Current affairs 18 September 2023

Jagdeep Dhankhar conferred Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Awards.

• Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Awards 2023 to 84 performing artists in New Delhi.
• The special achievement awards were given to artists above the age of 75 from all over India who have not been bestowed any national honour yet.
• The honour carries purse money of one lakh rupees along with Tamrapatra and Angavastra.
• It is a national honour bestowed on performing artists as well as teachers and scholars in the field of arts.

India hosts inaugural UNCITRAL South Asia Conference.

• India hosted the inaugural United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) South Asia conference from 14 to 16 September.
• Aim: To further India’s engagement with UNCITRAL and encourage interaction between UNCITRAL, judiciary, bureaucracy, academia, and the legal fraternity.
• It is described as the principal legal entity within the United Nations system dedicated to international trade law.

Uttarakhand govt approved state’s first service sector policy.

• The Uttarakhand government has approved the formulation of a policy offering land and subsidies to investors to give a push to sectors such as healthcare, traditional medicine, education, films, and media in the state.
• The state cabinet in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami approved the promulgation of Uttarakhand Service Sector Policy-2023 offering land and capital subsidy to investors.
• The promulgation of the policy will give a boost to the service sectors such as healthcare, wellness, traditional medicine, education, film, media, sports, and skill education facilities like never before and its economy (barring tourism) will grow by USD 27 billion by 2030.

Indian government approves defense acquisitions worth Rs 45,000 crore from domestic vendors.

• The Government of India gave a significant boost to the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative by approving defense acquisitions worth Rs 45 thousand crore from domestic vendors.
• The Defense Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, has granted Approval of Requirement (AoN) for nine capital acquisition proposals.
• These acquisitions will exclusively involve Indian vendors, which will significantly contribute to the growth of the Indian defense industry and align with the objective of achieving self-reliance in defense manufacturing.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh approved 23 new Sainik Schools in partnership mode.

• Defense Minister Rajnath Singh approved the creation of an additional 23 new Sainik Schools under the partnership mode.
• The Government of India approved the establishment of 100 new Sainik Schools starting from Class 6 in partnership with NGOs, private schools, and state governments.
• Sainik School Society signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) with 19 new proposed Sainik Schools located across the country.
• Further evaluation of the applications has led to the approval of 23 additional new Sainik Schools under the partnership mode, taking the total number of such schools to 42, in addition to the existing 33 Sainik Schools operating under the previous model.