DAILY PIB 20TH DECEMBER 2022

National Waterway 2: The Sadiya-Dhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra river (891 Km) declared as National Waterway-2 in 1988 is located in the state of Assam.

As per the National Waterways Act, 2016, 111 waterways have been declared as NWs.

National Waterway-1 (Prayagraj-Haldia) with length 1620 km is the longest National waterway in India.Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways has a Central Sector Scheme (CSS) under which 100 % grant is provided to North Eastern States for development of Inland Water Transport.

AYURSWASTHYA Yojana: Currently, the Ministry of Ayush is running a Central Sector Scheme namely, AYURSWASTHYA Yojana with two components (i) AYUSH and Public Health (PHI) and (ii) Centre of Excellence (CoE) from the Financial Year 2021-22. 

Under the Centre of Excellence component of AYURSWASTHYA Yojana, financial assistance is provided to eligible individual organizations/institutes for establishing and upgrading their functions & facilities and/or for research & development activities in AYUSH.The projects are sanctioned and funds are released directly to the eligible individual organizations/institutes.There is no provision for State/UT-wise sanction/allocation of funds under the Centre of Excellence component.

India-Maldives Bilateral Relations: 6th Joint Staff Talks (JST) between India and the Maldives were held recently.Discussions focused on the ongoing and new initiatives under the ambit of existing bilateral defence cooperation mechanism of all the three services and further strengthening the engagements.The JST is a forum established to boost defence cooperation between India and the Maldives through annual talks at the strategic and operational levels.

Submarine Vagir: The fifth submarine of the Project – 75, Kalvari Class submarines ,the Vagir was delivered. Project – 75 includes indigenous construction of six submarines of Scorpene design. These submarines are being constructed at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai, under collaboration with M/s Naval Group, France. Vagir commenced the sea trials and it is a matter of great pride that she has completed all major trials including the weapon and sensor trials in the shortest time in comparison to the earlier submarines.The submarine would shortly be commissioned into the Indian Navy and enhance the Indian Navy’s capability.

Urban-20(U20): Under the G20 presidency of India from December 01, 2022 to November 30, 2023, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is organizing Urban 20 event.Urban-20 (U20), one of the Engagement Groups of G20, provides a platform for cities from G20 countries to facilitate discussions on various important issues of urban development including climate change, social inclusion, sustainable mobility, affordable housing, and financing of urban infrastructure and propose collective solutions. Under the G20 presidency of India, Ahmedabad, a UNESCO World Heritage city, will host the U20 cycle.