Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 18th Nov 2021

Pochampally village in Telangana is set to be named as one of the best Tourism Villages by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)

ABOUT THE AWARD

• Aims to honour the villages which set outstanding examples as rural tourism destinations and to support these villages to enhance their tourism potential through training and access to opportunities for further improvement.
• Award will be handed over at the 24th  session of the UNWTO General Assembly scheduled to  be organised in the Spanish capital city of Madrid on December 2.

POCHAMPALLY

• Referred to as the Silk City of India for the exquisite saris that are woven in a unique style called Pochampally Ikat
• Received a Geographical Indicator (GI Status) in 2004
• Also known as Bhoodan Pochampally as the Bhoodan Movement was launched by Acharya Vinobha Bhave from this village on April 18, 1951.

Conservation Of Delhi's Sabz Burj Complete

DETAILS

• Called Sabz (green) Burj, but covered with turquoise blue tiles.
• Used as a police station of Nizamuddin area in the 20th century
• Lost its original grandeur after being subjected to insensitive architectural interventions
• Lies to the west of Humayun’s Tomb and serves as a gateway
• Said to be built in the 1530s
• No record of who built the tomb and for whom
• Demonstrates Timurid architectural style synonymous with Central Asia and is double-domed like Humayun’s Tomb.
• Outer dome is dotted with glazed tiles and displays unique geometric and interlacing patterns in different colours, and forms a prominent part of the neighbourhood’s skyline.
• Lotus finial atop the dome and the neck, however, consist of green tiles
• The incised plasterwork also gives a hint of green colour in parts.
• Conservation work at the monument was carried out by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and funded by Havells

Odisha Chief Minister is expected to soon lay the foundation stone of the Puri heritage corridor

ABOUT

• Conceived in 2016 - unveiled in December 2019
• To transform the holy town of Puri into an international place of heritage
• Includes redeveloping major portions of the holy town and in the vicinity of the temple for visitors and tourists
• Resolution for the project was passed in the state assembly unanimously by all the parties in February 2020
• After the initial funds of Rs 800 crore from the state government’s Augmentation of Basic Amenities and Development of Heritage and Architecture at Puri (ABADHA) scheme, another Rs 265 crore will be provided in the first phase.

SNIPPETS

• Karnataka promulgated an Ordinance for the amendment of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Act, 2020. This amendment will allow the civic body to collect ground rent, licence fee, building plan approval fee, scrutiny fee, and security deposit.
• Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday said an Australian consulate would be set up in Bengaluru and also announced the establishment of Australia-India Centre of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy, while addressing the inaugural session of the Bengaluru Tech Summit.
• Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP)  is an eye disease that could causes blindness in premature babies. KIDROP is the flagship tele-ROP programme started by Narayana Nethralaya in association with the Karnataka Government in 2009. It is a tele-medicine platform that helps pre-term babies born in neo-natal intensive care units (NICUs) who do not have an ROP specialist to screen and treat babies on time.
• A student outreach programme called “Education on Wheels”, that will provide an immersive learning experience to students of community schools in rural areas was launched by Reva University
• Sixteen girl students from Belagavi district, who have excelled in Kannada in school, have been awarded a one-time scholarship by ‘Keli Katheya’, a Kannada audiobook initiative.Keli Katheya was started in 2014 to bring alive some Kannada short stories in an audio format though film artistes’ voices. Profits generated from the sale of the audio book go towards supporting the education of girls in the border areas of Karnataka.
• West Bengal launched an ambitious “Duare Ration” scheme for providing foodgrains under the public distribution system at the doorstep for the entire population.
• Prime Minister inaugurated the 341 km long six-lane Purvanchal Expressway. The Purvanchal Expressway connects Lucknow-Sultanpur road (NH-731) and National Highway No. 31, 18 km east of UP-Bihar border and can be expanded to eight-lane in the future.
• The ‘India@75 BRO Motorcycle Expedition’ has successfully completed the third leg covering 2,450 kilometres in less than 11 days and reached Doom Dooma, Assam on November 14, 2021 after being flagged off from Siliguri on November 05, 2021.
• Country’s first-of-its kind, dedicated business incubator to be known as LINAC- NCDC Fisheries Business Incubation Centre (LlFlC) was inaugrated in Haryana’s Gurugram.National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), an implementing agency for the LIFIC
• The 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is paying a special tribute to Sir Sean Connery, the first actor to portray the most famous fictional British spy, James Bond on the big screen.
• India has slipped to 82nd position in 2021, five places down from 77th rank last year, in a global list that measures business bribery risks. The list by TRACE, an anti-bribery standard setting organisation, measures business bribery risk in 194 countries, territories, and autonomous and semi-autonomous regions.
• State of the art, prototype Air Pollution Control Tower (APCT) developed inhouse by BHEL in Noida was recently inaugurated. Designed and developed by BHEL’s Corporate R&D Division, manufactured at its HEEP Haridwar plant, and installed by Power Sector [NR] Noida, the APCT operates by pulling polluted air through its base and capturing the particulate matter in filters installed in the tower. Clean air is then released from the top of the tower. The captured particulate matter gets collected in the hopper at the bottom of the APCT for periodic removal for disposal.
• The Ganga Connect Exhibition was inaugurated in Birmingham on 15th November, 2021 at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire after successful inaugurations at Glasgow and Cardiff, UK.
• Union Minister of State for Culture inaugurated the three-day festival “Kashi Utsav” in Varanasi. It aims to celebrate iconic luminaries of Kashi. A theme has been dedicated to each day of the festival and these are: ‘Kashi ke Hastakshar’; ‘Kabir, Raidas ki Bani aur Nirgun Kashi’ and ‘Kavita aur Kahani - Kashi ki Zubani’