• Deputy Commissioner Raghav Sharma honoured Virender Singh, captain of the Indian deaf T20 men’s cricket team, and awarded him Rs 51,000.
• The 39-year-old cricketer, who hails from Amb in the Una district, had led the team to victory at the Deaf International Cricket Council (DICC) T20 Champions Trophy at Ajman in the UAE in October this year.
• Five teams had participated in the tournament and India had defeated South Africa in the final match.
• Nishad Kumar also belongs to Una District who has won the silver medal for India in high jump in the Tokyo Paralympics 2020.

Why in News?

• Female enrolment in Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) has increased from 8% in 2016 to 20% in 2021-2022.
• In a written reply, Minister of State for Education Dr. Subhas Sarkar said this in the Rajya Sabha .
• To promote female students for pursuing higher education and research, University Grants Commission provides special post-graduate scholarships for girl students across the country.
• The Minister said, the All India Council for Technical Education is also giving ten thousand scholarships to girls entering technical education.
• He said, there has been consistent improvement in the enrolment of female students in STEM Courses.
• As per AISHE Report, the number of female students enrolled in STEM Courses has increased from 41 lakh 97 thousand 186 in 2016-17 to 43 lakh 87 thousand 248 in 2020-21.

 About STEM:

• The STEM acronym was introduced in 2001by scientific administrators at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).
• The organization previously used the acronym SMET when referring to the career fields in those disciplines or a curriculum that integrated knowledge and skills from those fields.
• It is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in 4 specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach.
• India is one of the countries that produce the highest number of scientists and engineers, the growth of STEM has picked up significantly over the last few years.
• Under Article 51A of the Constitution of India, it is a duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.

Significance:

• A robust STEM education creates critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and next-generation innovators.
• According to the National Science Foundation, it is predicted that 80% of the jobs created in the next decade will require some form of math and science skills.

Why in News?

• New beneficiaries added to this scheme.
• 54 In lakh, the additional number of people will benefit from Assam government’s second edition of ‘Orunodoi’.
• With this, the total number of beneficiaries will come to 27 lakh.

About ‘Orunodoi’ Scheme:

• It is a scheme of the Government of Assam is launched on 2nd October 2020.
• Under ‘Orunodoi’, monetary benefits have been envisaged for more than 24 lac poor household in the state.
• Government of Assam will provide monthly financial assistance to the eligible beneficiaries for procuring medicines, pulses, and sugar.
• The schematic benefit has been enhanced from 830/- to Rs. 1000/ Women.
• Women being the primary caretakers of the family are kept as beneficiaries of the scheme.
• ‘Orunodoi’ scheme will provide Financial Assistance of Rs. 1000 per month through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.
• The financial outlay for Orunodoi is ₹4,142 crore per annum.

Beneficiaries:

• The preliminary selection of the beneficiaries will be done at the level of Gaon Panchayat (GP) Village Council Development Committee (VCDC) Urban Local Body (ULB)based on eligibility/ineligibility conditions.

• European Union leaders have agreed to make Bosnia a formal candidate to join the bloc of 27 nations.
• The Approval in this regard was given at a summit in Brussels.
• Bosnia has become the third country, after conflict-ravaged Ukraine and Moldova, to be granted candidate status in the past six months.
• The European Council’s approval effectively ratified a decision negotiated, agreed upon, and announced by lower-level EU negotiators earlier in the week.
• Kosovo has also formally submitted its application to become a candidate member.

• India has successfully conducted night trials of nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni V, capable of striking targets at ranges up to 5,000 kilometers with very high degree of accuracy.
• The missile test firing was conducted from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast at around 5.30 pm yesterday.
• This was the latest test in the Agni missile series. According to defence sources, the test was carried out to validate new technologies and equipment on the missile that are now lighter than before.

About Agni-V

• Agni-5 is an ingeniously built advanced surface-to-surface ballistic missile developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
• It is a fire-and-forget missile, which cannot be stopped without an interceptor missile.
• The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) is the brain-child of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who aimed at making the country self-sufficient in the field of missile technology.
• The program had five missiles P-A-T-N-A, Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Nag, and Akash.

• Nepal and India are all set to conduct the 16th edition of Surya Kiran, the joint military training exercise between the two South Asian nations, from 16th December 2022.
• The exercise, which will focus on counter-terrorism, martial arts, humanitarian aid, natural disasters, environmental protection, will take place at the Integrated Military Training Centre in Saljhandi, Rupandehi district, Nepal.
• According to the Nepal Army, the Surya Kiranis a 14-day long joint training based on counter-insurgency operations in the jungle and mountainous terrain.
• The forces share their experiences drawn from several counter-insurgency operations during the exercise.
• Both armies familiarize themselves with each other’s weapons, equipment, tactics, techniques and operating procedures in a counter-insurgency environment.
• As many as 350 army personnel will take part in the joint exercise from both sides, according to the Nepal Army. It will conclude on December 29.
• The joint exercise first started in 2011.
• The 15th edition of Surya Kiran had taken place on September 20, 2021, in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand.

Why in News?

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra says, India is not reliant on China for accessing rare earth minerals.
• In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in India, capacity and capabilities in terms of mining, processing, extraction, refining and production of high pure RE oxides is adequately available.

About Rare Earth Minerals:

• Rare Earth Elements or Rare Earth Metals are a set of 17 elements in the periodic table — the 15 lanthanides, plus scandium and yttrium, which tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides, and have similar chemical properties.
• They used in production in a huge number of sectors, including renewable energy technology, oil refinery, electronics, and the glass industry.
• Rare Earth elements are used in space shuttle components, jet engine turbines, and drones.
• Cerium, the most abundant Rare Earth element, is essential to NASA’s Space Shuttle Programme.
• Although called “rare”, they are actually found relatively abundantly in the Earth’s crust.
• However, they are hazardous to extract, and there are relatively few places in the world that mine or produce them.
• According to the Rare Earth Technology Alliance (RETA), the estimated size of the Rare Earth sector is between $10 billion and $15 billion. About 100,000-110,000 tonnes of Rare Earth elements are produced annually around the world.

Reserves of rare-earth minerals:

• China has the largest reserve (37 percent), followed by Brazil and Vietnam (18 percent each), Russia (15 percent), and the remaining countries (12 percent).
• India has the world’s fifth-largest reserves of rare earth elements (contributing a total value of nearly $200 billion to the Indian economy), nearly twice as much as Australia.

Why in News?

• Recently, both Houses of Parliament passed the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

More about the news

• Renaming Arbitration Centre:
• The bill renames the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre as the India International Arbitration Centre.
• International and domestic arbitration:
• The Act requires the Arbitration Centre to strive to facilitate the conduct of international and domestic arbitration and conciliation and the new legislation expands this to include the conduct of other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
• The bill will help India emerge as an attractive destination for arbitration at the global level.
• Other highlights:
• The manner of conduct of arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution will be specified by the Central government through regulations.
• The Bill also allows the government to provide for removing any difficulties in implementing the Act up to five years from the date of commencement of the Act.
• Other ADRs:
• Bill also includes the conduct of other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADRs) besides arbitration.

Significance

• Changing name:
• Important cities in India such as Mumbai and Kolkata have their own arbitration centres.
• Even in Delhi, another body Delhi Arbitration Centre [DAC] is functioning.
• So it was envisaged that it will not be good to have two arbitration centres having the same name of Delhi.
• Making India international hub of arbitration:
• India is the fifth biggest economy in the world, yet we are not the international hub of arbitration, while small countries and cities have emerged as major centres for arbitration.
• Presently people prefer places such as Singapore, London and Hong Kong for arbitration.
• India can provide arbitration awards at more affordable charges in comparative to those centres.
• Institutaionalisation of Arbitration:
• The main problem in arbitration in the country right now is of delays – resulting from ad hoc arbitration – which are often appealed in courts.
• Considering the issue of pending cases in different levels of courts, the current system of arbitration is not institutionalised and through this Bill, the Government is making it institutionalised.
• Not under pressure:
• Government also rejected the allegations that the government has brought this bill and procedure under the pressure of the World Bank.

More About Arbitration

• Arbitration: 
• About:
• Arbitration is outside the court settlement of a dispute by one or more (odd number) persons who are appointed as arbitrators by both the parties.
• According to Section 2(1)(a) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 “Arbitration means any arbitration whether or not administered by permanent arbitral institution”.
• In other words, any form of arbitration irrespective of its nature has been recognised statutorily in India by bringing such arbitration under the ambit of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
• How does it work?
• It consists of a simplified trial, with simplified rules of evidence and with no discovery.
• Arbitration hearings are usually not a matter of public record.
• The arbitral award is binding on the parties just like a court decree or order.
• Arbitration Council of India (ACI):
• Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2019 seeks to insert a new Part to the Act of 1996 for the establishment and incorporation of an independent body namely, the Arbitration Council of India (ACI) for the purpose of grading of arbitral institutions and accreditation of arbitrators, etc
• Composition:
• The ACI will consist of a Chairperson who is either: (i) a Judge of the Supreme Court; or (ii) a Judge of a High Court; or (iii) Chief Justice of a High Court; or (iv) an eminent person with expert knowledge in the conduct of the arbitration.
• Other members will include an eminent arbitration practitioner, an academician with experience in arbitration, and government appointees.
• Functions:
• Framing policies for grading arbitral institutions and accrediting arbitrators
• Making policies for the establishment, operation and maintenance of uniform professional standards for all alternate dispute redressal matters
• Maintaining a depository of arbitral awards (judgments) made in India and abroad.

• The first meeting of the Development Working Group under India’s G20 Presidency concluded in
• The final day’s deliberations focussed on harnessing data for development and collective action on climate change.

The discussion was done on the following topics:

• The need for quality data,
• Related trust issues,
• Steps needed to bridge the digital divide,
• Capacity building in developing nations, and
• Aligning the work of the DWG with that of the Digital Economy Working Group.
• LiFE : Lifestyle for Environment – LiFE is a bold, transformative approach to sustainable living that proposes global shifts in both consumption (demand) and production (supply) pattern.
• Delegates from G20 countries welcomed India’s focus on SDG 12: ‘Responsible Consumption and Production,’ and deliberated avenues to integrate localised realities and knowledge, delineate scope and scale, and identify policy measures that enable and incentivise shifts in this area.

• Incurring huge financial losses owing to the poor dispatch of cement from the twin plants of ACC at Gagal and Ambuja Cements Limited at Darlaghat, the management has decided to shut their operations from tomorrow. The two plants were taken over by the Adani group recently.
• The management has stated that the rising operational cost which includes transportation and raw material cost and the prevailing market conditions, the transportation of cement has been drastically reduced.
• This has led to poor dispatch of cement which has hit the company’s market share. The company was incurring huge financial losses.
• Keeping in view these circumstances, the management has been forced to shut the operations of its two plants and all related activities with immediate effect.
• All employees have been informed not to attend the duties with immediate effect till further instructions issued late this evening. Hundreds of employees are engaged in the two plants.