• The Himachal Pradesh government has appointed three advisers with Cabinet rank.
• While Sunil Sharma had been appointed political adviser to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu; Gokul Butail was on Tuesday appointed principal adviser, IT and innovation, to Himachal CM.
• The state government also appointed Naresh Chauhan as principal adviser (media) to the Chief Minister.

• Tamil Nadu will be the first state to establish its own Climate Change Mission. It began the Green Tamil Nadu Mission in September 2021, and the Tamil Nadu Wetlands Mission in August 2022.
• The State Climate Action Plan will be implemented through a Special Purpose Vehicle, the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company (TNGCC).
• To establish plans to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions in the state, promote public transportation usage, develop measures to minimize emissions by using green and renewable energy, expand forest cover, and efficiently manage waste.
• The aims also include developing strategies to alleviate the effects of climate change, gaining access to financial resources for adaptation, initiating climate education in educational institutions, and focusing on climate action for women and children.

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has developed resilient varieties in different crops tolerant to climatic stresses to improve food grain production in the face of changing climate.
• Since 2014, as many as 2122 varieties have been released, out of which 1752 are climate resilient varieties, which include 400 abiotic stress tolerant varieties and 1352 are biotic stress tolerant.
• Although climate change is understood to have its negative impact on food crops, through the help of technology the negative impacts have been dealt with effectively.
• ICAR has launched a flagship network project, namely National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), to study the impact of climate change on agriculture, including crops, livestock, horticulture and fisheries and develop and promote climate resilient technologies in agriculture which will address vulnerable areas—regions prone to extreme weather conditions like droughts, floods, frost, heat waves, etc.
• Apart from climate resilient food varieties, 68 location-specific climate-resilient technologies have been developed, agricultural contingency plans for 650 districts prepared.
• Based on vulnerability assessment, climate-resilient technologies are being demonstrated on farmers’ fields in 151 clusters covering 446 village.
• In the past decade, 16,958 capacity building programmes were conducted throughout the country under NICRA project to educate stakeholders on various aspects of climate change and resilient technologies, covering 514816 different stakeholders including farmers to enable wider adoption of climate resilient technologies.

• The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are now required to submit a monthly progress report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the utilisation of modernisation funds to ensure optimal use of the taxpayers’ money.
• A high-level committee has been set up in the Police Modernisation (PM) division of MHA which will monitor the reports on a quarterly basis. The committee is chaired by the Joint Secretary (PM) and has the Inspectors General (Provisioning) of all CAPFs and Director (Finance) in the MHA as members.
• For proper monitoring of the progress of Modernisation Plan-IV for the optimum utilisation of funds, detailed scheme guidelines have been issued on May 25, 2022.
• In the scheme guidelines, a monitoring framework has been prepared which stipulates that the PM Division will carry out detailed review of progress of Modernization Plan-IV on quarterly basis.
• CAPFs would provide a monthly progress report to the PM division by 5th of every month,” states an action taken report on the demands for grants (2022-23) of the MHA laid in Parliament by the Standing Committee on Home Affairs.
• The first review of fund utilisation status in CAPFs under Modernization Plan-IV was done on August 25, according to the report.
• A Management Information System (MIS) would also be developed to monitor activities of this plan.
• The Modernisation Plan-IV for CAPFs, which is in continuation of the Modernisation Plan-III, has a duration from February 2022 to March 2026, with a total financial outlay of Rs 1,523 crore. It is aimed at improving the overall operational efficiency and preparedness of these forces to address the challenges being faced on the borders as well as in different theatres affected by left-wing extremism, terrorism, insurgency and communal unrest.
• The CAPFs include the Border Security Force(BSF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP)and Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB), which are the border guarding organisations, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which are meant for internal security duties, the Assam Rifles (AR), a paramilitary force that has a dual responsibility of guarding the border with Myanmar and internal security duties in the northeast, and the National Security Guard(NSG), which is a specialist counter-terrorism force.
• The combined strength of all CAPFs is about 10 lakh personnel.
• These forces function under the administrative control of the MHA, which is responsible for their annual budget and provisioning of grants for modernisation or other special purposes as required.
• In an earlier report, the committee on Home Affairs had pointed out under-utilisation of funds by over 50 per cent by the CISF and the AR under the Modernisation Plan-III. The committee had recommended that MHA should closely monitor the progress of Modernisation Plan-IV and review the remedial measures at regular intervals to make necessary changes to it, as and when required, so that the funds for the purpose are optimally utilised.
• In its report the committee observed that CISF and AR are having better plans for optimum utilisation of funds under this scheme. “CISF and AR explained their respective action plan for FY 2022-23 for procurement of all items approved under this scheme and assured to utilise the allocated funds by the end of this financial year.

About:

• India and Indonesia have been carrying out CORPATs twice a year since 2002.
• Aim: Keeping the vital part of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) safe and secure for commercial shipping, international trade and conduct of legitimate maritime activities.
• CORPATs help build understanding and interoperability between navies, and facilitate institution of measures to prevent and suppress Illegal Unreported Unregulated (IUU) fishing, drug trafficking, maritime terrorism, armed robbery and piracy.
• It helps to enhance the operational synergy by exchange of information for prevention of smuggling, illegal immigration and for conduct of Search and Rescue (SAR) operations at sea.
• As part of Government of India’s vision SAGAR(Security And Growth for All in the Region), Indian Navy has been proactively engaging with countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) to enhance maritime security in the region.

• The Ministry of Power will celebrate the National Energy Conservation Day in New Delhi to showcase the achievements of the nation in energy efficiency and conservation.
• National Energy Conservation Day is celebrated on 14^thDecember every year.
• President Droupadi Murmu will be the Chief Guest of the event and will felicitate the winners of the National Energy Conservation and National Energy Efficiency Innovation Awards. During the event, the President will also launch EV Yatra Portal and Mobile application.
• The Bureau of Energy Efficiency has developed a Mobile Application to facilitate in-vehicle navigation to the nearest public EV charger, a website to disseminate information on various central and state-level initiatives to promote e-mobility in the country.
• The web portal to enable Charge Point Operators (CPOs) to register their charging details securely into the National Online Database.

• The Embassy of India and Nepal Government’s Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for undertaking three projects in Nepal under the grant assistance of the Indian Government, one each in education, healthcare and drinking water sectors.
• The three projects include the construction of the Shree Janata Belaka Secondary School building in the Udayapur district, the construction of Ngonga Thenchowk Chholing meditation centre in the Soulukhumbu district and the construction of Lisnekhola Tikasung Dangchet Jharlang water supply project in Dhading district shall be implemented at a cost of NRs. 101.79 million.
• The Indian Embassy in Nepal noted that India has taken up more than 532 High Impact Development Projects (HICDPs) in Nepal and completed 476 projects in various sectors, including health, education, drinking water, connectivity, sanitation and development of other public utilities in seven provinces of Nepal.

The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations that exist between India and Nepal.

The Recent Developments:

• In 2019, the cabinet also approved ₹1236 crore investments for Arun-3 hydro project.
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Government of Nepal and Sutlej Jal Vikas Nigam (SJVN) Limited for the project in 2008 for execution on a Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis for a period of 30 years including five years of the construction period.
• International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage:
• The two leaders signed five agreements, including one between the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN)Ltd and the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) for the development and implementation of the 490.2 megawatts Arun-4 hydropower project.
• India has offered to set up a satellite campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Rupandehi.
• Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project (PMP) is a bi-national hydropower project developed in Mahakali River bordering Nepal and India.
• Cross-border Rail Link: The operationalisation of the 35 kilometre cross-border rail link from Jayanagar (Bihar) to Kurtha (Nepal) will befurther extended to Bijalpura and Bardibas.
• Nepal’s induction into theInternational Solar Alliance.

About India International Science Festival:

• It was first held in Delhi in 2015.
• Over all six editions of IISF have been organized since then in northern, southern and the eastern regions of the country.
• It is an initiative of Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Science of Government of India in association with Vijnana Bharati
• Aim:To show the ways how science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) provide us with the solutions to improve our lives.
• It is a science movement with Swadeshi spirit lead by eminent scientists of the country.

About Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana:

• Aim: Transforming villages with significant tribal population into model village (Adarsh Gram) covering about population of 4.22 crore (About 40% of the total Tribal Population)

Objective

• To achieve integrated socio-economic development of selected villages through convergence approach.
• Improving the infrastructure in vital sectors like health, education, connectivity and livelihood.
• It includes maximizing the coverage of individual / family benefit schemes of the Central / State Governments.
• The scheme envisions to mitigate gaps prominently in 8 sectors of development viz. Road connectivity , Telecom connectivity , School, Anganwadi Centres, Health Sub-Centre, Drinking water facility.

Revised Guidelines of the scheme

• The Scheme was revised to capture the Gaps in critical socio-economic ‘Monitorable Indicators’ as part of various sectors/domains namely; water and sanitation, education, health and nutrition, agricultural best practices etc

New Approach for implementation

• The identification of needs or Gaps with regard to the ‘Monitorable Indicators’ are based on a Need Assessment exercise. 
• The ‘Village Development Plan’ (VDP) is based on the data collected as part of the Need Assessment exercise.
• PMAGY provids the platform for convergent implementation of other Schemes with the aim to achieve saturation in the various domains.

• Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda introduced in Lok Sabha ‘The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Third Amendment) Bill, 2022’ to grant ST status to the state’s Hattis.
• There are around 6 lakh members of the Hatti community Trans-Giri region.
• The Bill will amend the existing law to include Hattis in the Scheduled Tribe list.
• BJP was defeated in Shillai and Renuka ji constituencies in Sirmaur district where Hattis are in significant numbers.
• The Hatti community in the Jaunsar region of Uttrakhand had already been given tribal status.  “The Trans-Giri region of Sirmaur shares the border with Jaunsar, and the two have a cultural similarity.