BJP’s Bhupendra Patel sworn-in as Gujarat CM for 2nd consecutive term

BJP’s Bhupendra Patel sworn-in as Gujarat CM for 2nd consecutive term

• Bhupendra Patel took oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for a second straight term in Gandhinagar. He was administered oath as the 18th Chief Minister of Gujarat by Governor Acharya Devvrat. 
• Prime minister Narendra Modi, several Union Ministers including Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, and Mansukh Mandaviya, and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States including Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan attended the ceremony.
• Recently, the Bharatiya Janata Party had recorded a historic lead and seventh consecutive victory in the recently concluded elections of the Gujarat Assembly, by winning 156 of the total 182 seats. Main opposition party Congress could win only 17 seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) opened an account in the state legislative Assembly by winning five seats.
• Patel was sworn in as the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat on September 13, 2021. Breaking his own record, Patel won the 2022 election once again from Ghatlodia constituency with a huge margin of 1,91,000 votes.

Uttarakhand Plans Genetic Enhancement of Its Indigenous Badri Cow

• Uttarakhand Government is planning for genetic enhancement of Badri Cow through sex-sorted semen and embryo transfer technology with the aim to increase its productivity. 
• The Badri breed derived its name from the holy shrine of Char Dham at Badrinath. It is found only in the hill districts of Uttarakhand and was earlier known as the ‘pahadi’ cow.
• The cattle breed is small in size with long legs and varied body colours—black, brown, red, white or grey. The uniqueness of Badri cow’s produce is indigenousness and environment (in the Himalayas), as it eats medicinal herbs and is far away from toxic pollution, polythene and other harmful things that cows in the plains are subject to.
• These cattle of Uttarakhand clinched the coveted title of being the first certified cattle breed of Uttarakhand after the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resource included it as Badri breed.

Collegium recommends five judges to the top court

• The Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud onTuesday recommended the names of five judges for appointment in the topcourt and three for elevation as Chief Justices ofHigh Courts (HC).
• The five judges recommended to the government for appointment asSupreme Court judges are Rajasthan HC Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal, Patna HCChief Justice Sanjay Karol, Manipur HC Chief Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, Patna HC judge Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Allahabad HC judge Justice Manoj Misra, in that order ofseniority. If the government appoints them, thevacancies in the top courtwill come down to one. 
• The Collegium proposed the names of Uttarakhand HC judge JusticeSanjaya Kumar Mishra asCJ of the Jharkhand High Court. The incumbent Chief Justice, Dr. Ravi Ranjan, is retiring on December 19, 2022.
• Gauhati HC judge Justice N. Kotiswar Singh was recommended for elevationas the CJ of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. The incumbentChief Justice, Ali Mohd. Magrey, retired on December 7, 2022. 
• Kerala HC judge JusticeK. Vinod Chandran was recommended for elevationas the CJ of the Gauhati High Court. The current Gauhati CJ, Rashmin Manharbhai Chhaya, is retiring in January next year. 

PM Modi flagged off 6th Vande Bharat train on Nagpur-Bilaspur route

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has flagged off India’s sixth Vande Bharat Express between Bilaspur (Chattisgarh)-Nagpur (Maharashtra) route. This is the second Vande Bharat express in the state after the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat express. 
• He inaugurated the ‘Nagpur Metro Phase I’, and laid the foundation stone of ‘Nagpur Metro phase- II’ at Khapri Metro Station. The Phase I has been developed at a cost of Rs 8650 crore while the Phase II will be developed at a cost of more than Rs 6700 crore.
• He inaugurated the Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg connecting Nagpur and Shirdi. Built at a cost of ₹55,000 crore, it is one of the longest expressways in the country that passes through 10 Maharashtra districts, including Amravati, Aurangabad and Nashik.
• He also inaugurated Rail projects worth ₹15,000 crore, AIIMS Nagpur, Nagpur and Nag River pollution abatement project, Centre for Research, Management and Control of Hemoglobinopathies, Chandrapur, Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET), Chandrapur.