• Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage inscribed ‘Garba of Gujarat’ on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during its 18^th session in Kasane, Botswana.
• The inclusion of Garba now makes it India’s 15^th inscription on the List.

ABOUT GARBA

• A ritualistic and devotional dance performed throughout the State of Gujarat, and across India, Garba is celebrated for nine days during the festival of Navaratri.
• The festival is dedicated to the worship of the feminine energy or Shakti.
• The cultural, performative, and visual expressions of this feminine energy are expressed through the Garba dance.
• The performative and visual celebration of Garba takes place within homes and temple courtyards, public spaces in villages, urban squares, streets, and large open grounds.
  • Garba thus becomes an all-encompassing participatory community event.
• In addition to being a religious ritual, Garba fosters social equality by diluting socio-economic, gender, and rigid sect structures. It continues to be inclusive and participative by diverse and marginalized communities, strengthening community bonds.
• The 14 other elements from India that have been inscripted to UNESCO’s representative list of ICH are
  • Ramlila;
  • yoga;
  • vedic chanting;
  • Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre of Kerala;
  • Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas;
  • Mudiyettu, ritual theatre and dance drama of Kerala;
  • Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan;
  • Chhau dance of eastern India;
  • Buddhist chanting of Ladakh;
  • Sankirtana, ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur;
  • traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making in Punjab;
  • Nawrouz;
  • Kumbh Mela and
  • Durga Puja in Kolkata.

WHAT IS INTANGIBLE CULTURE HERITAGE?

• It is the practices, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and sometimes individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage.
• The Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage currently has some 704 elements corresponding to 5 regions and 143 countries.

• International Civil Aviation Day is observed on December 7^th
• This year’s celebration focuses on the theme of “Advancing Innovation for Global Aviation Development.”
• It focuses on how innovation will shape and improve civil aviation worldwide in the future.
• International Civil Aviation Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on 7 December 1996.

ABOUT ICAO

• The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) was established on 7 December 1944 to promote global cooperation and uniformity in civil aviation matters.
• It is a specialised agency of United Nations.
• Headquarters- Montreal, Canada.

• The President of India paid floral tributes to Shri R. Venkataraman, former President of India, on his birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan on December 4, 2023.

ABOUT SHRI R VENKATARAMAN

• R Venkataraman was born in Rajamadam village in Tanjore district, Madras Presidency.
• He studied law and practised in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court of India.
• At a young age, he was an activist of the Indian independence movement and participated in the Quit India Movement.
• He was elected to independent India’s Provisional Parliament in 1950 as a member of the Indian National Congress party.
• He was a member of the constituent assembly that drafted India’s Constitution.
• He was also a member of the Lok Sabha from 1952 to 1977 onwards.
• He eventually joined the central government and served as the Minister of Finance and Industry in 1980-82 and Minister of Defence in 1982-84.
• He served as the 8^th President of India from 1987 to 1992.

• The first five days of the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland, an annual tourism event of the state government, has attracted more than 78,000 visitors including 1,621 foreigners.
• The 10-day-long festival that began on December 1 is being held at the picturesque Naga heritage village Kisama.
• It has been billed as the Festival of Festivals.
• It was first held in 2000.
• Festival highlights include the traditional Naga Morungs exhibition and the sale of arts and crafts, food stalls, song and dance shows, indigenous games etc.
• It is named after the hornbill, a culturally significant bird embodying fidelity, beauty, and grace in Naga folklore.
• The Hornbill Festival symbolizes the collective celebration of identity.

FACTS-

• Hornbill is state bird of-
  • Arunachal Pradesh (Great Hornbill)
  • Kerala (Great Indian Hornbill)
  • Chandigarh (Indian grey Hornbill)
• Blyth’s Tragopan or Tragopan blythii – is the State Bird of Nagaland.

• The inaugural meeting of the new Apex Autonomous Society called Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (BRIC) Society, emphasized the need to define a “Bio-vision” for India.
• Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology is functioning as the nodal agency for promotion of Biotechnology in the country.
  • It was accorded the Cabinet approval for rationalization of its 14 Autonomous Institutions (AIs) by subsuming them under one Apex Autonomous Society Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (BRIC), for centralized and unified governance to maximize impact of biotech research across the country.
• The BRIC Society aims to
  • engage in public-private research partnerships,
  • receive endowments from non-governmental resources, and
  • maintain distinct research mandates for each of the 14 subsumed institutions under a common governing body.

• India was re-elected to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council with the highest tally.
• India’s re-election falls under the Category of 10 states with “the largest interest in international seaborne trade”, alongside Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

 ABOUT INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION (IMO)

• It is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1948.
• Members- 175 members (including India) and 3 associate members.
• Headquarters- London
• It is the leading authority that regulates the maritime industry, which supports global trade, transportation, and all marine operations.
• The Organization consists of an Assembly, a Council, and five main Committees along with subcommittees.
  • The council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the assembly, for supervising the work of the organization.
• Between sessions of the assembly, the council performs the functions of the assembly, except that of making recommendations to governments on maritime safety and pollution prevention.

• The COP28 Presidency, in partnership with the World Health Organization and UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, unveiled the ‘COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health’, in recognition of the negative impacts of climate change on health.
• Endorsed by 123 countries, the Declaration marks a world first in governments acknowledging the growing health impacts of climate change on communities and countries.
  • India has not signed it.
• The declaration was announced at the World Climate Action Summit.
  • Every year, annual deaths from polluted air affect about 9 million people and 189 million people are exposed to weather-related events each year.
• Signatories to the Declaration commit to pursue objectives including-
  • strengthening the development and implementation of policies that maximise the health gains from mitigation and adaptation actions and prevent worsening health impacts from climate change;
  • improving the ability of health systems to anticipate, and implement adaptation interventions against,
  • climate-sensitive disease and health risks;
  • promoting steps to curb emissions and reduce waste in the health sector; and
  • encouraging the scaling up of investments in climate and health from a variety of sources.
• A set of new finance commitments on climate and health was announced to back up these political commitments, including a USD 300 million commitment by the Global Fund to prepare health systems, USD 100 million by the Rockefeller Foundation to scale up climate and health solutions, and an announcement by the UK Government of up to GBP 54 million.
• For the first time, Health Ministers are attending the annual UN climate conference alongside their peers from Environment Ministries.

• The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has ruled in a judgment that the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has superior and overriding powers over the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in matters relating to professional misconduct of chartered accountants (CAs).

 ABOUT NATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING AUTHORITY (NFRA)

• The NFRA was constituted in 2018, by the Government of India under the Companies Act, 2013.
• It is an independent regulator to oversee the auditing profession and accounting standards in India.
• It aims to continuously improve the quality of all corporate financial reporting in India.
• Headquarters- New Delhi
• Nodal Ministry– Ministry of Corporate Affairs
• Roles and functions
  • For the Central Government’s approval, NFRA will recommend accounting and auditing policies and standards businesses should embrace.
  • It will monitor and enforce adherence to the accounting and auditing standards.
  • It will monitor the professions’ adherence to these standards and the quality of their work and make recommendations for ways to raise service quality.
  • It will carry out any additional tasks or obligations required for or related to the tasks above and obligations.
• It consists of a chairperson, who shall be a person of eminence and having expertise in accountancy, auditing, finance, or law to be appointed by the Central Government and such other members not exceeding fifteen consisting of part-time and full-time members.
• NFRA have the power to investigate, either suo moto or on a reference made to it by the Central Government into the matters of professional or other misconduct committed by any member or firm of chartered accountants registered under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949.
• It has the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 while trying a suit.

• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released its annual report on crime in India for the year 2022.
• The report is a compilation of data on reported crime from across the country, and provides the big picture of broad trends in crime registration.
• Report include statistics on offences ranging from crimes against women to economic and financial crimes.

MAJOR FINDINGS

• Total of 58,24,946 cognizable crimes were registered showing decline of 4.5% in the registration of cases over the second pandemic year, 2021.
• The crime rate, or crimes registered per lakh population, has declined from 445.9 in 2021 to 422.2 in 2022.
  • This is seen as a better indicator, since absolute numbers on crime increase as the population increases.
• 4,45,256 cases of crime against women were registered in 2022. This was an increase of 4% over the 2021 numbers.
  • Majority of cases under crime against women were registered under ‘cruelty by Husband or relatives’ (31.4%).
• Cases of crimes against children showed an increase of 8.7% compared to 2021.
• Reporting of cyber crime increased significantly by 24.4 percentage points compared to 2021, to 65,893 cases.
• An increase of 4.2% was observed in suicides reported during 2022 (1,70,924 suicides) as compared to 2021.

ABOUT NCRB

• Set up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals to assist the investigators in linking the crime to the perpetrators based on the recommendations of the Tandon Committee, National Police Commission (1977-1981) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Taskforce (1985).
• It is under the purview of Ministry of Home Affairs and is headquartered in New Delhi.
• It also acts as a “national warehouse” for the fingerprint records of Indian and foreign criminals, and assists in locating interstate criminals through fingerprint search.
• The NCRB has four divisions–
  • Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS),
  • Crime Statistics,
  • Finger Prints, and

• International Volunteer Day is observed annually on December 5^th.
• International Volunteer Day was established by the United Nations in 1985 and provides an opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of millions of volunteers who dedicate their time, skills, and resources to make a positive difference.