WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Andhra Pradesh Police has topped the ‘IPF Smart Policing’ Index 2021, among 29 states and Union Territories, released by the Indian Police Foundation (IPF). Andhra Pradesh has secured the first rank with an overall score of 8.11 out of 10.
• Telangana Police is in the second position with 8.10 points while Assam Police has secured the third position with an overall rating of 7.89. With a score of 5.81, Uttar Pradesh is ranked at 28th position and Bihar has occupied the last position with 5.74 points.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Renowned Punjabi folk singer Gurmeet Bawa has passed away following a prolonged illness. She was 77.
• Gurmeet was best known for her long ‘hek’ (Breathless opening of a Punjabi folk song calling “ho” to create a melodious voice with an unbreakable wave) that she could hold for about 45 seconds.
• She came to fame after she started performing on Doordarshan and thus became the first Punjabi female singer to appear on the national television channel.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The first All-India Survey on Domestic Workers was launched recently.

Ministry: Labour and Employment Ministry

• The first-of-its-kind survey in India

Key takeaways 

• The survey would be completed in a year.

Carried out by Labour Bureau

Aim: 

• Estimating the number of domestic workers at the national and state levels
• Those engaged in informal employment
• Migrant and non-migrant workers
• Domestic workers staying at their employers’ homes and those who do not; their wages

Broad parameters to be covered:

• Household Characteristics such as HH size, Religion, Social Group.
• Demographic Characteristics such as Name, Age, 
• Age of entry, Social Group, Migrant status, Vocational Training/Education
• Information on Employer Households.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The 72nd edition of the National Book Award was organized as a virtual event by the National Book Foundation.
• Jason Mott won the 2021 National Book Award for fiction for his novel “Hell of a Book”, a narrative about a black author’s adventure while travelling around in a book tour.

Winners of 2021 National Book Awards:

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Russian Navy successfully test-fired the ‘Zircon’ Hypersonic Cruise Missile from Frigate – Admiral Gorshkov warship, which rightly hit the test target placed in the Russian Arctic waters.
• Russia destroyed its own satellite in low-earth orbit using an Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Missile named ‘Nudol’, which led to the formation of a cloud of space debris that could potentially destroy other orbiting satellites & the International Space Station (ISS).

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has delivered the keynote address at The Sydney Dialogue, via video conferencing. PM addressed the event on the theme ‘India’s technology evolution and revolution’.
• The Sydney Dialogue has been organised by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The event will bring together political, business and government leaders to debate, generate new ideas and work towards common understandings of the opportunities and challenges posed by emerging and critical technologies.
• The Sydney Dialogue is an annual summit of cyber and critical technologies to discuss the fallout of the digital domain on the law and order situation in the world.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The Border Roads Organisation has received the Guinness World Record for constructing & blacktopping the world highest motorable road passing through the 19,024 feet 0.73 inches (5798.251m) high Umlingla Pass in the Union Territory of Ladakh.
• The 52-kilometre long Chisumle to Demchok tarmac road was developed under Project HIMANK (93RCC/753 BRTF) of BRO. Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhry, Director General Border Roads, received the Guinness World Records certificate.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Veteran author, football journalist and sports commentator Novy Kapadia has passed away due to health complications. He was often called  ‘the voice of Indian football’.
• The noted commentator had covered nine FIFA World Cups, as well as Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. As an author, Kapadia had written books like Barefoot to Boots, The Many Lives Of Indian Football among others.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) is celebrated every year from 18-24 November.
• The purpose of the week is to increase awareness of global antimicrobial resistance, encourage best practices among the general public, health workers and policymakers to avoid the further emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.
• World Antimicrobial Awareness Week Theme 2021 is Spread Awareness, Stop Resistance. The theme calls on One Health stakeholders, policymakers, health care providers, and the general public to be Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness champions.
• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been declared as one of the top 10 global health threats by the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind visited Sui village in the Bhiwani district of Haryana, to inaugurate various public facilities in the village.
• This village is being developed as Adarsh Gram (Model village) by Mahadevi Parameshwaridas Jindal Charitable Trust under the Swa-Prerit Adarsh Gram Yojana (SPAGY) scheme of the Haryana Government.
• The President and his wife Savita Kovind planted a peepal tree at Sui village.
• The Jindal trust has undertaken developmental works of over Rs 25 crore to transform Sui into an ADARSH VILLAGE.
• It must be noted that Bhiwani is the first district in India where two Presidents have visited. Prior to this President APJ Abdul Kalam visited Bhiwani in 2007.
• The village is being developed as ‘Adarsh gram’ by the Mahadevi Parameshwaridas Jindal Charitable Trust under the Haryana government’s Swa-Prerit Adarsh Gram Yojana (SPAGY).