Union MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar Inaugurates Digital India FutureLABS at IIITDelhi
Union Minister of State(MoS) RajeevChandrasekhar, Ministry of Electronics andInformation Technology(MeitY) launched the“Digital India FutureLABS” at IndraprasthaInstitute of Information Technology-Delhi (IIITDelhi),New Delhi, Delhi
The MoS also addressed the Digital IndiaFutureLABS Summit 2024 held at IIIT-Delhi on3rd February 2024.
Digital India futureLABS will be coordinated bythe Centre for Development of AdvancedComputing(C-DAC).
About Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY):
Union Minister– Ashwini Vaishnaw(Rajya Sabha- Odisha)
Minister of State(MoS)– Rajeev Chandrasekhar(Rajya Sabha- Karnataka)
India Contributes USD 32.89 Million to UN Regular Budget for 2024
India contributed USD 32.895 million (approximately Rs. 273 Crore) to the United Nations (UN) RegularBudget (RB) for 2024 and earned its spot in the “Honour Roll of the UN for 2024”.
Honour Roll 2024:
- Honour Roll is a list of UN that have paid their mandatory financial support in full to the UN’s RB within30 days of issuance of a payment note from the UN.
- As of 5th February 2024, 43 MemberStates have paid their regular budgetassessments in full within the 30 day dueperiod specified in Financial Regulation 3.5(by 8 February 2024).
Note: India’s assessed contribution to the UNbudget for 2023 was USD 30,540,402.00,and India has consistently figured in the UNHonour Roll.
UN Regular Budget (RB):
- The RB encompasses UN programsspanning various domains, such as:Political affairs;International justice and law;Regional cooperation for development;Human rights and humanitarian affairs; andPublic information.
- In December 2023, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) approved an RB for the UNSecretariat’s 2024 operations, of USD 3.59 billion for 2024.
- This is about USD 300 million more than the USD 3.3 billion budget proposed by UN Secretary-GeneralAntónio Guterres in October 2023.
Peacebuilding Fund:
- The budget also includes the establishment of a multi-year Peacebuilding Account, a special accountdedicated to financing the UN’s Peacebuilding fund.
- The UNGA adopted almost USD 50 million in additional funding for decisions taken by the HumanRights Council and decided to establish the Peacebuilding Account.
The additionally approved USD 50 million of assessed contributions per annum is to fund the Account,starting 1 January 2025.
Note: The UN maintains a distinct budget for peacekeeping operations, with the fiscal cycle from 1 July to30 June, while the RB cycle aligns with the calendar year.
About United Nations (UN):
Secretary-General– António Guterres
Headquarters– New York, USA
Established in– 1945
66th Annual Grammy Awards(2024): Taylor Swift wins Album of the Year for 4th time
66th Annual Grammy Awards (Grammy 2024) was held at the Crypto.com Arena in LosAngeles, California, the United States ofAmerica(USA) on 4th February 2024.
The Grammy 2024 recognized recordings releasedbetween 1st October 2022 and 15th September2023. The 2024 awards were presented in 94categories.
Top Honours:
- Taylor Swift won the Grammy 2024 – Album ofthe Year for her album Midnights and became thefirst ever artist to win “Album of the Year” fourtimes. she also won the award under “Best PopVocal Album” category.
- Victoria Monét won the Best New Artist at the2024 Grammys
The band Shakti, led by Tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain and featuring vocalist Shankar Mahadevan,percussionist V Selvaganesh, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan and John McLaughlin, has won the Best GlobalMusic Album award for their latest release ‘This Moment’.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik releases Coffee-Table Book Titled ‘Shree Jagannatha,Lord Of The Universe’
Chief Minister (CM) of Odisha Naveen Patnaik hasreleased a coffee-table book titled ‘ShreeJagannatha, Lord Of The Universe’ during thevaledictory session of the first-ever “World OdiaLanguage Conference” held in Bhubaneswar,Odisha from 1st to 3rd February 2024.
The book was published by The Hindu Group andedited by Raghuvir Srinivasan, Editor of TheHindu BusinessLine.
The book pictorially narrates traditions and ritualsassociated with Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra,and Devi Subhadra in Shree Jagannath Temple ofPuri, Odisha.