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  • 12 September 2022
  • By GyanOk

Daily Current Affairs Notes for 12 September 2022

Indian students receive the most student visas from the US in 2022

Indians get most student visas from the US in 2022: According to the United States (US) Embassy in India, the US issued 82,000 student visas to Indians in 2022, more than any other nation.

Overview

Indians get most student visas from the US in 2022: According to the United States (US) Embassy in India, the US issued a record 82,000 student visas to Indians in 2022, more than any other nation. The United States (US) Embassy in India’s charge d’affaires, Patricia Lacina, stated. This demonstrates that the United States (US) continues to be the top choice for higher education for the majority of Indian families.

Indians get most student visas from the US in 2022: Key Points
  • Indians get most student visas from the United States (US) in 2022 emphasises the significant contributions that Indian students make to both of our nations as they form enduring relationships with American peers to uphold and expand international collaborations and collaborate to address present-day and upcoming global concerns.
  • According to the Open Doors report from 2021, there were 1,67,582 Indian students in the 2020–2021 academic year, making up roughly 20% of all international students studying in the United States (US).
  • Don Heflin, Minister Counsellor for Consular Affairs, expressed his delight at having contributed to Indian students’ pursuit of a top-notch education.
Indians get most student visas from the US in 2022: US friendly for Overseas students
  • In order to ensure that as many qualified students as possible arrived at their programmes of study in time for the scheduled start dates, the United States (US) embassy in New Delhi and the consulates in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai prioritised the processing of student visa applications from May to August, according to the embassy statement.
  • Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has continued to be accessible and friendly to overseas students. In order to ensure that opportunities and resources for international students continued to be robust, the United States (US) government and United States (US) higher education institutions implemented efforts to safely welcome international students in person, online, and via hybrid learning techniques in 2020.

Odisha govt launched rainwater harvesting scheme named ‘CHHATA’

Odisha government has launched a rainwater harvesting scheme named ‘Community Harnessing and Harvesting Rainwater Artificially from Terrace to Aquifer (CHHATA).

Overview

Odisha government has launched a rainwater harvesting scheme named ‘Community Harnessing and Harvesting Rainwater Artificially from Terrace to Aquifer (CHHATA). The new scheme was approved by the Cabinet last month. It will be implemented for a period of five years.

About the scheme:
  • The State sector scheme will work towards conserving rainwater and improving water quality in urban local bodies (ULBs) and water scarce blocks.
  • As per the feasibility based on a groundwater resource assessment conducted in 2020, rainwater harvesting structures will be constructed on the roofs of 29,500 private buildings and 1,925 government buildings covering 52 water-stressed blocks and 27 urban local bodies.
  • An estimated 373.52 crore litre of water will be harvested during the scheme period between 2022-23 and 2026-27. It will be implemented through the existing manpower of the department of Water Resources (DoWR) with an outlay of Rs 270 crore.
  • While the average cost of each water harvesting structure on the roofs of government buildings has been estimated at Rs 4.32 lakh, the expenditure would be around Rs 3.06 lakh per building in rural areas.
 

PM Modi To Attend SCO Meeting With Putin And Xi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to travel to Samarkand in Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit on September 15 and 16.

Overview

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to travel to Samarkand in Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit on September 15 and 16. This will be the first in-person summit after June 2019 when the SCO summit was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The Prime Minister, sources said, is likely to reach Samarkand on September 14 and return on September 16, according to the current travel schedule.

India’s Presence:
  • India’s presence at the summit is important  because it will assume the rotational presidency of the SCO at the end of the Samarkand summit. Delhi will hold the presidency of the grouping for a year until September 2023. So, next year, India will host the SCO summit which will be attended, among others, by leaders of China, Russia, Pakistan. 
Other Leaders:
  • Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi are among the leaders expected at the summit. The Prime Minister’s visit to Samarkand will be closely watched for the possibility of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit. While there has been no official word on the scheduled bilateral meetings, the leaders are expected to be in the same room for the summit as well as the leaders’ lounge.
About The SCO:

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation, created on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China). The founding members are:

1.The Republic of Kazakhstan

2.The People’s Republic of China

3.The Kyrgyz Republic

4.The Russian Federation

5.The Republic of Tajikistan

6.The Republic of Uzbekistan.

  • It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism (1996) formed by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The SCO Charter was signed during the St.Petersburg SCO Heads of State meeting in June 2002 and entered into force on 19 September 2003. This is the statutory document that outlines the organisation’s goals and principles, as well as its structure and core activities.
The organisation has two permanent bodies:
  • The SCO Secretariat based in Beijing
  • The Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is based in Tashkent.
Present members of SCO:

1.The Republic of India

2.The Republic of Kazakhstan

3.The People’s Republic of China

4.The Kyrgyz Republic

5.The Islamic Republic of Pakistan

6.The Russian Federation

7.The Republic of Tajikistan

8.The Republic of Uzbekistan

  • The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation. The SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meets once a year to discuss the organisation’s multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas, to resolve current important economic and other cooperation issues, and also to approve the organisation’s annual budget.
The SCO’s main goals are as follows:
  • Strengthening mutual trust and neighborliness among the member states
  • Promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology, and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and other areas.
  • Making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security, and stability in the region
  • Moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.

Third stealth frigate of project 17A ‘Taragiri’ launched

'Taragiri', the third stealth frigate of the Indian Navy's Project 17A, was launched in Mumbai, the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL) said.

Overview

‘Taragiri’, the third stealth frigate of the Indian Navy’s Project 17A, was launched in Mumbai, the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL) said. This ship has been built using an integrated construction methodology which involves hull block construction in different geographical locations and integration and erection on the slipway at the MDL, it said in a statement.

About The Ship:
  • The ship was named by Charu Singh, President, Navy Wives Welfare Association (Western Region), wife of vice admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, FOC-in-C Western Naval Command, who was the chief guest. The keel of ‘Taragiri’ was laid on September 10, 2020. The ship is expected to be delivered by August 2025, the statement said. The vessel is being launched with an approximate launch weight of 3,510 tons. The frigate is designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house design organization, the Bureau of Naval Design.
What the Manufacturer Said:
  • “In compliance with the notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Government of India declaring a state mourning on September 11 (due to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II), the event was limited to a technical launch. As the event is tide dependent, any change in the schedule was not possible,” the MDL said. The MDL has undertaken the detailed design and construction of the ship which is also overseen by the Warship Overseeing Team (Mumbai).
About Project 17A:
  • The coveted ‘Project 17A’ was cleared by the govt back in 2015.
  • It involves the building of seven stealth frigates at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore.
  • Of these seven, the contract for three frigates was awarded to GRSE while the contract for another four frigates was awarded to Government-owned Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) which is based in Mumbai.
  • These frigates will come armed with advanced state-of-the-art sensors and boast of top-notch stealth features.
  • They will represent the most advanced class of major surface warships for the Indian Navy in a decade, also featuring BrahMos supersonic surface-to-surface missiles.
  • These will also have torpedoes and rockets to hit submarines and rapid-fire guns to destroy anti-ship missiles as well as a heavy main gun to engage ships and coastal target.
Himgiri, the first of the three stealth frigates being built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, under Project 17A for the Navy, was launched into the water. The total value of Project 17A is around Rs 50,700 crores, the statement said. The second ship of the ‘Udaygiri’ class under the project was launched on May 17 this year. It is expected to start sea trials during the second half of 2024.

U.S. Marks The 21st Anniversary Of 9/11 Horrific Incident

Americans remembered 9/11 on 11th Sept with readings of victims' names, volunteer work and other tributes 21 years after the deadliest terror attack on US soil.

Overview

Americans remembered 9/11 on 11th Sept with readings of victims’ names, volunteer work and other tributes 21 years after the deadliest terror attack on US soil. A tolling bell and a moment of silence began the commemoration at ground zero in New York, where the World Trade Center’s twin towers were destroyed by the hijacked-plane attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Victims’ relatives and dignitaries also convened at the two other attack sites, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Inclusiveness:

  • Other communities around the country are marking the day with candlelight vigils, interfaith services and other commemorations. Some Americans are joining in volunteer projects on a day that is federally recognized as both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance. More than two decades later, Sept. 11 remains a point for reflection on the attack that reconfigured national security policy and spurred a U.S. war on terror worldwide. Sunday’s observances, which follow a fraught milestone anniversary last year, come little more than a month after a U.S. drone strike killed a key al-Qaida figure who helped plot the 9/11 attacks, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Time For Sense Of Unity:
  • It also stirred for a time a sense of national pride and unity for many, while subjecting Muslim Americans to years of suspicion and bigotry and engendering debate over the balance between safety and civil liberties. In ways both subtle and plain, the aftermath of 9/11 ripples through American politics and public life to this day. And the attacks have cast a long shadow into the personal lives of thousands of people who survived, responded or lost loved ones, friends and colleagues. More than 70 of Sekou Siby’s co-workers perished at Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the trade center’s north tower. Siby had been scheduled to work that morning until another cook asked him to switch shifts. Siby never took a restaurant job again; it would have brought back too many memories. The Ivorian immigrant wrestled with how to comprehend such horror in a country where he’d come looking for a better life.
The President’s Plan:
  • President Joe Biden plans to speak and lay a wreath at the Pentagon, while first lady Jill Biden is scheduled to speak in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the hijacked planes went down after passengers and crew members tried to storm the cockpit as the hijackers headed for Washington. Al-Qaida conspirators had seized control of the jets to use them as passenger-filled missiles. Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff joined the observance at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York, but by tradition, no political figures speak at the ground zero ceremony. It centers instead on victims’ relatives reading aloud the names of the dead. Readers often add personal remarks that form an alloy of American sentiments about Sept. 11 grief, anger, toughness, appreciation for first responders and the military, appeals to patriotism, hopes for peace, occasional political barbs, and a poignant accounting of the graduations, weddings, births and daily lives that victims have missed.