- Odia poet Rabi Singh wins Atibadi Jagannath Das Samman
Odia poet Rabi Singh has been named the winner of the prestigious Atibadi Jagannath Das Samman instituted by the Odisha Sahitya Akademi, for the year 2017.
|
Atibadi Jagannath Das Samman |
| Atibadi Jagannath Das Samman is a literary award awarded by Odisha Sahitya Academy to an Odia language litterateur for lifetime contribution to Odia literature.
This award is named after 15th century Odia poet Atibadi Jagannath Das who was also known as Atibadi (greatest). Started in 1993, the first award was given to Odia poet Radha Mohan Gadnayak. |
- Ola appoints Nitin Gupta as CEO of Ola Money
Cab hailing app Ola has appointed PayU India co-founder Nitin Gupta as the chief executive officer of its wallet service, Ola Money.
Launched in November 2015, Ola Money competes with the likes of Paytm and MobiKwik. Besides paying for their Ola rides, users can also make payments for other companies like BookMyShow and Oyo Rooms.
- Sarvesh Tiwari Appointed as President Para Sports Foundation
Sarvesh Kumar Tiwari, was appointed as the President of Para-Sports Foundation (PSF), India. The announcement was made at the National Award for Divyangjan 2017 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Para Sports Foundation is a non-profit organization working towards the social welfare of persons with disabilities. It has been actively involved in organizing various tournaments and championships for the para-athletes.
The PSF is founded by Pradeep Raj, an international athlete with a disability and a national youth awardee from the President of India.
- Patnaik inaugurates Purvasha Folk & Tribal Art Museum
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has inaugurated Purvasha Folk and Tribal Art Museum set up at Barkul near Chilika through video conferencing. The chief minister also launched the website of ODIART Centre.
The Society for Development of Rural Literature has been set up to promote the cultural heritage of Odisha. The museum will preserve, protect and also project the rich cultural heritage for the posterity
- Bodhi Parva: BIMSTEC Festival of Buddhist Heritage
Dr. Mahesh Sharma has inaugurated the three days ‘Bodhi Parva: BIMSTEC Festival of Buddhist Heritage’ in New Delhi on December 08, 2017.
‘Bodhi Parva’ has entwined various threads of the Buddhist heritage into a beautiful melange including an exhibition of international and Indian Buddhist art and architecture, discourses by eminent scholars and practitioners of Buddhism, guided meditation and chanting by Buddhist monks and choir, screening of film on Buddhism, dance and music performances, quiz show and a food trail. These will help in building an awareness of BIMSTEC’s rich and common heritage.
- Public Procurement Portal for MSEs – MSME Sambandh
A public procurement portal, ‘MSME Sambandh’, was launched by Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises Minister (Independent charge) Giriraj Singh.
The objective of the portal is to monitor the implementation of the public procurement from MSEs by Central public sector enterprises.
The procurement policy mandates the Central government departments/CPSEs to procure an overall 20 per cent of their total annual purchases from MSEs.
- Meghalaya to get its first LPG bottling facility
The Centre has sanctioned Rs 75 crore for setting up a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plant in Meghalaya which will help increase the clean fuel’s penetration, especially in the rural areas of the state.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was inked between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the state government in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma in the city.
- India set to launch biomass trading platform
India is set to launch its first waste management and pollution exchange and trading platform. London’s GMEX Technologies (GMEX), a leading provider of exchange technology and wholly-owned subsidiary of GMEX Group will collaborate with the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (CGanga) to launch a Waste Trading Platform and Exchange to address the major pollution problems in the Ganga river basin.
- Kacheguda Becomes India’s First Energy-Efficient Railway Station
Kacheguda Railway Station under the South Central Railway (SCR) has earned the unique distinction of being the first Energy Efficient ‘A1 Category’ Railway Station on Indian Railways.
The station has achieved 100% energy efficiency by replacing 1,312 conventional lights with light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, among other steps.
- India to Achieve ‘Electricity for all’ by Early 2020s: IEA
Half a billion people have gained access to electricity in India since 2000, almost doubling the country’s electrification rate, according to the World Energy Access report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA). This “remarkable” growth puts India on course to achieving access to electricity for all in the early 2020s.
It is on track to decline to 674 million by 2030, with India reaching universal access well before then. Since 2012, more than 100 million people per year have gained electricity access, acceleration from the rate of 62 million people per year seen between 2000 and 2012.
- State to set up horse museum at Sarangkheda in Nandurbar
The famous horse market at Sarangkheda in tribal-dominated Nandurbar district is set to get bigger with the state government deciding to build a “horse museum”.
The museum and other improvements would attract tourists and create job opportunities for the local youth. The horse market, called the “Chetak Festival” in these parts, is a 300-year old tradition
- India now free of infective trachoma
Union Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda has declared India free of Infective Trachoma, which has been a leading cause of infectious blindness among children.
The survey findings indicate that the active trachoma infection has been eliminated among children in all the survey districts with overall prevalence of only 0.7 per cent
- Taj Mahal Named Second-Best UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Taj Mahal, India’s iconic ivory-white marble mausoleum in Agra, is the second best UNESCO world heritage site in the world, according to a new survey.
With over 8 million visitors per year, the monument of love built by mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, is rated after Cambodia’s Angkor Wat.
- Kanchanmala Pande Wins India’s 1st World Para Swimming Championship Gold
Visually impaired swimmer Kanchanmala Pande scripted history as she became the first Indian to win gold at the World Para Swimming Championship, taking place in Mexico. Pande stood first in the in 200 meters medley event in S-11 category.
- International Conference on Groundwater Organized
An International conference is being organized on the Ground water issues in the country with a theme of “Ground water Vision 2030- Water Security, Challenges and Climate Change Adaptation” from December 11 to 13, 2017.
The conference has been organized by the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the aegis of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India.
- Cristiano Ronaldo Wins Ballon d’Or, Equals Lionel Messi’s Record
Cristiano Ronaldo won his fifth Ballon D’Or, equalling arch-rival Lionel Messi’s record for clinching the prestigious title the most number of times.
Ronaldo’s goals helped Real Madrid to the Spanish League title and a second consecutive UEFA Champions League win.
He also was instrumental in Portugal’s successful 2018 World Cup qualification campaign. Ronaldo scored 15 goals, the second highest in the European qualifiers and fourth highest overall.
- Transgender weightlifter wins NZ its 1st World C’ship medal
A transgender weightlifter from New Zealand and an Iranian returning from an eight-year doping ban both won silver medals at the World Championships on the final day, which also witnessed two world records for Georgian Lasha Talakhadze.
Laurel Hubbard, 39, who lived as Gavin Hubbard until four years ago and competed at national level as a man, finished second in the women’s super-heavyweights behind Sarah Robles, who became the first from the United States to win gold at the World Championships in 23 years.
- India bag five medals on Day 1 of Asian Airgun C’ships
India started with a bang at the 10th Asian Airgun Shooting Championships, collecting five medals on the event’s opening day but Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang missed out on an individual podium finish in Wako City, Japan.
Ravi Kumar won an individual bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle while Arjun Babuta won individual silver in the corresponding junior men’s event. India also bagged three team silver medals in each of the three air rifle events.
**************************************
