Current affairs 19 January 2023

The first G20 Health Working Group Meeting begins in Thiruvananthapuram.

• The first G20 Health Working Group meeting has started at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• It was attended by Bharati Pravin Pawar (MoS Health and Family Welfare) and V. Muraleedharan (MoS External Affairs).
• Focus: Health emergencies prevention, preparedness and response; strengthening cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector; and digital health innovations to aid universal health coverage.
• Other locations of HWG meetings: Goa, Hyderabad, and Gandhinagar.

PM Modi inaugurates the second phase of Saansad Khel Mahakumbh.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the second phase of Saansad Khel Mahakumbh 2022-23 in Basti District of Uttar Pradesh via video conferencing.
• It organizes diverse competitions in both indoor and outdoor sports.
• Apart from these, competitions in essay writing, painting, rangoli making will also be organized.
• This event is being organized in two phases.
• Basti district is a Lok Sabha Constituency of Harish Dwivedi.

Telangana CM launched second phase of "Kanti Velugu".

• Telangana CM, K Chandrasekhar Rao launched the second phase of Kanti Velugu initiative in Khammam district on January 18, 2023.
• It is considered to be the world’s largest eye screening programme.
• Kanti Velugu:
• It is a free eye screening programme.
• It will be organized at the special health camps for 100 days with 1500 medical teams.
• 1st phase: It was conducted for eight months by 827 health teams.
• The health camps will commence on January 19 in the rest of the state.

ISRO "Shukrayaan" mission to planet Venus reportedly shifted to 2031.

• According to a report, the Shukrayaan I, the ISRO Venus mission may be delayed until 2031.
• The mission was scheduled to launch in December 2024.
• The concept was conceived in 2012.
• After five years, the Department of Space received a 23% increase in the 2017–2018 budget and ISRO started preliminary investigations.
• The best time to launch from Earth to Venus is once every 19 months or thereabouts.
• If ISRO misses 2024, then ISRO has backup launch dates in 2026 and 2028.

Punjab government to launch "Schools of Eminence" project.

• The Punjab government will launch its first major education project, Schools of Eminence on 21st January 2023.
• It will be launched at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Mohali.
• Under the project, the state government will upgrade existing govt schools into Schools of Eminence for classes 9 to 12.
• Under phase 1, the govt plans to upgrade nearly 110 government schools as Schools of Eminence.
• The Punjab govt had set aside a fund of Rs 200 crore for this project.