Chabahar port: India, Afghanistan, Iran agree on routes for trade and transit corridors
A trilateral meeting of officials from India, Afghanistan and Iran on the strategically important Chabahar port was held in the Iranian port city Chabahar on 23 Dec.
Officials from the three countries agreed on the routes for trade and transit corridors between their countries at the first meeting of the Follow-up Committee.
On the occasion, India Ports Global Limited Company opened its office and took over operations at the Shaheed Behesti port at Chabahar. During the meeting, it was also agreed to allow cargo movement at Chabahar.
The Chabahar Agreement was signed in June 2015 and approved by Iran’s Guardian Council in November 2016.
Chabahar is being seen as a gateway for trade by India, Iran and Afghanistan with Central Asian countries.
According to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in May 2015, EXIM Bank is to extend a line of credit of $150 million for developing the port and another $85 million was allotted for supplying equipment to develop two berths at Chabahar.
No rise in working women despite high literacy levels: ICRIER study
Study conducted by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) shows, rise in literacy levels among women has failed to translate into an increase in the number of working women.
Highlights of the ICRIER Study
There has been an increasing clamor over the fall in the female labor force participation rates in India over the past few years.
As per the study, it is due to a combination of socio-economic factors such as the importance of education for improving marital prospects as well as higher prestige attached to households which keep women out of labor force.
Labour Bureau’s employment figures to show that there is a rise in the percentage of women out of labor force between 2011-2012 and 2015-2016 across all levels of education and age-cohorts.
India has grown at an unparalleled rate in the past two decades with growth rate surpassing 9 percent per annum between 2004-05 and 2007-08 and averaging about 7 percent per annum between the time periods 2012-13 and 2016-17.
In the study, four points of consideration have been identified such as the link between education and marriage markets, education and social norms, the poor demand conditions for educated women and quality of education.
- Expansion of education in India has been to improve the marriage prospects of women, rather than their employment prospects. Thus, if the primary motivation for educating women in India is to enhance their marriage prospects, then labour market policies targeting improved employment opportunities for women might not be very beneficial.
- Social norms also ensure that higher prestige or social status is associated with families which keep their women out of the workforce. The gendered division of labour and social norms is so deeply entrenched in our society that education fails to improve women’s situation in any meaningful way
- Oversupply of educated women relative to growth in jobs that are considered appropriate by them (formal sector jobs), might have led to crowding out of females from the labour force. The reservation wages of educated women remain high, since they are usually married to educated men and thus, have access to financial resources
- Education in most developing countries seeks to ‘domesticate’ rather than ‘empower’ women. The educational practices unconsciously perpetuate gender stereotypes through gender segregation in classroom and gender insensitive curriculum.
Scientists ‘sew’ with just sound waves
Scientists from University of Bristol in the UK and Universidad Publica De Navarra in Spain have successfully used sound waves to levitate and manipulate multiple objects simultaneously for the first time, using the system to “sew” a thread into a piece of fabric.
How it works?
Standing waves are sounds waves that are reflected off of a surface and back onto themselves forming fixed points (nodes) instead of peaks and valleys.
In acoustic levitation, those waves are used to trap and push objects back and forth.
The new technique, called holographic acoustic tweezers, uses an array of 250 small loudspeakers that creates nodes capable of suspending objects and moving them individually.
Algorithms were used to make the objects appear as if they were being moved around by invisible hands in a choreographed dance.
Probable uses:
The system could be used to acoustically stitch up internal injuries or deliver drugs to target organs.
Acoustic tweezers have similar capabilities to optical tweezers, which uses lasers to trap and transport micro-particles. However, acoustic tweezers have the edge over optical systems when it comes to operating within human tissue.
Scientists hope that soon after, it could be adapted for use in biological tissue.
PM inaugurates Lalitgiri Museum in Odisha along with other development projects
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated projects worth over Rs 14,500 crore during a day-long visit to Odisha on 23 Dec 2018.
Apart from inaugurating projects related to health, higher education, road and highways, PM Modi also inaugurated the 100-bedded ESIC hospital in Bhubaneshwar. The hospital has been built at a cost of Rs 73.5 crore.
Institutes: 1583 Cr
The PM inaugurated IIT Bhubaneshwar’s new campus. He will also lay the foundation stone for the Indian Institute of Science and Education Research campus (IISER) in Berhampur. This project is estimated to cost Rs 1,583 crore.
Gas Pipelines: 7237 Cr
He laid the foundation stone of a gas pipeline from Paradip to Hyderabad -being set up at a projected cost of Rs 3,800 crore and another pipeline from Angul to Bokaro in Jharkhand at a projected cost of Rs 3,437 crore under the Urja Ganja Yojana.
National Highway: 2200 Cr
He also laid the foundation stone of a six-lane stretch on the National Highway-16 at a cost of Rs 2,200 crore and four-lane stretch of National Highway-4 between Cuttack and Angul.
Museum
He inaugurated an archaeological museum at Lalitgiri, which is one of the earliest Buddhist settlements in Odisha situated 120 km north of Bhubaneshwar.
PM inaugurates country's longest rail-cum-road Bogibeel Bridge
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India's longest rail-cum-road bridge - Bogibeel Bridge on the Brahmaputra in Assam on 25 December.
The 4.9 kilometre long bridge has a two-line railway track on the lower deck and a three-lane road on the top deck. The Bridge is situated 17 km downstream of Dibrugarh city in Assam.
Bogibeel Bridge
The Bogibeel bridge, constructed at an estimated cost of around 5,900 crore rupees, has a serviceable period of around 120 years.
Bogibeel bridge, Asia's second longest rail-cum-road bridge will be opened to traffic on 25 December 2018.
Bogibeel bridge, Asia's second longest rail-cum-road bridge will be opened to traffic on 25 December 2018.
The bridge will be the lifeline of the north eastern part of the country and will facilitate connectivity between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
It will save a lot of time both in terms of road and rail travel. It will also reduce Delhi to Dibrugarh train-travel time by about three hours to 34 hours as against 37 hours presently.
The foundation stone of the project was laid by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gouda on January, 1997, while work commenced on 21st of April, 2002 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government.
Good Governance Day: December 25
The Good Governance Day (GGD) is celebrated every year in India on December 25 to mark the birthday anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The day was established by Central Government in 2014 to honor Vajpayee by fostering awareness among the people of accountability in government.
Objectives:
It aims to make people aware about government commitment for providing a transparent and accountable administration in the country.
It is celebrated to standardize government functioning and make it highly effective and accountable governance for the citizens of the country.
It also seeks to implement good and effective policies to complete mission of good governance in India.
It also strives to bring citizens closer to government to make them active participants in good governance process.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on 25 December 1924. He was amongst the founder members of erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh which later became known as Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP).
He was parliamentarian for over 4 decades and was elected to the Lok Sabha for 9 times, and 2 times to the Rajya Sabha.
He was three time Prime Minister of India. For first time he had served as PM for just 13 days in 1996 and second time for 13 months in 1998-1999.
In his third term as PM he completed his full five-year term, making him first PM from outside the Congress party to serve a full term. He was given the highest Indian award of Bharat Ratna in 2015.
In his third term as PM he completed his full five-year term, making him first PM from outside the Congress party to serve a full term. He was given the highest Indian award of Bharat Ratna in 2015.
Some of his pet projects launched by him as PM were National Highway Development Project and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
He died this year on 16 Aug 2018.
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