On December 16, 2021, Union Minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Giriraj Singh, launched MIS (Management Information System) portal to ranking of States/UTs in Land Acquisition Projects.

Key Facts

• With the launch of this portal, states/UTs will be ranked in Land Acquisition Projects under RFCTLARR Act, 2013, which is dubbed as “Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013”.
• Based on the ranking and performance, the top 3 States and top 3 districts will be awarded.

Significance of the portal

MIS portal is being dubbed as a ‘Vikas Portal’. Portal will not only show data and figures but also the speed of development in India. It is a result of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide impetus to the Gati Shakti Mission.

Minister of Communication, Ashwini Vaishnaw, recently highlighted that India has started work towards developing the next generation of communication technology, using indigenously developed 6G infrastructure. It is likely to be launch by 2023-end or early 2024.

Highlights

• Though 5G is still in its nascent stage, 6G will build on top of
• 6G will bring the human, physical environment and virtual environment together.
• For example, Metaverse is one of the 5G use cases. It promises to disrupt traditional as well as digital spaces. With the launch of 6G, Metaverse would evolve into a final model, but it will also unify with physical world by using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
• Most significant aspect of 6G will be its ability to sense the environment, people and objects.

What is 6G network?

6G is the sixth-generation standard in telecommunications. It is currently under development for wireless communications technologies that support cellular data networks. It is the planned successor to 5G network. This network will probably be broadband cellular networks. In it, the service area is divided into small geographical areas known as cells. Companies like Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, LG and Apple, as well as countries like China, Japan and Singapore have shown interest in developing 6G networks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to address and inaugurate an All-India Mayor’s Conference in Varanasi on December 17, 2021 via video conferencing.

Highlights

• The All-India Mayor’s Conference is being organised by the department of Urban Development of Uttar Pradesh.
• Conference will witness the participation of mayor’s from more than 100 cities.
• Mayor’s conference will begin after the inauguration of a three-day exhibition.

Location of the conference

The conference will be held in Deen Dayal Upadhyay-Business Facilitation Center (DDUTFC) in Bada Lalpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Significance of the conference

The conference marks the beginning of a month-long celebrations in Varanasi because of inauguration of Kashi Vishwanath Dham.

Telangana Government has issued a revised guidelines for curbing child labour menace, in line with the rules formulated by Centre.

Key facts

• State government seeks to take strict action against those who employ or force children below 14 years to work.
• As per revised norms, if anyone attempts to employ children aged below 14 years, he or she will be punished with a jail term of six months to one year.
• They would also be charged with a fine of Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000.

Task Force Committee

Labour Department will also constitute a task force committee headed by District Collector concerned, to effectively monitor and curb the child labour menace.

On December 15, 2021, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of increasing marriage age for women from 18 years to 21 years.

Present age for marriage

Currently, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 while for women it is 18.

About Task Force

The Task force, headed by Jaya Jaitley, was constituted in June 2020. It was constituted by Ministry of women & child development, to re-examine the right age of marriage for girls. It gave report in December 2020. It had recommended that, minimum age of women at the time of giving birth to first child should be 21. Task force recommended to increase marriage age for girls from 18 years to 21 years. Proposal also correlated the marriage age to health & social indices like maternal mortality, infant mortality, and nutrition levels in mothers and children.

What acts will be amended now?

With the approval of this proposal, government will bring amendments to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Hindu Marriage Act and Special Marriage Act for giving new proposal a shape.

On December 16, 2021, the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO placed a traditional Haitian soup called ‘Joumou Soup’ in the intangible cultural heritage list.

Highlights

• Haitian soup is widely considered as a symbol of India’s independence.
• Joumou soup is much more than a dish. It tells the story of heroes & heroines of Haitian independence as well as their struggle for human rights and hard-won freedom.
• It is a squash-based soup and it became a symbol of things long forbidden to slaves under the French domination until Haiti became independent on January 1, 1804.
• Haitians celebrated their freedom by consuming the soup.
• They traditionally serve the soup on New Year’s Day for commemorating the anniversary of liberation from slavery.

Protected status to the soup

The Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee of UNESCO awarded Joumou soup a protected status on December 16, 2021.

On December 17, 2021, India and Vietnam signed agreement for cooperation in the field of Information Technology (IT).

Highlights

• Ministers from both the countries exchanged views on several initiatives taken by their respective countries to boost digital economy.
• Ministers also agreed to enhance ICT Trade & cooperation between two countries.
• Ministers further noted that, though there has been an active engagement between both the countries over the last few years. However, there are vast possibilities of exploring further cooperation.

MoU on cooperation in IT

Ministers signed an agreement to extend India- Vietnam MoU on cooperation in Information Technology.  The MoU seeks to foster active cooperation and exchange between Governments, private entities & institutions involved in enhancing capacity building and other public & private organizations from both sides in the field of ICT.

On the Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, West Bengal has topped the chart in the large states category.

Four Categories of states in Index

Index has divided states into four categories: large states, small states, North East and Union Territories.

The report on ‘Index on Foundational Literacy & Numeracy’ has been prepared by ‘Institute for Competitiveness’. It was released by chairman of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), Bibek Debroy.

• Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Index is an indicator of literacy among children aged below 10 years.
• In the ‘large states’ category, Bihar languished at the bottom.
• In ‘small states’ category, Kerala was placed at top spot.
• Jharkhand emerged as the worst performer on the index.
• Kerala scored 67.95 in large state category while West Bengal scored 58.95 in small state category.
• Among Union Territory, Lakshadweep topped the index with score of 52.69.
• Mizoram topped the list in Northeast category, with score of 51.64.
• More than 50 per cent of the states scored below the national average of 28.05.

Worst Performers

• In Union Territory category, Ladakh was listed at the bottom.
• In North East Category, Arunachal Pradesh came last.