CIVILS WEEKLY

  DOMESTIC VIOLENCE In perhaps a first, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has framed a policy to protect its employees from domestic abuse. About: This extends the scope of employee well-being beyond work — that is, the office —to his/her personal life and home. HUL’s policy comes at a time when a significant number of its office-based staff are working from home. The policy seeks to protect and grant relief to employees who are survivors of abuse, or acts of physical/emotional abuse beyond the workplace. GLOBAL ECONOMY PROJECTIONS China will overtake the United States to become the world's biggest economy in 2028, the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a UK-based think tank said in an annual report. About: Japan would remain the world's third-biggest economy, in dollar terms, until the early 2030s when it would be overtaken by India, pushing Germany down from fourth to fifth. The United Kingdom, currently the fifth-biggest economy by the CEBR's measure, would slip to sixth...

  INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SKILLS, MUMBAI Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship inaugurated the first batch of Indian Institute of Skills in Mumbai. About: The institute is a joint initiative between Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India and Tata Indian Institute of Skills. Formal agreement for setting up institute has been signed between MSDE and TATA IIS on 11th November, 2020. The first batch at TATA-Indian Institute of Skills will commence training with two courses in Factory Automation, envisaged to be the foundation for future courses and Smart Manufacturing (Industry 4.0) technology and applications. INDIA’S FIRST DRIVERLESS METRO India’s urban mass rapid transit will mark a milestone on December 28 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to flag off the country’s first ‘driverless’ metro in Delhi. About: The first ‘driverless’ train will roll out on the 38-km Line 8 or Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro, which ha...

  UNESCO’s INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE Singapore’s street hawker culture, was designated an Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO. The street hawker centres are representative of Singapore’s multiculturalism, with stalls selling cheap, delicious food of Chinese, Malay, Indian origins, among others. About: Intangible culture is that part of culture which cannot be touched but can only be recorded. It includes performing arts like song, music, drama, skills, crafts etc. Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage  was adopted in 2003. India ratified it in 2007. UNESCO’s list of intangible culture It is an annual list which focuses on those forms of performing art which are of outstanding value but are vulnerable due to lack of support. The program currently compiles two lists – Representative List:  It comprises cultural practices and expressions that help to demonstrate the diversity of this heritage and raise awareness about its importance. I...

  GRAND CHALLENGE FOR STRENGTHENING COVID VACCINE INTELLIGENCE NETWORK Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) along with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) announced the launching of “CoWIN”, a Grand Challenge for strengthening the COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) system. About: COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) system is a digitalised platform to be used to effectively roll out and scale up the mechanism for COVID Vaccine Distribution System, nationally. It will be launched on the MSH (MeitY Startup Hub) portal, a collaborative platform developed under the aegis of MeitY towards building meaningful synergies in the Indian tech start-up space. The challenge invites participation from talented and innovative start-ups and emerging technology specialists to augment and scale the CoWIN platform. MoHFW has identified seven (07) focus areas of technology development to holistically address the likely limitations associated with com...