The Daily Brief – 28th November 2019

Parasite, a film directed by South Korea’s Bong Joon-Ho, won the best feature film at the 13^th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Brisbane, Australia. The best performance by an actor and best performance by an actress were presented to Manoj Bajpayee in ‘Bhonsle’ and Max Eigenmann in ‘Verdict’ respectively. Established in 2007, the APSA is an international cultural initiative of the Brisbane City Council, Australia, to honour and promote the films, actors, directors and cultures of the Asia-Pacific region to a global audience.

Constitution Day, also known as Samvidhan Divas, is observed in India every year on 26^th November to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India on 26^th November, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly of India. The Constitution of India came into effect on 26^th January, 1950. The year 2019 marks the 70^th Constitution Day. The Government of India declared 26^th November as the Constitution Day on 19^th November 2015.

Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat represented India at the 8^th Water Technology and Environment Control (WATEC) Conference based on the theme “Water Stewardship and Innovation – driving global leadership in the responsible planning management, and protection of water” that was held in Israel from 18^th November to 21^st November, 2019. Israel reuses 80% of its sewage water for agriculture. The conference will help India learn technologies to conserve water and replicate it.

Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri launched the Credit-linked Subsidy Services Awas Portal (CLAP) of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Housing for All (Urban) on 25^th November, 2019. The portal aims to provide a transparent and robust real-time web-based monitoring system for the beneficiaries of the Credit-linked Subsidy Services (CLSS). The Union Housing Affairs Ministry also signed agreements with the state governments for the construction of Light House projects under the Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India).

Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik announced that the Indian Navy will host the military drill ‘Milan 2020’ in March, which will witness the participation of several countries. The MILAN, which stands for Multilateral Naval Exercise, is a series of biennial exercises started in 1995. It was conducted at the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) until last year and is being conducted on the mainland at the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) for the first time with increased scope and complexity of the Exercise.

The Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav inaugurated the Indian Railways Institute of Financial Management (IRIFM), an institute to impart professional training in management of railway finances, on 24^th November, 2019 in Hyderabad. The project was constructed by the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) at a cost of Rs 85 crores.

The Chhattisgarh Government has announced to make the Guru Ghasidas National Park its fourth tiger reserve. Currently, Chhattisgarh has three Tiger Reserves – Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve and Indravati Tiger Reserve. The state government also decided to construct the Lemru Elephant Reserve in Chhattisgarh. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had approved to declare the Guru Ghasidas National Park as a tiger reserve in 2014.

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is observed every year on 25^th November to raise awareness of the fact that women around the world are subjected to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence as well as to highlight that the scale and true nature of the issue is often hidden. The theme for this year is Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape. In 1981, the Latin American activists and the Caribbean Feminist Encuentros marked 25^th November as a day to combat and raise awareness of violence against women more broadly. Later, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Resolution 54/134 on 17^th December, 1999 to mark the day.