Uttarakhand Affairs
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has termed his meeting with his Uttar Pradesh (UP) counterpart Yogi Adityanath on the long pending dispute of distribution of assets as historic for the people of Uttarakhand. Dhami returned to provisional State Capital Dehradun after the end of his three day visit to Lucknow on Saturday evening. He was accorded a warm welcome by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers on his return in Dehradun.
Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi, president of Uttarakhand BJP Madan Kaushik and other leaders were present to receive the CM.
Expressing his gratitude to the UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Dhami said that the issue which was pending from last 21 years due to lack of strong will was discussed point by point and understanding on every issue was reached.
Under the agreement reached, the land of the bus stand in Kichha would be handed over to Uttarakhand in 15 days and pending payment of Rs 90 crore would be given to the forest department of the state. The permission for water Sports and tourism in Dhora, Begul and Nanak Sagar reservoirs has been given to the State.
National and International Affairs
The First Ligo Project In India Has Been Granted Land
The Hingoli income division has given the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project 225 hectares of land in Maharashtra.
Highlights:
The land was given to the country in order to organise primary facilities.
In the United States, just two such labs exist: Hanford in Washington and Livingston in Louisiana. Gravitational waves are studied at these labs.
This initiative will provide scientists and engineers more for Learning more about gravitational waves.
In 2016, the LIGO-India mega scientific plan for analysing gravity waves received “in principle” permission from the Indian government.
LIGO is a huge observatory designed to detect and experiment with cosmic gravitational waves. Its primary goal is to exploit gravitational-wave data in astronomy research.
The LIGO India project was suggested with the goal of relocating one of the most sophisticated LIGO detectors from Hanford to India.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Atomic Energy are piloting this initiative (DAE).
Foreign Exchange Reserves Decline By USD 763 Million to USD 640.112 Billion
The Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) has provided updated data on Foreign Exchange reserves. The country’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $ 763 million to $ 640.112 billion in the week ending November 12, according to new figures.
Highlights:
In the week ending November 5, foreign exchange reserves fell by USD 1.145 billion to USD 640.874 billion. Reserves, on the other hand, hit a new high of USD 642.453 billion in the week ending September 3, 2021.
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) weekly data shows that the reduction in forex reserves this reporting week was due to a drop in foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of overall reserves. FCA fell $2.094 billion to $575.487 billion in the reporting week, according to the data.
Foreign currency assets comprise the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units held in foreign exchange reserves, such as the euro, pound, and yen, expressed in dollar terms. In the reporting week, gold reserves increased by $ 1.461 billion to $ 40.239 billion.
World Toilet Day Is Commemorated On 19 November
On November 19, 2021, World Toilet Day will be recognised as an official United Nations international day all over the world.
Highlights:
Global Report On Trends In Prevalence Of Tobacco Use 20002025
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released the fourth edition of its Global Report on Tobacco Use Trends 2000-2025.
Highlights:
According to the research, the South-East Asia region had the fastest reduction in cigarette consumption. In 2020, the Average prevalence of smoking among males will be 25%, down from 50% in 2000.
Tobacco smoking among Women in the South-East Region has declined from 8.9% in 2000 to 1.6 percent in 2020.
In order to fulfil the Global NCD action goal plan by 2025, India and Nepal are anticipated to achieve a 30 percent relative decrease in tobacco usage.
According to the WHO research, if present tobacco control efforts continue, smoking rates in this region might drop to as low as 11% by 2025.