Which is the most favourite beach destination for Indians?see report.

A new search report from US-based vacation rental firm Airbnb reveals that for domestic travellers, Kerala is a more popular beach destination than Goa, apart from the hills of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as the North-Eastern regions.

Under these categories, Airbnb saw over 375 percent increase in searches for Kerala from Q3 2021 to Q3 2022, followed by Goa (almost 275 percent increase in searches) and Pondicherry (over 200 percent increase).

The report, which compared search data from Q3 2021 to Q3 2022, also stated that hill stations of Uttarakhand witnessed over 100 percent increase in searches, while Himachal Pradesh saw over 50 percent rise in the same period.

More importantly, the North Eastern region has proved to be a trending destination among travellers. Airbnb’s search data showed an increase of over 450 percent in searches for stays in Meghalaya, over 400 percent increase in searches for Assam, and almost 300 percent increase in searches for Nagaland from Q3 2021 to Q-3 2022.

'Right to repair' portal launched to handle repair related issues among consumers.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday introduced a host of new initiatives, including a right to repair portal and an NTH mobile app and opened new premises of the National Consumer Helpline centre in the national capital.

On the ‘right to repair’ portal, manufacturers will share the manual of product details with customers so that they can either repair by self, by third parties, rather than depend on original manufacturers. Initially, mobile phones, electronic, consumer durables, automobile and farming equipments will be covered.

Speaking on the theme “Effective disposal of cases in consumer commission” on the occasion of National Consumer Day, Mr. Goyal lauded the consumer commissions for disposing of higher number of pending cases in last six months and expressed confidence of eliminating the backlog of cases across the country.

“In a short span of six months, we have doubled disposal of pending cases. About 90,000 pending cases were disposed (between July and November this year),” he said. About 38,000 pending cases were disposed of by consumer courts in the year-earlier period.

Center to introduce Bhagavad Gita in NCERT syllabus.

On Monday, 19 December, the Centre informed the Lok Sabha that the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) should include Shlokas from Shrimad Bhagavad Gita and knowledge from Vedas in textbooks in Sanskrit from classes 11th to 12th. Besides, references from Bhagavadgita should be incorporated in NCERT textbooks of classes 6th to 7th.

Annapurna Devi, Minister of State for Education, stated in a written response that the ministry formed the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) Division in the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in 2020 with the goal of promoting interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary research on all facets of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), preserving and disseminating IKS knowledge for further research and societal applications.

Minister Devi stated that NCERT has begun the development of National Curriculum Frameworks (NCF) where inputs from various ministries, departments, states, and union territories are invited from grass root levels.

She added that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2022, paragraph 4.27, refers to Indian traditional knowledge that is both sustainable and strives for the welfare of all. She also laid emphasis on teaching the world the “Indian way of doing things.”

Nation to hold mock drill for covid emergency responses.

During a virtual meeting with health ministers and senior officials of states in view of the recent surge in coronavirus cases in some parts of the world, he said, “The Centre and states need to work in tandem and in a collaborative spirit as was done during the previous surges for Covid prevention and management.”

“A mock drill for an emergency response to deal with Covid 9 cases will be conducted at hospitals across the country on Tuesday, 27th December, the Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya will also be participating in the Mock drill,” official sources told ANI.The mock drill is being conducted amid fear of a Covid surge in the country in the wake of a spurt of Covid cases reported in China and other countries. The Union Ministry in India has started taking several proactive steps in this direction.

According to officials, travel guidelines have been revised and issued. 2% random screening of international passengers to be re-initiated from Saturday, December 24, the random screening charges will be charged to the passengers.

India doubled its steel production capacity in the past 8 years, to become world 2nd largest steel producing country.

India’s steel production has reached a historic level of 120 million tonnes per year making it the world’s second-largest producer of Steel, the government informed the Rajya Sabha.

Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said India intends to double its steel production to 300 million tonnes per annum by 2030.

“There has been a doubling in the last eight years of steel production in the country, which has been historic and which is why we have become the second largest steel producer in the world today,” he informed the Rajya Sabha during question hour.

The minister informed that steel production in the country has increased at a historic level. In 2013-14, we had only close to about 60 million tonnes per annum production of steel, we are today at 120 million tonnes,” he said.

Health minister holds a meeting today on covid rising concern.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya today reviewed the COVID-19 situation in the country in view of a sudden spurt in cases in some parts of the world, and directed officials to be alert and strengthen surveillance. “Use a mask if you are in a crowded space, indoors or outdoors. This is all the more important for people with comorbidities or are of higher age,” he said. “Only 27-28% of people have taken precaution dose. We appeal to others, especially senior citizens, to take precaution dose. Precaution dose is mandated and guided to everyone.”

In view of the rise in cases in Japan, the United States of America, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China the Union Health Ministry, urged all states and Union territories to ramp up the whole genome sequencing of positive samples of Covid to keep track of emerging variants.

In India, more than 220 crore vaccination doses have been administered, including booster shots. Many got reinfected or have already been exposed to omicron, its sub-variants, and sub-lineages. As a result, many Indians have developed ‘hybrid immunity’ or ‘super immunity’, due to a combination of extensive vaccination and natural infection. Nevertheless, in view of the sudden spurt of cases abroad, the government is reviewing the situation and has directed all relevant agencies to be alert.

Central Government raised more than 4 lakh crore trough disinvestment since 2014.

The government raised over Rs4.04 lakh crore through disinvestment and strategic sale of public-sector enterprises (PSEs) since the Modi government came into power in 2014, the Finance Ministry said on 20 decm.

Of this, the largest amount totalling over Rs1.07 lakh crore through offer for sale in 59 cases. This was followed by a stake sale through Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) in 10 tranches, aggregating to Rs98,949 crore. Strategic sales in 10 companies, including Air India, yielded Rs69,412 crore to the exchequer in the last 8 years. Share buyback in 45 cases fetched Rs45,104 crore.

17 CPSEs were listed since 2014-15, which yielded Rs50,386 crore. Of this, the initial public offering (IPO) of LIC alone fetched the government Rs20,516 crore. The additional market capitalisation of Rs7.31 lakh crore was achieved through new listings, the ministry said. Besides, the government has sold its residual stake in Paradeep Phosphate Ltd, IPCL, and Tata Communication for Rs472 crore, Rs219 crore and Rs8,847 crore, respectively.

After Russia, Sri Lanka to use Indian rupee(INR) for internation trade.

India’s rupee trade settlement mechanism, which was set up by the Reserve Bank of India in July 2022, is attracting interest from more countries apart from Russia.

The mechanism is a means of using rupees instead of dollars and other big currencies for international transactions in order to promote growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to support the increasing interest of global trading community in the rupee.

Dollar-strapped Sri Lanka and sanctions-hit Russia will be the first countries to use the Indian rupee trade settlement mechanism.

Sri Lanka has agreed to use Indian rupee (INR) for international trade. It comes days after the Government of India said it is looking at ways to bring countries that are particularly short of dollars into the ambit of Indian rupee trade settlement mechanism. Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said it is waiting for RBI’s (Reserve Bank of India) approval to designate Indian rupee as foreign currency of Sri Lanka.

Tajikistan, Cuba, Luxembourg and Sudan have begun talking to India about using the mechanism, reported Reuters, quoting two sources and an official document. It has already been used by Russia following the imposition of sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine war.

Key points of UN COP15 summit held at Canada.

After four years of fractious talks, nearly 200 countries, including India, approved a historic Paris-style deal on Monday to protect and reverse dangerous loss to global biodiversity following an intense final session of negotiations at the UN COP15 summit here in Canada.

The UN Development Programme said the “historic agreement” meant people around the world could hope for real progress to halt biodiversity loss.

The main points include:

Maintaining, enhancing and restoring ecosystems, including halting species extinction and maintaining genetic diversity
“Sustainable use” of biodiversity – essentially ensuring that species and habitats can provide the services they provide for humanity, such as food and clean water
Ensuring that the benefits of resources from nature, like medicines that come from plants, are shared fairly and equally and that indigenous peoples’ rights are protected
Paying for and putting resources into biodiversity: Ensuring that money and conservation efforts get to where they are needed.

Furthermore, the framework also calls for increasing the amount of money sent to poor countries to at least $20 billion every year by 2025 which could be increased by $10 billion each year by the end of the decade. However, the document only calls for identifying subsidies by 2025 which can be reformed or phased out and work on reducing them by 2030.

The draft comprised four broad goals and 22 targets addressing the protection of nature and sharing its benefits which included, the management of wildlife, working on the restoration of habitats and using less plastic.

Outstanding Achievement for NIT Calicut in NBA Accreditation

Five Major B.Tech Programmes of NITC receives NBA Accreditation for 6 Years Five major B.Tech programmes offered by National Institute of Technology Calicut namely B.Tech in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical & Electronics Engineering., Electronics & Communication Engineering., and Computer Science & Engineering have been accorded with the highest accreditation status of 6 years (2022-2028) by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), New Delhi. 6 years is the maximum possible duration of accreditation where “Not Accredited” or “Accredited for 3 years” being the other two possible status.

The present result of NIT Calicut is based on the inspection visit of an expert committee composed of 11 senior professors from top Institutions in the country during 11-13 November 2022. The committee evaluated all aspects of these 5 programmes with a special emphasis on the data during the period 2019-22 during which all academic institutions in the country experienced several challenges due to Covid pandemic. While the programmes offered by colleges affiliated to other universities in the country come under Tier-II accreditation process, all NITs and other Deemed Universities come under the TierI scheme, which is known to be much more stringent in terms of most of the quality assessment parameters. Moreover, the current evaluation was done based on the new format introduced by the NBA in the year 2021 which is tough to achieve as compared to previous formats in practice. NIT Calicut is one of the very few institutions in the country to achieve this feat.

On this occasion, Director Prof.Prasad Krishna told, “This reiterates the outstanding quality that NIT Calicut ensures for the teaching and research. Over the last few years, we have conducted a few faculty recruitments which also have helped us to achieve this laurel. I congratulate all my faculty members, students, alumni and employers for their consistent efforts and exemplary contributions. As India is a full signatory in washington accord now, this achievement will help our students to secure admissions in top universities of the world for higher studies as well as employment all over the world- particularly in US, Europe and Middle-East” Prof. P. S. Sathidevi, Deputy Director and Chairperson, Centre for Quality Assurance & Enhancement said “The Centre for Quality Assurance and Enhancement at NITC and Office of Dean (Academic) are taking concerted efforts to ensure the academic quality of the programmes offered in the Institute. Regular Academic Audit is conducted to ensure that the highest levels of academic and research quality are maintained in the Institute.

The remarkable achievement of six year accreditation for the five UG programmes by the NBA is indeed a pointer to the quality conscious academic environment in the Institute”. “In Tier-I format, NBA considers the performance of the programmes on multiple aspects such as Course Outcomes and Program Outcomes, Program Curriculum and Teaching-Learning Processes, Students’ Performance, Faculty Contributions, Institute Resources, Governance and Continuous Improvement. Outstanding achievement in almost all these criteria is required in order to get 6 years accreditation. This shows the non-compromising attitude of students and faculty members in the teaching-learning process even during the challenging time of Covid and ensures the global competencies of our graduates”, Prof. Sameer S. M., Dean (Academic) said.

NBA came into existence as an independent autonomous body with effect from January 2010 with the objectives of assurance of quality and relevance to technical education, especially of the programs in professional and technical disciplines, i.e., Engineering and Technology, Management, Architecture, Pharmacy and Hotel Management and Catering Technology, through the mechanism of accreditation of programs offered by technical institutions. The NBA conducts evaluation of programs of technical institutes on the basis of laid down norms as prescribed by the Washington accord, a global consortium of accreditation bodies of 22 countries including USA, UK, Canada, Australia and India.

Argentina wins FIFA world cup.

The Lusail Stadium hosted what will go down as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, World Cup finals of all time. Argentina were cruising for much of the match, until Kylian Mbappe converted a penalty and scored a sensational equaliser to force the game into extra-time. That led to more insane football as chances flew around at both ends. Messi scored late in the second-half of extra time to seemingly win it for Argentina, only for them to concede a penalty mere seconds later. The flawless Mbappe converted that as well, thus becoming the first player since 1966 to score a hat-trick in the final of a World Cup. And yet, he ended up on the losing side, with Argentina winning the penalty shootout. Messi finally got his hands on the covetted World Cup trophy in what he said will be his last match in this tournament.

Mbappe wins the Golden Boot, but Messi bagged the World Cup. It was the battle of the Number 10s, as two titans of the game stepped up and gave it their all. But it was the veteran that stood tall in the end. Nobody expected Argentina to dominate the way they did for the first eighty minutes of the match. Nobody expected them to lose their lead twice in the match. And certainly nobody expected Mbappe to score a hat-trick and still find himself on the losing side. But for all the criticism that Argentina had received over the years for crumbling under pressure, this World Cup has shown that there is none better than them when it comes to penalties, where nerves mattered the most.

Indian Navy commissions guided missile destroyer INS Mormugao.

The Indian Navy’s latest indigenous guided stealth destroyer Mormugao – which is armed with surface-to-surface BrahMos missiles and Barak-8 long range surface-to-air missiles – was commissioned.

INS Mormugao was built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDSL) as part of the Project 15B destroyers or the Visakhapatnam-class.

The ship is constructed using Indigenous Steel DMR 249A and is amongst the largest destroyers constructed in India, with an overall length of 164 meters and a displacement of over 7,500 tons. The ship is a potent platform capable of undertaking a variety of tasks and missions, spanning the full spectrum of maritime warfare. It is armed with supersonic Surface-to-Surface ‘BrahMos’ missiles and ‘Barak-8’ Long Range Surface to Air Missiles. Towards undersea warfare capability the Destroyer is fitted with indigenously developed anti-submarine weapons and sensors, prominently the hull mounted Sonar Humsa NG, heavy weight torpedo tube launchers and ASW rocket launchers.

The ship can accommodate a crew of 312 persons, has an endurance of 4,000 nautical mile and can carry out a typical 42 days mission with extended mission time in out of area operation.

Enhanced stealth has also been achieved, making the ships difficult to detect. With a significantly increased indigenous content, P15B destroyers are a hallmark of self-reliance in warship design and building, and a shining example of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The indigenous content in P15B class destroyers is 72per cent which is a notch above their predecessors P15A (59per cent) and P15 (42per cent) Class Destroyers, reaffirming the Government’s focus in the ‘Make in India’ programme.

The first Ship of P15B – INS Visakhapatnam was commissioned last year on 21 November, 2021.

Russia remains India's top oil supplier for the month of november too.

Russia has for the first time emerged as top oil supplier to India replacing Iraq as refiners last month snapped up oil from Moscow fearing a price cap from Dec. 5 could hit supplies and choke payment avenues, data obtained from trade sources showed.

India’s oil imports from Russia rose for the fifth straight month, totaling 908,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, up 4% from October, the data showed.

The Group of Seven nations, Australia, and the 27 European Union countries have imposed a price cap of $60 a barrel on Russian seaborne oil from Dec. 5 as the West tries to limit Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.

India, which rarely used to buy Russian oil because of costly logistics, has emerged as Russia’s second biggest oil client after China as refiners snap up discounted crude shunned by Western nations since the February invasion of Ukraine.

Higher purchases of Russian oil dragged down Indian imports from the Middle East and member nations of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) declined to the lowest ever in November, the data showed.

Ukraine President's request to FIFA ahead of the final match.

World Cup organizers have rejected a request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to deliver a message ahead of the tournament’s final. Zelensky had asked to share a plea for world peace ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final but was turned down by FIFA, soccer’s governing body, CNN reported.

FIFA has gone to significant lengths to try and remove elements of politics from the 2022 World Cup, despite the very tournament being a political issue itself due to the nature of where it is being held.

Addressing to the situation, the FIFA authority quoted “We are defending values, we are defending human rights and rights of everyone at the World Cup. Those fans and the billions watching on TV, they have their own problems. They just want to watch 90 or 120 minutes without having to think about anything, but just enjoying a little moment of pleasure and joy. We have to give them a moment when they can forget about their problems and enjoy football.”

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