The Daily Brief – 8th November 2019

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the 10^th Asian Conference of Emergency Medicine (ACEM) that will be held from 7^th November to 10^th November, 2019 in New Delhi. The biennial conference is jointly organized by the Asian Society for Emergency Medicine (ASEM) and the Society for Emergency Medicine, India (SEMI) with the theme “Affordable Care, Bridging Gaps, Creating Impact”. This is the first time India hosted the conference. The Asian Society for Emergency Medicine (ASEM) was founded as a regional association on 24^th October, 1998.

The 2^nd Guinness World Record at the India International Science Festival (IISF) 2019 was created as 268 students assembled radio kits simultaneously in 2 hours. The 5^th IISF 2019 is being held in Kolkata. Earlier, a Guinness World Record for the largest astrophysics lesson and assembly of spectroscopes was created at the IISF 2019. The first IISF was held in December 2015 at IIT Delhi.

As per the report ‘Indian Tech Startup Ecosystem – Leading Tech in the 20s’ prepared by NASSCOM, India retained its position as the third largest startup ecosystem across the world, as it added over 1,300 startups in 2019, taking the total number to 8,900-9,300 in the last five years. India also witnessed the addition of 7 unicorns in 2019 till August, taking the total tally up to 24, which is the third highest number of unicorns in a single country in the world. Established in 1988, the National Association of Software and Services Companies(NASSCOM) is a trade association of the Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Rajasthan Patrika group Chairman Gulab Kothari has been selected for the 2019 Raja Ram Mohan Roy National Award for Excellence in Journalism that will be awarded on the occasion of National Press Day on 16^th November, 2019 by the Press Council of India (PCI). The PCI also announced the National Awards for Excellence in Journalism for 2018.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) released the draft regulations for school children titled ‘Food Safety and Standards (Safe Food and Healthy Diets for School Children) Regulations, 2019’. It completely bans the sale of soft drinks, potato wafers and other junk food within 50 meters of school campuses. The HFSS (High in Fat, Salt and Sugar) food also cannot be sold in the school canteens, mess premises or hostel kitchens.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), in coordination with the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, organized the ‘Ganga Utsav’ in the Major Dhyan Chand stadium on 4^th November in New Delhi to mark the 11^th anniversary of Ganga being declared as the national river. To create awareness and gather public participation in efforts to clean River Ganga and its tributaries, it is celebrated every year on 4^th November because Ganga was declared as the country’s national river on 4^th November, 2008.

The Freedom House, an international internet watchdog, released its Freedom on the Net (FoTN) report 2019 titled ‘The Crisis of Social Media’ on 5^th November, 2019. India, with an overall score of 55, was reported to be “partly free” while China obtained a score of 10 and was adjudged “not free”. Also, China was termed the worst abuser of internet freedom for the fourth consecutive year. Pakistan, with a score of 26, was declared as “not free” in terms of freedom status for the ninth consecutive year. Iceland, with an overall score of 95, was ranked the highest.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has allocated a separate “HS code” for the signature fabric of India to boost exports of Khadi. HS Stands for Harmonized System and is a six-digit identification code, developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO). The customs officers use HS Code to clear every commodity that enters or crosses any international border. Founded in 1952, the WCO is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.