WHY IN THE NEWS?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is set to digitally launch the ‘Indian Space Association’ (ISpA).

About:
Indian Space Association (ISpA) is the premier industry association of space and satellite companies.

• ISpA is represented by leading homegrown and global corporations having advanced capabilities in space & satellite technologies.
• Founding members of ISpA include Nelco (Tata group), Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Mapmyindia, OneWeb, Walchandnagar Industries and Ananth Technology Limited.
• Core members include BEL, Godrej, Hughes India, Centum Electronics, Azista-BST Aerospace Private Limited and Maxar India.

Function of ISpA

In line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, ISpA aspires become the collective voice of Indian Space industry. It will undertake Policy Advocacy as well as engage with all the stakeholders in Indian Space sector. It will also engage with the Government and its Agencies for making India self-reliant, technologically advanced and a leading player in space sector.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The first consignment of Geographical Indication (GI) tagged sweet dish Mihidana, from Bardhaman, West Bengal has been exported to the Kingdom of Bahrain.
• This initiative is part of the effort to promote indigenous & Geographical Identification (GI) tagged products of India globally. The product was exported by APEDA registered M/S DM Enterprises, Kolkata.
• West Bengal’s Bardhaman got the GI tag for the Mihidana sweetmeats in 2017. A GI tag is a sign denoting a specific geographical origin and possesses qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Professor Eric A. Hanushek and Dr Rukmini Banerji have been awarded the 2021 Yidan Prize for Education Development for improving learning outcomes in schools at scale.
• Yidan Prize is the world’s highest education accolade, in recognition of their ground-breaking work addressing a crucial piece of the education puzzle: improving quality of education and outcomes for learners at scale.
• The Yidan Prize was founded by Charles Chen Yidan in 2016 to create a better world through education. Yidan Prize Laureate receives a gold medal and a sum of $3.9 million.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 was awarded jointly to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.”  This has had a great impact on pharmaceutical research and has made chemistry greener.
• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021.
• Catalysts are thus fundamental tools for chemists, but researchers long believed that there were, in principle, just two types of catalysts available: metals and enzymes.
• Benjamin List and David MacMillan are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 because in 2000 they, independent of each other, developed a third type of catalysis. It is called asymmetric organocatalysis and builds upon small organic molecules

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The famed white onion of Alibag in Maharashtra’s Raigad district was given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag bringing worldwide recognition to its unique sweet taste, no-tears factor, as well as its medicinal properties.
• The soil of Alibaug taluka has low sulphur content. The NABL-approved lab test report mentions low pungency, sweet taste, ‘no tear’ factor, low pyruvic acid, high protein, fat & fibre, etc.
• The agriculture department here and Konkan Agriculture University had jointly submitted the GI application on January 15, 2019. On September 29 this year, the proposal was scrutinised in the Mumbai office of the Registrar of Patents and it was decided to confer GI tag on Alibag’s white onion.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) has launched its programme in Seychelles. India has been chosen as the Partner Administration for this programme. The country will be providing its Tax Expert in support of the initiative.
• The focus of the 12-month programme will be on Transfer Pricing cases of tourism and financial services sectors.
• TIWB is a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), since its launch in 2015.
• The aim of the initiative is to aid countries in strengthening their tax administration by transferring technical know-how and skills to the tax auditors through sharing of best audit practices

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has inaugurated the Mahabahu Brahmaputra River Heritage Centre in the presence of Governor Jagdish Mukhi and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati in the state of Assam.
• The centre was originally served as the residence of the British deputy commissioner of Kamrup. Nearly 150 years after it was constructed, the iconic DC Bungalow of Guwahati was opened to the public as a heritage centre.
• After the British annexed Assam in 1826 (after the Treaty of Yandaboo), the post of DC was created for Guwahati in 1839.
• Several sites were surveyed for DC residence before Barphukanar Tilla on the banks of the Brahmaputra, where cannons used in the Battle of Saraighat lay scattered, was chosen. Post-independence, it continued to be the DC’s bungalow until 2011.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• FC Goa beat Mohammedan Sporting to win their maiden Durand Cup football title, 1-0, in the final, held at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata.
• FC Goa Captain Eduardo Bedia scored the all-important goal in the 105th minute after the final match went into the extra time.
• The 2021 Durand Cup was the 130th edition of the Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament in Asia. The tournament was held from September 05 to October 03, 2021, in West Bengal

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has presented Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Award for National Integration and National Contribution.
• This award has been conferred to eminent writer Nirode Kumar Barooah, Assam Branch of the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust and Shillong Chamber Choir at a special function in Guwahati.
• The award carries a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh, a citation, and a shawl. It is one of the biggest civilian awards of Assam.
• This award was instituted by the Assam government in memory of the state’s first chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi. 
• The Assam branch of the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust was founded by Mahatma Gandhi on 9 January 1946.
• Shillong Chamber Choir (SCC) is a renowned musical group founded in 2001. It has performed on various national and international platforms.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The CSIR’s Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT) has introduced cinnamon cultivation in Himachal Pradesh on a pilot basis.
• True cinnamon or Cinnamomumverum is grown mainly in Sri Lanka, while minor producing countries include Seychelles, Madagascar, and India.
• India imports 45,318 tonnes of cinnamon annually from China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia and Nepal. With the cultivation of Cinnamomum Verum, HP has become the first state of India to have organized cultivation of cinnamon.