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Preliminary Pointers.

Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan

News: Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan, the town in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

• Location and Origins Santiniketan is a renowned cultural and educational institution situated in the Birbhum District of West Bengal, India.
• The name “Santiniketan” translates to “abode of peace” in Bengali. Initially, it started as an ashram or hermitage founded by Debendranath Tagore, the father of Rabindra Nath Tagore.
• Teaching Philosophy Santiniketan is celebrated for its distinctive educational philosophy, which places a strong emphasis on the integration of nature, creativity, and holistic learning. It follows the concept of an openair classroom, where students are encouraged to learn in close connection with the natural environment.
• Notable Artistic Legacy Santiniketan is not only an educational institution but also an artistic hub adorned with magnificent sculptures, frescoes, murals, and paintings created by renowned artists such as Rabindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose (a pioneer of modern Indian art), and Ramkinkar Baij (a master sculptor and painter), among others.
• Significance and Association This place holds immense cultural and heritage significance and is closely associated with Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose contributions to literature, art, and education have left an indelible mark.
• West Bengal’s UNESCO Representation Santiniketan has become the second cultural symbol from West Bengal to be included in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The first was ‘Durga Puja in Kolkata,’ recognized in 2021.

Elavenil won Gold at ISSF WC

News:  Elavenil Valarivan claims gold in women’s 10m air rifle event at ISSF worldcup.

 Elavenil’s achievements in shooting include

• Gold medal at the 2018 ISSF Junior World Cup.
• Silver medal at the 2019 World University Games.
• Gold medal at the 2019 World Junior World Cup Suhl.
• First place at the 2019 ISSF 10meter Air Rifle World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, with a score of 251.7.
• Recipient of the Arjuna Award in 2022.
• In the ISSF World Cup in Munich in 2019, she finished fourth in the finals, achieving a score of 208.3.
• Elavenil secured her first individual gold medal in the senior category at the 10m air rifle Asian Air Gun Championships in Taoyuan, Taipei, with a score of 250.5.
• She also boasts two Junior World Cup gold medals and one silver from the 2018 World Championships in the junior category.

ISSF

• The ISSF was founded in 1907 as the International Union of Shooting Sports (UITSS). The UITSS was renamed the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) in 1998.
• Its headquartered is in Munich, Germany.
• The ISSF has 177 member federations and organizes over 1,000 competitions each year.
• The ISSF was founded to standardize the rules and regulations of shooting sports and to promote them worldwide.
• The ISSF also organizes the World Shooting Championships and the World Cups, which are the two most prestigious shooting competitions in the world.
• The ISSF plays an important role in the development of the shooting sports. It provides training and support to athletes and coaches, and it helps to promote the sport to new audiences.
• The ISSF also works to ensure that the shooting sports are safe and accessible to everyone.

India won Asia cup

News: In the 2023 Asia Cup final, India defeated Sri Lanka by 10 wickets to win its eighth championship.

India and Asia Cup: India won: 1984, 1988, 1991, 1995, 2010, 2016, 2018,2023.

About Asia Cup

• • Organising body: The International Cricket Council (ICC);
  • 2023 Asia Cup host nations: Sri Lanka and Pakistan;
  • The Asian Cricket Council organises the Asia Cup, a continental cricket competition that takes place every two years played in either ODI or T20 format and competition only includes Asian nations. It is currently the only continental cricket tournament that exists.
  • The Asia Cup 2022 competition, which was recently played in the United Arab Emirates, was won by Sri Lanka.
  • Participating countries: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong.

List of Women’s Asia Cup Champions

• • India is the most successful team in the history of the Women’s Asia Cup, having won the championship seven times.
  • The Women’s Asia Cup’s first four iterations, from 2004 to 2008, consisted of matches in the ODI format; however, starting in 2012, all ensuing versions have been played in the T20I format.
  • With seven victories in the last eight editions of the trophy (except 2018, where Bangladesh won), the India Women have a history of dominating this contest.

India international convention center (IICC), Yashobhoomi

News: The IICC YashoBhoomi Convention Centre in Dwarka, New Delhi, was officially opened by Prime Minister, marking an important turning point in India’s quest to hold world-class events.

Reason for such centre: It will in India’s determination to establish itself as a major conference, exposition, and convention destination is symbolised by this momentous occasion, which promises to combine innovation, infrastructure, and worldwide brilliance together under one roof.

About IICC

• • By providing top-notch infrastructure for such events, the “Yashobhoomi” Convention and Expo Centre is intended to improve India’s reputation as a conference, convention, and exhibition host country.
  • On a global scale, “Yashobhoomi” is one of the biggest MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) sites.

 President inaugurate National e-vidhan application (NeVA)

• News: At Gandhinagar, the President of India spoke to the Gujarat Legislative Assembly and launched the “National e-Vidhan Application” (NeVA).

About NeVA

• • NeVA is a work-flow system installed on the NIC Cloud, MeghRaj that aids the Chair of the House in successfully running the House business.
  • NeVA, a device-neutral and member-focused application, was developed to give them the tools they need to handle a variety of House business intelligently.
  • It does this by putting all the information they need, such as member contact information, rules of procedure, a list of business, notices, bulletins, bills, questions and answers with stars and blanks, papers laid, committee reports, etc., on their tablets and hand-held devices and enabling all legislatures and departments to handle it effectively.
  • NeVA will entirely do away with the practise of distributing a notice or request for data gathering.
  • The programme provides a secure portal for each House Member to submit queries and other notices.

Aim of the NeVA: The project’s goal is to unite all of the nation’s legislators on a single platform, providing a vast data repository without the hassle of various apps.

mNeVA: It is a user-friendly mobile app called mNeVA that is accessible on both Android and iOS devices. mNeVA has made information about legislative business available to everyone at any time and from any location.

19th Asian Games

News: The 19th Asian Games, which were originally slated to take place in 2022 but were postponed because to the Covid-19 outbreak, will now be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8, 2023.

About the Asian Games

• • The Asian Games, which take place every four years, are the biggest sporting event in Asia. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is in charge of organising them.
  • Regulated by: From 1951 to 1978, the Asian Games Federation oversaw the regulation of the Asian Games. The Asian Games are governed by the Olympic Council of Asia since 1982.
  • Emblem: The rising sun with interlocking rings serves as the emblem for the Asian Games.
  • Mascots: The robots Chenchen, Congcong, and Lianlaian.
  • The torch for the 19th Asian Games: “Eternal Flame.” The Liangzhu Culture of prehistoric Chinese civilization served as the basis for the design.
  • It has been accepted by the International Olympic Committee.

India as the Host: India hosted the first Asian Games and is a founding member of the organisation. In November and December 1982, the 9th Asian Games were also held in New Delhi. The inaugural mascot for the Asian Games was Appu, an Indian elephant.

National green tribunal (NGT)

News: Judge from the NGT who criticised the MP government’s inaction on dam site encroachment was transferred to Delhi.

About the issue

• • Justice Sudhir Agrawal has been moved from the central bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to the principal bench in Delhi after questioning the Madhya Pradesh government’s inaction on dam site encroachment.
  • In accordance with the directive given on Saturday, Justice S. K. Singh will now preside over the central bench.
  • The event came one week after the NGT (Madhya Pradesh) central bench, led by Justice Sudhir Agrawal, expressed significant disapproval with the state government’s failure to clear encroachment from restricted areas near the Kaliyasot and Kerwa dam sites in Bhopal. The state government was also subject to a Rs. 5 lakh fine by the tribunal.