic Party or SDP.
ii.She began her political career as a political adviser to then PM Goran Persson in 1996 and then as Director of Planning.
iii.In 2004 she began to work in the Ministry of Finance as State Secretary.
iv.She became the head of the SDP on November 4, 2021. She is the second woman leader of the SDP.
 

China launches Zhongxing-1D Communications Satellite into Space

China launched a new communications satellite named Zhongxing-1D from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province, China.Zhongxing-1D is also known as ChinaSat-1D.

Key points:
i.The satellite was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. This rocket is regarded as the mainstay of the Chinese space programme since 1970.

• The launch marked the 399th mission for the Long March series carrier rockets

ii.It was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
iii.Services provided: high-quality voice, data, and radio and television transmission services etc.

Russian Navy Test-Fired Zircon, a Hypersonic Missile, in the White Sea

The Russian navy successfully test fired the Tsirkon/Zircon cruise missile, a hypersonic missile, in the White sea, a southern inlet of the Barents Sea, northwest coast of Russia. The Admiral Gorshkov frigate launched the Zircon cruise missile which striked the practice target at 400 kilometers (215 nautical miles) away.

• This is the latest launch in a series of tests of Zircon, will be commissioned into the Russian navy in 2022.

About Zircon:
i.Zircon, a anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile, is one of several hypersonic missiles under development in Russia.
ii.It is capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).
iii.This will boost the capability of Russia’s military. iv.Russia is planning to arm the Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines with Zircon.

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