• Among the 68 newly elected legislators, 23 are first-timers —14 of the Congress, eight of BJP and one Independent.
• Eight Cabinet minister lost the elections. Only three — outgoing Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and his cabinet colleagues Bikram Singh and Sukh Ram Chaudhary — managed to retain their seats. Former BJP president Rajeev Bindal, who was elected MLA five times in a row, lost the elections.
• Thirty-six outgoing MLAs will not be members of the 14th Assembly; 26 members lost the elections while 10 others did not contest. Senior Congress leaders and former ministers, including Kaul Singh, Asha Kumari and Ram Lal Thakur, also lost the elections.
• The new faces include Lokender Singh (Anni), Dr Janak Raj (Bharmour), Trilok Jamwal (Bilaspur), DS Thakur (Dalhousie), Puran Chand (Darang), Deep Raj (Karsog), Dilip Singh (Sarkaghat) and Ranvir Singh Nikka (Nurpur), all from the BJP.
• The Congress gained 20 seats and increased its tally to 40 in the 68-member House. Its 14 new faces include Suresh Kumar (Bhoranj), Neeraj Nayyar (Chamba), Sudarshan Singh Babloo (Chintpurni), Chander Shekhar (Dharampur), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret), Malender Rajan (Indora), Devinder Kumar (Kutlehar), Bhuvneshar Gaur (Manali), Raghuvir Singh Bali (Nagrota), Ajay Solanki (Nahan), Kewal Singh Pathania (Shahpur), Harish Janartha (Shimla), Kuldeep Rathore (Theog) and Vinod Sultanpuri (Kasauli).
• Independent MLA Ashish Sharma, a BJP rebel, was elected from Hamirpur.
• The new Assembly has three six-time MLAs, namely Jai Ram Thakur, Chander Kumar and Harshwardhan Chauhan.
• Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, Mukesh Agnihotri, Anil Sharma and Kuldeep Singh Pathania are all five-time legislators.
• Sukhvinder Singh Sukku, former BJP president Satpal Singh Satti, Speaker Vipin Parmar, Jagat Singh Negi, Nand Lal, Rohit Thakur, Sudhir Sharma, Vinay Kumar and Bikram Singh and Sukh Ram Chaudhary are among the four-time legislators.
• There are 11 three-time MLAs and 18 two-time legislators.

• International Day of Neutrality is commemorated on December 12. It is a day when people look at the possibility of a world free of armed and other types of conflicts. Its focus was on advocating and campaigning for intra-state peaceful relations. Switzerland serves as the perfect example of neutrality.

International Day of Neutrality 2022: Significance

• The International Day of Neutrality is a reminder of how important neutrality truly is, especially for humanitarian reasons. During armed conflicts, it is neutrality that NGOs and other humanitarian agencies are able to care for casualties in a proper way. The day is also a reminder to strive towards peace. It asks people to aim for a world where there is no conflict and how the world by putting their efforts together can achieve this.

International Day of Neutrality: History

• On 2 February 2017,the UN General Assembly adopted without a vote resolution 71/275, introduced by Turkmenistan, recognized by the UN as a permanently neutral state since 12 December 1995, which noted the link between the preservation of peace and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and declared 12 December as the International Day of Neutrality.

• The legendary former athlete PT Usha has been formally elected as the first woman president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
• Ajay H Patel has been elected as senior Vice President, Rajlaxmi Singh Deo and Gagan Narang as Vice Presidents of the Indian Olympic Association.

About PT Usha

• The 58-year-old Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha – for short – is recognised as a phenom in Indian athletics and came onto the scene during the 1980s.
• Later, she became active as a coach and member of sports administration and was nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP in 2022 by the central government.
• The 58-year-old Usha is a multiple Asian Games gold medallist and a fourth-place finisher in the 1984 Olympics 400m hurdles final.
• She was also Known as the ‘Payyoli Express’

HISTORY

• India first participated in the Olympics in 1900 in Paris. The country was represented by Norman Pritchard, an Anglo Indian who was holidaying in Paris during that time.
• The seeds for creation of an organisation for coordinating the Olympic movement in India was related to India’s participation in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, when Sir Dorabji Tata suggested the need for a Sports body at National level for promoting Olympic Sport in united India. After the 1920 Games, the Committee sending the team to these Games met, and, on the advice of Sir Dorabji Tata, invited Dr. A.G. Noehren (Physical Education Director of YMCA India) to also join them.
• Subsequently, in 1923-24, a provisional All India Olympic Committee was set-up, which organised the All India Olympic Games (that later became the National Games of India) in February 1924. Eight athletes from these Games were selected to represent India at the 1924 Paris Summer Olympics, accompanied by manager Harry Crowe Buck. This gave impetus to the development and institutionalization of sports in India, and, in 1927, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was formed, with Sir Dorabji Tata as its founding President and Dr. A.G. Noehren as Secretary.
• In the following months Harry Buck and Dr. Noehren travelled across India and helped many States establish their Olympic Associations, as member units of the IOA.
• The same year as it was formed, 1927, the Indian Olympic Association was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee.

• Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared the State Seed Farm at Aluva in Ernakulam district as the first carbon-neutral farm in the country.
• The declaration was the culmination of decade-long efforts which included totally organic agricultural activities and scientific interventions to maintain soil health in the farm.
• Studies by the Kerala Agricultural University held last August had found that the carbon emissions from the activities in the farm was 43 tonnes, while carbon sequestration was 213 tonnes, thus making it not only neutral but also carbon negative.
• The state aims to achieve 40 percent of its energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2025.
• Pinarayi Vijayan said the government has also plans to set up model carbon-neutral farms in all the 140 assembly constituencies in the state.

What is Carbon Neutral Farming?

• Carbon emissions from agriculture account for almost 24%of the total Greenhouse gas emissions. Both field inside and related land use factors contribute to carbon emission.
• From crop management to manure addition, every step has revealed glaring numbers for the world.
• According to a report byFAO, the carbon contribution of the agriculture sector accounted for 3 billion tons in 2018.

The carbon emissions from farming can be divided into following three ways for a holistic understanding:

Emissions due to land use pattern

• These include carbon emissions because of inappropriately using the land.
• For example, the use of pesticides and fertilizer on cropland determines the absorption rate and the amount of carbon discharged into the atmosphere.

Emissions due to ruminant farming

• Ruminants are herbivore animals that perform fermentation on plant-based food to obtain nutrients in a specialized chamber.
• Large-scale domestication of animals like a cow has resulted in massive Greenhouse gas emissions.
• One cow can expel about 220 pounds of methane in one year. Methane has a 28% more chance of ocean warming than other gases.

Emissions due to rice growth

• Emissions from rice farming not only contribute to an early climate crisis but also reduces the nutrient quotient of the variety.
• Food production causes immense emissions into the environment. From using machinery to adding fertilizer, farmers unintentionally have been fuelling the ejection of excessive carbon into the atmosphere.

Ways to control carbon emissions from the agriculture sector

• Carbon-neutral farming is all about practicing a scientifically proven methodology that arrests carbon emissions without affecting agricultural output.
• Proper farm management techniques can result in healthy crop yields, without endangering the planet.
• This section discusses various approaches from multiple standpoints that can result in a climate-friendly crop occupation.

• Jammu and Kashmir has been awarded 1st prize in the category for Ayushman Bharat health account ID generation and 2nd prize in the category for Teleconsultation conducted during the celebration of Universal Health Coverage Day 2022 which is being celebrated on 10th and 11th December at International Cooperation and Convention Centre, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
• Universal Health Coverage Day is celebrated every year to commemorate the significance of Universal health coverage which aims to ensure quality healthcare closer to the people without any financial hardships.

ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account)

• ABHA number is a 14 digit number that will uniquely identify you as a participant in India’s digital healthcare ecosystem.
• ABHA number will establish a strong and trustable identity for you that will be accepted by healthcare providers and payers across the country.

• Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the country’s first chartered gateway, and a business jet terminal at the Cochin International Airport. With this, Cochin airport has become the fourth airport in the country to operate a private jet terminal.
• The state has achieved 114 per cent growth in the hospitality sector and 75 per cent growth in the aviation sector.
• The new facility at the airport will boost tourism as well as the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) sector in the state. It will propel the airport to the forefront of the aviation industry in the country. The facility will also serve as a platform to integrate the hospitality and aviation sectors.
• The Chief Minister, who is also the Chairman of the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) said the International Cargo Complex at the airport will be commissioned in October next year. He said work on the 25,000 sq ft commercial zone project in front of the International Terminal at the airport will commence next month.
• The business jet terminal inaugurated was built at a cost of 40 crore rupees by renovating the old domestic terminal. It covers an area of 40,000 sq ft.
• The gateway features facilities like exclusive private car parking space, drive-in porch, a grand lobby, five comfortable lounges, business center, check-in, immigration, customs, health and security systems, duty free shop, foreign exchange counter and state-of-the-art video conferencing system.
• Apart from this, a ‘safe house’ is also set up for high-security VIP guests.

• Kerala is the only state in India that has four international airports.
• They are:

1. Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.
2. Cochin International Airport
3. Calicut International Airport
4. Kannur International Airport

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated virtually three National Ayush Institutes in
• The institutes are All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Goa, the National Institute of Unani Medicine (NIUM), Ghaziabad and the National Institute of Homeopathy (NIH), Delhi.
• Addressing the valedictory function of 9th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) and Arogya Expo, he said these 3 institutions will give speed to AYUSH healthcare system.
• Ayurveda is not just about treatment but it also promotes wellness.
• The Prime Minister stressed the need for documentation of Data Based Evidence to further promote Ayurveda.
• The event witnessed the active participation of more than 400 overseas delegates representing over 50 countries, international students and various other stakeholders of Ayurveda.
• The theme of this year’s edition of WAC is ‘Ayurveda for One Health’.

AYUSH System of Medicine:

• AYUSH is the acronym of the medical systems that are being practiced in India such as Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy.
• These systems are based on definite medical philosophies and represent a way of healthy living with established concepts on prevention of diseases and promotion of health.
• The basic approach of all these systems on health, disease and treatment are holistic.

• 58 airports will be covered under Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0

About:

• Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0was announced on 27 October 2021.

What is the objective?

• The main objective of the Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 is to increase share of air carriage in the modal mix for transportation of Agri-produce, which includes horticulture, fishery, livestock and processed products.
• The scheme assists farmers in transporting agriculture products so that it improves their value realisation.
• The Scheme aims to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time bound, air transportation and associated logistics for all Agri-produce originating especially from North-East, hilly and tribal regions of the country.
  • Few successful examplesare air transportation of ‘King Chillies, Burmese Grapes & Assamese Lemon’ from Guwahati, ‘Jackfruit’ from Tripura and ‘Litchi’ from Darbhanga.

Waiver:

• For facilitating and incentivising movement of agri-produce by air transportation, Airports Authority of India (AAI) provides full waiver of Landing, Parking, Terminal Navigational Landing Charges (TNLC) and Route Navigation Facility Charges (RNFC) for Indian freighters and P2C (Passenger-to-Cargo) Aircraft.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation has also asked States to reduce sales tax on aviation turbine fuel to one perc ent for airlines under the Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme.

Budget:

• There is no specific budget allocation under Krishi Udan Scheme.

Ministries/Departments:

• It is a convergence scheme where eight Ministries/Departmentsnamely Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region would leverage their existing schemes to strengthen the logistics for transportation of Agri-produce.

E-Kushal:

• The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is also developing an online platform named E-Kushal (Krishi Udaan for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics).
• It will facilitate information dissemination to all stakeholders regarding the transportation of agricultural produce.
• E-Kushal will also assist in coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme.
• The MoCA has also proposed a convergence of E-Kushal with the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform.

Krishi UDAN scheme:

• The Krishi UDAN scheme was launched in August 2020.
• It aims to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products on international and national routes so that it improves their value realisation.

• The China Index, a database relaunched by Doublethink Labs, a Taiwan-based research organisation has ranked Pakistan atop a list of 82 other nations around the world and said that its links and dependency on China with regard to foreign and domestic policy, technology, and the economy make it particularly susceptible to Chinese influence.

Objective of this Index:

• A major goal of this Index is to raise awareness around the world about the different aspects of Chinese influence and what that can actually look like.

Parameters used in the Compilation of this Index:

• It has nine Parameters to monitor influence around the world, which includes the following:
• Higher education

1. domestic politics
2. economic ties
3. foreign policy
4. military cooperation
5. media
6. technology
7. cultural links.
8. law enforcement

Ranking of Countries:

• Following Pakistan, Cambodia and Singapore are listed at the second spot while Thailand at third position.
• South Africa and Peru are tied at the fifth spot on the index.
• The Philippines is listed at the seventh spot.
• Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are at the eighth and ninth spots on the index. These two countries share a border with China’s Xinjiang Province and are the Central Asian countries most influenced by Beijing.
• Malaysia lies in the 10th position.
• Kyrgyzstan ranks in the 10th place while Kazakhstan holds the 15th spot.
• Germany is the highest-ranked European country at 19th spot while the United States leads North America in the 21st position.
• Uzbekistan is listed at the 24th spot while Turkmenistan which sells a large portion of its natural gas to China is listed at the 45th position.
• The United Kingdom is in the 27th spot on the index and is ranked as the second-highest European country.
• This time, the database involved 82 nations, however, DoubleThink Labs plans to expand it in the future, particularly across Africa.

• The 14th Vidhan Sabha will have 40 Congress MLAs, 25 of the BJP and three Independent MLAs, most of whom are younger, richer and more qualified than the legislators in the previous Assembly.
• However, one exception is the higher percentage of MLAs with criminal cases against them. Data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms and the HP Election Watch reveals that 41% of the newly elected MLAs face criminal charges while and 18% of them face serious criminal charges. In all, 23 of the 40 Congress MLAs and five of the 25 BJP legislators are facing criminal cases this time.
• The percentage of crorepati MLAs has gone up from 76% in 2017 to 93% this time. As per the data, 95% of the Congress MLAs 88% of the BJP MLAs are crorepatis. All three Independent MLAs are also crorepatis.
• Two MLAs have doctorate degrees, 15 are postgraduates, 16 graduates, seven Class XII pass and nine Class X pass. The lone woman MLA, Reena Kashyap from Pachhad in Sirmaur, has been elected for the second time.
• The average value of assets of the MLAs in the Assembly, too, has increased from Rs 8.88 crore in 2017 to Rs 13.26 crore this time. Also, 34 MLAs have assets worth over Rs 5 crore while 23 MLAs have assets worth between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore. Nine MLAs have assets valuing between Rs 2 crore and Rs 50 lakh while only two MLAs have assets worth less than Rs 50 lakh.
• The 40 Congress MLAs have total assets worth Rs 14.25 crore while 25 of the BJP havea ssets worth Rs 12.42 crore. The three Independent MLAs have assets worth Rs 7.09 crore. Balbir Verma, BJP MLA from Chopal, is the richest with assets worth Rs 128.45 crore, followed by Vikramaditya Singh Rs 101.39 crore and RS Bali from Nagrota Bagwan Rs 92.36 crore.
• Lokender Kumar, BJP MLA from Anni in Kullu, has the minimum valued assets of Rs 29 lakh.
• The highest number of 28 MLAs fall in the 50 to 60 years age category and 20 in the 40 to 50 years group. Eight MLAs each are in the 60 to 70 years and the 30-40 years groups.