Government approved Electronics Manufacturing Cluster at Ranjangaon

Government approved Electronics Manufacturing Cluster at Ranjangaon

• Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced that an Electronics Manufacturing Cluster is to be developed in the Ranjangaon area of Maharashtra. 
• Electronics Manufacturing Clusters are expected to generate thousands of jobs in the coming years and will attract an investment of over ₹2,000 crores.
• Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar informed that the Electronics Manufacturing Clusters have been approved to make Maharashtra into an electronics hub.
• The overall cost of development of the EMC is likely to be ₹492.85.The Central Government will contribute ₹207.98 crores and the rest will be contributed by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), the State Industrial Agency of the Maharashtra Government.

Pahari ethnic community added to Scheduled Tribes list of Jammu and Kashmir

• The National Commissionfor Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has now cleared the way for the inclusion of the ‘Pahari ethnic group’ on the Scheduled Tribes list of the Union Territoryof Jammu and Kashmir. 
• The proposal green lit by the commission also called for the inclusion of the “Paddari tribe”, “Koli” and “Gadda Brahman” communities to be included on the ST list of J&K.
• This comes within a month of Union Home Minister Amit Shah announcing in a public address in Rajouri that the Pahari community would be given reservation in jobs and education.

Gandhian, SEWA founder, and women’s empowerment activist Elaben Bhatt dies

• Elaben Bhatt, 89, Gandhian, leading women’s empowerment activist and founder of the Self-employed Women’s Association (SEWA), passed awayon Wednesday in a hospital in Ahmedabad after a brief illness.
• The recipient of several national and international awards, including the Padma Bhushan, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, and the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize, she was globally recognised as a woman leader who carried out pioneering work in organising theinformal sector for self-employment and empowerment of women not only in India but across South Asia.
• She was the Chairperson of the Sabarmati Ashram and recently resigned as the Chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi founded Gujarat Vidhya pith. 
• In 2007, she became part of a group of world leaders called the Elders, founded by Nelson Mandela to promote human rights and peace across the world.
• Founded by her in 1972, SEWA is one of the largest cooperatives working for women, with a base of over two million members from as many as 18 States in the country and in neighbouring nations.

Centre ‘doubles’ fertilizer subsidy as prices see a surge

• Considering the huge increase in the prices of fertilizers in global market, the Centre has “doubled” the fertilizer subsidy for this rabi season. 
• A meeting of the Union Cabinet here on Wednesday approved a subsidyof ₹51,875 crore for nitrogen, phosphorus and potash (NPK) and sulphur for phosphate and potassium fertilizers for the ongoing rabi season.
• Total fertilizer subsidy for the rabi season, including ₹80,000 crorefor urea, would be ₹1, 38,875 crore and for both the rabi and kharif, the subsidy amount would be ₹2.25 lakh crore.
• Commercial prices had doubled due to the Ukraine­Russia conflict and the logistics issues due to pandemic the Centre decided to double the subsidy component too.

Ministry signs agreement with Patanjali Ayurveda

• The Union Rural Development Ministry on Wednesday signed an agreement with Patanjali Ayurveda for marketing of products made by women self­help groups (SHGs). 
• Patanjali Ayurveda will not only market the products but also provide the SHGs opportunities to get dealership and distribution of such products.

Karnataka to introduce 10 minutesof ‘dhyana’ in schools, PU colleges

• Karnataka’s Minister for School Education and Literacy B.C. Nagesh has issued a circular directing the Department of Public Instruction to mandate 10 minutes of “dhyana” (meditation) for students of all schools and pre­university colleges across the State.
• “It is necessary to make students meditate everyday to reduce physical and mental stress, and help them improve concentration and health,” Mr. Nagesh said in the circular issued on October 30. 
• Hesaid meditation was already being practised in some schools and there were suggestions to institute it inschools across the State.