• 18 Jan 2022

Kathak Dance Emperor Pandit Birju Maharaj Passes Away

Why in News

• On January 17, 2022, the famous Kathak dancer Birju Maharaj, who took the traditional Indian dance form 'Kathak' to the world stage and was honored with countless honors like Padma Vibhushan, Nritya Shiromani, Sangeet Natak Akademi, passed away.

Key Points

• Brij Mohan Nath Mishra (popularly known as Pandit Birju Maharaj), one of India's most famous and favorite artists, belonged to the Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Lucknow, a classical Kathak dance form. He was born on February 4, 1938 in Lucknow.
• Birju Maharaj's father and guru Achhan Maharaj, uncle Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj were also famous Kathak dancers.
• The artistic personality of Pandit Birju Maharaj has been such, which is considered to be beyond logic. He was a guru, dancer, choreographer, singer and composer. He used to play percussion, write poetry and paint. His disciples are well-known artists and have spread all over the world.
• Awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1983, Birju Maharaj also choreographed dance in several Bollywood films, including Umrao Jaan, Dedh Ishqiya, Bajirao Mastani. Apart from Padma Vibhushan, he has also received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and Kalidas Samman.
• In 2012, he was awarded the National Film Award for choreography in the film Vishwaroopam. Apart from this, he received the Filmfare Award in the year 2016 for the choreography of the song 'Mohe Rang Do Laal' by Bajirao Mastani.
• Along with this, he also received honorary doctorates from Banaras Hindu University and Khairagarh University.

Drinking Water Testing Laboratories got 'NABL Accreditation' in all the Districts of the State

Why in News

• On January 17, 2022, Rajasthan's Water Minister Dr. Mahesh Joshi informed that the drinking water quality testing laboratories operating in all the districts under the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) have got the 'NABL Accreditation' certification for drinking water quality testing in the state. .

Key Points

• State level drinking water quality testing laboratory is established in PHED at its headquarters in the capital Jaipur, besides district level laboratories are being run in other 32 districts. Now all these 33 laboratories have got certification from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), an independent national level organization.
• NABL is an independent national level body for certification of testing laboratories in the country. It gives NABL certification to testing laboratories under ISO/IEC: 17025.
• This institution is established in the Government of India under the 'Quality Council of India', as a third party agency for 'NABL Accreditation' of Laboratories, for the legal identity of laboratories, the number of manpower employed in it as well as their qualifications and experience, Performs certification after 'Performance Audit' on the basis of points like time bound calibration of equipments etc.
• In an important decision by the state government to promote drinking water quality testing at the general level, the rate of 16-point based drinking water quality test has been reduced from Rs 1000 to Rs 600 for all citizens. With this, facility of quality checking based on Fluoride, Nitrate, Thermo tolerant Coliform bacteria, Total coliform bacteria, Arsenic, Iron, Sulphate, Chloride, pH, color and order etc. will be provided to the people in all 'NABL Accredited' quality testing laboratories of the state. .
• Under the Jal Jeevan Mission in the state, besides providing 'Har Ghar Jal' connections to all households in rural areas by the year 2024, 102 new block level drinking water quality testing laboratories will be installed in the current financial year in view of drinking water quality under Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance Program.
• Under Jal Jeevan Mission, more than 12 thousand 'Field Testing Kits' have been procured for distribution in Gram Panchayats for monitoring of clean and quality drinking water supply through 'Har Ghar Jal' connection in approved projects for rural areas. Using this kit, the members of Village Water and Sanitation Committees constituted in 43,323 villages of the state will be able to do a time bound quality check of drinking water supply through 'Har Ghar Jal' connection in JJM.

Air Safari in two National Parks of the State

Why in News

• On January 17, 2022, CEO of private Aero Sports and Adventures Company, Manish Saini informed Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan about starting air safari in two national parks of the state - Kanha and Bandhavgarh. He also invited the Chief Minister for the launch of the Air Safari service.

Key Points

• Saini said that for the first time the plan of Air Safari will be implemented. For this, 2 to 14 seater aircraft will be used, which will also be manufactured in Madhya Pradesh, efforts are being made.
• It is planned to start in the next two months in collaboration with the Aviation Department. Also the first sports aircraft air show is also being considered.
• Appreciating this initiative, the Chief Minister expressed hope that tourism activities will expand as soon as the wave of Kovid subsides and then tourists coming to visit Bandhavgarh National Park and Kanha National Park will also be able to enjoy air tourism.

Very High Pressure Substation built for Umaria Dungaria Industrial Area Energized

Why in News

• On January 17, 2022, Madhya Pradesh Energy Minister Pradyuman Singh Tomar informed that Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company has energized a new 132 kV ultra high pressure sub-station at Chanderi village of Bargi area to promote industrial activities in Jabalpur region.

Key Points

• With the commissioning of this sub-station, Umaria Dungaria industrial area of Jabalpur will get a lot of benefit. Along with this, there will be easy availability of electricity for the proposed industries of Phase-I, Phase-II and Phase-III in Umaria Dungaria.
• Now along with Umaria Dungaria, domestic and agricultural consumers of Crusher, Bargi and Charaganwa region of Manegaon region will get quality electricity in proper voltage.
• Earlier, electricity was supplied from two feeders of Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company in Bargi and Charaganwa area including this industrial area. Now with the commissioning of Bargi sub-station, electricity will be available from 6 feeders.
• The company's Umaria Dungaria area will now have a dual option of power supply from two ultra high pressure substations - one from 220 KV Jabalpur and the other directly from Bargi Power House.
• The length of 33 KV lines will also be reduced due to a sub-station at Bargi (Chanderi). Earlier it was 40 kms, now it has come down to 12 kms. This will not only get rid of the problems of low voltage supply to the consumers, but will also facilitate the power improvement work due to dense forest and Narmada crossing.
• Umaria Dungaria has industrial connections of 2 of 33 kV, 6 of 11 kV and 60 of low pressure consumers. Not only will they get direct benefit, apart from this, about 25 thousand 650 consumers of about 147 villages will also be benefitted.
• The transmission capacity of Jabalpur district has increased due to energized 132 kV Bargi (Chanderi). There are now 4 220 KV and 9 132 KV sub-stations in Jabalpur district.
• This is the 404^th ultra high pressure station of Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company in the state. Presently 14 sub-stations of 400 KV, 84 sub-stations of 220 KV and 306 sub-stations of 132 KV are functional in the state.

Renu Bhatia Became the new Chairperson of the State Women's Commission

Why in News

• On January 17, 2022, Haryana Government appointed Renu Bhatia of NIT Faridabad as the Chairperson of the State Commission for Women. He has been appointed for three years.

Key Points

• G Anupama, Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, issued the order of his appointment. With this appointment, the post of the Chairperson of the Women's Commission, which has been lying vacant for a year, has been filled.
• Earlier, Preeti Bhardwaj, Vice-Chairman of the Commission was handling the charge of the Chairperson of the Women's Commission. Preeti Bhardwaj has been re-appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the State Commission for Women and her tenure has been extended by one year. The terms and conditions of appointment to both the posts will be issued later.
• Renu Bhatia is BJP leader and resident of Faridabad. She has been active in BJP for a long time and she has also been the Deputy Mayor of Faridabad Municipal Corporation.
• After Pratibha Suman, former chairman of the state commission, Preeti Bhardwaj took over as the working president. She took suo motu action in many cases, including the case of violation of women's rights in the protests of the opposition during the assembly session.

Dhanbad Got Second Women Police Station

Why in News

• On January 16, 2022, Dhanbad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sanjeev Kumar inaugurated the district's second women's police station in Tiltand area of Baghmara block. A Mahila Thana is already functioning in the Sadar police station premises of the district.

Key Points

• The SSP said that efforts were being made to establish this police station since 2016. The new Mahila Police Station will help women and their family members to complain about atrocities without any hesitation, as the officer-in-charge will be a woman police officer.
• Sonika Verma has been appointed as the first in-charge of this police station. Talking to the media, Sonika Verma said that now any woman can directly come to the police station for help if she is a victim.
• This police station will cover the entire population residing in the Baghmara Police Sub Division.

Director of IIIT-Naya Raipur Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Why in News

• On January 17, 2022 Dr Pradeep K Sinha, Director, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Naya Raipur has been conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award by Society for Data Science (S4DS) for his contribution in the field of Data Science and Information Technology. .

Key Points

• The award was announced during the concluding session of 'International Conference on Data Management, Analytics and Innovation 2022 (ICDMAI 2022)' held in virtual mode.
• It is worth mentioning that Dr. Pradeep Sinha has been serving as an IT Professional for the last 35 years. He has written 6 books in the field of engineering. He was instrumental in the creation of TripleIT Naya Raipur in 2015.
• Prior to this he has led national programs in areas such as super computing, grid computing and health informatics at the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
• In 2019, he took the initiative to start BTech and MTech programs in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at TripleIT.