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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 17 November 2021

::NATIONAL::

The name of Bhopal’s Habibganj railway station has been changed to Rani Kamlapati station.
According to the state government, the renaming is to honour the memory and sacrifices made by a queen of the Gond community.

Who was queen Kamlapati?

Rani Kamlapati was the widow of Nizam Shah, whose Gond dynasty ruled the then Ginnorgarh, 55 km from Bhopal, in the 18th century.
Nizam Shah built the famous seven-storeyed Kamlapati Palace in her name in Bhopal.
Kampalati is known to have shown great bravery in facing aggressors during her reign after her husband was killed.
Kamlapati was the “last Hindu queen of Bhopal”, who did great work in the area of water management and set up parks and temples.

About Gond community:

The Gond are one of the largest tribal communities in India, spread across Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Odisha.
The renamed and redeveloped railway station is being inaugurated on November 15, the birth anniversary of the iconic 19th century tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda.

The recent Norovirus outbreak at the College of Veterinary Sciences in Wayanad hit even national headlines and raised apprehensions that a new infectious pathogen was establishing itself in the State.
Norovirus is a highly contagious animal-borne disease that can be transmitted through contaminated water and food.
Norovirus causes gastrointestinal illness, including inflammation of the lining of the stomach and intestines, severe vomiting and diarrhea.

The Pochampally Village in Telangana State has been selected as one of the best Tourism Villages by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
The prestigious award will be given on the occasion of the 24th session of the UNWTO General Assembly on 2nd December 2021 in Madrid, Spain.

About:

The Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO Pilot initiative aims to award those villages which are outstanding examples of rural destinations and showcase good practices in line with its specified nine evaluation areas.
It also aims to support villages to enhance their rural tourism potential through training and access to opportunities for improvement.
The Ministry of Tourism recommended three villages for the UNWTO Best Tourism Village entry from India. These were Kongthong in Meghalaya, Ladhpura Khas, Madhya Pradesh and Pochampally in Telangana. Pochampally, was awarded by UNWTO.
Pochampally, 50 Kms from Hyderabad, is a town in Nalgonda district of Telangana and is often referred to as the Silk City of India for the exquisite sarees that are woven through a unique style called Ikat.
This style, Pochampally Ikat, received a Geographical Indicator (GI Status) in 2004.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the First Global Innovation Summit of the Pharmaceuticals sector on 18th November 2021.

About:

This is a distinctive initiative that aims to bring together key Indian and international stakeholders from the government, industry, academia, investors, and researchers to discuss and strategize priorities to foster a thriving innovation ecosystem in the pharmaceuticals industry in India.
It will also highlight the opportunities in the Indian pharma industry that has huge growth potential.
The two-day Summit will have 12 Sessions and over 40 national and international speakers deliberating on a range of subjects including the regulatory environment, funding for innovation, industry-academia collaboration, and innovation infrastructure.

Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh inaugurated ‘Bhumi Samvaad’ - National Workshop on Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) at India Habitat Centre.
On this occasion, the Minister also launched National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) portal and Dashboard.

NGDRS:

NGDRS is an in-house advanced software application for the registration system developed by NIC. This software application is scalable, flexible, configurable and compatible with the state-specific needs in the country. It ensures transparency, accountability of the officials executing the documents and reduction in cost, time and number of visits and procedures required for the execution of the registration documents.
So far, it has already been implemented in 12 States and pilot tested in 3 States covering more than 10 crore population. As per the report, more than 25 lakh documents have already been registered using this system.
To integrate all the processes and land records database, the Department has also initiated a consolidated effort to computerize the land management system through Integrated Land Management Information System (ILMIS) Project wherein land-related information are available in a single window.

India has successfully launched the 41st Scientific Expedition to Antarctica with the arrival of the first batch of its contingent at the southern white continent.

Key highlights:

The 41st expedition has two major programs.
The first program encompasses geological exploration of the Amery ice shelf at Bharati station. This will help explore the link between India and Antarctica in the past.
The second program involves reconnaissance surveys and preparatory work for drilling of 500 meters of ice core near Maitri.
It will help in improving the understanding of Antarctic climate, westerly winds, sea-ice and greenhouse gases from a single climate archive for past 10,000 years.
The ice core drilling will be done in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey

Background:

The Indian Antarctic program, which began in 1981, has completed 40 scientific expeditions, and built three permanent research base stations in Antarctica, named DakshinGangotri (1983), Maitri (1988) and Bharati (2012).
As of today, Maitri and Bharati are fully operational.
The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa—an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences—manages the entire Indian Antarctic program.

Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, along with eleven other athletes, received the award.

About:

The Khel Ratna Award is given for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of four years.
Apart from a medal and a citation, Awardee receives a cash prize of Rs. 7.5 lakh.
Sports persons who have been penalized or against whom enquiry is pending/ongoing for use of drugs/substances banned by WADA are not be eligible.