G-20 presidency is an opportunity to focus on global good: Modi

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 27 said that assuming the G20 presidency was a huge opportunity for India and that the country must utilise it by focusing on global good
• India will officially assume the G20 presidency from the current chair Indonesia on December 1

About G20

• The G20 was formed in 1999 in the backdrop of the financial crisis of the late 1990sthat hit East Asia and Southeast Asia in particular.
• It aims to secure global financial stability by involving middle-income countries.
• Together, the G20 countries include 60 % of the world’s population, 80 % of global GDP, and 75 % of global trade.

Members:

• Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU.
  • Spain is invited as a permanent guest.

Presidency:

• • The presidency of the G20 rotates every year among members, and the country holding the presidency, together with the previous and next presidency-holder, forms the ‘Troika’ to ensure continuity of the G20 agenda.
    • Italy, Indonesia, and India are the Troika countries right now and Indonesia holds the current Presidency and India will officially assume the G20 presidency from the current chair Indonesia on December 1

Mandate:

• • The G20 has no permanent secretariat. The agenda and work are coordinated by representatives of the G20 countries, known as ‘Sherpas’, who work together with the finance ministers and governors of the central banks.
  • The primary mandate of the grouping is for International Economic cooperation with particular emphasis to prevent future financial crises across the world.
  • It plays a significant role in shaping the global economic agenda.
  • From 1999-2008 the forum exalted from a grouping of Central bank governors and finance ministers to Heads of states.

Egyptian President Sisi to be chief guest at Republic Day celebrations

• India has invited Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi as the chief guest on Republic Day 2023, said the Ministry of External Affairs in an official statement on Sunday.
• This would be the first time that an Egyptian president would be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations.
• Egypt is also one of the nine guest countries to the G20 summit under India’s presidency in 2023.
• India will officially assume the G20 presidency from the current chair Indonesia on December 1.
• “India and Egypt enjoy warm and friendly relations based on civilizational and deep-rooted people-to-people ties.
• Both countries are celebrating the 75th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year.
• Egypt has been invited as a ‘Guest Country’ during India’s G20 Presidency in 2022-23,” the statement read.

About Egypt

• Egypt, country located in the northeastern corner of Africa.
• Egypt’s heartland, the Nile River valley and delta, was the home of one of the principal civilizations of the ancient Middle East and, like Mesopotamia farther east, was the site of one of the world’s earliest urban and literate societies.

Two cheetahs moved into acclimatisation enclosure

• Two cheetahs in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur were moved from the quarantine zone to the larger acclimatisation enclosure on Sunday, which took the total number of big cats in the latter area to live, an official said.
• Eight cheetahs arrived in the State from Namibia in southern Africa on September 17 as part the ambitious reintroduction project of the species and were released into the quarantine zone by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• “Female cheetahs Asha and Tbilisi joined males Obaan, Alton, and Freddie in the larger enclosure,”’ said Kuno Divisional Forest Officer Prakash Kumar Verma.

UNESCO award for Mumbai museum restoration project

• The restoration of the 100-year-old Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai has won the ‘Award of Excellence’ in this year’s UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
• The museum is a part of the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai’s world heritage property.
• It was established as the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India in 1922.
• UNESCO Bangkok, in a statement, said the jury hailed it as a project that “sets a standard” for the conservation of heritage monuments.
• “The jury applauded the museum project for restoring ‘a major civic institution in the historic city of Mumbai’,” it said.

About UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in Education, the Sciences and Culture.

• It is also a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG),a coalition of UN agencies and organizations aimed at fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• UNESCO’s Headquartersare located in Paris and the Organization has more than 50 field offices around the world.
• It has 193 Members and 11 Associate Members(As of April 2020) and is governed by the General Conference and the Executive Board.
  • Three UNESCO member states are not UN members: Cook Islands, Niue, and Palestine.
  • While three UN member states (Israel, Liechtenstein, United States)are not UNESCO members.

Objectives of UNESCO                                                                     

• UNESCO focuses on a set of objectives such as:
  • Attaining quality education for all and lifelong learning
  • Mobilizing science knowledge and policy for sustainable development
  • Addressing emerging social and ethical challenges
  • Fostering cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and a culture of peace
  • Building inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication
  • Focuses on global priority areas – “Africa” and “Gender Equality”.

First private university for educationally backward Mewat region coming up in Rajasthan’s Alwar

Ravi Kumar Sagar conferred with the prestigious Dr. Abdul Kalam Seva Puraskar recently

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan released the book ‘India: The Mother of Democracy’

Deepa Malik first Paralympic medalist  who has been appointed as the Ni-Kshay Mitra by health ministry

Arunachal Pradesh designated Himalayan Yak as a food animal by FSSAI

Source : THE HINDU