31-12-22 Daily-Odisha-OPSC Current Affairs

Giving a big push to the Mission Shakti movement for womens empowerment in the state, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday announced that self help groups (SHGs) will get interest free loans of Rs 50,000 crore during the next five years.

Mission Shakti has made a provision to provide interest subvention benefits of Rs 1,200 crore on the loans. He disbursed interest subvention benefits of Rs 125 crore for the first two quarters of 2022-23 to more than 2.5 lakh SHGs. This was done through technology platform directly to the SHG accounts.

The state government has taken a step ahead by deciding to transform SHGs into small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In order to nurture entrepreneurship among women, during the Make-in-Odisha Conclave 2022, the chief minister had announced a revolving fund of Rs 1 crore for all district level federations, revolving fund of Rs 50 lakh for block level federations, office building with market complex for all gram panchayat level federations and establishment of micro and mini industrial parks in all 30 districts of the state.

The second phase of the Sari Festival VIRAASAT-Celebrating 75 handwoven Saris of Indiawill begin from 3^rdto 17^thJanuary 2023 at Handloom Haat, Janpath, New Delhi.

The first phase of VIRAASAT- Celebrating 75 handwoven Saris of India started on 16th December 2022 and concluded on 30th December 2022. The event was inaugurated by Honble Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 16^thDecember 2022, along with Honble Minister of State Smt. Darshana Jardosh and other women parliamentarians.

On mission mode, Indian Railways’ Freight loading for first nine months of this financial year 2022-23 crossed last years loading and earnings for the same period.

On cumulative basis from April – December 22, freight loading of 1109.38 MT achieved against last year loading of 1029.96 MT, an improvement of 8% over last year loading. Railways have earned Rs 120478 crore against Rs 104040 crore over last year which is an improvement of 16% as compared to the same period of last year.

Following the Mantra, Hungry For Cargo, IR has made sustained efforts to improve the ease of doing business as well as improve the service delivery at competitive prices which has resulted in new traffic coming to railways from both conventional and non conventional commodity streams.

The gross GST revenue collected during December 2022 isRs1,49,507 crore, of which CGST isRs 26,711crore, SGST isRs 33,357 crore, IGSTisRs 78,434 crore(including Rs 40,263 crore collectedon import of goods) and Cess isRs 11,005crore(including Rs 850 crore collected on import ofgoods).

The Government has settled Rs 36,669 crore to CGST and Rs 31,094 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue of Centre and the States after regular settlements in the month of December 2022 is Rs 63,380 crore for CGST and Rs 64,451 crore for the SGST.

Naatu Naatu from epic drama RRR wins Best Song at Golden Globe Awards 2023

ComposerMM Keeravani,along with singersKaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj,has won theGolden Globefor Best Original Song, for the trackNaatu Naatu, from epic drama RRR.Naatu Naatu, a dance number featuring stars Jr NTR and Ram Charan, was competing against Taylor Swifts Carolina from Where the Crawdads Sing, Ciao Papa from Guillermo del Toros Pinocchio, Lady Gagas Hold My Hand from Top Gun: Maverick, and Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, performed by Rihanna.

India previously made its presence felt in the Best Original Score category over a decade ago, when AR Rahman won for Danny Boyles Slumdog Millionaire.