Assam & NE Current Affairs & GK – January 19-21, 2024
( Covers all important Current Affairs & GK topics for January 19-21, 2024)
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January 19-21, 2024
Arunachal Pradesh celebrated the 9th edition of the Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival
The 9th edition of the Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival (PPHF) celebrated in Arunachal Pradesh, highlighting the region’s commitment to wildlife conservation, with a special focus on hornbills.
The festival took place at Seijosa in the Pakke Kessang district from January 18-20, 2024.
About Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival
- The first-ever Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival was held in 2015.
- It aims to recognise the role played by the Nyishi tribal group in conserving hornbills in Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR).
- The festival also aims to establish alternative income sources, steering away from harmful practices like hunting and logging.
- It serves as a platform for creating national awareness about the natural wonders of the Pakke Tiger Reserve and its surroundings.
- The festival brings together diverse communities to unite in their efforts to protect these iconic birds and promote environmental awareness.
- This year, the festival’s theme is Domutoh Domutoh, Paga hum Domutoh. It translates to ‘Let Our Hornbills Remain’ in the Nyishi language.
- This year’s festival aims to underscore the critical need for preserving these iconic birds.
India Inc lauds establishment of gender equity Alliance at WEF meet 2024
Indian industry lauded the government for establishing the ‘Alliance for Global Good- Gender Equity and Equality’ announced on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting 2024.
Highlights of the Alliance for Global Good- Gender Equity and Equality
- It seeks to build on the initiatives of the Engagement Group and frameworks like Business 20, Women 20, and G20 EMPOWER.
- The idea of this alliance emerged from the G20 Leaders’ Declaration and India’s abiding commitment to the cause of women-led development as propounded by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
- The primary and stated objective of this new Alliance is to bring together global best practices, knowledge sharing and investments in the identified areas of women’s health, education, and enterprise.
- Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the alliance will be housed and anchored by the CII Centre for Women Leadership.
- The alliance aims to champion women-led development, leveraging India’s spectacular inclusive growth story and its philosophy of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Prayas” (Together with all, Development for all and Effort for all).
Union Ayush Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal lays foundation stone for State-of-the-Art ‘Ayush Diksha’ centre at Bhubaneswar
The Union Minister of Ayush and Ports, Shipping & Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone for ‘Ayush Diksha’,a groundbreaking center at the Central Ayurveda Research Institute in Bhubaneswar.
Key Points
- The ‘Ayush Diksha’ center is set to become a hub for the advancement of human resources in Ayush, with a primary focus on Ayurveda professionals.
- The institution aims to foster collaboration with prominent national institutes to enhance capacity, strengthen human resources, facilitate research and development, and achieve self-sustainability for revenue generation.
- The institution will offer training programmes for Ayush professionals, especially those from Ayurveda, as it aims to collaborate with national institutes of prominence for capacity development, strengthening human resources, facilitate research and development, achieve self-sustainability with an objective to generate revenue.
- The Ayush Diksha centre is being built with a budget of ₹30 crores. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities including two auditoriums, 40 modern rooms with all amenities, suites for VIPs, dedicated space for a natural library, discussion rooms, modular kitchen, dining lounge, among other amenities.
- The CARI, Bhubaneswar is a unit under the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India. This ground breaking initiative marks a significant step towards promoting and advancing research in Ayurveda on scientific lines.
WHO Releases Guidelines for Multi-Modal Generative AI in Healthcare
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released comprehensive guidance on the ethical use and governance of large multi-modal models (LMM) in healthcare.
About the Guidelines
- The guiding document identified five broad applications of LMMs in healthcare: Diagnosis and clinical care, such as responding to patients’ written queries; patient-guided use for investigating symptoms and treatments; clerical and administrative tasks in electronic health records; medical and nursing education with simulated patient encounters; and scientific research and drug development.
- It also recommends designing LMMs for well-defined tasks with the necessary accuracy and understanding of potential secondary outcomes.
- It offers a roadmap for harnessing the power of LMMs in healthcare while navigating their complexities and ethical considerations.
- This initiative marks a significant step towards ensuring that AI technologies serve the public interest, particularly in the health sector
- WHO’s six core principles for AI in health: protect autonomy, promote well-being, ensure transparency, foster responsibility, ensure inclusiveness, and promote sustainability.
Risks Associated with LMMs in Healthcare Generation of False or Biased Information:
- LMMs may produce inaccurate or biased information due to biases present in the training data, potentially leading to misguided health decisions.
- LMMs might perpetuate healthcare disparities based on factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, and age, reflecting the biases present in their training data.
- There is a risk of automation bias, where healthcare professionals and patients may overly trust the output of LMMs, leading to the oversight of potential errors.
- As LMMs rely on trustworthy algorithms, any compromise in these algorithms could result in the release of sensitive patient information, posing cybersecurity risks.
The WHO Recommendations for Mitigating Risks
- Encourages investment in public infrastructure, such as computing power and datasets, adhering to ethical principles.
- Stressed on the need for global cooperative leadership to regulate AI technologies effectively.
- Governments from all countries must cooperatively lead efforts to effectively regulate the development and use of AI technologies, such as LMMs.
- Calls for the implementation of mandatory post-release audits and impact assessments.
- Advises developers to engage a diverse range of stakeholders, including potential users and healthcare professionals, from the early stages of AI development.
- Emphasizes designing LMMs for well-defined tasks with the necessary accuracy while understanding potential secondary outcomes.
President Droupadi Murmu confers Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar
The President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu conferred the “Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar” instituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India to 19 children at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
This year’s awardees include one child each in the categories of Bravery, Science & Technology and Innovation, four in the category of Social Service, five in the category of Sports, and seven in the category of Art & Culture.
Every year, the Government of India acknowledges the exceptional achievements of children in the age group of 5 to 18 years by conferring the ‘Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP) upon them. Each awardee received a medal and a certificate from the President.
Saiyam Mazumdar from Assam has been awarded Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar Award, 2024 in the field of social service.
He is a wildlife conservationist who started off by saving and taking care of stray animals, exhibiting incredible compassion.
He bravely saved snakes and informed others about their ecological significance.
President of India inaugurates the 5th edition of the Meghalaya Games
The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the 5th Edition of the Meghalaya Games in Tura, Meghalaya on January 15, 2024.
The President said that the North East region has a tremendous potential for the development of sports and sportspersons
She emphasized the need to support the talent from the tribal areas and groom them to become professional sportspersons.
With Government’s new initiatives and encouragement to the athletes, Indian sportspersons are now winning more medals than ever in global events.
Programmes such as Khelo India are helping in identifying and nurturing future sports champions.