Current Affairs - PIB News

initiation of the Open Data Week to encourage adoption of open data and promote innovation across India’s urban ecosystem.

• Leading up to the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav - Smart Cities: Smart Urbanization’ conference scheduled to be held in Surat, during February 2022, the Open Data Week is part of a series of pre-event initiatives being undertaken by MoHUA to promote awareness and use of open data.

The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, in association with the State Government of Telangana organized the 24th Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) 2021 on 7th – 8th February 2022 at Hyderabad, Telangana.

• The theme of this Conference was “India’s Techade: Digital Governance in a Post Pandemic World”.

The Smart Cities Mission, MoHUA has launched “Smart cities and Academia Towards Action & Research (SAAR)” program.

• It is a joint initiative of MoHUA, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and leading Indian academic institutions of the country.

On 21st December, 2021, the first batch of Indigenous Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicles was inducted into the Indian Army.

Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicle (AERV)

• These next-generation vehicles were inducted into the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army.

On 20th December, 2021, NITI Aayog signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) with United Nations World Food Program (WFP).

The Statement of Intent

• It focuses on strategic and technical collaboration between NITI Aayog and WFP to strengthen climate resilient agriculture for enhanced food and nutrition security in India.

On 17th December, 2021, the third Annual Defence Dialogue between India and France was held in New Delhi.

Key Highlights

• In the meeting, a wide range of bilateral, regional, defence and defence industrial cooperation issues were discussed

To give opportunity to young eligible legal practitioners aspiring to serve as Notary Public, the Union Govt. has come out with as draft Bill for consultation.

Several provisions have been incorporated in the Constitution for safeguarding and promoting the interests and rights of the Scheduled Tribes in various spheres so as to enable them to join the national mainstream.

Constitutional Provisions

• Article 46 of the Constitution provides that the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the society and in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.

On 10th November 2021, the Union Government has approved Reservation norms for mandatory use of jute in packaging for the Jute Year 2021-22 (1st July, 2021 to 30th June, 2022).

• The mandatory packaging norms approved for Jute Year 2021-22 provide for 100% reservation of the foodgrains and 20% of sugar to be compulsorily packed in jute bags.

The Ministry of Mines has notified the Mineral Conservation and Development (Amendment) Rules, 2021 on 3rd November, 2021 to amend the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 2017 [MCDR].

The MCDR have been framed under section 18 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 [MMDR Act] to provide rules regarding conservation of minerals, systematic and scientific mining, and development of the mineral in the country and for the protection of environment.